The gay preachers wife
Lydia Meredith is an author/writer (The Gay Preacher’s Wife: How my Gay Husband Deconstructed My Existence and Reconstructed My Faith, published by Simon and Schuster, October ); a civic leader and an activist for LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Male lover, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) justice, especially for the reported millions of emotionally crippled, homeless, LGBTQIA children and youth who are rejected by their families of origin; CEO/Founder of Beacon of Hope; mother of 3 sons; and grandmother of 6 grandchildren.
Lydia Meredith grew up impoverished; during the Jim Crow era (legalized discrimination). She overcame classism, sexism, and racism to grow a successful corporate executive. Upon leaving Corporate America, she founded the nonprofit organization, Beacon of Hope, Inc. – Renaissance Education Center, fundraising over $ million a year to serve thousands of disproportionately at-risk children, youth, and their families –residing in the most economically challenged communities of Metro Atlanta. Lydia Meredith received numerous awards and commendations from public officia
Lydia Meredith didn’t establish out to grow a LGBT advocate.
But after learning she was both married to and mother of two homosexual men, Meredith knew she had a new path to forge. Her story is chronicled in her new manual, “The Gay Preacher’s Wife,” published last fall.
“People are buying the book and women are coming to me and telling me they are in the same situation that I was,” Meredith said. “I grasp at this juncture of my existence I am supposed to be deconstructing social structures that oppress people and create injustice and come speak revelation to power, so that these platforms that are used to oppress people are dismantled.”
Meredith was married to her husband, a pastor, for 13 years when he came out to her as bisexual, and 17 years later as gay.
“I could have run off the road driving, but I managed to keep the car in the proper lane and I thought, you know, that I was dreaming or something,” Meredith told Georgia Voice. “He was having an affair with a man. … He wanted out of the marriage.”
His companion worked at the school Meredith runs for impoverished children in downtown Atlanta, and
By Lydia Meredith. $16; Gallery Books; pages
The flowers were a very nice touch.
They greeted you from the kitchen counter just as you got home, and were followed by a romantic dinner, candlelight conversation, and a quiet evening at home. It was a gift from your spouse, who often has many surprises for you. But, as in the new book The Homosexual Preacher&#;s Wife, by Lydia Meredith, some surprises aren&#;t so welcome.
Born into a large Southern family, Meredith had a &#;strict Christian upbringing&#; that kept her somewhat sheltered until she went to college. Her first year at Vanderbilt University, she says, was &#;a real culture shock&#;—in part, because she&#;d had little experience with digital dating and no experience with sex.
That changed at college, and so did Meredith. Gone was the scared little mouse, replaced by a confident young miss who landed a high-paying job, bought her control home, and dealt with racism in the workplace. It was a excellent life but Meredith was lonely, and she prayed to God for someone to love.
God, she says, told her that Dennis Meredith would be her husband.
The Gay Preacher's Wife : How My Gay Husband Deconstructed My Life and Reconstructed My Faith
Synopsis
The deeply personal memoir of Lydia Meredith, a woman who spent almost thirty years married to a preacher&#x;only to have her husband leave her for a man&#x;and how her existence becomes a testimony of tolerance and a theology of love and acceptance.
After being married to Reverend Dennis A. Meredith for almost thirty years, Lydia Meredith discovers a shocking truth: the love of her life left her for a man. Now, Lydia opens up for the first time about how that revelation shattered her world&#x;and strengthened her faith.
With her existence turned upside down, Lydia struggled to put the pieces of her broken heart back together and that led her to pursue understanding through an accredited theological education. She wanted a way to put her family assist together and she establish Jesus&#x; ministry and teachings were actually
about training tolerance and love for people who are labeled different.
Candid, honest, and incredibly touching, Lydia Meredith shows that faith and pers