Gay and amish
Why a Gay Man Serves the Old Order Amish
On the importance of dialogue with—rather than withdrawal from—those whose theological understandings differ from ours.
The question was posed with deadly tranquil. The poise and protect as he looked past the other members of the group and into my eyes alerted me that it had been considered for some day, awaiting the right, doubtless prayerful moment to be spoken aloud.
“Jim, based on some of the things you’ve said, I acquire to ask. Are you gay?”
I was. Not only gay, but out to the vast majority of friends and coworkers.
The male asking so bluntly about my sexual orientation was an Old Order Amish minister, leading a collective of Amish men with whom I had built an alliance and worked for some time. His question was a doubt in what had, until then, been a neutral forum. I alternately told myself that I remained discrete to respect the Amish belief that homosexuality is a sin, or struggled with the cowardice of an ultimately untenable secrecy. However, at that moment my motives no longer mattered. I could blatantly lie (an doomed moral choice), or speak a brief prayer, explain the truth, and admit the consequences to follow.
And so, t
The Struggle for Acceptance: Are There LBGQT+ Amish?
So, it is Pride month and I know some people have wondered: are there gay Amish or LBGQT+ Amish? Well, of course, there are. Now, in all of the years I have been visiting Amish settlements I own never met someone who openly identified themselves as much but, statistically, yes, there are gay and lesbian Amish.
My guess is that the more conservative the order, the more unique challenges the person faces. And because of the strict scriptural translation the Amish go by, my guess is that there is not much of a place for a gay person within the Old Order Amish. The New Order, my guess, is a bit more accepting. I realize some wonderful New Organize Amish who I can't imagine turning their advocate on someone because of their sexuality.
In 2019, a former Amish man named James Schwartz came out as gay in an interview with The Recent York Times. Schwartz had this to say: “Really the only choice you have if you’re lgbtq+ and Amish and wish to be true to yourself is to depart the Amish community,” said Mr. Schwartz, who now lives in Hawaii. “Otherwise, you are pretty much forced to stay in the closet.”
And that would be my guess,
When someone asked what books I had been reading, I mentioned James A. Cates’ Serpent in the Garden: Amish Sexuality in a Changing World.
“Why would anyone want to compose about the Amish and sex?” my interlocutor responded.
Turns out, Serpent in the Garden answers this question well. Cates approaches gender and sexuality within the Amish community as a subject to be treated with careful respect. His measured work hinges on the idea that the Amish exist as sexual minorities in their own right, with cultural and spiritual expectations that set them apart from the predominant understandings of sex and gender.
Like anyone else, the Amish “cannot divorce themselves from their sexual desires, nor from the complex demands that sexuality creates.” And, even though the Amish endeavor to remain separate from the influences of mainstream culture, “they cannot help but be conscious of the sexuality that plays out around them.” These two premises instruction Cates’ exploration of Amish sexuality.
Cates’ study is rooted in significant study and in relationships he has built with Amish families as a clinical psychologist in northeastern Indiana. His previous book, Serving the Amish (2014), h
What’s It Like To Be Gay And Amish
At 17, he was removed from his home and group. He was sent, by his parents, to an ex-gay religious counselor. He was not allowed to visit his parents and to this day, his extended family and group do not know why he “left.”
This doesn’t arrive as a complete shock to a lot of LGBTQ people. We possess familiarity with discrimination and what it feels favor to have those cover to you, turn away.
Many of us feel prefer we lose our personal faith because we’re taught that religion doesn’t agree us.
We grow accustomed to finding new support systems and a new animation. But there are others where coming out can mean losing everything you thought was your life.
But what if you grew up in a world that never talks about homosexuality? What if they only see it as a problem that doesn’t affect them only others? You might respond that you have heard that happen in other countries, not here in our own.
Would it surprise you to find out that it happens not that far from Cleveland, OH?
Growing Up Amish
Ohio has the largest Amish population in the United States. That isn’t a surprise if you are driving around the Kirkland area or even further d
The Queer Psychoanalysis Society
Leaving the Old Order Amish community equals leaving everyone and everything you understand. Any Amish that determine as gay, lesbian, bi or gender questioning will be met with condemnation and Scriptures (Leviticus, always a classic).
They will not be handed a complimentary copy of ‘Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality’ by John Boswell.
Where traditions and heritage sprint deep there is minute choice but leave or live a lie.
Most Amish are of German descent but we are of Swiss stock, my Mom passing when I am 9, thus my upbringing with my father, a model of Swiss tolerance.
I don’t unite the church and will not go back.
I move clubbing in Indiana and Michigan.
At 22 I step onstage, making my flamboyant debut at Brothers Beta Club (Kalamazoo, MI) Closet Ball pageant and perform at The Zoo Bar.
I would exchange the cabaret for the poetry slam circuit in my mid 20s and seriously began writing with stars in my eyes.
The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America collects my poetry, writings from 2005-2010 with a few preliminary poems.
THE BEGINNING
The black garbed men cluster by the shed
As the morning