Welcome to the Pride Parade [Frerard AU]

Part III: Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 – RESTAURANT OF MEMORIES

"Demons," Frank explained to me, sipping on cold coffee outside of a local coffee shop, "are absolutely present in this world. Could be anywhere. Where do you think the motive for evil comes from? They certainly weren't born the way they are. At some point along the road, some kind of demon infected their mind. Are you asking if there's a demon in you, trying to convince you being gay is okay, when it really isn't?"

"Yes, but when you put it that way it sounds kind of dumb. How do I know if something is God leading me in the right direction instead of Satan leading me in the wrong one? How can I possibly distinguish between the two?"

"Good question. One that I can't answer for you personally. All the same, in my eyes it's just a feeling you get, like somehow you know. God never tempts anyone, as stated in James 1:13, but the devil does. If it's temptation you're feeling, that's probably something other than holy."

"That's understandable."

"So really, you can only know for yourself. Did that answer your question?"

"To a point, yes. I'll have to look up more about it."

"Please do. I'm not an expert on this at all; I'm just one mind with my own set of beliefs. I don't want to impress any of this upon you."

"You're not, don't worry!" I quickly assured him. "I'm happy to hear your own opinion. It's what I asked you for, after all."

He smiled in relief at that, glad to know I wasn't using his word as complete fact. "Any other questions?"

"Only the question of if the Bible supports homosexuality anywhere. If it does, clearly there's more to it than just the fact we're reading into it really far."

"Okay, I actually know about this one! There's a gay couple in the Bible: David – of Goliath fame – and Jonathan. It's written that David loved Jonathan as much as he loved himself, and that their souls were 'knit together.' They made vows to each other because they loved each other. And when Jonathan died, David wrote that the love he had for him was more than that of the love any woman ever had for him. So many historians want to believe that all of that love was in a perfectly platonic way," – he chuckled when I rolled my eyes at that – "yet people also like to say that God punished them for being gay. That's like saying the only reason God saved Noah in the flood was because he was straight; that's not the case, he was just the most worthy in God's eyes and happened to be straight. It was because David later became greedy and in love with money, and Jonathan because his father had been part of a war that God didn't approve of. Another couple that people believe to have been romantically involved is Naomi and Ruth - people use their words in wedding vows all the time. They say Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve. And if nothing else, Romans, chapter 13 verse 10: 'Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is fulfillment of the law.' If that doesn't yell 'love is love is love is love, even to God' right at everyone who reads it, what else is there to say?"

"But people ignore that?"

"They figure it's just a couple of throwaway verses. Or if they do see them there, they assume they only mean friendly or brotherly love, no other kind of love. They assume we're loving incorrectly, or in a way God never intended. But how could God create me – us – this way, and condemn it? It just doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't." I paused; let the air fill with a calm silence. "That's all I have for right now... Thank you."

"Absolutely." He smiled at my gratitude.

"Where did you tell your parents you were today?"

"With you, actually. They know we're friends. What's to stop us from seeing each other platonically?"