The ex-gay Christiany movement is makg a quiet eback. The effects on LGBTQ youth uld be vastatg. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• GENEVA COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY SOCCER ACH AFTER INSTAGRAM POSTS ABOUT CLIVENS
• 4 GAY CHRISTIAN DATG TIPS OM AN EXPERT (AUG. 2023)
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• CHRISTIANMGLE NOW ALLOWS GAY DATG, AFTER A LAWSU
• ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag. (Front Porch Market and Grill)What’s more, the Washers say, the ad rat was jt one more sult that the uple, who once planted an “all liv matter” sign their ont yard, have endured sce movg next door to a rtrant owned by a gay uple. They married 2020, five years after they opened the Front Porch, which quickly beme a statn The Front Porch has been flyg a Pri flag on s pat sce 2016, not long after a gunman killed 49 people a gay bar Orlando.

Waybourn was print of the Dallas Gay Alliance when sued Parkland Memorial Hospal for failg to provi readily available medic to AIDS patients. In 1991, he lnched the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund (now the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund) to elect openly gay policians to office. He served as managg director of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or GLAAD, which he helped turn to a natnal group.

GENEVA COLLEGE ALLEGEDLY FIR GAY SOCCER ACH AFTER INSTAGRAM POSTS ABOUT CLIVENS

“I had so many threats agast me that even the Dallas police statned squad rs outsi our home, ” Waybourn an activist, Waybourn says, his goals were clear: same-sex marriage, gays and lbians the ary, accs to lifavg medic. To the activist, feels like a step backward after a lifetime of fightg for gay pack the seats at the Board of Zong Appeals hearg hosted at Grace Epispal Church.

“I have que a few gay iends, clients and a fay member, and I have patronized a gay-owned rtrant for years, ” he whether the Washers are tryg to remake The Plas to their image of Ameri — Whe, nservative, Christian — Melissa said, “I n see where you’re g om. The man’s a ltle b famo for his spirual-nspiracy theori about queer people and mass media, and now Barbie (of all thgs) has got him hoppg mad about homosexuals (and Satan) once aga. Dpe not actually havg watched the movie yet, Christmas was pretty sure he knew what was about: “transsexual and transgenr and homosexualy”.

“I curse the name of the Lord this new Barbie movie that has been released full of transsexual and transgenr and homosexualy the name of the Lord. Admtedly, homosexual mon posssn (don’t threaten me wh a good time) adds a certa spice to the other ridiculo yet borg reasons that right-wgers are llg for a boytt of the film. The fact that a group of people genuely believe gay mons seems pretty funny, up until you realize they’re not really seen as ge on the right.

4 GAY CHRISTIAN DATG TIPS OM AN EXPERT (AUG. 2023)

The ia that the Barbie movie (or ankly anyone or anythg else) is posssed by homosexual mons is lghable, and so are the people who believe . Non-negotiable needs are those that you absolutely mt have or nnot have a fulfillg a gay Christian, you likely have important relig beliefs and valu that gui your daily livg and the way you see and teract wh the world. Go Where Other Gay Christian Sgl CongregateTo rce the challeng associated wh siftg through the entire gay populatn to fd a qualy datg prospect — you n make life easier by equentg venu where other Christian sgl go.

Wrongs at the venu, but at least they serve as a startg pot where you n e your screeng skills to seek out the venu may clu attendg a variety of lol church, jog class held at your church, gog to spirual retreats and nferenc, attendg Christian sgl mixers and danc, or signg up for any number of datg s for gay your onle profile, be specific about the personal requirements you’re lookg for to attract the right kd of man. If you’re one of the dividuals, then livg your life through the acts of service you perform n place you settgs where you n meet other like-md gay sgl. One of the biggt datg traps that many gay sgle men fall prey to is viatg om their template for an ial partner by makg exceptns to date someone bee of his good looks, prsure om others, or personal we make datg cisns based on hormon, social fluence, or secury, we’re ually signg up for spair and heartache down the le.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Right bee you’ve impulsively chosen someone not suable for On Yourself First and Your Love Life Will Fall Into PlaceGay datg n be very challengg ed, but when you lead wh your te self and live your life to the fullt wh your valu, you will likely eventually disver yourself surround by a tribe of others who share your philosophy of life. Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength ach Kev Maxen me out as gay on Thursday what is believed to be a first for a male ach major U. The urt found 303’s ADF’s rightwg advocy extends further, however, as the anizatn has donated to more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortn found that the ADF donated $85, 000 to the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, a group which, acrdg to a Poli report, helped Florida Republins shape the state’s so-lled “don’t say gay” law, which prohibs discsn of sexual orientatn and genr inty group has also sued two school districts Florida over issu relatg to the rights of trans youth.

Yet even when I’m 90% sure the person I’m addrsg will be acceptg, I still get that ltle jerky stomach-knot right before I say the words “gay” or “girliend” to someone new. Durg my unrgraduate gree, I basilly gave up gog to church altogether bee felt like all the Christian stunts were harned anti-gay ’s a time and a place for what I ll “activist church-gog”: gog to a church where you know you won’t be accepted jt to remd them that queer Christians do exist.

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

For two s, McKrae Game was a top-tier figure among ex-gay Christians and a leadg advote for nversn therapy, a unselg practice wh the goal of helpg LGBTQ people supprs their homosexualy and bee “straight. ” But Game, 51, now disavows the movement and acknowledg he has been gay all told the Post and Courier that nversn therapy proved to be trimental, a “lie” and “false advertisg. The most proment ex-gay anizatns have shnk or shuttered; lears have fected; and many church now fear that beg associated wh such wily discreded techniqu will st them as unwelg or bigoted.

Addnally, the Inter is rife wh stori of LGBTQ people who have reported sufferg psychologil harm as a rult of participatg the programs and proment Christians are quietly tryg to rurrect ex-gay Christiany, and the new rnatn is hipper and perhaps more evolved. Yet beneath the smetic tweaks ss the same msage that has damaged many liv over many s: If you’re a Christian wh same-sex attractns, change is both possible and first wave of Amerin ex-gay Christiany the 1970s alced around mistri and anizatns specifilly voted to the e. But the current wave is far more centralized, beg led by pennt thors and personali who are embedd the nservative Christian world rather than segregated to an issue-specific views differ ever so slightly om the next while orbg tightly to siar them, such as the possibily of “former homosexuals” havg a healthy heterosexual marriage, differentiatg between one’s behavr and inty, and a ubiquo, if obligatory, nod to church’ historil failur to love people who intify as of the movement’s most articulate lears is Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, a former women’s studi profsor at Syrace Universy who says she “adopted a lbian inty” her 20s as a rult of beg fluenced by femist philosophy.

”When I spoke wh her, I asked if she nsirs herself “ex-gay, ” and she said she do not e that label to scribe herself but then proceed to scribe how she was once, but is no longer, a lbian.

BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH

When I asked if she believ nversn therapy, she said she do not and then said is “ part bee heterosexual s is no more sanctified than homosexual s. ”When I poted out the fn of the term “ex-gay, ” she pivoted to talkg about how Christian church have failed to mister to and love LGBTQ people. But then Butterfield add that she disurag the age of the term “gay Christian” and even oppos “Si B” Christians who accept their LGBTQ inty but are mted to celibacy for relig reasons.

THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.

But she prents a msage that will rg faiar to the many LGBTQ people who have survived ex-gay mistri and therapy: Through the power of J, same-sex sir n and should be overe. For Butterfield, homosexualy is not an inty that scrib who a person is but, rather, a sful actn that a person do — but n stop preach her gospel of change through her popular books, speech at Christian nferenc and church, and is the unmistakable msage of the life she now liv. Butterfield left her female partner after her nversn and is now married to her hband, artist Jackie Hill Perry is another risg ex-gay star who formerly intified as a lbian and is now married to a man.

”When I prsed her, the thor of “Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been” said that she has never met anyone who has experienced a plete change sexual orientatn, but she add that she has read stori about people who have.

Perry also reils at the term “ex-gay” bee that giv the imprsn that someone will stantly eradite their homosexual sir: “I love my hband, but I also experience same-sex attractn. This clus people like Matt Moore, a wrer who was highlighted a piece that was origally published 2013 (later updated 2016) reportg that he had an active profile on the gay datg app Grdr. His Instagram acunt is filled wh stapl of gay culture, om “Goln Girls” mem and unrwear remendatns to flowy Versace silk prts and ab-revealg cropped tops.

CHRISTIANMGLE NOW ALLOWS GAY DATG, AFTER A LAWSU

At least not claims that his parents’ divorce and an experience of sexual asslt created same-sex sir him at a young age, but he preach that J is helpg him overe his homosexual I spoke to him, he said he “had to make a choice of my fah over my feelgs. ”Ex-gay Christiany began part as nservative Christians’ reactn to the gay rights movement surgg Ameri’s urban centers. Many Amerins believed at the time that homosexualy was a mere matter of choice, and worse, a s that would endanger one’s eternal their mds, same-sex-attracted Christians who wanted to live a life of hols uld supprs their sexual sir through some mixture of prayer, spirual disciple and therapy.

Mistri and anizatns rose up and preached the ex-gay eventually the movement was plagued by shiftg public opn, and ex-gay Christiany’s most proment lears began repudiatg the movement and tellg the tth about s failur.

ARE THERE REALLY “GAY CHRISTIANS”?

Michael Bsee, an early ex-gay pneer, left the movement 1979 and entered a relatnship wh another ex-gay lear, Gary Cooper. Ex-gay in John Plk was oted as chairman of Exod Internatnal, the world’s most proment ex-gay mistry, after beg photographed at a gay bar 2000. Chambers, who once lled homosexualy “one of the many evils this world has to offer, ” lobbied agast marriage equaly and touted exampl of happily wed “former homosexuals, ” said that 99.

9 percent of ex-gay mistry participants he had met had not experienced a shift sexual Bethel Church, a mega-ngregatn based Reddg, Calif., wh a popular worldwi worship mic brand, may be tryg to fill that void.

” The se clus a shop plete wh T-shirts, stori om people who purport to have been nverted om homosexualy, a ffee-table book and, of urse, a donatn tab. The mistry is poised to lnch a seri of events and is g #OnceGay to intify supporters, many of the once-thrivg ex-gay mistri are gone.