The Queer community of color and Christianity — “With Wonder” Documentary allows audiences to look through a lens with love and faith

BY SELINA MCCALLUM

Can you be Christian and Queer? Feature length documentary, ‘With Wonder’ directed by award-winning director Sharon Lewis explores this question by speaking to Queer and Christian individuals of color from Jamaica, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, London UK, and New York.

Lewis was in the midst of making another film about the first Black openly gay conductor in Canada, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser and in conversations about Christianity with him, the idea for ‘With Wonder’ came to life.

“He was telling me stories about Christians and coming out, and I thought this is crazy that the definition of Christianity is still, in some places, to persecute the Queer community,” said With Wonder Director. “I really wanted to investigate that and what it looked like specifically for people of color. There is conversion therapy and homophobia in White churches, but it plays out very differently in people of color communities.”

Audiences hear and see diverse members of the LGBTQI+ community, including high profile Queer activists and Queer clerics in the film. They each have their own unique ways of amplifying their voices and finding their way back to spiritual health, despite the shaming tactics of some Christian institutions.

Maurice, a Queer Jamaican Activist, organized Montego Bay’s first ever LGBT focused walk in 2018. Maurice grew up and was very involved in the church as his parents were pillars in the community. Jamaica is known for having extremely homophobic views on the LGBTQ community. This ultimately put Maurice in a frustrating situation.

“People say there is more churches than people in Jamaica,” said Lewis. “That church isn’t just a church where you go to on Sundays, its where community comes together, its where resources come together, its where you may go for help to get a job or even medical attention. So, when that center is no longer accessible to you, it not only affects you psychologically, but it affects you economically.”

Although there is much trauma Lewis could have shown in her documentary, she decided to focus more on the positive anecdotes and how each interviewee feels about being Queer and their love for God.

In her Op-Ed to CBC, Lewis writes, “I set out to make sure the film was not going to fall into the category of trauma exploitation. It has been a struggle while documenting the stories to balance those sad, sometimes tragic experiences with hope and survival.”

Lewis beautifully crafted the story that is a love letter for the LGBTQI+ community of color by the LGBTQI+ community of color. Each interviewee in the documentary shares a little bit of their coming out story and struggle for acceptance from their religious families, but especially themselves.

D’Lo, a transgender Sri-Lankan American performer, and an old friend of Lewis, shows audiences that it’s possible to joke around with God and be your most authentic self. In a monologue he performs in front of a live audience, he reenacts conversations with his Sri Lankan parents, moments with his sister as a child, and expressing his anger to God when his sister dies later in a plane accident.

Another story in the film is the one of Rev. Winnie who is from Nigeria but lives in New York now. While he was fighting for LGBTQ rights in Nigeria years ago, his father was actively working with the government to pass the anti-same sex bill.

While other films may blur out the background in the shot where the interviewee is speaking, With Wonder does something a little different which stands out. The interviewee is in sharp focus while around them the background almost resembles a blurred, dream-like filter.

“I really wanted you to get a sense of other worldliness. You would feel a sense, like something else is at work here, another energy level at work,” said Lewis.

As this is a love letter to God, Sharon mentioned what a reply from God would be to her.

“I think a love letter written back is interviews like this by a Caribbean newspaper. People who have written to me and said they were completely moved by the film. It was also the private screening for the participants in the film who I cried with about how hard and beautiful it was to share their story. That’s the form of it, all this love that has come back from this documentary,” said the With Wonder Director.

The film shows audiences what unconditional love is, what vulnerability is and most importantly, what joy looks and feels like.

“I’ve made enough films, and I have to say, this one is really special,” said Lewis. “The way that it came together and the participants that shared, that connection with them is a huge gift. Everyone who worked on the film worked on it with love.”

Lewis is continuing making films through her production company Urbansoul inc on genre features and scripted TV series, highlighting the stories and talents of Black women, Black Queer women, and the BIPOC 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Look out for exclusive interviews and behind the scenes clips coming on the With Wonder website later this year.