Author(s): Steph Lentz

Education | 2023 Spring Reading Guide

In January 2021, Steph Lentz was fired from her job as an English teacher at a Sydney Christian school after she came out as a lesbian. A hardcore Christian during her teens and twenties, Steph once preached against homosexuality and defended her church's conservative teachings about marriage and sex - that is, until she fell in love with a woman at her church, and her world turned upside-down. Being honest about her sexuality cost Steph her marriage, her job and her community. In the midst of ongoing debates about religious freedom and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in Australia, Steph's story is timely and necessary. At once a gripping recount, a heartfelt apology and a scathing take-down, In/Out charts Steph's course from inside Christian fundamentalism, out of the closet and into a fuller sense of herself. Questioning what she once believed and bearing witness to the grief that can accompany radical change, her story ultimately attests to the truth, beauty and goodness of reclaiming agency over one's own life.