". . . 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
Here's a
wonderful quote from Joseph Campbell
that
explains
it all:
…the
objective is to be born from the womb of
myth, not
to
remain in it, and the one who has attained to this “second birth” is
truly the “twice born,” freed from the pedagogical devices of society,
the lures and threats of myth, the local mores, the usual hopes of
benefits and rewards.
Flight
of the Wild Gander, p.
38
______
As an Amazon Associate
I earn from qualifying purchases.
Toby
joined in a wonderful conversation with Brian McNaught and Hayley Evans
on their YouTube videocast series called Can You Be Happy Without the
Movie? (I gave a new spin to the meaning of their title by talking
about my hope that Secret Matter would someday be made into a
movie.)
Brian is an important character in the development of gay consciousness
from a religious perspective.
Gregory
Foster’s ’zine
carries
on the tradition
of White Crane Journal.
The
Holy Male is a queer and gay men's literary and
artistic
magazine based in Vancouver, BC with a mission, as the name implies, of
presenting positive visions of men's consciousness. It is maintained
and edited
by Gregory Foster. The Holy Male is
looking for
submissions of
art of
all kinds, poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction (essays,
interviews, memoirs, biography, literary journalism, social or cultural
commentary or analysis) and visual art.
~ ~ ~
Lifecoach
Raymond L. Rigoglioso was running a monthly telephone discussion
group, occasional weekend Intensives (at Easton Mountain) and a website
about understanding gayness as a spiritual and life-positive,
contributing vocation. He has published his discoveries in a book
titled Gay Men and The New
Way Forward.
Toby
Johnson contributed a Foreword to this book.
LGBTQ+
historian Eric Cervini offers
brief lessons in gay history on Instagram AND on DiscoveryPlus TV. He
is author of The Deviant's War, the life of Frank Kameny.
Cervini is
entertaining and cute! A great way to present unknown history. Here's a review of The
Deviant's War.
New
book reviews:
Daddy Lover God by Don Shewey is a marvelous presentation of gay men's sex as spiritual practice and manifestation of virtue.
Heavenly LGBTQ+ by Jan Haen continues the stories of saintly LGBTQ+ people, this time more of them outside the Church
Why and How the
Clergy Lied by D.L. Day, a 2-volume set about what's really behind
the "conservative" Churches' attack on LGBTQ people.
Ever
After: The Extended Lives and Work of Eleven Famous Writers by
Andrew Ramer, a book of "second acts" in the lives of some of our
favorite writers.
Meditation
for Prisoners
by Lewis Elbinger is a 31 day series of meditations on the themes of
the liberated life that astutely summarizes the necessary wisdom.
A
Catechism of the Heart
by Benjamin Brenker is a heartfelt account of an open and gay-aware
young Catholic struggling with his call to be a Jesuit priest.
Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood by John
D'Emilio is a lovely and entertaining and enlightening memoir of the
notable historian of gay culture.
I
Came Here Seeking a Person by
William Glenn is a book of autobiographical chapters on significant
spiritual events in this devout gay Christian's life journey.
Queer God de
Amor
by Miguel H. Diaz queers the mysticism of St John of the Cross by
taking seriously the sexual imagery in the poet/monk's writings.
Our Time: San
Francisco in the ’70s by Chuck Forester is a novel about
gay/queer genre literature and the importance of gay history and
culture.
The
Erotic Contemplative by
Michael Bernard Kelly recounts the stages of homosexual psychospiritual
maturation in the terms of the traditional Catholic mystical life.
Heavenly
Homos, Etc by Jan Haen is a presentation of LGBTQ people in history
whom society and the Church considered saints and heroes.
Toby Johnson reviews A New Now
by Michael Goddart, a book of seriously good advice/wisdom about how to
think about your experience, your life, and yourself.
Where's My
Pizza? by
Larry Armistead II offers techniques for changing your consciousness so
that what you expect for yourself manifests itself in your real life.
Two Hearts
Dancing by Eli Andrew Ramer is a wonderful followup to Ramer's
classic book of imaginative gay myths, Two Flutes Playing.
Jonas and the Mountain by Janis Harper is a book
of spiritual wisdom and a romance novel with appealing characters and a
lovely plot.
Toby
Johnson wrote a Foreword to Shokti Lovestar's autobiographical account
of his healing from AIDS and transforming his vision of life in From
AIDS To Eternity. (link to Shokti's site)
Toby
Johnson is pleased to have assisted Richard Ammon publish in
book form some of the content about gay life
around the world from his extensive website: Life and Death in a
Global Gay World
All the Time in the World by J. Lee Graham is a
delightful Young Adult novel with a time travel plot.
Clobber
the Passages by Mel White reports on the damage caused by the
anti-gay
interpretation of the Bible.
The
Sum of All the Pieces by Paul Bradford is a heartrending but
ultimately uplifting account of
an older gay man's struggle to be true to himself in spite of
horrendous odds.
Sex
with God
by Suzanne DeWitt Hall is a book of meditations, some practical, some
profound, on the spiritual side of sex and how to experience sex as
spiritual.
What Is the
Grass
by Mark Doty, a literary analysis of Walt Whitman's poetry, into which
is beautifully blended a series of meditations and musings on the
nature of sex, love, and especially the Self, with a capital S.
The
Deviant's War by Eric Cervini tells the story of Frank Kameny,
leader of Washington
Mattachine, author of the phrase "Gay is Good."
How to be an Excellent Human Being
by Bill Meacham, a wonderful book that truly explains everything from
the nature of reality to consciousness to how to live well and be happy
the best and right way.
Trust
Truth
by Trudie Barreras tells the true story of a marriage in
which the gay
husband's sexuality is recognized and handled honestly and positively
for both.
The
Mountains of Paris by David Oates is a
beautifully written
memoir of living for a stint in Paris and figuring out what life is all
about.
by
Damien Rowse
A description of a six-week meditation retreat completed by a gay male
couple in a simple nature hut. By offering the body limitless rest and
limitless loving energy both non-sexual and sexual, they experienced
remarkable healing and spiritual awakening.
A
New World
by Whitley Strieber Different people live
in different universes. And the world is bigger than we know.
David's
Story: Healed by faith,
love, inner strength and the strong will to survive by
Marie
Rothenberg & Mel White is a moving account of the tragedy of young
David Rothenberg's, a 5 year old boy terribly burnned at the hands of
his father, then nursed back to life by his mother. Disturbing,
but also uplifting and inspiring. Toby Johnson assisted with
publication of the 2022 edition.
a
book about changing
perspective to see that consciousness is bigger
than just the human brain, and the world we all live in is just the
surface of a greater "super natural" reality.
The
Galilee Episode by Ronald Goetz explains the mysterious
verses
in the New Testament about "one being taken and one being left."
Hint:
it's gay
There
are lots more book reviews
below, click here
Toby
enjoyed the ABC-TV movie written by Dustin Lance Black based on the
book by Cleve Jones When We Rise. Toby Johnson recognized
several
intersections of events in the movie with his own life. Here's a link to his brief reminiscences
A sensible conspiracy theory of 9/11 • the secret of the Knights
Templar • a gay Mata Hari seducing secrets from modern Araby • a
confrontation with
death and a peek into the Bardo • young gay lovers
discovering the pleasures of high class life with Washington, DC
socialites—and the dangers • reminiscences of gay life in Austin TX in
the 1960s • an incredible,
literary melange.
Toby Johnson
contributed an Afterword and Commentary on the
mythic/mystical meaning of the Crucifixion of Jesus for The Passion
of
Christ: A Gay Vision A
book of
essays by
Kittredge Cherry And paintings by Doug
Blanchard
Here's a
webpage presentation that Toby showed to illustrate his talk, "Gay
Perspective & the New Myth" in London, Oct 2014. Toby's talk
at LoveSpirit 2014
This is a
good summary of Toby Johnson's basic theories of gay
consciousness and of religion and myth, and an explication of why
Johnson thinks of himself as "Joseph Campbell's Apostle to the Gay
Communty." Among the organizers of LoveSpirit 2014 was Mark Whiting who
uses the Faerie name Shokti Lovestar. He writes extensively about gay
men's spiritualites. Here's a link: Gay Consciousness changing the
world by Shokti LoveStar.
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.
Queering religion cannot
mean just getting queers to go back to church. Queering religion has to
mean raising the perspective and discovering a new paradigm.
Common
Experiences Unique to Gay Men. We're like everybody else
in most ways of course,
but
there are some experiences non-gay people don't have that are very
important to us.
What is
Gay Perspective? Toby Johnson explains his idea that being gay
influences how we see the world.
Toby Johnson and Joe Perez both
discuss The Two Loves:
duality for its other half, unity
for its self-reflection as a meatphysical explanantion of sexual love.
Monastic or
Chaste Homosexuality
discusses the "vibes" we may be inheriting from the lives of all those
homosexuals who lived as monks or nuns throughout history.
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.
Joseph Campbell
quoted Schopenhauer about aging;
Toby tells about a retreat at Easton Mountain on Gay Aging led by Ed
Marchi and understanding our lives as a story composed by an unknown
author.
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
The
Myth
of the
Wanderer as a mythic reminder of mortality and the importance of
finding heaven now. Includes The Hobo Code of Ethics
Harold Cole, an early
civil rights actiivist and gay man contributed
this wonderful article about seeing beauty in everything for White Crane
Journal.
What the Vows of Religious
Life
really mean and why we should want to live this way now, all of us, all
the time, for the sake of our happiness and fulfillment, and the
salvation of the world.
Sex in the
Seminary
is an excerpt from Toby Johnson's novel Getting Life in Perspective
about an innocent sexual adventure in a fictionalized Catholic seminary
in the late 1800s.
Inspired by reading Jim
Marion's The Death of the Mythic God,
Toby Johnson discusses the nature of consciousness and how "prayer"
might work to Manifest from the Subtle Realms.
The
est
Training and Personal Intention tells
of Toby Johnson's experience of Werner Erhard's EST Training and
extracts a message about personal intention and the myth of solipsism.
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
Is It
Time to Grow
Up? Confronting the Aging Process—
This article appeared in The Advocate, March 1984. The central ideas
are still relevant 30 years later. Interesting discussion of how
homosexuality seems to retard aging.
Notes
on
Licking
(July,
1984) was
published in Blueboy Magazine. It's a partly tongue-in-cheek argument
for practicing good hygiene while still relishing gay sex practices.
Precocious for 1984 and still good advice today.
Toby
Johnson had
an
article in the L.A. Weekly as part of a series for Gay Pride
2012, titled "What does it Mean to be Gay?"
Pleasure
as a Spiritual Path is Toby's Commentary on Bruce P.
Grether's The Secret of the Golden Phallus, a remarkable book
about
pleasure, arousal, and mindful masturbation.
How to get
to
heaven
tells a marvelous and insightful story by French Existential playwright
Jean Anouilh: the way to get to heaven is to let the other people in
too.
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.
God
and Sex The
Introduction
to the book In Search of God in the Sexual Underworld about the
importance of giving spiritual meaning to sex.
Rescue
in the Night,
another excerpt from In Search of God in the Sexual Underworld,
recounts Toby's experience of trying to rescue a therapy client in the
middle night--when everything goes wrong and Toby almost gets murdered.
The
Commandment "Thou shalt not steal" is not a basis for private
ownership of property. The Buddhist precept "No Stealing" is about
compassion for others' feelings, not property rights.
Interview
with
Henry Seale about
the nature of gay spirituality, "gay separatism," and Deep
Consciousness. This page is a tribute to
Peter Grahame and Henry Seale (Henry passed away in February 2019).
Jesus
and the
Wedding Feast tells what Toby Johnson realizes
what really happened with turning water into wine.
Most
of what Toby Johnson knows of gay history
he learned from his work with Toby Marotta. Marotta has a website with
historical
gay political posters for sale and with an exhibit of gay
liberation documents called Revisiting Stonewall.
In
February 2017, ABC-TV ran a miniseries about gay liberation activity in
San Francisco. It as mostly centered on the life of Cleve Jones. Toby
Johnson's experience in S.F. in the 70s intersected with a numbers of
the events shown. Read Intersections
with the movie When We Rise
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.
Interesting
article
from the 1981
West Coast Christopher Street Parade magazine by L.A. gay pioneer Jim
Kepner, titled The
Seach for Gay Spirit. Everything he wrote about in 1981 is still
current 30 years later in 2011.
Allen
Ginsberg
discovered a line
of "Gay Succession"
from Walt Whitman to himself… and beyond.
Wouldn’t
You Like to Be Uranian? Toby Johnson
discusses the meaning of some of the terms used for homosexuals down
through history.
My
first Peace March tells
of Toby Johnson's memories to marching on Washington DC to "Levitate
the Pentagon," Oct 21, 1967
Toby Marotta's Harvard dissertation
became The Politics of Homosexuality, a brilliant
analysis of political, cultural, and psychological themes and dynamics
in the rise of gay liberation.
About The
D.A.F.O.D.I.L. Alliance
of Gay Mental Health workers in San Francisco in 1979: a great example
of successful community activism.
Toby
Johnson, Psych Tech lived in San Francisco and worked at Mount Zion
Hospital Crisis Clinic & The Tenderloin Clinic
One of
the earliest
expressions of "Gay Spirituality" showed up as the book The Divine Androgyne According to
Purusha. Earlier in his life as a gay cultural activist, under the
name Christopher Larkin, Purusha had made the gay romantic movie A
Very Natural Thing.
About Guy
Mannheimer and the Mann Ranch Seminars. Guy was Toby's first lover,
1972-1976.
About Esther Bell.
Esther was a 90 year old woman whom Guy and Toby befriended and visited
and took care of a little for 3 or 4 in the mid-70s. We used to drive
her to the grocery store.
About Toby
Marotta,
author of The Politics
of Homosexuality and Sons of Harvard: Gay Men in the Class of
1967
About Fr.
Bernard Lynch,
Toby & Kip's friend in London and gay Catholic saint
About Richard
Baltzell, literary editor, good friend and wonderful man. He
introduced me to A Course in Miracles. And changed my life!
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
The Alamo
Business Council
was a social organization of gay & lesbian professionals in San
Antonio. Toby & Kip were part of the original establishment of the
group.
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.
Eva
Thayer, San Antonio wise woman, (Nov 21,
1914 - May 22, 2013) has a
message for children of all ages about positive self-esteem. Read about
Eva's Miracles. She led a wonderful life.
Kim
McKell,
Toby's favorite teacher at the
California Institute of Asian Studies. Kim was an accomplished painter.
She created a set of Tarot cards of the Major Arcana. Here are photographs of her cards.
Adolphine
Carole, Toby's occasional housemate, friend, and wonderful
meditation teacher.
Clif Douglas
was a cute and lovable gay man in Austin in the late 80s to mid-90s. He
died of AIDS just before the drug cocktails came into use. Clif can be
credited with starting the South Congress -- SoCo District -- shopping
area.
In collaboration with Walter L. Williams, TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life With the Navajo, a
beautiful, romantic novel about Native American gender and sexual
patterns set in the Old West.
Toby Johnson was Walter Williams' editor for Spirit of
the Pacific,
a sweet romance set in Civil War times about an escaped slave's journey
to freedom and happiness in the Pacific Islands culture of Hawaii.
Several of Toby's O.P. or unavailable m.s.s. are available for free
download.
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. Because Arthur C. Clarke was a gay
man, there are
meaningful themes in his books and writing. In 2016 a movie was made
for TV of his novel Childhood's End. Toby Johnson comments on
this movie AND what the novel was really about. Karellen
was a homosexual
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.
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 Bourgeois 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.
Over
Coffee: A conversation For Gay Partnership & Conservative Faith
by D.a. Thompson is a conversation between a Conservative Christian
Pastor and a Conservative Christian layman--the author, D.a.--who
advocates for the acceptance of gay partnership within religious
congregations. He makes different arguments from the usual pro-gay
marriage ones because he is NOT a proponent of same sex marriage, but
of fairness within Christian churches in how the human (sinful)
condition is treated. Interesting!
Dark
Knowledge
by
Kenneth Low is a life of
Christ written as a mystery story/puzzle asking the question why was
Jesus actually executed. What crime had he committed that was so
heinous, it deserved crucifxion? Whether you'd agree with the biblical
exegetical approach in this book or not, it is really interesting and
informative.
Janet Planet by
Eleanor
Lerman is a wonderfully
engaging and beautifully written roman
à clef-style novel based on the real life characters surrounding
Carlos Castenada and The Teachings
of Don Juan.
The Jesus we never
knew is presented in two interesting and entertaining books that offer
insight into the real message of religion: The
Kairos by Paul E. Hartman and Wrestling
with Jesus by D.K.Maylor.
Kali Rising by Rudolph
Ballentine is
a very interesting book about the "Foundational Principles of Tantra,"
but it is far more than a book of Hindu mythology. It's about a whole
approach to life based in maintaining balance.
The Missing Myth by
Gilles
Herrada examines the science and current psychological/philosophical
ideas about the nature and origins of homosexuality.
The
Secret
of the Second Coming by Howard E. Cook calls for a rediscovery of
the Gnostic Christianity that underlay Jesus' teachings. The Second
Coming is here and now.
The Scar Letters: A
Novel by Richard Alther is a sensitive,
beautifully-written and ultimately moving and heartwarming account of a
modern gay man coming to terms with personal pain and human suffering.
A great read. Emotionally and literarily satisfying.
The
Future is
Queer edited by Richard Labonte & Lawrence Schimel is an
anthology of science fiction short stories with interesting,
occasionally unsettling, but always insightful predictions of a "queer"
future.
Missing
Mary
by
Charlene Spretnak, subititled The Queen of Heaven and Her Re-emergence
in the Modern Church, is a partly scholarly, partly personal account of
modern day Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Radiomen
by
Eleanor Lerman is a story about the alluring mystery of life--all tied
up with aliens, interstellar broadcasts, new age religion and a lovable
little dog named Digitaria.
Nights
at Rizzoli by Felice Picano is a memoir by a very successful and
wonderful writer in the gay genre who worked at the New York upscale
bookstore of the title.
Male
Sexuality
by Ken Stofft describes how gender role expectations confine and
restrict so many men's joy and happiness.
The
Door
of the
Heart by Diana Finfrock Farrar is a didactic novel about gay rights
and traditional Christian values. It very well presents a range of
issues from PFLAG, same-sex marriage, anti-gay bullying to organ
donation and husband-wife relationship. And it's got a good story.
Occam’s
Razor
by David Duncan is a science-fiction novel from the 1950s. I reread it
recently and discovered it's partly the basis for the metaphysical of
parallel universes that appears in my novel Secret Matter.
Grace
and
Demion by Mel White is a part whimsical, part serious and profound
fable about angels and demons and the struggle for truth about gay
consciousness.
Gay Men and The New Way Forward by Raymond L.
Rigoglioso is a wonderful book about the 14 Distinct Positive
Contributing Traits of gay men.
War Between Materialism and Spiritual by
Jean-Michel Bitar is a partly whimsical, but earnest account of a
philosophical quest to understand the meanings of "Materialism" and
"Spiritualism" and where the supposed "war" comes from.
Esalen:
American and the Religion of No Religion by Jeffrey J. Kripal is a
wonderful history of Esalen Institute, the "New Age" conference center
on the West Coast. But it is so much more. It's a summary of the
insights into religion and mythology that have changed America in the
last half-century.
The Invitation to Love by Darren Pierre is a book
of wise and sweet meditations or lessons about the nature of love and
how to find love. Pierre is a gay, Black man; you can feel his
sincerity and sensitivity in his writings.
Brain,
Consciousness, and God: A Lonerganian Integration by Daniel A
Helminiak is a challenging book, but well-worth the effort. It
addresses the questions of how religious experience happens in the
brain, and specifically the relation between mind and body.
A
Walk with Four Spiritual Guides by Andrew Harvey offers personal
and insightful glimpses of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Ramakrishna.
Can
Christians Be Saved? A Mystical Path to Oneness by Virginia T
Stephenson & Buck A Rhodes PhD is a delightful blend of world
religions to produce a modern, sensible mystical post-religious
religion.
The
Lost Secrets of the Ancient Mystery Schools by Virginia T
Stephenson &
Buck A Rhodes PhD is an example of the kind of mystical practices in
their earlier book, Can Christians Be Saved, but applied specifically
to pivotal events in the life of Jesus.
In
Walt We
Trust by John Marsh, is subtitled: How a Queer Social Poet Can
Save America from Itself. What a great idea! Toby Johnson's review
discusses the nature of internalized homophobia and projection.
Solomon's
Tantric Song by Rollan McCleary derives a positive view
of sex and eroticism from the Biblical book The Songs of Songs. There
are several gay-positive discussions of homosexuallity.
A
Special Illumination by Rollan McCleary surveys the Gay
Spirituality Movement and efforts within established churches to accept
gay people. Very wide-ranging book.
Aelred's
Sin
by Lawrence Scott is a sweet and touching novel featuring a young
Benedictine novice discovering and coping with his homosexuality in the
context of Catholic monastic life.
Fruit
Basket: A Gay Man's Journey by Payam
Ghassemlou is a dramatization in semi-fictional form of a developmental
stage model for gay men's lives.
Internal
Landscapes
by John Ollom documents the noted choreographer's career and sets for
his ideas for using dance and movement as access to the deep and mythic
unconscious. A beautiful book just to look at and hold in your hand.
Princes
& Pumpkins
by David Hatfield Sparks is a book of poetry that spins autobiogrpahy
into myth and symbol. The author is one of the important characters in
the creation of gay/queer spirit and culture. With his partner Randy P.
Conner, he produced Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol,
and Spirit.
Yes
by Brad Boney is a delightful novel about the fantasy of recapturing
youth and the wisdom of choosing things just as they are.
Blood
of the Goddess
by William Schindler merges the European Vampire novel with Tantric
mysticism and worship of the Goddess Kali into a novel full of ecstatic
rapture and transcendetal wisdom.
Roads of Excess,
Palaces of
Wisdom
by Jeffrey Kripal argues that the study of mysticism is itself a
mystical practice. He cites the lives of five writers--and includes
himself in a series of asides within the book--to demonstrate his
point. Since at least two of his subjects were homosexual, there's a
very interesting strain in this book about homoeroticism and
spirituality.
Jesus
in Salome's Lot by
Brett W. Gillette is a decoding of the Christian Scriptures to discover
deeper meanings behind the actual words and letters. The book certainly
shows how to use the Bible like a crystal ball to stimulate intuition
and inspiration.
The
Man Who Loved Birds
by Fenton Johnson is a beautiful and poignant novel. It's about sexual
and emotional liberation, but it's also about the hardness that is in
the heart of Man and anger with which those in authority sometimes
treat those who don't give a whit about authority.
The
Vatican Murders by
Lucien Gregoire is an account of the mysterious death of Albino
Luciani—Pope John Paul I—by a gay man who had a personal connection to
the short-lived, but potentially revolutionary Pope.
"Sex
Camp"
by Brian McNaught was reviewed in White Crane Journal in 2005. This is
a semi-fictionalized account of the sexual attitudes trainings McNaught
is famous for teaching.
The
Soul Beneath the Skin
by David Nimmons is a wonderful book, published in 2002, about gay
men's cultures. This is a must-read for every gay man to understand the
dimensions of gay consciousness.
Out
on
Holy Ground by
Donald Boisvert is a series of meditations of gay spiritual
consciousness. Particularly interesting is the discussion of male
beauty.
The
Revolutionary Psychology of Gay-Centeredness
by Mitch Walker is a short monograph about Jungian themes in gay
consciousness. The review links to numerous articles by Walker's
students in Uranian Psychoanalysis and Gay-Centered Psychology.
Out
There
by
Perry Brass, a collection of short stories--a little horror, a little
supernatural, a little afterlife… neat!
The Crucifixion of Hyacinth by Geoff Puterbaugh is
a study of ancient history tracing the rise of homophobia in human
thought. Scholarly but readable.
The
Silence of Sodom
by Mark D Jordan is a classic about homosexuality and the Catholic
Church. The beginning of the book is precious--What if the Holy Spirit
reveals to the Vatican that they're wrong on homosexuality? Who would
dare to share their revelation from God?
It's
Never About What It's About by
Krandall Kraus and Paul Borja is subtitled “What We Learned About
Living While We Were Waiting to Die" is a wonderful book of wisdom that
demonstrates the paradoxically positive consequences of AIDS in gay
men's lives and collective cultures.
ReCREATIONS,
edited by Catherine Lake is an anthology, mostly of Canadian writers,
about queer perspectives on religion. As the title suggests, we are
re-creating religion.
Gospel:
A
Novel
by Wilton Barnhard is a WONDERFUL novel about the secret history of
religion. It's about a "Lost Gospel" written by one of the Apostles
which a modern Scripture scholar, wise man, and wild character believes
in hidden somewhere and he is out to find it. This is one of the best
books I have ever read.
Keeping
Faith: A Skeptic’s Journey
by Fenton Johnson is a beautifully written account of the spiritual
quest and, particularly, the route through monastic life--both Trappist
and Zen Buddhist.
Dating
the Greek Gods by
Brad Gooch is a whimsical but wise and insightful discussion of gay
men's dating patterns from a Jungian, archetypal perspective.
Telling
Truths in Church by Mark D. Jordan reveals the way religious
language hides and confuses real morality and ethics.
The
Substance of God by Perry Brass is a science fiction thriller with
a religious/ mythological theme woven in, along with a little hot porn.
The
Tomcat Chronicles
by Jack Nichols is an entertaining memoir of one oif the pioneers of
Gay Liberation and a wonderful example of finding true love (even
though it was tragically lost). Jack Nichols, as a writer and magazine
editor, helped create our modern ideas of what "gay" means.
10
Smart
Things Gay Men Can Do to Improve Their Lives
by Joe Kort is an excellent description of how we can live our gay
lives to the full potential. Kort would be a very good personal
psychotherapist; you can learn from him through the book.
Pain,
Sex
and Time by Gerald Heard who was an important figure in the 1940s
& 50s in the development of what's now called New Age.
Sex
and the Sacred by Daniel Helminiak includes 15
essays on religious and psychological issues that gay men and lesbian
face.
Blessing
Same-Sex Unions
by Mark Jordan is a scholarly, but also whimsical and entertaining,
study of marriage and marriage rites. It's even more useful in
understanding these issues now that Marriage Equality has been
recognized by the Supreme Court.
Rising
Up
by Joe Perez is a book in the form of a blog. Subtitled Reflections on
Gay Culture, Politics and Spirit, this book is filled with interesting
and provocative insights and commentaries.
Soulfully
Gay
by Joe Perez is a memoir/blog/spiritual autobiography. Perez is a
disciple of Ken WIlber and writes in the context of Wilber's Integral
Philosophy.
That
Undeniable Longing by Mark Tedesco, an entertaining and interesting
account of vocation to the priesthood and the problems it creates.
Vintage:
A
Ghost
Story by
Steve Berman, a review of the entertaining, light-hearted horror
novel— along with a little history of White Crane Books and Lethe Press.
Wisdom
for the Soul by Larry Chang is a 800+ page compedium of wise and
winderful quotes. Inspiring. And gay-inclusive.
MM4M a DVD
by
Bruce Grether teaches methods for transforming masturbation into a
spiritual discipline and developing high erotic states.
Double
Cross
by David Ranan is a scathing report
on the Catholic Church and a call for major reform.
The
Transcended Christian
by Daniel Helminiak, the popular Dignity priest and
philosopher/psychologist of religion and consciousness, who offers a
positive way to understand Christianity.
Jesus
in Love
by Kittredge Cherry -- in two volumes -- is an autobiography of Jesus
Christ. A remarkable novel, with Jesus as a sexually mature and aware
modern individual.
In
the Eye of the Storm
by Gene Robinson, Foreword by Demond Tutu is about the transformations
that gay awareness is forcing on religion and the churches—and for
their own best good!
The
Starry Dynamo
by Sven Davisson is a collection of edgy stories and essays, with one
of the best explanations of Michel Foucault I've ever read.
Life
in
Paradox by Fr Paul Murray is a novelistic autobiography by the
first openly gay Catholic priest in the diocese of Washington DC.
Gay & Healthy in a Sick Society
by Robert A. Minor is a collection of articles from the Kansas monthly
LGBT Magazine. Minor is especially interested in how homophobia
confuses and degrades society.
Coming Out: Irish Gay Experiences by Glen O'Brien,
a collection of moving and authentic essays and stories about life in
Ireland as gay.
Queering
Christ
by Robert Goss is a book of Queer Theology, illuminated by personal
autobiographical stories by the author, a Catholic priest who moved
beyond the Church to become a queer activist.
Skipping
Towards Gomorrah
by Dan Savage is an hilarious sendup of conventional morality in the
interests of redefining and calling for real virtue in our modern
world. Great fun!
The
Flesh of the Word by Richard A Rosato, a novel about a gay man who
develops the stigmata and can cure AIDS by his touch, a beautiful story.
Catland
by David Garrett Izzo is a novel written in the form of a children's
book about power and evil--and housecats the size of people, a
delightful parable.
Tantra
for Gay Men
by Bruce Anderson is a wonderful introduction to a very complicated
topic in the history of religions, along with a useful workbook for
actual practice in the tantric tradition.
Yoga
&
the Path of the Urban Mystic
by Darren Main is a wonderful summary of the principles of the
spiritual life, told in the context of yoga and Hinduism, but
applicable way beyond these specific traditions.
Simple
Grace
by Malcolm Boyd, a memoir organized around the life lessons Fr. Boyd
learned and taught.
Seventy
Times Seven
by Salvatore Sapienza is a semi-autobiographical novel of a young man
entering Catholic religious life and living through the growing pains
of discovering his true self.
What
Does "Queer" Mean Anyway?
by Chris Bartlett is a simplified, but useful, primer about the meaning
of the alphabet soup of LGBTQIA+ terminology, written by a non-gay man
for non-gay people.
Critique of Patriarchal Reasoning by Arthur Evans
is a history of the branch of philosophy called Logic by a major gay
activist in the 1970s.
Gift
of
the Soul by Dale Colclasure & David Jensen is a book about
self-discovery, including gay meaning, written inthe form of a novel.
Legend of the Raibow Warriors
by Steven McFadden is a good book about ecological and spiritual change
that doesn't include gay people, but should, in its vision of a
transformed Earth.
The
Liar's
Prayer by Gregory Flood offers a vision of spirituality beyond myth
and religion.
Lovely
are the Messengers
by Daniel Plasman is a heart-felt religious novel about how religion
can inspire hate and prejudice even when the messengers don't intend it
to.
The Human Core of Spirituality
by Daniel Helminiak is a brilliant application of the ideas of Bernard
Lonergan, Helminiak's teacher, to the nature of spirit and of human
consciousness.
Religion and the Human Sciences by Daniel
Helminiak is a companion to The Human Core of Spirituality. It includes
a refutation of Ken Wilber.
3001:
The Final Odyssey
by Arthur C. Clarke completes the Space Odyssey Triology with a
peculiarly Buddhistic approach to the god-like beings who sent the
Monolith in the first place.
Only
the
Good Parts
by Daniel Curzon is interesting, educational and provocative epistolary
novel about creating a gay family through artificial insemination. This
review from 1998 is especially interesting because of its discussion of
author self-publishing and the development of Print-on-Demand
publishing.
Four
Short
Reviews of Books with a Message: High in the Andes: A
Spiritual Adventure Novel by William Michael Kaufman; Planet of
Darkness: A Spirit's Journey through time and matter to save his planet
by Jerry Belvo; Where the Rainbow Ends by Jameson
Currier; Every Man for Himself: A Novel of Love, Romance, and
Finding Mr. Right by Orland Outland.
Life
Interrupted
by Michael Parise, subtittled "Taking Charge After Everything Has
Changed," offers healing advice for dealing with aburpt and unexpetced
change in one's life. Wirrten by a former priest and gay man who
knows what he is talking about.
Confessions of a Murdered Pope
by Lucien Gregoire is a collection of stories, the most important of
which, the title story, is about the ideas of Pope John Paul I, as told
by a fictional reincarnation of the pope who ruled only for 33 days
before dying mysteriously.
The
Stargazer's Embassy
by Eleanor Lerman is a wonderfully eerie and evocative novel about
allien abduction with several neat, and illuminating, twists in the
popular notion.
Conscious
Living, Conscious Aging by
Ron Pevny is really supportive and helpful book in thinking about aging
and considering the meaningfulness of your life. It's got good advice,
intermixed with easy-to-relate-to anecdotes and personal stories.
Footprints Through the Desert
by Joshua Kauffman is a account of a life-crisis of young adulthood
about looking for love, finding love and then losing it when it all
goes wrong. Interesting story. Good psychological anaysis.
True
Religion by
J.L. Weinberg is a horror novel about ghosts and witches in modern New
England. But it's also about a gay man's spiritual insight into the
nature of religion. Very nicely done.
Everything
is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
by Jay Michaelson is a wonderful mystical treatise on oneness,
emptiness, and the real nature of God told through a personal blending
of Buddhism wisdom and Jewish Kabbalah.
Reflection
by Dennis Merritt argues that everything in our experience is a
"perfect reflection" of what is going on in our inner lives. It's a
brilliant concept--something we all experience but seldom acknowledge
like this.
Everywhere
Home
by Fenton Johnson is a collection of essays about modern life, some
autobiographical, all beautifully written with very wise insight.
Hard Lesson
by James Gaston is fast-paced murder mystery set in a private religious
college where hypocrisy breeds crime and crime leads to death. AND it's
got a sexy and sweet three-way right in the middle of the investigation.
God
vs Gay?
by Jay Michaelson makes "The Religious Case for Equality." Michaleson
explains why religion ought to be pro-gay and welcoming of LGBTQ
people. Very good book and very understandable explanation of
hard-to-understand ideas in the Bible.
The
Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path
by Jay Michaelson is a touching blend of personal soul-searching,
poetical text, and wisdom teaching about how to accept the pain of
being human that necessaily accompanies spiritual growth.
Roxie
&
Fred by Richard Alther is a novel sweet love story--a real life
version of Harold and Maude but with senisible people, and lots
of wisdom about experiencing life fully. A joy to read.
Not
the Son He Expected
by Tim Clausen is a collection of interviews with gay men about their
relationships with their fathers. It's very interesting, and very
healing.
The
9 Realities of Stardust
by Bruce P. Grether is a beautiful and inspiring statement of spiritual
wisdom explained in the worldivew of modern science. It's brilliant.
The
Afterlife Revolution
by Anne & Whitley Strieber is a remarkable account of love and
death, and love surviving death, but also an important treatise on the
nature of reality and the unexpected, but well-documented phenomena
that UFOS and contact with the dead are interrelated.
AIDS
Shaman:
Queer Spirit Awakening by
Shokti Lovestar is little book of poetry and wisdom by a London-based
Radical Faerie English wiseman about how to understand AIDS mystically
and spiritually, not as punishment but as opportunity and warning.
Facing
the Truth of Your Life
by Merle Yost is a book of truly "good advice" and explanantion of
human psychological dynamics. It's interesting, readable, and quite
educational.
The
Super Natural: Why the Unexplained is Real by
Whitley Strieber & Jeffrey J Kripal is a dialogue between THE
expert on alien abductions and UFOs and a brilliant professor of
comparative religions.
Secret
Body by
Jeffrey J Kripal takes up similar ideas of those in The Super
Natural.
Kripal argues that "paranormal phenomena," like hauntings, apparitions,
clairvoyance, UFOs, alien abductions, etc—all demonstrate the existence
of a greater reality. And it is from those kinds of experiences inthe
past that the religions were born. A brilliant book.
In
Hitler's
House by Jonathan Lane is a fiictional memoir by a young man who
tells of being Adolph Hitler's male whore. An amazing story.
Surprisingly entertaining despite the subject matter. Hitler comes off
worse than ever.
Walking on Glory by Edward Swift is a sweet,
funny, poignant character of a crazy but lovable Texas lady.
The
Paradox
of Porn by Don Shewey is a wonderful statement of how to understand
the modern phenomenon of sex videos positively and non-judgmentally.
Is Heaven for Real? by Lucien Gregoire debunks the
popular story of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima in 1917.
Enigma
by
Lloyd
Meeker is a detective novel with a wonderful dramatization of intuition
and mystical insight. A neat combination of genres.
In Search of Lost Lives by Michael Goddart is a
remarkable book about the spiritual practice of remembering past lives
and "reliving" mystical and enlightenment experiences from previous
lifetimes.
Queer
Magic
by Tomas Prower is a survey of LGBTQ+ themes in myth, religion,
folklore and culture around the world. A wonderful revelation of gay
characters in religions we are usually never told about.
God
in
Your Body by Jay Michaelson is a wonderful presentation of Jewish
wisdom all focused on showing how the spiritual life has to be lived in
a body. You can learn to include your body in your awareness of God.
Wow! Beautiful read.
Science
Whispering Spirit by Gary Preuss is a report on the kinds of
paranormal experiences we all have of strange coincidences or
intuitions from the divine blended nicely with the author's personal
experiences, showing that all the strange phenomena point to a greater
universe than we ordinarily realize.
Friends
of Dorothy by Dee Michel reports on the phenomenon we all are
familiar with that The Wizard of Oz holds a special fascination
for gay men. The book includes a wonderful discussion of the nature of
myth.
New by
Whitley
Strieber tells of the discovery of a new branch of intelligent beings
in the jungles on Sumatra. It's a sweet and really mind-expanding
sci-fi novel about alternative kinds of consciousness.
Developing Supersensible Perception by Shelli
Renee Joye, a wide-ranging synthesis of theories about the nature of
consciousness and the human ability to perceive consciousness itself
from a higher perspective.
Sage
Sapien by Johnson Chong is an autobiography of an Asian-American
gay man discovering spirituality through acting class, intense
meditation practice, and finding how to come out to his parents, and
prove himself a worthwhile teacher.
Tarot
of
the Future by Arthur Rosengarten, an exploration of the history of
Tarot and fortunetelling woven into modern concepts of space, time and
personal psychology.
Brothers
Across Time by Brad Boney, a novel with time travel, wistful
romance, unexplained paradoxes , and satisfying happy endings all
around.
Impresario
of Castro Street by Marc Huestis is an entertaining, interesting,
and sometimes moving account of the life of the well-known and
accomlished gay filmmaker.
Deathless
by
Andrew Ramer, a
wonderful retelling
of the stories of the Torah and Biblical times the way things probably
really happened, but with a positive spiritual message behind it all.
The
Pagan Heart of the West, Vol 1 by Randy P. Conner is an
encyclopedia of gods and sacred beings hidden from history, but now
revealed.
Practical
Tantra by William Schindler is about the routine daily religion of
Tantric Hinduism without all the mumbo jumbo sometimes associated with
the word Tantra.
The Flip
by
Jeffrey J. Kripal is a book about changing perspective to see that
consciousness is bigger than just the human brain, and the world we all
live in is just the surface of a greater "super natural" reality.
The
Galilee Episode by Ronald Goetz explains that the mysterious verses
in the New Testament about "one being taken and one being left" which
are the basis of The Rapture myth are really about gay men and lesbians
entrapped in a Pharisee-led moral crusade during Jesus's time.
A
New
World by Whitley Strieber is a book about UFOs, alien encounters,
and glimpses into the afterlife; it's a book about the greater nature
of consciousness.
Bernhard
& LightWing
by Damien Rowse describes a remarkable yogic-like meditation practice
of holding another man chest to chest, belly to belly for prolonged
periods of blending and sharing vital energy.
Stay Woke
by Justin Michael Williams, an instruction book in mantra meditation
addressed to a young, hip-hop generation with lots of good advice about
how to fulfill one's life.
The
Mountains of Paris
by David Oates is a memoir blended into a discovery of French Art and
Music, beautifully and evocatively written with a lovely spiritual-like
lesson.
Trust
Truth
by Trudie Barreras tells the true story of a marriage in which the gay
husband's sexuality is recognized and handled honestly and positively
for both.
Bayard
and Martin by Frederick Williams, Lane Denton, and G Sterling
Zinsmeyer is an historical novel about the important friendship btween
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his gay lieutenant, Professor Bayard
Rustin.
How to be an Excellent Human Being
by Bill Meacham, a wonderful book that truly explains everything from
the nature of reality to consciousness to how to live well and be happy
the best and right way.
The
Deviant's War
by Eric Cervini is the story of Frank Kameny, the leader of Washington
Mattachine, author of the phrase "Gay is Good," and legitimately worthy
of being considered the Founder of the Gay Rights Movement. A very good
book about very important history.
What
Is the Grass
by Mark Doty, a literary analysis of Walt Whitman's poetry, into which
is beautifully blended a series of meditations and musings on the
nature of sex, love, and especially the Self, with a capital S.
Sex with
God
by Suzanne DeWitt Hall is a book of meditations, some practical, some
profound, on the spiritual side of sex and how to experience sex as
spiritual.
The Sum of All the Pieces
by Paul Bradford is a heartrending but ultimately uplifting account of
an older gay man's struggle to be true to himself in spite of
horrendous odds.
Clobber
the Passages
by Mel White reports on the damage the anti-gay interpretation of Bible
verses can do to real people—with advice about to to protect yourself
from such beliefs.
All
the Time in the World by J. Lee Graham is a delightful Young Adult
novel with a time travel plot and some interesting "rules" for time
traveling.
Jonas and the Mountain by Janis Harper is a book
of spiritual wisdom and a romance novel with appealing characters and a
lovely plot.
Two Hearts
Dancing by Eli Andrew Ramer, a book of self-generated myths and
imaginative writings about gay/queer consciousness.
Where's
My Pizza? by Larry Armstead II offers techniques for changing how
you think about the world so that what you expect can manifest itself.
A New Now by Michael Goddart is a book of
seriously good advice/wisdom about how to think about your experience,
your life, and yourself.
Heavenly
Homos, Etc
by Jan Haen is a presentation in comic book form of LGBTQ people in
history whom history and the Church considered heroes and saints.
The Erotic Contemplative by
Michael Bernard Kelly recounts the stages of homosexual psychospiritual
maturation in the terms of the traditional Catholic mystical life.
Our Time: San Francisco
in the ’70s
by Chuck Forester is a fun romp through the good old days and a roman à
clef about the S.F. Public Library James C Hormel LGBTQIA Collection
with an important insight about the role of gay genre literature in the
movement.
Queer
God de Amor
by Miguel H. Diaz queers the mysticism of St John of the Cross by
taking seriously the sexual imagery in the poet/monk's writings.
I
Came Here Seeking a Person by
William Glenn is a book of autobiographical chapters on significant
spiritual events in this devout gay Christian's life journey.
Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood by John
D'Emilio is a lovely and entertaining and enlightening memoir of the
notable historian of gay culture.
A Catechism of the Heart
by Benjamin Brenker is a heartfelt account of an open and gay-aware
young Catholic struggling with his call to be a Jesuit priest.
Ever After
by Andrew Ramer, a lovely collection of short stories imagining how
history could have been different if gay and lesbian writers had been
happier.
Meditation for Prisoners by Lewis Elbinger is a 31
day series of meditations on the themes of the liberated life that
summarizes the necessary wisdom.
Why and How the Clergy Lied by D.L. Day, a
2-volume set about what's really behind the "conservative" Churches'
attack on LGBTQ people.
Heavenly LGBTQ+ by Jan Haen continues the stories of saintly LGBTQ+ people, this time more of them outside the Church.
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.
For a
more extended bio, click
here.
(More photos below.)
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. They
are included in Elisa Rolle's
remarkable collection of over 700 gay and lesbian couples in history
DAYS OF LOVE.
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. In 2009, they moved back to Austin and, in
2018, got legally married.
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.
In 2018, on their
34th
anniversary, Kip and Toby got married in Travis County by
Judge Sarah Eckhardt, Presiding Judge of Travis County Commissions
Court. (Stonewall
veteran Jim Fouratt was the witness.)
Ko Imani (Clayton
Gibson), formerly of MyOurSpirit.com, manages a Facebook group called 1,000,000
Spiritual LGBTQ People. Click on
the title to go to the page.
~
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. He developed
The Body Electric trainings. 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.
If
you don't know about the Body Electric program, PLEASE take a look. The
videos
on the site are healing just to watch. So wonderfully sex-positive! Body
Electric
events schedule
~
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.org
John Stasio
has made a
short YouTube video about Easton Mountain. It's partly
appeal for donations, but also a lovely slideshow of photos,showing the
beauty of the gay retreat center in upstate New York.
~
Hunter Flournoy
teaches
how to
"Touch the Divine in Our Bodies and Our Lives":
•
develop a loving and sacramental practice of self-touch
• heal the deep wounding of distorted religious dogmas, that portray
the world as fallen, sinful, or broken.
• reclaim a spiritual vision of the world and ourselves as holy,
beautiful, and divine.
• begin a loving, empowering relationship with your own body, your
sexuality, your pleasure and your desire.
Hunter has developed wonderful body positive
perspectives on the
spiritual life. One of his websites is titled "Embody God." (Isn't
that
the Secret? that
we really are
"God in the flesh.") Hunter offers
events through Gay
Spirit Journeys. Travel
and
adventure --"pilgrimage"-- are traditional spiritual
practices. Spirit
Journeys trips offer play, adventure and
relaxation, as well as the potential for personal growth and the
exploration of spirituality and sexuality. Spirit Journeys is now under
mangement by Hunter Flournoy.
Here's a beautiful and profound quote from Hunter:
"If you're reading this, you
KNOW -- in the very depths of your heart -- that being "gay" or "queer"
isn't just about who you're attracted to. It's
not just about gender.
"Whatever we call it -- gay, bi, queer,
trans, non-binary, 2spirit, walks-between -- we are a people with our
own history, traditions, myths, and most importantly, gifts -- gifts
that are meant not just for ourselves, but for our world.
"Throughout human history, cultures
around the world have honored and cultivated the sacred gifts of people
with Non-Binary Spirits, or walks-between people. Such people, referred
to by contemporary First Nations Peoples as Two-Spirits, are found in
every race and culture and epoch of human history. In many indigenous
cultures we were recognized as children, and our gifts were cultivated
over the course of a lifetime. Those of us who integrate male and
female, light and darkness, immanence and transcendence in our own
being, have served as bridge-people, shamans, scouts, storytellers,
artists, healers, mediators and diplomats throughout human history. In
modern times, we might be called gender-fluid, gender-creative, or
transgender -- but our sacred calling goes far beyond our gender!
Whatever our walk in life, we are called as walks-between people to
overcome separation, conflict and duality, to seek peace, cooperation,
and unity, and to embrace, nurture, protect and empower all that is
true and beautiful and free." —Hunter
Flournoy
The Flesh & Spirit
Community, managed by Kirk Prine and Donny Lobree,
is an intentional community of queer men based in San Francisco, who
bring enlightenment, love, liberation, healing,
knowledge, power, and
wholeness around issues of queer men's identity, spirituality, and
sexuality.
The Flesh & Spirit website offers "Conversations with the Queer
Tribe: Powerful Conversations with Queer Visionaries.
Kirk Prine has a YouTube
channel with a wonderful video on the Erotic Spiritual Path.
~
Sal
Sapienza gave a
wonderful talk to a progressive church group in his hometown Saugatuck,
Michigan He
explains why being gay can be an occasion for spiritual insight and why
coming out is an act of anthenticity and truth telling. Watch his talk on
Vimeo
Sal's
semi-autobiographical novel about leaving Catholic religious life Seventy
Times Seven has been
made
into a movie by director Anthony J. Caruso titled
Brotherly
Love. Here's a Facebook page for the movie
~
The
Missing Myth: A New Vision of Same-Sex
Love by Gilles Herrada is written in the context of Ken Wilber's
Integral
Approach. "With
astounding scholarship, Gilles Herrada provides a panoramic view
on the myths and mysteries of same-sex love. It will be a key work, for
sure, in the coming decades as society's understanding of LGBT people
deepens and evolves." — Mark Thompson, author of the Gay Spirit,
Gay
Soul, Gay Body
trilogy. Read
Toby Johnson's review: "The Secret
Myth: A Congratulatory Response to The
Missing Myth"
~
Dr. Michael
Picucci passed away on Sunday, November 25, 2018. Michael was a
spiritually conscious psychotherapist in New York. He participated in
the Gay Spirit Summit at Garrison.
Beyond Marriage Equality:
QUEER FANTASY AND CHRISTIAN DISINFORMATION, WHAT DOES BEING GAY TODAY
MEAN? -- A very interesting article by Australian gay
theologian/New
Age thinker Rollan McCleary about gay consciousness, Christianity,
Biblical theology, astrology and mythic symbolism. McCleary comments on
a whole raft of issues from Marriage Equality to sodomy to gay
happiness and fulfillment.
Sacred Nudity -- McCleary has an article of note on his website about
nudity and religion. Nudity is both a sign of innocence and a source of
shame in religious contexts. NAKED IN THESSALONIKI: RIDDLE AND SIGN
~
Jordan
Bach has posted a wonderful 10 minute video titled "When I say 'I'm
Gay.'" He ties gay identity and experience into world evolution and the
expansion of consciousness and love. And he places our current
experience within the historical framework of gay people--like the Two
Spirits of Native American traditions--who have helped shape human
consciousness. Listen to Jordan
(In the novel Two Spirits: A
Story of Life with the Navajo,
Walter L. Williams and Toby Johnson invoke Navajo spiritual wisdom to
speak of "ripples in the spirit field" which are the consequences of
our lives that expand out beyond individuals into the collective world.)
~
Holding
Out for Gay Heroes?
Dominic Longo announces the
creation of Heroes Journey, the first year-long executive coaching and
leadership development program designed specifically for LGBTQ+ men.
The program empowers men to
step into their unique greatness and become the heroes they’re meant to
be. It is for executives, so gay
and queer men who have achieved a great deal in their lives and
careers, yet who still yearn for more. Check out Flourishing
Gays
Toby
Johnson,
PhD is
author of nine 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 two books on gay men's
spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality and editor
of a collection of "myths" of gay men's consciousness.
Johnson's
book GAY
SPIRITUALITY: Gay Identity and the Transformation of
Human Consciousness won a Lambda Literary Award in 2000.
His GAY
PERSPECTIVE: Things Our [Homo]sexuality Tells Us about the Nature
of God and the Universe was nominated for a Lammy in 2003. They
remain
in
print.
FINDING
YOUR OWN TRUE MYTH: What I Learned from Joseph Campbell: The Myth
of the Great Secret III tells the story of Johnson's learning the
real nature of religion and myth and discovering the spiritual
qualities of gay male consciousness.
FINDING
GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD
reprises Johnson's 1982 book In Search of God with new material about
gay men's spiritual lives and appropriately gay understanding of
religion and myth.
Enter search
words to
use
the
google
search
of the tobyjohnson.com
website
About Kip
About Toby
Search Site 
Links 
More Links
Articles 
About Toby's Books 
Gay
Perspective
Gay
Spirituality
Charmed
Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling
Secret
Matter
Getting
Life in
Perspective
The Fourth Quill
Two
Spirits: A Story of
Life
with the Navajo
Two
Spirits is available as an
audiobook narrated by Arthur Raymond. Click
here 
Finding
Your Own True Myth: What I Learned from Joseph
Campbell
Finding
God In The Sexual Underworld: The Journey Expanded
In Search of God in the Sexual Underworld:
The Myth
of the Great
Secret: An Appreciation of Joseph Campbell.
Toby's
friend Dennis Paddie has
a novel out from Lethe Press.
Here's a
webpage presentation that Toby showed to illustrate his talk, "Gay
Perspective & the New Myth" in London, Oct 2014. Toby's talk
at LoveSpirit 2014
This is a
good summary of Toby Johnson's basic theories of gay
consciousness and of religion and myth, and an explication of why
Johnson thinks of himself as "Joseph Campbell's Apostle to the Gay
Communty." Among the organizers of LoveSpirit 2014 was Mark Whiting who
uses the Faerie name Shokti Lovestar. He writes extensively about gay
men's spiritualites. Here's a link: Gay Consciousness changing the
world by Shokti LoveStar. 
Toby was interviewed
by Coach/Counselor Buck Dodson for the Life Lab podcasts. There are
lots of good podcasts on the website.
Toby
was interviewed by podcaster, writer, workshop leader Johnson Chong,
who now lives in Sydney Australia. Here's link to his Truth, Wisdom
Freedom blog. It's 
Toby
joined in a wonderful conversation with Brian McNaught and Hayley Evans
on their YouTube videocast series called Can You Be Happy Without the
Movie? (I gave a new spin to the meaning of their title by talking
about my hope that Secret Matter would someday be made into a
movie.)
Brian is an important character in the development of gay consciousness
from a religious perspective.
Toby & Kip were also included in Merle Yost's 1999 book When Love Lasts Forever: Male Couples Celebrate Commitment
Lifecoach
Raymond L. Rigoglioso was running a monthly telephone discussion
group, occasional weekend Intensives (at Easton Mountain) and a website
about understanding gayness as a spiritual and life-positive,
contributing vocation. He has published his discoveries in a book
titled 
Toby
Johnson wrote a Foreword to Shokti Lovestar's autobiographical account
of his healing from AIDS and transforming his vision of life in From
AIDS To Eternity. 
Toby
Johnson is pleased to have assisted Richard Ammon publish in
book form some of the content about gay life
around the world from his extensive website: 
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. 
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. He developed
The Body Electric trainings. This is one
of the most significant contributions of gay spirituality to the
evolution of religion. Kramer teaches through the Internet at 
Sal
Sapienza gave a
wonderful talk to a progressive church group in his hometown Saugatuck,
Michigan He
explains why being gay can be an occasion for spiritual insight and why
coming out is an act of anthenticity and truth telling. 
The
Missing Myth: A New Vision of Same-Sex
Love by Gilles Herrada is written in the context of Ken Wilber's
Integral
Approach. "With
astounding scholarship, Gilles Herrada provides a panoramic view
on the myths and mysteries of same-sex love. It will be a key work, for
sure, in the coming decades as society's understanding of LGBT people
deepens and evolves." — Mark Thompson, author of the Gay Spirit,
Gay
Soul, Gay Body
trilogy. Read
Toby Johnson's review: "
OutHistory,
a website
devoted to the exploration of the
lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender past.
Toby
Johnson,
PhD is
author of nine 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 two books on gay men's
spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality and editor
of a collection of "myths" of gay men's consciousness. 
