Churches have a reputation for trying to help solve the world’s problems. Sadly, churches also have the rep for ignoring the Lord’s commandment to love thy neighbor, which often requires people outside the church to come forward and resolve the situation.

A church in Lincoln, Nebraska, decided that a faithful 13-year-old boy should no longer be affiliated with its music program after the elders found out he was an out and proud homosexual. This church, which news reports have declined to name, is supposedly out in the community claiming to be inclusive and welcoming.

Apparently, it draws the line at gay people.

Gabriel, whose last name was also not revealed by television station KETV, is one of those lucky people who knows who he is at such a young age and is not afraid to wear shirts and other items that show he is not ashamed of his sexuality. It’s sad that he had to come home to his mother after meeting with church officials and telling her that he was told he could no longer be a youth leader because he was “promoting things that they’re against.”

Thankfully, Gabriel has an awesome mother who decided to take the issue to social media. It didn’t take long for folks on Facebook to shower the family with words of love and support.

It didn’t stop there.

A call to action came from Drag Queen Story Hour Nebraska. A post on Facebook encouraged folks to keep pouring on the support.

“Let’s shower Gabriel with LOVE,” the post read in part. “Let’s let Gabriel know that he is loved from far and wide. Let’s let him know that it DOES get better… and that he is NOT alone. Let’s flood his house with all cards and letters we can muster!”

While KETV did not report that Gabriel and his family had to be rescued from the flood, it did report that a lot of people heard the plea from the drag queens and sent out their messages of support. A same-sex male couple about to get married sent in a letter, as did a schoolteacher.

“I am a teacher and I have students who love and look up to me,” the teacher said in the letter. “Sometimes it’s kids like you that need to teach grownups a thing or two.”

It didn’t stop there.

Goldenrod Printing and Mail found out about what happened, and owner Frank Roark decided to print 500 postcards with the quote “Love is never wrong” from singer Melissa Etheridge to give out to people who wanted to send Gabriel their own messages of support.

Instead of the message of hate the church was streaming to this young man, he now has a lot of people telling him that he’s just fine the way he is, and something positive came out of something negative—a rarity in this day and age, it seems.

When I told my sweetheart, Todd, about this story, he told me he planned to send a letter himself. I can just imagine what loving message will come from his heart.

All too often, folks who are gay are informed by those who are not that they are sick, wrong or broken. Even in this era where more people are out and proud than ever before, there are cruel people in positions of power in many churches that continue to use their pulpits to minimize their narrow view on what makes an ideal human race.

On the flip side, as this story illustrates, there are plenty of people willing to confront these people and throw their “holy words” back at them. They’ve figured out that, above everything, our God is a loving God. Hopefully that message has been received by Gabriel—loud and clear.

If you’d like to send a loving message to Gabriel, here’s where you can send it: Gabriel B., c/o Outnebraska, 211 N. 14th St., Lincoln, NE 68508.