You may be taught that being gay is "ungodly" or "sinful." It’s a common theme that has been passed down from generation to generation by those that practice Christianity. While America was largely formed on the basis of secularization and we have no set religion, statistics show that the majority of religious Americans identify as Christian. The problem, however, is not that Christianity is such a popular belief-system. The problem is that people vote along these beliefs. What started out as rhetoric being written in a book thousands of years ago has transformed into actual legislative discrimination and perpetuation of the dehumanization of gays.

The extreme Christian Right has introduced 200 Anti-LGBT bills in the last 6 months alone, friends. I’m here to address those who participated in this push or support it in any way in as blunt a fashion as I can manage.

No, you may not be pulling the trigger as the shooter in Orlando did, but you're perpetuating the culture that developed his mindset. A common statement is “I don’t agree with the lifestyle.” Thinking that gays in somehow need your acceptance or your agreement is condescending and degrading enough in and of itself. The Bible, the Quran, whatever text you go by- organized religion has made a tactical sport of the oppression of homosexuality, which is extremely ironic considering the United States was formed upon the fleeing of religious persecution of the first of the European settlers here.

Straight, Christian people that tout the belief that gays are less or not agreed with really do have straight privilege. You turn on the TV and you see straight couples everywhere. You take a picture with your boyfriend or girlfriend and post it on Facebook and no one has any demeaning comments to make about it simply because Christians, and Muslims, have made it societally acceptable while they've demonized gays.

You meet someone wonderful and want your family to meet them. No big deal, because you don’t have to fear the possibility that your family with disown or reject you for who you love. Basically, you're able to live your lives openly without fear of rebuttal from people that think that they have the right to "accept" or "tolerate" other people's relationships or just downright suppress them.

I’m going to list off a few factors that are contributing to the minimization of gays as equal and free human-beings in this country, and I want everyone that reads this to go in with an open mind and realize right now that it is a personal attack on no one. I’m not making a blanket statement on all Christians. I’m addressing a blanket problem that can only be combatted if Christians themselves start to examine it from the inside out.

This whole culture that oppressive Christians have going on built this man in a few different ways. All of these people were at a gay bar. They wereongregated together, congested. Why? Because gay bars were developed specifically to make gays feel at home, to feel accepted and to feel safe. Those in the LGBT community don't feel comfortable going to “normal” bars and clubs because of the discrimination, judgement and admonishment of assholes that will inevitably be present there. By making gays feel like they have to congregate in large numbers in specific places to feel safe and to feel accepted because they're finally surrounded by allies is problem number one for hate crimes of this nature. It makes them a target and an easy one at that. Someone wants to commit a hate crime of mass proportion against the gays? Go to a gay bar or a pride rally because there will be so many of them present due to the fact that society has made them feel like that's all they've been given, and that’s the only place that they’re safe.

If the gunman was secretly gay, as some news sources have been reporting, he experienced such self-hatred for himself and people like him because of what society, his family and his friends taught him: that being gay isn't OK. That it's disgusting. That it's unworthy. I’m not defending or justifying him in any way, so stop right there if that’s where your thoughts are headed.You may not be violent, but every time you vote anti-LGBT, or preach that gays aren’t "agreed with," you dehumanize the entire demographic and make them societally less than you. Literally, if you aren't standing

with LGBT, you're standing against, which is on the same side as the violent perpetrators, whether you like it or not. That can be uncomfortable to hear, I know. You feel defensive and you feel sure that you’ve done no such thing. You’ve only “hated the sin and not the sinner.” Unfortunately, your hatred of the “sin” (I say this in quotation marks because not everyone follows the tenets of the Bible and that is OK) shows in the way you vote, in the way you address gays and in the way you show that no, not all Americans are equal.

Let's just say this: this week, gays are Americans and "equal," and this should be considered an attack on all of America. Well, where was that respect and perceived equality a year ago when gay marriage was legalized? Why are LGBT now so accepted? Did you take it as a personal attack on America last week when two guys holding hands were called “faggots?” Is it an attack on all of us every time a gay person is fired because of their sexual orientation?

The longer you teach your children and your society that gays are immoral and sinful, you will continue to perpetuate this kind of thing. Hatred isn't born, it's bred. You may not be violent, but those you teach may take a violent interpretation to it. Your religious beliefs have no place in anyone else's life.

Think of it this way: when someone dies, do you go up to their family and say, "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Prayers! I still don't agree with the fact that he drank, or had premarital sex, or cursed, or ate shellfish though!" No, you don't. So why are so many of your peers doing the same thing, offering condolences, but including that snide, "I still don't agree with their lifestyle though." You dehumanize and disrespect and devalue a gay person even in their death and you use a belief system that is supposed to be rooted in love to do it.

You still call it a lifestyle. It's not a lifestyle. That implies choice. When did you choose to be straight? When did you choose to like chocolate donuts better than glazed? You didn't. Gays get persecuted, disowned and now murdered just because of who they love. You really think they would choose this? Hell no. They wouldn't.

Maybe I'm being too idealistic, but I can't wait for the day where people can love and respect each other equally without using God as an excuse not to. You bring people to love through understanding and compassion, not persecution and judgement.