While walking out of the Wal-Mart tonight hand-in-hand with
my fiancée, we ran into a little boy who goes to the school that I used to work
at and my fiancée still does. He happens to be in same classroom as she is this
year. This little boy who is about seven years old asked my fiancée if I was
her husband. In attempt to not step on anyone’s toes, she told him that was
something he should probably ask his mom who was standing right there. This is what she said, “I don’t have to
answer that. We go to church and believe in God.” We did not respond other than
to say goodbye to the little boy and walked away. All I wanted to say was, “Really?
We do too.” What does that have to do with his question? Belief in God and
going to church has nothing to do with whether I am someone’s fiancée or
husband or wife. That little boy would have been fine with any answer we had
given him and probably not have given it a second thought.
I’m not going to lie, I was hurt. I am a Christian and have
been for 18 years. I have gone to church my entire life. I went to Bible
College and have a degree in Christian Ministries. More importantly, I am a
good person and I help others every single day. I do my best to follow Christ’s
example. I love my fiancée and I do everything I can to make sure that we obey
Christ’s teachings and seek his guidance in all the decisions that we make. We pray
together and do a devotional daily.
Since I came out, it seems that many Christians (I use the
term loosely) no longer see that. They don’t see who I am. They have no idea
the relationship I have with God. Now because I walk hand-in-hand with a woman
none of that matters. It is now assumed that I am a godless heathen with no
morals to speak of. It hurts to be judged on just one thing about you. It is even worse, when that one thing is
judged so harshly and often without understanding. All I can say now is that I
am so thankful that I know the love of Christ because I know him and I don’t
have to rely on his other followers to feel it. I am glad that I knew him
first, otherwise, this hurt that I feel now would be much harder to bear. I
also hurt for my LGBTQ brothers and sisters out there who have only had the
opportunity to know Christ by his followers.
