An open letter to a gay person - by Drachma

Dear gay person, Congratulations for being a perfectly normal human person.

You are not sick or mentally disordered.

You are not bad.

It is not your or your parent’s fault that you are gay.

It’s nobody’s mistake.

Indeed, there is no fault or mistake involved at all.

The Bible does not condemn you.

Of course not.

How could it condemn you,

when it says that you were wonderfully made,

and created in God’s own image?

How can the Bible condemn you,

when you are God’s beloved son or daughter?

Instead, feel bound by the Bible’s core moral teachings:

be prayerful, reverence God, respect others.

be loving and kind, be forgiving and merciful,

be honest and be just.

Work for harmony and peace.

Stand up for truth.

To do that is to follow the Bible.

To do that is to follow God’s way.

To do that is to love God with all your heart and soul.

To do that is to be a true disciple of Jesus.

Please do not try to change your sexual orientation.

Do not try to ‘heal’ what is not an illness.

The truth is that you can’t, anyway,

even if someone someday were to pronounce you ‘healed’.

You are different.

Of course, you are different:

some of us are left-handed,

others are right-handed; some are tall,

some are thin;

some of us have pink skin,

others are light brown or dark brown.

It is in accepting who you really are

that will help you grow as a person.

You may need help from a qualified

person to do this

(but before you consult any,

do make sure that they are indeed qualified).

If you try to ‘heal’ yourself of your sexual orientation,

you will be doing yourself irreparable harm.

Do not try to suppress it.

Do not marry to hide it.

You would be doing harm to the one you marry too.

Do not try to change your orientation just because

one section of society does not accept you.

It is society that needs to change; it is society that needs healing.

One day, you may meet someone

with whom you can build a long-lasting relationship,

a relationship that is special, intimate, beyond friendship,

a loving, fruitful relationship in which you can help each other to flourish.

Of course, you are free to lead a chaste and celibate life.

That will be your decision,

but that does not mean you are no longer gay.

Even some straight people do that,

but that doesn’t mean they are no longer straight either.

Whatever your decision, please count us always as your friends.

Drachma LGBTI and Drachma Parents Group