The Question is... Black gays and Exgays alike look to church leaders for answers that may never come
April 9, 2002 by Darryl L. Foster Atlanta - A woman who says she is an openly homosexual member of Bishop Eddie Long's Newbirth Baptist Missionary Church accuses the bishop and others of turning their backs on Atlanta's black gay community. Sean Waites, also a 2001 Atlanta City Council candidate, told the Southern Voice (Sovo) that as a lesbian it was "hurtful" that New Birth would not return her calls --even though she is a member. Friends asked her how she could attend a church known to be "anti-gay" she was quoted as saying in the article All God's Children? The print edition of the Sovo carried a full front page picture of Waites and gay activist Jimmie Scott who are angry that New Birth along with 11 other prominent African American churches refused to participate in the upcoming gospel concert dubbed "Gospel and Soul". The concert ---a trojan horse event-- is backed by the Washington DC based gay organization Human Rights Campaign who hoped that the medium of gospel music would draw black churches into partnerships with homosexual groups, particularly in the black community. That strategy was met with icy silence and confusing responses.The black religious community has traditionally shunned all contact with openly homosexual activists and events allegedly due to Biblical beliefs.
Additionally, the refusal ---according to some who commented-- highlights a steadily growing rift between powerful all white gay organizations and resentful black gays of whom almost 50% believed racism among white gays is a serious problem. Some believe the event was just another attempt of white gays to take advantage of a black tradition to futher their agenda in the black community. When it comes to homosexuality, rifts, intensive debates and divisiveness seem to be the rule of thumb on every side.
The accusations and stories of skirmishes come at a time when open homosexuality in the church has officially become the simmering flashpoint of Biblical moral injunctions. The new civil war of sexuality. A war that has torn asunder families, churches and governments everywhere. While major white Protestant denominations such as the Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists and others are locked in violent, public struggles over homosexuality, many black churches have adopted a sleepy-eyed approach to the issue.
New Birth Baptist Church seemed to be the focus of the most crticism due in part to Waites' candid admission of membership. Sovo stated that it was told Bishop Long wasn't available because meeting schedules. Could this have been true? Or was New Birth simply holding to the sleepy-eyed practice of evasive neutrality? On October 2001, Bishop Long released a televison sermon entitled Passion for Life. In it, he made an appeal to former homosexuals to reveal themselves and refute the "born gay" myth. "Why are we so locked up? Won't no one tell the truth. Not enough homosexuals getting up and saying I have been converted. Now, God has touched me. Somebody needs to hear and see that and dispel the myth, that I was born that way. Get born again, I need a witness! I need an ex-lesbian to stand up. I need an ex something. I need to see an ex that is successful. Show me something!", he said. In response to that appeal, former homosexuals from Atlanta and across the country began sending Long letters detailing their deliverance and asking him to openly support transformation ministry to church members who struggle to overcome homosexuality. All asked for a response to their letters -- which has never come. Linda Carter who initiated the letter writing campaign after seeing Bishop Long's show on Christian television in Mobile, AL says she personally called the church several times. Carter , a single mom and exlesbian said, "I received favorable responses from the secretary. She told me that Bishop Long was receiving the letters. Another time I called one of his adjutants told me that Bishop reads every letter that comes across his desk." But Carter, nor any of the others who wrote letters or sent emails received the response they requested. Other Atlanta area churches askedto be involved included Hopewell Missionary Baptist, Victory Baptist, Tabernacle Baptist, New Beginning Full Gospel, Providence Missionary Baptist Church, Big Bethel AME, Antioch Baptist North, and Ebenezer Baptist.
An agenda by any other namePart of the problem with the whole concept of the "Gospel and Soul" Concert is that its main purpose is not to bring glory to Christ, to affirm God's word in song nor to serve to draw people to a risen savior.In other words it had nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with furthering the gay agenda. Its purpose according to its bankrollers in Washington was to "bridge the divide between black gay Atlantans and mainstream African-American churches." "We're trying to bring the whole community together. To bring the African-American gay and straight community together, and to bring those open to GLBT (Gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender) rights together with those who are GLBT, said one HRC official. What black gay Atlantans and their white moneylenders in the nation's capitol may not understand is that the way to bridge the divide is through the simple act of repentance, not subversive agendas. Dr. Kathi Martin, a former AME minister, claimed she was forced out of the AME church because of her open lesbianism and because she married homosexual couples under the AME banner. She told the paper, ""I see myself as a person in exile from the African-American church experience, And like all exiles, I hope to return home someday." While she is waiting for the church to embrace her in an unrepentant state, Martin started a "ministry" called God ,Self and Neighbors which has formed a small gospel choir. The GSN choir is at the nucleus of the concert performance. She has, since being expelled from the church, performed 16 homosexual weddings in defiance of church and Bible teachings.
The Big picture
The need for black churches to develop programs of healing for the sexually broken is greater than ever before. There are those who will soon tire of the silence and the confusing answers and launch an all out war in the black church, much like the ones in other mainstream protestant churches. With the church at war, how will the hope of deliverance prevail? Already in several large black denominations like the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) , AME and Baptist churches, homosexual elders and ministers are forming secret undercover groups. Some of them have boldly surfaced online as "Blaque Gay/Bi Ministers@ yahoogroups.", whose founder is a current COGIC elder. Prevention, the message many "exgay" parachurch ministry workers --like Exodus International and WITNESS!-- have been preaching may too be falling on deaf ears. Will a change come anytime soon? The question, and the answer, remains to be seen.