Or maybe it's because God has blessed religious guys with exceptional beneath-the-belt gifts.
I've dated or hooked up with members of most of the major world religions. Here are the most interesting and memorable:
College
1. Fred, my first real boyfriend. He was student clergy when we met, during my sophomore year in college. Then he took a church in Omaha, and I followed him there, with disastrous consequences. United Church of Christ.
2. During my junior year, Corey was a follower of the Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, and wanted to learn to fly. When I brought up the subject of gay people, he claimed to be opposed to "perversion." But years later I ran into him at the French Quarter in West Hollywood. He was living in San Francisco with his partner. Transcendental Meditation
3. Peter, the priest with the pushy mom, spent most of our dates talking about why the Greek Orthodox Church wasn't homophobic, in spite of its homophobic policies. The first time I spent the night, Mom came into his room without knocking. But Peter was #1 on my Sausage List. Greek Orthodox
4. At Indiana University, one night I went to Bullwinkle's, the local gay bar, and hooked up with a Nigerian guy who had a tattooed penis and about a thousand books on magic and witchcraft. He performed a spell for me. Traditional African Religion
5. Asher, from the night of six naked men at Indiana University, was the first (but by no means the last) Jewish guy I dated. Judaism.
6. When Viju, my friend and roommate at Indiana University, invited me to visit him in India, I hooked up with several Hindu guys, plus Arshad, a Parsi, a follower of the monotheistic religion founded in Persia by Zoroaster (Zarathustra) about 600 BC. There are only about 60,000. Another gay Parsi was Freddie Mercury of Queen. Zoroastrianism
Texas
7. My most embarrassing hookup was with Warren, a shy, middle-aged guy who thought I was a hustler. He said he was from the Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but later I found out that his distinctive underwear was "temple garments," the special underclothes that worn upon your "endowment" in the Utah church. So....Latter-day Saints.
West Hollywood
8. When I first moved to West Hollywood, I met Alan, a student clergy at the MCC who used to be a porn star, and, earlier in his life, Pentecostal. He went back and forth from "gay is good" to "God hates gay people" three times. But he was a nice guy, and #4 on my Sausage List. Pentecostalism.
9. While I was visiting Alan in Japan, I looked around for religious guys. Nearly everyone in Japan is nominally Buddhist and Shinto, but who still believes in the old rituals? Turns out that Jin, one of Alan's hookups, was actually training to become a Shinto priest. Shinto.
11. Rev. Jasper was a preacher at a Baptist church in Gardena, not out to his congregation ("but we're working on it"). He believed that the Bible prohibited anal sex, but not oral, so we were free to engage in all the oral we wanted. Two dates were enough. The American Baptist Convention
12, Panther, my housemate Derek's ex-lover, the naked man in the bath tub, worked as a church organist, but he was also belonged to the Radical Faeries and a Wiccan coven. Paganism.
New York
13. It's not easy to find Mongolians anywhere outside of Mongolia, and only about 2% practice the traditional, pre-Buddhist religion, so it was quite a stroke of luck to find Tomor at a gay bar in Paris, of all places. He told me that Mongolian shamans are all bisexual, since they see beyond male and female to the beauty of the soul.
And he turned out to be gifted beneath the belt, with a Bratwurst+. Mongolian Folk Religion.
14. My friend Andre, who was straight but celibate, belonged to a "traditional Catholic" spiritual community that disapproved of Pope John Paul and practiced only the Latin Mass, but supported female priests and gay rights. One day he invited me to the exorcism of a young recruit named Barry. The demon turned out to be homophobic, Barry turned out to be gay, and I ended up with a date. Traditional Catholicism
15. Shen, an undergraduate history major from Hong Kong, told me that he was the world's biggest fan of Confucian philosophy. Confucianism.
16. The Amish Boy in Red Bikini Briefs. Ok, it was just a sausage sighting at a rest stop on my way south from New York to Florida, but it's the closest I've ever come to a hookup with an Amish guy.
Florida
17. Arjun. Have you heard of the Urantia Book? It was published in the 1920s, or rather channeled, and it tells about our place in the galactic civilization. Lengthy descriptions of the galactic government. One of the students in my Sociology of Religion class was a devotee, and invited me to get coffee after class in an attempt to convert me. I didn't get converted. Urantian Fellowship.
18. Raphael, the Gay Psychic Angel whose arms didn't work, the hottest guy I have ever seen, told me about my past lives. I wimped out on the date, but at least we kissed. He was affiliated with the Science of Mind, a new age religion founded by Ernest Holmes in 1926 that teaches that we create our own reality.
Ohio
19. I have to include the Catholic priest in my bed, even though we didn't really hook up -- Father Christopher and I shared a room at a retreat. But I did get a sausage sighting. Roman Catholicism.
20. Farshad, the French Moroccan. I had been with Muslim guys before, but Farshad was especially devout. He helped found the first gay masjid in Europe. Islam.
See also: When Your Boyfriend's Religious Brainwashing Kicks In and all of my stories about growing up Nazarene.
I also am really into ministers, clergy, priests, & so on. So nice to find another like minded guy. I live in S. Indiana. Do I understand correctly you grew up in the Nazarene Church? I attended a Nazarene church for several years. Would love to hear back from you so we can chat more!
ReplyDeleteOh boy, did I ever grow up Nazarene. Jump quiz, altar calls, NYPS, canvassing, witnessing, camp meeting, missionary society. Just check the keyword "Nazarene," and you'll get about a thousand stories.
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