Christian founds support ministry for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender...

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Christian founds support ministry for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teenagers
Published: Friday, September 16, 2011, 6:05 AM

Kay Campbell, The Huntsville Times By

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Gay - and Christian, too?

"Some people find that hard to swallow," said James Robinson. "But I grew up in a conservative, Bible-teaching church. That's why I have the strong foundation I do as a Christian. And, fortunately for me, I never had a question about God loving me."

Not all who realize they are gay or lesbian have that foundation, Robinson said. A lot of homosexuals are driven out of the church by
Sara Southern and James Robinson talk about an support group they host for gay and lesbian teens at The Studio, 1001 Oakwood Ave. (The Huntsville Times/ Michael Mercier)

feeling like outcasts. And, Robinson added, not all can find a message of God's love in a religious community.

"I felt like I was a disease," says one teen who is featured on a recent documentary, "Through my Eyes." "I couldn't talk to my pastor about it."

That feeling is common among teens who begin to realize their sexual orientation is homosexual, Robinson said. The ensuing isolation, loneliness and, frequently, bullying are part of the mix that helps keep the suicide rates among gay and lesbian teens three times that of heterosexual kids. The GLBT - gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender - teenager is also more prone to drop out of school, turn to drugs or run away from home.

"One 15-year-old was put out of his house - turned out by his parents!" Robinson said. "I'm alive for a purpose. I have a voice. I'm going to use that voice to help these kids."
Resources for parents and friends of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual teens: Locally: GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services Inc. Weekly support group for teens and friends of teens who are gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, questioning and queer. Mondays, 6-8 p.m., at The Studio, 1001 Oakwood Ave. Free. James Robinson, executive director of GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services, is available to the community as a resource for both groups and individuals. 256-425-7804. James@glbtays.org, www.glbtays.org. Parents, friends and relatives of people who are homosexual have organized a local chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of

Individual life plan

That's why Robinson founded GLBT Advocacy and Youth Services two years ago. The non-profit organization, the first of its kind in Alabama, as far as he knows, seeks to support local organizations

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in offering resources to gay and lesbian teens.

Robinson was very nearly not alive to start it.

A special education teacher who has worked with at-risk teens in residential programs in Alabama, New York, Birmingham and Georgia, Robinson's own life spiraled into drug use a few years ago.

Cocaine led to methamphetamine because meth was cheaper and easier to get, he said. Prescription drugs secured the chemical net that began to drag him down.

"My life fell apart," Robinson said. "The day I got arrested, I'd been up for five days in a row and had shot up two or three times that night. That probably would have been the day I would have died. I just know God intervened."

Lesbians and Gays. PFFLAG meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library on Monroe Street. 256-532-0275. Spirit of the Cross, 3015 Sparkman Ave. N.W., with services Sundays at 11 a.m. and Bible study Wednesdays at 6 p.m., offers ministries and support groups for people who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and queer. Soulforce is the oldest Christian organization that seeks to end religious criminalization of sexual minorities. Soulforce founder, Dr. Mel White, will speak in Huntsville Oct. 29, 6 p.m., and Oct. 30, 11 a.m., at Spirit of the Cross Church, 3015 Sparkman Drive N.W. Nationally: The Family Acceptance Project offers real-life stories of families making sure that a gay or lesbian child remains part of the family. familyproject.sfsu.edu/. www.ItGetsBetter.org, begun in Fall 2010 following suicides of several gay youth, features videos from a variety of people, including religious leaders, encouraging youth who are homosexual to stay hopeful about their lives. "For the Bible Tells Me So," a free documentary now posted online at www.ForTheBibleTellsMeSo.org, follows several Bible-believing families as they wrestle with the issues of homosexuality. The Gay Christian Network serves individuals and families of Christians who are seeking to understand sexual orientation in the light of Bible teaching. www.GayChristian.net. www.GayChristian101.com offers excerpts from Rick Brentlinger's book, a guide for conservative, evangelical, gay Christians. Other views: A majority of Christian denominations and non-denominational churches does not sanction either ordination of ministers who are in a committed homosexual relationship or marriage between gay people. ReligiousTolerance.org offers an exegesis about this on-going debate from the accepting side. Bible.org offers an exegesis of the interpretations accepted by the majority of Christian groups.

Jail gave Robinson a wake-up call as well as time to take stock in the stone-cold-sober light of the cell block. His professional skills came into play. Just as he had done for hundreds of youth, he sat himself down and worked on his Individual Educational Plan, the IEP that follows any child with special needs through school.

"I looked around me in the jail at the other people and realized I did not want to live my life that way," Robinson said. "I made a plan for my life. I set priorities and goals. I would come home, quit lying and find a spiritual connection again with the church."

Even in his darkest days, he said, he'd still considered himself a spiritual person, but he had decades ago left behind a formal connection with a church family.

"I thought I didn't need organized religion," Robinson said. "Well, I still have issues with organized religion, but I realized I can't do it by myself."

Nurturing hope

That was three years ago. Within a year of returning to the city where he grew up and joining Spirit of the Cross Church, a congregation that has a special calling for ministering to the GLBT community, Robinson found himself more and more noticing the needs of the teenagers in the community. Parents in the local support group PFFLAG Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians And Gays turned to him for help with their teens.

A teen who "comes out" by admitting to family and friends that they are gay or lesbian can often feel very lonely.

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"The most important fact for GLBT teens to know is that they are not alone," said the Rev. Richard Barnham, pastor of Spirit of the Cross. "(Robinson's organization) GLBTAYS provides a safe and positive environment for youth to find the support they need from their peers. There's nothing quite like GLBTAYS anywhere in the state of Alabama."

The organization hosts a weekly support group Monday evenings at The Studio, 1001 Oakwood Ave., Huntsville's drop-in center for runaway teens. Robinson also frequently speaks to groups about the challenges of the GLBT community. The AIDS Action Coalition provides office space for GLBTAYS.

Aware of how sexual predators sometimes target teens, Robinson has set up strict guidelines for background checks and monitoring of the volunteers for all the organization's activities.

A dream is to provide a network of host homes for teens who have run away as they work toward reconciliation with their families, if the parents agree, without going through a state agency.

"The support groups are really important," said Ezra Logreira, now a neuroscience major at UAB and founder, last year, of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Grissom High School. "You can get things off your chest and you don't feel like you're the only person in the South who is coming out."

To anyone who would suggest that a support group for teens coming to grips with their sexual orientation is a way of "converting" them to homosexuality, Robinson shakes his head.

"This orientation is not a choice," Robinson said. "It's not a condition to be cured. Why would anyone choose a life where you are going to risk attack and discrimination?"

Sara Southern, a graduate student in the social work program at A&M, has been interning with GLBTAYS. In just two weeks working with Robinson, Southern says she's experience what it's like to be treated like she's a lesbian.

"I've been ostracized just by being with James because people assume I'm lesbian," Southern said. "I've seen a lot of hurt and pain in this community that I never realized was there."

And where there is pain, Robinson said, Christians are called to help.

"This is about young people who need to find hope," Robinson said. "Christians should not be in the business of taking hope from people."

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