“Desolations”

of being gay and Christian–Brent Bailey blogs:

I resist stereotypes about gay people and try to avoid ascribing certain inclinations or aversions to my sexual orientation. With that being said, I recognize there are certain ways my sexual orientation has directly influenced my relationship with God and my relationships with other Christians. This post is a sketchbook for me to reflect on the desolations I attribute to being gay, the ways it’s harmed my faith. These aren’t the ways it’s made faith more challenging, since those struggles tend to be positively formative and produce maturity. These are the ways it’s impaired my faith. I imagine some gay people will resonate with certain pieces here, but I imagine others have experienced their sexuality differently, and they might even label a consolation for themselves what I’ve identified as a desolation. I’ll cover my consolations in my next post. This is intentionally less polished than what I normally try to write here, and I’m not trying to make any grand point; consider these snapshots of my life.

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