And I've pondered a little bit about that here on swell. But anyway, getting back to the topic, there is a drag show here in Nashville that has been doing this every month for over 20 years, and it is not a mockery. All the drag queens volunteer their time because they love this ministry. This is very much geared to the folks that do bar hop but are also having to deal with church hurt
So. I'm sorry I have to bust in here because you made me cry. I've never heard someone say that before. I've never heard someone say, my God has sent me here at gay man. That's powerful. That's very powerful. Wow
Missy Jones
@lemrjane · 0:13
You? Well, I have a cousin, and he's gay and he's a Christian, so of course you can be gay and a Christian, so don't let nobody tell you that you can't
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:56
We shudder at the idea of trying to bring faith based people into the queer community. It's so hard because there's always such vitriol and conflict. And here you are celebrating this beautiful amalgamation of art and faith and community and freedom. It's just beautiful. I'm really blown away. I just wish I could be there. But I'm so happy that you're able to share the energy with us. It's wonderful
So I'll tell you both right now that this is the type of projects that I'm looking for. Both, Deborah, the one that you mentioned and the one that Seiko show mentioned. So I want more of these stories. I want more of these
Also a sort of post note. My path to coming out to myself, let alone to the world, happened after I left the faith. However, it didn't stop the hurt, the destruction of relationships and so on. Those who believed and would give me verses saying that I'm worthy of death because to me, Jesus, God, whatever facet of his being you want to refer to, did not decide that some sinners were worse than others or some were holier than others
All right, we're going to push forward on the reunification of human beings under the love of Jesus Christ and the God and the holy spirit and all the compassion and everything
This. You had me laughing out loud multiple times. I'm sorry to say that I will not be returning. And it's not because of christians themselves. Like, my journey out of the faith came from reading the scriptures. So it's not that I'm sure that if I still believed there would be a church or many, many churches where I would feel welcome, but it's not for me
Oh, I forgot. I included a link above. I recorded this last May, just prior to Pride month. I don't normally share personal stories, but I shared a little bit of my own
But it's not like something I feel, it's just something that it wells up, this anger and this passion inside of me. It's not like I feel like I'm in a moment and I'm sad and I'm feeling sadness is that when I'm in the moment that it just wells up inside of me and it manifests as weeping or just yelling or saying something funny. I just let it all come out of me all the time
I get it more than you know. I mean, some of what you're talking about in that I also have those bubbling up strong emotions about injustices, about the discrepancies. That seems like a mild word to describe it, too. Between what anyone, no matter what they believe, don't believe with respect to faith, but the things that they claim to value and then the way that they live out their lives and seeing the way that we treat fellow humans
And I was like, well, I guess on paper he was. But based on his actions, I'm going to say that he really wasn't. I would say probably he was a theist, maybe. I would say he was an atheist or a theist. But when a person acts like that, obviously if they believe in God, it is themselves. They believe in themselves, and they believe that they are God. That's Mao, that's everyone. Saddam Hussein
It's always perplexed me when I see these conversations. Used to happen a lot on clubhouse. I don't see them much anymore. But labeling who is a Christian and who isn't a Christian or what it is to be a man, what it is to be a woman. Any of these sorts of ideas are limiting the nuance and complexity of the shades of gray, of the richness, the texture of what it is to be human. And, yes, I'm pro human
SayCo Show
@saycoshow · 1:59
And I think it's incredible. Rooster and seeking and DB, everybody that posted a reply proves to me that we're all just trying to get to the next level. And you all just put a huge smile on my face. I'm moved by your words. Everything you shared, the emotions, it made me just want to continue doing this. This is what it's all about. A conversation from all sides, all beliefs. Just like Rooster said
L A
@homosanity · 5:00
I do have one, so I'm not going to say that I don't have any, but I do have one. But it's not vibrant, just not a lot of people. It's a lot of older people. It's not going to last very long, I don't think. But they are very loving people. So I do have something but I think that so many churches sing this song, how great is our God? Oh, how great is our God?
L A
@homosanity · 5:00
But I noticed in 2020, around that time, a very strong shift here in the spiritual energy and mentality in this country that's very dark, dangerous and scary. If we're not careful, of course it would get even worse. But I think there's a lot of people suffering even now. But I agree with you, and I think the answer to what you're talking about is love and self love. We're always taught or not taught. We're always told, love yourself
