Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)-affirming religious groups are religious groups that welcome LGBTQ people and affirm LGBTQ rights and relationships. LGBTQ-affirming religious groups including entire religions as well as sects, lineages, denominations, or traditions. They also include individual religious communities, organizations, and institutions.
Religions intersect with LGBTQ people through a range of beliefs, practices, and organizational policies that shape experiences of romantic orientation and relationships including same-sex couples, sexual orientation and acts including homosexuality, gender identity and expression, and participation in social and religious life. The relationship between religion and sexual orientation, romantic orientation, and gender identity varies widely across traditions and communities. In many cases, understandings of romance, gender, and sexuality do not align with modern Western LGBTQ categories, reflecting different cultural and historical perspectives. Historic and cross cultural elements of religious and cultural incorporation of non-heterosexual identities can still be identified in traditions that have survived into the modern era, such as the Berdache, Hijra, Muxe, bugi genders, Fa'afafine, Kathoey, and Xanith.
Within both historic and contemporary religious traditions, views on LGBTQ people vary widely. These range from full support from LGBTQ-affirming religious groups, including affirmation of diverse sexual and romantic orientations, gender identities and expressions, and same-sex marriage, to opposition, including condemnation that can extend from social exclusion to violence. Some religions and traditions may affirm certain members of the LGBTQ community while rejecting others, for example supporting gay rights while opposing transgender rights, or accepting gender diversity while condemning same-sex relationships.
Historically, some cultures and religions accommodated, institutionalized, revered and/or tolerated same-sex relationships and non-heterosexual identities; such mythologies and traditions can be found in numerous religions around the world. In support of LGBTQ people, many religious and spiritual communities look to sacred teachings, texts, traditions, customs, practices, insight, and cultural practices for guidance.
Scholarship on LGBTQ people and religion Attitudes toward homosexuality have been found to be determined not only by personal religious beliefs, but by the interaction of those beliefs with the predominant national religious context—even for people who are less religious or who do not share their local dominant religious context. Scholars have applied cultural sociology as well as religious context-based effects to explain public opinion variations among nations.
Within the social sciences, religious practice and institutions have been studied for their role in orienting heteronormative societies in how they relate to LGBTQ people and same-sex couples, and their abilities to be functional beings in societal contexts.
Abrahamic religions Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) have traditionally affirmed and endorsed a patriarchal and heteronormative approach towards human sexuality, favouring exclusively penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women within the boundaries of marriage over all other forms of human sexual activity, including autoeroticism, masturbation, oral sex, non-penetrative and non-heterosexual sexual intercourse (all of which have been labeled as "sodomy" at various times), believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they are considered sinful, and further compared to or derived from the behavior of the alleged residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the status of LGBTQ people in early Christianity and early Islam is debated.
In modern times, LGBTQ-affirming Christian denominations cite several reasons for their support of LGBTQ rights and relationships. Some argue that passages in the Bible never discuss LGBTQ relationships as they are known today. Others reject the belief in biblical inerrancy citing translation errors, biases, and other modern reinterpretations of biblical passages such as those seemingly supportive of slavery. Others argue that God created LGBTQ people, LGBTQ relationships produce good-fruit, and those relationships are therefore good or the fact that Jesus never addressed homosexuality but focused on messages of love. Similar interpretations have been applied to LGBTQ rights within Islam and Judaism.
Christianity
Several denominations within Christianity accept LGBTQ members, affirm LGBTQ relationships, and permit the ordination of openly LGBTQ candidates for their ministries. In addition to denominations many independent churches support LGBTQ members.
The European Forum of LGBT+ Christian Groups was founded in 1982 by various national associations.Abbie E. Goldberg, The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ Studies, 2nd Edition, SAGE Publications, USA, 2024, p. 591 In 2025, it had 40 member associations in 20 countries.
Denominations with strong LGBTQ support
The Episcopal Church (United States): At its 2015 triennial General Convention, the Episcopal Church voted overwhelmingly to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples. Many dioceses had previously allowed their priests to officiate at civil same-sex marriage ceremonies, but the church had not yet changed its own laws on marriage. The church law replaced the terms "husband" and "wife" with "the couple". Individual members of the clergy may still decline to perform same-sex weddings. Previously, the Episcopal Church had voted to allow a "generous pastoral response" for couples in same-sex civil unions, domestic partnerships, and marriages. The United Church of Christ: In 2005, the General Synod adopted a resolution supporting equal access to marriage for all couples, regardless of gender. This resolution encouraged (but did not require) individual congregations to adopt policies supporting equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Lutheranism (See Homosexuality and Lutheranism): The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: During its 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA passed a resolution by a vote of 619–402 reading "Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support and hold publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada permits same-sex marriages. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark: In 2012, the Danish parliament voted to make same-sex marriages mandatory in all state churches. Individual priests may refuse to perform the ceremony, but the local bishop must organize a replacement. The Church of Iceland permits same-sex marriages. The Lutheran Evangelical Church in Italy permits same-sex marriages. The Church of Sweden: On 22 October 2009, the governing board of the Church of Sweden voted 176–62 in favour of allowing its priests to wed same-sex couples in new gender-neutral church ceremonies, including the use of the term marriage. The Church of Norway: In 2013, the bishops announced that they would allow "gay couples to receive church blessings for their civil unions..." In 2017, the Church of Norway decided to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in churches. The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian group in the United States, voted to allow same-gender marriages on 19 June 2014. This vote allows pastors to perform marriages in jurisdictions where same-sex marriages are legally recognized. Additionally, the Assembly voted to send out a proposed amendment to the Book of Order, changing the description of marriage from "between a man and a woman" to "between two people, traditionally between a man and a woman." This amendment needed to be approved by a majority of the 172 Presbyteries to take effect. On 17 March 2015, the New Jersey–based Presbytery of the Palisade became the 87th presbytery to approve the ratification, making the change official. The Metropolitan Community Church performs same-sex marriages. The MCC was founded to support LGBTQ Christians. In 1968, MCC founder Rev. Troy Perry officiated the first public same-sex marriage ceremony in the United States, though it was not legally recognized at the time. The United Church of Canada: The General Council of the church accepts same-sex marriages. However, each individual congregation is free to develop its own marriage policies.
Denominations with mixed support
Anglicanism (See Homosexuality and Anglicanism): The Anglican Communion is divided over the issue of homosexuality. "The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, South India, South Africa, the US and Wales." The Anglican Church in New Zealand: In 2014, the "General Synod passe[d] a resolution that will create a pathway towards the blessing of same-gender relationships, while upholding the traditional doctrine of marriage...It therefore says clergy should be permitted [while the blessings are being developed] 'to recognise in public worship' a same-gender civil union or state marriage of members of their faith community..." On a diocesan level, the Dunedin Diocese already permits a blessing for relationships irrespective of the partners' gender. "Blessings of same-sex relationships are offered in line with [Dunedin] Diocesan Policy and with the bishop's permission." In the Diocese of Auckland, a couple was "joined in a civil union at the inner-Auckland Anglican church of St Matthews in the City in 2005." The larger Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia allows priests to bless same-sex civil marriage or civil unions, but not to carry out same-sex marriage ceremonies in an Anglican church. The Anglican Church of Australia: The church does not have an official position on homosexuality. In 2013, the Diocese of Perth voted to recognise same-sex relationships.The Social Responsibilities Committee of the Anglican Church Southern Queenslandsupported "the ability for same-sex couples to have a legally recognised ceremony to mark their union." The Diocese of Gippsland has appointed clergy in a "same-sex partnership." St. Andrew's Church in Subiaco, in Perth, has publicly blessed a same-sex union. In 2020, the church's highest court, the Appellate Tribunal, ruled that a diocese may authorise the blessing of persons in same-sex unions. The Anglican Church of Canada: In 2016, the Anglican Church of Canada voted to permit same-sex marriage after a vote recount. The motion must pass a second reading in 2019 to become church law. The dioceses of Niagara and Ottawa, both of which already allowed blessing rites, announced after the 2016 vote that they would immediately allow same-sex marriages. In 2019, the General Synod approved a resolution which allows each provincial synod and diocese to bless or perform same-sex marriages if they choose to do so. The Diocese of Toronto has specifically allowed churches to perform same-sex marriages as of mid-November 2016 when Archbishop Colin Johnson issued the Pastoral Guidelines for Same-Sex Marriages. In brief, the guidelines stated that such marriages could proceed in the Church "at the pastoral discretion of the Bishop and with the agreement of local clergy".At the same General Synod, a resolution, called "A Word to the Church", was approved that recognised that a diocese may choose to perform same-sex marriages.