From Out & About, (Nashville, TN):
Local Nashvillian and host of The Remix, a popular Christian youth show, Azariah Southworth, announced today that he has come out.
“This has been a long time coming. I’m in a place where I’m at peace with my faith, friends, family and more importantly myself. I know this will end my career in Christian television, but I must now live my life openly and honestly with everyone. This is my reason for doing this,” Southworth says.
Southworth has been hosting and producing the popular Christian TV show, The Remix for a year and a half. It is in syndication and can be seen in more than 128 million homes worldwide. It averages more than 200,000 viewers weekly on one of three networks. It has featured major Christian acts such as Jars of Clay, Avalon, Superchick, Building 429 and Rachael Lampa.
Southworth has been featured in national publications such as Charisma Magazine and many other national Christian media outlets. “I know I will be cut off from many within the Christian community, and if so, then they didn’t get the point of the life of Christ. I believe by me living my life honestly and authentically now, I am able to be a better person and a better Christian. We all know there are so many other gay people in the Christian industry; they’re just all scared. I was scared, but now I’m no longer afraid,” notes Southworth.
It is a real shame that Southworth was forced to make a choice--be a representative of Christian media or be true to who he is. After all, if the spirit of Christ is in us, how can we be deceptive about who we are and find peace?
Hopefully, Azariah Southworth will now know peace, and perhaps at least a few Christians will ask if there is anything really different about him now than when he was a popular host of a Christian program?
Perhaps some will ask if Southworth's public acknowledgement of being a gay man really does make him less of a Christian. Since he is being true to how God made him, I suggest that he is now following God's will more closely and bringing more pleasure to the Lord.
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