To be a big shot in the “ex-gay” or anti-gay world, one must be married. Michael Glatze checked this box a couple of months ago.
If an ambitious wing nut wants to progress to the next level, perhaps landing a job in the Martyr Industrial Complex, he or she must receive death threats (or refuse to bake a cake for same sex weddings). To no one’s surprise, the media worshiping Glatze has now checked off this second requisite box. (Is a gig with the Liberty Counsel or the Family Research Council, or some related group in the works? Is a speaking or book tour in the planning stages?) In a World Net Daily column, “To hateful ‘gays’: Please respect my choices,” Glatze claims his life has been threatened:
I understand your plight, your point-of-view. I understand the desire to want me to be crazy, or lost in my head and mind, or confused. I understand that it would be just easier if I didn’t exist, or I would just crawl into a hole somewhere and die. But I’m not going to do that. The only option would be to kill me, and I know that is a thought that has crossed some of your minds.
So in a way, this is a plea for my own and Rebekah’s personal safety. I would like to ask that instead of desiring to plot my death, you may consider the possibility that I do have a legitimate right to life and a legitimate right to my own a) spiritual decisions, and b) life decisions – not to mention the wisdom and perspectives those decisions have given me. I do believe that homosexuality is a flaw, a mistake, a distortion and something from which one can be completely restored. I do know that this viewpoint flies in the face of people’s personal decisions, as well as some popular politics in this world. And I am additionally aware that this viewpoint labels me as some kind of “right-wing fanatic” who ought to just be “wiped out.” I do pray to God for my safety every day.
In a letter to Porno Pete LaBarbera, Glatze reiterated that he and his family are in grave danger:
It is not easy to have people consistently send you death-threats, simply because you left homosexuality and then decided to reach out, in many attempts at writing down your thoughts, to those who ALSO want to leave homosexuality. And, it is not easy to know the truth… and, also, know that living the truth may put you in constant, personal danger. …But, I’ll tell you this… it is worth it. I love Rebekah. I am not saying this as a political ploy. My life is an open book. I am not ashamed of that.
Of course, it is entirely possible that death threats were made. If anyone did threaten harm to Glatze they should be investigated and punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, Glatze refuses to come clean and name the sources of his torment. Since the alleged threats have been sent “consistently,” and he says he is in “constant, personal danger,” it ought to be quite easy to publicly provide at least a few verifiable examples. To date, none have been forthcoming.
His empty allegations are similar to unnamed threats made against Voice of the Voiceless founder Christopher Doyle (pictured), when he organized his failed “Ex-Gay
Pride.” Given the lack of evidence, one has to wonder if these threats — like the “ex-gays” making the claims — truly exist. It seems that Glatze — like Doyle — is pretending to be a martyr to up his stock in fundie circles. Or, maybe his ego is so gigantic that he actually believes that people are sitting around dark coffee shops in San Francisco plotting his demise. I think I speak for the vast majority of LGBT people when I say that we could hardly give a shit about Glatze, and certainly don’t wish he or his family any harm. Indeed, Glatze represents by far the biggest threat to his wife Rebekah, who now finds herself married to a re-closeted gay man — who used her to gain fundie street cred.
We urge Glatze to come forward and present the evidence. Otherwise, we can only conclude that these alleged threats are as phony as his sexual conversion, and the product of a diseased mind overflowing with delusions and paranoia.