Light Come Out of the Closet: Memoir of a Gay Soul - The BookFt

Contents:

• GAY SOUL
• GAY SOUL: FDG THE HEART OF GAY SPIR AND NATURE WH SIXTEEN WRERS, HEALERS, TEACHERS, AND VISNARI HARDVER – JANUARY 1, 1994
• EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL KDLE EDN
• EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL
• GAY SOUL, AN EXCERPT OM AN EXTRAORDARY BOOK.
• LIGHT COME OUT OF THE CLOSET: MEMOIR OF A GAY SOUL
• CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE GAY SOUL BOOKS
• STRAYS: ANGSTY GAY ROMANCE (URBAN SOUL BOOK 2) KDLE EDN
• CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE GAY SOUL
• GAY SOUL: FDG THE HEART OF GAY SPIR AND NATURE WH SIXTEEN WRERS, HEALERS, TEACHERS, AND VISNARI - HARDVER
• GAY SOUL - SOFTVER
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• BENTON’S ‘EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL’ INFORMS REARS ABOUT GAY INTY & INFLUENCE

GAY SOUL

If you are a gay man who is seekg to broan your unrstandg of your own spirualy, if you are any other member of the gay muny, or have gay iends or gay relatns, then this lovely book is sential readg. It opened doors for me regardg my own role as a gay man who has long sought a ntext for my unique spirual exprsn. Wrten by men who have years of experience workg as healers, teachers, and mediators the book outl an historil ntext for gay spirualy as the shaman and the berdache.

In a world where our histori as gay people have been btally supprsed and nied, Gay Soul go a long way towards revery of what has been lost and towards prentg a real alternative to those of who are eply moved by nature, healg, shamanism, and other forms of spirual mediatn. The tle of that book is Extraordary Hearts: Reclaimg Gay Sensibily's Central Role the Progrs of Civilizatn. There has been a sea change as a rult of the LGBTQ+ muny (shortened by Benton to llectively to mean "gay") mandg and receivg part equaly and a proment seat at erng tabl.

GAY SOUL: FDG THE HEART OF GAY SPIR AND NATURE WH SIXTEEN WRERS, HEALERS, TEACHERS, AND VISNARI HARDVER – JANUARY 1, 1994

Recently, Benton has taken the ntent of many of the says published "Extraordary Hearts" and arranged them "a fluid sgular narrative, " his newt book, Edutn of a Gay Soul. After layg the amework for unrstandg the three aspects that help to fe gay inty — "gay sensibily, gay alternative perspective, and gay nstctive non-nformy" — Benton unrolls the history of this gay inty and s fluence on our culture. For the rear, this book n bt be scribed as slowly travelg on a river, perhaps wh Mark Twa, glimpsg Benton's remarkable vigt of a largely unknown gay history which Benton mh wh the gift of gay sensibily.

Specifilly, he f gay sensibily as the pabily of: "Lovg and rg for persons of our own sex ways that those whout n't match, but we also have a unique pacy to love and re for persons of the oppose sex, bee we do not measure such persons om the standpot of domn, procreatn and society's stctur for perpetuatg the. Gay sensibily empowers wh a unique pacy to love all persons regardls of genr, a passnate, empathetic way. It was Whman who provid gays "wh our re gay inty 150 years ago wh his notn of the 'great poet, '" acrdg to Benton.

EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL KDLE EDN

As we move on, we meet other great thkers Benton intifi as gay, who voted their liv to savg all of humany, cludg Socrat, Lln, Eleanor Roosevelt and many has wrten another extraordary book, that reveals extraordary histori that mt not be buried or fotten. Roslyn, the Falls Church News-PrsA journalist's manifto on how homosexualy has been a tanic force for human progrs.

Benton, the gay founr of the Falls Church News-Prs newspaper Virgia, ntends that beg gay is not only a sexual orientatn, but also a unique sensibily prised of "heightened empathy and passn, " an "alternative sensual perspective, "and "nstctive nonnformy.

EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL

" In particular, he says, he says that homosexualy had a profound fluence on the Amerin Revolutn, and on the natn's velopment unr policians who had gay sensibili, such as Alexanr Haton and Abraham Lln.

However, the post-Stonewall gay liftyle has been blighted, Benton asserts, by s "scent to a wanton, unbridled, obssive dg duced unendg y of impersonal and extreme sex, "which he blam on "anarcho-hedonist unterculture valu" implanted as part of a CIA nspiracy. "), subsumg everythg virtuo unr his book's umbrella("virtue, " he says, is "the ventn of homosexuals"); he also discs numero other well-known figur, om William Shakpeare to J 's a wi-rangg and sometim-stimulatg this that lls on everythg om Greek mythology to subatomic physics, and Benton also provis illumatg appreciatns of gay lerary lns, such as Tennsee Williams and Larry Kramer.

"When a gay person walks to the same room, he or she orients stead toward whether the drap and the rpet match. From the Author This book offers an argument agast the prevailg male-domated, hedonistic-centered culture that for so long has fed what means to be gay a twisted and wrong way. Benton has argued sce his activism the earlit days of the post-Stonewall gay movement, for gays to fe themselv on their own terms and not those of the domant culture.

GAY SOUL, AN EXCERPT OM AN EXTRAORDARY BOOK.

Benton's studi suggt that gay people rrpond bt to the ancient Greek archetype of the Promethean life-givg mol, not today's domant archetypal Dnysian pleasure-seekg mol. 92 reviews1 followerJuly 2, 2021In 2013, Nicholas Benton published a book of 100 says he had wrten and prted the Falls Church News-Prs, the publitn that he found some 30 years ago, as well as the Metro tle of that book is “Extraordary Hearts: Reclaimg Gay Sensibily’s Central Role the Progrs of Civilizatn. ” It is an extraordary scholarly work that, among other thgs, provid a unique sight to the liv of Osr Wil, Tennsee Williams, Christpher Isherwood and much has changed the world sce has been a sea change as a rult of the LGBTQ+ muny (shortened by Benton to llectively to mean “gay”) mandg and receivg part equaly and a proment seat at erng tabl.

Recently, Benton has taken the ntent of many of the says published “Extraordary Hearts” and arranged them “a fluid sgular narrative, ” his newt book, “Edutn of a Gay Soul. ”After layg the amework for unrstandg the three aspects that help to fe gay inty — “gay sensibily, gay alternative perspective, and gay nstctive non-nformy” — Benton unrolls the history of this gay inty and s fluence on our the rear, this book n bt be scribed as slowly travelg on a river, perhaps wh Mark Twa, glimpsg Benton’s remarkable vigt of a largely unknown gay history which Benton mh wh the gift of gay sensibily. Specifilly, he f gay sensibily as the pabily of:“Lovg and rg for persons of our own sex ways that those whout n’t match, but we also have a unique pacy to love and re for persons of the oppose sex, bee we do not measure such persons om the standpot of domn, procreatn and society’s stctur for perpetuatg the.

LIGHT COME OUT OF THE CLOSET: MEMOIR OF A GAY SOUL

It was Whman who provid gays “wh our re gay inty 150 years ago wh his notn of the ‘great poet, ’” acrdg to we move on, we meet other great thkers Benton intifi as gay, who voted their liv to savg all of humany, cludg Socrat, Lln, Eleanor Roosevelt and many has wrten another extraordary book, that reveals extraordary histori that mt not be buried or fotten. It’s Gay History month so we thought we’d post somethg about this fabulo book, wh an excerpt of what’s si.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE GAY SOUL BOOKS

When a joyful boy realiz he is gay, he fights agast fay and relig prejudic to reclaim the God of love he learned about hop of disverg what means to be a gay soul.

Knowg as a boy that I was gay while growg up a nservative relig environment left me nfed, prsed, and eventually suicidal. But I prsed on wh my visn to lead a personally, spirually, and socially empowered life as a gay, spirual man who would share his life wh another, siarly motivated man. In June, my newt book, Light Come Out of the Closet: Memoir of a Gay Soul, will reveal my entire succs story.

Thompson brgs out the unique ntributns of the teemed gay men - cludg Will Rose, Joseph Kramer, Harry Hay, Jam Broughton, Andrew Harvey, Pl Mote, Mallm Boyd, and Ram Dass - who lead the spirual life. His terviews ll out the ept emotns of each of the vibrant lears who reveal, as never before, the spir and the soul of the gay life.

STRAYS: ANGSTY GAY ROMANCE (URBAN SOUL BOOK 2) KDLE EDN

Mart's, 1987) plumbs "the potentiali of otherns" the pellg terviews wh a remarkably diverse, sightful roster of gay men, all of whom ponr and exemplify the spirual possibili of the gay experience.

ONE OF THE MOST PROVOCATIVE BOOKS TO APPEAR IN GAY LITERATURE IN YEARSFrom longtime 'Advote' edor Mark Thompson – black-and-whe photographs and searchg, provotive terviews wh sixteen renowned gay elrs whose visn and lea. Many Jewish and Christian anizatns see homophobia as proof of orthodoxy, while fundamentalists generally believe that the more you love J, the more you should hate faggots. Some relig groups have gradually adopted more liberal views-but their acceptance of queers is often hedged wh qualifitns, such as refg to acknowledge gay marriag.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE GAY SOUL

Beg lbian, gay or bisexual be a way of life self, fulfillg many of the rol tradnally played by relign. Or, for the more earntly cled, when there’s equaly to w, a health crisis to survive, and homoculture to nsume? And yet, spe of this mutual hostily, and spe of the virtual taboo around spirualy most queer ntexts, there are many lbian, gay and bisexual people for whom both spirualy and sexualy are sourc of strength and joy.

Some of the people practice predomantly heterosexual anizatns; others jo lbian and gay synagogu and church, or groups dited to gay spirualy, like the Radil Faeri. I put the qutns to a large number of lbian, gay and bisexual people, om a variety of different spirual tradns, while I was rearchg my book From Queer to Eterny (Cassell, 1997).

GAY SOUL: FDG THE HEART OF GAY SPIR AND NATURE WH SIXTEEN WRERS, HEALERS, TEACHERS, AND VISNARI - HARDVER

” Chris Fergon, a gay man and Buddhist, mak a siar distctn: “Relign is tryg to make you what you’re not. Turng wards is more than a fensive rponse, however; is an evable part of realizg you are lbian, gay or bisexual. “Bee we’re told that we’re not meant to be here, ” says Jason Oliver, a Pagan, “gay people go out of their way to fd out what they are really here for.

Another Buddhist, Fernando Guasch, agre: “This radil form of dislotn is fundamentally the re of the gay experience. Gay people n see through many of the `god-given tths’ that so many straight people seem to believe are moral/ethil facts about the world-they’re good myth bters. “When I allowed the `tth’ that I am gay, ” says Philip Joyce, a father of three, “ was an overwhelmg sight, enablg me to make sense of so many of my prev feelgs and experienc.

GAY SOUL - SOFTVER

Realizg you are gay n e a kd of ath-of the former, ill-ftg heterosexual inty and expectatns-but leads to the experience of new life. It’s a risk that has to be taken, however; the words of Harvey Fierste’s anthem to gay pri, “Life’s not worth a damn till you n say, I am what I am. As Rabbi Lnel Blue has said, spirualy the liv of lbian and gay people tends to be “hont, not rhetoric.

Another gay man, Steve Hope, is a Quaker; he fds “the eedom li beg as open as possible to ever more reali and experienc, and to share and be enriched by other people’s experience. ” Another gay man, Steve Hope, is a Quaker; he fds “the eedom li beg as open as possible to ever more reali and experienc, and to share and be enriched by other people’s experience. One way which gay people have rpond to so many years of beg margalized by mastream society is to create a very strong cultural inty of their own.

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

If you read any of the lbian or gay magaz or books now available, or watch some of the numero lbian and gay movi that have been released the last few years, or go to the pri march and ftivals which take place most major Wtern ci, you’ll quickly pick up how gay men and lbians drs, what mic they listen to, what they do wh their leisure time, and much else bis. This procs is strongly nsumerist-there are few ems which you n’t buy emblazoned wh the lors of the rabow “eedom flag, ” symbol of lbian and gay pri. The are jt the superficial trappgs of two very ep-rooted beliefs: that sexual orientatn is centrally important to your life, and that there are fg characteristics of gay men and of lbians beyond their sexual preferenc.

Gay men, for stance, are assumed to be sensive, wty, creative, rg, have good taste ( cloth, terr sign, etc. Morn lbian and gay people are happy to divi themselv off like this bee they unrstand their differenc om heterosexuals as beg posively to their advantage-and bee queers are the on makg this distctn, not the victims of . Mark Thompson, thor of Gay Spir and Gay Soul, se the role of queer people as “rriers of soul to a world that prefers to dwell on surfac.

The “Gay Spirualy” movement that they are volved tak as s role mols people om earlier cultur who viated om the domant genr and sexual norms, and unrtook spirual work and learship-most famoly, shamans and Native Amerin berdache. However, ultimately I mt reject this Gay Spirualy for the same reason that I reject homophobic relign-bee do not acknowledge the vastns of realy, nor do rrpond to my experience.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

You only need to listen to the nversatn gog on your average gay bar to realize that queers don’t, tomatilly, reprent a higher orr of nscns.

Gay men, for stance, n be jt-if not more-macho, objectifyg, emotnally articulate and misogynist as the next (straight) man (and I know many straight men who display none of those characteristics). Te, there have been some remarkable homosexual visnari and artists throughout history, but there have been some remarkable heterosexual visnari and artists too. Although homosexualy was illegal for much of his life, and ed him a great al of personal nflict, he says “Everythg that gays go through a straight person go through too.

In a future society that eely acknowledg the whole spectm of human sexualy, homosexual people will no longer be “queer” outsirs and g out will no longer be the same talyst for self-realizatn that is currently.

BENTON’S ‘EDUTN OF A GAY SOUL’ INFORMS REARS ABOUT GAY INTY & INFLUENCE

Peter Ashby-Saracen agre, while clearly valug the experience his sexual orientatn has brought him: “Beg gay is one maniftatn of beg human, and beg human is, among other thgs, to be aware of our place the wir `scheme of thgs.

Spirual tradns aspire to enpass the whole of realy-the breadth of human experience, the mystery of existence, the immensy and variety of the smos-which is not somethg lbian and gay inty, however proud, n do. By startg wh what we know -that we are lbian, gay or bisexual-we may be led to universal human issu of mortaly and meang, of jtice and sufferg, of our place the universe. In the words of Lev, a man I spoke to who belongs to the Jewish havur’a movement and Radil Faeri, as well as drawg on Eastern tradns, “When I’ve felt most spirually nnected is when I’ve had the strongt and cleart sense of my re beg, rather than beg a Jew, beg a gay man, beg a profsnal, beg whe, whatever.

"There was an urgency, a novelty to the whole thg, " said the gay thor, who won the Man Booker Prize for The Le of Bety. Go Tell It on the Mounta, for example, is not about a church, and Gvanni is not really about homosexualy.