Jim Swilley, the founder and pastor of a megachurch based in Georgia recently told CNN.com that the September suicide of a Rutgers University student was the ‘tipping point’ for his decision to come out of the closet to his congregation.
"For some reason, his situation was kind of the tipping point with me," said Swilley. "There comes a point in your life where you say - how much time do we have left in our lives? Are we going to be authentic or not?"
Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student of only 18 years of age, threw himself off a bridge after a secretly-taped sexual encounter between him and another man was posted on the internet.
Swilley, who calls himself a bishop, said he has known he is homosexual since childhood, but that he was convinced he would never have the courage to live openly.
Swilley,52, came out after more than 20 years of marriage to his former wife, who continues to work at their church.
"At a certain point, you are who you are," said Swilley, who has four children from two marriages.
He ministers at the Church in the Now, an inter-denominational Christian church in Conyers, Georgia.
"What I told my church is that I was given two things in my life that I didn't ask for... one is the call of God in my life and the other is my orientation. I didn't ever think that those two things could be compatible," Swilley said.
Swilley said that his main concern in sharing his orientation with his community was authenticity, saying that "It's about people being who they are."