Groups call on SBC to apologize for treatment of gays

PHOENIX (ABP) – Six groups are joining to call on the Southern Baptist Convention to apologize for its treatment of gays.

A
new coalition announced plans June 8 to hand deliver a petition at next
week’s SBC annual meeting in Phoenix asking the nation’s second-largest
faith group to “end the harm it is causing the lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) community by offering a sincere and heartfelt
apology.”

The petition
accuses Southern Baptists of promoting “discriminatory laws toward LGBT
Americans” and “expressions of stigma and hostility” toward LGBT youth
and their families. It targets specifically “dangerous, intellectually
bankrupt and scientifically debunked ‘ex-gay’ ministries.”

While one “can’t ‘pray away the gay,’ the SBC can change its historical treatment of LGBT people,” the petition concludes.

“We
call on the Southern Baptist Convention to stop misusing the Bible to
promote religion-based bigotry and start recognizing the enormous pain
and suffering caused by its mistreatment of LGBT people, particularly
vulnerable youth,” said Jack McKinney, a former Southern Baptist
minister and spokesperson for Faith in America, one of the petition
sponsors.

McKinney is former pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist
Church in Raleigh, N.C., a congregation expelled by the Southern Baptist
Convention in 1992 for blessing a union of two gay men and one of two
churches that prompted the denomination to change its constitution to
ban churches that “act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual
behavior.”

McKinney retired as a pastor in 2009 and now works as a pastoral counselor and consultant to clergy and organizations with an emphasis on serving the LGBT community.

The
petition points to a 1990 SBC resolution apologizing for past
discrimination against African-Americans as evidence that the
denomination “is capable of reflection and transformation in its efforts
to right past wrongs.”

“While we cannot make direct comparisons
to different forms of discrimination, most Americans today recognize
religion-based bigotry is often an unfortunate common denominator in
struggles for human dignity and equality,” said Robin McGehee of GetEQUA L, a gay civil-rights organization and coalition member.

The
petition states that “given the arc of justice and trajectory of
history, there is no doubt the SBC will offer a full-fledged apology to
the LGBT community in the future. We hope that process begins today.”

“History
has not been kind to the Southern Baptist Convention's record on
minorities, and it is making the same awful mistake today by
perpetuating abuse against gay people,” McKinney said.

Other organizations in the coalition include Believe OutLoud , recently in the news after Sojourners magazine rejected their ad welcoming gays and lesbians to church.

Another
is Soulforce, an organization started by former Pat Robertson and Jerry
Falwell ghostwriter Mel White that has protested at SBC annual meetings
in the past.

Rounding out the coalition are the Association of
Welcoming and Affirming Baptists and Truth Wins Out, a non-profit that
monitors anti-gay organizations and particularly “ex-gay” ministries
that preach that a person’s sexual orientation can change. One of those
groups is the SBC , which appointed Bob Stith as national strategist for gender issues in 2007.

“I
have seen many people walk away from the homosexual lifestyle,” Stith
said in a newspaper interview that year. “And they were so joyful, so
thankful for what God had done in their life. If you have a strong
enough motivation, it is possible.”

Critics say such ministries
lead many young gay people to despair. Jerry Stephenson, a former
Southern Baptist minister and board member for Truth Wins Out, said
Southern Baptists’ anti-gay teachings nearly caused him to commit
suicide.

“I entered an ‘ex-gay’ ministry that falsely claimed I
could change my sexual orientation and this led to a deep depression,”
Stephenson said. “Only after I accepted my true self was I able to
reconcile my faith and sexual orientation. The Southern Baptist
Convention needs to apologize because its policies are hurting real
people.”

Robin Lunn,
executive director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists, said her organization’s biggest growth right now is coming
from former and recent Southern Baptist congregations.

“There is a
shift happening here that we want to encourage and support,” she said.
“We also want to raise the awareness of those involved that lives are at
stake, not just scriptural authority.”

“The Southern Baptist
Convention has an opportunity to lead the way for good within the
Baptist family of faith,” Lunn said. “We know that as the second-largest
religious community in the U.S., the SBC carries a lot of weight. We
believe that this is a moment when our societal awakening will prompt
the church in general and the SBC in specific to grow in its faith and
understanding on human sexuality and gender identity.”

“We
believe that it is God’s Spirit calling the church to move to this new
understanding and to give up the prejudice, discrimination and
marginalization that has caused so much harm to so many of God’s beloved
children,” said Lunn, who has a master-of-divinity degree from Andover
Newton Theological School.

"Southern Baptists continue to uphold
belief that God’s gift of sex was intended as the sacred union of a
husband and wife within the bonds of marriage," said Roger "Sing"
Oldham, vice president for convention relations with the SBc Executive
Commitee.  "While we sympathize with those who struggle with same-sex
attraction, we affirm the power of the Gospel to liberate those who
believe in Jesus Christ from succumbing to the natural desires of the
flesh."