Rachel

“I just want to trust my feelings, and trust that my feelings are okay. I want to let myself feel the way that I feel with Riley. Like I'm an okay person—even a good one. That I'm loved and lovely the way I am, and that it's not a sin to feel happy and to love without reservation. I'm not sure where God and I will end up, but I know that I only want to be friends with God if God is... different than I've been taught. If I come back to God after all this and find that God is a kinder, more loving presence than the one I've known, great. And if God is more loving than I've been taught, then I think God would be okay with me needing some time to untangle this. I think God would want me to feel a shred of happiness. That is the impression I'm getting from all this prayer and meditation. And for once, I'm going to trust myself and my feelings.”
― Natalie Naudus, Gay the Pray Away

“For all the sermons I've heard about the gay agenda, I'm finding queer people to have much less of an agenda than Christians.”
― Natalie Naudus, Gay the Pray Away

“Wow... you, you really don't get it, do you? Have you even considered that something that's trivial to you could mean... so much more to someone else? You don't get to take the easy road out and just respect the parts of people that you recognize.
And, pro tip: If you find yourself in a similar situation in the future where you're surrounded by people you don't understand— Try listening. It'll work a lot better for you than talking.”
― Tillie Walden, On a Sunbeam

“It's funny, I've always been told that peace comes through Christ. That leaving or letting go of my faith would lead only to guilt and sadness. But here I am, finding the truest joy I've ever known in all the places I was told not to look. Finding the deepest peace in 'sin'. Finding the purest belonging in leaving.”
― Natalie Naudus, Gay the Pray Away