'God vs. Gay' writer Jay Michaelson on religious equality
by Sarah Toce
2012-01-11
Jay Michaelson is the author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality. The message encompassed in the 212-page exploratory multidimensional treatise is distinctively precise: Faith exists, regardless of gender or same-sex status and God thinks it's … quite okay to be gay, actually.
Windy City Times: As the author of God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality, you articulate the case for religion, faith, sexuality and acceptance throughout historic biblical reference points and into the present mind frame of society in regards to separation of church and state and familial obligations. Why is this book so needed at this given moment in our world's history?
Jay Michaelson: I think we're at a unique moment of opportunity right now. Because of the increased visibility of LGBT people in the media, the changes in law in some places and the continued effort by some on the political right to use gay rights as a scare tactic, this is a defining civil-rights struggle of our time.
It's clear to most people that the stereotypes about gay people are no more true than racist stereotypes or sexist stereotypes. At the same time, we have to have a deeper conversation about these issues than the ones often going on in our public sphere. A lot of people, myself included, were raised to believe that religion and sexual minorities were incompatible—that it really is God versus gay. Many of these folks are just starting to realize that isn't true, and [are taking] a closer look at their own religious or ethical traditions. This is how progress happens.
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