After the ex-gay scam failed—and failed spectacularly—conservative Christians made a show of embracing openly-gay-but-celibate Christians. Evangelicals were in a tough spot: They could no longer get away with pretending that they believed the gay could be prayed away, but they weren't ready—still aren't ready—to accept gay sex or gay relationships. So they set to work promoting people like Eve Tushnet, a lesbian convert to Catholicism, who was profiled by the Washington Post last year:

[Eve] Tushnet is a leader in a small but growing movement of celibate gay Christians who find it easier than before to be out of the closet in their traditional churches because they’re celibate. She is busy speaking at conservative Christian conferences with other celibate Catholics and Protestants and is the most well-known of 20 bloggers who post on spiritualfriendship.org, a site for celibate gay and lesbian Christians that draws thousands of visitors each month. Celibacy “allows you to give yourself more freely to God,” said Tushnet.

Some people, including many non-celibate gay Christians, held this as progress. Hey, Christians who used to hate gay people—Christians who used to promote the spiritual extermination of gay people—were welcoming a few gays and lesbians into their congregations! There were just two conditions on this welcome: Gays and lesbians who wanted to be embraced by evangelicals had to commit to lonely and loveless lives and they had to be okay with being used as cudgels to beat other gays and lesbians—excuse me, they had to be okay with being held up as examples to other gays and lesbians.

Now it turns out that evangelicals had a third condition for their pet gay celibates: They had to reject gay sex, gay relationships, and gay marriage not just for themselves but for all gays and lesbians.

Julie Rodgers is one of the highest-profile celibate gay Christians in the country. Last year, Wheaton College, a conservative Christian institution, hired her as a chaplain. Wheaton brought Rodgers to campus to "[provide] counseling to Refuge, a campus group for students struggling with same-sex attraction." But Rodgers is out after a single year at Wheaton. Is she leaving Wheaton because she's no longer celibate? Nope. She's still celibate. So why isn't Rodgers returning to Wheaton to help torture students "struggling with same-sex attraction"? Because she no longer thinks all gays and lesbians everywhere should be celibate like her and that Jesus just might be okay with gay relationships:

Though I’ve been slow to admit it to myself, I’ve quietly supported same-sex relationships for a while now. When friends have chosen to lay their lives down for their partners, I’ve celebrated their commitment to one another and supported them as they’ve lost so many Christian friends they loved. When young people have angsted at me about the gay debate, I’ve just told them to follow Jesus—to seek to honor Him with their sexuality and love others well. For some, I imagine they will feel led to commit to lifelong celibacy. For others, I think it will mean laying their lives down for spouses and staying true to that promise to the end. My main hope for all of them is that they would grow to love Jesus more and that it would overflow into a life spent on others.

While I struggle to understand how to apply Scripture to the marriage debate today (just like we all struggle to know how to interpret Scripture on countless controversial topics), I’ve become increasingly troubled by the unintended consequences of messages that insist all LGBT people commit to lifelong celibacy. No matter how graciously it’s framed, that message tends to contribute to feelings of shame and alienation for gay Christians. It leaves folks feeling like love and acceptance are contingent upon them not-gay-marrying and not-falling-in-gay-love. When that’s the case—when communion is contingent upon gays holding very narrow beliefs and making extraordinary sacrifices to live up to a standard that demands everything from an individual with little help from the community—it’s hard to believe our bodies might be an occasion for joy. It’s hard to believe we’re actually wanted in our churches. It’s hard to believe the God who loves us actually likes us.

Rodgers's new stance isn't sitting well with the same evangelical preachers and institutions that once embraced and promoted her:

The news of Rodgers blessing committed, same-sex relationships has upset many evangelicals who have presented her as a model gay Christian.... As quickly as Rodgers was invited into evangelical circles, she’s being shown out. Pastor Denny Burk says she shouldn’t be treated like a Christian any longer and Eric Teetsel of the Manhattan Declaration says Wheaton College owes the students an apology.

Rodgers used to view all gay sex as sinful, and Wheaton hired the young and telegenic Rodgers to tell Wheaton's gay and lesbian students that they were sick and sinful and broken. I'm glad that Rodgers no longer believes gay sex and gay relationships are sinful, but I'm annoyed that she allowed Wheaton to use her as a cudgel for a single day, let alone an entire year. And I happen to agree with awful Eric Teetsel: Wheaton does owe its student body an apology. But not for bringing Rodgers to campus. Wheaton should apologize for being a shitty, homophobic institution of "learning."

And Rodgers, for her part, should apologize to gays and lesbians everywhere—including the ones at Wheaton, especially the ones at Wheaton—for allowing herself to be used as a cudgel.