Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood

By Lonnie Mann and Ryan Gatts. Published by Street Noise.

Softcover, 260 pages, Colour, 2024. 

A coming-of-age graphic novel memoir about a young man who, growing up in an Orthodox Jewish community, realizes he’s gay and struggles to reconcile his faith with who he is.

Lonnie’s Orthodox Jewish community has always been clear: it’s not okay to be gay. Growing up in a devout family and going to school at a yeshiva, he’s told by his parents, his teachers, and his friends that being gay is a sin and an abomination. But as he gets older, he realizes that he likes boys and wonders what kind of life he will be able to live. As Lonnie expands his world beyond the yeshiva to theater camp, college classes, and movie nights, he sees that the life he wants isn’t compatible with the life of his parents—and his whole religious community.

This emotional graphic novel explores the fissures between identity and religion and charts Lonnie’s journey from a kid who loved the rules of the Orthodox Jewish tradition to becoming increasingly independent and defiant, embracing his gay identity and developing his own chosen family.

“A vital, emotionally immersive self-portait.” —Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews

“An emotionally fraught graphic memoir. Younger adults navigating their own coming out within religious communities will find resonance.” —Publishers Weekly