Breaking the Silence on Sexuality within the Orthodox Church

It Gets Better

It Gets Better: My “real” version

Last week I posted a script for an “It gets better” video as I imagined it could be presented by someone representing the position on homosexuality taken by so many who perceive themselves to take a traditional view. I pointed out in the thread beneath it what I thought was wrong with it. Below is an “it gets better” statement as I might really do it, with words addressed to a young gay Orthodox Christian person:

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“It Gets Better”: Orthodox Version

In my frustration about the lack of an Orthodox Christian “It Gets Better” video in response to gay teen suicide, I began to wonder what such a response would possibly be like coming from Orthodox clergy or hierarchs. But whenever I sat down to try to write one ( imagining myself in the kamilafka of any of our bishops) the result ended up satirical. So I made a special effort to make it non-satirical, to empathize with someone in the “traditional” position on sexuality and to postulate a compassionate response from that position. The following is what I came up with. I had to make up a fictional “help line” to make it reasonable. I, of course, don’t agree with this response, and I can spell out its flaws very specifically (and may be called on to do so). But this little exercise in empathy may serve the purpose of showing that those of us who support the inclusion of gay people in the church understand to some degree the position of those who don’t. I find it telling that not even something like this has appeared in response to the teen suicide awareness. Only silence.

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