Forty-three-year-old Lakita Garth was a 36-year-old virgin in 2005 when she kissed her boyfriend-turned-husband for the first time. Garth has gone public about her 36 years of virginity and is now helping other women around the world learn how to refrain from s*x prior to marriage.

Excerpts from her interview are below:
On Her Family’s Influence on Her Choice:
In my family, if you had s*x outside of marriage, someone got married, or someone got shot! I come from a line of Christians that believe your faith must impact the culture. It has to go farther than your personal relationship with Christ.
On Choosing a Mate that Is Not Into the Church:
You can’t be the key to his spiritual maturity.
Her Advice to Singles:
To be single was to be undistracted in my devotion to God. Keep your options open. God’s perfect mate for you may not look or sound like your ‘fantasy mate’.
One commenter with the user name “Chris” did not agree with Garth’s advice. He responded to her interview saying:
“The Bible does not make any of the claims that this article makes about s*xual purity before marriage.
The abstinence model of Christianity is an inherited tradition and not a hard and fast line which the Bible draws. “Don’t have s*x before marriage!” they say. Why?
The Bible says we should abstain from “s*xual immorality.” What is s*xual immorality? “s*x before marriage,” they say. Says who? It is a tradition, not an inviolable maxim — a tradition which made sense in earlier cultures where everyone married and they did so at a young age.
s*x before marriage is certainly a risky venture, but articles like these unnecessarily shame devoted lovers who have not yet overcome the logistical hurdles of holding a wedding.
In all honesty, the girl in this article sounds totally self-absorbed/self-righteous, some of the most disgusting traits for a Christian to have.
We should not be holding her up as a model for Christian women.”