Austin felt gay
“If they try to strip you / of your technicolor robes / exhibit them how the sun/ the moon / the stars / all kneel to Queens,” (Austin, “Genesis 37).
Someday, I will be smart enough to draft about poetry. But until then, you’ll have to deal with this.
I adore Emily Austin and when I learned she was writing a poetry novel that was queering bible verses, I knew I had to read it. Having read Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead, I guessed that she must have been raised Catholic because the knowledge she had of the church and the shame and guilt that are often felt by those formerly (or currently) practicing was clearly felt in her debut novel, and her debut poetry book confirms that. But instead of focusing on the shame and guilt that former-Catholics have felt, Austin’s poetry acts as a reformation.
Austin takes her time with the bible verses she reworks, turning them into words of love and pride. She writes to all of those who have ever felt less than by the church and tells them that they matter, that they are more, that they should not ever hide their bright under a bushel basket, and I am so happy this book exists. I know it will be a colle
My family joined the Mormon church when I was two. One of my first memories is existence sealed to my parents in the Salt Lake temple when I was three years old. I don’t remember a lot about it, just a room with a lot of kids in white and some old ladies playing with us while we waited to go be with our parents.
I remember looking in the mirrors.
When I turned 12, I was not excited about going to Young Women’s. I wanted to get the priesthood, I wanted to move through the sacrament like my older brother. I didn’t care about learning about homemaking or sewing or how to do hair and makeup. I wanted to go on the 50-miler hikes, go camping, and play basketball. It didn’t help that I had felt like I was a boy from the time I was about six, so organism in YW and entity forced to conform to female gender roles was very hard for me.
I had boyfriends all throughout high school, but I really had no obstacle keeping the law of chastity until I met the man I ended up marrying. I met him when I was 17. He was 21, and we worked together. He joined the church to be with me, and constantly pressured me to have sex.
Finally, I gave in.
We ended up telling the Bishop, and got disfellowsh
Queens Ledger: On the Record - James Austin | December 2023: James Austin, 19-year-old Forest Hills resident, has found years of purpose and growth through LGBT programs at Queens Community House.
In middle school, Austin set up out about QCH’s Generation Q drop-in center for LGBT youth. He felt immediately at home.
“Generation Q used to be in this back building of Queens Community House,” he remembered. “Immediately after going…the first moment, I started going basically every available day. And that’s truly not an exaggeration, I went every single time that I could from open to close.”
“It was the first space where you could really let your guard down,” Austin explained. “And it was the first place I met transgender adults and other queer people my age, and the first place that really took me in and met me where I was.”
Helping lead the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) in high college, Austin often coordinated programming and collaboration between the club and Generation Q. “Telling everyone who could possibly profit from Generation Q about it was a mission of mine,” he said.
When it came day to graduate lofty school, Austin knew he didn’t need to go to