LGBTQ United Methodist leaders gutted by church's anti-gay decision

By James Michael Nichols

When the Rev. Mark Thompson resolved to come out of the closet more than a decade ago, he was 50 years old.

Thompson was a pastor of a United Methodist Church in Lansing, Michigan, with a wife and three adult children. But he had reached a spiritual impasse in which he could no longer deny his true identity. The year was 2008.

He said some church leaders were supportive of his coming out as gay, while others encouraged him to remain in the closet. In order to continue his ministry, he took a vow of celibacy to operate within the limitations of acceptable behavior dictated by the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline. After he retires in 2020, Thompson said he hopes to eventually marry a man with whom he can share his passions, love and interests for the remainder of his life.

“I’ve realized that I am the type of person that needs to be in a loving relationship with a partner or husband,” Thompson, now 61, told NBC News. “I long for the time when that will become reality for me. The loneliness of each day and night is continuing to bring death to my spirit; I remain single so that I can continue to work within the UMC to bring about change.”

source: nbcnews.com