If you were a Martian and you visited modern America, you might well think that about half the population was homosexual—and the other half wishes they were. This is bizarre; especially when you look at the actual statistics. Less than two percent (1.7 percent) of the general population identify themselves as “gay.”

Despite the small numbers, this issue seems to be front and center everywhere. You can’t avoid it on the TV or radio or the Internet. Even the president, with the full “authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States” declares each June “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.”

We see state after state being forced to accept homosexual marriage, for the most part not because the people voted it in, but rather because it was foisted on them by judicial fiat. Look at schools, where the children might not learn basic historical or mathematical facts, but do learn that “Heather has two mommies.” Everywhere we turn, we see the “gaying” of America. I think all of this is quite tragic because it puts another nail in the coffin of the American family. As the family goes, so goes society.

On the other hand, one of the most important, and yet, least trumpeted, stories about homosexuals in America is one of redemption.

In my work at D. James Kennedy Ministries, I have had the privilege of interviewing about two dozen or so former homosexuals and lesbians. Rather than describing lives of happiness, they describe a lifestyle full of pain, conditional love, and rejection—despite society’s full embrace. As one of them said to me, “If you separate them, one on one, there are some very wretched people who are hurting deeply.” But through the power of the Gospel, these ex-homosexuals and ex-lesbians were freed from their former lifestyle.

Some have even gotten married (to a person of the opposite sex—I guess you have to clarify that nowadays). They are eternally grateful for the transformation in their hearts and are part of an umbrella group called Restored Hope Network.

One former homosexual told me, “I was never happy that I was gay, but no one ever offered me a way out.” But when someone did offer him a way out through Jesus our Lord, he took it and was transformed from the inside out.

Another told me of his intense struggle: “I went to sleep one night and was just praying, ‘Lord, I can’t do this anymore.’ And I closed my eyes and I saw a vision of the cross, and I saw Jesus on the cross and I heard that still small voice again say to me, ‘Whenever you get tempted to fall, think about the cross, and everything I’ve done for you.’ And in that moment, there was a healing that took place inside of me, that I knew that the compulsion was broken…it was a moment in time that I knew was the turning point.”

And yet another told me how he became free: “I went to my minister friend and just shared it with him, and that was the beginning of recovery for me. I became accountable to him. If he asked me, ‘Are you acting on these desires, are you having sex, are you going to the bookstores, are you going to the park?’ I could not lie to him.”

As one former homosexual put it, “I never dreamed that the orientation would go away, that it would change, that it would get me to the point in my life where it’s not a temptation anymore…. [I]t’s never too late to change—because I did when I decided that I was not going to be involved in homosexuality anymore.”

Are there some ex-homosexuals that have fallen off the wagon, so to speak? Sure. Sin is complex, and sanctification is a difficult road for all of us. It reminds me of ex-ex-smokers. Just because some ex-smokers take up smoking again doesn’t mean others are not able to quit for good.

I would only wish our visiting Martian could learn about the ex-homosexuals and ex-lesbians because they are an important part of this picture. “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.”