Gay Man Says Ark. Church Rejected Membership Over Sexuality

A gay man from Arkansas said a local church denied him membership because of his sexuality, ArkansasMatters.com reports.

Dylan Settles said he's been a member of the Woods Chapel General Baptist Church in Brookland, Ark. for six years but things changed after receiving a letter from church officials.

Settles told the website he hasn't attended services as frequently as he used to over the last five months. Apparently, church officials noticed and sent him a letter. Settles initially thought the message would urge him to come back but when he read the note, the letter was quite different. The church board voted to take away his membership because he is gay, Settles said.

The letter said if he repents for being gay, he will be welcomed back to the church.

"I was like in awe. I was in so much shock, I couldn't read like the rest of it," Settles told ArkansasMatters.com.

Settles came out three months ago to his parents after years of struggling with his sexuality.

"I asked for God to kind of just take it out of my life, and give me some hope and faith that I could find a wife or a girlfriend," he said. "I was tired of living for somebody else ... living for my parents or my friends or whoever. I kind of just chose to live for what I wanted and be happy."

Settles took to Facebook and posted the church's letter, which has been shared nearly 2,700 times.

"The positive things they've said is trying to invite me to other churches," he said.

Settles said he's also received backlash, with some Facebook users "throwing Bible verses at me."

Settles said he refuses to go back to Woods Chapel and will not repent for his sexuality.

"I don't feel comfortable sitting at pew or sitting beside my parents when all I'm going to see is people pointing their fingers at me because of the lifestyle I chose," he told ArkansasMatters.com.