Most traditions distinguish orientation from conduct and hold that attraction itself is not sin. The disagreement is about relationships and marriage, not about whether an unchosen experience makes someone guilty.

A term for Christians who hold the traditional view of marriage while identifying openly as gay and rejecting the expectation that attraction must change. It is a position with growing literature of its own.

Christians read it differently

Is it a sin to be attracted to the same gender?

Q: Does the Bible mention orientation?

Not as a concept. Sexual orientation as a settled disposition is a modern category, and every position here has to reason about how ancient texts describing acts reach a modern understanding of persons.

Q: Can I be a Christian and gay?

Every position on this page says yes. They differ on what follows, not on whether someone belongs.

The question is about attraction, which is not where most arguments happen

Two chairs of the same design side by side, both facing a tall window full of light.

In short

Christians divide sharply on same-sex relationships, and rather less on attraction itself. Most traditions distinguish an experience you did not choose from what you do with it, and a majority hold that attraction alone is not sin. Beyond that the disagreement is real and this page will not resolve it.

What the text says

Romans 1:26

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

The passage every position has to account for. It describes acts inside a larger argument about idolatry, and what Paul had in view - and how it reaches the present - is exactly what is disputed.

1 Corinthians 6:9 was the verse of the day on January 18, 2025. See that day

Often brought in1 Corinthians 6:9

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

A list of those who will not inherit the kingdom, followed immediately by 'and such were some of you'. The Greek terms are debated among scholars, and the verse that follows is about people who have been changed.

The counterweightGalatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Paul's statement that the old divisions do not determine standing in Christ. Cited across the range here, and read differently by each position.

What Christians agree on

Nobody chooses who they are attracted to, and every mainstream tradition now says so. All of them also hold that a person experiencing same-sex attraction is not thereby guilty of anything, and that contempt toward them is sin.

Where they disagree

Traditional teaching, Catholic and Protestant

Marriage is between a man and a woman, and sexual acts belong there. The attraction itself is not sin, and the call is to chastity - the same call made to every unmarried person, though the cost here is heavier.

Romans 1:26

The celibate gay Christian position

Holds the traditional view of marriage while rejecting the demand to change or hide the attraction. Names it honestly, calls the church to real friendship and belonging rather than to silence.

1 Corinthians 7:8

Affirming teaching

Reads the passages as addressing exploitative practices in the ancient world rather than covenanted partnership. Holds that a faithful same-sex marriage is a good and blesses it.

Galatians 3:28

Questions worth asking

Do I know what my own tradition actually teaches, or a summary someone gave me?
Is there anyone I can say this out loud to who will still be there next week?
Am I carrying shame about something I chose, or about something that happened to me?

If you are reading this about yourself, notice how much of the argument above is not about you. Every position on this page holds that attraction you did not choose is not guilt, and that you are owed honesty rather than avoidance. Where the traditions genuinely differ, they differ - and you are allowed to take time with that.