Big Gay Closet

(h/t to emercait23 for the link)

I love how she addresses the disproportionate obsession evangelical Christians have with homosexuality compared to all the other things they call “sins”.

UPDATED: Thanks to this post in Autostraddle, we now have a link to the full interview. Also great quote from the post:

Then Larry brings out Pastor Bob Botsford to tell everyone how much Jennifer Knapp’s sexuality breaks his heart. Clearly he’s a little bit oversensitive. Anyhow, someone remind him about poverty and world hunger, yeah?

It’s chaos! Volcanic ash has stopped flights all over northern Europe. Amazing. I mean, it’s gotta suck for people with plans, but it’s pretty incredible from a bystander’s perspective. The power of nature again.

Still, the Big Gay Closet keeps on keeping on.Takes more than an unpronounceable Icelandic volcano to shut us down.

I started the week with a confessional of sorts. I told the story of the first time I understood the attraction to butch women in “I like women who look like women“.

Then, Rufus Wainright went nuts and outed 50 cent as gay.

Following that, Christian singer Jennifer Knapp came out in matching interviews with The Advocate and Christianity Today… just before the release of her new (mainstream) album. All cynicism aside, I think it’s an important story.

Then — in a story I couldn’t resist sharing here — writer Tanner Stransky wrote that the now-cancelled show Ugly Betty helped him come out.

Later in the week, I went on the local radio station to talk about being gay and living in the middle of nowhere. It was a total mess, but a personal victory, so yay!

And finally, a Facebook user I tracked down and harassed shared her story of coming out on Facebook as bisexual. Really great story, and it’s been hugely popular with you guys. It was nice of her to share her story and not tell me to get lost!

As another week begins, I need more stories. Expect harassment.

In September 2002, Knapp, now 33, walked away from her career as a million-record-selling, multiple-Dove-award winning Christian singer-songwriter. On the lineup of the first Lilith Fair, she had crossover appeal even then, though her name is most indelibly known to the fans of “Jesus music.”

The rumors dogged her then as they dog her now. They said Jennifer Knapp canceled all her gigs and sold every inch of gear save one acoustic guitar because she was a lesbian. She stopped answering her e-mail, going months without talking even to her mother or her manager, because she was a lesbian. She dropped out of sight because she was a lesbian. And now, poised to release her first studio album in years, Jennifer Knapp is ready to face those rumors.

Turns out they’re true: Jennifer Knapp is a lesbian.

via Christian Singer Jennifer Knapp Comes Out | Entertainment News | Advocate.com.

The saddest stories are the ones where people had to retreat entirely from their lives in order to be themselves. I probably think so because that is my story too. On the upside, she’s in a happy, confident eight-year long relationship… happy enough in that relationship that she’s willing to come out publicly.

Even though it sounds like her sexual orientation was the worst kept secret in Christendom, as we all know, it still takes guts to say the words.

Of course, in the US, people don’t have to choose between Christianity and being true to themselves. There are plenty of churches (even of the evangelical variety) that affirm the dignity of LGBTQ people and that they too can be part of a strong, healthy faith community.

I’m thrilled for her that she’s found that balance in her life.

She has a unique voice and I like her style. Have a listen and see what you think.

You can listen to her new stuff here.

Old video.

Update: She’s also done an interview with Christianity Today and they ask about where she stands theologically on homosexuality and the church.

What about what Scripture says on the topic?

Knapp: The Bible has literally saved my life. I find myself between a rock and a hard place—between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the “clobber verses” to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics, and various other Scriptures we could argue about. I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church. There’s a spirit that overrides that for me, and what I’ve been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place.

Some argue that the feelings of homosexuality are not sinful, but only the act. What would you say?

Knapp: I’m not capable of fully debating that well. But I’ve always struggled as a Christian with various forms of external evidence that we are obligated to show that we are Christians. I’ve found no law that commands me in any way other than to love my neighbor as myself, and that love is the greatest commandment. At a certain point I find myself so handcuffed in my own faith by trying to get it right—to try and look like a Christian, to try to do the things that Christians should do, to be all of these things externally—to fake it until I get myself all handcuffed and tied up in knots as to what I was supposed to be doing there in the first place.

If God expects me, in order to be a Christian, to be able to theologically justify every move that I make, I’m sorry. I’m going to be a miserable failure.