In a recent post on the Exodus blog, Randy Thomas responded to the GLSEN quote covered in a recent article here.

Wait just a minute… did they just say that identity is a choice and indirectly infer that some people claim orientation is a choice?… That identity is a developmental process? Wow.

We at Exodus know that people struggling with same sex attraction did not choose to struggle with same sex attraction and yet people can choose by what facet of their lives they want to identify with.  For myself it is Christian. 

Wait just a minute… did he just imply that one can identify as gay or Christian, but not both? He has chosen to identify as Christian rather than gay?

Also, while people don’t choose to struggle with same sex attraction, we certainly can choose to pursue re-orientation or “overcome” said attractions by pursuing holiness.  Healthy heterosexuality is a by-product of our journey toward holiness that occurs on varying levels for different people. 

Again, one can strive for holiness but only as a method by which to “overcome” their same sex attractions?  Heterosexuality is the by-product of a journey toward holiness?  The implication is quite clear, holiness and Christianity are at odds with being gay.   

Even so, to go from a gay-centric relational paradigm to a Christ-centered one is HUGE change regardless of sexual orientation shift (or lack thereof.)”

Well that seems to remove any doubt, Randy indeed seems to be saying that one can be either gay or Christian, but not both.  We would like to thank Randy for his (somewhat belated) honesty on this subject.  We have always suspected this was the common view at Exodus, but it is refreshing to finally hear someone admit it.

Now in all fairness, that last line gives us a better look at his thinking.  This is what Randy was reading into the GLSEN quote, hoping that it would substantiate his, and Exodus’, own confusing views.  He is saying that it is more important for one to stop “identifying” as gay and start “identifying” as Christian, even if one’s attraction to the same sex never changes.  With all the pseudo-psychological, pseudo-spiritual language with which they wrap themselves, the good people at Exodus are confused at times about what they mean.  However, it seems clear that they see being gay and being Christian as opposite ends of a spectrum.

Sexuality is just one of many components of our relational lives and we choose to place it in proper context and not limit our identity to be based only on who we are sexually attracted too or to what we may be feeling at the moment.

Now who do you suppose it is who views the lives of gay people as being only about sex?

It is my hope that the gay activist community will open their minds to tolerate a morality they may not agree with in recognition of the fact that not everyone who has same sex attraction are limited to the above list of gay centric optional identities.

It is our sincere hope, Randy, that the exgay activist community will open their minds to the fact that they do not have a corner on morality, and that you will no longer treat gays as though they were necessarily immoral just by being who they are.  We also reiterate that, in spite of your smug sarcasm, we have always believed in the right of an individual to live their lives as they see fit.  In most cases, historically, for the gay person this has not been easy to do.  Social pressure and even violence by those with prejudice and hate in their hearts has made it necessary for many to live a lie, pretending to be heterosexual when they were not.  The heartache and sorrow this has caused can not be calculated.  This began to change some 40 years ago and from the fringes of the lifting of that prejudice has come a movement determined to sustain it in another way, by using those who are confused about their lives as fuel for their own ideology.  It is that with which we disagree.

Who is limiting the options of others?  Who says that one can not be gay and still be Christian?  Who says that to be holy one must strive to be straight?  Who tells the world that being gay is unhealthy, unhappy and unnatural?  Who gives the homosexual but one choice?  That would be you, Mr. Thomas.

God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.  (John 3:16 CEV)

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