A Different Kind Of Coming Out
July 22, 2013
After Steve Chalke and Rob Bell affirmed same-sex relationships earlier this year, Justin Brierley meets three evangelical church leaders who have decided to respond by going public about their sexuality.
In a basement under a church in London I'm meeting with three men who are in a support group. An unusual support group. 'We were tempted to say that we meet in a nuclear bunker in an undisclosed location,' says one of them with a wry smile.
They have been talking in private for a while, but believe now is the time for their voices and unique experience
- Justin Brierley
Silent no more
As long as I remember, I was different and in South Africa where I grew up, there is a myth: if you walk under a rainbow it will change your sex. I tried running under every rainbow I saw! My parents once admitted to me they had wanted a boy; when I came out as a girl, they often treated me as a boy. I wasn’t angry with this because I actually wanted to be a boy.
As a child, my parents fought a lot. My dad was easily angered. I was told I pushed my father away since I was four. Growing up, I always felt uneasy around men.
We attended church on Sundays. Our church didn’t teach
July 20, 2016 - Wilna van Beek