Comments on: Rumspringa has sprung

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:46:39 +0000

Awesome. Time to close up the gay Amish thread, I think.

By: andy

andy — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:49:34 +0000

ok wow. you guys are all living IN the world…. we “amish” will accept gay people, as long as they are willing to make a change in their lifestyle, because in the bible, it says it is wrong. clear as day. no ifs no buts. its wrong, and if you live a gay lifestyle you will go to hell. the devil has so much control on this earth and people are just unaware of it, its really sad to see the society that you guys live in…. yes, amish aren’t perfect either, but at least we have our conservative morals that keep us from such evil, or at least help. there has been a form of deliverance from the homosexual daemon after being HONEST to family and friends… and everyone was very accepting and loving. no one wanted to change me, I wanted to change me. Stop all this nonsense, and just pray… for the end is coming. Be holy, like our Father- because he was First holy…. I will pray for everyone on this page. this will be my last comment. final. blessings to you all, and good luck in your endeavors… tsanhe deech schpador.

By: fred

fred — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:58:43 +0000

in fact all this talking about gay amish reminds me that you can hide things and lie to you and the rest of the world but not to God. so even if you choose not to be gay after rumshpringa and get married to someone, you will be only taunting yourself for never fully love as you should this person. so what is the point of all this lying? the fact amish are not able to accept that someone could be born gay and then choose to live his life peacefully as an amish amongs them indicate to me only one thing: “if you love those who love you what credit is that to you? for even sinners love those who love them”

By: Drew

Drew — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:10:43 +0000

Andy how old are you? By the way i am named andrew as well. andy you need to try and find people to talk to outside your community. Trying to find answers within the community i don’t think is the answer. I feel this will only send you in a circle and further into denial. Think about this for a minute dude, one of the greatest gifts i learned in life was to live a program which demands rigourous honesty, which included me getting honest with myself and others. you have nothing to be ashamed of if you are gay, and nothing to hide. The damaging part is to hide it and live a lie, i know this from my own life. I was married twice and had children while being gay, just because i thought i had to hide it. 20 years of my life was miserable and i hurt others by doing that rather than being honest with myself, god and others. God made you who you are, and loves you. It is only a stigma and a form of control to try and get people to change a part of themselves which makes them who they are. I now have a lover who is 25 years old, and he was struggling with the same issues with his family and about to destroy his life when i met him. He saw the live i had lived lying to myself and others for years, and through that was able to make the right choices that has saved him many years to come of torture and pain. If you know your gay, please make the choice to find your way to a life where you can be who you are, i don’t want to read about you one day, or know you have been unhappy all your life. Bless you andy, andrew

By: Dominic

Dominic — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:00:20 +0000

For all those asking questions about gay Amish, you won’t find much just roaming the internet. If you can, go to a college or university library and search their academic literature databases, search in the anthropology and sociology journals in particular. You’ll find plenty of articles. If I had the space I’d share some of the citations with you, I’m writing a doctoral diss. in anthropology on the subject.
Anyhow. Just check the lit. databases for articles.

By: mln

mln — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:23:37 +0000

I am having a lot of trouble finding info on gay Amish anyone know where else I could look?

thanks
michael

By: Carlton Colquitt

Carlton Colquitt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:03:27 +0000

For religion to succeed it must rely on ignorance and intimidation. With more education and outreach from enlightened people, those kept under control by coercive sects can be encouraged to get free of the inhumane conditions imposed on them.

By: William

William — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:43:55 +0000

andy hershberger, if you are still there, please respond to my post. I would really like to get in contact with you. I am very interested what is happening with gay Mennonites and Amish. I grew up in the Apostolic Christian church, which is an insular group culture similar to Mennonite and Amish cultures. While the Apostolics didn’t technically come from the Anabaptist tradition, they have much in common as far as basic beliefs. In Eastern Europe they call themselves Nazerenes. (I say “they” because I no longer consider myself one of them.)

I never joined the church growing up. Similar to the Amish, the choice is left to each individual. Several years ago, I came out to my family and miraculously was not disowned. I’m living a relatively happy existence though I sometimes feel lost without the intense bond of the group culture I grew up in, where people trust each other with their very lives. Now, I live at quite a distance, literally and figuratively, but I have recently found out that news of my homosexuality is getting around my parents’ community. It seems that my family, at least to some degree, is being shunned.

Sure, okay, shun me. But my family!? I mean come on!! My heart goes out to my parents, who have already decided to continue loving me even though I am something their church and religion abhors. The internal struggle they must be going through has got to be enormous.

Anyway, I’m looking to put together a book similar to “My Child Is Gay” (Ed. Bryce McDougall), a collection of letters from parents in rural Australia about how they dealt with issues arising from having out gay children. Some sort of resource like that is DRASTICALLY needed by parents such as my own. And it is of vital importance that it come from inside the community. They will not take seriously anything written by other types of Christians, so it needs to be specific to Apostolic Christians (and perhaps Mennonite and Amish as well, if this issue is also starting to happen in those communities). It definitely will not have the words “gay” or “homosexual” in the title. As you must well know, such words are unspeakable and have much fear attached to them.

andy – I’m thinking you might know people or at least be able to put me in contact with people in your community who *might* be interested in sharing their experiences by writing about it. ??? I do not plan to edit even one letter of the letters.

By: Anton

Anton — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:36:15 +0000

I didn’t know anything about Amish people, but now I think that they are nice, even though they suffer a lot because of the institutionalized homophobia of their cult(I am talking about the gay boys). I live close to Cleveland, in Painesville. Is it any Amish gay place (gay bar or something) where I can meet Amish boys?

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:35:27 +0000

Erm… Don’t think there’s much I can do to help there.