This reminded me of a friend I had in high school who ended up going to the same university as me, but we rarely talked. I found out that he got married to a guy before gay marriage was legal in a public ceremony. I ran into him a few months later and I asked him how his marriage was going and he said something like, “him? I didn’t even like him, it was just to protest gay marriage being illegal. We ended that right away.” Fair enough.

He died a few years later of cancer. I miss you, David. You were a weird fundie Christian who was still a weird fundie Christian when you came out of the closet, but you were always a nice guy. Even when you told me I was going to hell for being Jewish, it was like, “hey man, I like you a lot, I think you’re cool, it’s just that my pastor says Jews are going to hell and I can’t do anything about that.” And then later, “good news! We got a new pastor and he says Jews are the chosen people, so now you’re going to heaven!” Like I said, weird fundie Christian. But a nice guy I wish I could still talk to.

Apologies for rambling, I haven’t thought of David in some time (apart from telling that last bit as an anecdote occasionally) and the memories came flooding back.