Big Baby

Kevin James Thornton grew up in a tiny town in Indiana, where he was part of a tight-knit fundamentalist church community. As an outgoing, some would say obnoxious, kid, he was drawn to the opportunity to make friends and perform with the church theatre group. For much of his youth he found solace and comfort in their community, until as he grew he realised he was different.

This was the time of \"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell\". Gay marriage was still illegal and anti-gay hate crimes were rampant. Kevin remained closeted throughout his childhood, ever wary of the hellfire his community had assured would await him. It took years before he found the courage to get out and follow his dreams.

In his riotous memoir, Kevin digs deep into the realities of how his sexuality butted heads with his religion, sometimes painfully but often with joy and laughter too. You’ll hear how Kevin found his love for performing through the incredibly, err, avantgarde plays put on by the church theatre group, how he decided to speak in tongues at church one day just for the drama, or how he and his friends took up chain-smoking in a bid to be more relatable to non-believers #chainsmokingforjesus