Oral Roberts' gay grandson speaks out | CNN

Contents:

• ORAL ROBERTS’ GAY GRANDSON SPEAKS OUT
• THE HEARTBROKEN LIFE OF RONNIE ROBERTSORAL ROBERTS’ SON HAD A SECRETJONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED I’M JONATHAN. I BLOG GOD.·12 M READ·MAR 19, 2021--5SHAREIN THE LATE 1980S, A YOUNG ANOREXIC WOMAN NAMED RACHEL WAS LYG A HOSPAL BED. SHE TOLD HER MOTHER: “IF I’M GOG TO DIE, I HAVE TO KNOW THE TTH.”HER MOTHER ADMTED . YEARS LATER, 2005, RACHEL SAW THAT HER , RANDY POTTS, HAD THE SAME SECRET HIMSELF. SHE TOLD HIM HERS, AND 2010, RANDY TOLD THE WORLD.HIS UNCLE, RONNIE ROBERTS, THE ELST SON OF ORAL ROBERTS, THE FAMO FAH-HEALG CHRISTIAN MISTER, HAD BEEN GAY.RONNIE ROBERTS (OM “HIS DARLG WIFE, EVELYN”) (LORIZED/PHOTO ENHANCED)RANDLY REARCHED HIS GAY UNCLE AND 2016, ON INSTAGRAM, DID A LONG POST ABOUT HIM.THAT WAS REPRTED BY THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER, WHERE I NOTICED . RANDY HAD ASSEMBLED A LOT OF RMATN, BUT MORE IS KNOWN ABOUT RONALD DAVID ROBERTS, THE SEND CHILD AND FIRST SON OF ORAL AND EVELYN ROBERTS.BORN TULSA ON OCTOBER 22, 1943, ALL HIS LIFE, HE WAS ‘RONNIE’, A ‘PASTOR’S KID’, PLACED ON EARTH TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD CHRISTIAN.HE DID HIS BT. A 1985 BGRAPHY, ORAL ROBERTS: AN AMERIN LIFE BY DAVID EDW HARRELL, JR., FDS ORAL SAYG HE’S SO PROUD OF HIS “LTLE HELPER.”SO BRIGHT! SO “NIMBLE WH HIS MD AND TONGUE,” ORAL SAYS. RONNIE’S MEMORY IS CREDIBLE. AT AGE FOUR HIS FATHER ASKS HIM AFTER A SERMON TO SUMMARIZE S MSAGE. RONNIE REC THE WHOLE THG BACK.AS HIS MOTHER PLAYS PIANO AT CHURCH, RONNIE WORKS THE SERVIC TOO. AT THE ALTAR LL, HE SGS “DON’T TURN HIM AWAY” — AND EVERYONE IS SO CHARMED THEY WANT TO GET SAVED ALL OVER AGA.“HE HAD SUCH A SWEET LTLE VOICE,” HIS MOTHER WR.I’M READG HER 1976 BOOK, HIS DARLG WIFE, EVELYN, WHICH IS EVERYTHG AN EVANGELIL MOTHER’S MEMOIR SHOULD BE. SO PROUD OF HER “WELL-BEHAVED” CHRISTIAN SON. “HE WOULD FD HIMSELF LONG NVERSATNS WH PEOPLE AND THEY WOULD BE FASCATED BY HIM BEE THEY HAD NEVER MET ANYONE HIS AGE WHO KNEW SO MUCH ABOUT THE BIBLE.”GOD HAD “SOMETHG SPECIAL” MD FOR HIM SHE WAS QUE SURE.
• ORAL ROBERTS' GAY GRANDSON HAD ONE TOUGH G OUT
• ORAL ROBERTS' GAY GRANDSON SPEAKS OUT (VIDEO)
• ORAL ROBERTS' GRANDSON SPEAKS ABOUT COMG OUT AS GAY
• RANDY ROBERTS POTTS AND THE GAY SON OF ORAL ROBERTS

ORAL ROBERTS’ GAY GRANDSON SPEAKS OUT

GAY PROGENY | Randy Potts, left, attend the funeral of his grandfather, Oral Roberts, right, but wasn’t ved to s wh fay. But at 30, he me out as gay and moved to Dallas.

THE HEARTBROKEN LIFE OF RONNIE ROBERTSORAL ROBERTS’ SON HAD A SECRETJONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED I’M JONATHAN. I BLOG GOD.·12 M READ·MAR 19, 2021--5SHAREIN THE LATE 1980S, A YOUNG ANOREXIC WOMAN NAMED RACHEL WAS LYG A HOSPAL BED. SHE TOLD HER MOTHER: “IF I’M GOG TO DIE, I HAVE TO KNOW THE TTH.”HER MOTHER ADMTED . YEARS LATER, 2005, RACHEL SAW THAT HER , RANDY POTTS, HAD THE SAME SECRET HIMSELF. SHE TOLD HIM HERS, AND 2010, RANDY TOLD THE WORLD.HIS UNCLE, RONNIE ROBERTS, THE ELST SON OF ORAL ROBERTS, THE FAMO FAH-HEALG CHRISTIAN MISTER, HAD BEEN GAY.RONNIE ROBERTS (OM “HIS DARLG WIFE, EVELYN”) (LORIZED/PHOTO ENHANCED)RANDLY REARCHED HIS GAY UNCLE AND 2016, ON INSTAGRAM, DID A LONG POST ABOUT HIM.THAT WAS REPRTED BY THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER, WHERE I NOTICED . RANDY HAD ASSEMBLED A LOT OF RMATN, BUT MORE IS KNOWN ABOUT RONALD DAVID ROBERTS, THE SEND CHILD AND FIRST SON OF ORAL AND EVELYN ROBERTS.BORN TULSA ON OCTOBER 22, 1943, ALL HIS LIFE, HE WAS ‘RONNIE’, A ‘PASTOR’S KID’, PLACED ON EARTH TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD CHRISTIAN.HE DID HIS BT. A 1985 BGRAPHY, ORAL ROBERTS: AN AMERIN LIFE BY DAVID EDW HARRELL, JR., FDS ORAL SAYG HE’S SO PROUD OF HIS “LTLE HELPER.”SO BRIGHT! SO “NIMBLE WH HIS MD AND TONGUE,” ORAL SAYS. RONNIE’S MEMORY IS CREDIBLE. AT AGE FOUR HIS FATHER ASKS HIM AFTER A SERMON TO SUMMARIZE S MSAGE. RONNIE REC THE WHOLE THG BACK.AS HIS MOTHER PLAYS PIANO AT CHURCH, RONNIE WORKS THE SERVIC TOO. AT THE ALTAR LL, HE SGS “DON’T TURN HIM AWAY” — AND EVERYONE IS SO CHARMED THEY WANT TO GET SAVED ALL OVER AGA.“HE HAD SUCH A SWEET LTLE VOICE,” HIS MOTHER WR.I’M READG HER 1976 BOOK, HIS DARLG WIFE, EVELYN, WHICH IS EVERYTHG AN EVANGELIL MOTHER’S MEMOIR SHOULD BE. SO PROUD OF HER “WELL-BEHAVED” CHRISTIAN SON. “HE WOULD FD HIMSELF LONG NVERSATNS WH PEOPLE AND THEY WOULD BE FASCATED BY HIM BEE THEY HAD NEVER MET ANYONE HIS AGE WHO KNEW SO MUCH ABOUT THE BIBLE.”GOD HAD “SOMETHG SPECIAL” MD FOR HIM SHE WAS QUE SURE.

Ronnie me out as gay to the Rev. Although was pretty mon knowledge the LGBT muny that Oral Roberts had a gay son, the fay and at church was a big secret. “In the gay muny people knew that, ” he said.

Views exprsed The Advote's Commentary articl are those of the wrers and do not necsarily reprent the views of The Advote or our parent pany, Pri always seemed that there was nothg worse than growg up a closeted gay Catholic. " former stunt Andrew Hartzler told Poli, which also explaed that Hartzler was gay and that he did not raise his hand bee beg gay vlated the ORU honor and he uld be expelled for . Hartzler had signed a pledge: "I will not engage or attempt to engage any illic, unscriptural sexual acts, which clu any homosexual activy and sexual terurse wh one who is not my spoe.

He was feroc his hate diatrib about gay men and AIDS. "Unfortunately for Hartzler, his trmatic experience wh the ia of beg gay started as far back as first gra. "I remember one eveng watchg a segment on TV about SpongeBob beg gay.

ORAL ROBERTS' GAY GRANDSON HAD ONE TOUGH G OUT

"Did Hartzler unrstand why SpongeBob beg gay was a bad thg for his parents? "I didn't really watch him a lot, I jt liked sea creatur, so I wasn't sure what all the fs was about; however, as I grew up the word 'gay' was treated like a swear word-- actually worse than a swear word my hoe.

And to make matters worse, my was the only gay person I knew, and he had a very rough start dog dgs and mtg crim. "Hartzler's mother emphasized to her son that if he end up beg gay, his life would be full of dgs and crime, jt like that of his ; however, he knew that there was somethg different about himself. "I was bullied so much when I was young about beg gay that I began to thk that maybe was te.

ORAL ROBERTS' GAY GRANDSON SPEAKS OUT (VIDEO)

"When he was 14, he broached the subject of beg gay wh his parents. "I jt played the part, and eventually told my parents that I was no longer gay. There are so many parents who won't adm that their child who ms suici was queer, and that's the reason suicis aren't always attributable to beg gay.

ORAL ROBERTS' GRANDSON SPEAKS ABOUT COMG OUT AS GAY

She told him hers, and 2010, Randy told the uncle, Ronnie Roberts, the elst son of Oral Roberts, the famo fah-healg Christian mister, had been Roberts (om “His Darlg Wife, Evelyn”) (lorized/photo enhanced)Randly rearched his gay uncle and 2016, on Instagram, did a long post about was reprted by The Guardian newspaper, where I noticed . The school's ntroversial founr and homophobic rerd plit the team's historic n. 7-seed Florida Gators the openg two rounds of this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament have given the small school loted Tulsa, Oklahoma, a natnal platform and s first ticket to the Sweet Sixteen nearly 50 along wh all of the fanfare that wh a "Crella" story, the Goln Eagl' miraculo March Madns n has been acpanied by some far ls hearteng public relatns; the team's succs has shed a spotlight on Oral Roberts' troublg history and long rerd of homophobia that stretch to the prent 's founr and namake was a ntroversial televangelist known to many as a swdler and a homophobeOral Roberts Universy, a private evangelil universy wh jt 4, 000 stunts, was found by s namake 1963.

Roberts was vehemently homophobic, and he was far om quiet about his anti-gay sentiment. In his sermons, the preacher said homosexualy "is not only wild, is sane, " and likened same-sex attractn to six months after Roberts' son, Ronald "Ronnie" Roberts, me out as gay, he killed himself. "Suici among gay men and women Evangelil muni is still prevalent, " Potts wrote.

RANDY ROBERTS POTTS AND THE GAY SON OF ORAL ROBERTS

"Evangelils may not be killg gays outright — the police report suggts my uncle killed himself.

However, while the Evangelil muny might not pull the trigger when one of their gay members ms suici, they provi the ammunn. "Oral Roberts' legacy liv on through his school, where 'homosexual activy' is banned and nversn therapy is mandatoryThe universy created Oral Roberts' name was "found to be and is mted to beg a Christian relig mistry" and, as such, requir a "mment to J Christ of Nazareth as personal Savr and Lord" om all of s stunts.

That latter tegory clus "any homosexual activy and sexual terurse wh one who is not [a] spoe through tradnal marriage of one man and one woman.