One love. One faith. Four different stories.

Two gay men and two lesbians discussed their roads to “coming out” and loving God in a panel Thursday night to a crowd of about 50 people.

The panel was held at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 2210 Lincoln Way. The panel was sponsored by Belonging, a new St. Thomas-based peer support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students.

Lee Busselman, former Ames resident, was among the panelists. He said his road to coming out was difficult.

“I felt different, but I couldn’t figure out why,” he said. Busselman said he knew he was different at age six when he told his male friend he wanted to marry him.

Lee said one of the hardest things about being gay came in regard to his involvement in the church. He said he believes being gay and also involved in the church is common, though not mentioned often.

“You’ve probably received communion from someone who’s gay,” he said.

Each panelist agreed that being gay and being involved in the church was a struggle.

“I never thought I would be a lesbian and be involved in the Catholic church,” said Susan Sullivan, a Minnesota resident. Sullivan said she is involved in an accepting church and has been with her partner for 18 years.

Chris Robinson, of Des Moines, met her partner while living as a nun in a convent.

“God doesn’t tell me that I should be alone,” she said.

Robinson said she has taken a difficult road of substance abuse, alcohol abuse and recovery to get to the point she’s at now. She said the only thing she’s missing is a church to belong to.

“I wish I could belong to a group to worship with,” she said. “The church just hasn’t been accepting.”

Matt Russell, graduate in sociology, said his sexual orientation and his faith go hand in hand.

“It’s impossible for me to separate being gay from being Christian,” he said. “This is how God is calling me to live. He created me to be gay.”

Russell said he had a profound religious experience while studying to be a minister and that the experience called him away from that duty.

“I heard God tell me that his love for me didn’t depend on my being a priest and that being gay was okay,” he said.

Father Everett Hemann, pastor at St. Thomas, said he was impressed by the panelists and their discussions about being gay and Christian.

“As a pastor, one thing that came across strongly was the role of church in their lives,” he said.

Tom Brumm, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, said he was also impressed by the panel.

“They have a lot of courage for standing up there and talking about what they believe in. LGBT people are just like the rest of us and God thinks so too,” he said.