What is the role of gay, lesbian and other queer people in this extraordinary phenomenon?
Millennia ago, in many cultures throughout the world, those with ambiguous gender or same-sex desire were recognized through initiation into the mystical arts and revered as visionaries, healers, and spiritual guides. In these cultures sexual minorities were central to the spiritual welfare of the collective society. In more recent times, our modern-day religions forged an artificial split between sexuality and spirituality. Sex became purely functional, and the vital differences between religion and spirituality were lost. Today, GLBTQI people are reclaiming our sexual identities in vast numbers. Yet many continue to be shunned by today’s religious institutions. In attempting to define our place in the world today, much of our community has essentially been forced to “throw the baby out with the bath water.” In our rejection by or of organized religion, many of us have become unintentionally closeted to our own spirituality – a condition that tragically diminishes ourselves, the queer
