Hi, my name is Tommi Avicolli Mecca, I am a writer and activist who lives in San Francisco. I was raised Roman Catholic in the working-class, Italian/Americ
an area of South Philadelphia. I was an altar boy because a nun told me I had to be. My uncle decided I was going to be a priest. At 16, I fell in love with a classmate and realized that I couldn't be gay and catholic. I started reading Sartre after my brother turned me on to No Exit. Then I made the ultimate decision: torn between catholicism and the hot guy I was in love with, I said to hell with the repressive and anti-sex religion that only caused me guilt and made me feel like a hopeless sinner. I declared myself an atheist. Four years later in college, I joined the Gay Liberation Front and became a lifelong unrepentant sinner. I have been an atheist for over 40 years.
Regards,
San Francisco Atheists
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