Contents:
- COMG OUT AS A GAY EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN - LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH REFLECTN BY PAM GOLD
- THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
COMG OUT AS A GAY EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN - LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH REFLECTN BY PAM GOLD
'I don't see myself as straight, gay, ex-gay or halfway between. (RNS) — When Grant Hartley first disvered he was gay at age 13, he adopted what he lls an “ex-gay mdset. “I started to thk of more as a gift, as a strength, ” said Hartley, now 28 and openly gay.
While grateful for the experience of beg gay, Hartley se his gay inty as somethg that go beyond jt sex — “I never say that I’m grateful for same-sex sexual sire, ” he said — also clus athetics, culture and worldview. As Si B disurse was fdg s way to onle foms, the flagship Christian ex-gay anizatn Exod Internatnal closed s doors 2013 after s of g nversn therapy on LGBTQ dividuals. Many LGBTQ Christians who had been harmed by the ex-gay approach — but still held to tradnal church teachgs on marriage — turned to Si B for a more acceptg muny.
“There’s a wi range of ways to give and receive love, ” said Th, a gay celibate Catholic wrer and speaker wh a forthg book. RELATED: Celibate gay Christian lear urg fahful to ‘normalize’ mted iendships.
THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
Bridget Eileen Rivera, a celibate gay Christian and thor of “Heavy Burns: Seven Ways LGTBQ Christians Experience Harm the Church, ” don’t e the Si B label. Greg Johnson, a gay pastor the Prbyterian Church Ameri (PCA) and thor of a forthg book, believ the Si B language n be eful. “When a gay person lands the more nservative, tradnal mp, ’s helpful to distguish them om those who are really theologilly a different place, ” he said.
Louis hosted the 2018 Revoice gatherg, triggered a nomatnal urt se targetg Johnson for intifyg as gay. RELATED: Prbyterian Church Ameri lears say those who intify as gay are not qualified for ordatn. On the flip si, some progrsive crics, who are fewer number, said Hill and Hartley, see Si B as another eratn of the ex-gay movement or a form of rpectabily polics where LGBTQ dividuals reprs their sexualy to w approval om the broar church.
“The ia that Si B is jt the ex-gay movement wh a different veneer ignor or mimiz the fact that Si B people are fleeg ex-gay movements and ex-gay church, ” said Hartley. “Many of have gone through reparative therapy and have really bad experienc, and we’re vted fightg agast ex-gay theology as well.