LGBTQ-affirming religious groups

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ)-affirming religious groups are religious groups that welcome LGBTQ people as their members, do not consider homosexuality as a sin or negative, and affirm LGBTQ rights and relationships. They include entire religious denominations, as well as individual congregations and places of worship. Some groups are mainly composed of non-LGBTQ members and they also have specific programs to welcome LGBTQ people into them, while other groups are mainly composed of LGBTQ members.

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.

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 following denominations accept same-sex unions to some degree:

A number of Christian ministries seek to create officially sanctioned "safe-spaces" in a similar vein as gay–straight alliances in various schools.

Unitarian Universalism has a long-standing tradition of welcoming LGBTQ people. The official position of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) states that "Each of us has worth and dignity, and that worth includes our gender and our sexuality. As Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we not only open our doors to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we value diversity of sexuality and gender and see it as a spiritual gift. We create inclusive religious communities and work for LGBTQ justice and equity as a core part of who we are. All of who you are is sacred. All of who you are is welcome."

The first ceremony of union performed by a UU minister for a same-gender couple was reportedly done in the late 1950s. It became more commonplace in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The UUA has been ordaining people regardless of sexual orientation since the 1970s, and the first openly transgender person was ordained in 1988. The UUA expects all ministers to show ministerial competency in the area of human sexuality before being approved for ordination. In 2004 the UUA President's Freedom to Marry Fund was launched. In 2009 Standing on the Side of Love was launched, a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love's power to stop oppression. The campaign provides a platform for freedom to marry efforts, among other causes.