Myles
My name is Myles. I grew up in the Deep South in a Christian family. As I grew up, I learned from my church and my small town that it was not possible to be a Christian and to be queer or transgender.
Because of this, I spent the next 7 years in online conversion therapy, support groups, and Christian counseling. I pleaded with God to "heal" me and give me strength to overcome what I believed was “gender confusion” and “same sex attraction.”
Pronouns: he/him/they/them
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However, in my last year of Bible college, I started meeting LGBTQ+ Christians and being transformed by their stories of healing—not healing from who they were or how they loved, but from the damage of a false and toxic myth that something is inherently wrong or sinful about being a queer person.
I was inspired to go back to the Bible and try to read with an open heart to determine what it really says (or doesn't say) about LGBTQ people. I realized how much of my beliefs were being driven, not by the text itself, but by what I'd always been told it says. I was influenced by the fear of disappointing others and the desire to belong. This began an ongoing journey, and I’m recovering what it means to be made in the Image of God and to belong within the family of God through all my identities, not despite them.
Embracing who God made you to be might be one of the hardest and scariest things you ever do. But it will be the best step you take—for yourself, your relationship with God, and for the countless others who need to hear your story.
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