“It doesn’t matter how long a person has been homosexual or how they previously identified, any person can, based on their own self-determining desires, change what they choose to change.” DL Foster
As a straight ally, addressing extreme antigay behavior in the black community since 2005, I have had the displeasure of having contact with Rev. DL Foster the “ex-gay” founder of the highly offensive Gay Christian Movement Watch. In our one and only phone conversation two years ago, Foster shared with me that he has about as much compassion and for me and other pro gays as he has for road kill lying dead on the highways of Georgia. It is that type of behavior that caused both Exodus International and PFOX to distance themselves from Foster. This behavior has caused many to view Foster as a laughing stock and someone who is simply irrelevant.
DL Foster has a secret, he is no longer irrelevant.
Yes DL Foster the same man who claims to be ex-gay and yet does not claim to be straight, is making an impact in the black community. For those in the black church who feel as though their sexual orientation and their faith can’t live under the same roof, DL is a hero, a father figure and a mentor. As we celebrate the decline of Exodus Int., the reality of marriage equality, and the dethrone of the religious right as a political force, we must not abandon the black same gender loving and LGBT communities.
We must not forget about the black SGL/LGBT community which is now the target of the “ex-gay” industry.
Who holds the bulls-eye?
It is not Exodus, not Desert Stream, and not even the new Exodus breakaway Restored Hope Network that are making the black community their number one target. No, it is the “irrelevant” one DL Foster, who is slowly doing what the once mighty Exodus could never do; successfully recruit African Americans.
DL has become a pied piper to those who want out of the reality of their sexual orientation. Led by sexual repression and religious based heterosexism in the black church, they seek to change the unchangeable by turning to DL Foster and his Overcomers Network. According to their website Overcomers Network (ON) founded this year, “is a vibrant, growing global fellowship comprised on men and women from the US and numerous foreign countries who trust Jesus Christ as the only source of freedom from homosexuality, lesbianism, transgenderism, bisexuality, gender confusion, pornography and other forms of sexual immorality that inhibit the glory of God from shining through their lives.” With seven locations in Orlando, Dallas, Columbus, GA., Mobile, AL, Columbus, OH, Atlanta, Chattanooga, TN, and Los Angeles; DL Foster has taken his self-hate and denial one man show to a major city near you.
Gone are the days when DL Foster was merely a lone deranged man with a video camera and internet access. Although to some he is still deranged, he is no longer alone thanks to social media including youtube where he has connected with others such as James Perryman of I AM Free Project who called Foster one of the nation’s leading voices on the issue of homosexuality. Perryman is half right, DL Foster is not a leading voice; he is the leading voice of what happens when we deny our sexual orientation and allow that denial and self-hate to guide us.
Over the next couple of months I will continue to cover the “ex-gay” movement and religious based homophobia in the black community. As we take this journey we will sadly see that it starts with DL Foster the “irrelevant” one.
Part Two:
G. Craige Lewis: The Most Dangerous Anti-gay Preacher You Never Heard Of?
Peace,
Rev. Gerald Palmer, MSW
Rev. Palmer has painted an accurate picture of what happens when a person’s self loathing takes control over rational thought. DL Foster knows who he really is. No amount of wives or children can change that fact. No amount of twisted scripture can change that fact.
DL would be an interesting case to analyze. What drove him over the edge? Unrequited homosexual love? A loss of looks which caused him to lose his sexual currency (probably not, I think he’s an attractive man!).
But I digress. Rev. Palmer is a renegade in the exposition of those who seek to promote their own agendas, regardless of the emotional carnage it causes. DL has found a cash cow, a meal ticket, a means to support himself. People flock to hear him spew his ignorance. They whip out their credit cards to buy his hateful rhetoric to listen to during the week.
I truly want to weep for those DL has misled and harmed. Those young people sitting in the audience, knowing their true selves and having their self-esteem ripped to shreds. Not to mention the lie of eternal damnation.
Rev. Palmer has risked his personal and professional reputation on this quest. I have personally witnessed the attacks on his character, his faith, and his sexuality. And this, my friends, is what it means to be a follower of Christ: Unconditional love!
Rev Palmer – As always, your words touch my heart and I’m so thankful that my LGBT brothers and sisters have your powerful voice of support and understanding. While I am not black myself, I speak from the first-person voice when I say I understand exactly what you’re addressing in this article; I, myself, have given Exodus and Living Waters (one of its offshoots) a sincere go back in the 90s, and I was surprised by the lack of black people in those meetings. It makes sense that DL Foster would use his voice to connect with the fundamentalist position taught by so many preachers of predominantly black churches, which is that homosexuality is “wrong” and must be overcome through prayer.
Again speaking from personal experience, I can already hear the arguments that fundamentalist Christians of any color might use in response to your message, targeting your point about “changing the unchangeable.” Can’t you just hear it? “MY God can change anything! He is all-powerful!!” Yes, indeed He is. I don’t think anyone would attempt to argue that point in these discussions… in fact, I found myself incapable of delivering myself from alcoholism, and God did indeed step in at my behest to free me from that horrible death trap. So I have no doubts when it comes to the Lord’s power. What so many fundamentalists seem to not grasp is that homosexuality is not a “death trap,” nor is it akin to any variety of immortality or criminally violent act like murder. I can attest to having asked with a very sincere and open heart to be changed, just as I’m sure many of the ex-gay victims could say, and it seemed that God did not seem inclined to use His power in such a way. Instead, events in my life unfolded in such a way as to convince me He had gone well out of His way to show me He accepted me exactly as I am, not as I felt I “should be” to deserve His love. The idea that Love is something we gain through merit at all is completely contrary to Christian teaching.
DL Foster will continue to do damage, as he is so clearly damaged himself. But one thing I feel confident about is that Love always, eventually, and usually very quietly, wins out. Truth does win out, Rev… much love and peace!
RonB
Kansas
I still can’t believe his name is really “DL”…
Never thought of that!!
I almost can’t believe that he chooses to call himself DL — except that closet cases compulsively do self-revelatory things.
This man disgusts me. A a black LGBT person, I can safely say that people like him are the reason most black LGBTs leave Christianity, and one of the reasons I would never be one, even if forced at gunpoint. Sad really; even his name’s DL, what does THAT mean, hm? Just because he’s self-hating, doesn’t mean he should help others be/remain self-hating.
“We must not forget about the black SGL/LGBT community”
This might be a really stupid question, but what does SGL mean?
SGL = same gender loving
Ah, thank you!
I love that the ON website states, “The ON grew slowly but later mushroomed” because we all know what mushrooms need to grow, don’t we?