‘God is not going to turn you away because you are gay.’

That's the lesson Moriah May learned, but nearly died in the process. She survived, though, and her story can be an inspiration to others who share her struggles.

From the Kingsport (TN) Times News (via the Tennessee Equality Project thru Twitter):

May, who was 21 at the time and had entered her second semester of college, had
told her immediate family that fall that she is gay. While she said some family
members were supportive, others were not.

“My sister, my mother and my brother are pretty much all the family that I have now. My extended family were pretty much the ones who were rejecting me. My mom was like ‘You’re my kid. I’m going to love you no matter what.’”

But it’s not easy being gay in Northeast Tennessee, so May searched for answers to the continuing emotional turmoil she felt.

May said she is a religious person and comes from a religious background, so she sought answers in church.

“I went to some — I won’t mention any names — and I talked to some religious people and I was told that I was going to go to hell no matter what,” she said.

May doesn’t believe that now, but then it was a different story.

“I was willing to believe anything because I was so torn apart at that point. If they told me I was going to hell, I thought I was going to hell.”

That was the frame of mind May was in on Dec. 26, 2007, when she drove to the lake. She said that on Christmas Day she’d been receiving phone calls from some former high school classmates making fun and ridiculing her for being gay. That brought her to a breaking point.

Click here to read the rest of the story from the Kingsport Time-News.