They currently reside in Long Beach, California. On June 18, 2008, White and Nixon were the first same-sex couple legally married at All Saints Episcopal Church (Pasadena, California) following the action of the Supreme Court of California overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage. He founded Soulforce, a gay advocacy group, in 1998. to the struggle for justice for sexual minorities. In 1997, White was awarded the American Civil Liberties Union's National Civil Liberties Award for his efforts to apply the "soul force" principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. His latest book, Holy Terror: Lies the Christian Right Tells To Deny Gay Equality was released in hardback as Religion Gone Bad: Hidden Dangers from the Christian Right.Īfter coming out, White transferred his clergy credentials to the gay-affirming Metropolitan Community Church. His ex-wife wrote the foreword to this book. In 1994, White wrote his autobiography, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In America, which detailed his former career in the Religious Right and his struggle coming to terms with his sexuality. None of these techniques changed his attraction to men, and after he attempted suicide, he and his wife agreed to an amicable divorce. He embarked on a long process of attempted cures for his homosexuality, including psychotherapy, prayer, electroconvulsive therapy, and exorcism. During this time he also worked as an evangelical pastor.Īfter their marriage, White admitted to his wife that he had always been attracted to men. He received his Doctorate of Ministry from, and was a professor of communications and preaching for over a decade at Fuller Theological Seminary.
They had two children, one of whom is the actor/comedian and screenwriter Mike White.Īfter receiving his BA from Warner Pacific College, then graduating with an MA in communications from the University of Portland, White followed with graduate work in communications and film at University of Southern California, UCLA, and Harvard.
That same year, he married Lyla Lee Loehr. In 1962, White graduated from Warner Pacific College. White was born in Santa Clara, California. After years of writing for the Christian right, he came out as gay in 1994 and devoted himself full-time to minister to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people, also writing extensively on the subject of gay Christians. White was a behind-the-scenes member of the Evangelical Protestant movement through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, writing film and television specials and ghostwriting auto-biographies for televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham. James Melville "Mel" White (born June 26, 1940) is an American clergyman and author.
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