Is coming out all it’s cracked up to be? A closer look at the organizers and participants in Coming Out Day reveals a lifestyle that is far from what they promise: a life that is “natural,” “healthy” and “cool.”

The Goings On
HRC encourages students to celebrate diversity by initiating events on campus to create an environment supportive of homosexuality. Coincident with Lesbian and Gay History Month, Oct. 11 is the day to highlight people, literature and religious expression that undergird homosexual culture.

This is a day to “encourage queer and queer-supportive people to come out,” says Candace Gingrich, National Coming Out Project associate manager, lesbian activist and half-sister of Newt. In a packet of materials sent to Coming Out Day organizers, she writes, “the queer and questioning youth of America need to see us living out, open and proud lives.”

Possible campus events include “a queer prom,” an ‘80s party with “a drag show commemorating the divas of 1988” and “a queer-themed lecture and/or discussion series” on topics like “the status of queer politics,” “queer history,” “queers in Hollywood” and “the GLBT [gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender] movement abroad.” “The possibilities are endless!” says the Resource Guide.

To someone struggling with same-sex temptations, the idea that “coming out” — openly admitting and adopting a homosexual lifestyle — is ultimately rewarding and fulfilling, is a seductive prospect. And organizers of Coming Out Day promote the idea with enthusiasm. “The more people you can find and be honest with, the better you’ll feel,” says Barney Frank, U.S. Congressman from Mass. He’s quoted in the pamphlet HRC publishes to help students celebrate Coming Out Day on their campuses. In the same piece, singer k.d. lang says “coming out … took all the fears away.”

Risky Business
Promises notwithstanding, homosexuality is widely associated with behavior best described as compulsive. Numerous studies have found that the average male homosexual is fantastically promiscuous. One of the most extensive studies, by researchers A.P. Bell and M.S. Weinberg, found that over the course of a lifetime:

•73 percent of gay men had over 100 partners,
•58 percent had over 250 partners,
•41 percent had over 500 partners and
•26 percent had over 1,000 partners.

A man with that many female partners would be considered a sex addict. But among homosexuals, he’s par for the course. The leading gay magazine, The Advocate, has reported that “of 600 gay and bisexual male Milwaukeans, 73 percent said they’ve had sex in the past six months with someone they never saw again.”

Even generally liberal media outlets have noticed the unhealthy mindset commonly found among homosexuals. “Hard as it may be to understand, some gay men have unsafe sex because they want to get HIV — or at least skate close to the edge,” said a Newsweek article last year. “Danger can be erotic, even the threat of contracting a deadly disease.” The article quotes a University of Florida student saying, “If someone has AIDS or HIV, that kind of lionizes them. It’s heroic, like fighting the battle. ... When you get with someone who has HIV, it’s like being with someone greater than you are.”

The problem goes beyond promiscuity. Gays (male and female) are much more inclined to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs than the rest of society. A comprehensive study in the American Journal of Public Health (no. 84: 1994) found that 50 percent of gay males and 41 percent of lesbians have used hallucinogens such as LSD; and 79 percent of gay men and 82 percent of lesbians have used marijuana.

Gay spokesmen typically blame risky behavior on society’s intolerance, which they claim has driven them to flout the rules. Ironically, such conduct tends to be most intense in places where homosexuality faces the least disapproval — large cities (New York, San Francisco) and college campuses with concentrated gay communities. “Promiscuity, drug abuse, suicide, HIV — all of them are worst where homosexuality is most accepted,” says John Paulk, a leader in the ex-gay group Exodus International.

The problem likely rests with homosexuality itself, not with society, with the psychological and emotional scars that shape gender identity. [For one man’s story of the journey out of homosexuality, click here. ]

There’s More Than One Way to Come Out
The good news is, homosexuality is neither inevitable nor inescapable. Ask Michael Johnston, an HIV-positive ex-gay and chairman of National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day, also celebrated on Oct. 11.

“Our goal is to provide a Christian world view — to tell people that many of us have come out of homosexuality, and that we’re willing to offer a helping hand to those who want to do the same,” Johnston told Boundless.

In its fourth year, the event is likely to see increasing attention in the wake of a recent high-profile newspaper ad campaign featuring other ex-gays (in The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and other major papers). One shows a photo of hundreds of ex-gays gathered at an Exodus convention.

What sort of response is Johnston seeing, especially on campus? That’s a mixed bag.

Gay activists, not surprisingly, “often react with anger,” he said. “They’re being challenged about something they thought they’d resolved in their own lives, and when they see that someone else has taken a different path that can create conflict in their hearts.”

On the other hand, Johnston finds that straight students who’d been told that homosexuality is a matter of biological destiny are pleasantly surprised to hear an alternative view. “For many of them it’s a wonderful experience to say ‘wow, I never thought of it that way. I didn’t know anyone had come out of homosexuality.’ It’s a completely new way of thinking for them.”

Conversations with students about coming out of homosexuality often lead to broader discussions of spiritual matters. “What I find on college campuses is that students are so lacking in concepts of God and a personal relationship with Christ that we actually have a wonderful opportunity to ask them questions like ‘what do you believe about eternity,’ ‘what do you think is the purpose of mankind,’ ‘who do you think God is.’ We can start with a blank slate and work up from there.”

You Can Make a Difference
Having been on the other side of the issue, Johnston believes he understands what motivates gay activists’ in-your-face style. He likens homosexuality to drugs, explaining that both require an increasing effort to chase excitement in order to keep getting the same kick out of the experience. “One of the ways you do that is to become more flamboyant, more public,” he said. “As that happens, it tends to produce a false sense of affirmation — ‘If they let me get away with this, I’m closer to being affirmed in what I’m doing.’”

As with drugs, Johnston has found in his own life that homosexuality is ultimately empty and destructive. Today his life is very different — and he gives credit to Christians who never knew what a difference they made to him.

“When I went to the homosexual bars, once in a while a small group of Christians — two or three people — would hand out gospel tracts. I never took one and never talked to them, but because God was working on my heart, just the presence of those Christians convicted me to the depths of my soul and drew me to repentance.

“I want Christians, whether on a college campus, high school campus, or in their local community, to know that just a little bit of action can have a tremendous impact on somebody’s life. If there’s something they can do on this day [October 11] that will potentially impact the soul of another human being, it’s worth it. That’s what National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day is all about.”

To find out how you can bring National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day to your campus, call Kerusso Ministries at (757) 872-8878, or visit their web site.