Homospirituality has many of the same goals that traditional spiritualities have, especially the achievement of an inner sense of well-being and self-worth, a love that leads to altruism, and a conscious sense of oneness with the universe. But the hostile environment in which many homosexuals live and their consciousness of difference have often helped to create a spiritual awareness within them that differs from that of heterosexuals and differs, in fact, from that of non-gay minorities.

By turning within, glbtq people can build a solid spiritual foundation that will enrich their interactions with fellow human beings. Bolstered by a sense of their own value, and healed from the pain of rejection and disdain that they may have felt from the larger society, glbtq people often discover that by cultivating a deep sense of their own spirituality, they can face the challenge of a homophobic society and learn ways of coping, even as they also bond with other glbtq people of similar spiritual dispositions.

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By exchanging insights and emotions with each other, gender-special people can become more and more rooted in a productive spirituality that explains their own purpose in life and helps them reach out to others to share the inner gifts they have cultivated through meditation and/or communal spiritual experiences.

The Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church in the U. S. A. is a part, has dealt with issues of sexuality in complex ways, not all of them favorable to its glbtq membership.

Buddhism is unusual among world religions in that it generally expresses neutrality on the issue of homosexuality.

Evangelical Christians, who tend to be fundamentalists and socially conservative, have not been welcoming to glbtq people.

Spurred by the gay liberation movement of the late 1960s, a number of religious groups--including specifically gay-oriented churches and synagogues--have been formed to address the needs of gay and lesbian believers.

Goddess religions, especially those that feature a singular Great or Mother Goddess, honor female energy for its role in fertility and the creation of new life.

The dominant religion of modern India, Hinduism is no longer as tolerant of same-sex sexual relations as it seems to have been in the past.

Despite religious prohibitions against same-sex sexual relationships, Islamic societies generally extend tolerance through a pattern of collective denial.

Different denominations within Judaism have vastly differing opinions on both the inclusion of glbtq people into their communities and the tolerance that should be accorded homosexual acts.

The Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian denomination founded to minister to the glbtq community, has grown into a worldwide ministry with over 40,000 members in 18 countries.

The Society of Friends, especially its conservative branch, has been a leader among Christian religious denominations in its acceptance of homosexuality and gay and lesbian identity.

A movement that emerged in the late 1970s, the Radical Faeries identify with the gender variant sacred outsider that has appeared and reappeared in many cultures throughout human history.

Historically, the Roman Catholic Church may be the institution most responsible for the suffering of individuals involved in same-sex sexual relationships.

Santería, Vodou, and related belief systems comprise a complex of religious ideas, practices, and imagery whose origins can be traced to West African traditions.

The Southern Baptists have become the most intolerant of the major American religious denominations, especially (but not exclusively) for their opposition to equal rights for gay men and lesbians.

A set of 78 cards with evocative imagery, the Tarot is often used in fortune-telling, and also for self-discovery, meditation, and intuitive work.

The Unitarian Universalist church in the United States has been outspoken in support of human rights--including, since 1970, those of the glbtq community.

The United Church of Canada has been instrumental in the increased acceptance of glbtq rights, including same-sex marriage, in Canada.

The United Church of Christ has attempted to make its churches a "place of extravagant welcome" for glbtq people.

Primarily a nature religion that seeks to commune with the divine through the contemplation and celebration of nature and its mysteries, Wicca--like other contemporary pagan traditions--celebrates our existence in this world.

Both male and female berdaches (or two-spirit persons), common among Native American tribal cultures, were characterized by gender variation sanctioned by supernatural dreams and visions.

An important figure in the European occult movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Aleister Crowley was publicly reviled in his time, but he was recently cited by the BBC as one of England's most influential citizens.

Radical feminist philosopher, theologian, and linguist, Mary Daly is an outspoken lesbian-feminist separatist who has provoked outrage by challenging established ideas and institutions that she considers destructive to women's power and creativity.

Michael Dillon, the first person known to have transitioned both hormonally and surgically from female to male, was a man of singular determination who articulated his life as an evolving struggle toward corporeal, intellectual, and spiritual integrity.

Elsa Gidlow, known to many as the "poet-warrior," was unabashedly visible as an independent woman, a lesbian, a writer, and a bohemian-anarchist at a time when such visibility was both unusual and potentially dangerous.

Troy Perry is the founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Protestant denomination devoted to ministering to the spiritual needs of glbtq people.

Matthew Shepard led an unremarkable life, but his shocking death transformed him into an icon of the glbtq movement for equality.