Dr. Grady Throneberry | Author, Pastor, Speaker, Police Chief
Reader Review
Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow
Journey to a Rainbow is a welcome fountain of affirmation, encouragement and hope. Speaking as one who has struggled to reconcile undeniable personal reality with an abiding faith in a loving God, Throneberry presents an honest picture of the struggle and a comforting taste of the sweetness of realizing that God loves us, just as we are. Even those of us who have already made the jump into the waterfall and come out the other end of the vortex somewhat intact can find great comfort and encouragement in its pages. An important read for us—and for those who love us.
Reader Review
Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow
Grady Throneberry's Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow recounts the author's painful journey to the recognition and acceptance of his sexual orientation. Throneberry writes about his awareness, even as a child, of being "other"; his sometimes awkward attempts to fit into the "normative" mode of heterosexuality as an adolescent by feigning interest in girls; his marriage and fathering of two daughters; his choice of the supposedly "macho" profession of law enforcement; his outing by a partner he thought loved him before he was ready, with the overpowering sense of betrayal that caused; and the cognitive dissonance he felt between his deep Christian faith and the message of condemnation most churches hit him with.
Throneberry also writes about the great freedom that ultimately comes from being honest with himself, his wife and children, and his friends. He writes movingly about how one of the policemen under his command came into his office one day and told him that none of the men in the department cared about his sexual orientation, that what they knew was that he was a good commander and they all supported him. And he writes about finding Christian communities, which accepted him for the person he is and welcomed him into their fellowship.
This is a book that heterosexual people ought to read, because it may help them to understand (to a little extent at least) the kind of issues gay people have to face every day. Gay people ought to read it (especially if they are not yet out) because it conveys a message of hope that, when they are out, there will be communities (including Christian communities) ready to accept them and provide a safe place for them to be the persons that God intended them to be.
— Dr. Bill Thomason
Reader Review
Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow
Grady, my marriage dissolution was final today. I didn’t expect this to be so painful or to take my breath away, but it did. We had many good years together and three terrific children who continue to love us both unconditionally, so I can now say I am ready to live true to myself and true to them. Thank you again for sharing your story via your books, thank you for your support of me and the many men like me, and a special thanks for a phone conversation 3 years ago that helped me start my journey.
Sincerely,
Tom
Reader Review
Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow
In Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow, Grady L. Throneberry offers a deeply personal memoir with profound social significance.
Isolated and alone in a society hostile to his sense of self, Grady hid a secret, enduring a private conflict between repression and self-expression.
Driven by internal turmoil, Chief Throneberry devoted his life to law enforcement; a ‘traditional’ family; the pastoral ministry; and advanced academic study.
And then came the tornado: the moment when the inner man, long denied, at last declared his authentic self. When that storm passed, Dr. Throneberry found himself finally at the rainbow.
Anyone interested in the evolution of human rights over the last 50 years and the impact of those changes on an individual life will find Dr. Throneberry a provocative companion and Gay and Gray: My Journey to the Rainbow, a helpful guide.
-Roy Langsdon