Maryland Educators Accused of Ignoring Ex-Homosexual's Lifestyle Change

by Jim Brown
July 12, 2004

(AgapePress) - A public school committee in one Maryland county does not want students to know about a young man's decision to leave the homosexual lifestyle.

Before becoming a Christian and disavowing homosexuality, Noe Gutierrez was featured in the 1996 video It's Elementary, a popular resource used in public schools to discuss homosexual issues. Upon learning that Montgomery County schools were still showing the pro-homosexual video, Gutierrez asked a district committee to issue a disclaimer.

Gutierrez says he explained to school officials that he was no longer "gay-identified" and that, in his opinion, it was shameful not to communicate that portion of the story to students.

"If you're using this video as an educational tool [and not including the fact he is no longer in the homosexual lifestyle] ... you're not giving them the full story," Gutierrez says. "So I just asked them to do that. And I also said not only is it unfair, but it's censorship -- you're censoring the full message."

Gutierrez says the school committee has thus far refused to notify parents and teachers of his lifestyle change, as have the producers of It's Elementary.

"They don't really believe that a person like myself can exist," he explains. "They don't believe that someone who once integrated their identity into homosexual life could reintegrate their identity into a heterosexual life. That just seems too far out for them."

Gutierrez and four other ex-homosexuals tell their story in a new documentary titled I Do Exist.