We’re the Zakar Twins, and Pray the Gay Away is our story, the unholy cocktail of identity, religion, sexuality, and identical brotherhood. We grew up as gay twins in a household where our mother believed she could “fix” us with prayer, rituals, and force-feeding us holy grapes. Meanwhile, we were just trying to figure out why we were both crushing on the same boys and accidentally creating a shared coming-out timeline. Chaos, trauma, and comedy collided in equal measure.
Growing up Middle Eastern in a world that told us to blend in taught us how to survive sideways glances, endless stereotypes, and the eternal “where are you really from?” Being queer on top of that turned survival into sharp, unapologetic humor. Pray the Gay Away is us reclaiming every moment we were told to hide. It’s about discovering who we are together, surviving first kisses, identity crises, hookup disasters and your twin getting arrested. Even if you can’t tell us apart, the drama is always doubled.
We wrote this book to show other queer kids from immigrant or religious homes that the world is bigger than shame. To prove you can grow up being prayed over and still end up proud. To remind everyone that even when life tries to erase you, two identical voices are louder than one.
