When We All Get to Heaven

Christian churches have often alienated queer people from the faith in which they were raised. So talk of God isn’t often associated with the fierce activism of the queer community during the ‘80s AIDS crisis. The lived reality, however, was much messier, with many queer people longing for faith as they faced down this new deadly and confusing disease. When We All Get to Heaven brings that history to life through the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, as it grappled with AIDS—and the deaths of 500 of its members. The audio documentary follows a group of LGBTQ Christians as they try to make sense of so much illness and death, while caught between a faith that rejected their sexual identity and a gay rights movement that rejected God. Based on an archive of 1,200 cassette tapes recorded at the time, what amounts to a powerful oral history tells the stories of clergy members, lay people, those stricken with AIDS and those who cared for them, activists, and community members, illuminating how religion helped them cope and connect. For diving into the messy, human complexities of the past and recognizing the ways that faith can heal as well as hurt, When We All Get to Heaven is recognized with a Peabody Award.