Gay Wicca

What is gay Wicca?

Well-dressed! Flamboyant! Sparkling!

Seriously, though. There are lots of lesbians, gay men, bisexual, and transgender folks who practice Wicca.

In fact, Wicca seems especially suited to the GLBT crowd...

Witch Tip For simplicity's sake, "gay" will be used to mean queer folk in general, since most people object to it less than "queer," and it's cumbersome to keep writing out "lesbians, gay men, bisexual, and transgender folks". Hope you don't mind.

Why Does Wicca Appeal To GLBT Folk?

Several reasons...

Wicca, at least the New Wicca, is not muddied up with judgemental attitudes. Queer relationships are generally viewed as equivalent to straight ones.
GLBT people are welcomed into most Wiccan circles, and this inclusivity is necessarily for gay spirituality.
When you're queer, you learn to think for yourself, and to follow your own drummer — namely, your heart.
A Gay Wiccan is right on board, then, since Wicca demands being responsible only to yourself, the Earth (and all Her children), and your Deity.
GLBT people are often creative, socially-conscious individuals.
Wicca spirituality is a creative, socially-conscious tradition, and so it's a natural fit.
Most GLBT people are (wisely) skeptical of gender polarizing and general intolerance. This can make most other religions less than satisfying.
There seems to be an innately spiritual quality to "two-spirited people," as aboriginal cultures knew. And Wicca is one of the few spiritual paths that honour that.
In fact, I believe it is partly the gay influence that gave birth to the New Wicca. (More on this below.)

Is Gay Wicca Any Different?

There's nothing inherently different between gay Wicca and "regular" Wicca spirituality.

Not unless the gay Wiccans make it so. Which depends entirely on the witch / coven / Circle that's practicing it.

A spiritual practice applies equally to everyone, regardless of labels they may wear in the non-magickal world. This is one of the defining features of spirituality, as opposed to religion.

The only time there may be something different is when gender roles are called for, as in Gardnerian Wicca.

Can There Be Gay Gardnerians?

It's more challenging for GLBT folk to practice the old Wicca — the Gardnerian and Alexandrian types. These are more structured around gender polarity.

Also, such groups are usually limited to paired male-female dyads. So it can be difficult for gay Wiccans to find a "traditional" Wicca coven to join, either as a single person or a queer couple.

But you may not want to.

Gardnerian Wicca, with its emphasis on sexual polarity, can feel totally inappropriate for a Gay Wiccan. If you identify with the Divine in a form other than your gender form, or you invoke the God/dess with a same-sex partner, the prescribed gender roles can be very restrictive.

Still, persistent gay Wiccans can follow the Gardnerian Wicca by focusing on the quality of spirit rather than reproductive organs.

Then a little canny rewriting of gender pronouns etc, and you're set.

Be aware, though, that some Gardnerians and other Pagans may dispute this. When the Divine is perceived in strict gender dualities, flexibility may be missing. Thankfully, most Witches and Pagans are spiritually aware, and understand that the Divine in fact has no genitalia.

Gender and Wicca has more on the function and limitations of gender in Wiccan religion.

Gay Wiccan Spirituality

Even if you fit the traditional gender roles and identity, the genderized versions of Wicca can feel restrictive.

This is especially true as the enforced cultural boundaries around gender are breaking down. The New Wicca reflects this liberating social shift.

Wicca Spirituality arises from the creative heart of each person who practices it.

So it's easily adapted to your particular spiritual needs. Gay or straight, male or female, or any of the options in the middle . . . Wicca as a spiritual path adapts to your soul's desires.

In fact, with Wiccan Spirituality, there is no distinction at all between gay or straight, male female or other.

We all meet in the Divine with our essential Self, however we identify.

Queens And Kings Bearing Gifts

As mentioned earlier, Gay Wiccans offers special gifts to Wicca — which are gifts to the world at large — such as ...

Increasing the resonance for energy balance.
Men holding Goddess energy and women holding God energy helps us go beyond the "duality" that infects our world, and rediscover the oneness that underlies reality.
Every person who combines these Energies within themselves strengthens the Morphogenetic Field for unity.
Undoing the false separations of gender, and reminding us that are symbols of Divinity are only that — symbols, not fact.
Crossing the barriers of hardened belief. Opening minds to new possibilities.
GLBT people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her Energetic Boundaries Study Guide.
In Native American culture, the shamans were often GLBT, and this union of both polarities was seen as the source of their Power.
I have to say I've seen the same thing.

It seems to me that at this time in history, GLBT people have been born in great numbers, to bring their gifts of healing for the human heart and the planet.