Pastor Clarence Hayes was moved to action after hearing homophobic comments from Kim Burrell, a pastor at Love and Liberty Fellowship Church in Houston. Burrell recently stated, “That perverted homosexual spirit is a spirit of delusion and confusion and has deceived many men and women, and it has caused a strain on the body of Christ.”
“When these comments came out from this pastor a couple of weeks ago, I heard the hurt, I heard the anger, I heard the frustration from the LGBT community,” said Hayes, who is openly gay. “[I thought] we really need to have a dialogue, we really need to have a conversation about this.”
Hayes, with his ministry Truth and Life Empowerment Community Ministries Inc., will host a community-wide discussion, “Sexuality & the Church.” The event will allow attendees to ask Hayes and five guest panelists questions on sexuality and how it relates to religion. Hayes said individuals can either ask the questions in front of the audience or, if they are not comfortable, they can write them down on a card for one of the moderators to read aloud and answer.
“I thought this would be a good topic to talk about in the LGBT community, in particular the black African gay community,” Hayes said. “For so long, the black African gay community has been silent in regard to sexuality and the church and with those recent comments that were made, I just felt encouraged to say, ‘We need to have a dialogue about this.’ Right now, there’s a young gay Christian that wants to be who he is but the negative vibes and the toxic messages that are going out are influencing the young gay Christian — or influencing gay Christians, period — to not really value themselves.”
Hayes said that through his ministry, he comes across LGBT people who have been hurt by their churches. He refers to the scripture Jeremiah 1:5 to show others that God has a plan for everyone before they are even born. The scripture states, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“I say walk in truth, meaning that we are gay and we are Christian and we are proud of it,” Hayes said. “We are able to walk in what God has called us to walk in — which is truth.”
Hayes said he hopes people “gain clarity” and are “empowered” through this panel discussion.
“I hope that people are able to go ahead and have a true open dialogue that can be carried over to the generation that’s coming up,” Hayes said.
Guest panelists include five openly gay and lesbian ministers:
- Dr. Mary Douglass-Bailey of the Ark of Refuge Tabernacle, Inc.
- Pastor Jeffrey Haskins of Unity Fellowship Church of Philadelphia
- Pastor Jeffery Jordan of the Metropolitan Community Church
- Pastor Pamela Williams of the Ark of Refuge Tabernacle, Inc.
- Bishop Joshua D. Wilshur of the Total Liberation Community Impact Center
“Sexuality & The Church” will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 4 at Old Pine Community Center, 401 Lombard St.
Link to the PGN 2016 Faith Issue