EDWIN

“I’m 71 years old. I live in Belgium. After I retired from the tax department, I took a volunteer job at the church in my town. Sometimes I do readings on the altar or help conduct weddings. I try to be cheerful and usually get invited afterward for a drink with the couple. Most of the time, I assist the priest with baptisms. In the past ten years, I’ve baptized 556 children. This morning I baptized two 5-year-old kids. A few months ago, we baptized the children of two lesbian women when no one else would do it. I’m a left-wing Christian and my church is progressive. They don’t have a problem with me being gay, but we rarely talk about it. On occasion, we have coffee together and they ask me what it’s like to be gay. I tell them to look at me — I’m not sad about being gay. I’ve had a very good life. I hope to go on for another ten years. I know some people deal with a lot of problems and feel alone. But I wish people wouldn’t hide from themselves when they recognize they are gay or different in any way. We all have one life to make our own.”