There is Divine Love for LGBTQ+ People
“Love celebrates when we show the world all of who we are rather than fragments based on what others want us to be. ”
The crux of ex-gay theology hinges on the understanding that helping people to “leave LGBT” is inherently the most loving thing you can do for a person. It is suggested: they are on a path to destruction, and the only way to course-correct is to get them out of the “lifestyle” as soon as possible. Tough love is prescribed by church leaders in hopes that it will cure the afflicted. What this does in reality has been detailed at length by The Trevor Project’s research findings, and these statistics are decidedly not indicative of love, care, or good fruit. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Why do we continue to fear and to punish LGBTQ+ people and call it love?
Weighed down by the shame of our “sinful” sexuality or gender identity, many LGBTQ+ people have struggled to love themselves. The most common theme we hear in stories submitted to our UNCHANGED ministry is the transformation of how LGBTQ+ people came to love themselves and subsequently love God and neighbor more. One contributor acknowledged that she is now “living in a fullness and freedom that I could have never told you I was missing... Accepting and integrating [all] the versions of myself has given me so much freedom and grace to extend to those around me. I have never loved or been loved as fully as I am now.” To experience the fullness of God’s love is to experience love without stipulations or ulterior motives.
1 Corinthians 13:3-7 tells us:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love is kind. It does not strong arm people into forced beliefs. Love rejoices with the truth. It celebrates when we show the world all of who we are rather than fragments based on what others want us to be. Love protects. It shelters us from the storm rather than exposing us to it. The fulfillment of the law is love. Baptized in religion, conversion therapy and ex-gay theology looks and sounds like love, but the fruits of its labor ultimately show it to be a counterfeit gospel.
The Good Fruit Project, an initiative by Q Christian Fellowship and The Trevor Project, makes a Christian case against LGBTQ+ change efforts. Click here to download the free Guide
