Atlanta church first lady's hband and son e out as gay

ATLANTA LGBT ADVOTE OUT AS ‘THE GAY PREACHER’S WIFE’

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. * atlanta pastor gay *

But after learng she was both married to and mother of two gay men, Meredh knew she had a new path to fe. Her story is chronicled her new book, “The Gay Preacher’s Wife, ” published last fall. ” Meredh was married to her hband, a pastor, for 13 years when he me out to her as bisexual, and 17 years later as gay.

At my school, we teach sex tn to teens and we teach gay and straight kids. “I had to get some unrstandg on how the gay issue has jt torn my fay apart. Meredh learned that the ia of God hatg gays didn’t amount to much the world of relig amia.

I n dispel so many myths jt by the life that I live; married to a bisexual man and birthg and raisg a gay son, ” she said.

GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY

* atlanta pastor gay *

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.

Both men also said they were grateful for the support om the Atlanta lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny and will always nsir servg as grand marshals of the Atlanta Pri Para 2007 as a signifint moment their liv. ELCA policy at the time prohibed gay pastors to be same-sex relatnships. In 2009, the ELCA Churchwi Assembly lled for revisns to allow for gay pastors to be same-sex, monogamo, lifelong relatnships.

ATLANTA GAY PASTORS BACK ON LUTHERAN CLERGY ROSTER

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. *Pastor Dwayne Dawks of the Lears Trag Conference Atlanta is speakg out about his gay sex tape leak.

Stt, Dawks is a married father of three kids “who equently nmned acts of homosexualy om the pulp, ” the outlet wr. She moved to Atlanta a ago, when she was 22, where she me out as gay, another blow, she was told, her journey to bee a pastor. Even wh our own parish, we hold the stori of gay men who would have ma great prits, but they were not allowed to do so bee of they were hont and unapologetic about their sexual orientatn.

MARRIED ATLANTA PASTOR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT LEAK OF HIS GAY SEX TAPE | WATCH

“I’ve always appreciated the amount of fah groups that are reprented booths and the para, but I knew that the story of how, pecially, male Christian nomatns me to the place of acceptg gay people was much more plited than the floats the para display, ” she said. “I hope people vis and walk away feelg a fuller story of the gay experience.

She recently penned a eply personal memoir, The Gay Preacher’s Wife: How My Gay Hband Denstcted My Life and Renstcted My Fah.

Meredh, who is now an openly gay pastor and leadg a ngregatn of over 1K members —predomantly lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr. When asked if she missed all the signs that her former hband is gay, she said, “Y, I miss[ed] them.