55: Justin Lee: Coming out as Gay in the Southern Baptist Church

Apr 3, 2024

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Have you ever been made the “prayer request” of a community because your story didn’t match the triumphal testimony narrative? Justin grew up in the Southern Baptist Church as a conservative labeled by his high school peers as “God boy.” He was handing out tracts, evangelizing, and really good at obeying purity culture rules when it came to women. Then he realized that he was gay. He went on a long journey of wrestling with faith and identity, and we talk about his story today.

For over 25 years, Justin Lee has been a leading voice in navigating contentious issues with depth and empathy. As the author of "Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree With—and Maybe Even Change the World," his work has been adopted as a college textbook, guiding students through areas of disagreement. Beginning his journey in the 90s as a spokesperson for Bridges Across the Divide, Justin later founded a nonprofit dedicated to fostering dialogue within Christian communities on LGBTQ issues, gaining international recognition for his efforts. His bestselling book, "Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate," has solidified his reputation as a bridge-builder between progressives and conservatives. Justin's influence extends beyond his writing, as a co-host of three podcasts and a sought-after speaker featured in global media outlets. Now, he focuses on empowering individuals to apply strategic dialogue principles to diverse causes, maintaining a vibrant online presence through his YouTube channel and website at GeekyJustin.com.

You can preorder Justin’s book here: https://geekyjustin.com/books/torn-v2/
You can connect to Justin’s YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/geekyjustin

Time Stamps for the episode:
02:48 Boardgame Geekdom
08:04 Board games are like cosplay
11:54 Growing up Baptist
17:13 Coming out into a culture war
23:49 Slow realization, “I am gay.”
30:10 Making peace with new identity
35:03 Accepting that I can’t become straight
41:34 the danger of failed testimony to group narrative
48:43 Wrestling with the clobber passages
55:26 Asking the gay community to help with our theology
1:00:43 weaponizing truth claims
1:05:46 teaching the beginners
1:09:17 dialogue with those ideologically opposed to you

All Music for this episode is provided by Axeltree

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