Originally from a small town in Georgia, Puddin’s coming of age was divided in two. Outwardly, he was a devout Christian of the Pentecostal tradition and aspired to be a church leader and during sermons, homosexuality was always used as an example of the worst kind of sin. Privately, though, he struggled with his sexuality and was the target of abuse by a family member. After his family found out, he tried several different faith-based solutions for “curing” himself and, in the process, met other queer people like him for the first time in his life. A gay friend in college encouraged Puddin’ to consider - just maybe - that God didn’t hate him for being gay and, eventually, he left the church and moved to a gay commune where he learned how to live off the grid and love himself. Are you in Seattle? Come to our first ever LIVE Fruitbowl event, PASSIONFRUIT. Learn more and RSVP HERE. Learn more about the recent Monkeypox outbreak via the CDC website. Thanks to our post-production sponsor, the new SPACES app, powered by Hornet! Learn more about it HERE. This episode was edited and mixed by Ryan Weadon. Rebecca M. Davis is the season 4 voice of Fruitbowl. Dave Quantic is the creator and host of Fruitbowl. Submit your own story for inclusion in a future episode! Describe a sexy hook up or something you’ve learned about sex via SPACES, email or record a story via your phone’s voice memo app and email it to [email protected]. Fruitbowl is produced independently without corporate media infrastructure or full time staff. Every interview is recorded in-person, on location in each interviewee’s home and production expenses including travel, accommodations, equipment rental are paid for out of pocket by Dave Quantic, FRUITBOWL’s creator. The only consistent financial support (currently $287/month) comes from Fruitbowl’s Patreon community. Thanks to our new patron PH. A minimum $5 monthly donation allows patrons early access to episodes, behind the scenes updates and Salad Tosser tier patrons ($10/month) receive access to exclusive video content that is not available to the general public. Learn more about how to become a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/fruitbowlpodcast Larger donations and underwriting/advertising fees are 100% tax deductible through a partnership with Northwest Film Forum’s fiscal sponsorship program. FRUITBOWL RECEIVES NO DIRECT FUNDING FROM NWFF, only the use of their non-profit status to receive tax deductible donations. For more information check out: https://www.fruitbowlpodcast.com/donate Tell your friends about Fruitbowl, rate us on your podcast platform or write a review on Apple Podcast. Every little bit helps. And, of course you can also follow us, for now, on twitter at Fruitbowlpod and Instagram and Tik Tok at fruitbowlpodcast. Find out more about Rebecca M. Davis at https://www.instagram.com/stayuplateshow/ Fruitbowl’s fruit artwork was created by Patrick Stephenson of Bearpad! https://bearpad.storenvy.com/