He Lived an LGBTQ Lifestyle — Until Something Stopped Him in His Tracks

January 23, 2026·24 min·1 clip

Arch Kennedy explains how studying the Bible led him to choose celibacy despite ongoing same-sex attraction.

1. The Newsmakers podcast (CBN News) features host Billy interviewing Arch Kennedy, a former TV meteorologist and author, about his journey out of a gay lifestyle and into Christian faith. 2. Arch Kennedy is 55 years old, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and spent 17 years in TV weather before becoming a public speaker and author. 3. The episode's core question is how Kennedy moved from identifying as a gay Christian — trying to reconcile the two for most of his adult life — to choosing celibacy on religious grounds. 4. Kennedy grew up attending church with his family, drifted from faith in his 20s and 30s during a period of heavy alcohol addiction, and describes himself as calling himself a Christian while rarely attending services. 5. About three years ago, his sister — six years his senior — persuaded him to join a men's group at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship International) in Atlanta, which he describes as the first time he actually studied scripture rather than reading occasional devotionals. 6. Kennedy says the Holy Spirit began convicting him of his sins as he studied scripture, making him 'hyper aware' of what he did wrong and feeling genuine remorse for the first time. 7. He concluded that he could not change his same-sex attraction but could change his behavior, and that celibacy was what God was calling him to. 8. When host Billy raises the objection that critics call it 'unfair' to require celibacy of someone who cannot change their attraction, Kennedy responds with the example of his mother, who was confined to a wheelchair by rheumatoid arthritis at age 40 and was bedridden for the last 13 years of her life. 9. Kennedy's argument is that the Christian life does not promise fairness, and that the Holy Spirit gives him strength to resist and that love for God now fills the void left by the physical relationship. 10. Kennedy says he is still in recovery from alcohol addiction and still experiences same-sex attraction, but that peace — which he distinguishes from emotion — is the defining change in his life since the conversion. 11. He says he does not believe he was genuinely saved until two to three years ago, when he began studying God's word and felt the Holy Spirit convict him, despite calling himself a Christian his whole life. 12. On public reaction, Kennedy says the gay community gave him the most hostile response — calling it a contradiction for people who 'preached tolerance' — while his hometown of Thomaston, Georgia responded with overwhelming support via Facebook. 13. He mentions having appeared with Allie Beth Stuckey on another podcast and notes that several TV news industry colleagues do not understand the change, including one agnostic friend he describes as 'working on.' 14. Private messages from Christians have been 'overwhelming' in their support, and Kennedy says he always redirects the credit to God. 15. Kennedy says his goal is to help people understand that homosexuality is a real and ongoing struggle, that there is hope for peace, and that the church should address it with 'both truth and love' rather than political heat. 16. He specifically addresses parents whose children are coming out to them as gay, saying they have asked him how to respond with love and truth simultaneously. 17. He argues that homosexuality is unfairly singled out as a sin in political and church discourse while adultery, which he calls the same class of sin, receives little comparable attention. 18. The interview tone is calm and conversational, with host Billy reflecting Kennedy's framing back to him through scriptural references, including a discussion of the Apostle Paul's 'thorn' in 2 Corinthians. 19. This episode will be of interest to conservative Christians navigating same-sex attraction personally or within their families, and to followers of CBN News content. 20. Listeners who disagree with the religious framing of sexual orientation as sin, or who expect a secular or clinical treatment of the subject, will find the episode's premise incompatible with their views.

As heard by us

A direct faith-centered testimony that keeps its focus on personal change and conviction.

Arch Kennedy's story is built around a hard turn: a former meteorologist and author describing a move out of an openly gay lifestyle and heavy alcohol addiction and into faith, with the focus kept on change, peace, and new priorities.

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Why you'd press play

A testimony about faith, addiction, identity, and a very public pivot.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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