Interview with Rachel and Sarah Hagger-Holt

Rachel and Sarah Hagger-Holt caused a minor sensation nearly three years ago when a book of theirs was published called Living It Out. The book was about being a Gay Christian couple and what day to day lives are like for Gay Christian couples. As they put it; "As gay Christians, we heard a lot in the media about Christianity and LGB people. Very little seemed to have anything to do with our own lives, or those of people that we knew who were living out their faith as lesbian, gay or bisexual Christians. We realized that these voices weren’t being heard, and this inspired us to interview more than 50 LGB Christians, families, church leaders and straight friends, and to share their insights, experiences and voices."
The book has been selling well and is still building up in sales and reputation, as Rachel says; "After an initial flurry of sales when the book was first published in 2010 and again after we spoke to a 200-strong audience at Greenbelt festival in 2011, the book has been selling slowly but steadily" They did get good reviews in the church press but "...even better was receiving letters and emails from readers, and requests to come and speak at groups. We have been attending speaking engagements regularly since the book was published. We’ve heard from people who were encouraged to go back to church after reading Living It Out, and others who felt less isolated after hearing that other people shared their experiences." The important thing for Rachel and Sarah is making sure people know the actual experiences and emotions many Gay Christians go through, whether the audience are non Christians or Conservative-minded Christians. More importantly, as they say, it is "...The opportunity to show, through the stories that we share in the book, that not all Christians are anti-gay – and not all gay people are anti-Christian!"
And as with all good books there is the question as to whether they will write another one "We are always coming up with ideas, but none of them has reached fruition yet – we’ll keep you posted…."