Cover photo courtesy University of Notre Dame press.

On Wednesday, the University of Notre Dame Press released Greg Bourke’s new memoir Gay, Catholic, and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion. In the book, Bourke describes his life as an out gay man living in the South during the 1980s and ’90s. In that time, he struggled for acceptance but he ultimately became a gay rights activist after his dismissal as troop leader from the Boy Scouts of America in 2021. The book also details his “historic role as one of the named defendants in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015.

Bourke, who works as a health economist, was named 2015 Persons of the Year with his husband Michael DeLeon by the National Catholic Reporter. Described as “unapologetically Catholic,” he and DeLeon have been active members at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for more than 30 years. He has also been instrumental in establishing LGBTQ alumni networks at the University of Notre Dame, University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.

The author dedicated his book to his husband and “to God who inspired it, and to the advancement of the Roman Catholic Church.”

In an email from UND Press, the book was released on Sept. 1 leading up to LGTBQ History Month in October.

– Rich Lopez