Growing up in the small, devoutly traditional town of Tory in Maidenhead, UK, Sam Williams knew early on that being different wasn’t exactly celebrated. While other kids were discovering their favorite football teams or obsessing over Pokémon, 12-year-old Sam was quietly untangling a far more complicated mystery: his sexuality. He was attracted to both boys and girls, and the confusion that came with it wasn’t helped by the casual homophobia around him.
“I learned quickly that the worst thing you could ever be was a queer bloke stumbling through the woods in search of intimacy,” Sam recalls.
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And when that’s the kind of “moral guidance” echoing through the halls of school and whispers in church pews, it’s no surprise he stayed quiet.
Adding to the challenge was Section 28, a now-abolished UK law that prohibited schools from even mentioning homosexuality. Basically, if you were a queer teen looking for answers, you were better off talking to your houseplant.
But life has a funny way of nudging you toward clarity—in Sam’s case, through drag queens and epic poetry. While studying at Brighton University (a place with slightly more sparkle than Tory), he dabbled in the drag society, only to realize wigs and heels weren’t quite his thing. Stand-up comedy, however? That stuck.
Turns out, processing a chaotic identity crisis through punchlines is cheaper than therapy and gets you applause. In 2023, he won the Komedia New Comedy Award, and in 2024, he was selected for the Pleasance Comedy Reserve at the Edinburgh Fringe. Not bad for someone who grew up thinking his identity was a punchline.
Yet while his comedic timing blossomed, something even more unexpected happened: Sam caught the faith bug.
@samwilliamscomedy It’s a landslide victory for nature over nurture here #gay #queertiktok #queertok #lgbt #bisexual #bisexual🏳️🌈
It started with Paradise Lost, John Milton’s 17th-century deep dive into angels, devils, and cosmic heartbreak. What struck Sam wasn’t just the language—it was the idea that faith isn’t about proving God exists; it’s about hope. A hope that a kinder, fairer world can be built. And just like that, the “atheist phase” was over. Or rather, it had never really begun.
Still, the road to blending queerness and Christianity wasn’t exactly paved in rainbow bricks. “Why do I still feel called to explore this?” he asked himself. A bisexual man walking into church isn’t usually the opening scene of a feel-good movie. But faith doesn’t always show up in pews and sermons. Sometimes, it arrives in the most unexpected places—like an Islamic faith primary school, during a pandemic, in the quiet moments of Friday prayers. As a teaching assistant, Sam found something rare: acceptance.
From there, he turned to stories of other queer Christians. It helped. But what really changed things? Community. He found a church whose beliefs didn’t just tolerate his existence—they celebrated it. At the Union Chapel in London, Sam was baptized by a gay minister. A literal and spiritual mic drop.
Because here’s the truth: you don’t have to be straight to be Christian, and you don’t have to renounce your faith to be queer. Sometimes, the intersection of the two creates something even more profound.
@samwilliamscomedy Hope this clears up how a relationship btw a man and a woman can be queer #bisexuals #bisexuality #bisexualpride🌈 #bisexual🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 #bisexualtiktok
“There’s inherent queerness to faith,” Sam says, reflecting on his journey. And he’s not wrong. Both require conviction, courage, and the belief that you’ve been fearfully and wonderfully made—even if the world hasn’t caught up to that idea yet.
Being a queer Christian isn’t about living in contradiction. It’s about living in the gray and finding joy, community, and purpose there. It’s about knowing that when you laugh, cry, worship, and stumble your way through this life, you don’t have to do it alone.
So whether you’re a kid in Tory, a drag-curious uni student, or someone just trying to figure it all out, take a page from Sam Williams’ book: don’t be afraid to find God in the glitter—and maybe even crack a joke while you’re at it.
REFERENCE: Pink News