The Real Story, Correctly Stated
I Am Michael is based on the true story of Michael Glatze, born in 1975, who became a prominent gay rights activist and the managing editor of XY Magazine in San Francisco before co-founding Young Gay America, an organization devoted to supporting queer youth. The film, and the real events it depicts, moves in one clear direction: Glatze leaves his identity as a gay activist and his relationships with men behind, undergoes a religious search through Buddhism and Mormonism, and ultimately becomes a born-again evangelical Christian, moving to Wyoming to attend Bible school. He married Rebekah Fuller in 2013 and became the pastor of his own church.
To be direct about the correction this guide makes: Michael does not leave a pastorate to enter a gay relationship. He leaves a gay relationship and identity to become a pastor. The film's source material is a 2011 New York Times Magazine article by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, one of Glatze's former colleagues, titled "My Ex-Gay Friend."
A Deliberately Even-Handed Film
Critics have consistently noted that director Justin Kelly aimed for genuine neutrality rather than making an argument for either side. Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus describes the film as taking "a determinedly balanced approach to its complex subject." Variety's review called it "a remarkably even-handed account," noting the film doesn't editorialize about whether Glatze's transformation was authentic self-discovery or a retreat from himself. This is worth naming clearly: I Am Michael is not an anti-Christian film, nor is it a faith-based evangelistic one. It is an arthouse biographical drama that presents a real, controversial life story and largely lets audiences draw their own conclusions.
What's Actually in the Film
The first half of the film depicts Michael's life with his boyfriend Bennett in San Francisco, including a period where a third partner, Tyler, joins their relationship. Content includes a threesome scene described by content-review sources as "not very graphic" (undressing, physical affection, no explicit nudity detailed), moderate profanity (roughly seven uses of a strong profanity), and general depiction of a gay relationship as a normal, sympathetic part of Michael's early life, before his conversion recontextualizes it. The film is not rated by the MPA (a common status for smaller festival releases).
Why the Ending Matters for This Score
2 Corinthians 5:17's language of a person in Christ becoming "a new creation" is, whatever one makes of the film's neutral tone, genuinely what the real Michael Glatze's story depicts: a specific, documented turn toward Christian faith, repentance, and a new life, not a vague spiritual journey left unresolved. GodlyScore's scoring gives real credit for a redemption arc that concludes in authentic Christian conversion, even when the film's own narrative voice declines to preach or moralize about it. That is a meaningfully different case than a film that either mocks Christian conversion or simply never resolves its spiritual questions at all.
Content Breakdown
LGBT content: Substantial in the film's first half, depicted sympathetically as part of Michael's earlier life, not the film's ultimate affirmation. Sexual content: Mild to moderate, a threesome scene described as non-graphic by content-review sources. Language: Moderate, roughly seven uses of strong profanity. Spiritual content: The film's actual resolution is a genuine Christian conversion, presented without mockery, though also without an evangelistic or triumphant tone.
Our Verdict
I Am Michael scores 52/100, Mixed. This reflects real, non-graphic sexual content and moderate profanity along the way, balanced against a genuine, well-documented Christian conversion story told without hostility toward the faith Michael Glatze ultimately embraced. This is a film for discerning adults interested in a real, complicated conversion story, not family viewing, and not a film that either attacks or endorses Christianity outright.
Further Reading
See the Wikipedia entry on I Am Michael and the true story behind the film. See our Christian Movie Reviews hub.