A Gay Man’s Journey Through the Adventist Church

“SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS”

When I asked another gay former pastor, who had fled to the US after he was disvered and fired, about the impact of growg up as gay and lbian Adventists Uganda, he replied, “It is the most difficult thg you uld ever thk of — they tell you that you are already nmned, gog to hell. In the first of this century, a Jamain member of the Metro New York Adventist Fom, who had been livg the US on a stunt visa while pletg his tn, appealed to be granted permanent rince on the grounds that he, as a gay man, would be ser personal danger if obliged to return to Jamai. However, ntued to do next to nothg about the disease the Uned Stat bee started there as a gay disease — and ntu to reject both gay Adventists who put themselv at risk of ntractg AIDS and those who live mted relatnships as equally promiscuo bee the sex of both groups is not wh heterosexual marriage.

Dpe the failure of the “change” program supported, and the sexual exploatn of young, agile unsele by s director, church lears helped rtore him to a place where he uld rume his activi, and they have ntued to sist that only homosexuals who stggle to change their orientatn or to be celibate will be accepted. Kship is reachg out wh creasg effectivens to young Adventists who have qutns about their sexualy; no longer do need to send mailgs to Adventist mp, bee most young homosexuals fd easily on the web and most Amerin llege mp now have a Gay-Straight Alliance or an LGBT support group.

Homosexuals also fell to the send tegory: jt as an unmarried pregnant member was seen as shamg the church, when a gay or lbian was disvered among s members — and those days disvery was ually the rult of the publitn the prs of the nam of those arrted followg a police raid on a gay meetg place — this was seen as embarrassg, and that person was purged immediately. This quickly garnered support om key anizatns: the Amerin Bar Associatn issued a ll for the crimalizatn of homosexual behavr between nsentg adults 1973, and the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn voted to remove homosexualy om s official list of mental disorrs the same year.

SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS

For example, when, 1977, Ana Bryant succsfully took the lead the mpaign to reverse a civil rights ordance that had helped protect homosexuals agast discrimatn employment and hog Da County, Florida, her mpaign spawned bumper stickers that urged people to “Kill a gay for Christ. Although unselors and pastors regularly advised homosexuals to pray for liverance, and to date a woman and marry her expectatn that God would answer their prayers, two books on sex published durg the 1970s regnized that change orientatn was unlikely and urged that dive strength be enlisted to rist temptatns. ” However, he sisted on two ndns: Kship uld not e the participatn of clergy as an opportuny to claim the prs that the GC had accepted homosexualy; and Col Cook, whose claim to be able to help homosexuals change their sexual orientatns was attractg favorable attentn among church lears, should be add to the five ved.

” One person after another told of the isolatn each had felt bee almost all had been nvced that he or she was the only gay Adventist the world; of years of unavailg stggle and unanswered prayer for a miracle that would make them heterosexual; of overwhelmg guilt and self-rejectn; of nsequent difficulty tablishg relatnships; of promiscuo patterns and more guilt; of rejectn by their fai and trangement om their ngregatns. Dmond Ford after his trial, held at Glacier View, Colorado, the week followg the Kampmeetg, and were buried when a letter mpaign, orchtrated by a right-wg publitn, queried whether the participatn of GC-sponsored clergy a homosexual “kampmeetg” dited that the nomatn had “accepted homosexualy.

I AM A SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTIST

“The problem of homosexualy the church was discsed, emphasizg the need to help those who are enslaved by this perversn to fd liverance …It is not possible for the church to ndone practicg homosexuals …The efforts of the church mt be foced on dividuals, rather than groups, who sire help and liverance …We nnot negotiate wh anized groups who refer to themselv as SDA gays and lbians, and we nnot tablish “diplomatic relatns” wh rporatns which the mds of most people, would be nsired as regnn and official endorsement of a viant philosophy and liftyle.

” In September 1987, eleven months after the suatn was disclosed, Mistry published another long terview wh Cook which, although ditg that there had been improprieti, strongly endorsed Cook’s methods as the answer to homosexualy and announced ( a photo ptn apparently left by mistake) that he would “soon rume leadg semars for revery by homosexuals. How many people who claim the mantle of ex-gay have bought to the notn that simply a matter of "pray the gay away" and you will somehow miraculoly bee straight, only to fd out after years of livg nial that they have been brawashed to a cel hoax when realy of all crashg down on them. I gus what I'm tryg to say is this, while I agree the Bible do not sanctn immoral behavr of any kd, why is that an entire group of people are wrten off by the church at large and stigmatized bee ant gay activists have given them the imprsn that gays are not worth the time or effort to evangelize.

Seventh-Gay Adventists

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“SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS”