Everyone’s sexuality and spirituality are subjective; no two people have the same relationship to either as anyone else. That’s part of what makes each characteristic special for LGBTQ+ people of faith. Only we as free-thinking individuals get to determine for ourselves who we choose to love, and the level at which we express that devotion. And yes, this certainly applies to our relationship to the Lord Almighty, if one even exists.

Devout queers like myself each have our own definition of "God" and "gay," and we apply them to our daily lives in hopes of finding common ground between the two. That’s made harder by a society that would have us believe that finding such commonality is entirely impossible. What?! You're queer and you go to religious services? How does that make sense?!

Well, it makes sense to those of us who have spent years embodying both identities, incorporating both the sexual and the spiritual into our lives in ways few are blessed to experience. But as with any coming out story, revealing your spirituality to both yourself and others is a complicated, heavily nuanced process. Personally, I'm a queer Catholic, and I can attest to the difficulty of respecting a body that makes you feel ashamed of your own because of antiquated dogma. But because of cultural ties to the religion (I'm third-generation Mexican-American), I've stayed my version of holy because it works for me.

Thankfully, I'm not alone in holding these beliefs, as the video above shows. Untold numbers of queer people around the world go through the difficult process of squaring their religious beliefs with their sexuality. And given the theme of this Monday’s Met Gala — Catholicism — and the inherent queerness of the high-fashion event, there’s no better time to explore the intersection of queerness and faith. In 'Like a Prayer: Queer and Religious,' them. speaks with three queer people with strong religious ties about bridging this divide in their lives: Melissa Weisz, Wazina Zondon, and Jay Malsky.

Jay Malsky