This morning after dragging myself out of bed, I stumbled into my living room and sat down in front of my computer in order to check my email. After wiping the sleep from my eyes, I was shocked when I read an email from BlackPlanet.com and Newsone.com disclosing the fact that DeJuaii Pace (a renowned gospel singer, a member of the famous Pace Sisters) had just announced to the entire world that she is a lesbian and has been suppressing her natural inclinations since the age of four. The article also mentioned the fact that she would be telling her story of how she had overcome her food addiction and had come to terms with her sexuality this Tuesday on the OWN Network (owned and operated by Oprah Winfrey).
As I finished reading the article, I immediately scrolled down to the comment section of the article (s) to get some type of idea as to what other reader's reactions would be, regarding DeJuaii's disclosure. I have to tell you that after reading several of the comments, my heart literally sunk into the pit of my stomach, due to the fact that the comments were filled with so much hatred and homophobic venom. The comments were so extreme until it made me ashamed to even refer to myself as a Christian! Nothing that anyone had to say even mirrored anything that looked, acted or sounded like the love of God! And the most offensive thing of all was that they did it in the name of Jesus, and felt justified in doing so! Anyone who knows anything about Christianity or the Bible will tell you that love is kind, patient, forgiving, not boastful, never arrogant, edifies and never destroys!
DeJuaii, like thousands of African-American children, grew up in a Pentecostal, holiness environment and any notion of even sleeping with a man before wedlock was completely out of the question and frowned upon by the Church in every way. If a young woman would come up pregnant, she would immediately be ostracized from the church and/or prohibited from participating in any aspect of ministry until she had come before the entire congregation to repent and ask forgiveness, before she could be reinstated. Instead of DeJuaii, yielding to the temptation of sleeping with a male or a female (like most contemporary Christians do) she did something that most of us could never fathom, and that was to remain sexually inactive. Even today, at the age of 45, she is still a virgin.
Tonex, now known as B. Slade was also publically and ruthlessly attacked by his gospel peers, (and so-called brothers and sisters in Christ) after disclosing that he was a same-gender-loving Christian man. Almost immediately, other gospel artists (who had claimed to be die-hard friends and fans) began to venomously slander him and quickly distanced themselves from him. Furthermore, they could even be heard in public arenas referring to him as a pervert, sexual vampire and heretic!
