Just Like You (From a gay Christian to an anti-gay Christian)

The poem below is a collaborative effort between me and Ford, a friend of mine. It was inspired by this piece, which Ford published on his blog yesterday.

Just Like You

(From a gay Christian to an anti-gay Christian)

I am not a homosexual.

I am more than that.

Yes I am.

I am a person.

You would turn my sexuality

into a noun

that you employ

to define all of me,

turning me into,

as you like to say,

“a gay.”

But my sexuality

is but one amongst many qualities

defining me.

I am

an intricate, blinking matrix

tethered to an unknowable

core of identity

that

(despite it all!)

perseveres.

And all of it, I know

—all of me—

is above all

and always

loved by God.

I am not

“a gay.”

As you are not

“a straight.”

My sexuality is part of me,

yes.

But it is not me.

Just like you.

I am just me

a vulnerable being

making my steady

unsteady way in the world

dreaming

watching

waiting

hoping

longing

to love perfectly

with all that I have

and to be perfectly loved

for all that I am.

Just like you.