Richard and Andrea Yates used to be gay. Now the two are married to one another, have an active sex life and thank God daily for giving them the strength to find both Him and each other.
In an effort to prompt discussion about homosexuality, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship invited the two from Harvest U.S.A., a network of Christian ministers that deal with what they call "sexual brokenness" -- a blanket term that they use to refer to homosexuality, pornography and masturbation.
The group tries to convert homosexuals, a goal that has caused a great deal of controversy as well a counter-campaign from Penn's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center. LGBT members arrived outside the site of the talk when the couple finished.
"We want to offer an alternative voice," OCF Head Chaplain Father Alexander Webster said, expressing that because the OCF is a minority community in the world of Christianity, they want to bring other minority voices to the forefront. "Occasionally those voices are not even our own."
Many members of Penn's homosexual community, including those from the LGBT and Allies, a group that advocates issues pertinent to the homosexual community, were drawn to the event as well, coming with an open mind, but still wary of the viewpoints expressed by the Yates couple.
The LGBT was informed about the event several days ago when the Chaplain's office contacted them saying they were not endorsing the views of the speaker. With only a few days to motivate, the group actively began a counter campaign, promoting all sexual lifestyles.
The 25-member audience at the speech was over 80 percent gay or gay-supporting, with other members of the gay community arriving at the end of the talk for another event promoting the gay lifestyle in a religious context.
Richard Yates, in his rhythmic, occasionally preacher-like voice, took the audience through his personal history, including his rape as a teenage boy -- the incident he said led to his homosexuality -- and finally he highlighted his conversion and marriage.
His speech was peppered with verbatim quotations from the Bible in support of certain points.
Though the two speakers often said that Christianity and homosexuality are mutually exclusive states of being, they chose their words carefully to avoid alienating the primarily gay and gay-supportive crowd gathered in the Terrace Room of Logan Hall.
"What we want is to give others the choice and hope that we did not have," Andrea Yates said. "We were not happy with homosexuality and we didn't know that we had any other options. We want to show people those options."
Many audience members, including Bob Schoenberg, Director of the LGBT, were impressed by the answer to the last question posed to the couple, about whether they thought their work promoted hate crimes against gay individuals.
The two speakers answered that they would be aghast to hear of their work causing hate crimes and that they are very active in the prevention of hate crimes against the homosexual community.
Heather Lochridge, co-chairwoman of ALLIES, found the speakers very inclusive throughout the talk, though she admitted that she disagreed with nearly everything they said.
"They gave excellent answers," Lochridge said. "They were very conscious that their viewpoints were coming from their personal experiences and didn't try to force their views on anyone else."
And in the end, the LGBT had just as much presence at the event as the OCF. Fliers for Harvest U.S.A. were displayed neatly on a table inside the room, but flyers for the LGBT event following the talks, as well as affirmations in support of the homosexual lifestyle offered by various community religious groups, were available for the taking before guests walked into the talk.
Correction This article cited the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center several times. In fact, the article was referring to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as a whole, not the LGBT Center.
