"My wish would be for people to be able to reclaim spirituality by taking it back to something as simple as breathing and telling your story, and ultimately speaking your Truth."
What advice would you have for other queer people of faith?
There's an image that says this is Truth, and this is also Truth. It's a shape with beams of light shining on it, but because of its shape, the shadows it casts on each different wall are also different shapes. So it's like, this is true, and this is also true depending on where you're standing. One piece of wisdom that I would offer is that depending on where you're standing, Truth can take on many different shapes and forms. It's important to bear witness to the Truth of others because getting to know others is one of the most effective ways to get to know ourselves. Listening to the Truths of others can help us find our Truth. Of course, that comes with a caveat that you don't have to accept everyone else's Truth as yours. But there's a lot of wisdom in listening to the Truth of others.
Spirituality, religion isn't always about being happy or even being peaceful. But the power of spiritual practice and discipline is that any experience that you go through can be given meaning and significance and ultimately sacredness when you have some sort of spiritual practice. Not that it's impossible to find meaning in the mundanity or in suffering or any of those things. But in my experience, those with some sort of spirituality find it easier to find meaning in their joys and accomplishments and also in their suffering and sorrows.
Spirituality and religion are intertwined the same way gender and sexuality are intertwined, though they're not the same thing. I think more people would identify themselves as spiritual beings if they could disconnect spirituality from religion and metaphysical, cosmological, woowoo shit. A lot of that woowoo stuff is essential to some of us. But I've known so many people who have done themselves a disservice by associating spiritual care with abuse and exploitation. Which is valid, as there has been a lot of that, particularly where religion has superseded spirituality. Nevertheless, my wish would be for people to be able to reclaim spirituality by taking it back to something as simple as breathing and telling your story, and ultimately speaking your Truth.