Guest speakers visited Marshall University Thursday to speak about the relationship between Christianity and sexuality as a part of Pride Week.
Del Chrol, assistant professor of the Department of Classics at Marshall, Timothy Dixon, senior pastor of the First Congregational Church of Christ and Zach Anderson, a youth pastor from Logan, West Virginia, gathered to present “The Intersection of Christianity and Sexuality.”
Pastor Dixon is an openly gay pastor in Huntington, and his church helped spur the lawsuit that ended the gay marriage ban in West Virginia late last year.
Speakers were asked to discuss the Christian view of sexuality.
Chrol said the question is difficult to answer due to each person having a different view on both subjects.
Pastor Dixon said the notion of sexuality mostly comes from parents and grandparents.
Dixon talked about how the culture of not being able to talk about things like sexuality has “driven people underground.”
Anderson said people should treat each other as equals and worry about differences later.
The other major question posed was, “What is the source of the stigma against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people?”
Dixon said this stigma is primarily brought on by the LGBT community themselves.
“Gay people unleash the circus to represent us,” Dixon said.
Dixon argued if LGBT people want to be taken seriously, they should  not exaggerate themselves with things like feather boas and overly flamboyant actions.
Dixon said he thinks the LGBT community can do a lot to help counter the stigma against themselves.
The event concluded with a Q&A session from the audience.
Matthew Eplion can be contacted at [email protected].