Coming Out
“Whenever I realized I was gay, my world came crashing down because I did not think that I could be a Christian and also be gay and what that looked like. And I really struggled with that for a very long time."
Growing up in the church, Jennifer Dane struggled with coming out — not only with the external complexities of family and community acceptance, but the internalized conflict of her religious identity and her sexual identity. Questioning faith, feeling disconnected, working harder to maintain their connection, trying to suppress sexual attractions, disengaging, and redefining values and beliefs are all realities that members of the LGBTQ+ community encounter when coming out. Jennifer Dane grappled with these conflicts throughout her early life and military career, until she was able to find self-acceptance.
" finding out that . . . my true identity was being gay, and if that meant me not being a Christian or just realizing . . . where my identity was with Christianity as a whole — that is when I realized that I had to just be true to myself.
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- Jennifer Dane Jason Higgins