Going-Away Party For Eternal Damnation

Colleen Ott was born Catholic, converted to the Baptist denomination — heathen! — at 17 and most recently was a member of the Pennypack Baptist Church in Northeast Philly.

In June, she was even named a deacon, which means she could distribute communion and get superpowers or something. Last month, though, she came out as a lesbian.

Naturally, the church told her she couldn’t be a deacon anymore unless she went to gay therapy and she’s now with a new parish, First Baptist Church of Philadelphia in Center City. As you can tell by the name, this was rated the best Baptist church in Philly by Phillymag. It also has a pastor who said: “When Jesus was preaching the Gospel, he never said, ‘Only the straights shall eat at my Father’s table.’”

But her old church wasn’t so bad, really. Although the Rev. Tony Tilford and his wife, co-pastor Jean-Marie Tilford, wanted to her to join either Harvest International Ministries or Exodus International, two groups that try to de-gayify people, they did want her to be happy:

She said the Tilfords offered to throw a going-away party for her, but Ott declined.

“Goodbye, Colleen! Enjoy hell! It’s a shame, we all kind of liked you, too.”

Faced with ex-gay therapy, lesbian leaves Northeast Philadelphia church [Philadelphia Gay News]