Bio

Welcome to my story. As you read it, you will find that my journey is hardly conventional. It’s unlikely to be what you might expect from an accomplished theoretical physicist, clergy person, LGBTQIA+ advocate, and survivor of childhood sexual assault:

  • My family of origin had no background in science, yet I became a prize-winning theoretical physicist.
  • My parents were atheist, agnostic, and otherwise non-religious, yet I became an ordained Episcopal priest and a Third Order Franciscan.
  • I came of age during the dawn of the gay rights movement in the USA, came out during the AIDS crisis, and was ultimately disowned by my birth family, yet I have become a fierce advocate for LGBTQIA+ people for most of my adult life and a proud member of my family of choice.
  • In 1996 in Seattle, I met the love of my life, Darrel Ramsey-Musolf, whose support and commitment through the ups and downs of my journey I value beyond words. Long before same-sex marriage was legal in the USA, we affirmed our love by hyphenating our names, later registering our domestic partnership, getting legally married in Canada in 2004 and, finally, legally married in Santa Barbara, California in 2015.
  • As an adult, I recovered memories of sexual assault as a child and sexual abuse as a teen, became aware that I live with a disability as a result, yet I have been blessed with the inner resilience, love, support, and other resources needed to live a full and productive life.

None of these streams in my journey is conventional, nor is their combination. I hope that in this multilayered story, you will find sources of hope, inspiration, and encouragement to pursue your journey and your dreams at whatever life stage this finds you.