Apr 02 2021 101 mins 1
And The Next Thing You Know podcast
Episode 011: Kurt Granzow/Sister Krissy Fiction
Coming out as a conservative Christian, and gay, at the same time
Kurt Granzow came into himself as a gay man at the same time that he found support as a conservative Christian in a Lutheran community in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early ’90s. What came next was a decade of communion and pursuit of ministry within the church, all the while denying his own need to express his true sexuality and capacities for an authentic kind of personal, queer love in his life. This included a heterosexual marriage and divorce, an inner reconciliation of the pain in himself and the pain he caused others, and a project moving forward of personal accountability and operating, literally, in good faith.
He’s spent the last two decades finding queer and spiritual community outside the church, and is now also known as Sister Krissy Fiction of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international order of queer nuns “promelgating universal joy and expiating stigmatic guilt!”
Themes we talked about in the podcast
Coming out as gay in the early ’90s; coming out as a conservative Christian; conservative Lutheranism and conservative Christian theology; the so-called “ex-gay” movement; LGBTQ parents; pressure in the church toward heterosexual marriage; missionary travel; being closeted; September 11; Portland, Oregon; exploring liberal Christianity, paganism, and neo-paganism; the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; gay and trans Pride; examining and leveraging white cis privilege to work against oppression of people of color and trans folks.
Cultural references in the episode
A good summary from Forbes about how J.K. Rowling confirmed her commitment to trans exclusion
Crystal Frasier on Twitter
The downfall of Exodus International, and the “ex-gay” movement
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
A history of the Radical Faeries by one of the co-founders, Don Kilhefner
The Trevor Project resources for LGBTQIAA youth and adult allies
Bay Area and Santa Cruz LGBT history moment
For historicity’s sake, The LGBT group in 1990-1992 at De Anza College in Cupertino, California, was called GALA (Gay and Lesbian Alliance) and then changed to LGBA (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance, pronounced “Ligba”) during the time Kurt and I attended.
Then when I was at UC Santa Cruz in 1992-1994, the LGBTQ group was called GLBN (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Network, pronounced “Galben.”) I got these mixed up in the episode, and then remembered this detail after we recorded!
Additional music in this episode
Musical interludes in this episode are by Adam Selzer. Music Licensing by needledrop.co. We used excerpts from his songs “Toy Piano Trader,” “Strings and Blips,” and “Ghost Waltz.” Find more from Adam at adamselzerworks.com.
Patron shout!
A hearty thank you to all my lovely Patrons for making this episode happen! Special shouts out to my Failure & Redemption level Patrons: Noah, Jen, Jeannie, Heather, Bonnie, Barry, and Amy, and to my Serendipity level Patrons: Emily, Dorian, and Brittany! Thank you for believing in me, believing in this podcast, and helping me get these conversations out there!
We are And The Next Thing You Know
Our official HQ, where you will find links to all the episodes, full transcripts, and all the ways to support us and join the conversation on social media:
nextthingpodcast.com
Send us your own And The Next Thing You Know story by recording a voice memo on your phone and emailing it to:
nextthingpod at gmail dot com.
Support the show by becoming a patron!
patreon.com/nextthingpod
The banana peel is by Max Ronnersjö.
The theme and interstitial music are by Jon Schwartz.
Thanks everybody. We’re so glad you tuned in.
