Matthew Makela, formerly an associate pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Michigan, has an online history with numerous Facebook postings and op-eds railing against homosexuality. “I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God. The proof is in the sacrifice He made for all of us who sin,” he once wrote in an online comment. “We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. We try to help him in his struggle.”
So basically, not a fan of homosexuality. Or was he?
A tipster sent Queerty a cache of screenshots from Grindr, showing his chats with a very
The images eventually forced Makela to resign, and he told Queerty that the images were indeed authentic, but declined to comment further. Meanwhile, the church took down its Facebook page and told its congregants to not read the story, because that’s the quickest way of making a dude not gay.
As for Grindr journalism — we’re starting to think it’s a very real thing of the future: Here’s an example of a North Dakota legislator who voted against a gay rights bill but was outed using Grindr. And here’s a Puerto Rican senator who resigned after his photos emerged on Grindr.
The following screenshot message from Makela was published by Queerty:
[Image via screenshot/Grindr]
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