Tim's Testimony

So, recently I read the very powerful and inspirational testimony of a man named Tim and I feel that it has a lot to say about the Church, the broader GLBT community and the issue of homosexuality.

Tim opens with this statement.

"The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality. It's wholeness.

Silence kills -- secrets aren't kept forever. There are some things you can say and there are other things you can't, especially inside the church.

You can mention pornography, masturbation, drug addiction and everything in between and find some sort of hope of forgiveness and acceptance from the church (not acceptance as if it's OK, but acceptance that there is hope). But, -- and it's a big but -- there's one word that turns people red in the face and shuts their mouths. I'm talking about being gay.

By the time I was seven, I had heard fag, homo and sissy spoken my direction too often. I was always very active at church, and in my heart I thought the more I do the more likely this will go away.

...In a place where you think you could talk to someone and be real with what was going on, the only feeling I got when I'd even think that I could muster up the courage to talk about my life was one of fear.

...How, as a kid in high school, do you go to your youth pastor and tell him you are attracted to people of the same sex when he does such a great "gay" impersonation that everyone seems to think is hilarious?
You don't. So I just kept quiet. I never said a word as I thought at some point it would pass...."

You can read the rest of Tim's testimony and how God used him, in Andrew Marin's book, Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation With the Gay Community.