Black and Gay at Church - Black Enterprise

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY BLACK PASTORS REVEAL 'DOWN LOW' LIFTYL ON NEW 'IYANLA: FIX MY LIFE'
• BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP
• BLACK GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS MERGE CHURCH TO PROMOTE 'RADILLY INCLIVE' THEOLOGY
• A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'
• ANTI-GAY BLACK PASTORS SAY YOU’RE THEIR ENEMY IF YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALY

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

Two gay pastors, who for years have been keepg their homosexualy secret, will reveal their “down low” liftyl to their fai and ngregatns an emotnal three-part seri premiere of OWN’s Iyanla: Fix My Life, which kicks off on Saturday.

Amanchwu, who is a ntributor to Turng Pot USA Fah and nsired “a risg voice exposg the racist iologi of abortn and cril race theory, ” told the Washgton Tim that his list was rponse to a liberal iology that giv “moral equivalency between blacks and gay rights.

GAY BLACK PASTORS REVEAL 'DOWN LOW' LIFTYL ON NEW 'IYANLA: FIX MY LIFE'

The virtuosy of gay sgers, micians and posers has been the drivg force velopg popular gospel choirs — even chart-toppg, Grammy-wng acts — that make money for a church, help expand ngregatns and raise the profil of pastors. It all happens unr an unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" ctom that allows gay people to be active the church, though closeted, and church to reap the benefs of their membership. Bishop Yvette Flunr of Oakland, Calif., is openly gay and the founr of The Fellowship, an anizatn of black pastors and church openly welg of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr members.

He says his church also has ntued to support gay members who have ntracted HIV/AIDS, unlike some other church that ostracize them — a practice many people on both sis of the issue say has been mon.

But many others say they are torn between their allegiance to their church, which form the cultural and stutnal backbone of black muni, and their sire to live ee of homophobia. " Gospel mic superstar and megachurch pastor Donnie McClurk shocked the non-gospel world years ago by revealg a 2001 book that God "livered" him om a gay "liftyle" that he said was a rult of beg sexually abed as a boy. And then the other part was always send-gusg myself - whether or not I was supposed to be open about my sexual orientatn, whether or not I was supposed to play the game of don't ask, don't Jt so that I'm clear, is the church's official stance on homosexualy today ambiguo or is pretty clearly fed and you'd like to see changed?

BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP

S., church have gone beyond what the Book of Disciple says to make the church open and accsible to gay and lbian clergy like Do you know other pastors who aren't as open as you or haven't been able to be as open as you - have ma this choice to keep this important si of their liv quiet or secret om their ngregatns? Burrell’s tira—which featured vulgar remarks about gay and lbian sex and a warng that they would “die 2017”—led Ellen DeGener to ncel the schled talk show performance of the gospel sger’s song om the Hidn Figur soundtrack. It’s an issue that is rurrected every few years after a proment black Christian exprs abject homophobia—which is perhaps why some misters weren’t at all shocked by Burrell’s sermon and Shirley Caar’s fense of .

After his first year of semary, the home church he grew up removed him om learship bee he exprsed a pro-LGBT pot of view a mistry meetg—well before he ever me out or realized that he was gay. Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor. “Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead.

” (Michael Owen Baker / For The Tim) Even historilly gay neighborhoods like Wt Hollywood or San Francis’s Castro district, Asian Amerins have long been ignored or fetishized, seen as feme and weak. In 2019, then-Wt Hollywood Mayor John Duran argued that he did not appropriately touch a member of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel bee “he’s a skny Korean kid wh pimpl on his cheek. ” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian.

BLACK GAY AND LBIAN PASTORS MERGE CHURCH TO PROMOTE 'RADILLY INCLIVE' THEOLOGY

As a member of his uncle’s church Cleveland, he says he remembers when the ngregatn’s openly gay choir director and his male partner would brg food for the church potluck, folks would whisper about which dish was so nobody would eat and “tch AIDS.

A GEIA CHURCH, KICKED OUT OF THE SBC FOR ALLOWG GAY MEMBERS, WANTS TO MAKE SURE 'EVERYBODY’S WELE'

He says that while nowadays Christian LGBTQs (Lbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgenr or Queer) large ci n opt to attend queer-iendly church, those livg small towns or the south mt eher worship at home or quietly attend predomantly heterosexual on, at the risk of beg found out. After years of publicly nouncg homosexualy–even gog so far as to lead a special mistry for gays and lbians orr to nvert them to heterosexuals–Bishop Long was sued last year by four young men who alleged he ed his pastoral fluence to erce them to a sexual relatnship wh him. Two predomantly black ngregatns Harlem, NY., where the rpective pastors are gay and lbian, have merged to fight for homosexualy to be accepted by the Church, givg their ngregatn the msage, "He (J) got up so I n e out.

" However, their promotn that God created people gay has been firmly rejected by mastream Church, who mata that the Bible clearly intifi homosexualy as a Rivers at Rehoboth is a batn between Rivers of Livg Fah, head by Pastor Vansa M. "The Rivers at Rehoboth b two siar philosophi upheld by the two prev church – a msage of beg "Radilly Inclive, " which preach that J Christ accepted all people no matter their circumstance; and "Gay by God, " which is based on the notn that God created all people his image, gays and lbians clud. "It broke my heart, " he shared of an experience where he left his church after a iend of his told him he uld not be the bt man at his weddg bee of his sexual Brown has revealed she married a man who was gay to help protect his image the church, but divorced him after growg tired of livg a lie.

ANTI-GAY BLACK PASTORS SAY YOU’RE THEIR ENEMY IF YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE EQUALY

"The church boasts that attracts 200 people each Sunday for service by promotg self as a safe haven for gay and lbian people who feel exclud other church that support tradnal views on homosexualy and same-sex marriage. "It's the saft place to go whout beg nmned at the end of service, " said Julie Chisolm-May, who attends the church wh her wife and six adult at Rehoboth church sists s articl of fah that not only accepts gay and lbian people; celebrat all who are margalized by society for their "uniquens.

"The issue of black church and homosexual affirmatn has long been a ntroversial one, though most black pastors and ngregatns Ameri stand behd the tradnal fn of marriage as between one man and one woman. "In the 21st Century, the anti-tradnal marriage muny is league wh the anti-life muny, and together wh the NAACP and other sympathizers, they are seekg a world where homosexual marriage and abortn will supposedly set the ptiv ee, " Kg his argument that most Ain-Amerin pastors believe that homosexual behavr is sful, CP ntributor and Nebraska pastor Dan Delzell exprsed, "Print Obama is leadg the way on gay marriage for what he hop will be a large followg of black pastors and their ngregatns. Long's 2004 book Deliver Me From Adam is foreword by Rod Parsley, the hard-le lear of the anti-gay Center for Moral Clary Oh, which led the charge gettg a state referendum on banng same-sex marriage onto the 2004 ballot.

In a sectn tled "All Dogs Go to Hell, " Williams warns that "the tth ncerng homosexualy is that, if one engag this dog-like s, will rult both an immediate and ultimate hell. Foster told the small crowd of black and whe Christians wh same-sex attractns how he "never once prayed to God for him to make me homosexual … but I didn't know how to get rid of . Programs like "Out of the Wilrns, " which mastream psychologists and medil experts reject bee they say homosexualy is not a ndn that needs a "cure, " operate on a siar prciple.

His church knew who they were and had spent the past two years g to terms wh the fact that cln for Towne View had to look different om what was required to rema the SBC, whose bylaws say, “Church which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavr would be emed not to be operatn wh the Conventn. He began to reexame the church's teachgs after the shootg 2016 that killed 45 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub Orlando, but he adms he “wrtled wh how someone uld be gay and a believer. “When one of our church choos to affirm or endorse homosexual behavr through their fn of regenerate church membership, we have clearly e to a different unrstandg on what we believe is an sential doctre, ” Greear cisn to ot Towne View will not create a stampe of church fleeg the SBC to promote more liberal ials, Freeman said.