I recently picked up a copy of integralite Joe Perez's Soulfully Gay. If you haven't read this provocative memoir, I highly recommend it. (I'm still making my way through it; I am a slow reader with up to five books on my agenda at a time. Just call me ADD boy.)

The content comes from his blog writings, and, as expected, it ranges from deeply personal reflections to rather dry social commentary (it takes one to know one). The sections that really reach out and grab you drip with angst. Joe's quest for personal and spiritual authenticity bleeds right through the static words on the page. You will find tones of defiant rage and hubris as well as humility and compassion. Simply put: Soulfully Gay shines a light on a queer man's journey towards wholeness in a rapidly changing, challenging and confusing world.

Joe's struggle to reconcile his Christian heritage and identity with the current political climate in Christianity weaves throughout. From Tuesday, May 18:

"When I last wrote about my journey with Christianity, I wrote of moving away from a perspective of rejecting the Roman Catholic faith and toward one of integrating its best aspects as fully as possible into my life..."

A surge of anger rushed up within me as I pondered that statement. A queer man is "moving away from a perspective of rejecting the Roman Catholic faith and toward one of integrating its best aspects as fully as possible"? My emotional reaction was in response to the thought of those in Christian establishments who display outright hubris and lack of compassion when using a broad brush to paint all queer people as morally deficient, rejecting them for what so many of us know is a naturally-arising identity. Unfortunately, people with deep seated sexual repressions are capable of sounding sane enough to gain positions of power. In Joe, though, we have an image that aligns more with the teachings and ideals of Christ than many of these so-called Christian leaders do. If only those leaders would move away from perspectives of rejection and towards integration themselves they might stop projecting it onto the sex-positive queer culture. As queer people of spiritual depth, we see the bankruptcy of a morality motivated by pathology or politics. Those of us that have actually moved closer to God find it in our hearts to pray that they find their way to self acceptance. Thank God, more Christians join us every day as they witness the hypocrisy that is antithetical to the enduring message of Jesus.

In a future post, I'll ponder Joe's theoretical framework that attempts to account for gay love.