Letter: Reconciling religion and homosexuality

rom Mr Dermot Trimble

Sir: Your leading article "Love and sex in a hostile church" (9 March) implied that the church has nothing to offer homosexuals other than the advice "don't do it" or "repress it". Happily this is not always the case. As someone who once lived out a homosexual life, I have come to know the transforming power of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I know from my own experience that the causes of homosexuality almost invariably lie in the hurts and rejections felt in the process of growing up which, consciously or unconsciously, are clung on to. The church, in my experience, has something very real to offer people who want to be set free from the consequences of such inner pain.

It would be a pointless church indeed that merely affirmed a perception of sexuality rooted in dysfunctional family relationships and unforgiveness when it has a much more profound freedom to offer.

Yours faithfully,

DERMOT TRIMBLE

London, SW7

10 March