While growing up in the inner city of Chicago in the ’70s and ’80s and going to high school in Michigan, I remember seeing very few people who were homosexuals and virtually none who were transgender. Occasionally, there was one male in most families, in our community, who was thought to have feminine ways and depending on the population of the high school, maybe one or two effeminate males in our Michigan high schools. Unlike the norms of the Millennials today, the presence of homosexuality was simply taboo. Like most things in life what humans do not understand, we usually fear and judge out of ignorance.

In 2002, I started a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. To my great surprise, at least 5- percent of the congregation were either “gay” or had immediate family members who were “gay.” They came to the church, regularly. Out of my fear and lack of knowledge (since I grew up in a generation where homosexuality was virtually unheard of), I would find a way to insert the divine judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah whenever I knew a homosexual was sitting in service. It wasn’t because I wanted every “gay” person to think they were going to hell. It was because I had never seen so many homosexuals from where I was from and it seemed they were coming to the church I was pastoring to make a point to me. I was going to let them know that I was definitely not having it at the church I pastored.

One night, the Lord impressed upon my heart that many of the “gays” in the community were coming to my church because they knew I would give them the truth. I believe the Lord was directing me to stop beating them up and love them. I obeyed God and set aside my seemingly homophobic attitude. I began treating them as I would anyone under God’s care. Anyone who says they do not have stereotypical ways and mindsets are fooling themselves. It takes God many years to truly cleanse us from the hatred, racism, and ignorance we learned as we grew up.