One of the things we here at Living Out sometimes get criticised for is our acceptance of and use of the concept of sexual orientation. The accusation made against us is that we have unthinkingly embraced a secular idea that has no biblical backing and that has unhelpful consequences.
I’ve been thinking about this recently. A natural response to criticism is to become defensive, but I feel it’s also important to consider what is being said. Is there any truth or merit in it? I’m very prepared to admit that I have not got everything in my thinking and teaching 100% right. None of us do, surely. Sometimes criticism can help us to recognise our areas of weakness. I’ve found it helpful to think more deeply about the concept of sexual orientation.
What is sexual orientation?
When I talk about sexual orientation, I’m referring to an enduring pattern of sexual attraction and desire. I describe myself as having a same-sex or gay sexual orientation because ever since my early teen years I have only experienced sexual attraction to other men. The concept gives me a helpful way of talking about my experience, especially when talking to others. It gives me a quick and easy way of communicating to those around me about this aspect of my experience of life.
It's also true that some people would see sexual orientation as about more than just an enduring pattern of attraction and desire. For example, the American Psychological Association says that the concept ‘also refers to an individual’s sense of personal and social identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions and behaviors.’1
Sexual orientation can be a useful concept to help people understand part of my life experience.
Some of these are things I wouldn’t be thinking of when describing my sexual orientation – for example, my sexuality is not core to my identity and my choice not to act on my same-sex sexual desires out of faithfulness to Jesus means I am not embracing the behaviours commonly associated with a gay orientation. But I think most recognise that these are secondary elements of the concept of sexual orientation and are not inherent to its use. Sexual orientation can still be a useful concept to help people understand part of my life experience because it is primarily about an enduring pattern of desires.
Interestingly, and importantly, the concept of sexual orientation has been refined in recent years. Whereas many have viewed sexual orientation as an innate and inherently static aspect of human experience, research on sexual fluidity is increasingly showing that this is not always the case.2 While many of us do have an enduring pattern of attraction, this isn’t always completely static across a lifetime. This fluidity is not the result of any intervention designed to change someone’s experience of sexuality; it is simply a spontaneously occurring experience of change. The concept of sexual orientation is still helpful, but growing acknowledgement of sexual fluidity shows that it shouldn’t be seen as always describing a static reality that will definitely be true for all of someone’s life. It is better seen as a description of someone’s present experience which might well, but doesn’t necessarily, predict what their experience will be later in life. Even as we acknowledge our current experience, we should have an awareness that this might not always be our experience.
Should Christians use the concept of sexual orientation?
The biblical picture is that as adult humans we are designed to be sexual beings. That is a good part of God’s design. The sad reality, of course, is that all aspects of God’s good creation have been impacted and disrupted by sin’s entry into the world – that includes us and our sexualities. All of us are sexual beings. All of us are broken sexual beings. All of us experience sexual temptation.
This means that none of us is ‘gay’ or ‘straight’ as a core identity. We are all broken sexual beings and all experience that reality in different ways. I think the nuance to the concept of orientation offered by research on sexual fluidity means it chimes pretty well with biblical teaching: we’re all broken sexual beings capable of experiencing sexual temptation in a variety of ways.
Nevertheless, many of us will find that our experience of being a sexual being tends to follow a certain pattern, and sexual orientation gives us a way of conceptualising and describing that when nuanced with an understanding of sexual fluidity. It can be a useful tool to communicate about reality.
The concept can be a useful tool to communicate about reality.
There are of course some risks here. There is the risk that the language of sexual orientation causes people to believe their sexuality is core to their identity. That’s a risk, but it’s not an inevitability. The problem of sexuality being viewed as identity runs much deeper in our culture than just the concept of sexual orientation. Discarding the concept won’t solve the problem and continuing to use the concept doesn’t necessarily cause the problem. We need to recognise and live out the biblical approach to identity formation, and we can do this regardless of whether or not we choose to employ the concept of sexual orientation.
Another risk picked up by some critics of Christian use of the concept is that it could solidify an experience and make people less open to the possibility of discovering change in the pattern of their sexual desires. This is a genuine risk, but it is one which is challenged and mitigated when we recognise the way that research on sexual fluidity has brought nuance of the concept of orientation. No longer is – or at least should – sexual orientation be viewed as a declaration of a static reality guaranteed to remain for life. Rather, it is a description of current experience which does suggest a probability about the future, but certainly not a guarantee. If we as Christians choose to use the concept of sexual orientation, we’ve got to keep this nuance in mind.
There are risks in employing the concept of sexual orientation. And there are ways it can be used which don’t fit well with Christian faithfulness and a Christian worldview. So I am going to continue using the concept, recognising its usefulness, but I’m going to seek to do so aware of the potential risks it brings. As with so many things in this age, Christians need not to run away in fear or embrace unthinkingly in folly, but to engage carefully in wisdom. Let’s be those who seek to be wise, not fearful or foolish.
- ‘Sexual orientation and gender diversity’, American Psychological Association. Accessed 27 October 2023.
- See, for example, Lisa M. Diamond, ‘Sexual Fluidity in Male and Females’, Current Sexual Health Reports; Amelia Hill, ‘Almost 7% of people in UK changed sexual identity in six years, study suggests’, The Guardian.
