Ex-Mormon Josiah Ryan Spreads Love as ‘Gay Jesus’ in Utah

Josiah Ryan, who appears as the religious figure annually at Utah Pride, is raising money to help the Conversion Therapy Survivor Network.

Metro Weekly, Utah/April 19, 2025

By John Riley

Josiah Ryan, a gay former Mormon, dresses up as “Gay Jesus” every year at the Utah Pride Festival in Salt Lake City to help attendees reconcile their feelings of being ostracized by their families and religious communities.

Ryan recently explained in a TikTok video that he purchased a $20 costume from Amazon two years ago and wore it to the Pride parade.

“I had no idea the reception that Jesus would have,” he says, noting that the following year, he commissioned someone to create a “custom sparkly Gay Jesus costume” that he wore for the entire festival.

Approximately between 1,000 and 2,000 people stopped him to take photos with him. He’s even reportedly had people “break down in tears” while hugging him and thanking him for cosplaying Jesus, according to LGBTQ Nation.

This year Ryan is upgrading the costume to add a crown of thorns with dangling rubies to signify drops of blood.

But he also will be attending the festival with other ex-Mormons and representatives from the Conversion Therapy Survivor Network (CTSN), and is seeking to use his popularity to help raise money using GoFundMe, for the group to attend the Pride festival, which will take place on June 7 and 8.

Noting that it costs to book a booth and create materials that can be given to attendees at the festival, Ryan says he’s asking his followers to chip in $5 donations to ensure the Conversion Therapy Survivor Network can continue their work, which includes warning people of the dangers posed by so-called conversion therapy, and offering comfort to others who feel betrayed or abandoned by the LDS, or Mormon, Church because of their LGBTQ identity.

Ryan has already exceeded his $5,000 on the GoFundMe page.

Any funds not spent on the festival will be donated to CTSN to assist the organization in its mission of supporting survivors of conversion therapy, and giving them a platform to share their stories and connect with others who have faced and overcome similar trauma.

While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially states that it supports LGBTQ members, church doctrine has placed restrictions on the ability of LGBTQ people to participate in church life fully.

The church has previously said it denounces practices, including conversion therapy, that subject people to abuse, but also has a history of demonizing LGBTQ people as ungodly and harmful to society.

The church used to excommunicate LGBTQ individuals, and, for decades, endorsed conversion therapy as legitimate. It also used to refuse to baptize children of same-sex couples, a practice it has since reversed.

“You have to understand just why gay Jesus is so popular at Pride,” Ryan says in his video. “It all has to do with religious trauma. For some reason, being told that you — just by virtue of being you — are inherently broken, evil even, and that the only guy who can save you from yourself lived a couple 1,000 years ago is hurtful. That’s true across the board, but it’s especially true for the LGBTQ+ community.

“That’s why everyone loves Gay Jesus,” he continues. “In other words, the church hurt them. But Jesus was always supposed to represent love, right? Isn’t that what Jesus is all about? So to have Jesus show up at this festival, that’s all about celebrating love, celebrating loving them even, that’s healing somehow.”

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