A former lesbian has started a petition on Change.org to ask Barack Obama to meet with and acknowledge those who have been set free from the homosexual lifestyle by the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
Janet Boynes lived as a lesbian for 14 years and now leads a ministry to help others struggling with homosexual temptation to walk victoriously in righteousness. She says that she became involved in same-sex romantic relationships as a youth as she was looking for something to satisfy her in the midst of a difficult upbringing: her father wasn’t present in the home, her mother’s boyfriend was an alcoholic, and she was sexually abused twice.
Boynes began looking for love, but in all the wrong places.
“I wanted to make something of myself, finding a way to somehow make people love me,” she wrote for Charisma News last year. “The type of love I had experienced in my life wasn’t enough, and I knew it. I needed something more. I tried to fill the emptiness inside of me by having relationships with women for 14 years.”
But as Boynes went from relationship to relationship, she was still unhappy, so she tried adding drugs to the mix.
“Nothing helped, and I hurt more than ever,” she recalled.
At rock bottom, Boynes turned to the Lord.
“Little by little, with the help of God and with the prayer and support of my friends, I began to leave my old lifestyle behind,” she said. “It was far from easy. My life was a constant struggle that became a war on the bad days. … [But Christ] began filling the emptiness in my heart, binding up the hurts and healing them.”
“I speak from experience: Only God’s love can truly satisfy; only He can give meaning and identity, and God’s love can only be found in Jesus Christ,” Boynes now proclaims.
But now being on the other side of the homosexual lifestyle, Boynes says that she is concerned that the U.S. government is ignoring voices like hers—the voices of those who have found freedom from homosexuality by the saving power of Christ.
“For years, the president of the United States has sat down with those in the LGBTQ community but has failed to hear the stories of those of us who have successfully left the homosexual lifestyle,” she wrote in an article this week. “As someone who spent 14 years in the homosexual lifestyle and then experienced the transforming power of Jesus Christ, I know it is possible to be set free. For 17 years, I have been living proof.”
Therefore, Boynes has created a petition to Barack Obama to meet with people just like her and listen to their stories.
“In your victory speech on 11.5.08 as reported by the New York Times, you stated, ‘And for those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help, and I will be your president, too,'” the petition reads. “Sadly, Mr. President, you have not carried out your promise. For those of us who have left the homosexual lifestyle, you have never listened to us.”
It notes that while Obama has met with many who advocate for homosexuality, he has turned a deaf ear to those who testify to the life-changing power of Jesus Christ.
“Countless people who are participating in the homosexual lifestyle have visited with you at the White House, and you have supported them on numerous occasions,” the petition continues. “What about those of us whose compelling stories you have chosen to ignore? We also have voices; and when you were first elected, you promised to listen to us. That has not happened yet.”
“Mr. President, when will you take the time to sit down with us and let us share our experiences?” Boynes asks. “We … humbly ask you for this opportunity.”
Boynes encourages other Christians and others who have similar stories to sign the petition “to ask President Obama to hear the voices of those of us who know from personal experiences or through the experiences of others that it is possible to leave the homosexual lifestyle.”
Others have already begun to share their testimonies on the petition.
“I am a former lesbian who was set free from 18 years of homosexuality by the power of Jesus Christ and have been living free for 10 years,” writes one supporter.
“I was a lesbian that has been delivered. I find it valuable to be able to share with others how HE set me free,” another testifies.
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