Reverend Matthew Makela, a married father of five, resigned from his position after his Grindr profile was made public via screenshots obtained by Queerty. He confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots but declined to comment. He also told Queerty that he had “resigned” from his position at the church after the story surfaced, and that his wife and senior pastor had been made aware of his extracurricular activities.
Makela had gone on the record with his views against gay marriage, homosexuality and transgender people.
He once responded to a fellow preacher's Op-Ed against homosexuality entitled A Stand For The Truth by writing in the comments section: 'I love people who have same sex attraction, and so does God. The proof is in the sacrifice he made for all of us who sin…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.'
Makela described marriage between heterosexuals as 'natural marriage' and had harsh words for transgender people.
'The transgender movement is going to assist opportunistic sickos in preying upon children and others,' he wrote in a Facebook post. 'How can business owners and authorities prove who is a man and who identifies as a woman vs. a man who wants to prey upon girls and women in their restroom or locker room?
You know, even though I want to laugh at what a joke those guys are, it's actually really sad. It's truly tragic they're taught to hate themselves and I have no idea what's going on through their head :toosad: