The ad in the Northern News A Paihia Church is advertising for people with “same-sex attraction issues” to come and hear the story of a man who “overcame” being gay, and has helped others do the same, this Sunday. The ad in a local newspaper has led to a flood of angry comments on Paihia Baptist Church’s Facebook page, and across the social media site. “I say we turn up and tell them where to shove their 'cure',” one person says. Another adds “Makes me embarrassed to be a Christian and I agree with the above, not all Christians think like that!” The church has responded: “I don’t see what all the big problem is...it’s simply a man who used to be in a gay lifestyle who left it with the help and support of his wife, coming to share his story.. simple as that..it’s not about making a stand against it.. it’s simply him sharing his story.. and offering his advice...his wife shares her story too..” That's led to more critical posts, such as this from ‘a heterosexual who believes it's NOBODY else’s business who people love’: “You are not very Christian if you consider that people who are the same sex may love each other. You are also wrong in assuming you can change someone, you merely make a person feel so awful that they hide their true selves. “Shame on you for your misguided belief that you can change people and that there is something wrong with loving another person no matter their gender. This sort of religious claptrap guilt tripping makes me feel sick.” The person who picked up on the ad and shared it online, Alissa Gibbs, thinks it was an irresponsible thing to print. “How must that ad make a young person, who is struggling to come to terms with their sexuality, feel? More so if they're from a religious family. I hate to think that people believe what they're feeling is in anyway ‘bad’ or sinful, surely we should be teaching people love, compassion and acceptance, of ourselves and of others.” Gibbs is considering some kind of peaceful protest action on Sunday, such as sitting quietly outside the church playing Macklemore’s Same Love. It's believed the church is a small congregation which may be out of step with others in New Zealand.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 10th April 2014 - 9:06am