Tempting as it might be to dismiss this as yet another raging anti-gay found to be a closet queen, Queerty has a valid point when it says that it"s almost certain that he subjected young gay people to his anti-gay tirades.

Hypocrisy. It's been minutes since I've seen examples of that from our leaders.

Generally I'm not a fan of people being involuntarily outed, but yeah... the hypocrisy. Stunning.

What Cousin said. I don't understand how people can be so stupid. Stupid for lying to himself and his family most importantly. It's the lying that's the scandal, not the homosexuality.

May I also add that I have yet to be at a church (and I have been a member of 5 and a guest at many while visiting friends or near summer homes) where they preached anti-gay anything. In fact at my last church they had a huge gay fellowship.

Also, "the church" doesn't force people to do anything. This was his choice. If this Makela character had integrity, he would have found a welcoming church in which to serve the community and perhaps some happiness.

mmmm, wouldn't be the first Mo. Synod Lutheran pastor to fail to remember he is human... there have been a number I couldn't stand, with hypocrisies, no less egregious.

Ultimately, the hurt this has caused for many people, ESPECIALLY any gay people that he would have given counsel to, is breathtaking.

Catherine M. - "If this Makela character had integrity, he would have found a welcoming church in which to serve the community and perhaps some happiness."

Ultimately this guy has years of schooling and investment to be what he is, and it would be very difficult to walk away from that, for him. That he could have easily found other churches more amenable, would be tied up in his own personality. Like a lot of things, there are pastors that want to help save your soul [FWIW] and then there are those, like any politician, who simply wish to have power over people.

I'd guess we know which kind this guy is. He just blew up a lot of people's faith, and his own family apart, just so he could get caught on grindr. Some small solace that it's a consenting adult thing.

Human beings are often powerful messed up.

And now we find out that the Duggar eldest son diddled his little sisters and the parents covered it up. Sheesh, is everyone playing to type this week?

"Probably, in large part, because the church forces people to deny they're gay (with social shaming and exclusion and sometimes a family never speaking to a gay member again)."

Hypocrites are pretty much everywhere,
But where does the assumption come from that is must be social shaming that causes men to not come out of the closet and sign up for the full gay lifestyle?

And why do you assume this guy is gay, and not bi sexual?

Why isn't it possibile for him to value having his own bio children and a traditional marriage ahead of or at least equal to his sexual Proclivities?

If this were a heteo guy who fucked around on his wife, he would still be a hypocrite, but I guess not a poster child for *opression*

Maybe like a lot of men and women this guy wants to have his cake and eat it too.
Read "the Tea Room Trade" to understand how common this is.

Must be terrible for the kids.

It's the lying that's the scandal, not the homosexuality.

Good point. I was going to say that the scandal probably has more to do with promiscuity. But the dishonesty and secretive lying probably has more bearing.

And why do you assume this guy is gay, and not bi sexual?

It's a blind spot for those who want to win points in the sexual identity politics world, I'd wager.

The guy the reverend was texting also had kids and was married to a woman. What does that mean?

Reminds me of my sister when she was in her early 30s (who wasn't a church-goer) and hearing her talk in derogatory terms about "that gross dyke Melissa Etheridge" and similar stuff on that level. Curiously, when her second marriage was falling apart, she said that she had a lesbian relationship with a friend. Did I try to convince her that she was straight or lesbian? No. She did choose to divorce and re-marry another man, though, FWIW.

It also makes me think of the time I met one of her acquaintances at a bar 12 years ago, and was given a litmus test about whether I knew she was a lesbian, and whether I accepted her because that's who she is, she's gay.

Seems more complex than that, or that it's a false dilemma or something.

Astra: And now we find out that the Duggar eldest son diddled his little sisters and the parents covered it up. Sheesh, is everyone playing to type this week?

And I'm sure that if Obama had confessed to molesting his younger half-sister Maya, Republicans would circle the wagons and forgive him his youthful indiscretions. And in related events, hell froze over.