For Gay Christian Micians, Work Balanc Fah, Art, Love : NPR

Contents:

• PROMENT CHRISTIAN SGER COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AS GAY! WHO IS IT?
• CHRISTIAN SGER RAY BOLTZ COM OUT, LIV A NORMAL GAY LIFE
• OPENLY ‘GAY’ RERDG ARTIST REACH NO. 1 ‘CHRISTIAN’ SPOT ON ITUN
• FORMER CHRISTIAN SGER JENNIFER KNAPP WHO CAME OUT AS GAY SAYS HOMOSEXUALY CONVERSATN IS 'IMPORTANT' TO THE CHURCH
• CHRISTIAN ROCK STAR OUT AS GAY. HERE’S THE LETTER HE WROTE TO THE WORLD
• FORMER CHRISTIAN COUNTRY SGER-SONGWRER RURFAC AS GAY, HIV-POSIVE FOLK SGER
• GAY MARRIAGE BAN: THE SE AGAST
• CHART TOPPG SGERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
• JENNIFER KNAPP, CHRISTIAN MIC SGER, ANNOUNC SHE IS GAY ON EVE OF 'LETTG GO' ALBUM RELEASE
• THE EX-GAY CHRISTIANY MOVEMENT IS MAKG A QUIET EBACK. THE EFFECTS ON LGBTQ YOUTH ULD BE VASTATG.
• FOR GAY CHRISTIAN MICIANS, WORK BALANC FAH, ART, LOVE
• CHRISTIAN MICIAN COM OUT AS GAY AND HIV-POSIVE FOLK SGER

PROMENT CHRISTIAN SGER COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AS GAY! WHO IS IT?

Are you like her and believe that God lov and accepts everyone spe their sexual orientatn or is she missg val knowledge om the Holy Bible that still shows homosexualy, as well as her views of J’ love, is not necsarily wrong, but plete?

CHRISTIAN SGER RAY BOLTZ COM OUT, LIV A NORMAL GAY LIFE

I beme a Christian, I thought that was the way to al wh this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was jt gog, 'I'm still gay.

OPENLY ‘GAY’ RERDG ARTIST REACH NO. 1 ‘CHRISTIAN’ SPOT ON ITUN

“I don't want to be a spokperson, I don't want to be a poster boy for gay Christians, I don't want to be a ltle box on TV wh three other people ltle box screamg about what the Bible says, I don't want to be some kd of teacher or theologian — I’m jt an artist and I’m jt gog to sg about what I feel and wre about what I feel and see where go. The majory of Christian publitns, while not openly attackg him, ma clear that they do not support his cisn to live his life as a homosexual man.

Most of the gay publitns appld him for g out publicly and see him as a way to rencile fah J wh a homosexual liftyle.

Some are heartbroken and feel like Boltz needs to pray harr and he will be cured of his homosexualy.

FORMER CHRISTIAN SGER JENNIFER KNAPP WHO CAME OUT AS GAY SAYS HOMOSEXUALY CONVERSATN IS 'IMPORTANT' TO THE CHURCH

“I basilly lived an ‘ex-gay’ life — I read every book, I read all the scriptur they e, I did everythg to try and change.

CHRISTIAN ROCK STAR OUT AS GAY. HERE’S THE LETTER HE WROTE TO THE WORLD

Some fans look up to his cisn to go public so that people n see that gay people n love and serve the Lord. 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. Whether someone was born gay bee God ma him that way so he has no choice is pared by some Christians to beg born a fay of alholics wh a predisposn to the ndn.

They see the rejectn of homosexual persons as gog agast the very gra of J' preachg to love your neighbors as yourself.

Evangelil lear, thor and HGTV star Jen Hatmaker publicly changed her views on gay marriage 2016. He fend tradnal marriage a 2008 Christiany Today article, sayg he wasn’t sure he’d perform a same-sex blsg, although he did exprs support for gay and lbian civil rights. After takg a leave of absence om Harvard Universy to study the Bible and homosexualy, Matthew V gave a speech at his church about acceptg gay Christians that has amassed over 1 ln views on YouTube sce 2012.

FORMER CHRISTIAN COUNTRY SGER-SONGWRER RURFAC AS GAY, HIV-POSIVE FOLK SGER

He also started The Reformatn Project, a nonprof tryg to “reform church teachg on sexual orientatn and genr inty, ” and wrote the book “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships. The former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church publicly stated his views on gay marriage while speakg at San Francis’s Grace Cathedral 2013.

In a post on his webse tled “My Comg Out Letter, ” Christian rock mician Trey Pearson told fans that he intified as a gay man, spe beg married wh children.

Sce g out, he has wrten about life as a gay Christian and created a mic vio pictg his experience. Although she has intified as gay sce high school, Julie Rodgers has officially supported gay marriage for only a few years.

GAY MARRIAGE BAN: THE SE AGAST

As she has chronicled on her blog and The Washgton Post, she first spent a long time advotg celibacy for Christians who were gay or lbian. ” This label om her posns on LGBT rights and homosexualy, topics she’s grappled wh publicly sce startg her blog 2008. In one of her old posts, “An Evangelil’s Rponse to Homosexualy, ” she ref to chose a si of the issue but do adm to wonrg if the evangelil church “has wrong.

CHART TOPPG SGERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY

While he said recently that his church, Northland, A Church Distributed, will mata that the Bible prohibs gay relatnships, he now believ nservative church should wele and support those of all sexual orientatns. The worship sger, who me out as gay on The Voice 2019, told Baldridge he was let go om his job as a worship lear at his church after revealg his sexualy.

JENNIFER KNAPP, CHRISTIAN MIC SGER, ANNOUNC SHE IS GAY ON EVE OF 'LETTG GO' ALBUM RELEASE

's high time christian mic got a shake up wh a msage of realy & hope beyond the homogenized CCM...

The reactn mirrors the way many morn megachurch eher offer vague statements about acceptance while tryg to shift the foc away om their anti-gay polici or stay quiet on the issue. Sger-songwrer Julien Baker me out as queer 2016 alongsi Trey Pearson om Everyday Sunday, who me out as gay an emotnal letter to fans. ” at a Swchfoot ncert, a practice she advot dog orr to publicly force ‘Christian’ artists to nont their homophobia and outdated and amoral views on homosexualy.

(In rponse to that ll out, Swchfoot’s Jon Foreman rpond to the axg of a queer “Christian” artist qutng his pro-LGBTQ+ creds, tellg her that LGBTQ+ people are always wele at his ncerts and that he supports gay rights and eedoms. Former Christian sger Jennifer Knapp, who me out as a lbian a few years back, discsed the importance of the nversatn about homosexualy the church durg a recent asked by host Matt Carter on the Bad Christian Podst last Sunday about the nversatn's relevance to the church, Knapp rpond by sayg that is que important for believers to talk about the issue.

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

"I don't thk homosexual orientatn, whether you're lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, I don't thk sexual inty any way is a s.

"We have really wrtled wh this topic and I thk all of still at a different gree lean a ltle more towards thkg I thk maybe 's a s, but for the big thg is jt don't matter as much as the church mak an issue, " said and Christian Post op-ed ntributor Michael Brown recently discsed former Christian artists g out as gay while attemptg to rencile their fah wh their liftyle. His study of the Scriptur, he says, has led him to believe that the handful of Bible vers that directly addrs homosexualy do not prohib the kd of lovg, mted gay relatnships known to the morn world. Pearson’s shift plac him the center of a growg movement of popular Christian micians who are g out as gay and are advotg for a more open and acceptg posture the church.

Sce Christian mic fans tend to be nservative and believe that homosexual acts are sful, you won’t hear the artists’ mic played most church or on Christian rad the days. He will perform at Wild Goose, the Christian ftival July, and hop to bee a voice wh the burgeong “gay Christian” movement.

FOR GAY CHRISTIAN MICIANS, WORK BALANC FAH, ART, LOVE

To make an extremely long story short, I have e to be able to adm to myself, and to my fay, that I am gay. Tryg not to be gay, has only led to a sire for timacy iendships which phed iends away, and has rulted a marriage where I uldn’t love or satisfy my wife a way that she need.

I am never gog to be able to change how I am, and no matter how healthy our relatnship be, ’s never gog to change what I know ep down: that I am gay.

Byron Keh, also known as Byron Rice | (Photo: Facebook / Byron Rice)A former Contemporary Christian untry sger, who disappeared for years om the Nashville mic scene sce 2005, has rurfaced as a gay and HIV-posive folk HIVPl Mag reports, sger-songwrer and pastor's son Byron Rice was a mastay the Nashville Contemporary Christian mic scene for about a unr the name "Byron Keh. After about seven years off om tourg, the sger returned to the mic scene as an openly-gay and HIV-posive folk sger, g the name Byron told the webse that his divorce kicked off a strg of events that led him to take his seven-year hiat orr to reevaluate his ner feelgs and his life. He admted that his divorce was ed by the fact that he held ep homosexual urg but said that his ex-wife was unrstandg and has remaed his his divorce, Rice, a life-long self-profsed Christian, had difficulty fdg acceptance om many church simply bee he was a divorcee.

CHRISTIAN MICIAN COM OUT AS GAY AND HIV-POSIVE FOLK SGER

The church did not even know that he was gay, as Rice did the bt he uld to hi the fact that he was gay. "So, between beg told I wasn't a man of God anymore, and that I wasn't wele at a lot of church bee I'd gotten divorced — they didn't even know I was also alg wh the fact that I was gay, and we were tryg to al wh that issue as well — was fely a hard time.