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Well, the subject is quite self explanatory. Now I know how many of you feel about religion but I want to know IF there are any gay catholics or for that matter anyone who is observing lent. If you are, how are you gonna observe it?

Being born and raised a Catholic, I'm not blinded by 'love the Homo, hate the Homosexuality' spiel. My friends consider me a troublemaker in my parish and never ever try to initiate any discussion regarding religion with me- not because I argue like a flaming queen but because they don't like to question their conditioning.

However, I do find myself constantly torn. There is a lot of beauty in organised religion as well, and you always need someone to work from within to bring about changes in the magisterium (Anyone read Philip Pullman's 'His dark materials'? Big fan here)

Sorry for droning on and on. Gotta do something about that. So, any pious queens out there?

Yeah...
I gave up Catholicism for Lent back in 1985

GQjock saidYeah...
I gave up Catholicism for Lent back in 1985

Regardless of beliefs and church politics, I like the structure of traditional celebrations and observances, and so yes, I'll be observing. Taking less for yourself doesn't seem like such a bad thing for 40 days, especially with so much abundance in our lives for the rest of the year.

Im proud Catholic Im Filipino we observe Lent.. today is Ash Wednesday... God Bless you all.

Yeas, I am giving up meat and all animal products. Oh, wait a minute...

I'm giving up meat, fish and eggs. For me its very difficult to do so. Although in India its not that bad. Last year I was in Europe during Lent. It was then that I truly appreciated the wealth of Indian vegetarian cuisine. I'm also trying to abstain from gossiping, but...we'll see how that goes

Day one was ok so far.

I am trying to watch my language and what I say about other people, my ex and some of my employees in particular.

Although not a Catholic I decided to observe this christian tradition this year. I kind of a former-Lutheran-pagan leaning-Agnostic at this point, and I incorporate things from different religions into my spiritual journey. Lent fits with my personal goals this year, so I will observe it.

Beer. I love it. But I am cutting it out for lent. And if it helps my nutrition and weight training goals - I may give it up for good!

I am Episcopalian (Anglican) and yes I do observe lent - the ashes earlier today, eating fish on Fridays, etc.

And of course I think it's incredibly selfless of me to forgo both American Football and Baseball for Lent.

As a practicing Catholic and very proud of my Church, yes I am observing Lent. I am giving up arguing with those who have left the Church.

Same here, born and raised catholic. I have stopped going to church as the last time I was there, I recall the father saying how being gay was sin. The guy when on and on on how bad we were all siners (not just gay people), he was loud and upset.

I was raised in Mexico, mass there is so different than mass here, I went to a catholic teenage group and those times were the best of my life!! The father in charge of the group was a very cool, young caring father and was always pushing us to be kind to one another and get us to understand the hard years to come as a teenager.

So, for the past 6 or 7 years I stopped following lent, and really did not care anymore, my mom and dad do not accept this but they keep telling to at least have faith.

I still believe I am catholic and I only focus on the good side of it, I believe god loves and protects me and the virgen mary is always looking over me. I do not believe that being gay is a sin and hating others is a big sin!

So I decided for this year to follow lent as an appreciation to god, the virgen mary, my great grandma who passed last year (she was 106 y/o, I miss you!) for all the good things that have happened in my life. My family, niece and nephew, my partner, my job and being able to travel.

Im not giving up anything for lent but, I will follow through the right way. We just dont eat meat today (ash wednesday) and fridays until lent is over.

I thought I shared this and please respect peoples beliefs and love one another.

Wow, I keep forgetting how fast this came this year. I shouldn't have skipped church this sunday. I guess I'll give up something really vain and gay. Like carbs or something. Or my feather boa.

Yes-

Practicing Catholic here. I won't be eating meat today, but I love fish anyways. San Diegan born and raised

Episcopalian here and this is what I did for Lent last year and will be doing this year. Instead of giving something up, I went to the Darfur Wall every day and donated $1 to light a number on the wall. I recommend you check it out. Coincidentally, they estimate 400,000 killed so there are 40 squares of 10,000 numbers.

Ironically, I got got interviewed for the Seattle Examiner because the site creators noticed the same person donating every day.

I would try to remember the Episcopal confession of sin each day when I made my donation:

Yes, Happy Ass Wednesday. I hope Jesus and Mary and the Pope give you lots of ass on your faces today!

Determined to stick to the fish on Fridays rule this year. ...can't promise I won't make dirty jokes about "fishy Fridays" though.

For all y'all who are giving stuff up, best of luck to you.

This year, for Lent, I've chosen to give up:
1) asceticism, 2) dereliction, 3) isolationism, 4) spuriousness, 5) niggardliness, 6) depravity and 7) glibness.

Forty days is ample time to break old habits and instil new, healthier ones. * crosses fingers *

I decided to be Jewish.

I'm gonna spend 40 days wondering where everything I've ever lent out is.

Wait. I think I ought to give up my Avoidant Personality Disorder before I tackle the other seven (previously listed). I'll decide later.

Yes, absolutely. I'm Episcopalian, but it's close enough to Catholic in worship style. We will have weekly vesper services every Wednesday and Friday through Lent. Then, during Holy Week, vespers every evening, and the Great Vigil on Saturday before Easter. I am a church musician, and it will be glorious and deeply spiritual

Aero, I'll bet you have my falafel scoop.

jarhead5536I am a church musician, and it will be glorious and deeply spiritual

Soprano?

<------ wouldn't mind giving up crappy friday cafeteria food at work

McGay said[quote][cite]jarhead5536[/cite]I am a church musician, and it will be glorious and deeply spiritual

Soprano? [/quote]

Cute. I play the piano and sing BASS.

proud catholic here.
practicing works of charity - satisfying celibate priests and similar less-fortunate gorgeous guys
following Xt's teaching - loving my fucking hot neighbour as myself

jc_online saidAlthough not a Catholic I decided to observe this christian tradition this year. I kind of a former-Lutheran-pagan leaning-Agnostic at this point, and I incorporate things from different religions into my spiritual journey. Lent fits with my personal goals this year, so I will observe it.

Beer. I love it. But I am cutting it out for lent. And if it helps my nutrition and weight training goals - I may give it up for good!

I'm no theologian, but I think that Catholicism involves a certain amount of agnosticism as well.

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Hey jarhead 5536, I sing bass too; I'm not that fluent on the piano though.

Im was also born and raised catholic and ever since coming to school have found a more accepting parish (one that even has a LGBT group-not that i attend, but the option is there) which makes it easier to observe this lenten season.

As far as sacrificing, ive given up sex. That way i can feel more confident in myself that the reason why I'm not getting any lately is solely my decision. With my luck all the opportunities will come within these next 40 days. hahahahaha

AndyDrew saidIm was also born and raised catholic and ever since coming to school have found a more accepting parish (one that even has a LGBT group-not that i attend, but the option is there) which makes it easier to observe this lenten season.

As far as sacrificing, ive given up sex. That way i can feel more confident in myself that the reason why I'm not getting any lately is solely my decision. With my luck all the opportunities will come within these next 40 days. hahahahaha

So you're hoping for temptations to change your luck?
What do you know, seems like I've found a kindred spirit!

Jokes aside though, its wonderful you've found a more accepting parish. We need more of them all over the world.

I don't give things up for lent, what I generally do is try and do a good deed every day

I'm not catholic or even religious in general but love the idea of lent and try to give up something every year. It's good to flex the willpower I think. I tried to give up masturbation once...boy was THAT a mistake!

This year I'm giving up eating out...should be a challenge (but less so than the masturbation one...)

This time around I'm not going to give up something, but do something. I have the tendency to start projects around my house. A friend recommended that I should focus on completing something in this time and follow through.

No I am not observing lent. I am no longer a devout Roman Catholic so lent does not mean anything to me so I will just get on with my daily life.

This Lent I decided to stop buying food stuffs such as pizza, pies, chips, sweets, hot chocolate, arancini... an endless list of stuff I can buy at the snack shops near the university (other than sweets, and the no meat rule for Wednesdays and Fridays). I think this will help me alot, I guess after Easter I would be so used to not buying stuff that I will keep up with this lifestyle. My only regret is that a new pancake shop opened up 2/3 weeks ago near campus, and it is VERY tempting! At least I've managed somewhat to live without sweets thus far, last year I was buying sweets like crazy, almost on a daily basis, even during Lent! I was addicted.

Can I ask a weird question? (Oops I just did! Don't you hate when people do that? [<-- That's not the question, this is -->]) Has anyone of you considered the no meat rule on your partner's meat?!

LOL!

NYMan saidI tried to give up masturbation once...boy was THAT a mistake!

LOL! Once my friends decided to try not to masturbate for Lent (I backed out immediately, I knew I wouldn't be able to fight the urge!). The longest they took was between 11 to 20 days! (At least that's what they said!)

HAHAHAHA!

That is actually what I have given up. So far, I have made it, but I won't lie that it hasn't been hard to do.

Yep, it was no accident for my word choice.

I usually give up something or try to give more...maybe volunteer at the humane society for a couple months or work an event. i have non-catholic friends that love the idea of lent...and they do it too! my favorite childhood memory of lent is the little cardboard rice bowl we got from unicef. You try to save money by eating less extravagant dinners and all the change saved each dinner you put in the rice bowl. at the end of lent you give it to unicef to feed the hungry....it really hits home how much we spend on the little things that could mean so much more to someone less fortunate.

My partner observes lent, always has as long as I have known him.

What the hell is "LENT" and why is it important only to Catholics?

I'm not Catholic, but I did give up both chocolate and soft drinks for Lent this year (hey, who says you can't do something good for your health at the same time?) Soft drinks haven't been a problem at all, but I am going through some heavy ass withdrawals from my addiction to chocolate! LOL Still, I've lost about 10 pounds since it all began... so I'm not complaining. I'm going to try and keep soft drinks out of my diet after Lent is over, and narrow my chocolate binges to once a week (or go on the patch LOL)

Former Catholic, currently non denominational. I am, though, not eating meat on Fridays.

I'm catholic, I Wwas raised by nuns and now i'm in a catholic university and I've never had problem at all about my beliefs and my sexual prederence, my friends are ok with that and we grew up together so they're also catholic, we go to mass every sunday and stufff like that...

i was raised pagan, and i'll be celebrating ostara with a fertility and rebirth ritual when the time comes.

I'm trying. Holding rosary beads as I type this! Trying to give up energy drinks. none in the day time atleast.

Raised Catholic here, with two aunts as nuns (mom's sister AND dad's sister), and my brother is a priest. 13 years of Catholic school, including kindergarten. Still, haven't gone to church aside from the family holidays in years.

I gave up alcohol for Lent, just to prove to myself that I could. My Irish heritage and drinking traditions were strong, but my "give up" power was stronger! I'm glad to be done, and have never looked forward to Easter as much as I have this year.