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Anti-LGBT pastor stands down after being found on gay dating app Grindr

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

May 21, 2015 | 3 min read

A pastor who fervently campaigned against LGBT rights has resigned from his position after a gay and lesbian news outlet exposed a profile he operated on gay dating app Grindr.

Literally failing to practise what he preached, Reverend Matthew Makela’s Grinder profile was screenshotted and shared by Queerty after the pastor compared homosexuality to alcoholism in a Facebook post as part of a very public anti-LGBT agenda.

He posted: “I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God. The proof is in the sacrifice He made for all of us.

“We don’t tell a person born with tendencies to abuse alcohol to keep on giving in to his innate desires because he can’t help it. We try to help him in his struggle.”

On why Queerty outed the pastor, it said: “If Makela made even one LGBT kid at St. John’s ‘Christ-based’ elementary school, their parents, friends, family or anyone who ever stepped foot in the church feel like being true to yourself is shameful (and it seems all too likely that he did), then we’re glad to share his hypocrisy with the world.”

Topless images uploaded by Makela on Grindr were published on Queerty in addition to comments that he wants to "mess around with a bicurious guy” and enjoys “making out naked”.

The outing could give others food for thought before creating a profile of their own on the dating app.

Makela's had previously served as an associate pastor at St John's since 2010.

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