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    As United Methodist leaders tighten LGBTQ ban, churches struggle with path forward

    by Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times Mar 20, 2019 6 minutes

    LOS ANGELES - Tim Baudler was taught that God doesn't love gay people.

    When he was about 10, he realized he liked other boys. So Baudler, who grew up in a conservative church in Iowa, made himself a promise: If he made it to 20 and still felt the same way, he was going to kill himself.

    At 15, he was found to have a malignant brain tumor and was given days to live. He was relieved. God, he thought, was taking care of everything. He wouldn't have to commit suicide, and he wouldn't have to be gay.

    But he made it to 20. Then 30. His family shunned him. He moved to California, where he found Hollywood United Methodist Church. The Rev. Kathy Cooper Ledesma told him, "We're your family now."

    "I had to be rewired to learn that God does love me, and he saved my life for me to show love to other people," said Baudler, 49, lead usher at Hollywood UMC.

    But like so

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