The Rev. Joseph P. Mathews, Communications Working Group Head at The Episcopal Diocese of California, and Associate Priest at Christ Church Portola Valley, has written a blog post for Alabama Equality (thanks for the use of the Facebook photo!):
The blog post is a short autobiography of Mathews’ journey, concluding with the quote in the picture above, and beginning with this:
Although I live in San Francisco now, I was Alabama born and Alabama bred. Unlike Kay Ivey, when I die I will not be Alabama dead. My coming out was a long, difficult process that was stymied by my faith, my family, and my family’s faith. When I was in the 5th grade I was bullied about my sexuality though I was far from knowing that I was queer — but everyone else seemed to know. In high school I dated my first boyfriend. When my mom found out I went back into the closet and did my best to straighten up. It didn’t work.