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TAMPA, Fla. -- Tammy Faye Messner says she has lots in common with gays and lesbians -- she, too, knows what it feels like to be ostracized.
"Like you, I've suffered," said Messner, the keynote speaker at Tampa's annual PrideFest party. "We've all been misunderstood. We've all been made fun of. But I'm not going to allow people who don't like me to rent space in my brain."
Messner, who with then-husband Jim Bakker ran the Praise the Lord television ministry in the mid-1980s, supported homosexuals at a time when the rest of America was fearful of AIDS.
At Friday night's gathering in Tampa, Messner delivered a rousing speech based on her faith that "God loves you just the way you are."
She led the crowd in a chorus of "Jesus Loves Me" and compared her own tribulations after the scandalous downfall of the ministry to those experienced by gays.
"I've been called everything by the media but a Christian," she said. "Yet I think God loves unique people."
The crowd was responsive. Lloyd Richardson, 28, of Tallahassee, echoed a typical sentiment when he said he was astounded by Messner's commitment to the gay community.
"I mean, she's Jim Bakker's ex-wife," Richardson said. "But God bless her. We need more like her."
