Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Rev. Jim Lucas: 616-791-6721
Gays In Faith Together (GIFT) Office: 616-774-0446

Coalition of clergy, lay leaders, and gay Christians say “Yes!”

News Conference Invitation, April 3

Who: A coalition of West Michigan clergy, lay leaders, community members, gay Christians, as well as family and friends

What: Explanation of the “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign, with a billboard on northbound US 131 just south of Burton

Where: Westminster Presbyterian Church, 47 Jefferson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

When: 2pm on Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Starting Monday, motorists along northbound US 131 south of Burton will see a sign of hope for a much maligned and long neglected population. This billboard, proclaiming “Gay Christian? Yes!” will be the first of many public messages.

Join us at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3 at Westminster Presbyterian Church (47 Jefferson SE) as a coalition of churches, pastors, family, and friends, led by the non-profit Gays In Faith Together (GIFT), unveil the reasons behind the “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign.

At the press conference, you will hear from pastors and lay leaders who will tell you why their faith compels them to preach an inclusive Gospel. You will also have opportunities to interview gay Christians who can tell you what this very public display of affirmation means.

The billboard also introduces the new website, GayChristianYes.org.

The interactive website has stories and videos of hope and triumph by gay Christians once shunned by faith leaders. The website also includes stories of supportive allies. These Christians found a way to remain true to how God created them and to Christ’s message, and they found their way to affirming church homes.

The steadily growing website also includes:

• listings of 30 area gay-friendly churches
• articles and affirming sermons from pastors and theologians
• books, videos, and stories from gay Christians, as well as friends, family, and allies

“Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population have been inundated with stories of how the church and Christian leaders demonize and shun us. We need only look at the news reports of bullying, suicides and gay youth getting kicked out of their homes to see the dire consequences for youths, families and anyone hearing such negative messages,” says Theresa D. McClellan, GIFT’s Faith Advocacy Coordinator of the “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign.

“As we enter into Holy Week, all are focused on Easter, the highest Christian celebration, recognizing the promise of new life in Christ,” says McClellan. “What better time than now, as followers of Christ, to honor Christ’s message of hope and inclusion by saying ‘Gay Christian? Yes!’”

GIFT’s Chaplain, Rev. Jim Lucas, agrees: “For too long gay Christians have heard the message, directly or indirectly, that the Easter message is not really for us, that we should stay in our tombs of shame, fear, and isolation. In the “Gay Christian? Yes!” Campaign we are proclaiming that Christ arose from the dead to give new life to gay Christians, just as much as heterosexual Christians.”