EPISODE 103
When God Speaks
Directed by Ziru Zhang
Produced by Auriyana Chanelle Armour & Emma Davis Williams · 23 min 31 sec
As a gay pastor, Keith Mozingo lives what so many queer folks had stripped away from them: practicing faith without hiding their sexuality.
“Gay” and “Christian” coexist seamlessly in the world of Keith Mozingo, but it wasn’t always that way. This episode tells Keith’s journey from a closeted church pianist to a sex-positive pastor who leads Founders Metropolitan Community Church, the world’s first queer Christian denomination. Pastor Keith reveals stories he rarely shares around struggling with his sexuality, faith, and suicidal ideation. As a pastor, Keith now actively celebrates queer relationships within his congregation, an unwavering representation of hope for gay couples who also want to hold onto a belief in God. The audience follows Keith’s story in dreamy visuals that range from the joy of connection within his church to repping a rainbow stole as a proud out pastor during a political demonstration, and concludes with pensive hope for the future.
The truth is that Keith’s story, and the extraordinary story of Founders Metropolitan Community Church, fell into my lap by chance. When Duncan approached me to join Still Here Still Queer, I panicked. As a 24-year-old, somewhat straight girl, who grew up halfway across the world in Singapore, with a strictly secular upbringing, how is this my story to tell? Yet at the same time, the very premise of Keith’s story and its inherent conflict between faith and queerness captivated me with an intensity that I couldn’t quite explain.
I scoured my past in search of a common ground, an opening through which the truth that Keith lives could resonate universally, even with someone drastically different like myself. And at some point in the iterative process of editing, it dawned on me that, beneath Keith’s radical reclamation of faith as a gay man lies a more simple, universal story: the journey of finding your way back home — and back to yourself.
As a child of immigrant parents who grew up constantly moving around, code switching and learning new languages, I often wonder where home is, and who I am beneath the layers of camouflage I’ve worn to survive each new place. Keith’s story showed me that home can be simultaneously a community that I choose for myself wherever I am in the world but also an inner sanctuary where I finally learn to accept myself, just as I am.
As a director, I believe that the personal is the most universal. Keith’s story isn’t one that’s only for queer people. This is a story for anyone who has needed the courage to be themselves and for anyone who has wondered if they can find home in a hostile world. It’s an incredible privilege to bear witness to this story and I hope it travels to the people who need to hear it the most.
A former educator of 19 years and published author, Rev. Keith Mozingo has been deeply involved in social justice causes across the South, from advocating for gay rights in North Carolina to fighting for same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ protections in Louisiana. He currently pastors the founding location of the Metropolitan Community Church denomination; the same denomination that let him know it was okay to be gay and Christian back when he was in college. When he isn’t doing pastoral work, you can find him traveling, solving crossword puzzles, or spending time with his fur-baby, Fairfax.
Rev. Troy Perry founded Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles in 1968 as the first church to recognize the need to minister to the needs of LGBTQ+ folks. He’s Rev. Keith’s hero, mentor, and dear friend.
Founders MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) Los Angeles is a prophetic, liberating and progressive Christian community of faith that honors, values and welcomes all people. They are rooted in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, and Intersex communities and they activate their members politically and compassionately to aid the people of Los Angeles.
Full credits, participant bios, high-resolution stills, and key art.