photo: JonathanMerritt.com
As famed Christian writer, speaker and personality Jonathan Merritt was speaking about LGBT people being sinners, and how their lives needed to change, Azariah Southworth was looking back on a romantically-charged friendship and make-out session he had with Merritt and he wondering what was best—keeping quiet and allowing the charade to continue, to the detriment of the LGBT community, or out Merritt with the aim to help him live a truer life, and expose the hypocrisy of those who condemn LGBT folks a sinners.
In an awesome Salon.com article, Southworth defends his decision to speak publicly about his “more than friendship” relationship with Merritt:
I was tired of the lies. I was tired of hearing Jonathan say that being gay is not “God’s best.” Meanwhile he enjoys the company of men. Jonathan’s approach to LGBT people and issues may be less extreme than that of the late Jerry Falwell, but in the end the results and message are the same: Your sexual orientation is a sin and you need to change with God’s help. It’s all lies — and the conversation not only needs to change but the leaders as well.
I’m tired of my humanity as a gay man being invalidated by hypocritical leaders like Jonathan, who then expect my support in return.
What do you think? Did Southworth do the right thing, outing Merritt, or was he playing with someone else’s life?
Read more about the outing of Jonathan Merritt in a moving piece by Brian Ammons called Chick-fil-A, Jonathan Merritt, and the Conservative Politics of Outing
The post Open Thread: Should Azariah Southworth Have Outed a Christian Celeb? appeared first on The Good Men Project.
