Gay gospel singers
Queering Southern Gospel: A Review of Douglas Harrison's Then Sings My Soul
The Cultural Origins of Alabaster Southern Gospel
Then Sings My Soul focuses on the culture of white southern gospel music while acknowledging the "long history of stylistic exchange and joint influence" with black gospel music and their close parallel commercial development during the early and middle twentieth century. A segregated society and record industry might have created synthetic barriers between white and black gospel cultures, but Harrison sees both cultures as unique because their fans and performers own interpreted gospel's meaning and spiritual function in alternative ways. He argues that the black gospel tradition emphasizes the music's heartfelt soulfulness and "spiritual improvisation" while white evangelicals employ gospel as a proselytizing tool akin to a Protestant sermon. Black gospel, with its call-and-response design, emphasizes the "power of the individual (the soloist) within the community (the congregation or audience and singers) to assert the self idiosyncratically (improvisation). . . ." In general, the black gospel tradition "ameliorates suffering by absorbing individuals in
Ray Boltz is Living Life as a Gay Christian
Update: According to the Ray Boltz website, the Christian musician is now retired and living in Florida with his husband. Browse on to grasp more about Ray Boltz, his melody career, his family, and why he decided to show up out. In 2010 his album True won Album of the Year at the OUTMusic Awards.
During the course of 15 years in the Contemporary Christian Music Industry, Ray Boltz acquired three Dove Awards, two gold albums, one gold video, 12 number one singles, and sold more than 4 million units of product. Then, he decided to permit the world realize he's gay.
Why now? Why, after 30 years of marriage, four children, and a career most Christian artists only dream about, would Boltz step boldly out of the closet?
Growing Up in Indiana
In order to understand his conduct, it is crucial to understand Boltz’s background. He grew up in a small town in Indiana with his parents, an older brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother who passed away three months after existence born.
He went to public schools and attended a little one-room Methodist church. But even during these young formative years, Boltz would find ways to ex
Christian Singers Who Identify as LGBTQ
Upon first thought, the notion of being Christian and an out LGBTQ singer or entertainer is a contradiction in terms. However, there are several lofty profile Christian singers who possess recently publicly revealed their queer attractions, such as Australia's Jennifer Knapp or American Trey Pearson.
This remains a challenge and struggle for this genre of inspirational music. The reaction to these public statements has been mixed within the community. Many of the early singers who came out were immediately sidelined within their religious community, and this effectively diminished or terminated their professional careers. Notable among these was Marsha Stevens and Ray Boltz.
Other past LGBTQ Christian singers have remained in the closet during their lifetime, but subsequent events and biographies have revealed their sexual orientation. Notable among these is the legendary gospel singer James Cleveland, recipient of four Grammy Awards and nicknamed the 'King of Gospel'. Cleveland died of AIDS in 1991.
The Gospel church and homosexuality has reportedly had a long inter-twining relationship. LGBTQ individ
REVEREND JAMES CLEVELAND
Death of a Gender non-conforming King
by Robin Dunn
(August 2020)
I was a homeless, sixteen-year antique runaway when two Black women in long robes and headscarves offered me a place to stay. They brought me home to a shotgun dwelling in East Austin, where they lived communally, sheltered the homeless, and held religious services for hours on termination. I'd never spent time in church, and in any case I'd never heard of one like this. With fewer than a dozen members, no sign to stamp it, no painted windows, no cross. They said they were holiness, sanctified. I arrived homosexual, punk, and half-feral, but the church, with its instinct of purpose, sisters and brothers, and hot meals, soon felt like family, a thing I lacked. I stayed for ten years, the only pale girl in an otherwise all-Black church, trying and failing to be a saint.
When I joined the church I laid sex, drugs, and rock and roll down at the altar. Gospel, the aged stuff, helped occupy the musical void. I found a wealth of records at the common library-Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Davis Sisters, Clara Ward, the Caravans. I consideration it was superior than punk. It was the root. I especially loved the Caravans, whose members-