I’m excited to announce that I’ve recently signed a publishing agreement with Broadleaf Books for an upcoming book I wrote called “Love Makes Room: And Other Things I Learned When My Daughter Came Out.” It’s a book that took me years to process, and another couple of years to write, before I was ready to share it outside a small circle of family and friends.
“Love Makes Room” is the story of how I came to understand and fully affirm my daughter’s gay orientation in the context of my Christian faith. For some that may seem like a no-brainer, for others an impossibility. For me, it was a labor of love that involved untangling a deeply rooted system of pre-conceived ideas, cultural norms and what I believed was the Biblical truth about homosexuality.
As I was writing it, I felt an unmistakable nudge to dig deep, to shine a light into the darkest parts of the story and tell it as honestly as I could, knowing there were countless other parents going through similar experiences, asking the same questions. Many of those parents had reached out to me when a blog post I wrote about my daughter being gay went viral in 2015 (“What I Learned About Love When My Daughter Came Out”), generating more emails, messages, comments and texts than I knew what to do with. I realized I had struck a chord with both the evangelical Christian and LGBTQ communities—and I believed my story could help move the conversation toward understanding and reconciliation.
After finishing the book, a series of steps only God could’ve orchestrated led me to the right editor, the right literary agent, and what I hoped was the right publisher to champion this book. Which is why I’m beyond excited to announce that Broadleaf Books has offered me a publishing contract and IT IS HAPPENING.
Love Makes Room is the book I was looking for 10 years ago when my daughter first came out. It’s an ‘accidental guidebook’, a messy and unflinchingly honest companion in the difficult process many Christians face when someone they love comes out as LGBTQ.
Through the lens of what it means to make room for life’s big changes, my book looks at the daunting, complex question of how we can better love our LGBTQ loved ones and examine our own biases and beliefs more closely within the context of a robust faith.
The release date is set for Spring of 2021 (I know I know – it’s a wait!) But if you’re interested in seeing some early excerpts and other exclusive content in the coming months, sign up to receive my monthly newsletter HERE
I’m anticipating lots of robust conversations around this book - I hope you’ll stick around for them!
