Timmerie shared a note from a young man who was struggling with an “LGBTQ identity”. He wrote that he had attended several talks that tackled the issue he was dealing with, but before hearing Timmerie, he felt like the speakers espoused hatred for people like him, as if no one understood “the struggle that persists every day.” But when he later heard Timmerie speak on the same topic, he said he “genuinely felt love emitted from the message,” and it renewed his courage to keep pursuing the truth.
That contrast matters. When someone is wrestling with identity, shame, or temptation, a Catholic response can’t be either soft-pedaling or scorched earth. Timmerie put it plainly: “We tell the truth with love.” She explained that people are not projects, debate trophies, or political wins.
“We’re about winning people, not an argument.”
She even recalled a campus debate where she “dropped the arguments” and asked a hardened opponent a human question: “Can you tell me about your daughter?” In that moment, the temperature changed, and so did the conversation.
The same posture is needed when someone says, “I’m just not happy being a girl.” Sometimes the first move is listening, then gently pointing them toward real help, real relationships, and the healing Christ offers, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
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