The Religious Landscape for LGBTQ+ Persons

Navigating the world of organized religion is difficult under the best of circumstances given the wide array of expressions, interpretations, ideology, tolerance, and willingness to include all persons. For a member of the LGBTQ+ community, a negative experience can range from merely uncomfortable to intensely and emotionally damaging. To mitigate the negative and increase propensity for a positive experience, markers as to a faith community’s degree of openness and inclusion not only exist, but are clear, identifiable, and to a large degree, dependable. This brief review of the major religions and faith traditions in Delaware provides some of those markers along with guidelines for understanding. The focus of this review is based on demographic data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Section.