White Crane Gay Spirituality Series

The most valuable asset taken from an oppressed people is their history. As a result, the GLBT community is a people constantly coming out of erasure. Because of oppression and bigotry, each generation seems destined to go through the same process of self-discovery, coming out, and finding one’s place in the larger community.

The White Crane Institute, dedicated to researching, exploring and documenting the variety of spiritual roles and stories among contemporary GLBT and gender variant men and women and the publisher of WHITE CRANE: the Journal of Gay Wisdom & Culture, is pleased to enter into a partnership with Lethe Press to make classics of gay spirituality and culture available again to a new generation of readers. It is our hope that by making our rich history more widely and easily available, new generations can move beyond erasure, bigotry and hate and find their rightful role in the larger community of the world.

Previous White Crane Journal Editor, Toby Johnson, is author of one of the titles in the series--the eponymously named GAY SPIRITUALITY: Th Role of Gay Identity in the the Transformation of Human Consciousness.

White Crane Gay Wisdom Series

Toby Johnson's Gay Spirituality describes the Gay Men's Spirituality Movement and offers a realistic, but satisfyingly mystical, explanation of religion based in the ideas of Johnson's teacher, renowned religions scholar Joseph Campbell

R. Boerner (Tempe AZ) writing in an unsolicited review on the Amazon.com site says: ". . . being gay is a spiritual asset, not a liability. Where some look down on same-sex love as defective, because it does not express the male-female duality, Johnson turns it around and proudly declares that to be the precise reason why same-sex love is spiritually superior. It transcends the duality.

Johnson's vision of a life-affirming, sex-positive spirituality of love, cooperation, mutual respect and acceptance is in sync with modern scientific knowledge, and does not ask the reader to suspend logic or critical thinking. Gay christians who are struggling with their sexual orientation will especially appreciate Johnson's convincing refutation of common "biblical" anti-gay arguments. A powerful book for personal change, a wonderful antidote to the negativity of the Religious Right, and a great gift to a gay friend who is unhappy with his life or suffering from low self-esteem.

Andrew Ramer's Two Flutes Playing is a classic of gay mythopoesis.

Michael Bails (Seattle WA) writing an unsolicited review on the Amazon.com site says: "I was recommended this book after having taken a Body Electric workshop a few weeks before. From the first page I began to re-live the entire bonding rituals that we had experienced over that weekend. How to connect, how to communicate, and how to intimately bond on a higher plane! Although some of the prose is repetitive, it helps instill a spiritual base on which the reader can pull from. A definite "must have" book for the gay tribe who would like to interact spiritually and emotionally!"

Another Amazon customer wrote: "Tonight, my partner and I read sections of Andrew Ramer's Two Flute Playing together. It was a moving experience for both of us to read a loud to ourselves, a chapter tittle A Ritual for Male Lovers. This chapters, like other chapters of this book, gives very poetic as well as practical ways of understanding, experiencing, and living a life of Gay Love."

Mark Thompson's Gay Spirit: Myth & Meaning is arguably the book that started the Gay Spirituality Movement

Publishers Weekly wrote: Cultural editor of the Advocate, Thompson here collects previously published articles and book excerpts from the magazine, each an attempt to define the status of gay men. In an introduction he distinguishes between homosexual (a form of sexuality) and gay: "A social identity and consciousness actively chosen." The text discusses the gay's role in politics, religion, culture, identity. Among the contributors are Judy Grahn, author of lesbian/feminist works; Malcolm Boyd, activist Episcopal priest; Harry Hay, a founder of the Mattachine Society; and writer William S. Burroughs, . . . [including] Geoff Mains's "Urban Aboriginals and the Celebration of Leather Magic," an approving, detailed description of sadomasochism.

Mark Thompson has a website showing his photo exhibit
Fellow Travelers with links to all his books

White Crane Institute is currently sponsoring Mark to take his photo exhibit on the road.

ALL is an anthology of writings (some previously unpublished) by gay wise man James Broughton, compiled by his friend Jack Foley.

In a life that stretched from 1913 to 1999 James Broughton witnessed and commented on the twentieth century from the point of
view of an outsider. In a time aghast at its own horrors, Broughton championed laughter. He was a poet, not of the ivory tower but of the innovative street, a playful, urban voice with the notion that a poet could change the world. In a rational century, he asserted mystery. All: A James Broughton Reader collects the range of this acclaimed poet and fi lmmaker.

White Crane Books Paperback, 272 pages ISBN 1590210212 $18.00

CHARMED LIVES: Gay Spirit in Storytelling edited Toby Johnson & Steve Berman includes stories by some 30 authors

This anthology of gay-positive stories--some fiction, some autobiographical, some funny, some sexy, some touching, some profound--demonstrate the "charm" of being gay.

This book was nominated for Best Anthology 2007 by the Lambda Literary Foundation

TAKE OFF THE MASKS: An autobiography by Malcolm Boyd

For over sixty years, Malcolm Boyd has written truthfully about his own journey to fullness. From theologian to civil rights pioneer to coffee house troubadour to
gay rights icon, Boyd has courageously and whole-heartedly shown the way to a
deeper, more honest examination of all our lives, leading by example.

White Crane Books is proud to re-release Boyd’s classic spiritual biography
and coming out story, Take Off the Masks, for a new generation of readers
hungry for its insight, honesty and soulful perception. With a new introduction
by Boyd’s life partner, Mark Thompson, and a newly added postscript
by Rev. Canon Boyd himself.

Lethe Press has released a new revised, updated, and expanded edition of Toby Johnson's award-winning sci fi romance classic Secret Matter.
With an Afterword by Mark Jordan.

For ordering information see White Crane Journal: Books We Recommend

Toby Johnson, PhD is author of eight books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of his teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and religious problems, three gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality. In addition to the novels featured elsewhere in this web site, Johnson is author of IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD and THE MYTH OF THE GREAT SECRET (Revised edition): AN APPRECIATION OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL.

Johnson's Lammy Award winning book GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness was published in 2000.

His Lammy-nominated book GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe was published by Alyson in 2003.