It has been quite the start of the year for Americans, to say the least. From the devastating Palisades Fires in January to the second term of Mr. Trump, America has seen a lot in the past seven weeks. For many, this is a time of uncertainty, questions of the future and figuring out how to continue to move forward. At the same time, there has been a concerted effort from the Oval Office against the most marginalized and systematically discriminated people in America, one of them being the LGBTQ community.
From the erasure of the “T” and “Q” in “LGBTQ” from the State Department’s website, to the executive order banning transgender athletes from sports, the Trump Administration has shown that the queer community is in for a tumultuous four years, and another fight to keep our hard-won rights. This targeted effort by the current administration not only begins the erasure of LGBTQ people and our rights; it is a proclamation of the Evangelical Christian right to own the narrative of what a “Christian” is.
I won’t tell you that the first month or so under the current administration has not been hard for queer people; it has. In addition to the rollbacks on the LGBTQ community, some of the most prominent Black artists whom I admire have been hit with hate and backlash. In the most recent example, there was significant pushback against Ledisi singing the National Negro Anthem at the 2025 Super Bowl just weeks ago. At the same event, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, Kendrick Lamar, faced criticism for his halftime show performance. Even the most prominent Black figures in American society are facing more criticism than ever before.
There has been a concerted effort from the Oval Office against the most marginalized and systematically discriminated people in America, one of them being the LGBTQ community.
Both the President and Vice President of the United States are playing right into the exact experience that I have watched growing up in south Georgia as a young man, and which has now taken full form in my adult life. Simply put, there are some Christians who seem to believe that anyone who is not white and cisgendered, male or female, is not loved by God and should be treated as such. Clearly, this group of self-proclaimed Christians are not reading the same Bible that I do, and also are not praying to the same God that I have been praying to my whole life.
But here is my message to the LGBTQ community.
The God I believe in, pray to, and whose teachings I do my best to live out every day loves every single one of His children. We are made in the image of God, meaning that God looks like all of us—and, yes, that includes transgender people. God’s message is love, and He showed that by sending His Son to die for all people. Christians live by the covenant established in the New Testament.
As a preacher once said in a sermon I heard, “You have not looked into the eyes of someone that Jesus has not died for.”
As a preacher once said in a sermon I heard, “You have not looked into the eyes of someone that Jesus has not died for,” which has stuck with me ever since. I also see God in His people, like during one particular instance, last Ash Wednesday at my home parish.
I was distributing ashes when I saw multiple visibly queer people approaching the altar to receive ashes. As I smiled and marked their foreheads, each one of us offered the other the biggest smiles, as we visibly knew we were “siblings” in the same community.
Again, God is in each of us, and at this particular time, I refuse to let those who deny my existence own the narrative of what a Christian is and should be.
I refuse to let those who deny my existence own the narrative of what a Christian is and should be.
In my own life, I’ve encountered Christians whose understanding of the faith prompts them to exclude others based on things like race, gender and sexual orientation.
When I was younger, I worked as a lifeguard at my hometown YMCA. One of my coworkers asked me about my father, a minister. “Does your dad marry interracial couples?” I responded yes, and he said, “Well I know people who won’t due to the Old Testament verse stating that people are not equally yoked.”
Not only is this incredibly wrong and a blatantly racist translation of the Holy Bible, it is also a perfect example of how some Christians have and continue to use God’s word as a tool for racism. Although I have experienced this growing up in the South, I fear more of this is happening now. However, I want to send a message of hope during this time.
If you ask me as a queer man in the LGBTQ community what I would say in this moment, I would tell you there have been similarly challenging moments in the past, but we have been victorious.
If you ask me as a queer man in the LGBTQ community what I would say in this moment, I would tell you there have been similarly challenging moments in the past, but we have been victorious.
I think about a turning point in our history of activism: a riot started by the matriarch of our movement, Marsha P. Johnson. It’s been a long road, but we are still here 60 years later. If you ask me as a Black man what I would say in this moment, I would say this country has rarely recognized Black people as fully human, from the time we first stepped foot on this land as slaves, yet through all the struggles, we have dominated in every field of American society with excellence, grace and distinguished talent. That is, with Black Excellence.
Most importantly, if you were to ask me as a queer, Black, practicing Catholic what I would say in this moment, I would say the God I serve is with us every step of the way, and we will emerge even stronger.
But we have to be intentional in how we treat each other and ourselves when the news feels overwhelming. I began this year with intentions to limit my time on social media and reading the news. Given all the chaos I anticipated, I want to protect my peace. I have also decided to invest even more time and love in my surrounding communities, and to strengthen community organizations that are important to me. Be there for your friends and support them.
My message is this: Be encouraged. God is with us. We, as a community, will prevail.
Two sentiments help keep me hopeful during what feels to me like a particularly difficult time.
The gay writer and activist Dan Savage recently stated: “During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.”
The other is a story by the well-known giant of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. Tubman carried a small pistol on her, mostly for protection from slave catchers, but also to encourage weak-hearted runaways from turning back and risking the safety of the rest of the group. When she pulled out her weapon on a slave, she would exclaim: “Live Free or Die.”
Despite all the challenges she faced, Tubman continued working to free Black slaves, despite slavery being legal at this point in time in America, never wavering in her mission.
My message is this: Be encouraged. God is with us. We, as a community, will prevail.
