For me this is painful.
I became a born again christian in my first year at University. I thought I’d found god…
Of course there was slight problem. I knew I was gay, and wondered what to do about it.
Nothing seemed to work, whatever I did, I was always gay.
Then it blew up in my face, and an incident occured at University. Shortly afterwards I walked away unable to reconcile what happened and being gay. I just wanted it all to go away and leave me alone.
Eight years later, I had the opportunity to sit down with a therapist and discuss what happened. She helped me through it, and I found an answer that made sense.
I stopped fighting being gay and came out.
My therapist was paid for by the company I worked for, who believed in gay rights. The company closed a long time ago, but they were called Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, a branch of Digital in the UK.
I grew up christian, became and atheist. It’s just didn’t make sense, and the excuses fell away one by one.
I have participated in earth based paganism. My wife grew up Pagan, and I like the kinship and community. She’s been an on-off member for a decade and a half with a group and they are good people.
I won’t condemn religion in general, even Christianity. But I will be skeptical of anyone that brings it up without being asked.