Christian musician stole my story.

Well, let's say Trey Pearson stole my story.... except for the part where he actually sold albums.  

I struggled while reading this because he talks about the ONLY way to be whole is to come out.  I think that is too personal of a decision to say that there is only one way to be whole. Maybe it is, but I feel hurting too many others by coming out would hurt me more than where I am right now.  

My thoughts also differ in this story as I was not "taught" the bible says it is a sin.  I was "taught" by words and deeds.  "He is a queer."  "That's gross." "He is limp wristed."  I'm not sure it is not sinful, as is adultry, hate, using the Lords name in vain, coveting my neighbors property, and many others.  I'm just sure that being a Christian doesn't mean we are perfect.  Lord, and you all know that is not true.  

Pearson is not abandoning his faith, though he accepts that he may lose some fans because he came out. Still, he plans to release a new single later this year.

Pearson adds,

“There is absolutely no conflict with accepting who I am and following Jesus. God wants me to be healthy, authentic, whole, integrated and my truest self.”

“I definitely know how hard it was on my journey to be able to accept myself, and how other people’s voices and stories helped me. So I absolutely want to be a voice for other people. I know there are more and more Christians that realize how important this is, and I hope I can join with them in seeing this change.” 

Here is the story that I copied from http://michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.com/ .  I follow him, just so I can keep a pulse on the anti-christian movements thoughts.  I don't like a lot of what he writes, but I like to see what he is saying.  He also has a similar back story, he at one time was married to a woman, with children.  

Thanks for reading.... and I know it has nothing to do with my sex-life.  I'm sure the next one will.... maybe...  If I ever have it again...

Here are highlights from Religion News Service:

“I don’t mean to cry. It’s just been such a long time coming.”

Trey Pearson, 35, was overcome with emotion halfway into our first interview, and it is easy to understand why. For the past 15 years, he’s been the lead singer of the popular Christian rock band Everyday Sunday. But he decided to put his career on the line this week and acknowledge to his fans that he is gay.

“I finally decided to come out because I couldn’t keep trying to be something that I wasn’t,” he tells me.

(614) Magazine, an entertainment and culture magazine in Columbus, Ohio, will tell Pearson’s story in a 12-page cover story for its June issue. His narrative will ring familiar to many who grew up in a religious community. Pearson was raised in a conservative Christian home where he was taught that sexual orientation was a matter of choice. Though he knew from an early age that he was attracted to other males, he attempted to suppress his feelings and “be straight.”

“I never wanted to be gay,” he tells (614). “I was scared of what God would think and what all of these people I loved would think about me; so it was never an option for me.”

Nearly eight years ago, Pearson married a woman in hopes of achieving the kind of straight dream-life his community would support. Though he and his wife had two children, his hopes never materialized and Pearson realized he “was never going to be who my wife needed me to be.”

“I was not making it an option to be gay so I could be loyal to her and my children,” he told me. “But then I realized the only way I was ever going to be my best for them was to be healthy myself.”

Pearson’s shift places him in the center of a growing movement of popular Christian musicians who are coming out as gay and are advocating for a more open and accepting posture in the church. Ray Boltz, whose songs were staples in evangelical churches throughout the 1990s, came out as gay in 2004. Grammy-nominated Anthony Williams  became the first openly gay gospel artist in 2009. Jennifer Knapp, another Grammy-nominated Christian artist, acknowledged that she was a lesbian one year later. And in 2014, popular worship music artist Vicky Beeching told The Independent that she too was a lesbian.

These musicians paid a hefty price. Since Christian music fans tend to be conservative and believe that homosexual acts are sinful, you won’t hear these artists’ music played in most churches or on Christian radio these days.

I absolutely want to be a voice for other people,” Pearson says. “I know there are more and more Christians that realize how important this is, and I hope I can join with them in seeing this change.”

As for Pearson's letter to his fans and friends, here are excerpts:

 To my fans and friends:

Most of us reach at least one pivotal moment in our lives that better defines who we are.
These last several months have been the hardest – but have also ended up being the most freeing months — of my life.

To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.

I grew up in a very conservative Christian home where I was taught that my sexual orientation was a matter of choice, and had put all my faith into that. I had never before admitted to myself that I was gay, let alone to anyone else. I never wanted to be gay.

I’ve tried my whole life to be straight. I married a girl, and I even have two beautiful little kids. My daughter, Liv, is six and my son, Beckham, is two.

I had always romanticized the idea of falling in love with a woman; and having a family had always been my dream. In many ways, that dream has come true. But I have also come to realize a lot of time has passed in my life pushing away, blocking out and not dealing with real feelings going on inside of me. I have tried not to be gay for more than 20 years of my life.

I tried to convince myself that this was what God wanted and that this would work. I thought all of those other feelings would stay away if I could just do this right.

When Lauren and I got married, I committed to loving her to the best of my ability, and I had the full intention of spending the rest of my life with her. Despite our best efforts, however, I have come to accept that there is nothing that is going to change who I am.

I know I have a long way to go. But if this honesty with myself about who I am, and who I was made by God to be, doesn’t constitute as the peace that passes all understanding, then I don’t know what does. It is like this weight I have been carrying my whole life has been lifted from me, and I have never felt such freedom.

In sharing this publicly I’m taking another step into health and wholeness by accepting myself, and every part of me. It’s not only an idea for me that I’m gay; It’s my life. This is me being authentic and real with myself and other people. This is a part of who I am.

I hope people will hear my heart, and that I will still be loved. I’m still the same guy, with the same heart, who wants to love God and love people with everything I have. This is a part of me I have come to be able to accept, and now it is a part of me that you know as well. I trust God to help love do the rest.

What will the kids think?

I think of this problem often. I think that was the thing my wife was mad about the most when she found out.  She understood to a point the getting married, but her question was, "Why have kid?.  Why bring kids into this?"  At the time, all I could say was, "I don't know." But once I thought about it, my answer was, once I was married everything was OK.  I was curred. Our marriage and everything that goes with that was good. So why not kids?

I do think after kids a marriage changes. For me it really changed in "that" department. It left me needing something more. Thinking about my needs.  I was a selfish man. Come on. Not that I wasn't fooling myself.  I was gay, before and after.  But I was trying to be straight, and I was cured, you know.

So back to the question, "What will the kids think?"  Well in my case they may never know. But I listen for homophobic comments all the time. I don't really get any. But want to know what they think of gay people. I think for teenagers it is different today.  They know openly gay kids, openly gay adults, and see gay people on TV all the time. To them it is almost normal.  What isn't normal is that their dad is gay. This, I think, is a harder thing to understand for them. But hell, getting divorced and having affairs is common place, and they usually handle that pretty well.

I just worry alot about what would happen if they found out.

I know children grow up in gay households and turn out perfectly fine. So is it different, when they have been told a lie by and about the person they have loved for ever.  I'm not a psychologist, but I'm sure they have trust issues with men, among other issues with those they love.

Will they be embarrassed?  I know one guy who is out to his family and his teenage daughter kinda thinks it is cool.  But I know a grown woman with a dad who is gay and she and her husband make fun of him and his "boys."  So I think it depends on the child and what the culture or society around them thinks. 

I don't know that there is an easy answer, but I know I have a therapist on standby if something should happen. I biggest goal is to make sure she is happy over the happiness of me.