COMING OUT FROM CONSERVATIVE RELIGION
In Pennsylvania German society, and specifically amongst the Old Order Churches, people live within a very close knit connected framework. An individual’s family, housing, food, employment and social fellowship are all directly connected to worshiping at a specific meetinghouse or with a local church district. Any effort by an individual to express themselves in any way differently from the accepted norms in their own particular local group is immediately noticeable and subject to varying degrees of response ranging from toleration to total segregation and disavowal of membership in that community. When others in mainstream society (often called, ‘The English’) acknowledge their same gender attraction, they often term this as ‘coming OUT’. For someone in the Old Order community of Pennsylvania German religious culture, this has a far more encompassing effect for everyone involved. Due to the churches insistence upon adhering to old ways and being skeptical of new ideas, th
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