Ed Smart, Who Became A Media Sensation After His Daughter Was Kidnapped, Declares There Is No Cure For Homosexuality
You may already be familiar with Ed Smart. Ed is the father of Elizabeth Smart, yes, that Elizabeth Smart – the fourteen-year-old who was kidnapped from her house in Utah and held captive for nine months until being rescued on the streets of Utah close to her home. While Elizabeth’s triumphant story of bravery continues to be retold in television films, we can also watch her as a crime reporter on the web series, True Crime Daily. Her name came up most recently as her father, Ed, surprisingly came out as gay in August of this year. Four months later, he is now speaking out about his struggles of hiding his sexuality for his entire life.
According to NBC News, Ed Smart recently told an LGBTQ youth group in Utah that there isn’t a cure for being gay. Smart, born and raised Mormon, had left the Mormon Church after divorcing his wife over the summer. Speaking specifically in Lehi, Utah – a Mormon city – essentially means that he is trying to tell their gay youth there is nothing wrong with you. As we know, Mormons don’t support gay marriage, although they appear to publicly like the gays. Ed continues that he was told by his regular therapist that he wasn’t gay, which he wanted to believe, but eventually stopped going to therapy after realizing his sexuality wasn’t wavering: He’s a homosexual man pretending to be heterosexual. Not even attending church four times a week could prevent him from being true to himself. After coming out, Ed believed:
“At one point, I said to my wife, ‘I really wish that I could die now,’ not that I was suicidal, but I thought that if I could see God right now, I would feel like I would be able to answer for myself, and he would be accepting of me based on what I had learned was acceptable. There’s no cure for being gay, because I worked very hard at trying to do that. So many people have their own perceptions of God. For me, it wasn’t a question of whether he was there or not — because having Elizabeth return [after her kidnapping] and having been so incredibly blessed in my life, it would be impossible to deny God and to deny his existence and his love and his caring and wanting me to be happy. ‘Hate the sin and love the sinner,’ and what in the world does that mean?”
Ed continued that his family of an ex-wife and six children have been incredibly accepting. Their new motto is: “We all have to get used to our new normal”. A phrase the family used after Elizabeth was rescued and returned home. He chatted with media icon, Gayle King, on CBS This Morning to discuss his newfound happiness in his sexuality. Don’t forget to check out the clip below:
Welcome to the team, Ed – you definitely fit the bill of being a daddy!
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
H/T: USA Today
H/T: NBC News
