MEET OUR TEAM
Learn more about Josh in this episode:
S1E3
Josh and Michelle on Family and Friendship
JOSH
Creator and Producer
Hi! I’m Josh (he/him). I started Life on Side B in 2019 as a space for honest conversation and real questions about being LGBT+/SSA and Christian. Since I was little, I knew I was queer and have been passionate ever since then to better understand how faith and sexuality intersect. My journey with faith and sexuality has been a long one that has taken me a lot of places, and now I have been pursuing a life of celibacy for multiple years.
I work as a spiritual director with a private practice called Wholly Ourselves. I also serve as connections pastor as my local church called Providencia. I have my Masters in Biblical Literature from Nyack College, and I'm currently pursuing my Doctor of Ministry at Kairos University. In short, I am a Bible nerd.
I previously lived in Colombia for eight years working in international relations in the church before moving back to the States where I live with my partner and family in West Palm Beach, FL. In my spare time, you can normally find me doing one of three things: hanging with friends, watching Golden Girls, or going out dancing.
Learn more about Henry in this episode:
HENRY
Based in Forth Worth, Texas, Henry Abuto (he/him) is a celibate gay Christian man who writes on Faith, Friendship, Sexuality, Race, Jesus, and a hot of other topics. Lover of hosting dinner parties, like music, deep friendships, red wine, Beyonce, and all things Texas. He owns an event planning and catering business called ByWasanga and hosts another podcast called Tony & Henry: On The Same Page.
S2E11
Henry on Loneliness
BEKAH
Bekah (she/her) is a parent, teacher, and student in Tennessee who spends her “spare time” mentoring Side B young'uns and advocating for other groups who have traditionally been marginalized in the evangelical church. She works as the Executive Director of Revoice, a non profit organization dedicated to “support and encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other same-sex attracted Christians as well as those who them”. She speaks and writes about non-traditional families, sexuality, abuse, and women in ministry.
Bekah is hooked on hiking, photography, history, and owning more books than she can read in a lifetime. You can follow her on her blog, bekahmason.com and on Twitter @bekahmason to keep up with all her random observations on life, politics, sexuality, abuse, and all the absurd things her kids say.
Learn more about Bekah in this episode:
S1E14
Bekah on Adoption and Fostering
GRANT
Grant (he/him) is a gay celibate seminarian living in St. Louis, an infamous workshop presenter, and probably the world’s worst vegetarian. He has been involved in teaching and discipleship through an evangelical campus ministry, and infrequently speaks at Christian conferences on being a gay follower of Jesus, queer culture, contextualization, and missiology, but right now he mostly serves people food, tries to survive learning biblical Greek, and reads basically anything other than that which is required for his classes. He is most interested in the myriad ways God has been and continues to be, active in the lives of queer people. You can follow him on Twitter @thegranthartley
ELIZABETH
Elizabeth Black (she/her) has served as an evangelist and minister in New York City for 10 years. Originally from Baltimore, MD, she attended Washington Bible College for undergraduate studies and is currently working on her Masters of Theology in Contextual Theology of Missions at All Nations, a missions college in the United Kingdom. Elizabeth is the Co-Founder and President of Kaleidoscope, a new ministry that reaches the LGBTQ community of New York City with the Gospel.
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She works to teach pastors and ministry leaders how to care for LGBTQ individuals in their contexts and actively builds missional relationships with LGBTQ people, sharing Christ love with them. Elizabeth loves to cook, entertain, watch documentaries, and read about culture. Last but not least, she is a proud wife and the mother of two young boys.
Learn more about Elizabeth in this episode:
S4E0
Meet Elizabeth
COHOSTS FROM PREVIOUS SEASONS
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MARY
Season 2
Mary (she/her) should spend a little less time reading fanfic and a little more time reading the Bible. A cradle Catholic and media scholar, Mary is most interested in how Side B might be represented through fictional narratives pop culture. Her coming out story may still be unfolding, but apologist arguments and bad jokes are guaranteed.
SARAH
Season 3
Sarah (they/them) is a recent graduate of the George Washington University. Sarah is fascinated​ by the intersection between race/ethnicity, sexuality, and Christianity and how they help to foster a sense of belonging, develop collective narratives, and create meaningful communities.
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They loves queer theory, good books, and deep conversations. They are constantly challenged by the unique ways marginalized people know God and seek to serve him, even at great personal costs. You can find them on twitter @saraheabbey, where they post super sporadically (but lurks constantly).
Learn more about Sarah in this episode:
S3E0
Meet Our New Cohost: Sarah Abbey
ASHLEY
Ashley (she/her) is a woman in a mixed orientation marriage (her husband is straight and she is not) from the deep south. She describes herself as gay, bisexual, and same-sex attracted depending on who she is speaking to. She went to do mission work in Latin America when she finished high school and returned to the States when she was in her mid 20’s to straighten out her husband’s immigration paperwork. Her and her husband have recently had their first child.
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She is semi-closeted, in the sense that she doesn’t go out of her way to hide who she is attracted to but also doesn’t go out of her way to tell anybody, which is also normal for someone married and as private as she is. She is consistently finding herself more of an in-between person in most aspects of her life.
Learn more about Ashley in this episode:
S2E3
Ashley on Coming Out