Today’s guest on Word for Word is Teresa Ma. Teresa is of Chinese descent and emigrated to Australia with her parents and younger sister when she was 9. Teresa realised she didn’t fit the heterosexual label at around age 7, but pushed that aspect of her life aside until well into adulthood due to her strong Catholic beliefs and the fear of upsetting her strict Catholic family. For a while Teresa engaged with a Catholic organisation called Courage which sought to promote celibacy for same sex attracted people, but eventually discovered Acceptance Melbourne which is an organisation committed to supporting LGBTIQ+ Catholics across Victoria. She is the current President of Acceptance Melbourne and works in the drug and alcohol addiction space.   Word for Word is hosted by Lisa Daniel on JOY Media, produced by Ellen Spalding, and podcasted by Jacqueline Shields and Thomas Olejniczak.  This podcast originally aired on April 22nd, 2023. For further information head to the JOY Media webpage, Word for Word podcast page, via Facebook or email Lisa Daniel and the team at Word for Word.