My name is Jacob Dyer and I live in Bristol.
I grew up in Bristol, a place where there was no discrimination against the gay community. It was always okay for me to go out if I wanted to - to eat at a gay restaurant. But now, there's been a lot of backlash about my sexuality from the church. I'm not gay.
Do you think you've become misunderstood?
I don't think I've been! I've been told by my family that I'm 'too ugly.' But what I really feel is I came from a very conservative family, and they didn't really believe in homosexuality. They were more into hunting and fishing rather than gay people, so they were very concerned that I wasn't being straight, but they never asked me about it.
What do you think about your church?
It's a place where we should all feel that we have the right to celebrate who we want. There's no need to shame, criticise and make people feel inferior. I'm here to stand for what I believe and it's what the church believes it should be about. I want to be able to celebrate who I want, to celebrate what God loves, that's what I'm good at, I just wish that there were more people like me.
(, Sun 2 Jun 2019, 13:32, Share, Reply)