After Idaho pastor says gay people ‘worthy of death,’ LGBTQ youth meet with faith leaders

Lizzy Duke-Moe, 18, was in New York to receive an award she won for a poem she wrote, about growing up gay in Idaho, when her moms showed her the article. A small Baptist pastor in Boise said God wanted to “put all queers to death,” comments that were published on YouTube before Pride Month.

Duke-Moe, who graduated this year from Boise High School, remembered feeling embarrassed that her parents — who worked so hard to get where they were, to have kids and be married in Idaho — saw that. She immediately reached out to other local faith leaders.

On Tuesday night, a panel of leaders from different religious congregations across Boise spoke with a group of youth about how faith communities could encourage identity and provide platforms for LGBTQ youth, and how they could work to reconstruct hurtful narratives in the Bible.

“If you don’t dive deeper into the historical context of these ancient languages and this ancient time, then you can misinterpret … and use it as a weapon against anyone,” the Rev. Benjamin Cremer said during the event. “You cannot condemn the LGBTQIA community with scripture. You can’t.”

Cremer said some people “don’t deserve your energy.”

“If they’re using the Bible to condemn your personhood, then it’s not worth a conversation,” he said.

Students share stories of not being accepted in faith communities

Students asked questions throughout the event and shared their own stories with religion.

Lillie Young, 17, said she was raised in a religion that was “far less than accepting” to queer people. Young was taught that sexuality was something to “almost overcome.”

“Growing up in a situation like that was incredibly confusing because I wasn’t taught about being queer ever in church,” Young said. “I was taught that it was something that was for sinners.”

After hearing Jones’ comments, Young laughed — “largely out of fear” and shock.

“It was like, all of the bad things that I had been collecting in the back of my mind are actually manifesting,” Young told the Idaho Statesman. “That was just really shocking and terrifying for me to see that it was a way that people actually do still think.”

Young asked the faith leaders how they approach the narrative of accepting others based on their sexuality, and how they talk about accepting the individual but not accepting their identity.

Listening to the answers made Young realize there is still “so much good out there.”

“I just really wanted to see a different perspective,” Young said. “I have spent so much time holding back hate for my religion because of the things that I experienced as I was leaving and figuring out who I was, and today really was a full circle moment.”

Katelyn Neville, 18, grew up going to church with her dad. Neville’s family — her dad and two sisters — received support and resources from the church. Neville said she noticed the concept of community was very important as she went to church, but the church she went to was “harsh,” “bigoted” and aggressive, she said. It taught to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” That lack of support when she was struggling was damaging, she said.

When the pandemic started, she was able to pull back from the church and reflect more on what she had experienced. She asked the faith leaders about how someone could return and find community after experiencing that lack of acceptance in church.

“I’ve kind of just come to the conclusion that is not what love is,” Neville told the Statesman. “That is not what faith should be.”

‘The church has a lot of repenting to do’

Duke-Moe said going forward, she wants to have a conversation with Jones. It would be interesting to have an open discussion with someone who is “so closed off” and won’t listen to the other side, she said.

At the end of the event, Rachel Piscette, the teen advisor at Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel, praised the youth who attended for their willingness to share their own stories and start a conversation.

“I feel so passionate about the power that you will hold and so much relief and optimism that you are our future,” she said.

Cremer apologized to attendees about trauma they had experienced from the church.

“I’m sorry for the ways we have failed you,” he said. “The church has a lot of repenting to do for the ways that it has hated your community. … You are loved by God, and there’s nothing that anyone else can do about that.”

Becca Savransky covers education for the Idaho Statesman in partnership with Report for America. The position is partly funded through community support. Click here to donate.