“I speak my truths and I paint my fantasies into these little bite-sized pop songs, for instance: I kissed a girl and I liked it.

Truth be told, I did more than that. But how was I going to reconcile that with the gospel-singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro-conversion camps?

What I did know was that I was curious and even then I knew sexuality wasn’t as black and white as this dress.

Honestly, I haven’t always gotten it right, but in 2008 when that song came out, I knew that I started a conversation that a lot of the world seemed curious enough to sing along to….

My first words were “mama” and “dada”, “God” and “Satan”… When I was growing up homosexuality was synonymous with the word “abomination” and “Hell”, a place of gnashing of teeth, continuous burning of skin and probably Mike Pence’s ultimate guest list for a BBQ. … So most of my unconscious adolescence, I prayed the gay away at my Jesus camps.

But then in the middle of it all, in a twist of events, I found my gift. And my gift introduced me to people outside my bubble, and my bubble started to burst….

You don’t get to choose your family, but you can choose your tribe.”—Katy Perry, during her acceptance speech for LGBTQ advocacy at the 2017 Human Rights Campaign Gala