About this episode

Brandan shares his journey of navigating faith and identity as a closeted gay youth in a fundamentalist Baptist community.

Brandan joins Sam to talk about what it was like to find belonging in a fundamentalist Baptist community at twelve years old and to be a closeted gay kid inside it at the same time. He speaks honestly about the cognitive dissonance of feeling genuinely loved by a community whose theology told him who he was amounted to sin, and the anxiety and fear that slowly built underneath that. The conversation moves through his experience of conversion therapy, the point at which he realised he couldn't keep forcing the two things to fit, and what it looked like to eventually find a spirituality built on something other than fear. It's a compelling, open conversation about identity, survival, and what it actually takes to rebuild your sense of self and faith on your own terms. Who Is Brandan? Rev. Brandan Robertson is an author, activist, and public theologian working at the intersection of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal. He serves as Pastor of Sunnyside Reformed Church in NYC and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Known as the "TikTok Pastor," his digital ministry reaches nearly 400,000 followers worldwide. Robertson has authored or contributed to more…

People in this episode

Host: Samantha Sellers

Guest: Brandan Robertson

Topics covered

• identity
• spirituality
• conversion therapy
• faith
• belonging
• LGBTQ+
• community

Keywords

• queer Christian
• fundamentalism
• cognitive dissonance
• spirituality
• identity
• conversion therapy
• faith

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sunnyside Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, TIME Magazine, NBC, CNN, The Washington Post

Books & works: True Inclusion

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