To hear the policians, marketeers and fundraisers of the relig right talk, you'd thk that Matthew V' book God and the Gay Christian is full of
Contents:
GAYS PROMENT AT AMY GRANT’S NASHVILLE WEEKEND
That gays — and at least one lbian uple and one trans woman — were among the group was hardly surprisg. But for a generatn of gay men who grew up Baptist and Evangelil church the ’80s, Grant was so much more than that and, no exaggeratn, a lifele. Those of fan circl have discsed ad nsm Grant’s public handlg of her gay fans (or lack thereof).
But Grant would alienate a large part of her fan base if she were to e out one way or the other on her feelgs of the Bible and homosexualy. There’s a clamorg among gay fans, of urse, for her to be more unequivol. Nobody’s expectg Lady Gaga-liber activism, but heck, even the late Tammy Faye Bakker Msner was more openly gay acceptg than Grant.
‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’ IS NOT A NEW THG
It’s never been a big al to me, eher the booze or the gay stuff. ), latched on to an off-the-cuff remark she ma durg the weekend when a gut southern gospel sger, tellg a story about a drag queen who’d parodied his wife, said his group had a large gay followg (Grant acknowledged she did as well). My parents, both products of stodgy, old school male and Roman Catholic versns of Christiany, had early-’70s born aga experienc and for them and their fellow Boomers, there was a parallel J mic/born aga fever sweepg the untry the same time Stonewall and the morn gay rights movement was kickg off.
In terms of gay stuff, fah, and a whole lot more, this was not your parents’ (my grandparents’) Ameri.
So were the young gays of the era, hopelsly strand the Bible Belt wh no hope of pe until llege, jt latchg on to the clost thg we uld get to a lighthoe Grant? It’s hard to know if Grant meant any of this tentnally or if was her own way of sneakg some stuff past the gatekeepers, but there are glimmers of gay hope dotted all throughout her disgraphy om as early as 1980 when she sang the lyrics her then-hband, Gary Chapman, had wrten (“all I ever have to be is what you ma me/any more or ls would be a step out of your plan”) to her own lyrics jt a year later (“beg this person si of me/unaaid of beg me/no more fac to hi behd …/even if I am the only one who wants to fly”) and even much later, wh the 2003 song “Out the Open” (“there is no jury, there is no judge/ready and wag are the steady arms of love”).