LESBIAN/GAY ALUMNI
 Kristin Armitage and Julie Jamgochian
"We came to a point where we had a peace with God and felt we could have a loving relationship and still consider ourselves Christians."
 Kendra Cassidy
"I wouldn't change my orientation for the world. When I realized that summer night in 2003 that I was gay, my life finally made sense to me."
 Jonathan Anderson
"I know that there is a God, and that He created me, just as I am. I also know that God doesn't make mistakes, and He didn't make one when creating me."
 James Deaton
"God has blessed me with a wonderful Christian man who shares the core values that have molded me into a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I am proud to share my life with him."
 Eric Helmuth
"I now understand that my desire for an intimate, loving and committed same-sex relationship harms absolutely no one, myself included. Indeed, embracing it has been my path to peace."
 Jacquelyn Kernechel
"Now I look back on the time of emotional and mental anguish and I have no idea who that girl was. I cannot imagine what that pain felt like anymore. Life is so beautiful and my life in particular is SO AMAZING."
 Doug Messinger
"I began my time at Cedarville fresh-faced and ready to do great things for the cause of Christ. I also remember thinking that this was my last chance to rid myself of those "sinful" attractions toward my own sex."
 Laura (Walker) Mitchell
"Being on campus that beautiful Thursday in April was redemptive. I know it was for me, and I think it was for others. I believe Jesus was proud of us all that day."
 Matthew Eric Nelson
"To you, friend, who may be reading this and finding yourself struggling with your sexual orientation or just being a free-thinker or your own person at the 'Ville, know that you are not the only one."
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| LESBIAN/GAY ALUMNI, CONT.
 David Olsen
"After many years of prayer, struggle, book-reading, therapy and much, much pain, I realized that being gay wasn't a sin. It was a cathartic moment to realize I could be gay and a Christian, and that God embraced a life lived with integrity."
 Chris Parsons
"For the last 20 years I have been working in the HIV community...and am happily partnered with Domingo Perez. We are raising a co-dependent, obese cat named Mel."
 Bonnie (Vesilko) Price
"(At Cedarville) I learned to think for myself and to think out of the box...in time I learned that God was very big and good -- big enough to have sexual diversity among his people and good enough to bless me with a life partner."
 T.J. Rivetti
Though I did know I was gay while at Cedarville, I tried to convince myself it was only a phase. I earnestly prayed my feelings towards men would somehow diminish and attraction to women would take it's place..."
 John Sidle
"Acceptance of myself has made my life immensely better and happier. It has also improved my spirituality. My intense conflict over my sexual orientation was actually an impediment to me finding any spiritual footing at all."
Tim Ronk
"All of us had been trained to think too highly of ourselves, to shake our heads in sadness at the foolishness of our wayward brothers and sisters. We had 20/20 vision when reading the Bible, didn't we? Everyone else needed spectacles. We sold the lenses."
 Ricky Smith
"When I heard that Soulforce was visiting, I decided to read a lot of their material. After praying about it, I sincerely believed that nothing was wrong with me. The problem was with Cedarville."
 Rev. Paige Wolfanger
"I begged God to take this desire away so that I could remain a good Christian girl. God didn't take it away. But through grace, God also showed me I was still a good Christian."
 Adam Wirrig
"If being honest with oneself, loving one's neighbor as yourself, honoring God for the beauty He made you with, and loving, accepting, and caring for ALL of God's children means I'm going to Hell, well, I'll take my chances"
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SUPPORTIVE ALUMNI
Ryan Culpepper
"There are many GLBT individuals....who are devoted to respecting difference and to rejecting the narrow, exclusive and indefensible standards for normalcy that right-wing Christianity would like us to believe are natural or God-ordained."
Sharon Pinkerton
"I don't believe being gay is a sin...(I've learned) that several of my friends from Cedarville were gay, but not out at the time...I've been able to follow along closely in their struggle with being openly gay and coming to grips with how family, friends, and colleges view them."
Andrew Rudd
"I am an advocate for the full inclusion of GLBT persons in the life and mission of the church. I can no longer claim the certitude about the Bible's teaching that characterized Cedarville's position while I was there, but I do still find meaning, direction and hope in the Gospel of Christ and the Gospel of God."
Daniel Rudd
"I've had the privilege of observing God's redemptive work in many contexts. However, I have never experienced a situation where an individual experienced God's grace through exertion of force, majority power, shame, or legislative action..."
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