Alicia Johnston Resignation Covered by NBC News
May 2, 2017: The story of former Adventist pastor Alicia Johnston who resigned from ministry after coming out as bisexual has now been covered by NBC News as a feature story for NBC Out, the network’s digital portal focused on the LGBTQ community.
In a May 2 piece on the NBC News website, Johnston’s resignation is framed as the result of a “disagreement with the (Adventist) Church’s teachings on LGBTQ people.”
The piece notes that “Johnston had served as the sole pastor of the Foothills Community Church for the last year, a notable position considering the Protestant Christian denomination’s ongoing heated debate over women’s ordination.”
In an email exchange with NBC Out Johnston said, “I want to break the deadly silence that exists in churches that don’t affirm LGBT people for who they are.”
She added that the silence “has to be broken to reach queer people who feel today like I used to feel: ashamed, unwanted and inconvenient.”
NBC Out quoted from a statement on the official website of the Adventist denomination which articulates that “sexual intimacy belongs only within the marital relationship of a man and a woman” and that the church is “opposed to homosexual practices and relationships.”
Johnston is portrayed as being appreciative of the Adventist response to the video she released explaining her decision to come out as bisexual and resign from formal ministry in the Adventist Church.
The response from Adventist members had, according to Johnston, been “overwhelmingly positive and supportive.”
Johnston reveals her appreciation for and belief in the Saturday Sabbath. She also says that she still identifies as an Adventist.
Image is a screenshot taken from Alicia Johnston’s video announcement.