According to Christian rapper Jackie Hill-Perry, gay people can become straight, just as she claims to have done.
Hill-Perry told the Washington Times recently that she believes God can turn gay people straight, saying that she considered herself a lesbian for years before renouncing her orientation in 2008 and marrying a man. “”I think we’ve made God very little if we believe that He cannot change people,” Jackie said. “If He can make a moon, stars and a galaxy that we have yet to fully comprehend, how can He not simply change my desires?”
Hill-Perry revealed that she was sexually abused as a child, leading to gender confusion. She married poet Preston Perry and is currently expecting the couple’s first child.
“What I had been taught in church until the age of 10 coincided with the truth in my conscious that a holy God and just God would be justified in sending me, an unrepentant sinner to hell”, Jackie stated. “But also that this same God sent His son to die on my behalf and forgive me if only I believe.”
In 2013, Hill-Perry criticized rapper Macklemore’s massive hit “Same Love” on a Christian radio show, saying “the word of God itself, apart from Jackie Hill, testifies that people can change.” Jackie says that she’s faced backlash on social media regarding her comments on sexuality and following her criticism of the song. “On Twitter, this girl wrote me like 15 different tweets, pretty much saying that I was delusional, in denial and brainwashed,” Hill-Perry said.
Though Jackie Hill-Perry claims to be cured of homosexuality and is promoting the idea of change between sexual orientations, her beliefs have long been refuted by scientific research and has even, as of late, been dismissed by religious leaders. Baptist leader Russell Moore recently denounced the practice of reparative therapy at a religious conference.
“The utopian idea if you come to Christ and if you go through our program, you’re going to be immediately set free from attraction or anything you’re struggling with, I don’t think that’s a Christian idea”, Moore said of the therapy and of ex-gay beliefs such as Jackie’s. “Faithfulness to Christ means obedience to Christ. It does not necessarily mean that someone’s attractions are going to change.” The American Association of Christian Counselors also dismissed the practice this year.
Despite Hill-Perry’s beliefs, the American Psychological Association has condemned ex-gay conversion therapy, and reparative church Exodus International recently shut down after its founder denounced it.
Jackie Hill-Perry may believe that LGBT people can change, but more and more religious leaders like Russell Moore are beginning to think otherwise. “The idea that one is simply the sum of one’s sexual identity is something that is psychologically harmful ultimately. And I think also we have a situation where gay and lesbian people have been treated really, really badly. The response is not shunning, putting them out on the street. The answer is loving your child.”
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