it is an abomination

“Class, settle down. Let‘s get back to the reading.”

The class silences, as the teacher turns her fiery gaze back down to her bible.

“So what do we think it means when they say “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”?”

”Yes, Chris?”

”It means being a homo is a sin.“ He laughs.

She replies, in frustration, “You know that is not the proper use of that word. Assuming you meant ‘being gay’, that is correct: being gay is a sin.”

I can only imagine the confusion written all over my face. My teacher looked in my direction; my inner monologue was intensely advising her to call on anyone BUT me. To my relief, her eyes landed on another victim.

My friend, who sat right in front of me, turned in her seat, “Homo. Ha ha” she smirked at me.

“How is being gay a sin? Sin is something we do by choice, right? So why is just simply being gay a sin??” I asked her, honestly wondering how we were supposed to comprehend this.

“I guess you choose to be gay? I’m not sure.” She shrugged.

“Well I don’t choose who I like. Do you?”

“No, I guess not.” She looked down at her jumper, confused now too.

There we sat, 10 years-old and questioning the intellect and reasoning of not only our teacher, but the entire book we had been raised learning.

This was the first time that I questioned the credibility of something I was supposed to blindly believe. This was the first time that I realized that I did not agree with the Bible; and this was the first time that I realized I was going to always be someone that would fight for the unaccepted.