I have joyfully served as a 3rd-4th grade Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Maryland for about 14 years. It has been one of my greatest joys. On March 13, 2024, I was called into the church office and was told that it was brought to their attention that I was gay, and it was a concern because it was against what the church believed and I was being relieved of my duties of teaching. To say I was devastated was an understatement. Still as I write this post, my heart aches. Not only was I being relived of something I loved to do, that I was called to do, but it was because of who God made me, a gay man. The sole reason. And not only because I was gay, but that I lived my life open and authentically.

Over the 14 years I have served, I made no deceit in who I was. I presented in church as I present in public. In fact, no one ever shared a concern about who I was and even saw tremendous value in me, to the point where I was offered the Assistant Director of Sunday School, which I turned down. No one was concerned because as Matthew 7:16 says, “you will know them by their fruits.” However, being told I cannot be a teacher at this church because of who God made me, is what I consider to be an egregious act against me. What has happened to me is a case of bigotry. A case where intolerance has overshadowed God’s commandment of love and with cultural permission, acted with prejudice against those that oppose these individual views.

The combination of ignorance and prejudice under the guise of morality makes the religious community, and its abuse of scripture itself morally liable.

Though my heart still aches and I tear up every time I think of this experience, I know I will eventually heal and find a place that accepts me for me and me and the gifts that God has blessed me will be used to continue to share God’s good news with others. In the meantime, my life will continue to be a testament to that. A wise man once said, always preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. Though Joseph thought it was the end in prison, God had a greater plan in store that he could not see, and I will trust that this indeed in the case for me. God didn’t bring me this far just to abandon or to leave me. “When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place” (Psalm 118:5).

To all watching, know that God loves you, JUST AS YOU ARE! No matter who you are or what you've been through and no matter what anyone else says.

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