about?â Trina rolled her eyes in disgust. âMonnie, please wake up. I never met anybody as blind as you.â âWhat are you saying?â I stared at her. âIs that why you left?â âAmong other reasons.â âNow whoâs homophobic?â âItâs not that Iâm homophobic. I just have a problem with a pastor who sticks his head in the sand and pretends he doesnât see whatâs going on in his church. Or maybe even condones it. I donât think Kevin is the only person in a position of leadership that has sexual identity issues.â I had heard rumors about Love and Faith being D.C.âs âgay church,â but I never took them seriously. âWell, itâs not Bishopâs fault he has a church full of them. Itâs not like he puts a banner up and tells them all to come there. I guess they enjoy the Word, so they come.â âAnd he lets them stay in their sin. And word gets around. Hereâs a church thatâs âgay friendly,â so they all flock there.â âSo whatâs he supposed to do? Preach against homosexuality every Sunday?â âNo. I donât think thatâs the answer either. When I was visiting churches, there was this one pastor who preached this horrible message about homosexuals. How they were all filled with the devil and going to hell, and if he ever found a homosexual in his church, he would throw them out the door. He said all sorts of stuff about limp-wristed sissies and men switching worse than women and gay men singing soprano in the choir. It was so bad I left in the middle of the sermon. I bet he doesnât preach that hard against fornication and adultery.â âSo what are you saying? They canât ignore it, but they canât preach against it. What are they supposed to do?â âI donât know exactly. Honestly, I donât think Iâve ever seen any church effectively deal with homosexuality.â Trina picked up her spoon and dug out a big scoop of ice cream. âThatâs a deep story. Poor Kevin.â My eyes bugged out. âPoor Kevin? What do you mean?â âI donât know. His side of the story puts a whole different spin on the situation. He wasnât some blatant homosexual who married a woman to cover him so he could continue his life of sin while he looked straight on the surface. Sounds like he really struggled with it and thought he was through with that lifestyle.â I dropped my spoon. âYouâre taking his side?â âItâs not about taking sides, Monica. Itâs about trying to understand why he did what he did. At least it makes more sense now.â âWell, Iâm glad it all makes sense to you.â âIâm not saying it all makes sense. Iâm not justifying what he did. He lied to you, or withheld the truth, and thereâs no excuse for that. Iâm just sayingââ âWhat?â My nostrils flared. âCalm down, Monica.â She passed me the ice cream and put my spoon back in my hand. âI know what it is to be caught up in sexual sin. I know what itâs like to cry out to God for deliverance and think youâre okay and then find yourself climbing out of a manâs bed to get to Sunday service in time. I know what it is to love God with all your heart, but to have this thing inside of you that you canât control, no matter how hard you try.â âHow can you compare your old fornication issue with Kevin being gay? Are you saying that fornication and homosexuality are equal?â âArenât they? Sin is sin.â âI donât see it that way. Homosexuality is . . . gross. Itâs perverted. And plus, they make a lifestyle of sin.â âIâd say I made a lifestyle of fornicating back in the day.â âYeah, but you got delivered.â âThank God for that. He led me to a church where they