In 1987 a pair of penguins named Silo and Roy started making eyes at each other. Eventually, they even started dancing and whatever the penguin equivalent of kissing is. After about a year together, they tried to start a family by way of sitting on a rock they presumed to be an egg. The zoo keepers eventually decided that they were probably pretty gay, and not just because they are called chinstrap penguins (I am not making that up). Anyway, on the other side of the enclosure, some straight penguins laid an egg they were not attempting to hatch, so the gay penguins adopted it and hatched a little one they named Tango. The story ends with a sad tale. Eventually, Silo realizes that he is bisexual and eventually leaves Roy for a woman named Scrappy. That same year, a tell-all book was released called, And Tango Makes Three, a kid's book about the love these two queer penguins once shared. That was way back in ancient times, the year of our Lord, two-thousand-and-five.
The David and Jonathan story was and always has been, in the words of Kylie Sonique Love, as gay as two guys blowing six guys. I even saw that when I was in the clutches of the church. They didn't exactly try to hide it.
It reminds me of when my daughter came into the living room when I was midway through Hitchcock's version of Rebecca. She says 'What are you watching?' I told her and she said 'Hard pass, I hate that book.' I said 'You might like the movie. There's a lot of gay subtext in the movie that didn't come through so well in the book."
Meanwhile the housekeeper is onscreen lamenting over the shrine she has created of her dead mistress's lace underwear that was embroidered by nuns. My daughter watches for a second, points at the screen, and says "SUBTEXT??? Ain't no subtext. That just GAY." (Then tells me I'm a straight so my gaydar is way off. Obnoxious child. Who raised her? )
Anyhow, you're absolutely correct--it's not hidden. It's spelled right out in the text. The 'man after God's own heart' was supergay. (Or super-bi--Evangelicals don't usually make those distinctions.) It's absolutely clear. Who makes a non-sexual covenant naked? Come ooooooon.
But I suspect admitting that will mean all the Evangelicals will have to scrape off all their homophobic bumperstickers and that is a huge time commitment so they're just gonna keep pretending not to see it.
All humor aside, this was a beautifully written essay. I recently lost someone to suicide who could not come to terms with the fact that he was gay--despite the fact that all of his family and friends loved him tremendously and didn't give a damn. We just wanted him to be happy and have love in his life.
Had he grown up being able to see himself in the texts of the church, instead of the church creating a resounding din telling him his whole life 'WRONG-BAD-EVIL-SINNER-ABOMINATION-ABOMINATION-ABOMINATION!!!' I wonder if it would have made a difference. Because he wasn't hearing that from us. But... we couldn't drown it out either.
He wasn't a sinner. And he certainly wasn't an abomination. He was a lovely, beautiful, complex, sensitive person who felt both love and pain acutely, and who the world, by and large, was tremendously cold and cruel to. And he didn't deserve it.
And that's the way you've shown David and Jonathan here. As real, living, breathing humans who loved, and were damned by the world they lived in. And they didn't deserve it either.
The opportunity you take to invite those reading this that may have been like King Saul to repent is such a Christ-like display of love I cried. You may not hold the title, the credentials, or the pay check of a father but you certainly are in the ministry. That minsters heart never leaves no matter what, that calling is still present on your life. 💙💛💜💚❤️
I was fine, totally fine, until that last paragraph and then I turned into an ugly-crying mess. That was me several years ago, clinging to the King Saul mentality and hating my neighbors because of who and how they loved. But God is merciful and brought people into my life that were impossible to hate. I still believe in God and if I didn't know any better I'd say my belief in Him has deepened the more I've deconstructed what I was taught over the course of decades. Voices like yours and Mary Katherine's have guided me on this path and I am grateful. Thank you for your honesty and for presenting truth in a loving and gracious manner.
Thank you so much for the obvious care and time you took with this article. I was always told growing up that David and Jonathan had a love too pure for sex. 🙄 The Pentecostal church left me with many wounds and scars but this and your “clobber verse” article are like a healing balm and a warm hug all in one.
There is time, the day of salvation awaits anyone who repents of glossing over the purity of love in the David and Jonathan covenant to favor a womanizing hedonist, scheming adulterer, and cad.
Wait--the gay penguins broke up???? Now I'm sad.
The David and Jonathan story was and always has been, in the words of Kylie Sonique Love, as gay as two guys blowing six guys. I even saw that when I was in the clutches of the church. They didn't exactly try to hide it.
It reminds me of when my daughter came into the living room when I was midway through Hitchcock's version of Rebecca. She says 'What are you watching?' I told her and she said 'Hard pass, I hate that book.' I said 'You might like the movie. There's a lot of gay subtext in the movie that didn't come through so well in the book."
Meanwhile the housekeeper is onscreen lamenting over the shrine she has created of her dead mistress's lace underwear that was embroidered by nuns. My daughter watches for a second, points at the screen, and says "SUBTEXT??? Ain't no subtext. That just GAY." (Then tells me I'm a straight so my gaydar is way off. Obnoxious child. Who raised her? )
Anyhow, you're absolutely correct--it's not hidden. It's spelled right out in the text. The 'man after God's own heart' was supergay. (Or super-bi--Evangelicals don't usually make those distinctions.) It's absolutely clear. Who makes a non-sexual covenant naked? Come ooooooon.
But I suspect admitting that will mean all the Evangelicals will have to scrape off all their homophobic bumperstickers and that is a huge time commitment so they're just gonna keep pretending not to see it.
All humor aside, this was a beautifully written essay. I recently lost someone to suicide who could not come to terms with the fact that he was gay--despite the fact that all of his family and friends loved him tremendously and didn't give a damn. We just wanted him to be happy and have love in his life.
Had he grown up being able to see himself in the texts of the church, instead of the church creating a resounding din telling him his whole life 'WRONG-BAD-EVIL-SINNER-ABOMINATION-ABOMINATION-ABOMINATION!!!' I wonder if it would have made a difference. Because he wasn't hearing that from us. But... we couldn't drown it out either.
He wasn't a sinner. And he certainly wasn't an abomination. He was a lovely, beautiful, complex, sensitive person who felt both love and pain acutely, and who the world, by and large, was tremendously cold and cruel to. And he didn't deserve it.
And that's the way you've shown David and Jonathan here. As real, living, breathing humans who loved, and were damned by the world they lived in. And they didn't deserve it either.
Thank you. ❤️ Much love.
The opportunity you take to invite those reading this that may have been like King Saul to repent is such a Christ-like display of love I cried. You may not hold the title, the credentials, or the pay check of a father but you certainly are in the ministry. That minsters heart never leaves no matter what, that calling is still present on your life. 💙💛💜💚❤️
I was fine, totally fine, until that last paragraph and then I turned into an ugly-crying mess. That was me several years ago, clinging to the King Saul mentality and hating my neighbors because of who and how they loved. But God is merciful and brought people into my life that were impossible to hate. I still believe in God and if I didn't know any better I'd say my belief in Him has deepened the more I've deconstructed what I was taught over the course of decades. Voices like yours and Mary Katherine's have guided me on this path and I am grateful. Thank you for your honesty and for presenting truth in a loving and gracious manner.
Beautifully and passionately written. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the obvious care and time you took with this article. I was always told growing up that David and Jonathan had a love too pure for sex. 🙄 The Pentecostal church left me with many wounds and scars but this and your “clobber verse” article are like a healing balm and a warm hug all in one.
preach, my friend, preach!
There's SO many tales of murder, rape, genocide, etc., in the Bible that it should be banned. It won't be because reasons... (eyeroll)
There is time, the day of salvation awaits anyone who repents of glossing over the purity of love in the David and Jonathan covenant to favor a womanizing hedonist, scheming adulterer, and cad.
Wait, which of those images is NOT supposed to be gay? 🤔