A new ministry has opened its doors near the heart of St. Petersburg’s gay-friendly Kenwood Neighborhood.
Going Straight Ministries on Fifth Avenue North near 34th Street is only a few blocks from the LGBT-affirming King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church, as well as the headquarters for gay-supportive Metro Charities, popular night spot Georgie’s Alibi, and the step-off site for the annual St. Pete Pride Promenade.
The organization is part of the national Going Straight Ministries organization, which believes that the country has lost touch with the biblical principals on which it was founded.
“Now, sadly, this once great nation has lost its way,” reads the web site GoingStraightMinistries.com. “In America recently, we have seen things taking place that only a few decades ago were considered unspeakable to say the least.”
While the national web site doesn’t directly mention homosexuality as one of the “evils” plaguing America, the local branch in St. Petersburg does. In front of its small building on 5th Avenue North, the church’s sign reads: “Jesus will never bend his knee to the false god of homosexuality.”
A phone call to the church went unreturned as of press time. It is unclear whether the church is targeting St. Petersburg directly because the state’s largest LGBT Pride celebration is held in the city. Also unclear is why the local church refers to homosexuality as a “false god.”
According to its web site, the church believes corrupt people are in power in the United States, and that an “unsuspecting populace” is getting tricked into believing “evil is good and good is evil.”
“We have grown to accept things that are grossly, dangerously evil as normal,” the site says.
