A US reporter went undercover at a support group for gay men “struggling with chastity” to find out that an outspoken anti-gay Lutheran pastor was actually gay himself.
The story made the front cover of Minneapolis-based Lavender magazine and raises some interesting ethical questions.
According to MinnPost.com, Pastor Tom Brock “notoriously linked a tornado that struck the Minneapolis Convention Center and a nearby church to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)’s decision to accept homosexual relationships and ordain gay ministers in monogamous relationships”.
MinnPost.com reports:
“A blogger for the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association called the publication’s ethics ‘suspect’. Karl Reichert, a local publicist and former journalist, fears a far more widespread chilling effect on fellow gays who go to 12-step programs for chemical and other dependencies.”
Would such a story pass muster under the UK’s stringent privacy regime? I suspect only one of the bigger nationals would thave the legal muscle to take such a tale on.
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