Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature

by Mark Thompson

ONE OF THE MOST PROVOCATIVE BOOKS TO APPEAR IN GAY LITERATURE IN YEARS From longtime 'Advocate' editor Mark Thompson – black-and-white photographs and searching, provocative interviews with sixteen renowned gay elders whose vision and leade

Genres: LGBT, Queer, Nonfiction, Gay, Religion, Spirituality

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Mark Thompson is an American writer, editor and activist. His work centers around gay issues, particularly spirituality.

Reviews

[Davide Ariasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of a mixed bag, and maybe some of the thoughts expressed seem slightly dated, but some of the interviews are absolutely wonderful. A lot of articulated gay souls reflecting on being gay and what it means. A must, and I wish to read an update with more thinkers, visionaries, healers.

[mayhugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will Roscoe, Joseph Kramer, Harry Hay, James Broughton, Andrew Harvey, Paul Monette, Malcolm Boyd, and Ram Dass

[Rick Bavera · Rating 2 out of 5]

The material in the book was wide ranging, and interesting.
However, it fell too wide ranging to me, and it was, at times, sort of hard to follow.
Not sure what the solution would be to make it easier to "connect" with.

[Jordan Kinsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Gay Spirit and Gay Soul in one combined volume. They have the potential to be life-changing, but damn if they didn't take me six months to plow through.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

So moving, incredible read.

[Andrew Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of interviews with prominent gay thinkers which is both timeless and very much of it's time. Let's start with what has changed since this book came out in 1995. Thank goodness, AIDS is no longer a death sentence. In fact one the interviewees, Paul Monette, died die shortly after the interview). There is a lot of talk about there being three genders - male, female and gay - which seems really dated. Similarly the idea that gays are a tribe whose time was about to come, which would help men communicate better with women and everybody to take more care of the plant.

Twenty plus years later, with Trump in the White House, this all seems hopelessly optimistic but at the same time we have made great strides forward ie: gay marriage (which was not even a glimmer on the horizon in the nineties or mentioned in any of these conversations). I put the book down with a great sense of nostalgia - mainly because books like this are not being published today. Sure there are lots of websites belonging to similar 'writers, healers, teachers and visionaries' but nobody is curating their thoughts and bringing the casual reader such a spread of ideas. It is a big hole.

Mark Thompson, the interviewer and editor, of this collection died recently too but he left this excellent book (and several others). Thank you

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much needed perspective that homosexuality is something more than sexuality.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoy the perspectives of the famous and infamous of the times

[Edward Amato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book, especially as it had some of my gay icon heroes, Harry Hay, Paul Monette and Joseph Kramer. Found the psychiatry aspect a little dated