On behalf of the entire Christian community, I apologize.
I am so deeply sorry for how Christians have treated you. I will tell you right now: how Christians have treated you is wrong. How they continue to treat you is wrong. You have worth! You are good enough! You are so deeply loved by God that I cannot even begin to describe how much He loves you! And if you aren't religious and/or don't care what somebody's god thinks of you, well, I love you. I promise you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you, and I am so sorry people try to make you feel that way.
I don't blame you if you hate Christians. I don't blame you if you grew up Christian and decided to leave. I don't blame you if you are still Christian and feel ostracized by your siblings in Christ. Your feelings are valid, and I hope this book will help more religious people gain/learn tolerance and love for the queer community.
If you are a queer Christian, I hope this book showed you that being anti-gay is not the only valid Christian point of view and that it is perfectly fine to be queer AND Christian. If you are not religious or profess a different religion than Christianity, I hope this book showed you that Christianity is truly a religion of love and that there are groups of Christians who support the LGBTQ+ community.
It angers and frustrates me that we live in a world where so many people are afraid to come out, be themselves, love the gender that they love, and display their sexuality in public. If you are in a situation where you can't come out, I support you. Know that if/when you decide to come out, you've got the entire LGBTQ+ community on your side, and you don't have to do it alone! If you have already come out or are in the process of coming out, I'm so proud of you, I'm rooting for you, and I support you. Wherever you are in the process and whatever sexuality or gender identity you are, I support you! I know that I am only one person amidst a sea of seven billion people, but I hope that my book has had a positive impact on you in some way.
You are not alone! Millions of other people around the globe are in the same shoes as you, and there are hundreds of online resources, regardless of where you are in your journey of self-acceptance and regardless of what religion (or lack thereof) you profess. Here are a few lists of online resources below that I would recommend checking out:
For LGBTQ+ peoples in general:
~ GSA Network
~ AVEN
~ GLSEN
~ The Trevor Project
~ National Center for Lesbian Rights
~ Bisexual Resource Center
~ PFLAG
~ Out & Equal
~ GLAAD
~ National Center for Transgender Equality
~ TGI Justice Project
~ Bienestar (Latino/a & Queer)
~ AVER and TAVA (Military & Veterans)
For queer Christians:
~ QueerTheology.com
~ Justin Lee's website, Geeky Justin
~ The Q Christian Fellowship, founded by Justin Lee
~ Gay Christian 101
~ Matthew Vines's website and book, God and the Gay Christian
~ Letters to a Young Gay Christian
~ gaychurch.org, where you can find affirming worship spaces
~ Christian Gays
~ Gay Christian Europe
~ Unity Fellowship Church (Black & Queer)
~ Believe Out Loud
~ Other Sheep: Multicultural Ministries with Sexual Minorities
~ unity.org
There are also resources for specific sects and offshoots of Christianity, such as Baptists (AWAB), Catholics (Dignity USA), Episcopalians (Integrity USA), Evangelicals (Evangelical Concerned Inc.), Methodists (Reconciling Ministries Network and UM Affirm), Mormons (affirmation.org), Lutherans (LLGM and Reconciling Works), Presbyterians (More Light Presbyterians), Quakers (FLGBTQC), and United Church of Christ members (Open and Affirming Coalition).
For queer people of other faiths and/or no religion:
~ Judaism: Keshet Online, World Congress of GLBT Jews, Eshel Online, OrthoGays
~ Islam: Muslims for Progressive Values, Imaan, CALEM Europe, Salaam Canada
~ Buddhism: Gay Buddhist Sangha, Gay Buddhist Fellowship
~ Hinduism: Galva-108
~ Sikhism: Sarbat
~ Baha'i: LGBTQ Baha'i Story Project, LGBT Baha'is United on Twitter
~ Unitarian Universalism: UUA
~ Humanism: LGBTQ Humanist Alliance
~ Paganism: Fellowship of the Phoenix
I couldn't find resources for people who practice Confucianism, Daoism/Taoism, Jainism, Shinto, or Zoroastrianism, nor was there much information on any Native American or African religions. If you guys have LGBTQ+ resources for those religions, feel free to leave them in the comment section!
Please leave comments if you have any lingering questions, concerns, or just want to talk. I try to get to every single comment, so if I miss yours, I'm sorry!
Once again, I apologize on behalf of the entire Christian community for how we have treated you. There are many things that Christian leaders need to apologize for - from religious homophobia to the Crusades - but until they do, I hope that my apology will be a much-needed start to a long overdue reconciliation.
Love is love!
Love wins!
And know that being gay (or bi, or pan, or trans, or ace, etc.) is okay ❤