A letter to conservative Christian churches in America by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
“Please take a moment to read this important guest article from an ex-gay leader. It is critically important the Church hears this message!”
Conservative Christianity in America will succumb to sexual identity activism unless it embraces those leaving the LGBTQ subculture.
As the dust settles after the recent Bostock Supreme Court decision, Christians everywhere are questioning how to respond to the rising tide of LGBTQ Pride. Conservative Christians across the world want to hold the opinion that the Bible condemns same-sex sexual behavior and that homosexuality has a negative impact on our culture. At the same time, many of these congregations don’t accommodate people who have responded to that message.
Today there is a crisis among those of us who have exercised obedience to our faith and left LGBTQ behind. We are being forced deeper and deeper underground. Our voices and stories are being suppressed. Avenues of care and discipleship are being abandoned.
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Don’t be confused by the accusations of LGBTQ activists. Thousands of “oncegay” people (or “ex-gay,” though most of us don’t identify with any such label) are the fruit of conservative Christianity. We’ve been born again. We are pursuing God for sanctification and enjoying the wonderful redemption of Jesus’ love. Many of us now have opposite sex marriages (not blended orientation marriages) with biological children. We have overcome gender traumas and identify fully as men and women who are born of God’s will—not “born gay.” Most Americans believe we do not exist, but we feel our stories reveal the heart of God and His power to redeem all people.
Churches are becoming afraid to offer us support since any approach suggesting emotional healing or restoration in one’s sexuality could be called “conversion therapy,” or worse, anti-LGBTQ hate. We Christians who have experienced LGBTQ, whether openly gay or closeted in our churches, wrestle with our public response to Christ. The uproar over so-called “conversion therapy” reveals the painful challenge of that pursuit. Activists say thousands have undergone a “discredited and abusive” practice that is paramount to “torture.” But look, that statistic doesn’t point to individuals who have been handcuffed and forced into a back room. It tells us there are thousands who want out of LGBTQ. We want to escape. We don’t want to embrace same-sex sexuality. What this actually means is that some have submitted to questionable and even ineffective approaches in their desperate efforts to gain freedom.
