Arts, Letters & a Warrior's Pen

The Double Deliverance of Robert Oscar Lopez

When Robert Oscar (Bobby) Lopez was born, his parents were in the process of splitting up. While his father moved on to other wives and lovers, his mother entered into a relationship with another divorcée. His mother was a diehard radical and wholly devoted liberation-theology Catholic, and although Bobby felt perennially awkward as a Latino being raised in a lesbian home, he grew up wanting to serve God and live a holy life.

He entered Yale in 1988 and immediately set off everyone's "gaydar," partly because his primary role models had been women and partly because he'd discovered gay sex as a young teen. He had to leave for a time when his mother fell ill and died, and rather...