When Simon heard Alana's story, a devout catholic girl who took her life, he knew it needed to be told. After hearing her journey with conversion therapy, and having a similar journey himself, he decided to see what he could do to get it out there. He pulled together stories from her friend's, family, and journals and made the podcast Dear Alana. Winning several awards and touching thousands of hearts, this story made a huge impact when it released. We interview Simon on his journey making the podcast and how making it changed his life.

https://discord.gg/DcaTx45V

https://www.patreon.com/c/ITriedtoBeStraight

https://dearalana.com/

Kristyn Komarnicki was working for a Christian magazineabout to publish an article about why being gay is not of God. Rather than running the article, she felt it was her duty to do the research. For her that meant gathering a group of gays and Christians with different opinions to actually hear what their experiences were. Realizing the depth of connection and the need for these conversations, she continues gathering groups to build empathy and awareness for queer members of the church 15 years later.

Reach out to Kristyn:

Retired NFL Offensive Tackle Ryan O'Callaghan, lived in a community where coming out of the closet wasn't an option. After realizing he was gay, he joined sports at a young age to hide his sexuality. Getting to retirement he finally reached a breaking point and made the decision to come out.

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Chat with us and others on Discord: https://discord.gg/vWXPcAgq

Author, Pastor, and Speaker Brandan Robertson shares why being gay and Christian makes perfect sense. We also chat about how queer people have helped change the church for the better, and the progress we've seen in the church over the last several years.

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Chat with us and other for free at www.discord.gg/7jwmTemc5y

Brandan's Website: brandanrobertson.com

Sexologist Meg Cowan shares how purity culture affected her growing up in the church, how she found healing and how she started helping others find healing as well. She shares how purity culture can affect closeted gays and how to live a healthy sex life after coming out of the closet after shutting it down for so long.

Meg's Website: www.megcowan.com

Shortly after getting saved as a gay youth, John Smid buried his sexuality and joined the leadership team in a conversion therapy program at Love in Action. After years leading the program, he finally comes to terms with the fact that no one was finding any success changing their sexuality, and starts asking big questions about what they're doing in the program.Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ITriedtoBeStraightChat with us and other for free on Discord: discord.gg/7jwmTemc5y

We're back! Season 2 is here and we're so happy to be back with you all. Take a look at what we've got in store for Season 2 in the teaser, and episode 1 will be here next week!

It's just Susie and Nate for the Season 1 finale! We dig into how our faith has evolved through the podcast and dig into what we believe healthy dating looks like. Also is it ok for your identity to be rooted in your sexuality?Chat with us and others on Discord!https://discord.gg/7jwmTemc5y

Melody Rachel shares how she grew in her relationship with Jesus when she accepted her sexuality. Gay Christian podcasters interviewing another gay Christian podcaster. This is a fun one!

Chat with us and others: https://discord.gg/7jwmTemc5y

Pastor's daughter, Brittany was set to live the perfect Christian life, hoping to follow in her father's footsteps as a preacher. Life took a different turn when she realized she was a lesbian. She started a journey of prayer and fasting, doing whatever she could to try and stop being gay.

Chat with us and others for free on Discord - https://discord.gg/7jwmTemc5y