I’m embarrassed to admit that in an age of equality and acceptance, there are still those that choose to look beyond the person and focus on the belief. Yesterday one of my very own family members had the courage to stand up and be heard for who she really is. I’ve seen many stories lately about people coming out and the family being surprisingly helpful in heartwarming and humorous ways. This unfortunately is not one of them. Religious pretext has caused people to react in fear and concern over image, instead of acting out of love and support.

If you’ve read my previous posts then you know that I have concerns over religion. My belief is that it has contributed to not only a lot of bad that goes on in the world, but also that it holds us back as a society. As a person outside of religion, my reaction to this reveal was one of joy and happiness. Due to the tone of the post, it seems like there were family members who just couldn’t put their faith aside to be able to support what was a most challenging and life altering confession.

I’d like to say to those that can’t see beyond their beliefs: please don’t turn your back on your kin. Compassion, love without judgement, family. Are not these some of the basic elements that religion promotes? Or have you selected which parts of the scripture should be followed and which shouldn’t.

I’m going to stop myself from devolving into a rant and I just want to say a few things. Firstly; we really need to stop hating based on religion, race and sexual orientation/identity. Take a moment to realize that the hatred and fear you feel is contradictory to what I remember from scripture. There is one passage in first Corinthians that states “..these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Greater than your faith, greater than your hope – love, the element and ability to care for each other despite our diversity. Read further into 1st Corinthians chapter 12 & 13 if you’d like but to me it sounds like love beats faith every time.

Secondly – to my family. One of our own needs us. Regardless of the choices that they have made and regardless of how you feel about these choices we must love and support each other no matter what! This is what being a family is truly about. I may not agree with the choices some of you have made but you have not stopped being my family. Think about what we truly mean to each other because if you abandon one of us in a time of need you abandon us all.

Lastly to my cousin – you are deserving of all the happiness life has to offer you. Don’t let anyone stop you, ever!