During last year’s sparsely attended “Freedom March” in Washington, D.C., a few dozen “ex-gay” activists and their supporters sang songs, told their stories, and listened to anti-LGBTQ keynoter Elizabeth Johnston, aka “Activist Mommy,” talk about the need to “overcome Satan’s plan for us, individually and as a culture.” On May 25, organizers will return to D.C., reports Charisma, and this time, “they’ll have hundreds added to their ranks proclaiming that freedom is possible.”
Among the scheduled speakers at this month’s march is Janet Boynes, an Assemblies of God pastor and “former lesbian” who calls homosexuality “a life of hell” to which Satan entices people. A few years ago, Boynes was a guest on Mat Staver’s “Faith and Freedom” radio show, where she said that acceptance of gay relationships is a sign of the “last days,” and that Christian parents who have a gay child should never allow their child’s partner or spouse into their home or at family gatherings.
Shortly before the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling, Boynes said that a pro-equality ruling would be sending people “back to slavery.” Last year, Boynes warned in Charisma that Christian women “should be wary of embracing #MeToo feminism” because it might lead them away from “God’s order” in which man is given “headship” authority over women. As we noted:
Boynes is the author of “Called Out—A Former Lesbian’s Discovery of Faith,” “Arise—The Journey from Fear to Faith” and “God and Sexuality—Truth and Relevance Without Compromise,” which features an introduction by anti-LGBTQ activist Michael Brown. Her organization’s website highlights endorsements from a range of Religious Right figures, including Michele Bachmann, David Barton, Samuel Rodriguez, and James Robison.
Charisma recently published an interview with Freedom March founder Jeffrey McCall, who said he’s “so excited” about how much the “Freedom Family” has grown since last year’s event. His group held a rally in Los Angeles last November, which involved a march by “over 100 former LGBT individuals and their supporters,” according to the California Family Council, though McCall claims they had between 200 and 300 people show up. “We all left the LGBTQ life to follow Jesus, and our surrender is producing great fruit for the kingdom of God,” McCall said.
McCall told Charisma, “The Holy Spirit has shown me these three marches this year—D.C., St. Paul and Orlando—will really put the Freedom March on the map. It will have really explosively grown this year and will begin the revival that will occur in the LGBTQ community.”
The Freedom March Facebook page made an appeal for funds on Sunday, but as of Thursday at noon the group had raised less than 10 percent of its $45,000 GoFundMe goal.
Charisma is producing a series of podcast interviews with “Overcomers,” which they define as “men and women who have left homosexuality.” In his interview, McCall talks about the “spiritual warfare” involved in his efforts, which he says requires “going behind enemy lines.”
Said McCall, “People in eternity right now, are screaming in hell, like, being tortured and all kinds of things, because nothing was spoken up, because they loved the sin more than the truth.”
