Holy Queer Answers
Yes. You can be gay and Christian. Holy Queer argues that faith and queerness are not opposites. For many LGBTQ people, telling the truth about who they are becomes the beginning of a deeper relationship with God.
From Holy Queer
Holy Queer speaks from inside the Black church tradition while challenging the parts of that tradition that have excluded Black queer people. It acknowledges the beauty, power, music, formation, and communal memory of the Black church while refusing to ignore the harm caused by silence, shame, and exclusion.
The book does not ask LGBTQ Christians to abandon faith in order to be free. It asks the church to become honest enough to recognize the faithful people already in its midst.
Gay Christians have always been present. They have sung in choirs, played instruments, preached, prayed, served, organized, created beauty, and carried the church in ways that were often used but not honored.
What Holy Queer Proclaims
Holy Queer proclaims that LGBTQ Christians are not contradictions.
They are witnesses.
They are not outside the story of faith.
They are part of the story.
The question is no longer whether gay Christians exist.
The question is whether the church is willing to tell the truth about who has been here all along.
Critical Acclaim
"This powerful and insightful book exemplifies a deep Black prophetic Christian witness that will touch souls, change minds, and transform the lives of all of us..."
— Cornel West
"Holy Queer is beautiful, haunting, disruptive, prophetic, and healing... fashioned in the brave-as-hell style of bell hooks..."
— Gary Dorrien
Named one of Religion News Service's Top Religion & Spirituality Books of 2023.
A Black queer gospel by Rev. Karmen Michael Smith. A book for those who refuse to surrender either their faith or their truth.