Christian rock star out as gay. Here’s the letter he wrote to the world

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?

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. “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.

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

“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. Some fans look up to his cisn to go public so that people n see that gay people n love and serve the Lord.

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

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.

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

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. 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

GAY MARRIAGE BAN: THE SE AGAST

” 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. "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.

CHART TOPPG SGERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY

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.

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

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. 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.

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

"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. "As Rice began wrg more songs about his tratns as a gay and HIV-posive man, his manager, Kev Garrett, had him rerd an album, which was entled Lost the Woods, released explaed that the album addrs how he found his own sense of spirualy and a new unrstandg for the importance of the perspective of his songwrg.

"Although some of his songs addrs the trials of a gay man wh HIV, Rice still wr and sgs about the love of God.

"They watched me navigate beg a gay person… and shift the middle of a relign that don't really give a lot of people an opportuny to challenge back and still rpect .

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

Asi om his immense mil talent, Lil Nas X — who me out as gay on social media durg his Hot 100 reign — has been a fierce champn for LGBTQIA+ and Black muni. vioGlobal Sp: Cub Sport Offer An Ethereal Performance Of "Keep Me Safe"The Atralian pop group chronicl the simultaneo joy and shame of a secret relatnship "Keep Me Safe, " the lead sgle om their latt album, 'J at the Gay Bar. "Keep Me Safe" is the lead sgle om Cub Sport's newt album, J at the Gay Bar, spired by the relatnship between bandmat Tim Nelson and Sam Netterfield.

"|GRAMMYs/Jun 22, 2023 - 05:25 pmJt over a month ago, rock sger Liza Anne released their first sgle, "Cheerlear, " sce g out as gay and non-bary. They were secure their nservative Christian fah that viewed homosexualy as a Boltz, who had grappled privately wh prsn, told his wife of three s and their four grown children somethg is — and always has been — many ways, what me next for the Boltz fay reflects the ongog evolutn of attus toward gay rights and same-sex marriage Indiana over the past the state nears the fal rounds of nsiratn for a proposed nstutnal ban on gay marriage — an amendment that has seen creasg support the polls — the Boltz now are among many Christians who have e to accept same-sex Boltz rejects the view of some evangelils, who ce dividual Bible vers as nmng homosexualy, as too leral and too selective. He and many male Christians foc stead on J' broar exhortatn to "love your neighbor as yourself, " a theme he se as them and other opponents of the nstutnal ban, the fight agast means creatg a chance to provi equal rights to all upl, allowg employers to provi benefs to gay partners and makg sure Indiana is a welg place for all.

"Before g out as gay, Christian sger Ray Boltz was probably bt known for his song "Thank You, " which won the Gospel Mic Associatn's Dove award for song of the year 1990.

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

Here's a YouTube vio of him sgg that song:After revealg publicly 2008 that he is gay, Boltz released the spirual album "Te, " which clus the song "Don't Tell Me Who to Love, " an anthem for marriage equaly. As the only state nsirg a nstutnal ban this year, Indiana has put self unr the glare of a natnal spotlight as ground zero for the bate over gay rightsOpponents also see more tangible risks if the amendment far-reachg language likely would prohib regnn of civil unns and other siar arrangements. Broadly, opponents fear the amendment's passage now would stall progrs for gay upl Indiana while other stat speed ahead and beg rensirg their marriage Allman, 52, and Leisa Waggoner, 54, want their recent marriage Connecticut, after 24 years together, to matter at home.