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TOWARDS A CHRISTIAN FRAMEWORK OF LGBTQ ISSUES

L. EUGENE BURRUS, PH.D.

O n my bookshelf sits a book that certainly has the most colorful title of my entire library: If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay? Issues in Biological Essentialism versus Social Constructionism in Gay and Lesbian Identities. This book’s title succinctly summarizes one of the greatest theoretical challenges in LGBTQ psychology: Are experiences like same-sex attraction (SSA) or gender incongruence (GI) rooted in biology, culture, or personal choice? To complicate matters further, Christians add moral and spiritual considerations to these questions. In this article, I summarize secular theoretical frameworks and suggest a Christian alternative. 1 Secular Theoretical Frameworks One of these frameworks, modern essentialism , assumes that LGBTQ people feel and live as they do because their sexual or gendered condition is a real category. Its researchers often search for potential biomarkers that explain SSA or GI, including differences in hormones,

genetics, and neuroanatomy. In one variant of essentialism, researchers explore psychodynamic markers (e.g., overbearing mothers) of these phenomena. Assuming people with SSA or GI are essentially gay or another gender, essentialist therapy seeks to actualize this truest, core identity. 2 Social constructionism , on the other hand, views both sexual orientation and gender as products of culture. Accordingly, psychological constructs are shaped more by how we talk and think about them than biological antecedents. In therapeutic practice, this framework is more about facilitating who clients want to become rather than discovering who they really are. 3 Personal constructivism is what I name a variant of social constructionism that envisions a more radical development of the self beyond biological and cultural limitations. This framework further emphasizes the role of personal agency and explains the growing list of sexual and gender identity labels. 4

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