Friday, July 06, 2007

Michael Glatze emails me

Apparently recently "converted ex-gay" Michael Glatze got online and looked up all the blogs that talked about his story. I received the following email from him:

Dear sir,

This is Michael Glatze. I just want to tell you that, yes, you can be entirely free of the lie of homosexuality. I am a normal, heterosexual man. Yes. It can be done. With true faith and love of Christ.

Amen and God bless.Michael Glatze (P.S. If you don't believe me, pray.)

Now let me state for the record that I have no problems with someone thinking of themselves as "ex-gay." I don't agree with the notion but it's a free country.

I do have a problem with there being an industry of "ex-gay" spokespeople walking hand-in-hand with the anti-gay industry and attempting to make life more difficult for those of us who are comfortable with our lgbt orientation.

I do have a problem with "ex-gays" trying to use their so-called transformation as political leverage to turn back the passage of pro-lgbt laws and ordinances.

And I do have a problem with "ex-gays" who think that their negative experiences with their "former" lgbt orientation gives them the right to make judgements of my lgbt experiences.

Not all lgbts are promiscuous, abuse drugs and alcohol, and engage in all-around negative behaviors. These things are NOT indicative of the lgbt orientation. And I don't care who you are or what you "were," if you try to denigrate me or my lgbt brothers and sisters by inferring that negative behavior is indicative of lgbt orientation, I am going to scream foul because you don't know what you are talking about.

Live your life, but don't blame anyone or anything else for the choices you have made.

With that in mind, I wrote Michael the following as an answer to his letter:

Let me make this simple.

I respect your personal choices, but I resent your inability to accept responsibility for your personal behavior. I further resent you scarlet lettering an entire community of people based on your personal behavior. For the record, I am a happy gay male.

Homosexuality is NOT a lie.

My sexual orientation is as God made me.

And for the record, I acheived this peace with my gay orientation due to my relationship with God. When I was questioning my self, I turned to God rather than an outside source with a bias and He told me that I am as He made me so I should be proud of who I am.

I am sorry that your life has been negative and I wish you luck in your personal decisions, but I will not allow you to denigrate me or my lgbt brothers and sisters.

Good Luck To You but you need to check yourself. Your experiences as a gay man are not my experiences. So please do not disrespect me and mine.