De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries

De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries, or shortened to De Leon Ministries is an independent Christian ministry that formed on September 28, 2015 in Green Bay, Wisconsin to provide a pro-LGBT Christian ministry within the gay community and offers wedding services. The ministry is headed by actor and NikeTube Studios CEO Nick De Leon who is a legally ordained minister in the state of Wisconsin through Universal Life Church.
==History==
=== Origins ===
==== Chris J. LeRoy ====
De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries' beginnings trace back to April 8, 2014 when a ministry named The Bastards Ministries led by Chris J. LeRoy distributed numerous billboard advertisements across Green Bay saying "Go to Hell or Stop Sinning" and having a link to the domain OneSorryBastard.com.
According to his Facebook page, Chris LeRoy was possibly raised in Dyckesville, Wisconsin. Earliest mentionings of The Bastards Ministry, his ministry, trace back to as early as November 8, 2010 with a photo posted showing his website existed as early as this.
Based on numerous status updates and the pages he likes, he is a far-conservative, blaming Christians for FEMA concentration camps. LeRoy also believes that Osama bin Laden is loved by God. Regarding updates from 2011, LeRoy equates gay pastors to child molesters, and that gay pastors would perform bestiality weddings. On July 14, 2012 LeRoy was protesting at NEW Pride Alive claiming he wanted to "minister to the homosexuals and the transvestites, etc., at Joannes Park". 
Public backlash from local churches both liberal and conservative and those from the city of Green Bay were appauled by the advertisements.
==== Reaction to The Bastards Ministry ====
Celebration Church, a non-denominational church headquartered in the metropolitan area released a billboard ad parodying that of One Sorry Bastard's ad stating "Go To HEAVEN, God FORGIVES Sins" and taking the web domain OneHappyPastor.com. Pastor Mark Gungar of the Celebration Church in Green Bay gives a 2:34 video about the previous ad stating the inaccuracy of LeRoy's message.
Nick De Leon was a neighbor of Chris LeRoy from 2009-2016 and noticed his truck being covered in bumper stickers refering to bible verses and his ministry. Due to the continuous sightings of LeRoy's message one year after OneSorryBastard's billboards were taken down De Leon felt it was time to spread his message of the Gospel by creating De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries.
==== Pride Alive 2014 protesters ====
On July 12, 2014, De Leon attended his local pride event, NEW Pride Alive for the first time. While there at 12:42pm, he seen several anti-gay protestors standing along Baird Street near the park. Kelly Harris, one of the anti-gay protesters, has made regular appearances as early as at least 2010. Strongly opinionated, Harris compares the United States to Nazi Germany by insisting that "youth are sodomized", the American family is under attack, evolution is taught in school, and that the Catholic Church has ties with Islam. Much of Harris' preaching is mentioned in De Leon's book The Gay Catechism: Explaining the LGBT Christian, which occurred during De Leon's counter-protest at Pride Alive in 2016.
====LCMS excommunication of Nick De Leon====
Nick De Leon came out gay on November 19, 2014. During this time, same-sex marriage in Wisconsin was already legal for over one month and evangelical churches and organizations were overcoming their loss in the state Supreme Court. When De Leon came out, it caused controversy within the North Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. At this point in time, De Leon was already was influenced by the teachings of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and LifeJourney Church . De Leon claims that he had been stripped of his status in his church and had been in hours-long debates with the pastor of his church about homosexuality. It was until after the church's worship service on Sunday, November 30, 2014 that De Leon declared himself independent of the LCMS and was excommunicated the same day. It was almost two years earlier that he was baptized in the same congregation.
===Founding===
On April 28, 2015, Nick De Leon was officially ordained by the Universal Life Church Monastery. Eighteen days later De Leon founded a new ministry/church body, De Leonic LGBT Christian Ministries. De Leon became the denomination's first and only head pastor.
In the ministry's early days, they introduced their first and only logo, a rainbow pride flag blowing to the right on a cross-shaped flagpole, a symbol De Leon had originally drawn during his later years in high school. In September 28, 2015 the ministry changed it's name to its current form, which simply changed De Leonic to just De Leon to avoid confusion of being associated with De Leonism, a form of anarcho-communism. Later on in October 12, 2015 the ministry began its association with Union Congregation United Church of Christ, an LGBT-affirming church in Green Bay.
==== Increasing popularity ====
On March 4, 2016, De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries began its partnership with the Pride Center at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. On June 21, 2016, De Leon appeared on Washington, D.C. based 89.3 FM WPFW on their show, Iside Out LGBT Radio on a panel discussing the effects of religion and the LGBT community and LGBT people.
Since the beginning of 2016, De Leon had planned to counter-protest at NEW Pride Alive and successfully did so with some setbacks. Until autumn 2016, the ministry had a low revenue, the next setback followed De Leon's safety after the Orlando nightclub shooting where Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 58 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub. During this time, De Leon felt increasingly insecure about his personal safety and went as far as to carry pepper spray in his pocket during both a vigil fo the Pulse victims and during Pride Alive 2016.
In March 24, 2016, De Leon advised North Carolina governor Pat McCrory to reconsider his decision the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (House Bill 2) which he signed into law the day before. The bill eliminates anti-discrimination protections for LGBT and genderqueer people, and legislates that individuals may only use restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. De Leon warned McCrory of a potential "horrific mess" that was to impact the state and to not place himself on the wrong side of history. McCrory refused to listen to De Leon and the state of North Carolina faced a $500,000 loss in the state's Disaster Relief Fund and a 0.1% state GDP loss. McCrory was defeated by State Attorney General Roy Cooper by a margin of 10,257 votes in the state's 2016 Gubernatorial election.
De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries held its first counter-protest on July 9, 2016 and ran from about 11:12AM and ran until after 4:00pm. At this time only Chris LeRoy and Kelly Harris were protesting that year and is possibly the smallest number of anti-gay protestors Pride Alive had ever had.
De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries had further become more popular following the Presidential election of Donald Trump. Since Trump's inauguration, the ministry's activity spiked nearly ten fold with De Leon performing 7 baptisms with his first occuring on January 18, 2017. On March 11th, De Leon officiated his first wedding for a heterosexual friend.
n February 23, 2017 he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by Universal Life Church for excellence in outreach and activism. One day after being awarded his doctorate, De Leon was a passanger of a two-vehicle car accident near Bethel Baptist Church in Allouez, Wisconsin. According to his account, the 2002 Ford Taurus De Leon was riding on ice and slid clockwise between the grass and the rear wheels on Libal Street. De Leon gone out to attempt pushing the car back into the street while the driver accelerated the car in reverse. The attempt failed and as De Leon was entering the car, another vehicle collided into the Taurus. De Leon was pinned between the two cars but only received a small cut on his right calf and a bruise on his right hand.
De Leon staged his second counter-protest at NEW Pride Alive on July 8, 2017, this time increasing leaflet distribution by 23%. Due to Pride Alive 2017's success, a third counter-protest is slated for 2018 with a potential 3.25% leaflet increase from 2017. On August 7, the ministry made a major revision to the logo by splitting the Philadelphia rainbow flag and including the transgender pride flag to emphasize the ministry's representation of transgender Christians and LGBT people of color.
In September 8, the ministry donated fifty dollars ($50 USD) to The Montrose Center in Houston, Texas to help with the relief efforts of Hurricane Harvey.
== Beliefs ==
=== Historical criticism ===
De Leon Ministries stresses that the origins of verses in the Bible must be understood in the historical context. When mentioned in De Leon's sermon about the Holiness Code, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 must be recognized as a reference to worshiping sex gods in the land of Canaan, not a literal abolition to same-sex relationships.
=== Homosexuality ===
De Leon Ministries believes that all the bible verses regarding homosexuality should be taken in a historical and textual context instead of the literal context that conservative churches condemn. The ministry believes that the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah was done by God due to the cities greed and lack of sympathy of to the poor.
==== Transgender rights ====
De Leon Ministries published an extension to Homosexuality and the Bible: A Pro-LGBT Perspective that shows support for transgender individuals.
==== Same-sex marriage ====
Same-sex marriage is supported by De Leon Ministries and can be performed by the minister. Opposite-sex marriages can be done by the ministry regardless or any partner's sexual orientation.
== Leadership structure ==
Rev. Nick De Leon leads the entirety of the ministry as Head Pastor.
=== Pastoral requirements ===
Ordained pastors can join in functions of the ministry but are subject to certain legal requirements and affirms LGBT Christians.
==Gallery==
De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries logo (white).png|Ministry logo in white font
Nick De Leon Ordination Certificate (censored).png|Nick De Leon's ULC ordination certificate
De Leon Ministries facebook cover.png|"You're Going to HEAVEN, God LOVES Everyone", a campaign by the ministry.
Rev Nick De Leon De Leon Ministries Profile Picture.png|Nick De Leon in clergy uniform
2016 De Leon Ministries Bumper Sticker (11x3).png|"You're Going to HEAVEN, God LOVES Everyone", revised campaign as of February 26, 2016
2016 profile pic.png|Profile picture used by De Leon Ministries on Facebook, Zazzle and YouTube.
Rev nick de leon.png|Rev. Nick De Leon's second professional photo (taken March 17, 2016)
Nick-de-leon-professional-photo.jpg|Rev. Nick De Leon's third and current professional photo (taken March 31, 2016)
De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries seal.png|De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries seal
2017 nick de leon portrait cropped.png|Professional photo taken in 2017.
IMG_20170708_165525192_HDR.jpg|De Leon and drag queens holding his "You're Going to HEAVEN God LOVES Everyone" sign.
2017 De Leon LGBT Christian Ministries logo.png|Second logo introduced on August 7, 2017 that includes the transgender pride flag as well as the controversial Philadelphia pride flag.
2019 De Leon Ministries logo.png|Logo used since 2018 on dark.
2019 De Leon Ministries logo on white.png|Logo used since 2018 on light.
==Trivia==
* The ministries original name was "De Leonic LGBT Christian Ministries" prior to a name change on September 23, 2015. This was in part to not associate the ministry with De Leonism a variation of Marxism created by American socialist politician Daniel De Leon (not related to Nick).
==References==