"This book is Jerry Falwell's worst nightmare: an eloquent, comprehensive guide for gay men and lesbians ready to storm the holy banquet without apology or fear. If you've wondered how to make passion a virtue, read this book without delay."
--Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment
COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY: THE NEXT STEP by Christian de la Huerta (A Tarcher/Putnam Trade Paperback; $14.95; June 1, 1999), offers a fresh outlook on gay spirituality and how to assert it, and thereby gives queer readers a foundation from which to begin building a spiritual life.
Christian de Huerta, the founder of Q-Spirit, synthesizes the ten spiritual roles or archetypes queer people have often assumed and continue to enact today: creator of beauty, consciousness scout, mediator, shaman, and healer, among others. Drawing on these models while acting as a guide to the queer community, de la Huerta shows how to look deeper inside; to reach higher than ever before; to step forth more fully into their rightful selves.
COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY introduces readers to many of the world's religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sufism, and Taoism, and investigates the teachings of these traditions and their attitudes towards homosexuality.
COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY at once challenges, advises, and spiritually awakens the queer community.
MORE PRAISE FOR COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY
"De la
Huerta's beautifully crafted prose and his passionate desire
to help queers come out spiritually mark this book as an
extraordinary achievement." --Publishers
Weekly "COMING
OUT SPIRITUALLY is a thoroughly researched,
thought-provoking examination of the relationships between
gays and lesbians and the multiplicity of ways of expressing
what I call the impulse to mystery -- the need to engage
that aspect of the world and of our lives that lies beyond
words and explication. De la Huerta's book will be of great
interest both to the spiritually curious and to the
dedicated seeker, for it compiles in one source everything
from useful summaries to the various religions' principles
and attitudes toward same-gender love to profiles of the
author's own remarkable spiritual journey. Through this book
and through his organization Q-Spirit, de la Huerta is
performing a great service, not only to gays and lesbians
but to the causes of peace and justice." --Fenton
Johnson, author of Scissors, Paper, "I wish I
had this book when I first came out as a 'spiritual person.'
Christian de la Huerta's 'next step' vision is clear,
integral, and very sexy." --Annie
Sprinkle, film maker "Comparable
to Shinoda Bolen's Goddesses in Everywoman and Pinkola
Estes' Woman Who Run with the Wolves, COMING OUT
SPIRITUALLY reveals how we may apply spiritual and
archetypal wisdom relating to erotic and gendered diversity
to enrich our daily lives as well as to ameliorate the lives
of others and to nurture the well-being of the
earth." --Randy
P. Conner, author of Cassell's "The
inevitable achievement of our civil rights will be a partial
victory for us until we claim for ourselves the spiritual
right that Christian de la Huerta invites us to explore.
COMING OUT SPIRITUALLY is an encyclopedia of
possibilities that make coming out politically and coming in
spiritually easier and more joyous." --Andrew
Ramer, author of Two Flutes Playing "This is a
rich sourcebook in spiritual discipline and diversity.
Christian de la Huerta guides us through a large and
fruitful garden of the soul." --Mel
White, author of Stranger at the Gate: "Whether
reclaiming or inventing, questioning or witnessing,
testifying or envisioning, queer folks today are fomenting a
dynamic spiritual renewal. With sympathy and insight,
Christian de la Huerta surveys this burgeoning movement in
all its diversity." --Will
Roscoe, author of The Zuni Man-Woman, "COMING
OUT SPIRITUALLY is a hopeful book, encouraging as it
is insightful." --Mark
Thompson, author of the Gay Spirit, Visit
Tarcher/Putnam on-line at www.penguinputnam.com
Rock and Geography of the Heart
Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit
and Revelations for a New Millennium
To Be Gay and Christian in America
Queer Spirits, and Changing Ones
Gay Soul, and Gay Body trilogy