I am now out to the 350 people in my congregation. I'm out to all of the ordained deacons in Tucson. I'm out to my 9-year-old daughter. At this point I suppose I'm just plain out. It has been an intense weekend. I am exhausted. All that is left is to tell my extended family. That doesn't seem like such a big deal at this point. All of this was planned for May. It happened now because someone I trusted outed me to some parishioners. They assumed gay meant that I was an adulterer and must be sleeping around. They concluded that the current and previous 2 music directors were hired because I wanted on-staff boyfriends. The undercurrent was becoming very ugly. People were attempting to do me harm. Christians behaving badly yet again. I had to douse it with truth and bleach and sunshine. So far the support is overwhelming. We'll have to wait and see what the fallout is. (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&) (&&&)
Congrats Mike (*hug*) ! That is really Awesome! I'm sure all the intensity and exhaustion will go away soon xD It was well worth it I'm sure. It's sad about the aforementioned Christians behaving badly, but at least it's over and done with, and I sure hope everyone that matters will support you (*hug*) Also, the title of this reminds me of the great show of the same name xD
Like I said before Mike, keep your chin up! You have not done anything wrong. It sounds like you have a number of people supporting you. Try to keep the high road and you will be fine. Like you said in your last thread you did not break any vows. If you need to chat at all let me know.(*hug*)(*hug*)
I hope you continue to find support, especially from the congregation. Congrats on going through with it, and for the teaching I'm sure you'll do.
I'll admit I clicked on this because I used to watch Quantum Leap, but its great that your coming out went so well. I'm happy for ya (&&&)
This must have been intense indeed ! I'm sorry you had to do that in a rush because you've been outed but I'm glad you've received a lot of support so far. (*hug*)(*hug*)(*hug*) Cécile
Wow, Mike. You have handled this entire situation, from the very start, with exceptionally high integrity and grace, no matter what's been thrown at you... and that isn't easy to do, particularly when someone who is supposed to be completely trustworthy and able to keep confidences betrays such an important one. It's simply appalling that someone who is a deacon of the church would allow their own ignorance and fear to let them rush to judgement without even investigating. But perhaps good will come of it if he and the rest of the community have time to think about what this means and how it affected you as well as the rest of the community. It must be a wonderful feeling to have it all out in the open and be able to get back to the more important day-to-day work
