What if they knew [View all]

[sheshe2]

“I was working my retail job in Paducah, and one of my co-workers-- the only other gay person I knew-- invited me to MCC. He knew what a hard time I was having, and the way the Metropolitan Community Church loved me absolutely changed my life. They introduced me to Marsha Stevens,” he says, referring to the lesbian songwriter who composed the Jesus Movement anthem “For Those Tears I Died.”

“Marsha invited me to Nashville to sing on her next CD. The church paid my way. That led to studio work. Before I knew it I was singing backgrounds for Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, George Jones too. It wasn’t long before I started believing what Vestal said was really true.”

Since then, he’s sung extensively in gay-affirming churches, his most recent tour in response to the rash of teen suicides because of bullying. Now, with four albums behind him, Justin has set his sights on new territory.

“Before I worked to make music to remind us God could still love us even though we're gay. We didn’t have to be disenfranchised. Now I think we’ve come so far the conversation had changed. On Different, I’m a lot bolder. I dare to ask if ‘church,’ however you define it, is really working for the LGBTQIA community like it should.”

http://justinryanonline.com/bio

"The 'church' however you define it." I was raised in the Episcopal church. Through my teens I was involved with my church. I remember one class. The topic was "You are not a Chair". The answer in the end of much discussion was that we were not inanimate objects. We were not made to be sat upon and silenced with the weight. We were free to be who we wanted to be. We were free to be who we are.

I drifted away from the church during college. They were unable to answer so many things that bothered me. In the end I believed in my heart. I believe in the goodness that surrounds us. It is there, sometimes you just have to try harder to see it clearly.