That’s beautiful. And you know, you’re very right about the pain and fear, also the doubt and questioning when all you’re trying to do is find love and then to be condemned as some sort of a perverted hedonist by people who themselves don’t have to deny love.

It used to be worse, I guess. When I grow up decades ago in that world, not homeschooled but private Christian schooled, I really couldn’t even see over the horizon. The broader world was more accepting than my Evangelical Christian one, but not very much more accepting.

At least queer kids today raised in a conservative Christian world pretty much know they can escape one day, even though they know the cost of doing so can be high and even spell the loss of their family.

That sort of escape used to be a lot less realistic when the broader world used to be a lot less accepting.

It was really hard, and really scary, and really painful.