News — spirituality

Writing about religion

March 30, 2021 • Amy Leibowitz • religion • spirituality • writing advice

The last time I wrote about this subject was almost four years ago. I posed the question, “Does religion belong in LGBTQIA books?"

I’ve been thinking about this again because a colleague of mine, F.E. Feeley Jr., has written a series of blog posts about the effects of fundamentalism, particularly on mental health and queer lives. Heavy content warning for anyone wanting to...

Does religion belong in LGBTQIA books?

May 15, 2017 • Amy Leibowitz • lgbtqia books • religion • spirituality

This question comes up a lot, perhaps because religion can be a complicated issue for LGBTQIA folks. Many of us come from backgrounds where religion was used to control and abuse us. Some of us continue to engage with communities of faith; others do not. There isn't one simple or correct answer to the question.

In my own work, I tend to write a combination of religious and non-religious characters, drawing on my experiences as a child of an interfaith marriage. I grew up in a relatively non-religious household...