Rev. Dr. Joseph N. Goh

Joseph N. Goh was born to a family of mixed ancestry in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The elder of two children, his formative years were marked by weekend picnics in the country, Roman Catholic midnight masses, English novels, British and Malaysian sophisti-pop singles and supernatural horror movies. Goh became aware that he was ‘different’ at the age of six although he did not have the capacity to articulate the word ‘gay’ until well into his teenage years. As a teenager who tried to date girls but ended up happily interacting with them as sisters, and who developed intense crushes on his male classmates, Goh’s inner conflict was exacerbated by the fact that his elders were pillars of the local Roman Catholic community. He was deeply conflicted as being gay was (and still is) associated with illegal behaviour, abnormality, shame and sinfulness in many sectors of Malaysian life.

Fearing rejection and ridicule, the young teenage Goh disguised his sexuality from his family and friends for as long as he could. Nevertheless, he found in the Creator God a refuge of unconditional acceptance and the source of being gay. He read up as much as he could on Roman Catholic teachings and practices, and gradually considered the real possibility of channelling and transforming ‘forbidden feelings’ into a life of dedicated service to God. Three months shy of his twenty-second birthday, and after a brief foray in secondary school teaching, he decided to go for full-time training to serve the Church. He was happy but he still could not find the inner peace and reconciliation for which he was craving. Despite experiencing the deep love of God, the official church teaching on same-sex attracted people as ‘intrinsically disordered’ and ‘objectively disordered’ continued to haunt and hurt him.

Goh pursued graduate studies in systematic theology and earned Licenciate in Sacred Theology (STL) and Master of Theology (ThM) degrees. It was at this time that his passion for academia, research and education was further fuelled. More importantly, meeting ordained and non-ordained academic and non-academic staff and students who were LGBTQ or allies – especially those who were Roman Catholic – introduced him to a whole new world of possibilities to live happily as being an out gay Christian man.

Without relinquishing his Roman Catholic identity, Goh embraces a more radical, progressive and inclusive form of Christianity. He is finally able to see that God is so much bigger and more magnanimous than his wildest imaginings. He has worked in not-for-profits alongside diverse colleagues who hail from diverse communities of gay men, lesbian women and other queer people, transgender women and men, transgender women sex workers, female sex workers, People Living with HIV and People Who Use Drugs, as well as interns, volunteers and resource persons who either identify as LGBTQ or are allies.

As an academic and theological activist, Goh researches primarily at the intersection of gender, sexuality and theology, but he is also interested in broader LGBTI and queer studies, sexual health issues, religious and theological studies, sexual ethics, human rights issues and qualitative research. He enjoys writing on issues of religion and theology, particularly in their intersections with LGBTIQ subjectivities, and has published extensively in these areas. For him, writing is a profoundly spiritual practice. Goh is the author of books such as Doing Church at the Amplify Open and Affirming Conferences: Queer Ecclesiologies in Asia (Palgrave Macmillan 2021), Becoming a Malaysian Trans Man: Gender, Society, Body and Faith (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), and Living Out Sexuality and Faith: Body Admissions of Malaysian Gay and Bisexual Men (Routledge 2018). Becoming a Malaysian Trans Man received the ‘Ground-Breaking Subject Matter Accolade’ in the International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize 2021 Accolades in the Social Sciences section. He has also co-edited Gender and Sexuality Justice in Asia: Finding Resolutions through Conflicts (with Sharon A. Bong and Thaatchaayini Kananatu; Springer 2020), Unlocking Orthodoxies for Inclusive Theologies: Queer Alternatives (with Robert E. Shore-Goss; Routledge 2020), and Queering Migrations Towards, From, and Beyond Asia (with Hugo Córdova Quero and Michael Sepidoza Campos; Palgrave Macmillan 2014).

(Updated biographical statement and image provided by Joseph N. Goh)

Biography Date: September 2021

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