Note: Over the past year and a half I’ve gotten to know Matt Moore. He is a guy in his early twenties who has struggled with same-sex attraction but has a true heart for Jesus. In addition to being a great guy, he is an incredible writer and I am anxious to see his story in print one day. In the meantime, I thought I would share a post Matt wrote yesterday.

 

Ellen Page—most commonly known as Juno, —burst out of the closet in her emotional speech at a Human Rights Campaign event supporting LGBTQ youth in February. I watched her speech a few days later. She was bold… yet vulnerable. It truly was emotionally stirring. For years Ellen lived in the spotlight of Hollywood, but made note to keep her attraction to women out of that spotlight. If I remember her speech correctly, she said she felt she needed to “be” a certain way in order to attain a successful acting career, etc. But over time hiding this part of herself grew to be a tiresome ordeal…. and on February 14th, in front of multitudes, she came out as gay.

I remember my own coming out. I remember the tremendous amount of freedom that came with the release of my biggest, darkest secret. The secret that I had always been so ashamed of. The secret that I had sworn to myself I would never let be discovered. Like Ellen Page, I eventually got to a point where I was just beyond done hiding this part of myself. I was done with pretending to like girls. I was done with trying to date girls. I was done with overanalyzing every conversation and interaction I had that I thought could lead to someone questioning my sexuality. Coming out was the best thing that I ever did in the first 20 years of my life. To this day, I am glad I came out. I believe I am where I am today in part, because I decided to be real with myself and everyone else about who I really was.

About a month after Ellen’s coming out speech, she shared on her twitter account that while on a plane, a pastor slipped her a little note. The note said, “While God thinks it’s lovely that you stood up for your beliefs, perhaps you’ve never had the loving arms of a father.” And then he signed it, “Your Heavenly Daddy.”…..lol. He really did.

Let’s all just go ahead and have a virtual vomit over that.

Ellen responded to the note, on twitter, saying “2 da pastor who wrote me-Being gay isn’t a belief. My soul isn’t struggling & I don’t want arms of Heavenly Father around me. A girls arms? Yes.”

I remember the ooey-gooey things I would hear from Christians after I came out. Things similar to what Ellen heard from the “Your Heavenly Daddy” weirdo she met on the plane. I was well aware that many religious people thought my life was wrong…. and thought that I, as a human being, was wrong. Wired wrongly. Or something. My perception of the Church was a group of people who wanted to diagnose me and then tell me to do something I couldn’t do—to stop being gay. I couldn’t do that. And it angered me that I would even be asked to attempt it.

So Ellen, if you ever read this – which I doubt you will – but whatever – I get where you are. I’ve been there. But I’m not there anymore. I am attracted to the same sex, yes, but I am a believer in Christ. I know the weirdo pastor on the plane had good intentions in giving you his note. But he was off. Way off. So please let me try to say what I wish he would have said.

Dear Ellen,

God loves you. You are created in his likeness, you bear his image, and He loves you. He really loves you.

Click here to read the rest of Matt’s letter.