"Please, don't call me 'gay' and don't call me 'ex-gay.""

Allan Edwards is a Christian, a man, a husband, and a pastor. (In that order, he says.)  He also has experienced same-sex attraction since puberty.

Yesterday, he posted some thoughts about the terminology out there to talk about same-sex attraction and Christianity.

Language and identity are so closely connected in general, the heightened nature of this connection in sexual identity makes communicating with people inside and outside the church difficult. There’s another pastor in my community of churches who has reduced all sexual identities outside the covenant of marriage to fornicator and sodomite, just for the sake of simplicity. As a former sodomite, or current one, I’m not sure how broadly he uses the term, I can tell you that his method is not sufficient (or loving for that matter) for the Christian who wants to be a redemptive presence in the life of a anyone who identifies as LGBTQ or anything like it.

He surveys the landscape, giving some informed opinions, and then lands here:

So, what’s my approach to language and identity? I’m a sinner saved by grace. If you’re faith is in Christ, so are you. I can talk about my struggle with same sex attraction, but I’m not going to be identified by that, so please don’t call me gay, ex-gay, oh hay, or stay away. When it comes to identity language and others my advice is simple, ask a person how they want to be identified, don’t be afraid of language that seems foreign to you, but don’t be shy to share the hope you have in your identity in Christ.

Read the whole thing. 

[HT: Jack Brooks]