A incredibly brave Mormon girl stood up to her church and came out as a lesbian to the entire congregation.
Savannah, 12, stood before her church community last month to tell them about her relationship with her sexuality and say she was not a ‘horrible sinner’, The Independent reports.
The preteen offered this powerful account as she identified herself as a lesbian:
I believe I was made the way I am, all parts of me, by my heavenly parents. They did not mess up when they gave me brown eyes or when I was born bald. They did not mess up when they gave me freckles or when they made me to be gay.
God loves me just this way, because I believe that he loves all his creations… I do believe he made me this way on purpose. No part of me is a mistake. I do not choose to be this way, and it is not a fad. I cannot make someone else gay and being around me won’t make anyone else this way. I believe that God wants us to treat each other with kindness, even if people are different.
NewNameNoah/YouTubeOffering wisdom well beyond her years, she went on to say that she hopes to get married and have a family one day, and that she wants to ‘love myself and not feel shame for being me’.
Unfortunately Savannah’s inspirational speech was cut short and she was told to sit down by a church official- in an attempt to silence her story.
Savannah’s mother, Heather, explained to HuffPost that she first came out in June 2016- and responded like you’d hope any mother would saying she loved her and assured her that she is perfect the way that she is.
NewNameNoah/YouTubeShe said:
My take away was that of awe,. She is brave and courageous. I would have been terrified to get up and say something so close to my heart for fear of what people think. I’m proud of her, even now, she doesn’t want any of this to be about her, she wants it to be about protecting other LGBT kids. She wants her story told so that this doesn’t happen to other kids. She said she is both happy and sad about the whole thing. Happy because she ‘feels free’ happy because part of me can look at her as a gay person, and see she’s no different than anyone else. She’s sad because she was going to share a story where the church accepted her with no question.”
You’re an absolute inspiration Savannah, fair play to you!
