I have come to expect unreasonable claims about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the media, but I was not prepared to hear them from my friends. On Feb. 7, a friend of mine who was pastor delivered a sermon that claimed his distant father and overbearing mother caused a life-long struggle with homosexuality. He then announced that he is pursuing a therapy program to “cure” his attraction to men, planning to write a book on the topic and stepping down from his role as pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship.
Thus began a multi-week series on homosexuality that will end on Feb. 21.
Although the staff member will certainly be caught in the crossfire of the debate, the controversy is not about him. He has the right to be open and honest about his struggles and the freedom to pursue therapy of his choosing. But the church should not give its members or staff a platform to present false information about homosexuality and legitimize a form of therapy that leading health and mental health organizations have found to be ineffective and unsafe.
The ex-gay movement teaches that homosexuality is a mental illness even though the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders stopped listing it as such in 1973. The movement also insists that gay-to-straight conversion efforts work, despite the American Psychological Association’s repeated claims to the contrary. Every year, ex-gay conversion therapists convince an untold number of Americans that they can change their sexual orientation through expensive therapy. Some want to rid themselves of the shame they feel. Others fear that they will never be full members of their family, church or community unless they “turn straight.” They learn to equate “gay” with “bad” and internalize the anti-gay rhetoric of the religious right.
Although the leaders of NLCF will claim that they are simply supporting their staff memeber and not issuing a blanket endorsement of ex-gay conversion therapy, the church has stronger ties to the ex-gay movement than it would like to admit. In 2004, NLCF pastor Scott Davis left his post at the campus church to lead youth outreach programs at Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization in the world. He now serves as vice president of operations for that organization. In 2005, lead NLCF pastor Jim Pace wrote an article for an Exodus International newsletter about the church’s approach to the issue of
homosexuality.
Exodus International has consistently opposed legal protections for LGBT individuals and couples, and in 2009, one of its board members was instrumental in drafting a piece of legislation in Uganda that calls for life imprisonment and, in some cases, the death penalty for homosexuality. Although no one should be blamed for the actions of a friend or acquaintance, I question the ethics of anyone who would write for a cause that masquerades hate as a family value.
At the end of the day, I don’t know whether to be more frustrated that one of the largest religious organizations in Blacksburg is telling 600 to 800 church-goers that love and affection between two men or two women is pathology, not romance, or that I no longer feel welcome in the church I have called home for the past four years simply because I’m gay. Another friend of mine has decided to stay in the church, but I have chosen to leave. Recently, he asked me whether I thought he would be accepted in NLCF even though he has a boyfriend. I gave him an honest answer:
“No.”
Michael Sutphin
class of 2006