One of the tools we can use to negotiate the challenge of being authentically gay /lesbian /or otherwise queer is to understand what otehrs have done. Dugan McGuinley, in “Acts of Faith, Acts of Love” describes gay Catholic autobiographies as “sacred texts” - that is, as texts that are worth reading and reflecting on, because they can teach us a great deal about ourselves, the church, and God - and the relationships between them. This is the same idea I was stumbling towards after first writing about Fr James Martin’s piece at America blog, “What is a Gay Catholic to do?”, and my subsequent collections of posts under the generic title of “What Gay Catholics Have Done” (which I continue to add to, and assemble on this page).

My brief collection is nowhere near extensive enough to do justice the subject, nor will it ever do more than introduce the topic. There are many fine collections of such stories, and even more full length stories. The bibliography below represents a small beginning of a continuing work in progress, to suggest some of the biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs that may be read in that spirit. Initially, the list is drawn heavily from the texts discussed in McGinley, which means that they are heavily skewed towards Catholics and gay men - but I will be constantly working towards redressing that balance.

Like all the bibliographies I am compiling, inclusion does not imply that I have personally read every book. However, this is not just an arbitrary list. Every item carries with it at least a second hand recommendation, based on material I have read about it elsewhere, either in a recommendation from a trusted source, or as a work discussed and cited as important in another book. So, if I have not read everything, inclusion here does guarantee that I would like to - if only there were “world enough, and time”.

My intention for each entry is to include basic bibliographical information, a link to reviews at Google books (where available), and links to purchase opportunities at Amazon.com and also Amazon.UK. This is very much a work in progress. Initially, the list is incomplete, and links will not all be working - but the page will be continuously updated. Keep checking back.

Foundation Text:

McGinley, Dugan: Acts of Faith, Acts of Love: Gay Catholic Autobiographies as Sacred Texts (Review at Google Books)/Buy at Amazon.com/Buy at Amazon UK)

Full Length Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoirs

Arpin, Robert: Wonderfully,Fearfully Made: Letters on Living With Hope, Teaching Understanding, and Ministering With Love, From a Gay Catholic Priest With AIDS. (Harper San Francisco, 1993)

Buy from Amazon.com

Campo, Rafael: The Other Man Was Me: A Voyage to the New World (Houston, Arte Publico Press, 1994)

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

The Desire to Heal: A Doctor’s Education in Empathy, Identity, and Poetry (New York, W W Norton, 1997)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

Diva (Durham, NC. Duke University Press, 1999)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

De Caro, Frank: A Boy Named Phyllis: A Suburban Memoir (NY, Viking, 1996)

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

Evans, Amie: Queer and Catholic

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

Holleran, Andrew

The Beauty of Men (New York, Plume, 1997)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Horrigan,Patrick E

Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay At the Movies (Madison, U of Wisconsin Press, 1999)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Johnson, Fenton:

Keeping Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey (Reviews at Google Books)/Buy from Amazon.com

Kopay, David & Young, Perry: David Kopay Story

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

McNaught, Brian:

Disturbed Peace: Selected Writings of an Irish Catholic Homosexual
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

On Being Gay: Thoughts on Family, Faith, and Love (Stonewall Inn Editions)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com

McNeill, John

Both Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (Louisville, Wesminster John Knox, 1998)
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Morrison, James:

Broken Fever: Reflections of Gay Boyhood
Reviews at Google Books /Broken Fever: Reflections of Gay Boyhood

Pallone, David

Behind The Mask: My Double Life in Baseball
Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com/ Buy From Amazon UK

Bouldrey, Brian: Wrestling with the Angel: Faith and Religion in the Lives of Gay Men (NY, Riverhead Books, 1995)

Reviews at Google Books /Buy from Amazon.com

Grammick, Jeanine: Homosexuality in the Priesthood and the Religious Life ((NY, Crossroad, 1989)

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Lake, Catherine: ReCreations: Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Queer People

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Mecca, Thomas Avioli: Hey, Paesan!

Reviews at Google Books/Buy From Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Thompson, Mark: Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature with Sixteen Writers, Healers, Teachers

Reviews at Google Books/ Buy from Amazon.com / Buy from Amazon UK

General Anthologies, with some Catholics included

Binder, Wolfgang, and Breinig, Helmbrecht:

American Contradictions: Interviews with Nine American Writers (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1995)
Reviews at Google Books / Buy from Amazon.com / Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Fellows, Will: Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Gambone, Phillip: Something Inside: Conversations With Gay Fiction Writers

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Kramer, Joseph: Body and Soul

Reviews at Google Books/Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

Merla, Patrick: Boys Like Us

Reviews at Google Books/ Buy from Amazon.com /Buy from Amazon UK

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