When I was a child, I remember my classmates telling me that “God loves us all”. Being raised in a Buddhist household, the idea of “God” was vague to me. Most of my friends were Christian. Being young and naïve, I acted as though I believed in their God also. Even as a child, I knew that my disbelief in a holy entity would make me an outcast. In junior high, I was introduced to the idea of being “gay”. My friend revealed to me that he was bisexual. The idea of an individual being with another of the same sex baffled me. My immediate reaction was joy. I was thrilled that my friend was beginning to understand who he was as a person. I myself craved to answer the pressuring question of “Who am I”? As more time progressed, I began to realize that others looked down upon the idea of being gay. When I learned of this, I was bewildered. I thought, “Why would someone go out of their way to shame others for who they choose to love”? Then, I questioned my childhood friend. She told me that she did not agree with individual being gay and that itself caused my heart to throb. I remember her saying, “It is impure for a man to be with a woman. God created us and it is unnatural for a man to be with a man or a woman to be with a woman”. This was an epiphany for me. I respected my friend and did not want her to cast me out. My child-like habits once again consumed me and I found myself nodding along to her words when in my heart, I disagreed completely. Recently, I have learned that there are people in this world that refer to themselves as “Christian” yet dare to torture and kill members of the LGBT community in the name of God. This enraged me. To mercilessly tease and even kill someone for whom they choose to kiss is a true sin. I have come to learn that there are some individuals that would dare use their faith in order to justify their hate just to reassure their conscience. Throughout my life thus far, I have seen religion make a person beautiful, kind and giving. Unfortunately, I have also seen others become dark and twisted, consumed by hate and fear. If there is a God, I would imagine that he would want us to love each other. For we are all on this earth for different reasons. Life is difficult enough without all of us despising each other. Our society will never be able to function if we are unable to love each other, as equals.