Unlikely Family

- Pagans promoted homosexual acts,

and let's have a look at it.

Leviticus 18:22, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind",

"as with womankind."

"It is an abomination."

So they had a law governing this.

- They shall surely be put to death.

Their blood shall be upon them,

and that my friend is the cure for AIDS.

It was right there in the Bible all along.

And they're out spending billions of dollars

on research and testing.

It's curable, right there.

Because if you executed the homos like God recommends,

you wouldn't have all this AIDS running rampant.

"See, well I just don't believe that."

- I don't care what the news media pushes

and what the public school has to say,

this Bible said marriage is between a male and female!

Yeah!

Praise be!

I was meant to tell you in the mid-90's,

about '94, '95, no later than that,

God will destroy the homosexual community of America.

- There's such a generation gap in the world today.

You're not from my world,

and I'm not from yours.

That's why my generation thinks we need

a constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity

of marriage that guarantees that in America

the only marriage to be recognized

is the marriage between a man and a woman.

- In my opinion, the homosexual agenda

is a bigger threat than terrorism.

The homosexual agenda is destroying people's lives.

More people have died from AIDS

than have died from a terrorist attack

here in America.

- I go to church too,

but you know it didn't make me queer.

And I wouldn't buy that 100%.

Please erase that from the tape.

Let's edit that out, will you?

- Woo, 1995 Oklahoma, gay's not good.

You don't go shopping together.

You don't necessarily go out and eat frequently together.

You have to be careful.

- Even with this bright lighting right here

on this front porch, you can see that the vandals managed

to still light the front of this truck on fire,

threatening they'll be back.

That same night, it may be a little tough to see,

but you can see that the wrote on the garage, CMG,

but that wasn't enough.

Let's take a bigger look right here.

You can see in the big white writing.

It says, gay must go and it's all over the home.

A charred truck threats I'll be back,

and in bigger writing for everyone to see,

gay must go.

The message is clear for Robert Stotler.

He's the gay man that lives behind these walls.

- This is a big advertisement,

telling me I must leave.

- He doesn't wanna leave,

but Robert says he has no choice.

The state won't protect him.

Right now, I live in fear.

I cannot live in this house.

My partner and I had a rent house in East Tulsa.

We had just gotten together,

so he still had stuff in it,

but we had another friend of ours stay in it.

The neighborhood I guess had gotten tired

of our other friend staying there.

- Even though this vandalism isn't considered a hate crime

under the Oklahoma State Statute,

if it were, it would carry anywhere

between one to 10 years in prison

with a very hefty fine.

But for right now, it's just vandalism,

and that could only carry about six months in jail

and a $500 fine.

- In 1995, there wasn't a place in Tulsa,

where gay people or transgender people

or females, there was not a place

where you could be who you were

and freely express yourself spiritually.

There was no, gay people could not go and hold hands

and be in the pews and worship God

without judgment following.

There was, in 1995 there wasn't a place

where you could be yourself and worship

as as gay person.

- I had received several comments in previous churches

that I had attended here,

and it probably played into one of the reasons

why I decided to stop going to church all together,

because I really did not feel

that I should be alienated

or that I should not attend church

because of the way that I am.

I believe God has created me

in his marvelous design,

and so I felt personally that if the church

was not going to accept me,

then I was not gonna be affiliated with them.

Coming from back east,

Tulsa is a very conservative church town.

There's all these churches I've never heard of.

I didn't even know what a Baptist Church was

until I moved here.

- I haven't seen an anti-gay situation directly.

It's not directed at me,

but I have seen the attitudes

and comments said around that

have led me to believe that I can't open up

and be who I am.

When I came to Oklahoma,

it seemed somewhat backwards

and just to be able to walk into a grocery store

and buy a bottle of wine,

that was unheard of.

You had to go to a liquor store.

I had been traveling with this gospel group.

I had been going to these churches.

I was dealing with the whole gay issue.

I was not really out of the closet.

I still had, was fearful going to Oral Roberts University.

Of course, you couldn't go the bars and dance.

They had their advisors there at the door.

I was asked,

it was to be a technical director

for this production company,

and the position was filled.

And so they asked, "How about if we incorporated you"

"into a team of dancers?"

And they asked me to dance.

And so I danced.

And after it, they came to me and said,

"It just seems to me that you are wrestling with something."

"We noticed that when you danced,"

"we just don't think that you are a good match"

"for the organization,"

"and we think you're wrestling with issues."

"Is that correct?"

And I knew what they were talking about.

And because of that,

they felt it would be infectious

for me to be involved with the group,

that somehow maybe I would be an influence

on the other artists.

That's what I got.

They didn't have to say it.

That's how they said it,

that I just seemed to be wrestling with something,

and they kinda left it at that.

And so I left a little bit upset

that I was not able to be a part of this organization

because of the way I danced.

Come on.

I had a lot of self-hatred,

because I just thought,

"I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do,"

"and yet I can't overcome my sexuality, my homosexuality."

- I grew up as a Baptist for the first 30 years

of my life.

A pretty serious Baptist, 'cause my grandma lived

down the street and cousins across the street,

and we just went every time the door was open.

But in my 20s

when I discover that I'm gay

and it's really hard being gay and being a Baptist,

so I had basically had quit going to church,

because my sexuality and my spiritualness

could not fit into one hand.

I think that it was just always something on your mind.

I worked at a corporation,

so you don't take your partner to the Christmas party.

My parents were another generation.

My parents were born in the '20s.

I didn't share with my parents my sexuality.

I didn't feel that it was safe to do that.

Funny little things, when you sit down in the chair

to get your hair done.

I've probably colored my hair at times

when if it wouldn't be perceived

that I was gay, I probably wouldn't have colored.

So you do things, you do things.

You do funny things.

I was going through counseling

and being prayed over and therapy

to kind work through my homosexuality,

and through a series of events,

it just was not working.

And finally I remember, I just broke down

and started crying,

and I just said, "God, I cannot do this anymore."

"I'm done."

"If you want to change me, you've gotta do it."