But, God Hates You

Is what I was taught as an adolescent still struggling to find an OUT to the closet that I was living in. Growing up with a bible-pushing family from the Caribbean (the worse kind of “pushers” much like southern Baptists) whom you knew you would always get a random quote from the Bible, even just in passing, was not the easiest.

As I uncomfortably grinned & hoped to the God they preached down to us about that it would be a short one this time; a sort of Sanctified Haiku instead of the fire & brimstone scary movie of Revelations chapter…(pick any), but I digress. Back to this God & Hate conversation.

I was explaining to a friend how good the Creator aka God was good to me after publishing my first book & thus, landed her reply: “But, God Hates You.”

Was I shocked? Yeah, kind of because this was a friend of mine. *Daphne was what we in the LGBTQ community call “An Ally,” but this was no conversation about alliance. Sure, she went to the Gay Pride celebrations, flirted with Drag Queens & even has a “gay friend,” but in this moment, SHE was a believer & TRUE child of God because she was married & living a “Christian Life” with her husband and two children.

“Why do you think you can’t have kids with a woman? It isn’t right! In the Bible…” Daphne had fell into the sometimes inevitable straight woman with a gay friend or queer family member ignorance coma. “God said this, you can’t do that & it is a SIN!”

She preached & preached & I was reminiscent of other lives;

Other blurred times when a Nation was under the influence of what they thought was “God’s Will.” Times when people used, “& God said…”statements to justify horrid inhumanity, as in the practice of Slavery.

I reminded her of a few things i picked up on my own journey into loving & understanding myself & my relationship with God:

God & Hate are two words that should never be spoken together.

God is LOVE, Perfect Love free of hatred & judgement. We are ALL created by the same Source & loved just the same. Perfect Love is unconditional…

I remember struggling with this idea of am I going to hell because I’m a lesbian, but now realize that “lesbian” is only a label.

Am I a good human being? Do I give, love, live, selflessly & with compassion for every single being? The God that I know, THAT’S what concerns her.

So, to anyone who has ever had to think these thoughts of guilt & shame about who you are & who you Love, know that just as you are, you are Perfect! God doesn’t hate you, you’re mere existence & presence in this world is a testimony of God’s Love for YOU. So, Shine Bright & Love, Always.