Embracing the sacred in the unfamiliar: Reflections on the task of Christian theologising under the tutelage of LGBTQ people

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people are often subjected to suspicion, condemnation and exclusion by mainstream churches based on the perception that they are deviant, pathological and sinful. Consequently, they are treated as objects of unfamiliarity, derision and pity rather than subjects of experiential wisdom who can inform the theological enterprise. Through a detailed analysis and interpretation of the narratives of gay and transgender Malaysian Christians on their interweavings of gender, sexuality and faith, and navigating the postsynodal apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and the thoughts of various scholars, I argue that LGBTQ people can contribute to the augmentation of Christian theologising – a sort of tutelage from those whose voices are ordinarily marginalised and dismissed due to their non-normative genders and sexualities. Specifically, I propose that LGBTQ theological tutelage can galvanise the processes of (i) recognising and respecting personal theological agency; (ii) challenging gender and sexuality injustices; and (iii) interrogating and rethinking biblical interpretation.