Mega Church Pastor Jim Swilley Comes Out; “I Know A Lot Of Straight People Think It Is A Choice. It Is Not”

Jim Swilley, the bishop of Conyer’s Church in the Now in Rockdale County, Georgia, has come out, WSBTV.com reporting that the 52 year old hopes that his coming out will change attitudes towards homosexuality, saying “I know a lot of straight people think it is a choice. It is not.” Swilley founded the church 25 years ago, married, with four children, his wife Debye, an associate pastor, knowing his sexual orientation from the start, adding “I think some women marry gay men because they really think they can change them.” The couple are now divorced, Swilley saying that it was time to stop living a lie. He came out to his children and to his congregation, and says that the rash of recent gay teen suicides a motivating factor. “As a father, thinking about your 16, 17 year old killing themselves. I thought somebody needed to say something.” Swilley says he has received support from his congregation, however one Christian blog has deemed him sick, twisted, unclean, and an “instrument of the devil.” Says Willey, “I know all the hateful stuff that’s being written about me online, whatever. To think about saving a teenager yeah, I’ll risk my reputation for that.”