On October 21, 2004, Christopher Delaney's story made the front page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Former Gay Says Lifestyles Can Be Changed
By John Commins Staff Writer

On Interstate 64 near Richmond, Va., sits a 70-foot billboard bearing the face of Christopher Delaney, of Chattanooga, providing what he says is living testimony that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice that can be changed.

The billboard, defaced with red splotches from a paintball gun, tells motorists that "Ex-gays prove that change is possible."

"Homosexuality for me was standing in the way of where I wanted to go in my life," said Mr. Delaney, 34, an ordained minister who has been married for two years and has an 8-month-old daughter.

"Every time I look at my daughter, I realize how far I’ve come, and my life is so much more fulfilling," he said.

For decades, the argument has raged about whether homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle or an orientation people are born into. Christopher Barron, media relations director for Log Cabin Republicans, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for gay acceptance within the GOP, said homosexuality is innate.

"Certainly, you are free to live a celibate or miserable life, but the reality is that the overwhelming scientific, medical and psychological evidence shows it is not possible to change someone’s sexual orientation," Mr. Barron said.

Mr. Delaney disagreed.

"There is no scientific evidence whatsoever of a gay gene," he said.

The issue came to the fore during the third presidential debate last week when Republican President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts were asked whether homosexuality was innate or a chosen lifestyle. President Bush said he didn’t know. Sen. Kerry said he thought people were born as homosexuals.

Mr. Delaney said he was disappointed with both candidates’ responses.

"President Bush’s remarks were sad. He said he didn’t know that people could change. I wish he did know. But you have to sidestep a lot of issues to get a vote," Mr. Delaney said.

"I agree with Kerry when he says that God loves homosexuals, but I disagree when he says the behavior in itself is not a sin. The feelings themselves are not a choice, but the behavior we act on is," he said.

Mr. Delaney said he began a spiritual transformation 12 years ago that led him "away from the lifestyle" and toward Jesus Christ.

"I didn’t understand why I was the way I was," he said. "I know for a fact that God didn’t hate me, nor does God hate homosexuals. It was a choice that I made to change my life."

Mr. Delaney said his Chattanooga-based ministry, the National Advocacy Center for Change, doesn’t pressure anyone to change their lives.

"We provide a message. We provide a testimony that says ‘Change is available if you want it,’" he said. "I’m not one to judge. I just have my story. My goal is to present my story to those who are looking for an alternative."

Mr. Delaney, who was born in Chattanooga and grew up in Jasper, Tenn., before moving to California, said he first became aware of his sexual orientation "as far back as I can remember." "By 8 or 9 years old, I could understand what gay meant," he said.

He said he believes that he chose homosexuality because he was sexually abused as a child, and because he grew up without a father.

"I’m a strong believer that homosexuality is environmental. I was sexually abused starting at the age of 5 years old, and it was not a one-time situation," he said. "Feelings of attractions for someone of the same sex were there naturally for me because of my abuse and because of the absence of my father."

Mr. Delaney, who moved back to Chattanooga 12 years ago, said he did not always feel that homosexuality was wrong, and that his mother had accepted his lifestyle.

"I was in the lifestyle for 12 years, but I did have a spiritual encounter that had nothing to do with pressure or family or church. I just simply was searching for something more than what I had at the time," he said.

"I was popular in the gay community. I had no reason to want to leave. But it was an empty life, and I was looking for more," he said.

Mr. Delaney said another goal of his ministry is to "help the church reach out to the homosexual community, because that is where the healing truly is."