The ratification of 10-A by the Presbyterian Church (USA) last year cleared the way for qualified LGBT persons for ordination and service. Moreover, the message of 10-A is an affirmation of God's love for all, that LGBT persons are created in God's image, that the Gospel is good news for all persons, not just heterosexuals. These are life-giving even life-saving messages. Knowing you are a child of God, that God loves you and that God wants you to have love and companionship is foundational to one's sense of worth and well-being.
We grieve with our sisters and brothers within Fremont Presbyterian Church, Sacramento, CA who have come to understand that they lost one of their own to suicide because he was not encouraged to be the person God had created him to be. We pray for all churches that do not yet understand God's creation of all persons. We pray for those Presbyterian churches who are challenged by the passage of 10-A. We pray that they will be able to trust God in God's own creation of all persons. As Fremont Presbyterian Church made the decision to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) over 10-A, church members raised the name of Thomas Paniccia. Close friends say Paniccia, a former staff member at the church, was conflicted about his faith and sexuality. Sadly, he took his own life in 2007.
On July 23, 1992, Thomas Paniccia, an Air Force sergeant, announced he was gay on national television. On the anniversary of that day 15 years later, Paniccia drove to an undeveloped cul-de-sac in Roseville several blocks from his home and waited to die...
Paniccia's close friends said he was conflicted about his faith and sexuality.
David Larson rented a room in his home to Paniccia and knew him for more than a decade. He also received a copy of Paniccia's suicide note.
"As a close personal friend, I unfortunately realized Tom's inability to accept being gay combined with his religious views is what I believe led to his suicide," Larson said...
Paniccia joined the church staff s outreach coordinator in 2006.
"Tom came into church as someone looking for answers," Baird said. "He took it all in like a sponge."
The pastor knew Paniccia was attracted to men. "But I told him as long as he was celibate, I didn't care," he said. "We all have our struggles." ...
While Paniccia worked at Fremont, he would stop by the pastor's office to talk. They discussed celibacy, Scripture, and living as Christians. "He accepted celibacy," Donald Baird said.
The pastor believes homosexuality should be addressed with prayer and discipline. He said neither homosexuals nor heterosexuals should have sex outside of marriage. It is a sin for both, Baird said, and Paniccia shared those beliefs...
Are messages from the pulpit to blame for gay suicides?
In a survey released in October 2010, two out of three Americans said they believe gay people commit suicide at least partly because of messages coming out of churches and other places of worship, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.
No hard data exist on the role religion plays in these suicides, said Brent Childers, executive director at Faith in America, a national nonprofit that educates about religion-based intolerance.
"But we don't need a research study to understand the role religious teaching plays in these cases," Childers said. "How can it not have a debilitating effect when there's a religious and moral stamp of disapproval on someone's very being?"
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The Church teaches us who we are. At its best, the Church teaches that every person is a child of God, created in the image of God and unconditionally loved by God. The 30-plus debate in our Church with regard to homosexuality, LGBT people and ministry, has done much harm to many people. Anti-gay teaching and anti-LGBT messages in society cause people to doubt they are children of God, that God loves them, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to them, too.