Leigh Krahl is a native Houstonian who now resides in Dallas with her beloved dog, Tex. Through sharing her own experiences of overcoming religious trauma as a former clergy member and the deconstruction of her faith, Leigh, better known as "the gay ex-pastor" on her TikTok page (@user1985) uses her seminary training to teach others the importance of critical thinking as it pertains to our religious belief systems. Raised within mainline Protestant denominations, it wasn't until her freshman year at Texas Tech University that Leigh began seeking after any sort of relationship with a higher power. After graduating with her Bachelor's degree from Tech and completing a year long internship with a campus ministry, Leigh relocated to Wilmore, Kentucky to pursue a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary. Halfway through her graduate coursework, Leigh sought help in overcoming her 10 year alcohol addiction and began working a 12-step recovery program. Although Leigh no longer aligns with the conservative lens through which she was trained, she is profoundly grateful for the experiences and relationships that took place at Asbury because they lead to her sobriety. Following the completion of her M.Div., Leigh accepted a Senior Youth Minister position within a United Methodist Church in Mississippi. While the time she spent serving at this church did bring moments of unparalleled joy and connection, consequently, it was behind the closed doors of weekly clergy meetings, that Leigh quickly encountered the dark underbelly of the religious institution. After serving nearly two years in full time pastoral ministry and with the help and guidance of her beloved mentor and friend, Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, Leigh resigned from her position due to the toxicity within church leadership and politics. After her resignation, Leigh returned to Asbury in hopes of completing a second graduate degree in Spiritual Direction. Instead, she found herself pushing back on the "money and numbers don't matter, just love people" rhetoric she had so blindly bought into while earning her Master of Divinity. Frustrated with the lack of receptivity and acknowledgement that perhaps this approach was not setting soon-to-be seminary graduates up for success in the local church, she decided to unenroll from further study at Asbury. Leigh then began working with a therapist who specialized in religious trauma and dove into the deconstruction of her religious belief system. Within this work, Leigh was able to uncover her own internalized homophobia which led her to finally coming out of the proverbial closet. Throughout the past six years, Leigh has relentlessly trudged through left over religious guilt and shame resulting in her commitment to showing others there is freedom beyond the walls of the religious institution.
