Southern Baptists
appoint strategist on homosexuality

The Southern Baptist Convention has created a new position of national strategist on gender issues, who will work with gays and lesbians who believe they can "overcome" their homosexuality. Bob Stith, who served as pastor of Carroll Baptist Church in Southlake, Texas, for 37 years, started the new job June 1. On June 13, at the SBC annual meeting in San Antonio, Stith said he hopes to bring men and women ''to wholeness in Jesus Christ.'' He hopes the ministry will help gays and lesbians ''come to a place where this temptation doesn't dominate their life.''

Stith and SBC officials are still working out the specifics of the job. With more than 16 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. Several evangelical groups, including Exodus International and Focus on the Family, run programs teaching that homosexuality is a sin that can be overcome. Gay rights groups and many medical professionals say faith-based programs advocating ''reparative therapy'' for gays and lesbians are dangerous to patients. (AP)