Sunday 21 October 2012

New Zealand Interview and Visit

This week, I'm off to New Zealand to do some media events around the city of Auckland. How exciting and how blessed that I get to speak about some of the issues of which I am most passionate.

I will be on the support side of a debate/discussion on the topic of Same Sex Marriage which will be available for download from http://www.elephant.tv/ in the not too distant future. I will also be doing some television spots with various interviewers on the issues of the book. There will be some radio too and a magazine interview. I will be speaking at the Sunday evening service of the Metropolitan Community Church in Auckland on 28 October and at the mid-week evening meeting of the Auckland Community Church on 30 October. I am also looking forward to doing an internet interview with talk show host Andrew Whiteside on his Gay Talk Tonight show http://www.gaytalktonight.com/ 

The New Zealand people have been very welcoming well before I have even arrived and I must say I am just so impressed by how open they are to talking about these sexuality issues which, for some of them, must be quite confronting.

Below, you can find an interview I recorded a few months ago with Justin Gregory from Radio New Zealand's Spiritual Outlook program. Justin and I had a wonderful chat about all sorts of interesting issues: 


  • the church 
  • traditional teachings on gay sexuality 
  • the evangelicals 
  • the Catholics
  • my own history of suffering
  • my journey to self-acceptance and self-love
  • the reasons I wrote the book
  • the intended audience of the book
  • how I see myself these days

It was broadcast on Sunday afternoon 21 October and released on-line the same afternoon. A pastor wrote to me immediately and said:

I have just listened to the broadcast, and rather sorry I am not in Auckland to hear more from you. Your book was given to me several months ago ( a birthday present ) and I am so pleased to have it, so pleased you wrote it. The book is so very useful in my ministry. Thank you! A most excellent book that should be on every Christian minister's bookshelf.


I hope you enjoy the interview and if you find it helpful, then purchase a copy of Being Gay Being Christian if you haven't read it yet or tell someone else who might need to hear about it. Or tell them about the website: http://beinggaybeingchristian.com/ or tell them about the book's Facebook page or my own personal page. There are a lot of people out there who need to hear this message: gay people, their family, their friends, their church associates, their clergy. Let's see if we can spread some good news!




Pax et Amor - Stuart