For a few seconds after my mother said she could not congratulate me for “defying God’s will,” no one moved.

Then another.

Then ten.

Then twenty.

Unknown numbers. Aunts. Cousins. Women from my mother’s church whose names I barely knew.

“Repent before it’s too late.”

“Your mother is suffering because of your choices.”

“Children made outside God’s design carry spiritual consequences.”

“We are praying that the Lord’s will continue reading …