Faithfully Queer

It’s fantastic to see that this resource exists. It’s a short and sweet guide with an introduction, profiles of LGBTQ+ people of a variety of faiths, as well as an advice column, a glossary of terms and a list of support services. The pamphlet is accessible and a good start to the conversation around being queer and religion/faith. 

Faithfully Queer is very general in giving advice – as are most self-help books out there – but at points the advice can feel like platitudes. A lot of the advice has to do with sharing resources, having boundaries, being open to conversations and preparing oneself for a myriad of reactions. While this is a wise approach, it sometimes feels overly simplistic. 

The team at ShoutOut did a good job of providing a jumping off point for a start of what might be a difficult conversation for many. What would be even more useful, is if this pamphlet could be developed further into a resource that is more in-depth: for example, stories that talk about how people actually navigated coming out as LGBTQ+ and a person of faith and perhaps including statistics to back up the introductory speech about the marriage equality vote in Ireland, especially in the context of how many people identify as people of faith in Irish census.