I’m Gay, Christian—And No Longer an Outst - POLITICO Magaze

Contents:

• MAJOR EVANGELIL FIGURE OUT AS GAY
• COMG OUT AS A GAY EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN - LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH REFLECTN BY PAM GOLD
• CAN YOU BE GAY-VANGELIL?
• EVANGELILS AND THE GAY CLOSET: IS RAY BOLTZ STILL A CHRISTIAN?
• ARE EVANGELILS READY FOR A GAY CELEBRY?THE OUTG OF JONATHAN MERRTJONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED I’M JONATHAN. I BLOG GOD.·8 M READ·AUG 15, 2021--5SHAREON AUGT 4TH, EVANGELIL STAR JONATHAN MERRT ME OUT OF THE CLOSET. WAS THERE A B OF DéJà VU? HE WAS OUTED BACK 2012.BACK THEN, HE EXPLAED THAT HE’D BEEN MOLTED AS A BOY, AND HELD HIMSELF OUT AS ‘BROKEN’. NOW HE’S SAYG HE’S JT GAY—POSNG HIM AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY EVANGELIL TO BE WILY SEEN AS RELIGLY ACCEPTABLE. THIS WOULD BE A HISTORIC STAT. I THK OVER HIS DIFFICULT HISTORY.JONATHAN MERRT (INSTAGRAM, AUGT 4, 2021)BORN 1982, HE’S THE SON OF JAM MERRT, A GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR.
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• I’M GAY, CHRISTIAN—AND NO LONGER AN OUTST
• GAY AND EVANGELIL, SEEKG PATHS OF ACCEPTANCE
• 10 MOST WILDLY ANTI-GAY PREACHERS AMERI
• “A DEFIVE BUT UNSATISFYG ANSWER”: THE EVANGELIL RPONSE TO GAY CHRISTIANS

MAJOR EVANGELIL FIGURE OUT AS GAY

Here at Apprisg Mistri I’ve told you that I believe a major evangelil figure will e out as homosexual “soon” servg to fully tonate this whole gay bate—currently rippg apart and dividg male nomatns—right wh the mastream of evangelilism self. He n believe what he wants to, but what this tells me is that this profsg follower of J Christ, who brags that he’s “raisg a glass to my full and plete self—a gay man” is actually thumbg his nose at his Creator.

I knew what others had said about ‘gays’ as I was growg up, but I uld fight no more, I prayed ‘please God if this is real then brg someone to speak to me’ my surprise the next week I got chattg to a patient (I’m an optometrist) and she me out to me - she said she felt that I need to hear . I ntacted an anisatn lled LGCM (Lbian & Gay Christian Movement, now OneBodyOneFah) and I was sent a bundle of urage my heart and hope for somethg new I went along to a gay Christian group Manchter, where I was the only woman! Neverthels, they put me touch wh a uple of women and, through them, I went along to Metropolan Communy Church (MCC), also known as ‘the gay church’ first urageo steps set me on the path to disvery of beg an ‘out and proud’ lbian Christian wh a ep and meangful relatnship wh God.

The great diversy prent among fundamentalist and leralist Christians, relative to the small number of Bible passag that actually mentn homosexual activy, leav a lot of room for someone to be an LGBTQ+ fundamentalist Christian.

COMG OUT AS A GAY EVANGELIL CHRISTIAN - LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH REFLECTN BY PAM GOLD

A lifelong unselor, teacher and tor, havg worked elementary and sendary tn for 25 years, Gary Simpson is a member of the Canadian Counselg and Psychotherapy Associatn and has spoken and led workshops on gay-straight allianc, bullyg, spirual self-fense, gay Christian inty, and the needs of GLBT youth and young adults.

In the vio, 26-year-old Elisha Misa, who is reported to have been prevly imprisoned on filement charg, speaks for a ltle over eight mut tailg how he was lured as a mor to actg gay porn by Sexual Mori Uganda (SMUG)—a nonernmental anizatn (NGO) based Kampala workg to support and fend LGBTQ+ persons the untry. The send reason the vio kdled my tert was that add to the growg list of stanc of mass media beg weaponized Uganda to propagate the “ex-gay” narrative, which a person claims to have been “lured” and “reced” to homosexualy. In the early 2000s, Amerin evangelil Stt Lively was part of a seri of anti-gay events that culmated Uganda’s 2009 “Kill the gays” bill, which lled for the ath penalty for what scribed as “aggravated homosexualy.

They require an enemy for their fight to be valid, and they go to great lengths to nstct this enemy as a well-fund and all-powerful foreign movement while falsely prentg the lol anti-gay movement as a grassroots unrdog, spe s heavy reliance on U.

CAN YOU BE GAY-VANGELIL?

There are some that feel that his “givg to the temptatn of s” and “succumbg to the homosexual lie” wip out every shred of value that his mic ever had the world and that he should be “shunned om the body of Christ until he repents and chang his ways bee he n not receive fivens until he actually repents om the s.

EVANGELILS AND THE GAY CLOSET: IS RAY BOLTZ STILL A CHRISTIAN?

The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law. Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia". "It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says.

ARE EVANGELILS READY FOR A GAY CELEBRY?THE OUTG OF JONATHAN MERRTJONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED I’M JONATHAN. I BLOG GOD.·8 M READ·AUG 15, 2021--5SHAREON AUGT 4TH, EVANGELIL STAR JONATHAN MERRT ME OUT OF THE CLOSET. WAS THERE A B OF DéJà VU? HE WAS OUTED BACK 2012.BACK THEN, HE EXPLAED THAT HE’D BEEN MOLTED AS A BOY, AND HELD HIMSELF OUT AS ‘BROKEN’. NOW HE’S SAYG HE’S JT GAY—POSNG HIM AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY EVANGELIL TO BE WILY SEEN AS RELIGLY ACCEPTABLE. THIS WOULD BE A HISTORIC STAT. I THK OVER HIS DIFFICULT HISTORY.JONATHAN MERRT (INSTAGRAM, AUGT 4, 2021)BORN 1982, HE’S THE SON OF JAM MERRT, A GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR.

Acrdg to May’s pollg rults om Pew Rearch Center, 48 percent of lbian, gay and bisexual Amerins intify as Christian, a six percent crease om two years ago and a higher number than the 41 percent who say they are agnostic, atheistic or religly unaffiliated. Jt Lee, an thor and the executive director of the Gay Christian Network, has been openg up nversatns evangelil muni all across the untry, as has theologian and songwrer Vicky Beechg, whose g out ma ternatnal headl last summer.

It was a strikg juxtaposn: the pastor, who ns a large church that oppos same-sex relatnships; Savage, who was town for a porn ftival he was curatg; and me, who had traveled there for somethg somewhere between those polar oppos: a gay Christian nference. If she was anythg like the gay Christians who me up to me afterward, then she was experiencg a kd of relief and joy at no longer beg told that a re aspect of her inty— this se, her fah inty—had to be checked at the door. Participants Thursday’s foc group exprsed ep ncern about the state of the world, wh many brgg up the creased promence of gay and pecially transgenr life Amerin culture, and exprsg particular ncern about nversatn was often personal: Some said they had LGBTQ people their life who they love and mata relatnships wh, even as they fd difficult to accept their inty and choic.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Gay evangelils seem to have few paths rved out for them: they n leave relign behd; they n turn to theologilly liberal ngregatns that often differ om the tradn they grew up ; or they n enter programs to try to change their behavr, even their orientatn, through prayer and support. And like other Christians who are tryg to broan the fn of evangelil to clu other, though ls charged, ncerns like the environment and AIDS, gay evangelils are tryg to expand the unrstandg of evangelil to clu them, too.

” But for most evangelils, gay men and lbians nnot tly be nsired Christian, let alone Keane for The New York Tim “If by gay evangelil is meant someone who claims both to abi by the thory of Scripture and to engage a self-affirmg manner homosexual unns, then the ncept gay evangelil is a ntradictn, ” Robert A. Yet those ngregatns whose preachg is faiar do not wele gay members, those evangelils Zuber, 49, and Mart Fowler, 55, remember stg on the curb outsi Lakeview Baptist Church Grand Prairie, Tex., almost 20 years ago, Sunday after Sunday, readg the Bible together, after the pastor told them they were not wele si. Louie Gigl beg removed om givg the benedictn at the Ingural addrs over his past anti-gay ments serv to remd everyone that gay bashg is still a favore past-time certa evangelil Christian to anti-gay pastors specifilly, there are those wh feelgs of hate and those wh somethg so far off the wall that you wonr if supernatural mon posssn is to blame.

I’M GAY, CHRISTIAN—AND NO LONGER AN OUTST

” Addnally, he flted this "unnatural behavr" wh spreadg disease and nfg children about proper genr pro-gay groups and supporters submted a petn llg for him to apologize and take his post down, Gipson ignored them and doubled down. No stranger to ntroversy, the host of the 700 Club has done some outrageo thgs on his show like enuragg a father to seek anti-gay nversn therapy for his gay son, as well as pare gay marriage wh polygamy, btialy, and pedophilia. In this ntext of unremtg cultural warfare and the unqutned celebratn of biblilly ground sexual pleasure for married upl as functnally central to evangelils’ inty, “homosexualy”—rarely discsed fundamentalist or evangelil publitns before the 1960s—beme their nemis.

Recent Bible translatns ntributed to this new ont the culture war, as “homosexual” was ed several different passag for the first time, effect ventg “homosexuals” as a unified tegory and reifyg them as the Bible's supreme Other. Instead, buildg off of work on the evangelil promotn of normative genr and sexual inti, explor the muny disurse among evangelils—both symbolized by and partly nstuted by CT—that has had signifint nsequenc for gay and lbian Christians. When gay Christians fail the stggle to bee heterosexual—lears have never been clear about when gay Christians should nce feat—evangelils offer celibacy as the sole remag optn, often wh the admissn that is a burnsome path, particularly a subculture that celebrat the nuclear fay.

At the same time, high-profile and average Christians alike have creasgly terpreted the nsistent evangelil ll to passn toward gay people as an vatn to accept gay people as such and to support same-sex marriage. Evangelils’ perceptn of gay people as enemi the war to fend the fay dovetailed wh broar fears of munists on Cold War Ameri's home ont, as evangelils echoed mastream antimunist rhetoric that lked domtic secury risks to var forms of “sexual perversn, ” cludg “homosexualy. Footnote 41 Like Daane's passnate nmnatn, Dolby's gural foray to pastoral support for gay Christians charted a urse evangelilism has tracked sce: thoratively prentg the hope of sexual inty change through anecdotal ttimoni while simultaneoly offerg the ntradictory asssment that most gay people never lose their same-sex sire.

GAY AND EVANGELIL, SEEKG PATHS OF ACCEPTANCE

Footnote 43 Movement lears, who amed their activism as an extensn of the era's larger civil rights stggle for equal protectn of the law unr the Constutn, forced evangelils to addrs issu related to gay people more systematilly than they had prevly. Footnote 44 Evangelils, whose lewarm stance toward the civil rights movement was evint CT articl and edorials, siarly posned themselv rhetorilly the middle of the gay rights bate, between permissive male liberals on one end and harsh fundamentalists on the other.

Footnote 45 As wh other issu, this ostensible centrism amounted to upholdg the fundamentalist view that all gay sexual behavr was sful and mered damnatn, while sympathizg wh gay Christians’ stggl to master seemgly tractable sir. But for a brief time, evangelils’ ut acceptance of the civil rights movement, spurred by lears of emergg liberal evangelil activist groups, prompted a surprisg openns to lls for civil rights protectns for gay men and lbians. Marsn, proment German theologian Kls Bockmuehl directly lked Amerins’ mistaken belief the natens of same-sex orientatn to a “permissive attu toward homosexualy” and the perceptn that biblil views were irrelevant to the ntemporary issue.

In a 1974 letter, Nancy Harsty offered the nvoluted argument that rejectg male-female equaly and fendg patriarchy by appealg to nate difference was “precisely the kd of thkg which has always fostered homosexualy among those who sought ep relatnships wh one who was their equal. Footnote 57 A 1975 CT article ma rigur pronouncements about the sfulns of gay behavr before advotg an end to crimal s agast gay sexual acts and support for equal rights legislatn employment, hog, and acmodatns.

10 MOST WILDLY ANTI-GAY PREACHERS AMERI

Footnote 58 This reful distctn between nmnatn of sful personal behavr and support for legal civil rights protectns reflected an evangelil moratn that ntrasted wh many fundamentalist misters such as Jerry Falwell, who actively opposed legal protectns for gays and lbians bee they viewed same-sex activy as “unspeakably evil. ”Footnote 61 Evangelils hontly acknowledged that the church's appeal reflected the clear evince that many practicg gay men and lbians me om Christian backgrounds, while lears often had semary or Bible school trag. ” But the magaze issue provid ttimoni om six gay and lbian Christians and a lengthy terview wh Evangelils Concerned founr Ralph Blair, a psychotherapist who formed the anizatn 1975 to assist gay Christians tegratg their fah and sexual orientatn.

“A DEFIVE BUT UNSATISFYG ANSWER”: THE EVANGELIL RPONSE TO GAY CHRISTIANS

Footnote 71 In the era of fay valu, “homosexualy, ” long a moral ncern, beme a equent target of the Relig Right as fundamentalists and many evangelils sought to bolster a normative heterosexual unrstandg of “biblil” sexualy through the force of law.

A stnch fenr of errancy like his precsor, he ved rpected Brish theologian John Stott to provi a tailed biblil argument agast gay marriage, while Southern Baptist theologian Timothy Gee ma clear that “ is not a mark of passn, but rather a sign of plicy and apostasy, to sanctn as normative what Almighty God his tth-tellg Word has clared immoral and wicked. ”Footnote 75 Compassn extend to discsn of the AIDS crisis, which CT articl regularly poted out that gay men were not the only people who ntracted the disease and that Christians were lled to monstrate passnate re for all, regardls of how they acquired AIDS. Footnote 76 Contributors and rears routely cricized hateful rhetoric om fundamentalist preachers, flated claims of sexual orientatn change, stereotyp of gay promiscuy, and libelo charg of pedophilia, argug that the views stirred up antigay sentiment.

Footnote 77 Where earlier relig nservativ had rejected the accuracy of Ksey's data about Amerins’ sexual behavr and inti, evangelil lears the 1980s accepted the statistics available to them, ncedg that gay people might make up four to ten percent of a ngregatn's men and three to four percent of s women. Early the 1980s, “Homosexuals Can Change, ” a 4, 500-word article, provid an effive report of an Amerin Journal of Psychiatry study that ostensibly monstrated that immature Christians learned “how to be heterosexual as they veloped Christian matury. Mirrorg nservative marriage unselors who promised “maral perfectn through a revival of tradnal genr rol, ” evangelils often enuraged gay Christians to embrace stereotypil genr norms as the path toward liberatn.