People are still coming out. God bless ‘em.

August 26, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Today I dusted off a 5-year old article, ”Coming Out:  What it Means, Where to Start, Why it is Important.”  (It’s on my theological site, all 8 pages of it in PDF format, at http://www.danhooper.info/gracepeace.html).

Anyway, it got me thinking whether it really is still important in 2007.  Teens come out so early now you have to wonder if they know what they really feel yet, let alone whether it’s a good strategy at such a young age.  Besides, everybody who’s anybody is already out, right?

I came out selectively in 1970, while in seminary.  By 1979 I was ready to come to National Lutheran Campus Ministry, my new employer, but was advised not to.  Although profoundly hurt, and suddenly unemployed, I was not surprised when I was outed in 1988 and forced to give up my call to a Lutheran congregation in Southern California.  But at that time, nearly 20 years ago, I vowed to myself and my partner that I would never go back into a closet no matter what the consequences.

In all these years, I have talked to countless (well, hundreds) of Christians about coming out.  Some spoke to me privately about their personal agonies.  Others just danced out the door of their closets and were so proud and happy to tell me their stories.  God bless ‘em.

At the recent ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Chicago (August 6-11, 2007), “coming out” took on a whole new meaning.  I had never been to a national assembly before (big deal).  Carl and I had literally just arrived and came up the escalator to the main convention floor when a reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times stopped me for an immediate interview.

I came out to her—mostly because we arrived already wearing hand-knitted rainbow scarves.  We had come to Chicago to be totally out and to be present as openly gay Lutheran Christians in service to Christ.  We were also each wearing a glossy, colored button with a rainbow swirl and the number “31” in the center.

“What does the 31 mean?”  she asked me.  “It’s the number of years we have been a couple,” I told her.  We were to repeat this little Q & A numerous times over the next 6 days with a lot of other folks.  Yes, Carl and I have been coming out together for 31 years.  And it still surprises, delights and shocks different people. God bless ‘em.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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