As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed this afternoon (as teenagers often do), I realized that today was apparently National Coming Out Day. Once I saw that, I was just instantly inspired to write this poem. This is actually something that has been on my mind for a while actually. As a Christian, I have observed the prejudice that we have shown against the LGBTQ community. One thing that REALLY makes me angry are the "Christians" that show hatred towards LGBTQ people. They deserve better than what we have given them, and I strongly felt that they deserve an apology. This is my official apology, dedicated to everyone in the LGBTQ community who has everyone received hatred from us.

SORRY

I am Sorry

That’s all I really have to say

This goes out to everyone who’s ever been insulted for saying the words

“I am gay”

Who’s responsible for this discrimination?

Unfortunately, a lot of it comes from Christianity

We’ve forgotten that despite our differences

We have one thing in common: our Humanity

I’d like to take time to apologize

For our past transgressions

Unfortunately we didn’t realize

That we were ignoring our true mission

We’ve called you “evil” and “unworthy of God’s love”

You know who disagrees with that? The One up Above

He came to this Earth to spread the message of love and redemption

It’s obvious that our viewpoint of love needs to be corrected

When Jesus came to Earth, He taught us to love one another

To love everyone around us like a sister and a brother

That didn’t mean to exclude one group because their views are different

To demonstrate this, let’s look at Jesus’ own situation

He had twelve disciples, but it’s clear to see

That some of them weren’t much different than you or me

People seem to think that all His followers were perfect

But sometimes, you’d wonder if Jesus ever thought if they were even worth it

One of them was Matthew, a cheating tax collector

And then there was Judas Iscariot, who abandoned Jesus as his protector

While the Bible does call homosexuality a sin, so are lying and stealing

Yet Jesus accepted them all, not viewing anyone as unappealing

Yet somehow, that message has been watered down

Lost its strength, long forgotten

To the point where hope of restoring it seems truly rotten

What really aggravates me is when I see the discrimination

That often occurs in our mess of a nation

The hate that’s directed at the people that God loves

The people that He sees as beautiful shining doves

A few months ago, there was the Pulse Night Club shooting

I can’t even imagine the amount of brooding

That must have gone through that man’s warped mind

As he decided to shoot those innocent victims. Multiple times

But you know what gets me the most mad?

What makes my mouth create bile?

The fact that when some so-called “Christians” saw the news

They probably… smiled

But, if you ask me, I don’t believe that this is how it ends

I believe that we can be the ones who end this trend

Of constant hatred and disgust towards God’s people

That’s like putting us on our steeple

And the reality is, we’re not perfect either, but that’s okay

Because God will always love us either way

Our job as Christians is to spread God’s message of love everywhere

That means showing compassion to everyone, however you dare

But until we truly envision this reality

As something that we all can see

I’d like to offer a true, honest, sincere apology for all of Christianity

And say that I’m SORRY