Pastor Tom Brock isn’t the first clergyman to be outed as gay after condemning gay behavior. But Brock may be the first outed by a reporter who faked his way into a confidential 12-step program.

In a cover story published Friday that’s rocketing through the national gay press, Minneapolis-based Lavender magazine exposed the Minneapolis-based pastor’s struggles and desires as recounted to a support group for gay men “struggling with chastity.”

Lavender reporter John Townsend wrote that he was referred to the program, which met at a St. Anthony church, via a Catholic priest, James Livingston. Livingston, North Memorial Hospital’s chaplain, says Townsend — a veteran Lavender writer who has also freelanced for the Star Tribune — did not identify himself as a reporter.

“He looked me in the eye, we had a conversation about the importance of confidentiality, and we shook on it,” Livingston recalls.

Reporter sent to program 'undercover'
Lavender Media president and CEO Stephen Rocheford confirms Townsend was sent into the program “undercover.”

Brock — who appears six days a week on Christian radio station KKMS-AM — is a major “get” for the gay publication. Last year, 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. As the gay-oriented website Queerty put it, “Lutheran Pastor Tom Brock Blamed ELCA's Tornado on Homosexuality. Which, Uh, He Suffers From.”

But not everyone in the gay community thinks the ends justified Lavender’s means.

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.

“In Minneapolis-St. Paul, we’re the land of 10,000 treatment programs; people go to these programs and trust they are truly anonymous,” Reichert says. “As someone who’s participated in a support group, it’s not fair to anyone in the group.”

Ironically, Rocheford is a recovering alcoholic of 27 years who attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings weekly. I asked the Lavender publisher: would he have printed Brock’s statements had the pastor confessed to sexuality struggles at Rocheford’s A.A. meeting? Presumably, the publisher’s fellow alcoholics would look dimly on anyone violating the sanctity of anonymity for any reason.

After a long pause, Rocheford says, “I’d have to think about it.”

The publisher’s get-out-hypocrisy-free card? That the gay-chastity program, sponsored by Courage, a Catholic organization, “doesn’t come anywhere near” to classic 12-step programs. “They’re mimicking on 12-step programs,” he declares.

Programs such as Courage’s are hugely controversial; gays and allies assert they only deepen shame over natural tendencies, prolonging and amplifying psychological distress, sometimes to the point of suicide. For his part, Livingston says the programs are voluntary and “there for guys who believe in [the church’s] values and want support holding onto those values.”

As to Lavender's chilling effect on anyone seeking confidential help from peers, Rocheford says folks like Reichert have “nothing to fear.”

'There's one exception'
He declares, “I personally, and Lavender Magazine as a matter of policy, do not believe in outing anyone. People are allowed to be crazy and dysfunctional in their lives. There’s one exception: a public figure who says one thing and does another. This is not the first homosexual minister who denounces homosexuality in public and engages in it in private.”

Reichert isn’t buying it. “My feeling is, it’s one thing if someone was placed under arrest or it occurred in a public setting. Gay Pride Week’s coming up, and it’s important to be out and honest — and with integrity. I don’t like to see hypocrisy in a public figure, but it matters how you get that information. Being in a support group is very personal. There has to be some arena for people to get support, to get help, and deal with issues.”

Brock has not made himself available for comment. However, Pastor Tom Parrish, Brock’s supervisor at Hope Lutheran Church, says Brock has been placed on leave during an investigation, expected to last about two weeks.

Parrish acknowledges that Hope Lutheran has pulled down all of Brock’s videos “as a part of our policy” during the investigation.

(Rochefort says this is yet another example of Brock having something to hide; the publisher says he downloaded the pastor's oeuvre, and may publish them on Lavender’s website, as Queerty has already done that with the tornado video.)

Parrish does not dispute Brock’s struggles with homosexuality. He says that while Brock has not been public with his struggles in the three years they have worked together, “Tom has been very open about his own personal struggles” with church confidants such as himself.

Still, he adds, “For the congregation, the actual personal struggle is probably new.”

Parrish says Brock is not a hypocrite for condemning homosexual behavior while loathing it in himself. “He always held out the hope of redemption and change, but our church teaches you to struggle with it and the lord still loves you. You have to keep from giving in to it.”

As for Lavender Magazine, Parrish says, “There are no ethics for them. They certainly violate everything I was ever taught about 12-step programs. To take on a public figure publicly, we expect that — Tom and I have gone through that before. But they’re killing a process” — the 12-step method — “that has worked for 100 years. I think it’s criminal, and I can’t rationalize it in my mind.”

Father Livingston, who referred Townsend to the program, says Lavender’s decision, “wasn’t so much an ethical decision as a hate crime. They didn’t like [Brock’s] values and belief system and went after him personally.”

He adds, “I think anybody who has enjoyed a confidential conversation with friends over an important life issue would feel ashamed. Men in the group are stunned. I just feel very violated and betrayed.”

Rocheford, who says the Brock story has already received “tens of thousands of hits,” says he isn't losing any sleep. “I live my life by what Voltaire said: ‘I don’t want everybody to like me, for I would think less of me if I did.' "