Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relatnship : NPR

black gay ministers in atlanta

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.

Contents:

GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY

The pastor of an Atlanta megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay. * black gay ministers in atlanta *

But those lears, he said, were often surround by LGBTQ members who ma the church’s choirs livelier, helped wh llectns and filled the Oliver Cly Allen Weatherspoon for TODAYThose ​​dynamics, bed wh sermons that cried non-heterosexuali as abomatns, are part of the reason Allen se himself as more than a lear of a Black or gay than a preacher, Allen scrib himself as an abolnist whose job is to spread a msage of eedom and acceptance, two elements that he argu are the fundamentals of Christian belief. “J Christ didn’t say anythg about gay people and said everythg about liberatg people.

I didn’t know a way out, bee I hated myself, bee that’s what I was tght, to hate a person who was gay. Asadi said his fay ti to the church did not shelter him om stigmas as people began to realize he was gay. ” McKney said that although the majory of church members are LGBTQ, Allen’s sermons have “nothg to do wh whether or not you’re gay or straight.

“People n get the love and re that they would normally get om their grandmother or their ntie, ” Allen Allen put , Visn mols a fay dynamic the same way unrground ballroom muni, gay dive bars and gay villag beme surrogate spac for those who were shunned for g out s past.

BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP

While many black pastors nmn homosexualy om the pulp, the choir lofts behd them are often filled wh gay sgers and micians. The fact that gays and lbians often hold learship posn the church is the worst kept secret black Ameri. * black gay ministers in atlanta *

2, 2010— -- The pastor of a Geia megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay. I want to tell you that is not, " Jim Swilley said a vio shot the nonnomatnal megachuch Swilley found 25 years Swilley said g out was a cisn he's stggled wh sce childhood, he ma the announcement last month not for personal reasons -- he said he hop to save 52-year-old founr of Church the Now Conyers, Ga., said he's g out to help stem the recent ti of gay suicis Ameri and won't be swayed by some hateful msag that have been wrten about him onle. ""Hearg about the kids who are mtg suici, the reactn as a gay adult is, 'I wish I uld have jt talked to them for 15 mut or five mut and told them gets better, '" Savage said.

"Officials, Celebri Jo 'It Gets Better'Three weeks later, a cy uncil meetg Fort Worth, Texas, gay cy uncilman Joel Burns was moved to share his own emotnal story about how close he me to killg himself at age 13. ATLANTA (CBS/AP) New pictur have surfaced of Bishop Eddie Long, proment pastor of a 25, 000-member megachurch outsi Atlanta, as a third man has e forward accg the anti-gay advote of ercg him to sex. Long's church was among those named 2007 a Senate mtee's vtigatn to a half-dozen Christian mistri over their has lled for a natnal ban on same-sex marriage and his church unsels gay members to bee straight.

Yet the prence of gays and lbians black church is mon. While many black pastors nmn gays and lbians om the pulp, the choir lofts behd them often are filled wh gay sgers and micians. Wiley is a proment advote of gay marriage.

FOR SOME BLACK PASTORS, ACCEPTG GAY MEMBERS MEANS LOSG OTHERS

Print Obama's recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage turned the spotlight on rervatns many blacks harbor about gay rights. Most polls show Ain-Amerins evenly divid about gay marriage, but the vol opposn, led by preachers, has gaed more attentn. Woon helped lead the recent mpaign that outlawed gay marriage his state.

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.

"On the one hand, you're nurtured the choir but you also have to s through some of those fire and brimstone sermons about homosexualy beg an abomatn, " says E.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* BLACK GAY MINISTERS IN ATLANTA

Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relatnship : NPR.

TOP