119: My Life as a Bisexual Christian

by Jaime Sommers

As a bisexual Christian woman, happily and faithfully married to a man, a mother of three children and with a blossoming ministry as a preacher, Jaime Sommers had always felt as if her true self did not really exist in the eyes of the Church. She could find neither theology nor pastoral support for a person who felt the need for physical closeness with both sexes in order to feel well or ‘whole’. Following a brief, isolated incident in which Jaime kissed another woman, the full extent of the Church’s inability to acknowledge or understand her identity became apparent. The disciplinary process to which she was subjected led to her suffering depression and anxiety and feelings of isolation. Jaime’s powerful and emotive story reveals the failure of the Church – and of large parts of wider culture and society – to recognise and support the experience and needs of those who identify as the silent ‘B’ in LGBT.

160 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2017

About the author

I grew up in small town Wisconsin before stretching my wings to fly.  I've traveled to and lived in many places, but after ten years in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the open space of home called our family back.
Reading and writing has always played a significant role in my life,  a passion which I hope to pass on to my children.  I believe that we all have a verse to contribute in life by words and example.  Books and ideas are the windows of the world.  
When I'm not writing I can be found in the garden, in the kitchen or out on the trails riding my horse.   
A native Wisconsinite, Jaime Sommers resides in the Madison area with her two young children.

Reviews

[Kevin P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so she comes out as bisexual, and is surprised, confused and upset when her church isn't completely accepting of her doing whatever she wants to do.
Shocking.

[Darren M Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

119: My Life as a Bisexual Christian is a biographical book that points out the difficulties of being Bisexual within the Church. You aren't totally straight and you aren't gay, you fall in the middle. I cannot recommend this book enough, as a Bisexual Christian myself. It raises so many good points about how those who aren't straight, cis-gendered humans are treated by some in the Church, and perhaps goes some way to explaining why most Bisexual Christians present as straight, never admitting to anyone how they really feel, and suffering with the accompanying feelings of guilt and the associated mental health issues. Straightforward and enjoyable to read. Read it, it may change how you feel about sexuality and Christianity.

[Kathleen Jowitt]

The ‘119’ of the title refers to the 119 words granted to the subject of bisexuality in the Church of England House of Bishops’ Issues in Human Sexuality. Those are 119 words that I’ve ranted about myself before now, and this book resonated. The early parts, dealing with Sommers’ childhood, adolescence and university years, felt a little incoherent and self-conscious, but when Sommers begins to address the crisis that forms the greater part of the book all that falls away, and she recounts the events with an honesty and clarity that roused my anger and kept me reading.
In some ways, ‘119’ feels like a slightly irrelevant title. This book challenges Issues in Human Sexuality, yes, but it’s much more than that; it’s a personal account of how the system failed an individual; it’s representative of the failure of a whole system to recognise and provide for a whole group of people within it. Having said that, the title does highlight how criminally inadequate the current thinking is.