Episode 15 – This is part 3 of 3 parts – Skip Allen continues his family’s harrowing story. Skip, who is the gay, is the son of the former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Skip’s dad was the personal pastor to President Jimmy Carter, before, during and after President Carter was in the White House. This story was covered by the “New York Times,” “Dateline NBC” and ABC’s “20/20.” Our 3 hour interview is broken into 3 episodes. I first heard this story at a Dallas PFLAG meeting in 1997. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience and the story has haunted me ever since. I am being somewhat vague in expressing details so as not to spoil the story. My commentary is called, “The AIDS Crisis Isn’t Over!”
Be Sure to listen to Part 1 (Episode 13) and Part 2 (Episode 14) before listening to this episode!
2 replies on “Episode 15 – Part 3 of 3 of Skip Allen Continues His Family’s Crisis as Covered by The New York Times, Dateline NBC & ABC’s 20/20; Skip, Who Is Gay, Is the Son of Former President of the Southern Baptist Convention.”
I sat and listened to all 3 podcasts and can only thank you for this. I met Skip many years ago while in school. I lost touch after leaving for Europe in ’79… I saw him a couple of times during the next 20 years and knew some points of his story but lost touch. I’ve been back in the US 6 years and only recently started trying to find him again, not knowing if he was even alive still. It was so great to hear his voice … to listen to him…. I think I’ve found him again.
Thank you so much for this interview.
Since I knew about the Allen family since I was at one time a member of Dr. Jimmy Allen’s church and knew about the mother and the boys, I have always interested in hearing new things about their family. As a recovering Southern Baptist, I would love to see the Southern Baptist convention taken back by men like Jimmy Allen. In 1980, when he was the last moderate president. I was in the closet but knew that I was gay. I use to tell my friends that I was more Baptist than Christian….Boy did that change in a hurry. The sad thing about the Southern Baptist convention is the fundamentalist group that took over the convention were pretty much all closeted gays. Skip Allen is a wonderful person. I am glad that he is reconciled with his Dad. It is also great to hear the Scott is doing great. I am enjoying your podcasts, so please keep up the great work.
Gary