Thoughts On The Death Of A Horrible Man

When it came to his evangelical "witness" he was truly terrible and very anti-lgbtq+, yet, I feel an irritating compassion.

“A Man Pondering the Cycle of Life” – AI generated with Imagen via Canva

The Universe sure knows how to seemingly throw curveballs out of absolutely nowhere.

On Monday I learned that one of the most hateful men I ever met in my life (Jason “Molotov” Mitchell) passed away by his own hand. I only met him once. At first, I thought he was cool. We were both at a religious right activist-type meeting I attended back when I was in the stained-glass closet. But after the meeting, we went to dinner with his wife and another Exodus leader. But within a few minutes, I wanted to run out of the restaurant.

He was SO crass and offensive. And y’all, I cuss a fucking lot and am pretty darn crass, so that is saying something for me to be taken aback. From what I saw, Jason was everything-phobic; the world and everything in it that he disagreed with needed to be mocked and stigmatized.

He really thought that making fun of and stigmatizing others was his Christian witness to save lost souls.

One of my former friends and still current ex-gay leader was enamored with Jason even though I warned him to steer clear of participating in any of Jason’s efforts. Instead, they became friends and now that I know this former friend’s true colors, it makes sense. I don’t know of any other former or current ex-gay leaders that had worked with Jason.

I do not believe Jason was in the closet working out of a core of self-loathing concerning being gay. I think he was just flat-out hateful and making a living off of his clever ways of being vicious.

So why did I get tears in my eyes over a man I consider horrible and only met in person once?

Well, I wouldn’t wish death on my worst enemy, especially by their own hand. Having lost someone close to me who took their own life is a level of painful emotional empathy I didn’t ask for and would not want anyone else to experience. The level of pain and despair Jason felt had to be immense. I would never want that for someone else regardless of my limited negative view of them.

I am also moved by the fact he left behind his wife and two kids. One of his children was born this year. I pray those kids grow up and have wonderful lives despite this tragedy.

And who knows what Jason thought and believed the past few years so my assessment of him is limited and could be completely off. I know first-hand that people can radically change their mind if they want; and they have a right to do so. So who knows what he believed in the end, again, I only met him once many moons ago.

It’s a tragedy and I wish he would have given himself the opportunity to use his truly amazing skills toward good in the world and not the stigmatizing efforts I know of.

I do believe in the afterlife, and I hope he will find the peace he needs to rest.

Meanwhile, we will continue to fight against all the harm and hateful energy his efforts empowered.

---

---

More about Randy…

Helpful resources…