Anne Paulk

Last updated

Anne Edward (formerly Paulk) [1] is the executive director of Restored Hope Network, an interdenominational Christian ex-gay ministry headed up primarily of former members of Exodus International. [2]

Edward identifies as an ex-lesbian. [3] She co-wrote a book with her then-husband John Paulk called Love Won Out: How God's Love Helped 2 People Leave Homosexuality and Find Each Other. [3] However the marriage did not last because her husband was still gay and later renounced his past in the "ex-gay" movement. [4]

Biography

Edward experienced attraction to girls and women during her teen years, identifying as a lesbian in college and getting involved in a fully sexual lesbian relationship after college. [5] She attributes her focus to having been molested by a 12 year old boy when she was four. [6] She took to Christianity during college, and that led her to trying to address her lesbian feelings. By age 25, she was appreciating the attention of men. She married John Paulk in 1992, [6] and they had their first child in 1996. [5]

She and John began getting media attention. By 1993, they'd appeared on Oprah [7] and by 1998, on The 700 Club . In 1998, she was the center of an ad campaign from conservative and Christian groups, promoting the concept that change from homosexuality was possible. The campaign included a full-page advertisement in the New York Times . [8] [5]

Edward wrote the 2003 book Restoring Sexual Identity: Hope for Women Struggling with Same-Sex Attraction. [9]

The Paulks divorced in 2013, after John accepted himself as a gay man and apologized for his involvement and support of ex-gay messaging. [4] The couple had had three sons. Around this time, Edward founded the Restored Hope Network. [6]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/AnnePaulkAuthor/ [ bare URL ]
  2. ↑ Zoë Schlanger; Elijah Wolfson (1998-08-17). "Ex-Ex-Gay Pride". Newsweek.com. Retrieved 2016-08-03.
  3. 1 2 Paulk, John (19 Jun 2014). "To Straight And Back". Politico. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/john-paulk-former-christian-ex-gay-spokesman-recants-and-apologizes/2013/04/26/57c2d9c0-aeb3-11e2-b59e-adb43da03a8a_story.html [ bare URL ]
  5. 1 2 3 "Once gay, now they're a family". USA Today. August 5, 1998. p. 21 – via newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 "Anne Paulk's personal journey from lesbianism". LNP Always Lancaster. June 20, 2015. p. B1 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Odd couple goes from gay to straight". The San Francisco Examiner. July 20, 1993. p. A-15 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Wrong number in advertisement headache for Alabama contractor". Kearney Hub. July 14, 1998. p. 10 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Paulk, Anne (Jun 1, 2004). "Marriage isn't a conservative issue". The Oregonian. p. 7 – via newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.