Pastor told gay teen to ‘kill himself’ before his own Grindr profile leaked
An anti-gay pastor who was outed via Grindr this week previously told a gay teenager to kill himself, it has been alleged.
Reverend Matthew Makela resigned from St John’s Lutheran church in Midland, Michigan this week after being found on the gay hook-up app.
The pastor took an extremely hardline stance on LGBT people – claiming that “a sexual attraction to the same sex is a sinful temptation to be resisted and overcome by God’s grace and power”, while labelling the trans rights movement as “aiding opportunistic sickos”.
Queerty this week outed the pastor – showing naked pictures and messages he sent telling people he’s a “top” who “loves to cuddle”, adding: “I love to make out naked”.
However, according to one mother, the reverend’s teachings were more than just anti-gay – encouraging her 17-year-old son to kill himself because of his sexuality.
Jennifer Kish told WNEM that her 17-year-old gay son Tyler had been told in a session by Makela that “if he was going to hell for being gay, then he might as well go to hell by committing suicide.”
Ms Kish said she confronted the pastor about the way he treated her son, adding: “[It] kinda set me into action, to tell him what he could have done, and what he did, and the message he delivered, and what he could do to a lot of other kids who maybe don’t have a support system like Tyler had.”
Republican anti-gay politician Randy Boehning was also recently outed when his activity on Grindr was made public.
Shortly before the general election, a man polled his fellow Grindr users about their voting intentions.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and need to talk to someone, visit samaritans.org or call 08457 90 90 90.
