Atlanta church first lady's hband and son e out as gay - Rollg Out

Contents:

• GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
• ATLANTA LGBT ADVOTE OUT AS ‘THE GAY PREACHER’S WIFE’
• GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT
• ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY
• CHURCH MEMBERS WALK OUT AS GAY PASTOR SAYS HIS HBAND IS PREGNANT
• ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER
• ATLANTA GAY PASTOR’S EX-WIFE ON HEALG AFTER HE LEFT HER FOR A MAN
• A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'

GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY

Bishop Jim Swilley, founr of Church In the Now, the massive, non-nomatnal ngregatn Conyers, ma ternatnal headl when he me out to his ngregatn as gay eight months ago. ” Se g out and embracg himself as a gay man and a gay pastor, Swilley said he had a particular tert preachg Midtown, the heart of Atlanta’s — and Geia’s — gay muny.

“Even though Atlanta has a lot of gay affirmg church, ’s no secret many have been trmatized by the church. 2, 2010— -- The pastor of a Geia megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay. I want to tell you that is not, " Jim Swilley said a vio shot the nonnomatnal megachuch Swilley found 25 years Swilley said g out was a cisn he's stggled wh sce childhood, he ma the announcement last month not for personal reasons -- he said he hop to save 52-year-old founr of Church the Now Conyers, Ga., said he's g out to help stem the recent ti of gay suicis Ameri and won't be swayed by some hateful msag that have been wrten about him onle.

""Hearg about the kids who are mtg suici, the reactn as a gay adult is, 'I wish I uld have jt talked to them for 15 mut or five mut and told them gets better, '" Savage said. "Officials, Celebri Jo 'It Gets Better'Three weeks later, a cy uncil meetg Fort Worth, Texas, gay cy uncilman Joel Burns was moved to share his own emotnal story about how close he me to killg himself at age 13. But after learng she was both married to and mother of two gay men, Meredh knew she had a new path to fe.

ATLANTA LGBT ADVOTE OUT AS ‘THE GAY PREACHER’S WIFE’

Her story is chronicled her new book, “The Gay Preacher’s Wife, ” published last fall. ” Meredh was married to her hband, a pastor, for 13 years when he me out to her as bisexual, and 17 years later as gay. At my school, we teach sex tn to teens and we teach gay and straight kids.

“I had to get some unrstandg on how the gay issue has jt torn my fay apart. Meredh learned that the ia of God hatg gays didn’t amount to much the world of relig amia.

I n dispel so many myths jt by the life that I live; married to a bisexual man and birthg and raisg a gay son, ” she said. She moved to Atlanta a ago, when she was 22, where she me out as gay, another blow, she was told, her journey to bee a pastor. Even wh our own parish, we hold the stori of gay men who would have ma great prits, but they were not allowed to do so bee of they were hont and unapologetic about their sexual orientatn.

GAY GA. MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR REFLECTS ON YEAR OF G OUT

“I’ve always appreciated the amount of fah groups that are reprented booths and the para, but I knew that the story of how, pecially, male Christian nomatns me to the place of acceptg gay people was much more plited than the floats the para display, ” she said. “I hope people vis and walk away feelg a fuller story of the gay experience. “We believe that all people are wele to fellowship wh God and experience the fullns of the llg of God on their liv, cludg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr dividuals.

What did change is that I’m not aaid of anybody thkg that I’m gay. It was the first time that I uld buy somethg like that and I wasn’t worried that somebody would see me buyg and thk I was gay. I remember when I was still closeted and I didn’t want to buy any Angela Jolie movi bee I was nvced that people would see that I owned and know that I was gay.

A few months ago, I was ved out to lunch by a gay pastor Hoton. CITN Midtown is not a gay church. It’s gay, straight, black, whe, male, female… ’s the type of diverse church that I’m ed to anyway.

ATLANTA CHURCH FIRST LADY’S HBAND AND SON E OUT AS GAY

The people know I’m gay and they are stg here wh their Bibl open their laps and they’re lovg God and they’re worshippg and the thgs are not mutually exclive. When people brg up Levic gay passag to me, I say, “Great! When I me out and my pastors were nontg me about my s of beg gay, I explaed to them that havg sex wh my hband (at the time) was very unnatural for me.

Gay people should be given the same urty.

Nobody else has any rponsibily before God to prevent me om beg gay. ” I really haven’t addrsed the gay Christian watchdog groups that are gog after me bee I’ve been a lot of fodr for them for months now.

CHURCH MEMBERS WALK OUT AS GAY PASTOR SAYS HIS HBAND IS PREGNANT

There’s only an obssn wh homophobia. J didn’t say a thg about homosexualy but He said a lot about love. I was watchg the betiful (gay) upl, who have probably never taken munn together, be able to hold hands and love each other and e to the table of the Lord.

ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER

ATLANTA (CBS/AP) New pictur have surfaced of Bishop Eddie Long, proment pastor of a 25, 000-member megachurch outsi Atlanta, as a third man has e forward accg the anti-gay advote of ercg him to sex. Long's church was among those named 2007 a Senate mtee's vtigatn to a half-dozen Christian mistri over their has lled for a natnal ban on same-sex marriage and his church unsels gay members to bee straight. She recently penned a eply personal memoir, The Gay Preacher’s Wife: How My Gay Hband Denstcted My Life and Renstcted My Fah.

Meredh, who is now an openly gay pastor and leadg a ngregatn of over 1K members —predomantly lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr.

When asked if she missed all the signs that her former hband is gay, she said, “Y, I miss[ed] them. While she was livg her life, she also missed the signs that her middle son, who is now the mister of mic at the church where his father misters, is also gay. Atlanta gay pastor’s ex-wife on healg after he left her for a man.

ATLANTA GAY PASTOR’S EX-WIFE ON HEALG AFTER HE LEFT HER FOR A MAN

Both men also said they were grateful for the support om the Atlanta lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny and will always nsir servg as grand marshals of the Atlanta Pri Para 2007 as a signifint moment their liv. ELCA policy at the time prohibed gay pastors to be same-sex relatnships.

In 2009, the ELCA Churchwi Assembly lled for revisns to allow for gay pastors to be same-sex, monogamo, lifelong relatnships. … What did J really say about homosexualy? What was J’ msage about gays?

A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'

I prayed my entire young life for God to send me a hband–God Always answers my prayers–why did I end up marryg a gay man? In Meredh’s eply personal memoir, The Gay Preacher’s Wife: How My Gay Hband Denstcted My Life and Renstcted My Fah, rears will fd out how a woman’s broken heart is mend by fah. He told me he wanted to live the rt of his life as a gay man, ” she shar.

The Gay Preacher’s Wife: How My Gay Hband Denstcted My Life and Renstcted My Fah is now available for purchase. Atlanta church first lady’s hband and son e out as gay.

But those lears, he said, were often surround by LGBTQ members who ma the church’s choirs livelier, helped wh llectns and filled the Oliver Cly Allen Weatherspoon for TODAYThose ​​dynamics, bed wh sermons that cried non-heterosexuali as abomatns, are part of the reason Allen se himself as more than a lear of a Black or gay than a preacher, Allen scrib himself as an abolnist whose job is to spread a msage of eedom and acceptance, two elements that he argu are the fundamentals of Christian belief. “J Christ didn’t say anythg about gay people and said everythg about liberatg people.