One Year Later: Reflections on The Cross and The Closet
By: Jay Butler
Tags: LGBTQ, Christianity

Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a good week. This week is very special to me. Saturday will be the one-year anniversary of The Cross and The Closet! This blog is the start of a big dream of mine. Even when I was working in the church, I knew I wanted to write about the intersection of LGBT issues and faith/the Church. I couldn’t tell people what I wanted to write about, but I knew that I wanted to communicate to others. More than that, I wanted to show that people like me not only exist, but that there are many of us that exist in both of these worlds. Once I left my ministerial role, I knew that I would be still be able to live into my ministerial call by starting this blog. I’ve learned a lot of things during this year through this blog.

The only reference I care to give to Rent

You Never Know Who You’re Going to Influence

At 32 years of age, I have met a lot of people, and a lot of them are friends with me through social media. People I haven’t seen in nearly a decade will message me and tell me that they enjoy my blog. People who are in another state, time zone, or world away have talked to me about it. Friends who aren’t associated with my work in the church or in the LGBTQ community tell me that they read my blog. It has been uplifting and surprising. However, that leads into a lesson that is available to everyone.

You never know who you will impact. I know my readers who are parents or who work with kids can attest to this. When I worked as a minister, I was told that SOMEONE is always watching you when you’re in your role as a minister. That is true in all of our lives. We don’t live our lives or our faiths in a bubble. People will look to you either directly or indirectly as a representative of what you represent.

Oftentimes, I see that as a big burden, because I want to be myself and not have people looking over my back. However, I know that I want to be a bridge between the LGBTQ and Christian communities, so I have to be cognizant of what I think and say to the world. Each of us are powerful and influential. We all have the power to create and destroy. So remember what Uncle Ben told Peter Parker in Spider-Man:

The More I Write, The More I Realize How Much I Don’t Know

This one I guess should make a lot of sense. When we write for school assignments, we are graded on how much we learned from the assignment and how well we can articulate the writing’s topic. Some of my posts, like the Vocab Lessons, are meant to inform y’all. They’re also meant to inform me. While I may identify with a minority population, the majority of my genetic and demographic makeup SCREAMS privilege. White, cisgender, male, American-born. I’m set up for success in this country. However, in order for everyone to get a fair shake in this country, people in power have to learn the struggles of those who don’t have it. Then once we have that knowledge and heard from those on the margins, it’s up to people with privilege to give others a chance and to combat the processes and structures designed to oppress.

This past month’s focus on Black History Month has been super fun for me to write, because it allows me to share with y’all information I had never heard before. I learned about people like Peter Gomes for the first time, dove in deeper to stories of Marsha P. Johnson and Bayard Rustin, and got to see the extensive impact the drag ballroom scene has had on our culture. These stories don’t get told enough. We need to open ourselves more to stories written by people and for people that don’t look like us. I do what I can, but I can do more. That leads into my next point.

I Want More Voices To Be Heard In Year Two of CATC

I love to write, and I love to communicate with y’all. However, I want to start reaching out to people for guest posts. One goal for the second year is to bring others into the fold and write guest posts for the blog. I know I’m not the only one who wants to fight for the church, to preserve its ability to heal the world, but to also call it to be better and more inclusive.

I believe my voice is impactful, but when we offer more perspectives, we will all learn more.

I Want to Interact With Y’all More

One of the ways I want to be able to improve this blog is by interacting with y’all more. I said this when I was talking about my New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m looking to move off of Medium this year. Medium doesn’t center itself much around reader interaction. I can’t be a good bridge if I don’t allow other people to access me.

That means engaging in a comments section (provided that it’s civil), and taking requests for future posts. It also means engaging on social media and separating my personal accounts with my writings. It’ll allow me to be more creative in my approach, which leads to my final observation.

I Want to Do More Than Write

I love to write, but I love to speak too. Those who know me personally should not be the least bit surprised at that statement. My goal is to make a livelihood out of my communications. That means maybe communicating my topic through podcasts, or videos, or public speaking in addition to my blog. Who knows?! I know that I love to speak, and I love to convey a message. That’s more of a long-term goal than a short-term one. I first need to get into the habit of writing weekly.

“Jay, why are you telling all of us this?”

I’m outlining what I want to do with this platform for a couple of reasons. First, I want you to get excited for what’s to come with this blog. I’m very pumped, and I want this to be more than just a post a week type of deal.

Second, it keeps me accountable. If you know what I want to do, and what I’m planning to do, then you’ll learn to expect it, right? It keeps me at my word, and makes me set myself up for success.

What do you want to see more of? What is important to you? What’s been your favorite post so far? Tell me in the comments!