The pastor of an Atlanta 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.
Contents:
- A SUNDAY AT ATLANTA’S SAT MARK, ONE OF LARGT GAY-IENDLY CHURCH NATN
- GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
- A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'
A SUNDAY AT ATLANTA’S SAT MARK, ONE OF LARGT GAY-IENDLY CHURCH NATN
“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.
Sat Mark now stands as one of the largt gay-iendly church the natn, wh over 1, 800 members — the vast majory of which are LGBT. Stanley was one of the foundg members of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majory and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coaln — a double-word sre when to the embrace of anti-gay relig teachgs. Stanley also believed AIDS was God’s punishment for the supposed s of homosexualy.
They barred the doors to keep everyone out but their ngregants, who jeered the marchers wh homophobic ments before enterg to worship God. “It don’t matter whether you’re black, whe, purple, gay, straight, bi.
GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
He n be seen every Sunday wh his moms, hangg out after the service wh the other kids — kids wh gay parents and straight parents alike. Not a sgle “gay” or “trans” or “LGBT” was uttered.
A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'
Gene Robson, the first openly gay bishop a major Christian nomatn, once pared the relatnship between relign and the LGBT muny to an abive hband.
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. I didn’t know a way out, bee I hated myself, bee that’s what I was tght, to hate a person who was gay.
Asadi said his fay ti to the church did not shelter him om stigmas as people began to realize he was gay. ” McKney said that although the majory of church members are LGBTQ, Allen’s sermons have “nothg to do wh whether or not you’re gay or straight. “People n get the love and re that they would normally get om their grandmother or their ntie, ” Allen Allen put , Visn mols a fay dynamic the same way unrground ballroom muni, gay dive bars and gay villag beme surrogate spac for those who were shunned for g out s past.