Video of a slam poetry performance by a twenty-year-old University of North Carolina drama student is going viral, with nearly 70,000 views on YouTube. The controversial title and message of his poem: “God is gay.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6AQyBEN5fM]

Elliot Darrow identifies as a straight male and says his identity as an “out Christian” drives his writing. Like many Christian millennials, Darrow does not currently attend church—“more due to the chaos that is college than anything else,” he says—but he grew up Presbyterian in the Carrboro-Chapel Hill area. Social issues comprise the core of his poetry portfolio, and the viral piece was one of his first to directly address his faith.

Darrow says the idea began eighteen months ago when he wondered, what if God were gay? “I personally believe that God is not a sexual being, but at the same time, to make a statement, what if He were, was all in attempt to show people that even God, who we all see as infallible, still has human traits, such as sexuality, or loves people of a specific gender or identity,” Darrow says.

He then examined Biblical passages to explore how the church should view the gay community. “I’ve seen so many people, in my mind, misuse the Bible to preach not necessarily hatred, but just ignorance toward people who are of other preferences,” he says. “I want to show that regardless of how someone identifies, God wants to love them, and God does love them. The best way I’ve found to do that is to use the Bible, to use teachings that I have been taught.”

The poem is a dynamic work of gay liberation theology. Darrow use Bible passages to challenge conventional views about God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth / and it wasn’t just good, it was fabulous” and “Keep in mind Jesus had two dads and turned out just fine / In fact, Jesus had two dads and a surrogate mother / That never had sex with either of them / Maybe Mary was a lesbian.”

The most powerful moment comes when Darrow interprets the classic Biblical story of Moses and the burning bush. In the book of Exodus, Moses is watching sheep in the desert when he sees a bush on fire but not burning up. Then an angel speaks to him from inside the flame and tells him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. God then liberates the people, whom society subjugated, from oppression. Here’s how Darrow sees the passage:

“A history lesson: A faggot is a bundle of sticks / Originally used as kindling for fires that engulfed gays / When they were burned at the stake, people were firewood / But Moses came across wood on fire and saw God in it / What is a burning bush but bundles of branches / On fire, isn’t it funny how faggots and God can look the same sometimes?”

Darrow hopes that Biblical messages like his can counter anti-gay groups like Westboro Baptist Church. One of his own greatest influences, he says, is the pastor emeritus of his home church, Rev. Haywood Holderness of Westminster Presbyterian in Durham. Even as a young child, Darrow remembers listening to Holderness’ sermons and taking to heart his repeated message that God is a loving being. “I’ve always had such a loving relationship with the church,” he says. “All people should be afforded that, regardless of their orientation, their creed, gender.”

Full text of the poem: