Emory Religious Life and the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Life hosted a discussion yesterday about faith and sexual identity after showing “Saint of 9/11,” a documentary film about a gay chaplain who died helping 9/11 victims out of the burning Twin Towers.

“This is part of developing relationships with other departments on campus,” said Michael Shutt, director of the LGBT Office. “There are many gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual and queer students of various faith and religious backgrounds on campus. We need to open dialogues around discussions of multiple identities.”

The screening and discussion are part of Emory’s Unity Month, a month-long celebration of diversity hosted by the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services.

The movie, directed by Glenn Holsten, focuses on the life of a gay Roman Catholic priest, Father Mychal F. Judge.

The film explores the life of a man who unified class, gender, sexual identity and religion, Shutt said.

Judge was a priest of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor and Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York as well as the first recorded victim of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Judge was also a member of Dignity, a Catholic LGBT activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic church’s dogma regarding homosexuality.

“I think it’s a perfect addition to unity month because it points out all kinds of intersections of identity,” Assistant Director of Religious Life Rabbi Victoria Armour-Hileman said. “All the various diversity we have on campus and how we interact with each other shows how those identities overlap.”

Spirituality and sexuality often overlap because they both comprise moments of inner questioning, Emory Pride Co-President and College senior Olivia Wise said.

“Understanding how to be sexual and sexually open without going against your religious beliefs is something that a lot of people question at some point,” said Wise, who is a member of the Unitarian church.

Joe O’Geen, a College senior and member of Emory Pride agreed with Wise.

“Sexuality and religion are both components of diversity,” said O’Geen, who is Catholic. “A major issue is that a lot of students either feel like religion compels them to feel that their difference in sexuality is immoral or some students feel like they can’t be religious and heterosexual and that’s just not how it should be.”

Following the movie screening, the audience discussed their reactions to the film.

“I think many people who are newly coming out who are gay, or people who don’t have a traditional male or female identity, think clergy won’t accept them,” Hileman said. “One of the reasons why this is a good idea to co-sponsor [the event] is that of course we’re happy to work with any student on campus regardless of sexual identity.”

— Contact Roshani Chokshi.