Growing up Catholic, my first lessons in religion were that having a relationship with God was about love, compassion and being a good person. By adolescence, I quickly discovered that because I am gay the church would never see me as a good person, would deny me love, and would show me no compassion. To me this was not what God was about. It was then that I learned that God and religion are two very different things. It is not following rules written and preached by men that brings you closer to God, it is simply having love, compassion and being a good person that matters most.