Peculiar faith: A collection of short stories

Abstract

Peculiar Faith is a collection of four short stories that focus on LGBTQ members of conservative organized religion. Each story focuses on a member of the LGBTQ community as they navigate their faith, their sexuality, and their interactions with conservative religious organizations. Peculiar Faith is meant to provide examples of queer people being persecuted and unwelcomed because of their sexuality.

The first story follows Rachel and Louise, two queer women of the Christian faith. Both left the church when their sexuality came out and the church and other Christian organizations suggested that if they were to continue to be gay, they might find a better church home elsewhere. Louise believes the two of them to be standing up to Christian organizations together, while, in reality, Rachel has been attending a church for the past several weeks and has not told her girlfriend. This story follows Rachel and Louise as they navigate their relationship with each other, their relationships with the church, and their relationships with their friends. The second story follows a young adult trans man named Alex as he comes out to his church as trans. After facing severe backlash and attempts to "re-convert" him, Alex chooses to leave the church and Christianity behind for good. The third story follows a teenage girl named Laura as she struggles with coming to terms with her sexual identity and coming out to her very conservative family as a lesbian. The fourth and final story follows an adult gay man called Morrison married a woman because that was expected of him, having grown up in a conservative organized church. This eventually led to divorce, and Morrison found himself alone and without a community. This story follows Morrison as he struggles to find and define his community.