Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold (in person & live-streaming)
2025-11-20 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Jeanna Kadlec for a reading and discussion of her memoir, Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold. Jeanna will be joined in conversation by Bureau co-founder Greg Newton, who also survived a childhood in the world of American white evangelical Christianity.

About Heretic :

A memoir of leaving the evangelical church and the search for radical new ways to build community. Jeanna Kadlec knew what it meant to be faithful–in her marriage to a pastor’s son, in the comfortable life ahead of her, in her God–but there was no denying the truth that lived under that conviction: she was queer and, if she wanted to survive, she would need to leave behind the church and every foundational building block she knew.

Heretic is a memoir of rebirth. Within, Kadlec reckons with religious trauma and Midwestern values, as a means of unveiling how evangelicalism directly impacts every American–religious or not–and has been a major force in driving our democracy towards fascism. From the story of Lilith to celebrity purity rings, Kadlec interrogates how her indoctrination and years of piety intersects with her Midwest working-class upbringing. As she navigated graduate school, a new home on the East Coast, and a new marriage, another insidious truth began to reveal itself –that conservative Christianity has both built and undermined our political power structures, poisoned our pop culture, and infected how we interact with one another in ways that the secular population couldn’t see.

Weaving the personal with powerful critique, Heretic explores how we can radically abandon these painful systems by taking a sledgehammer to the comfortable. Whether searching for community in the face of millennial loneliness or wanting to reclaim a secular form of fellowship in everyday life, Kadlec envisions the brilliant possibilities that come with not only daring to want a different way but actually striking out and claiming it for ourselves.

To reserve a copy of Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold (Harper Perennial), September 23, 2025, paperback, $18.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Heretic for November 20 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

You can also purchase Heretic (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.

All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
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Jeanna Kadlec is the author of Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold and the forthcoming Astrology for Artists. A born and raised Midwesterner, she now lives in New York City with her wife.

Greg Newton (he/him) moved to New York City from Connecticut in 1991, leaving behind the world of American white evangelical Christianity. He was pursuing a PhD in art history at the City University of New York Graduate Center and teaching art history and writing at Parsons The New School for Design before deciding to leave academia to found the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division with his partner, Donnie Jochum, in 2012.
