Former transgender, bisexual, lesbian
and gay men and women, including an Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting survivor,
gathered this past weekend in the nation’s capital for a worship event to
proclaim how Jesus Christ liberated them.
Attendees from across the nation
assembled on the Capital Mall on May 5th for what was called a Freedom March. Daren Mehl, president of the group Voice of
the Voiceless, says he sees the event as “an opportunity for those of us who
have a new life with Jesus to come together in fellowship and praise Him for
the love and grace available to everyone who seeks it [and] to testify publicly
of the life-changing grace available to leave the LGBT identity for something
greater,” he told The Christian Post (CP).
Mehl, 40, is a Minnesota native who identified as a gay man for
approximately 10 years. Today he is married
to a woman and has two children. “Jesus
instructs us to love others as we love ourselves,” he said when asked what he
hopes this event communicates to the LBGT community … many of whom have been
wounded by religion. “When anyone spews
hate toward another person they are clearly not operating according to the Holy
Spirit,” Mehl said. “It is extremely sad
when this happens and I hope that [Christians] would be convicted of their sin
and repent and reconcile with those they hurt.”
Mehl told CP that when he encountered the Gospel his entire value system,
purpose for living, and beliefs about who he is changed, including his sexual
identity. “Jesus asked me to lay down my
identity at His feet and surrender it for a new one in Him. I decided the gay label and lifestyle didn’t
align to my desired identity as a Christian. Trying to align my choices in behavior to my
Christian identity took years of struggling, and sometimes it was quite
painful,” he said.
Mehl believes this Freedom March is
necessary to showcase the many formerly LGBT lives that Jesus has transformed
and to encourage those who are struggling with their sexuality and are seeking
answers … many of whom often feel they are alone. “They are not alone,” he stressed.
Luis Javier Ruiz, a survivor of the
June 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people
were murdered by Omar Mateen in what was at the time the worst mass shooting in
modern American history, participated in the march. “I should [have] been number 50,” Ruiz wrote
on his Facebook page. “Going through old
pictures of the night of Pulse a memory were (sic) my struggles of perversion,
heavy drinking to drown out everything and having promiscuous sex that led to
HIV. [T]he enemy had its grip and now
God has taken me from that moment and has given me Christ Jesus. I’ve grown to know [H]is love in a deeper
level.”
Ruiz lost several friends that night. “I should [have] been number 50,” he
reiterated, “but now I have the chance to live in relationship and not religion,
not just loving Christ but being in love with Christ and sharing [H]is love. I know who I am and I am not defined with who
the enemy says I used to be but who Christ Jesus says I am.”
Several of Freedom March’s speakers
and worship leaders are featured in the film “Here’s my Heart: A Documentary of
Surrendering to Freedom,” which chronicles the stories of men and women who
left homosexuality and transgenderism behind for a new life in Jesus.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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