Our homosexuality can be a clue to us about the nature & meaning of our own lives and about the nature of God.
Learn how homosexuality can be a path to holiness, a goad to virtue and excellence
and a practice of mystical vision and understanding God.
We don't have to just "believe in" God, we can "understand" God.
And that understanding transforms our lives in goodness.
------
Items of note:
Gay Spiritual writer Christian de la Huerta is in a competition
to get his next book, The Soul of Power, published;
we could all help by voting for his project.
".
. . a writer with a positive vision and a wonderful attitude"
--Rich
Grzesiak,
Philadelphia Gay News
"There
is a
fresh naivete in [Toby Johnson's] style that rings pleasantly in the
ear, like the memory of a
'boy's book' enthusiastically devoured at
age 12. Against the sour punk
of so much of today's gay male fiction, Getting
Life in
Perspective is a
treat." --Marvin Shaw, Lambda
Book Report
Listen
to a talk Toby
Johnson gave to
the Dharma Book
Study Group of
the S.F. Gay Buddhist Sangha.
Click on the link, then click
on Resources> audioarchives (by speaker) at the bottom of
the scrolling list in the left column.
Then go to the bottom of that
list to find Toby.
A Bifurcation of Gay Spirituality:
a review of Kennth Burr's Coming Out, Coming Home with a discussion of
the difference between "spirituality & religion for gay people" and
"Gay Spirituality" for gay people.
Historicity as Myth: an essay
for Harry Faddis & Patrick Cheng's "The Ways of the Spirit: A
Course in Spirituality for LGBT People" presented on WRPI
radio, March 2006. This essay is a marvelous statement of what
religious truth really is.
A
wonderful story called "I Want to Know Them
All" by Toby's straight hippie friend L. Houston Wood in the early 70s that appeared in
an issue of White Crane Journal about the Bodhisattva identity
Read
Toby's
whimsical piece about Adam and Steve. This essay on
biblical history appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of Ashe Journal 3.3
Seeing with Different Eyes: How we human beings see the world is
based more on our expectations than on what's really out there (an excerpt from In Search of God in the Sexual
Underworld)
Eckhart's Eye is a meditation on the
evocative "koan": "The eye with which I see God is the eye with which
God sees me."
Teenage
Prostitution and the Nature of Evil, another excerpt from In Search of God in the Sexual
Underworld, recounts
of Toby's discovery of
spiritual wisdom in the oddest of places, the Tenderloin district of
San Francisco.
The Nature of Religion
according to Joseph Campbell. A very wise statement from The Hero with
A Thousand Faces. (Links to The Joseph Campbell Foundation and the
Campbell Gimbutas Library and Archives at Pacifica.
Along
with Patrick McNamara, Duncan Teague, Craig
Harwood, Dave Nimmons, as well as Mark Thompson, Christian de la
Huerta, David Frechter, Michael
Sigmann, Bo Young,
Dan Vera, and others, Toby
Johnson assisted
with the calling of a "Gay
Spirit Summit" in Spring 2004 at Garrison
Institute.
Read
about the Gay Spirituality Summit and the "Statement
of Spirituality" with Toby's
commentary.
About Dennis Paddie, Austin/San Antonio
playwright, poet, and vagabond bon vivant. Dennis wrote a beautiful
tribute to fellow Texas playwright Sterling
Houston who died November 8, 2006.
About Toby and Kip's
successful long term relationship and the Wedding
Cake Liberation Event in San Antonio, June 16, 2005
Bro.
Martin McMurtrey, Toby's -- very influential and life-changing --
writing teacher in high school.
Kip
Dollar & Toby Johnson participated with hundreds of other
couples in a "group marriage ceremony" in front of the IRS Building
during the Second March on Washington in 1987.
Several
of Toby's
O.P. or unavailable m.s.s. are available for free
download.
All of Toby's books are available used from Barnes & Noble
(search also for Edwin Clark Johnson)
A great influence
on Toby Johnson's thought AND writing style is science
fiction prophet, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Here's a short article In Honor of Sir
Arthur C. Clarke
Be Done on Earth by
Howard E. Cook.Blending
modern-day physics and
cosmology, a little Teilhard and a little Matthew Fox, comparative
religion, some Joseph Campbell, intelligent New Age thought, progressed
Christianity, American political idealism, evolutionary theory,
postmodernism,
Pope John the Beloved calls for a new Church of the Second Coming--also
referred to (iconoclastically) as the Church of Kingdom Come--COKC
(try pronouncing the acronym). It’s a sex-positive religion
based in an evolutionary model of human nature with an openly gay
priesthood. Pay Me What I'm Worth by Souldancer.
Souldancer says he is
blending good business practice with multicultural ancient wisdom. As
the exercises
continue, they demonstrate that giving is the way to get and that
integrity and ethical living is the best success and the way to get
paid by life with happiness and fulfillment. So the thing about asking
for a raise is really a hook to pull you toward enightenment and wisdom. The Way Out by Christopher Lee
Nutter. Intermixing themes in current spiritual
thought—the Dalai
Lama, Joseph Campbell, Don Miguel Ruiz, Gary Zukav, A Course in
Miracles, the Twelve Steps—Nutter offers an answer to who you really
are. And in the process recounts how he came to understand this through
his experience in urban gay culture. The answer, of course, isn’t new
or surprising. It’s the age-old answer: we are each a perspective that
“God” or “Divine Consciousness” or “the cosmos”—whatever you want to
call IT—is taking on itself.
The Gay Disciple by John Henson. Gay
consciousness is now part of
human consciousness and naturally recapitulates Jesus’s teaching that
love and compassion trump religion and law. It’s good that the Jesus
story be written to include gay experience. The Life of Christ is an
appropriate subset of gay literary genre.
Art That Dares by Kitt Cherry, presents
erotic imagery based in
Christian tradition. Cherry is the author of JESUS IN LOVE, a novelist
"autobiography of Jesus" as sexually and psychologically sophisticated,
a real "tour de force" in transforming traditional myth to modern
consciousness. Cherry book ART THAT DARES was launched during the
National Festival of Progressive Spiritual Art in Taos, NM, May 11-12. There was a show at
the JHS Gallery.
The Dimensional Structure
of
Consciousness by Samuel Avery is a challenging and enlightening
model of how consicousness generates the experience of the world. It
was such a neat idea that I incorporated elements of it in my revised
edition of SECRET MATTER.
A Bifurcation of Gay Spirituality:
a review of Kennth Burr's Coming Out, Coming Home with a discussion of
the difference between "spirituality & religion for gay people" and
"Gay Spirituality" for gay people.
Extinguishing the Light by B. Alan Bougeois
is an allegorical account, a parable, set in a modern Texas prison, of
the appearance of a Christ-like figure who reaches out to his fellow
offenders with a visionary message of love .
Ko
Imani
and Goko Media are producing MyOutSpirit.com,
a resource guide, and social networking site for gay spiritualities. Click on the title or the logo to go to the homepage
for info and
to submit your name
or project for inclusion. The GAY
SPIRITUALITY & CULTURE blog that Joe Perez managed for some
four years has been interwoven into Ko Imani's MyOutSpirit.com
site.
Joseph Kramer is one of the most
important characters in the development of gay positive spiritual
thought.
Through
his
investigation of Taoism and India Tantrayoga, he developed techniques
for enhancing sexual arousal (and particularly self-pleasuring) and for moving
sexual arousal into high mystical states of consciousness. This is one
of the most significant contributions of gay spirituality to the
evolution of religion. Kramer teaches through the Internet at The New School of Erotic Touch.
Toby has a Letter to the Editor in the August 08 issue of OUT Mag
acknowledging Joseph Kramer's contribution.
Toby gave the keynote address at Between the Worlds Gathering.
This gay
neo-pagan gathering in southeastern Ohio (of
all places) is a marvelous event.
Toby
Johnson has presented 4 workshops at Gay
Spirit Camp at Easton Mountain.
He and
Kip are
both VERY impressed with Easton Mountain Retreat Center
and its
experiment
in gay intentional community and urge readers to check out eastonmountain.com
GSspirit,
a site that explores new areas of thinking and experience of what it
means to be Gay. GSspirit
> can stand for Gay ( S) sacred, soul, spirit, shaman, sexuality -
Spirit or spirituality.
A web-community, social network site based in Australia. Gay Spirituality - Creating the New
Myth
(Toby Johnson is pleased that Darren and Bradley have adopted the
mobius strip for their logo.)
Kip Dollar & Toby Johnson attended the
Gala Lambda
Literary Awards
Presentation in NYC,
May 31, 2007.
Toby's anthology CHARMED
LIVES, co-edited by
Steve Berman,
was nominated for Best Anthology. The award went to the very deserving
Love, Bourbon Street, edited by Herren & Willis.
Toby
Johnson, PhD
is author of some ten books: three non-fiction books that apply the
wisdom of Joseph
Campbell, his teacher and "wise old man," to modern-day social and
religious problems, four gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual
issues at the heart of gay identity, two books on gay men's
spiritualities, gay spirit, and the mystical experience of
homosexuality, and an anthology which he edited with Steve Berman of
gay-positive short stories.
Toby Johnson and Kip
Dollar
have been
partners since 1984. They have been advocates for and examples of
successful longterm gay relationships. Toby and Kip were the first male
couple registered as Domestic Partners in Texas (Austin,
Travis County, Oct 11, '93). There's a write-up about them as a couple
on the very extensive website on gay couples & relationships, Partners
Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples.
(Click
here for a high resolution .tif photo of Toby Johnson in B&W Or in color and For hi-res color photo of Toby Johnson
& Kip Dollar by Tim Leary)
Kip
and Toby have been partners
since 1984. They
were the first
male couple to register as Domestic Partners in Texas. An account of
their first 14 years together appears in Merle Yost's book on long-term
gay relationships: WHEN LOVE LASTS FOREVER.
Kip
Dollar
is
a professional bookkeeper and
community activist. It
was he who managed the financial matters of Liberty Books. He worked
with numerous gay community groups and organizations in San Antonio and
Austin. He
is a talented natural artist, working on paper in watercolors, pastels, and charcoal (click on
the link to see his portfolio) and in
sculpture with clay. He is presently studying pastels with protrait
artist Susan Carlin and with
renowned watercolorist Brad Braune. Kip is also a creator of
marvelous Halloween costumes. Kip's a striking redhead.
For
seven years, Toby
Johnson and Kip Dollar ran Liberty Books, the lesbian and gay community
bookstore in Austin. Toby and Kip sold the store to Crossroads Market
in 1994. In Spring 1997, they moved to Conifer, Colorado in the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Denver where they ran a gay
B&B called The House at Peregrine's Perspective. (While in Denver,
they purchased a wonderful mantle clock, a statue by French sculptor
Mathurin Moreau, titled Bucheron,
i.e.,
the woodcutter. Bucheron was a sort of mascot for the B&B.)
In
2000, they
moved back to Texas to operate a B&B called Casa Peregrino in the
little artist
colony/river resort town of Wimberley mid-way between San Antonio and
Austin in the
Texas Hill Country. And in 2003, they sold Casa Peregrino and moved
back to their hometown to watch over Kip's parents, and to plan their
next life adventure together.
In
1996 Toby joined an
EarthWatch
expedition to
videotape the spring equinox festivals in the rural village of Tigiria
in eastern India. Toby returned with several "longees," the sarong-like
garment the men in the area wear. Here are Kip and Toby in the backyard
in Austin, wearing the Indian longees. Toby
looks like actor Ben Kingsley -- and so by extension, Mahatma Gandhi.
White Crane Gay
Spirituality Series:
classics in the Gay Genre now available from Lethe Press through
state-of-the-art printing technology, in cooperation with White Crane
Institute.
Here's a
link
to an interesting book of meditations called MESSIAH SEED by gay
spiritual writer Story Waters. Check this out: Limitlessness.com
Here's
a link to Ashe an interesting
webzine of experimental
(and gay)
spirituality
Bruce Grether
has a
wonderful website on Erotic
Spirituality for Men called www.mm4m.org
Christian de la
Huerta of
San Francisco's Q-Spirit, author of the groundbreaking book
Coming
Out Spiritually: The Next Step has a very
extensive website at Revolutionary
Wisdom
An interesting new
book: A SPECIAL ILLUMINATION: Authority,
Inspiration and
Heresy in Gay Spirituality by Rollan McCleary
For
more info, check out www.rollanmccleary.com
Canadian lesbian Caffyn Kelley has
created a beautiful website (including complete text of her book) "Mapping
Queer Meaning"
Out & About with
Brewer &
Berg is a philosophical travelogue of Europe with two zany guys in an amazing
filmed documentary of their vision quest
Jesus
in Love is a wonderful book, a Life of Christ, told in the first
person of Jesus, but presented as a "modern person," psychologically
and sexually aware.
Bruce Grether and Edwin
Erhgott are co-creating of the Brotherhood of Men,
an organization to promote and
facilitate erotic education,
An
example of Modern mythopoesis: The Drums of Legenderry, a collection of fantasy
short stories by writer/poet/drummer--and Foothills Family
member--John Orlando.
Mark Thompson, author of Gay Spirit: Myth and
Meaning, the book that
arguably started the gay spirituality movement, has a website showing
his photos of gay spiritual leaders from the exhibit Fellow
Travelers, with links to Thompson's books
A German
gay leatherman living in London has a site about Leather Sexuality
from a spiritual
perspective at meFFisto
Walter L. Williams, co-author with Toby Johnson of TWO SPIRITS, has a
website with a wonderful re-presentation of the Teachings of Jesus for the modern
day.
Christ, the
Gay Martyr
is a blog by an African American gay man in Kansas City who goes by
Stuffed Animal. There are postings about Christianity and
homosexuality. Very positive and uplifting.
Khaemille
is American Gay
High Priest initiated as a Babalawo (diviner) of the Yoruba
Ifa religion as well as the founder of the House of Amun, a spiritual
training
system based upon the teachings of Ancient Egypt designed for Gay
healers
and metaphysicians.
The Human
Rights Campaign has a page called Out In Scripture, a free
weekly online resource for clergy and lay people of faith.
The website
will provide distinct insights into the Bible, week after week, from a
lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and straight-supportive perspective.
DREAMWalker Group profiles
gay writers. Interesting and informative
site.
Contemplations of the
Heart: A Book of Male Spirit by Peter Grahame is a wonderful
collection of male photography and uplifting text. A delight!
Sexual Fables by
Martin Blythe is a wonderful site with revised versions of the great
stories of Western Civilization, told with the sex angle written in and
instead of written out. Especially, look for the gay angle in the
stories
Age of Consent, Women in Trousers and Vampires in Venice.
The first "Bible" was originated written by Marcion of Synope; The
Savior's name was Isu Chrestos. A similar Savior with a similar message
was Apollonius of Tyana. Students of the origins of Christianity will
be interested in reading about the precursors to the Gospels. Check out
Chrestos.com
Easton Mountain
Retreat
Center is a gathering place in the mountains outside Albany NY, an
intentional community, which might be characterized as a gay spiritual
"freelance monastery," hosts a variety of events and conferences.
buddybuddy.com
is the site of Demian, a Seattlite who runs an interesting suite of
websites (including the aforementioned Partners Task Force). He also
has an international listing of gay theaters, a link to his digital
film and photography operation and the Sweet Corn Shop which sells
products that affirm self-esteem and social equality.
Sell Books and
Textbooks Online
BlueRectangle is all about books. We not only buy back used books and
textbooks; but also offer Video book reviews. Concise and fascinating
insights into a wide variety of books.
Clouds of Magellan is an
independent publishing imprint, based in Melbourne, Australia. Clouds
specialises in non-fiction in the area of
spirituality, broadly defined, and publishes some fiction and poetry.
They publish Michael Kelly, former Dignity leader in Australia (Rainbow
Sash Movement) and part-time resident at Easton Mountain Gay Retreat in
upstate New York.
Donald Engstrom-Reese has a wonderful site and blog offering a gay
conscious nature religion and spiritual view of life. Walking
in Beauty
Bruce Grether has a new project Male Mystery School
-- wonderful ideas and training in the spiritual dimensions of
sexuality and masturbation.
Rick Freeman is Founder the Spiritual Director of Dolphin Pond. He has a lovely site
with wonderful shamanic wisdom.
OutImpact.com --
A new gay Internet magazine-- "Making a positive impact in the gay
community. Make
yours." --referred to me by
the same people who created
GayEvolution.com.
Mountaine Mort Jonas
is
a highly experienced trainer, conductor, actor, and musician in the
rich honoring of true personal stories that is called Playback Theatre.
He is also a long-time facilitator of Breathwork Medicine, a form of
intensive breathing (similar to "rebirthing") which is a potent
technique to advance self-knowledge, personal growth, transformation,
and healing.
Eva Thayer is a wonderful "wise old woman" in San Antonio. She writes:
"The purpose of life is to enjoy it. To do that it is necessary to love
ourselves. My perception is that human me cannot love Me the way
Creator Me can. Connecting ourselves to our Creator is a sure way to
love ourselves. There's info about her on
this site. And Check out her
website
MeLand
Would Jesus Discriminate? Gay rights from a Bibilical Christian
perspective. What were "eunuchs" in Bibilical times?
San Francisco photographer and de facto documentator of the City's gay
movement has an exhibit in New York City Sept 15-Oct 17, 2009 at the
Leslie Lohman Galley, 26 Wooster St in Soho. Read about Rink
Michael, the "Kahunka," gives good advice for mind & body.
There are several videos of him giving cooking instructions shirtless.
Michael's article on "The Law of Attraction" is one of the best
statements of this idea I have ever read--the good sense, logical
explanation without the "magical thinking."
Fr. William Hart McNichols is
a former Jesuit priest and icon painter, a student of Robert Lentz. His
icons, modernized, but in Russian tradition, are wonderful expressions
of sainthood for today.
The Flesh & Spirit Community
is "an intentional community of queer men, based in San Franscisco, who
bring enlightenment, love, liberation, healing, knowledge, power, and
wholeness around issues of queer men's identity, spirituality, and
sexuality.
Toby Johnson, PhD is
author of ten books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of
his
teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and
religious problems, four gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual
issues at the heart of gay identity, and three books on gay men's
spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality. In
addition to the novels featured
elsewhere in this web site, Johnson is author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN
THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and THE MYTH OF
THE GREAT SECRET (Revised edition): AN APPRECIATION OF JOSEPH
CAMPBELL.
Johnson's Lammy Award winning book
GAY
SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of
Human Consciousness was published in 2000.
His Lammy-nominated book GAY
PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature
of God and the Universe was published by Alyson in 2003.
Articles
About Toby's Books
Contact Us 
Gay Survey
Search Site
Table of Contents
More Links
Joseph Kramer is one of the most
important characters in the development of gay positive spiritual
thought.
In
addition to the novels featured elsewhere in this web site,Johnson is
author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and 
Kip
Dollar
is
a professional bookkeeper and
community activist. It
was he who managed the financial matters of Liberty Books. He worked
with numerous gay community groups and organizations in San Antonio and
Austin. He
is a talented natural artist, working on paper in 
In
1996 Toby joined an
EarthWatch
expedition to
videotape the spring equinox festivals in the rural village of Tigiria
in eastern India. Toby returned with several "longees," the 
sarong-like
garment the men in the area wear. Here are Kip and Toby in the backyard
in Austin, wearing the Indian longees. Toby
looks like actor Ben Kingsley -- and so by extension, Mahatma Gandhi.
