I'm a queer person but also a conservative evangelical. Get over it!

Reflections* by Brandan Robertson published on the website of the Christian monthly Sojourners (United States) on 25 February 2015, freely translated by Giacomo Tessaro

Last February 21 [2015] Time.com broke the news that my evangelical publishing company, Destiny Image, terminated its contract with me nearly a year ago because its clients refused to sell my book due to my LGBTQ activism.

Many conservative evangelicals have defined "regrettable" my commitment to LGBTQ people, and they defined me “false teacher”. Many progressives instead took my story as evidence of the discrimination that conservative Christians are famous for. In this whirlwind of controversy, I think the message I wanted to give has been lost.

Yes, my publishing house terminated the contract. Yes, evangelical bookstores apparently consider me an enemy, and refuse to sell my book—a fitting example of evangelical discrimination against the LGBTQ community and our allies.

The crux of the controversy, however, is a deeper problem: the mistaken belief that you cannot be an authentic Christian if you consider yourself LGBTQ (or an ally).

This is the belief that drives evangelical bookstores to reject my book. This is the belief that drives many conservatives to push LGBTQ church members to the sidelines when they come out. This is the belief that leads many who “struggle” with their sexuality to desperately seek reparative therapies to heal. Because if we embrace or celebrate the sexuality of LGBTQ people, we are essentially consigning our souls to eternal fire.

Evangelicals read the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, they read that “men, leaving the natural relationship with women, became inflamed in their lust for each other, committing infamous acts with men, receiving in themselves the deserved reward for their own deception”; logic dictates that anyone has relationships “infamous” with a person of the same sex he will end up losing control, become an idolatrous pagan and will ultimately have to face the wrath of God. If the matter is really so serious, it is natural that the answer must be serious.

But there's a problem. I consider myself queer (that's why I add the Q to LGBT). For me, this means my sexuality is fluid. I can be attracted to a man or a woman: my sexuality does not respect traditional labels "gay" or "bisexual".

I'm honest with everyone about this. I am also a staunch activist for LGBTQ equality, both in society and in the Church. I do not believe it is sinful to be gay, and I regularly work with church leaders and other Christians to convince them of the desirability of full inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQ people.

And, among other things, I'm an evangelical.

And not just in name. I believe in all the points that traditionally define the evangelical movement: the centrality of the Bible, the centrality of the Cross, the importance of activism, and the importance of salvation and conversion. I love the gospel, and I am resolved to follow Jesus with all my being.

It is because of Jesus and the Gospel that I came out and joyfully accepted my queer identity. It is because of Jesus and the Gospel that I work for LGBTQ equality. I am not one of the people described by Romans 1, I have not mistaken God's truth for a lie. I have not worshiped created things instead of the Creator; indeed, I have never been so devoted to Christ and His Word as I am now.

And I'm not the only one.

A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that more than 43% of evangelicals millennials supports same-sex marriage. My friends Matthew Vines and Justin Lee have started organizations that bring together thousands of committed Christians who consider themselves LGBTQ or allies. Over the past six weeks, numerous evangelical churches have declared that they will now fully welcome and accept LGBTQ people into the lives of their communities.

Every day more and more LGBTQ people and allies are coming out as evangelicals. And as more and more evangelicals come out of hiding, we increasingly feel that the Spirit of God is working mightily among us. We see abundant fruit coming from these churches, these ministries and these lives. We see lives being saved. Faith is reborn in the hearts of many who did not think there could be a place for them at the Lord's table. Revival is breaking out among young evangelicals, who are catching a glimpse of the new things God is doing among us. In other words, we see incredible blessing, not wrath.

God reserves for us something greater than we can imagine, which has the face of hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people around the world who come out of their hiding place of shame and suffering to enter the life in abundance dedicated to the kingdom of God and the good of every person.

We will encounter much greater obstacles along the way than I am facing today, but we must continue to show our light to the world, we must continue to embrace our identity as Christians and as LGBTQ people and allies, and show that the Spirit of Christ is truly at work through us to redeem and reform the Church.

We must embrace the knowledge that God's love is big enough for all of us, and support ourselves with this truth, because if we have even just a hint of this radical, furious, 100% welcoming divine love, then we will change the world.

After the dust settles on my publishing deal, I hope this message emerges: I'm queer, I'm an LGBTQ activist, and I'm also a deeply committed evangelical.

There is no contradiction in this, regardless of what booksellers and publishers say.

*The biblical passage is taken from the Nuova Riveduta version.

Original text: I'M QUEER, AND I'M (STILL) AN EVANGELICAL