Gay SDAs: The Untold Stories

Gay SDAs: The Untold Stories is an anthology focusing on a specific segment of the gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender/ intersex community: those who are or have been members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church or have embraced Adventist theology.
The stories in this collection are real, though names of persons and places and even ages and time frames have frequently been changed. It is not important to know the actual identities of the individuals involved, though it is important to know that we do have an identity. Our identity is both Adventist and LGBTI. It is who we are.
ADDENDUM: This collection of Gay SDAs stories was first published online in the early 2000s. It is a snapshot in time for those who came out in the 1990s and early 2000s. Now, 20+ years later, most of the individuals who wrote for this collection have had many changes to their journeys. Readers who came out during that time period (1990-2004) will resonate with these stories. Readers who were not even born until 1990, 2000, or later may find these stories hard to imagine in today's social climate! Yet, sadly, many obstacles to coming out are still present.

About the Authors
We are gay men and lesbians. We are bisexual, transgendered, and intersexed. We range in age from teenagers to senior citizens. We are of all ethnic and cultural diversities. We are short and tall, fat and skinny, energetic and sedentary. We are doctors, farmers, pastors, mothers and fathers, teachers, carpenters, musicians, counselors, librarians, nurses, computer experts, writers, managers, secretaries, engineers, mechanics, accountants, and unemployed.
Some of us are completely out and open, totally comfortable with ourselves and everyone else around us. Others of us are completely settled in our identity and our lives, but necessarily need to protect ourselves, our homes, and our jobs, and avoid exposure of others—parents, siblings, children, friends, and lovers. Still others of us are essentially closeted, but want and need to share our stories, even anonymously.
We are of many convictions and persuasions on issues of relationships, celibacy, the arts, religion, politics and activism within the gay community. Our sexual "preference" may be anywhere from promiscuity to lifelong monogamy to celibacy; but the sexual orientation we were born with is who we are and not what we do.
The one commonality we all share is our Seventh-day Adventist heritage. Regardless of our current church membership status, we were either born into the church, raised or significantly affected by Adventist parents or caregivers, or came into the church later in life.
And we are not heterosexual.