Love Lifted Me: In Spite of the Church
by K. Godfrey Easter
Category: African American gays

Love Lifted Me: In Spite of the Church is an inspirational read of an African-American, openly gay man's triumphant journey through the guilt, shame and condemnation bought on by his Christian upbringing. Written by new author, K. Godfrey Easter, it chronicles events from his youth and throughout his young adulthood, describing a vivid, moving and sometimes comical portrait of how seemingly insurmountable social and spiritual challenges guided him to his own Damascus Road. There, he describes in his book, "...within my own private valley of the shadow of death," is where his deeply rooted faith in the unconditionally loving Creator was forever restored; and his unique, human orientation eternally validated by God. Easter writes: "But be not dismayed. We'll eventually reach the other side of the Christian's hell, where a smoother ride exists. Elsewhere he states, "As the proud, single parent of a sixteen-year-old-son, how could I not be the proper example and openly declare my social validity and spiritual liberty?" More than any other published book today on black, gay Christianity, with his book, Easter exposes the religious ambiguity lodged deep within the trenches of African-American organized religion, as he's experienced it, describing how he made it over. "If Christ has set me free, why should I be bound, especially by the Christian church? He boldly declares.