The Problem With "Coming Out Christian"

My entire life, I have seen Christians act like they are a persecuted minority.  Beginning in Sunday school and then youth group, people would tell us that we would be persecuted by society (or maybe communists) for our beliefs, and we, the mighty few, would have to stand up for our Christian faith in the face of that persecution.

The thing is, Christians in the U.S. are not a minority, let alone a persecuted one.  We are the majority, numerically and culturally.  Schools take breaks around our holidays, prayers in public spaces are almost always in our tradition, and nearly every U.S. president has been Christian.

Recently, I have seen a couple articles online in which people "come out" as Christian.  This is troubling for me for a number of reasons, and one is that I think it feeds into this narrative of Christians as a persecuted minority by co-opting the language of LGBTQ people. 

The writers say that "coming out" as Christian feels risky for them.  That may be true, but it is not risky in the way that actually coming out as LGBTQ is.  These writers are not at risk of being rejected by their families, losing their jobs, or having a higher likelihood of suicide because they "come out" as Christian.

A few days ago, I had a conversation with another queer Christian, one who is not out.  He said that hiding is destroying him, but he is afraid of how his family will respond that that he will lose his job.  He said, "I spend most of my time alone. I just don't know who I can trust." 

This is what coming out really means for many LGBTQ people (including LGBTQ Christians).  I am not comfortable with Christians appropriating that language for other purposes.