In an op-ed, basketball player Layshia Clarendon opens up about her faith and sexuality.

Clarendon, who was selected 9th overall in the 2013 Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft by the Indiana Fever, wrote a lengthy post titled Keeping the Faith which appeared on ThePlayersTribune.com.

“I identify as black, gay, female, non-cisgender and Christian,” Clarendon wrote. “I am an outsider even on the inside of every community to which I belong. My very existence challenges every racial, sexual, gender and religious barrier.”

She wrote that after her older sister came out gay, her parents turned to religion.

“It can be a convenient excuse, the Bible, to cover up someone's personal discomfort.”

“[W]ith time and exposure, [my mom] came to fully accept my sexuality. It's easy to discard or disagree on principle with a faceless concept – my gayness as a mere fact. But when she saw – when people see – two people, relating in happiness and love, it becomes much harder to untangle right and wrong.”

“Love is not a moral argument. … Love isn't a gay or straight experience; it's a human experience.”

Clarendon added that the church has “a rich history of homophobia, which has inflicted so much harm on so many lives.”

“I took this especially personally because I am a Christian who often needs to prove her faith because of her sexuality. How could my fellow believers be the ones to exclude any walk of life? As leaders in faith and the league, I expect my sisters in Christ to fight for inclusion. That's what we should be doing – that's the right thing to do. Isn't that the message?”