This gentle response to an anti-gay Twitter troll has been viewed millions of times

So I got this DM last night. I told the person I would respond on my feed without identifying her.

I want to do it here because this comes up a fair bit: me “showing my being gay” in peoples faces.

So here’s my response to her: pic.twitter.com/gp1AYBMvpo

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

I didn’t attack you for pushing anything in my face. I don’t judge you for sharing the things that are of most interest to you; the things in your life that give you joy and fulfillment; the things that probably keep you up at night worrying. It’s Twitter. It’s what we do here.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

As an evangelical Christian, you mentioning your husband and children is considered a badge of orthodoxy. It doesn’t just indicate who you ARE but who you are not.:
– a lesbian (which many Christians would see as sin)
– single (failure)
– divorced (both sin and failure)…

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

You send as many signals with your posts as I do – but you have the privilege to be perhaps unaware of it or not care.

When *I* post about my family I’m doing what you’re doing: sharing the people and things most important to me. But I’m also sending signals – different ones.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

When you post your family photos and messages about your husband and kids and being a wife, you are saying “I’m the right kind of Christian”.

When I post about mine, I’m saying “this is who I am. It doesn’t have to be who you are, but if it is, you count too.”

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

2. enemies (those who actively work against us)

So I hope you can see why it is no different when people who aren’t heterosexual monogamous couples with children also post about their loved ones

…but also, why it IS different

…and why it’s necessary.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

On another day I'd have made some sarcastic quip about what I'd happily push in her face. She must have got me on a good day :)

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

That's always the weird thing to me. When people take the time to write a total stranger to tell them "I don't care". Uh, obviously you do.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

People often start following because of one tweet or thread they liked (i.e. agreed with) but then get upset that that isn't all you post about.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023

I never post the identities of people who message me – even if it's hateful. I don't want to encourage pile ons. If it is threatening I report and block, I wouldn't even re-post that stuff.

— RevDaniel (@RevDaniel) October 24, 2023