A Note for Christian Readers.

One of my closest and longest lasting friends on the Net is a young man named Justin Lee, who identifies as a gay Christian. When I met Justin, he had an idea to help other GLBT people who feel conflicted about their faith. It has since grown into a nationwide network called the Gay Christian Network. While on the PFLAG-Talk list, I encouraged him to join and introduce himself because so many of the parents whose kids come out to them come from Christian homes.

I felt like there might be readers of this blog dealing with these issues and I wanted to let them know about GCN.

He gave permission to reproduce his letter:

My name is Justin Lee, I'm 31, and I'm gay.

I'm also the executive director of The Gay Christian Network, also known as GCN. We're a nonprofit organization that supports LGBT people and their families within a Christian faith context.

I grew up Southern Baptist and had a terrible time reconciling my faith and sexuality. Given the amount of homophobia in many churches, it's a sad truth that many gay kids out there think that God hates them, and many parents out there believe the Bible condemns their child. My organization's mission is to to help supplement the efforts of groups like PFLAG by providing gay-positive Bible study, Christian resources, and connections with supportive Christians so that no one feels they have to neglect their faith in order to accept themselves.

We've just released a new documentary called Through My Eyes about the struggles of young gay Christians. Here's the trailer, in case anyone is interested:

http://www.ThroughMyEyesDVD.com

It's also on our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/gaychristiannetwork

We think resources like this can help to open the eyes of parents and churches who have let their faith stand in the way of accepting their gay and lesbian children. I was talking about it with my good friend Steve Schalchlin, and he encouraged me to get involved on PFLAG-TALK. So that's why I'm here, and I've been really enjoying reading your stories and comments since I joined.

I'd love to find more ways of working with PFLAG and supporting what all of you are doing in any way we can. Just let me know how I can be of service!

Justin Lee

Executive Director

The Gay Christian Network