Daniel Karslake has created a documentary telling the story of devout Christians who learn their child is gay and how that affected their belief that same-sex relationships are prohibited by Scripture.
The film is designed to reach beyond people who accept partnered gays and lesbians to reach what Karslake calls “the moveable middle.” He spoke at a private screening Monday at New York’s Marble Collegiate Church.
According to Rachel Zoll of the Associate Press,
Karslake, who is gay and a mainline Protestant, believes that ”sincere, honorable, compassionate people” have been misled about how they should read the Bible.
The documentary features many pro-gay veterans of the theological debates.
Among them is the Rev. Mel White, the former ghost writer for the Rev. Jerry Falwell and founder of the gay and lesbian advocacy group Soulforce.
So is Jimmy Creech, the former United Methodist pastor who lost his clergy credentials in the late 1990s for conducting same-sex union ceremonies. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Peter Gomes, the prominent preacher and Harvard Divinity School professor, also make a case for acceptance.
But the movie largely focuses on the personal stories of some well-known — and not-so-famous — mothers and fathers of gays and lesbians.
The parents of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, talk about how they knew nothing about homosexuality until Robinson came out to them. They bought some books about ”gay folks” and decided that what they had been taught was wrong.
Former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, and his family talk about his daughter Chrissy, who is a lesbian.
A Bible-believing African-American couple from North Carolina, David and Brenda Poteat, told Karslake that while they still disapprove of homosexuality, they have found a way to build a good relationship with their lesbian daughter, Tonia.
And a woman who was raised to interpret the Bible literally tells of her daughter’s suicide after her mother repeatedly said she would never accept the girl as a lesbian.
See also the web-site for the documentary: For the Bible Tells Me So.