Collegiate Times

Leading a life that seems to be the epitome of hypocrisy, Mel White, a renowned member of the Evangelical Protestant church and a ghostwriter of the autobiographies for clergyman such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson is gay.

His speech last night in Squires Haymarket Theater spoke of his battles between his religion and his homosexuality, which is also documented in his autobiography “A Stranger at the Gates: To be Gay and Christian in America.”

“Can you imagine who would choose such a lifestyle?” White said, “I know I would now after seeing all what [my boyfriend] Gary and I have together but after 35 years of being given this ‘gift’ from God and me trying to give it back? It wasn’t until I slit my own wrists and on the way back from the hospital my wife says to me, ‘I think you’re gay. Now I want you to go have your own life,’ that I could accept it.”

White spoke of his attempts to rid himself of homosexuality throughout the early part of his life including prayer, hypnosis, electroshock therapy and even Catholic exorcism.

“I remember going to a Catholic clergyman who was supposed to be famous for his exorcisms and I asked to be exorcised. He asked for what and I told him and he said to me, ‘I don’t think we can help you with that here.’”

After speaking of his own struggles with his coming to grips with his sexuality, White spoke of the Fundamentalist reactions to homosexuality that he had experienced and read passages from his new book called “Religion Gone Bad,” which contained transcripts from a meeting among members of the religious right, including Falwell.

“Fundamentalism is determined to ensure that everyone fears and loathes homosexuals,” he said. “Their solutions to isolating the homosexual community are similar to that of the Holocaust. They involved banning our rights to marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships, disallowing fair housing to include homosexuals, discontinuing AIDS and HIV research and evicting homosexual teachers from public and private schools.”

White also discussed current reactions to homosexuality throughout the country, including 4,000 Southern Baptist churches in North Carolina issuing a verdict stating that anyone who is gay or supports homosexuality be banned from church membership.

“What I suggest to all homosexuals and their supporters is to create tension between the church and the gay community and to stand up for the gay community. While we are settling this issue, let us all love each other and let the haters be condemned,” he said.