“Faith After the Fire: Reimagining God When the Church Failed You”
There’s no easy way to talk about the space between queerness and faith—especially when it feels like standing in a burning building while everyone else calls it a sanctuary. For many of us who grew up Black, queer, and deeply devoted to God, the church wasn’t just a building. It was a lifeline. Until it wasn’t. This post isn’t about pointing fingers or demanding pity. It’s about making space for truth, for grief, and for the complicated holy tension between love and loss—between leaving what harmed you and still longing for what it promised. Fitting In Systems Never Built for Me When I was younger, I learned how to shape-shift. To pray the right prayers, sing the right songs, sit with my knees closed and voice small. I was praised for my "maturity," but really, I was surviving. Every part of me that didn’t fit the church’s mold—my gender, my desires, my neurodivergence—was folded, hidden, and locked away. The pain didn’t come from not loving God. It came from being told I ...