Ed Smart — father of Elizabeth Smart — speaks publicly about g out as gay, llg the ‘send miracle’ his life

Contents:

• A GAY MIRACLE
• THE FIRST THG MY MOM DID WHEN SHE LEARNED I WAS GAY... AND THE 'MIRACLE' THAT OCCURRED AFTER
• J AFFIRMED A GAY UPLE.
• THGS YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN WATCHG TLC’S “MY HBAND’S NOT GAY,” JOG NORTH STAR, OR CONSIRG A MIXED-ORIENTATN MARRIAGE
• ED SMART — FATHER OF ELIZABETH SMART — SPEAKS PUBLICLY ABOUT G OUT AS GAY, LLG THE ‘SEND MIRACLE’ HIS LIFE
• ELIZABETH SMART'S FATHER SAYS G OUT AS GAY WAS HIS 2ND 'MIRACLE'

A GAY MIRACLE

Miracle, who turned 25 after the trials, is already g her new platform to advote for LGBTQ+ rights and is believed to be the first Olympic women's wrtler to be openly gay. EngardBack 1992, before Ellen me out and long before the Supreme Court allowed same-sex marriage by one vote, my iend Jeff who was wrtlg wh beg gay mted suici at age had played tennis together earlier that a few weeks later, was the news that the closeted actor who played the all-Amerin dad on the classic TV show "The Brady Bunch" I grew up watchg re-ns had died of was a dark time. I wasn't sure how one survived beg gay.

I watched horror as Pat Buchanan railed agast "homosexual rights" prime time durg the GOP nventn: "We stand wh Print Bh agast the amoral ia that gay and lbian upl should have the same standg law as married men and women. A few years later, Print Clton would sign the "Defense of Marriage Act" that nied me the hope of beg able to marry the person I was a dark time for a young gay man his teens and early 20s. And I’m glad I was able to meet openly gay printial ndidate Pete Buttigieg and his hband Chasten Glezman.

THE FIRST THG MY MOM DID WHEN SHE LEARNED I WAS GAY... AND THE 'MIRACLE' THAT OCCURRED AFTER

In his troductn to the llective’s send volume, “Sojourner: Black Gay Voic the Age of AIDS, ” Garrett noted that the llective’s works were of cril importance bee they were creatg culture.

” As chapters shift om past Broome to prent Tuan, the book tablish a metanarrative about the rout some Black boys mt travel to reach self-realizatn, to reach book exam them that are also explored ntemporary memoirs by Black gay wrers, like Casey Gerald’s “There Will Be No Miracl Here” and Saeed Jon’s “How We Fight for Our Liv, ” them of pe, journeyg and self-disvery.

Broome is wrg, however, om the perspective of a Black gay man who me up the generatn before Jon and Gerald. Growg up as a gay kid the south was not easy.

J AFFIRMED A GAY UPLE.

For my fay, however, they still live ground zero of tolerance for the LGBT muny and have the unique prsure of havg a well known gay relative. My mom read the Bible four tim a row and bought every book wrten about Christiany and the subject of homosexualy.

Please know that I am NOT here to bate the issue of homosexualy. We are a Christian fay wh ep roots the church and the teachgs of the years ago, we found out that Lance is gay. My feelgs were more of sadns and jt sheer disappotment you believe that beg gay is a choice, then the rt of what I say will not matter.

THGS YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN WATCHG TLC’S “MY HBAND’S NOT GAY,” JOG NORTH STAR, OR CONSIRG A MIXED-ORIENTATN MARRIAGE

I do not know why, but even as a stnch Christian, I personally never believed that beg gay was a choice. I never knew a lot of gay people, but the on I did meet I felt passn for bee I uld feel their pa of beg rejected and my heart always went out to them. Even though I never did believe Lance chose to be gay, I did not accept as quickly as my hband did.

I ntued to love my son, stand bi him, and fend him, but for several years I ntued to pray relentlsly for a, Lance is still gay. The miracle is that I learned to have unndnal love and passn for my son and others the gay muny. Jt as my heart told me somethg was wrong that day on the urthoe lawn, my heart is tellg me that somethg is wrong wh the way the church treats those who are gay.

ED SMART — FATHER OF ELIZABETH SMART — SPEAKS PUBLICLY ABOUT G OUT AS GAY, LLG THE ‘SEND MIRACLE’ HIS LIFE

I uld tell you many stori that gay young people have told me about how so-lled Christian people have treated them but I will only share one. When I found out Lance was gay, I dove to the scriptur lookg for answers.

" J is tellg that we nnot lead others to him if we are judgg and nmng I hear fellow Sunday School members, -workers, policians, and Christian people on TV and rad say negative, judgmental thgs about gays, I jt crge and breaks my heart. Not only are the Christian muny phg away gays who are Christians, we are alienatg those who are lost. I believe wh all my heart that J would say to all Christians who are gay that they belong to him and that he lov them unndnally.

If I feel that way as the mother of a gay child, n you image the anxiety that a gay person stg my church feels?

ELIZABETH SMART'S FATHER SAYS G OUT AS GAY WAS HIS 2ND 'MIRACLE'

Dover, Greek Homosexualy (Harvard Universy Prs, Cambridge, 1978), page 16; Bernard Sergent, Homosexualy Greek Myth (Bean Prs, Boston, 1986), page 10.

In the origal language, the importance of this story for gay, lbian, and bisexual Christians is much clearer. In that culture, if you were a gay man who wanted a male “spoe, ” you achieved this, like your heterosexual unterparts, through a mercial transactn — purchasg someone to serve that purpose.

For an excellent and thorough discsn of the terms pais and entimos doulos the two gospel acunts, see Donald Mar’s article The Entimos Pais of Matthew 8:5-13 and Le 7:1-10, (Source: Homosexualy and Relign and Philosophy, Harland Publishg, Inc., New York, 1998).