Gay, God-Fearing, and Done With the Hypocrisy

Life has a way of teaching you what’s real and what’s just something you were raised to believe. I used to think America was a damn good country to live in. I was proud of it. But the older I got, the more I realized that if something doesn’t line the government’s pockets, they don’t care about the people they’re supposed to serve. The pride I had turned into disappointment, and that disappointment turned into clarity.We’re taught growing up that you can be anything you want. But that only applies if what you want fits inside the box society approves of. You can’t be a girl who wants to play football. You can’t be a boy who wants to wear heels. You can’t be anything that makes people uncomfortable. We’re told we’re free, but the moment you step outside the “norm,” you learn real quick that freedom comes with conditions.People like to say we’ve moved past hate. We’re not segregated by color anymore, but we sure as hell are segregated by sexual orientation, religion, and political party. It looked for a while like we were progressing, but all we really did was trade one form of hate for three more. We didn’t fix the problem — we just changed the labels.And here’s where the hypocrisy really shows itself.Christians love to say “God doesn’t make mistakes.” So explain to me how being gay is a sin if God made me this way. How can you claim to be a Christian while condemning someone for how they were created? How can you hate somebody for their sexual orientation when the God you worship supposedly made them in His image? I’ve never understood that. I don’t think I ever will.Living in the Bible Belt, I deal with assumptions every day. I can’t have friends because people think I’m sleeping with every woman I talk to. Couples assume I’m sleeping with one of them. I’m not sleeping with either. But being gay apparently means you’re automatically guilty of something. It’s exhausting, and it’s ignorant, and it’s everywhere.I believe in God. I believe in my country. I believe God doesn’t make mistakes. But I also believe altering your body goes against what He intended. I don’t follow the pronoun trend — not because I hate anyone, but because I was raised traditionally and I believe male and female are what God created. I’m part of the LGBT community, but I don’t think the same way many of them do. I don’t have gay friends. I don’t wave flags. I don’t flaunt anything, even though you can tell I’m gay from a mile away.I don’t think anyone — gay or straight — should be doing PDA in front of kids or in front of people who are uncomfortable with it. Respect goes both ways. And I don’t think being gay is going to be thrown in my face on Judgment Day. God made me this way. I’ve been this way since I was born, just like so many others.But I do think judging people for how God made them will be one of the things He reads aloud. I think a lot of folks will be condemned faster for their hypocrisy than I ever will be for loving another woman.If we all minded our own business and treated each other the way the Bible tells us to — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — we wouldn’t have much to worry about when judgment comes. But I know a lot of people have to pray extra hard at night because the life they portray as Christians doesn’t match the judgments they make.To be a Christian is to be Christ‑like. Do you really think Christ walked around judging people? No. He accepted people. He helped people. He saw their hearts.And that’s what matters.If you’ve got a good heart, if you treat people right, if you do good without expecting anything in return — that’s what makes you a good person. Not your sexuality. Not your labels. Not your politics.You can be gay, believe in God, go to church, and do good. And honestly? I believe people like that will get into Heaven long before the hypocrite Christian throwing stones at a glass house g people like that will get into Heaven long before the hypocrite Christian throwing stones from a glass house.