http://www.npr.org/2011/07/31/138782702/for-gay-christian-musicians-work-balances-faith-art-love?sc=fb&cc=fp wrote: For Gay Christian Musicians, Work Balances Faith, Art, Love
Many Christian denominations denounce homosexuality as a sin. As a result, gay Christian singers, songwriters and musicians face a challenge in balancing their art, their sexuality and their faith. For those few who have decided to come out, it has meant giving up successful careers.
Singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp has sold more than a million albums and earned Dove Awards on the strength of songs like her 1998 hit, "Undo Me." But in 2002, at the height of her career as a contemporary Christian artist, Knapp suddenly stopped making music.
"Knowing that I was going to have to publicly deal with my sexuality — it really made me consider how much I wanted to participate in music," Knapp says.
Seven years later, Knapp reemerged, no longer self-identified as a Christian artist — instead, she was a folk-rock musician, a person of faith and a lesbian. Knapp says that even after all that time, she still had doubts about coming forward.
"It made me very hesitant to get back up into the public level, knowing that there would be discussion about my sexuality on the whole," she says.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Dr. Teresa Hairston, publisher of Gospel Today magazine, says there are clear expectations regarding sexuality in the Christian church and in the Christian music industry.
"There is an assumption that as a minister of the gospel — and your expression of that ministry being in song — that you are an ambassador that carries with the gifting of the music a lifestyle that agrees with the Bible," Hairston says.
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http://www.npr.org/2011/07/31/138782702 ... c=fb&cc=fp
"...and they'll know we are Christians by our love"
