Most important, the app was free, so it would never show up on his parents’ phone bill—a real plus for a church boy in the closet.
Joey had only downloaded ManNip the night before and couldn’t believe he had already been messaged. He had created a fake profile using the name Jay Davison, who he said was a twenty-two-year-old Anthropology student at Northwestern University in Chicago. He had uploaded photos of his torso, cropping his head out except in pictures taken at a great distance so no one could recognize him.
His stomach filled with butterflies as he pulled up the messages a guy named Brian K had sent him.
Hey sexy!
Saw you were going to be in Oklahoma City tomorrow night.
I’ve been here since Thursday for a job.
Wanna meet up?
Joey scanned through Brian K’s profile before responding. He seemed tall, had really big arms, and a very bright smile. Brian claimed to be a twenty-eight-year-old architect from San Diego and had several pictures of himself in a hard hat with blueprints at construction sites to prove it. Joey knew people weren’t always truthful on hookup apps (he being one of them), but Brian was pretty convincing.
After fifteen different drafts, Joey responded to Brian’s message.
Hi, Brian.
Would love to meet up.
Just name the time and the place.
A strong surge of nerves went through Joey’s core like a train speeding past a metro platform. He had never even talked to another gay guy before and here he was, mapping out his first sexual experience. It gave him a thrill, like he had successfully robbed a bank.
Of course, he knew having sex or being gay wasn’t against the law (well, at least not anymore) but Joey had been programmed since birth to believe both were major sins. According to Pastor Jeb’s sermons at church, Joey was most definitely going to burn in hell for giving in to his homosexual urges. But if his father was accurate about all his condemnations, hell sounded like an awfully crowded place.
Perhaps God had changed his mind about gay people to save space?
Joey could picture the scene as if it was from a movie: God (played by Ian McKellen) walked into a long boardroom in heaven and was joined by Moses (played by Denzel Washington) and Jesus (played by Idris Elba).
“Boys, I’ve changed my mind about the homosexuals,” God said. “Perhaps acting out the physical urges they’re born with is not as bad as committing murder, rape, and theft. I don’t think they deserve to go to hell and I regret ever implying it.”
“I think that’s a great decision,” Moses said. “We’ve been getting some complaints that hell is maxed to capacity. We weren’t sure how to respond because, you know, it’s supposed to be hell.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Dad,” Jesus said. “I’ve said from the beginning that I love everyone. The message has gotten mixed up over the years, but it’s not too late to remind people.”
“Then it’s settled,” God said. “We’ll start by making the gay men remarkably attractive and the lesbian women capable of absolutely everything so everyone knows they have my blessing. The gay people will teach the rest of the world how to have fun, slowly winning them over, until there’s acceptance and marriage equality in every country on earth.”
“What about the people who still believe it’s against your will?” Moses asked. “Trust me, I know how stubborn people can be when it comes to change.”
God thought about it for a moment, and then came up with a great answer.
“We’ll make the gay community so accepting of every race, culture, and nationality, it’ll be obvious they’re representing me,” he said.
“But what if people choose to look past that?” Jesus asked. “I had some trouble convincing them I was representing you, too, remember?”
God scratched his beard and pondered that for a moment.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “We’ll make it very common for the people who discriminate against gay people to ignore the signs of global warming, inherently making homophobes responsible for ruining the planet. No one will want to side with them and gay people will finally be accepted by all.”
“Terrific!” Jesus said. “That should do the trick!”
“Fantastic plan,” Moses said. “That’s why you’re God.”
The scene was projected frequently at the theater inside Joey’s mind, but it was a show his family would never buy tickets to. No matter how much the world changed, the Davises and their church refused to evolve with it. Even as other churches and denominations moved forward, the congregation of Naperville First Baptist proudly held their gearshift on reverse.