If someone asked Audrey A Thomas about her views on same-sex relationships 10 years ago, it was similar to many Jamaicans.

According to Thomas, a lawyer, “I was violently homophobic and true to my Christian beliefs.”

But after successfully representing an American lesbian couple in a civil case, her thoughts on homosexual partnerships softened. That transformation inspired Does God Hate Homosexuals? No, God Cannot Hate, her third book, which will be released August 20 at York College in Queens, New York.

The launch is part of a day-long event comprising legal seminars and a reggae show headlined by Lukie D and Spanner Banner.

Born in Kingston, Thomas has practised criminal and civil litigation in New York for over 20 years. In the book, she revisits landmark cases such as 1954’s Brown vs Board of Education that addressed widespread discrimination against minority groups, including gays.

Thomas, 45, admits she was initially sceptical to represent the women who were in a 43-year relationship. But as she got to know them and read their case, she noticed similarities with other marginalised groups.

“It put me in lawyer mode. When I read some of opposing counsel’s arguments I was astonished. They were comparable to arguments made against women, blacks and Jews,” she said.

Thomas’s previous book, White Men Aren’t Chumps: An Intellectual Discussion on Race Relations in America, also dealt with discrimination.

It was released two years ago when the United States was gripped by the controversial deaths of three black men: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Thomas is quick to point out that ‘Does God Hate Homosexuals?’ is a legal analysis and not a ratification of her personal beliefs on same-sex partnerships which are legal in most of America’s 50 states.

She adds that persons of the same gender wanting to marry is a matter of personal preference.

“Any right extended to one group should be for all,” she said.