Heavy Burdens: Seven Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church

Foreword INDIES 2021 Finalist for Religion

Religious faith reduces the risk of suicide for virtually every American demographic except one: LGBTQ people. Generations of LGBTQ people have been alienated or condemned by Christian communities. It’s past time that Christians confronted the ongoing and devastating effects of this legacy.

Many LGBTQ people face overwhelming challenges in navigating faith, gender, and sexuality. Christian communities that uphold the traditional sexual ethic often unwittingly make the path more difficult through unexamined attitudes and practices. Drawing on her sociological training and her leadership in the Side B/Revoice conversation, Bridget Eileen Rivera, who founded the popular website Meditations of a Traveling Nun, speaks to the pain of LGBTQ Christians and helps churches develop a better pastoral approach.

Rivera calls to mind Jesus’s woe to religious leaders: ＂They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them＂ (Matt. 23:4). Heavy Burdens provides an honest account of seven ways LGBTQ people experience discrimination in the church, helping Christians grapple with hard realities and empowering churches across the theological spectrum to navigate better paths forward.

Bridget Eileen Rivera is an emerging writer and speaker in the Side B LGBTQ Christian community. Her website, Meditations of a Traveling Nun, is a leading resource on gay celibacy, attracting thousands of unique visitors every month. She has worked with a number of faith-based organizations, including Revoice, Christians for Social Action, and Preston Sprinkle’s Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, where she contributed to the Digital Leaders Forum. Rivera is currently pursuing her PhD in sociology from the City University of New York Graduate Center.