Pulse survivor says he is no longer gay, has found Christ

NBC ^ | 5.01.2018 | Alamin Yohannes

[Gamecock]

A survivor of the June 2016 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 people dead now says he has found Christ and is no longer gay.

“I should have been number 50!,” Luis Javier Ruiz said in a message posted to Facebook. “Going through old pictures of the night of Pulse, I remember my struggles of perversion, heavy drinking to drown out everything and having promiscuous sex that led to HIV. My struggles were real! The enemy had its grip, and now God has taken me from that moment and has given me Christ.”

Ruiz shared this revelation just ahead of the Freedom March, to be held May 5 in Washington. The event bills itself as a “celebration of freedom from homosexuality and transgenderism. The event's organizers have partnered with Voice of the Voiceless, a religious group whose mission is “to defend the rights of former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction, and their families,” according to its website.

Christopher Doyle, co-founder of Voice of the Voiceless, told NBC News this weekend's event is "about celebrating our lives and not hating the LGBTQ movement."

"We made a conscious choice to leave homosexuality, and we should be able to do that without being mocked," Doyle wrote in an email.

Ruiz, who was featured in a social media post for the Freedom March above the words “Homosexuals Can Change!,” is expected to attend Saturday's event along with others “celebrating freedom from homosexual/transgender lifestyles,” according to the Freedom March’s Facebook page.

Ruiz did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.

The controversial practice of trying to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity is often referred to as “conversion therapy.” A long list of health organizations have spoken out against the medically debunked practice, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Psychologists, the American Psychoanalytic Association and the American Counseling Association.

There is currently a nationwide effort to ban gay conversion therapy for minors. In 2012, California become the first state to do so, and now a total of 10 states and Washington, D.C., have outlawed the practice for minors, according to the LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project.

[ClearCase_guy]

Awesome!

The activists say that this is impossible, but people know it happens a lot.

[aquila48]

On NBC!?

[bigdaddy45]

NBC is reporting this??? Wow.

[Democrats hate too much]

Oh man. That is a way to get back at the ISIS terrorists.

[JimRed]

That is not permitted!!!

[ConservativeMind]

This is what a real man does. Correct yourself and come to Christ.

May God bless him and keep him.

[budj]

He’ll not be allowed in californicatia

[Menehune56]

Good thing this isn’t in California, he’d be subject to prosecution.

[Gamecock]

Posted outside of the religion ghetto because of the news related to conversion therapy we are seeing in the regular forums.

[Gamecock]

Ping

[Jane Long]

This is what a real man does. Correct yourself and come to Christ.

May God bless him and keep him.

---

Indeed and AMEN!

[Salman]

One thing especially significant about this story is it comes from "mainstream" NBC.

There has been no shortage of such stories in the Christian press, but coming from NBC it's gotta hurt. :)

[Psalm 73]

Heroin addicts
Binge-eaters
Porn-addicts
Alcoholics
Homosexuals
Thieves
Sex addicts
Crack addicts

"Heal me and I shall be healed, save me and I shall be saved.
They ask, 'where is the word of the Lord'" Let it come now!"

[NorthMountain]

Luke 15:
4 What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing: 6 And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? 7 I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.

[Bob434]

[[medically debunked practice,]]

And how do they reconcile the FACT that many people DO leave the gay lifestyle because of conversion therapy? (I’m sure they have soem lame excuse to dismiss the success stories- probably by claiming the people who left the lifestyle were not ‘truly homosexual’)

[Bob434]

yes nbc reported it but note that they slam ‘conversion therapy’ by deceitfully suggesting it has no medical validity

[Gamecock]

Well let’s not forget those who commit, what Jerry Bridges calls, “respectable sins.” Those include gossip, envy, and discontentment.

[Mrs. Don-o]

And without even defining "conversion therapy."

They imply it's all the equivalent of an exorcism conducted by the voudoun, complete with beatings, when actually most of it does not differ from legitimate treatments for other mental, emotional, behavioral maladies, including the various dysphorias, addictions, and OCD's.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

It is climate change. Climate change causes some homosexuals to think they are straight. Everything is caused by climate change...