For my first blog, I wanted to apologise to you, all my Conservative evangelical Christian sisters and brothers who are feeling ‘got at’ purely because of your non-acceptance of LGBT people and refusal to accept that gay men and lesbians can be loved by God, accepted in the church, or that there are thousands of us in all Christian denominations across the globe.

I’m sorry you are hurting from being criticized by members of the general public or the likes of LBC Radio for your heteronormative position, or feel offended by being told that you are bigoted when you say gays and lesbians cannot be simultaneously Christian and gay . . . but hey, it’s not easy being polite when pointing out that negative put-downs and condemnation for a natural God-given human condition, do actually come across as bigotry.

I’m sorry you don’t like being told that you are not entitled to tell transgender people from the pulpit which bathroom to use, or tell gay couples or lesbian couples they cannot marry, or forbid them to adopt children.

I’m sorry you dislike people not supporting you when you judge LGBT Christians on whether or not they really love Jesus.

I’m sorry you feel criticized when you take a break from endless condemnation of the LGBT Community in order to offer your puzzling sympathy, and empty thoughts and prayers when a gay teenager commits suicide because they can’t face ‘coming out’ to their evangelical parents, or when a gay venue is bombed (as with the Admiral Duncan) or shot to pieces (as with Orlando), or when someone is beaten to a pulp for being ‘different.’ It’s such a shame you are not appreciated at such times, especially when your sympathy can last for up to as much as 5 minutes.

I’m sorry that people don’t understand how important your negative mission against the LGBT Community is, and how they don’t get that it is far more crucial for you to spend energy on condemning and exiling gay men and lesbians, than on feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, being with the bereaved, and generally caring for the sick or anyone in need.

I’m sorry that you are not believed when you opine the myth of how gay people are all paedophiles and should be kept away from children, or that gay people are predators out to recruit the young into the ‘gay movement.’ Even though there is no ‘movement’ in that sense, no agenda, no plan other than to live life well, love well and pay taxes – and a child abuser is a child abuser, not a gay man or lesbian.

Oh, I’m also sorry for the times you get laughed at by . . . well, everyone really, when you say that floods are the fault of gay men and lesbians – honestly, we’re really not that powerful.

Most of all, I’m sorry you cannot listen when I explain that Jesus Christ never once condemned anyone for their sexual orientation, or for their gender identity; that he actually healed the Centurion’s ‘pais’ (same sex bed-partner) without question or hesitation, then went on to praise the faith of this gay Roman.

I believe whole-heartedly in loving God fully with heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving neighbour as self – which includes everyone and excludes no one. I believe in a God of outrageous grace and limitless love, who is a diverse and imaginative Creator, and who consequently created humanity in his image . . . and that means all of us. He never did nor ever does create rubbish, and he has never created a people for the sole purpose of being hated by others.

Scientific ignorance is not actually a Christian virtue and people cannot simply ‘change’ just to suit your narrow worldview. God is Love, not a mean-spirited, spiteful, angry, scapegoating old man with a big stick. One day you will meet him and he may ask you how you treated his non-heterosexual children. And I’m really sorry . . . your answer probably won’t cut the mustard.