LGBTQIA+
CLINICAL PERSPECTIVE AND ORIENTATION ON LGBTQIA+ ISSUES.
I have a heart for the LGBTQIA+ community. Why? I was adopted. Relinquished at birth in 1968, I was placed in an adoptive family who did not share my genetics. Admittedly, I never felt a sense of true belonging, and I grew up feeling there was something very different about me. As I grew, I realized I had a "false self" that I showed the outside world, and a "true self" that only I knew about.
This is not unique, but it is a place that is difficult to live in, and reconcile. I always felt like I needed to be someone I was not - to the outside world - while wanting and longing to be my "authentic self" realizing I needed to find that internal place and be that person externally. Every time someone would learn that I was adopted, they would ask me questions that I couldn't relate with: "You must be so thankful for your adoptive parents saving you?" "You are so lucky to be adopted, meaning, chosen!" I became frustrated and angry that it became such a great emotional risk to tell people how I really felt about being adopted and not having a sense of belonging to anyone, or a sense of being accepted and understood for who I am on the inside and for my genetics. I naturally gravitated to LGBTQIA+ individuals growing up and continue to feel very much at home in their company today.
Every LGBTQIA+ individual "grows up" in a similar place with similar experiences that complicate growth and development into the people they want to be and become - on the inside and outside. I understand what it is like for the outside world to try and dictate so much of how one should feel about their internal circumstances. I do BELIEVE that we WILL eventually understand the science and genetics of being LGBTQIA+. We already know that hormones and their receptors play a large part in one's gender expression and gender identity. Accepting that everyone's bodies are different and work differently is good clinical practice medically and psychologically. Even though the ADHD brain works differently than the neurotypical brain, we do consider ADHD a diagnosable condition, but I resist and refuse to consider it a "disorder" and I resist and refuse to think of LGBTQIA+ genetic or biological differences as a "disorder," but rather on the spectrum of human natural biology.
As a clinician trained at a theological institution, Denver Seminary, I am proud of the education and clinical training I received. I am unapologetically Christian. I say this because I emphasize in my clinical practice the great commandment:
The Greatest Commandment (Book of Mark 12:28-29)
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b. Deuteronomy 6:4-5] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c. Leviticus 19:18] There is no commandment greater than these.”
I believe there is a loving eternal being - I have felt this presence my whole life - especially when alone. I have faith in what I intuitively know, and the expression of my faith that best fits me is being a Christian. As a Christian, the highest expression of my faith is to love others with all of my soul, mind and strength, and this means to be LGBTQIA+ affirming. Christians have ONLY ONE commandment to follow because it became too difficult to regulate human behavior with all of the other laws in the Old Testament.
I believe that every person was made by God and in the Image of God. I also believe there is much room for growth in the Church and current society to better understand concerns of gender identity and gender expression. Each person should be and deserves to be respected for their right to exercise their own values in relationship to love, sexual expression, sexual ethics and intimate partner preferences.
I continue to read and expand my knowledge of treating LGBTQIA+ concerns. As with any client, I want you to feel comfortable and never judged for the struggles you come to counseling to resolve. Most of my clients prefer a strictly clinical approach to their counseling and I am always happy to provide a strict clinical approach. However, for those individuals who have been hurt by the Church or people of religious faith, I offer a unique healing perspective theologically, as a matter of my Faith and the extension of Grace.
I have a heart for the LGBTQIA+ community. Why? I was adopted. Relinquished at birth in 1968, I was placed in an adoptive family who did not share my genetics. Admittedly, I never felt a sense of true belonging, and I grew up feeling there was something very different about me. As I grew, I realized I had a "false self" that I showed the outside world, and a "true self" that only I knew about.
This is not unique, but it is a place that is difficult to live in, and reconcile. I always felt like I needed to be someone I was not - to the outside world - while wanting and longing to be my "authentic self" realizing I needed to find that internal place and be that person externally. Every time someone would learn that I was adopted, they would ask me questions that I couldn't relate with: "You must be so thankful for your adoptive parents saving you?" "You are so lucky to be adopted, meaning, chosen!" I became frustrated and angry that it became such a great emotional risk to tell people how I really felt about being adopted and not having a sense of belonging to anyone, or a sense of being accepted and understood for who I am on the inside and for my genetics. I naturally gravitated to LGBTQIA+ individuals growing up and continue to feel very much at home in their company today.
Every LGBTQIA+ individual "grows up" in a similar place with similar experiences that complicate growth and development into the people they want to be and become - on the inside and outside. I understand what it is like for the outside world to try and dictate so much of how one should feel about their internal circumstances. I do BELIEVE that we WILL eventually understand the science and genetics of being LGBTQIA+. We already know that hormones and their receptors play a large part in one's gender expression and gender identity. Accepting that everyone's bodies are different and work differently is good clinical practice medically and psychologically. Even though the ADHD brain works differently than the neurotypical brain, we do consider ADHD a diagnosable condition, but I resist and refuse to consider it a "disorder" and I resist and refuse to think of LGBTQIA+ genetic or biological differences as a "disorder," but rather on the spectrum of human natural biology.
As a clinician trained at a theological institution, Denver Seminary, I am proud of the education and clinical training I received. I am unapologetically Christian. I say this because I emphasize in my clinical practice the great commandment:
The Greatest Commandment (Book of Mark 12:28-29)
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b. Deuteronomy 6:4-5] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c. Leviticus 19:18] There is no commandment greater than these.”
I believe there is a loving eternal being - I have felt this presence my whole life - especially when alone. I have faith in what I intuitively know, and the expression of my faith that best fits me is being a Christian. As a Christian, the highest expression of my faith is to love others with all of my soul, mind and strength, and this means to be LGBTQIA+ affirming. Christians have ONLY ONE commandment to follow because it became too difficult to regulate human behavior with all of the other laws in the Old Testament.
I believe that every person was made by God and in the Image of God. I also believe there is much room for growth in the Church and current society to better understand concerns of gender identity and gender expression. Each person should be and deserves to be respected for their right to exercise their own values in relationship to love, sexual expression, sexual ethics and intimate partner preferences.
I continue to read and expand my knowledge of treating LGBTQIA+ concerns. As with any client, I want you to feel comfortable and never judged for the struggles you come to counseling to resolve. Most of my clients prefer a strictly clinical approach to their counseling and I am always happy to provide a strict clinical approach. However, for those individuals who have been hurt by the Church or people of religious faith, I offer a unique healing perspective theologically, as a matter of my Faith and the extension of Grace.
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE:
Approximately one-third to one-half of my client load consists of individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Below are some of the issues I've addressed with my clients:
Approximately one-third to one-half of my client load consists of individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Below are some of the issues I've addressed with my clients:
- Gender Dysphoria - Queer Males and Females
- Relationship Issues - Gay & Lesbian Couples Unmarried
- Childhood Neglect & Addiction Issues - Queer Male
- Alcohol Addiction & Identity Issues - Gay Male
- Couples Counseling - Lesbian Couple married 10 years.
- Polyamorous Lifestyle while Married to a Transitioning MTF - Blended Family
LGBTQIA+ ADVOCACY:
I am honored to have a family member who has served 40+ years advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community and against actions of hate and ignorance.
Below is an outstanding interview, approximately 52 minutes, with my uncle-in-law, a gay man, Mark Matson. Mark is a Catholic Christian who has served as a founder of the Shepherd Initiative, and an active member of the Dignity organization, as well as actively working towards Church acceptance of LGBTQIA+ members.
Dignity is a 50+-year old organization that has advocated for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in the Catholic Church. The Shepherd Initiative was borne to stand up to Christian hate demonstrations associated with the murder and death of Matthew Shepard in 1998.
Mark Matson engaged the national Christian community beginning with 12 denominations to advocate for how they want Jesus to be understood. Christians expressing HATE on behalf of God, or in the name of God, or the Bible, are NOT true followers of Christ or Scripture.
This video is an important history of the intersection between believing Christians who are LGBTQIA+ and confronting the Church on scripture and how Jesus should be understood.
The Ohio History Project has selected to highlight Mark Matson's work as important to the History of Ohio.
I am honored to have a family member who has served 40+ years advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community and against actions of hate and ignorance.
Below is an outstanding interview, approximately 52 minutes, with my uncle-in-law, a gay man, Mark Matson. Mark is a Catholic Christian who has served as a founder of the Shepherd Initiative, and an active member of the Dignity organization, as well as actively working towards Church acceptance of LGBTQIA+ members.
Dignity is a 50+-year old organization that has advocated for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in the Catholic Church. The Shepherd Initiative was borne to stand up to Christian hate demonstrations associated with the murder and death of Matthew Shepard in 1998.
Mark Matson engaged the national Christian community beginning with 12 denominations to advocate for how they want Jesus to be understood. Christians expressing HATE on behalf of God, or in the name of God, or the Bible, are NOT true followers of Christ or Scripture.
This video is an important history of the intersection between believing Christians who are LGBTQIA+ and confronting the Church on scripture and how Jesus should be understood.
The Ohio History Project has selected to highlight Mark Matson's work as important to the History of Ohio.
HOPE! I am thankful for the communities of faith who have searched their conscience for the Will of our Creator, and for every LGBTQIA+ person who claims their identity in Christ and in the Image of God!