– from MCC Anchorage

Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage Pastor Norman Van Manen took to the airwaves this week both on radio and television conveying a strong position in favor of GLBTQ rights.

Pastor Van Manen spent two hours with Conservative Radio Show host Eddie Burke, a self proclaimed homophobe, fielding questions from callers and his host about the Scriptures, homosexuality and equality.

The radio show will be made available for listening on the MCC Anchorage website and the KTVA television interview will be aired during the first week of June.

Pastor Van Manen is no stranger to discrimination even within his own family. “When I came out as a homosexual, my family gathered together and declared family court and made a decision to lynch me. I hid in a ditch and escaped with my life.”

Pastor Van Manen has also experienced a form of discrimination here in Anchorage when he discovered he was prohibited from publically disclosing the name of the church in which MCC Anchorage previously gathered to conduct Sunday service. Said Pastor Van Manen, “The difference between where the church was, and where we are now (St. Mary’s Episcopal Church), is that we are truly here with the blessing of the church.” 

Speaking to the Scriptures and Christ, Pastor Van Manen said, “The message of the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ is to love God, love yourself, love your neighbor and to love your enemies.”

MCC Anchorage meets at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, on the corner of Lake Otis and Tudor, for a Sunday service at 2 p.m. in the A-Frame Chapel, and for Step By Step, a Biblical Studies program, at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.