I am deeply grateful for this honor, but in truth, all I’ve ever done is SAY GAY. The incriminating word was “homosexual” when I was a boy, and I said it to myself in my closet of despair. A crime, a sickness, a sin. Heavy burden for any young boy or girl.

High school just enlarged my closet. Nothing to learn there about my dilemma. Never say gay there.

Hopelessly in love with my straight best friend in college, I SAID GAY at the Counseling Center there at FSU. “There’s nothing wrong with you” said the young, ahead-of-his-time counselor; “but you have a steep hill to climb in our homophobic culture.” A university is a good place to start that climb.

Together with my first long term lover, I SAW GAY, loud and proud many years ago, visiting the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where I turned a corner, and recognized a blessing in my identity as a gay man, a gift to be shared with the people in my life.

Who would have thought Georgia Southern College in Statesboro Georgia in 1969 would have become fertile ground for an equality revolution? But it was, and word got out about “that gay professor,” and with the support of students, colleagues, administrators, and progressive community friends, I felt confident and committed to saying “gay” in dozens of classes to hundreds, perhaps thousands of students over the subsequent years. Finding Bobby, my forever partner among those students 47 years ago gave me all the security I needed to continue to SAY GAY to all who would listen. I have reason to believe it made a difference. And in 1998 GSU opened its first Multicultural Affairs/GLBT resource center.

I said “gay” to the Episcopal Church for many years before it was quite ready, but I now belong to a congregation which is blessed to have a married gay priest at the altar, and a denomination that welcomes all to the communion rail. The Episcopal Church was neither the first nor the only denomination to welcome its queer neighbors; listen to the gospel preached by our own Reverends Francys Johnson and Jane page for a hearty welcome and similar truth about the goodness of being gay. Too many other denominations, however, have not yet quite understood just how comprehensive is the commandment to “love thy neighbor.” Witness our struggling Methodist friends.

As the appalling evidence of numerous homophobic regimes around the world, and of the aggressively homophobic regime next door in Florida makes clear, the battle against homophobia is ongoing. The lies of sin and sickness still abound, and people worldwide are dying for love deemed unlawful.

When some students and some young Ft. Stewart soldiers gathered years ago stepping out of their closets to form GSU’s Triangle Club, something good was started, and today, thanks to the leadership of many people in this room, Georgia Southern is a beacon for equality, not only in the community, but statewide. Services and resources for the LGBTQ+ community on campus are unmatched anywhere in the University System. And our civic leadership is openly affirming.

I’m deeply grateful for the honor which Georgia Equality has bestowed on me this evening, and for their tireless work in shaping and passing pro-equality legislation and electing fair-minded legislators to our statehouse. If you’re not already a supporting member, tonight would be a good time to sign on.

If you understand why the site of this gathering was communicated to you only after you responded to your invitation, you will also understand that our work together is not done, even here in our beloved community. The struggle is not over as long as there are those out there who would challenge our right to life, liberty and happiness.

For the good of the whole human family, whatever our orientation, whatever identity we claim – lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and other identities unfamiliar to most of us – our QUEER love stories need to be told.

I guess that’s essentially what I’ve been doing all these years, telling my love story, SAYING GAY. According to legend, St. Francis said “preach the gospel every day; if necessary, use words.” The gospel truth, in my humble opinion, is that love is love. And in these times I judge it necessary to use words.

Discover your truth. Live your truth. Tell your truth. Spread the good word.