Hiding and Stigmas: Being Non-Religious and LGBTQIA2S+ in a Religious, Non-LGBTQIA2S+ World

 I have had fun catching up on the story line in the PBS Masterpiece series, "Grantchester," which follows the adventures and lives of a British Detective Inspector, Geordie, and his friend, an Anglican vicar, currently William Davenport (early, it was Sidney Chambers) in the town of Grantchester, located outside of Cambridge in the late 1950s. Week after week, these two solve a murder case every episode.

But the one person who's storyline has been fascinating to watching is the young curate, Leonard, aka Lenny, Finch. Leonard starts off the series as a very uptight, frenetic, legalistic,  young man, who has a secret: he is gay. He has no other close relationship with anyone, and is quite a loner. He is forever worried that his being gay may become public, and frightened of the stigma of being gay he spends an enormous amount of time and energy in keeping everything attention away from himself so no one would find out he is gay.

In today's world, there are still LGBTQIA2S+ people who are non-religious who are trying to control who does or does not know one's sexual identity. In an article by Alejandra Molina, "Report: Nonreligious LGBTQ People Face Heightened Stigma, Conceal Their Beliefs," on the website religionnews.com, the focus is on many people who are trying to hide not only who they are in terms of sexual orientation, but also that they are not religious, in very anti-LGBTQIA2S+, pro-religion areas of this country. Some people said that they find themselves in parts of this country in which people are pro-LGBTQIA2S+ and pro-Black Lives Matter, but are uncomfortable if a person isn't also religious; a person of faith. 

One person the reporter interviewed was Rogiers Fibby, a young Black man who was raised a Moravian, but today self-identifies as agnostic or as an atheist. He states that there are "'times where I have to make judgments and calculations that essentially are repressive. I find myself hiding and holding back.' Sometimes he wonders, 'What could you have done with that energy if you didn't have to deal with these types of responses?'"

In a new study, non-religious LGBTQIA2S+ people "experience both religious oppression and anti-LGBTQ sentiments as well as the level of depression among those raised in religious households."

In sum, after many of the advances that have been made among many of us who are LGBTQIA2S+, there are still LGBTQIA2S+ people who continue hiding who they are not only in matters of sexual orientation but also one's identity as an atheist or agnostic in anti-LGBTQIA2S+, pro-religion contexts. 

Here is a link to the article: https://religionnews.com/2022/08/17/report-nonreligious-lgbtq-people-face-heightened-stigma-conceal-their-beliefs/

There seems to be a stigma of being LGBTQIA2S+, as well as either religious or non-religious, depending on the context. A stigma, as the late social thinker Erving Goffman wrote, is an attribute that conveys devalued stereotypes. How does one thwart a stigma? The word that comes to mind as I watch Leonard's character on "Grantchester," and read about such studies, in which LGBTQIA2S+ are hiding, which takes an incredible amount of time and energy, is courage. It takes courage for us to be the people God created us to be, for those of us who are religious. For those of us who are not religious, it still takes courage to be the person you are.

May it be so.