Samuel Saint, Pray the Gay Away | Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈

In the 53^rd edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2025), we highlight “Pray the Gay Away” performed by Samuel Saint.

Prepare to beam with P-R-I-D-E 🏳️‍🌈! Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 celebrates, embraces, and spotlights songs by LGBTQ musicians or allies.  Here, we provide background and insight into musicians, analyze, plus go gaga over the decadent bops served up.  When songs dictate deeper and more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is fully articulated.  All styles of music are welcome, whether the songs are classics or brand-new. So, without further ado, in the 53^rd edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2025), we highlight “Pray the Gay Away” performed by Samuel Saint.

“You got to get down on your knees, now boy / And pray the gay away.” Homophobia and the sin of homosexuality are real, folks. Country singer-songwriter Samuel Saint captures it perfectly in his 2023 song, “Pray the Gay Away”.  After his daddy found out he kissed another boy (🫢), he advised him to pray the gay away. Bad, narrow-minded advice, mind you, but, depending on where you live, and what church/religion you are a member of, it’s sadly, not far-fetched. Despite this useless advice, Saint makes the most of it with a memorable chorus for the ages:

“He said, you got to pray the gay away

Now, each and every day

You go to, let the Lord come inside you

Now God’s the only way

You got to give your life to Jesus

And stop dreaming about penis

You got to pray gay away

You got to pray gay away.”

Ooh-wee! Not stop dreaming about penis 😜!  After his gay awakening, Samuel Saint still finds himself… gay.  After joining his high school football team (football is such a masculine, man’s sport), he is enamored by “the quarterback,” who is “Tall and black.” But, suppressing those feelings and his teenage hormones, Saint instead sings his daddy’s anti-gay song.  If football couldn’t un-gay him, surely the military in the third verse could! Ha! When referencing his bunk mate, he admits, “I could barely keep it in my pants / When he was wearing his beret / But I knew I had to fight it / Because Jesus wouldn’t like it.” Bummer! In the fourth and final verse, Sam is, unfortunately, a sad and lonely man, but he’s got Jesus…  Samuel Saint delivers a fantastic satirical gay country song with “Pray the Gay Away”.  His voice sounds superb, the melodies are tuneful, and the musical backdrop is countrified with southern gospel vibes (it’s that piano and those gospelized background vocals).  The big takeaway is, live your truth – be who you are meant to be.  Don’t become a sad, lonely man or woman who regrets not being true to oneself.  The gay can’t be prayed away, nor should it be. Let that rainbow shine fearlessly and proudly 🌈 💅!