Günter Baum (born 1960) is an
openly gay
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
man, who founded two
Christian ministries in Germany.
The first organization which Baum founded was Wüstenstrom, which is part of the
ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relat ...
movement. The organization's program was originally based on the U.S. program
Desert Stream Ministries
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
, though the group has since changed its philosophy. Eventually, Baum left "Wüstenstrom".
Baum later founded an organization called Zwischenraum. Zwischenraum is not part of the ex-gay movement, and associates do not attempt to change the sexual orientation of anyone. Instead, Zwischenraum accepts LGBT people as they are, and helps LGBT people who hold
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
theological beliefs to reconcile these two potentially conflicting parts of their identities.
Today, Baum lives as an openly gay man near
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, Switzerland.
See also
*
Ex-ex-gay
Ex-ex-gay people are those who formerly participated in the ex-gay movement in an attempt to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, but who then later went on to publicly state they had a non-heterosexual sexual orientation.
Organization ...
References
External links
ZwischenraumMinistry for gay and lesbian Christians
WuestenstromEx-gay ministry
1960 births
Living people
German LGBT people
German LGBT rights activists
LGBT Protestants
German evangelicals
People self-identified as ex-ex-gay
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