Brock Is Back

“57-Year-Old-Virgin” Returns to Hope Lutheran Church

Tom Brock, the outspoken antigay Lutheran pastor I outed in the June 18 Lavender, is back in the pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church in Minneapolis after a church-appointed task force investigation, which has not been made public, concluded that it found no evidence he had sex with men. He is stepping down as Hope Senior Pastor, but will remain affiliated with the church.

On Sunday, August 1, Brock spoke to his congregation, and proclaimed, “I am a 57-year-old virgin.”

Brock doesn’t consider himself gay, because he claims he never has acted on his attraction to men.

According to Hope Executive Pastor Tom Parrish, Brock’s story checked out. The task force determined that he sought counseling, as well as frequently met with an “accountability partner,” whose name is unknown.

Brock’s theorizes, “I think we are all born heterosexual, and then stuff goes wrong.”

The pastor speculates that his homosexuality stems from a father who was overly distant, and a brother whose athletic prowess seemed to make him more acceptable, hence, lovable by family members.

Brock notes that he probably will discontinue attending Courage, the Catholic gay chastity group known in Minnesota as Faith in Action.

As Brock remarks, he aims to start a new cable access show with this view: “You can have this struggle with same-sex attraction, say no to it, and still follow Christ.”

In his August 3 Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial, Brock states categorically that he believes unrepentant homosexual activity leads to hellfire.

Brock remarks he has forgiven Lavender and me. My reply is that there’s nothing to forgive.

Correction: In the June 18 Lavender, I wrote that Brock was 49, which I got from a recent KKMS airing of his frequently antigay The Pastor’s Study. I know now that it was a rebroadcast from years past, and he is 57.