The Preacher Who Couldn't Pray Away the Gay  (And What He Found Instead)

The Preacher Who Couldn't Pray Away the Gay (And What He Found Instead)

Author: Anne-Marie Zanzal 1ac1f670-c17c-11f0-806a-ef1502adef07 February 27, 2026 Duration: 49:31

What happens when the life you’re told to live is slowly killing you—and the life you’re afraid to live is the one that sets you free?

David Hulse has been a spiritual teacher for over 60 years. But his journey to get here took him through Pentecostal fundamentalism in Tulsa, Oklahoma, conversion therapy at 17, a church in the Jim Crow South at 19, and a marriage to a woman he thought would save him from himself.

In this episode, David shares how he moved from fear-based religion to expansive, love-centered spirituality—and what that path looked like across six decades of searching, breaking down, and building something real. We talk about the bridges that can help you move from rigid doctrine to genuine spiritual connection, why religious wounds don’t heal just because you leave the church, how this current moment in history might actually be “labor pains before a rebirth,” and why 80-year-old queer elders like David are exactly the pioneers our community needs right now.

Whether you’re deconstructing your faith, navigating a later-in-life coming out, or just need to hear that it gets better from someone who’s been there—this one’s for you.

Connect with David: davidhulse.com | Heartlight Spiritual Center, Charlotte, NC

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Authentically Us is a support community for later-in-life LGBTQ women at all stages of the coming out and beyond process. Whether you're deconstructing messages from a conservative faith tradition, experiencing divorce-related guilt, or struggling with feelings of shame around your coming out or sexual identity, Authentically Us has the right kind of support for you.

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It can feel incredibly isolating to question your sexuality after years of living a different story. Coming Out & Beyond Support for Women Questioning Their Sexuality Later in Life is a companion for that specific journey, created for those who find themselves navigating these waters from a place of established life-perhaps within a marriage, after a divorce, or while building a family. Host Anne-Marie Zanzal brings her perspective as an ordained minister and hospice chaplain to conversations that gently unravel complex layers of identity, faith, and fear. This podcast delves into the real, often unspoken challenges: confronting compulsory heterosexuality, processing religious or spiritual conditioning, and managing the anxiety of how a personal revelation might ripple through your closest relationships. Episodes offer a blend of personal reflection, insightful interviews, and practical support, focusing on emotional and mental well-being without offering simplistic answers. It’s a space where you can hear stories that resonate with your own, fostering a sense of clarity and community. Tuning in, you’ll find a resource that honors the full spectrum of this experience-the confusion, the liberation, and everything in between-always grounded in compassion and deep understanding.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Coming Out & Beyond | Support for Women Questioning Their Sexuality
Podcast Episodes
🏳️‍🌈Allyship That Truly Matters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:09
When you come out to someone, you learn very quickly to tell the difference between the half embrace and the full embrace. The half embrace turns the conversation back to your husband, your children, your family system w…
Your Sapphic Dating Dilemmas, Answered with Love (and Zero Filter) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:17
This month we return to our lesbian dating and relationship conversation, the one we share on the second Friday of every month, and by popular request Tonda is back at the table! Anne-Marie is joined by her wife, Tonda M…
Grieving the Living: The Estrangement No One Prepares You For [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:29
TW: This episode includes honest discussion about grief, estrangement and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion is advised. There is a kind of loss that arrives without a funeral. No casserole on the doorstep, no card i…
Hurricane Lessons: Betrayal, Becoming, & Coming Out Later in Life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:30
A decade ago, Anne-Marie and Katrina Anne Willis met inside a small Facebook group that no longer exists — a quiet corner of the internet where women who had Googled "late in life lesbian" found each other. They were bot…
Clarity Is a Thousand Small Permissions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:03
Join the 3-Day Clarity Experience, May 5–7. A live space for women in the long middle who are ready to stop doing it alone — not to get a fix, but to sit with the questions alongside a community of women in exactly the s…