MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

Clergy Call 2011: Human Rights Campaign Gathers Ministers for Equality

On May 22-24, join MyOutSpirit.com founding member, HRC's Religion and Faith Program, and hundreds of fellow religious leaders from across the country to build the faithful movement for LGBT justice. Now more than ever, we need religious leaders like you to keep equality at the forefront of our nation's conscience. Join us in Washington, DC to organize, learn, worship and bring our witness for justice and equality to Capitol Hill.

Invite your friends, colleagues, local clergy or religious and spiritual community leaders to be a part of the 2011 Clergy Call!

Register Today!

Schedule & Speakers

Sunday, May 22 — Evening events organized in conjunction with the MCC Conference for People of African Descent

Monday, May 23 — Plenary Conference: Leadership for Justice in Complex Times & Interfaith Service in the Evening

Tuesday, May 24 — Capitol Hill Press Conference & Lobby Day

• Full Clergy Call Schedule
• Speaker Biographies
  Coming Soon
• Past Clergy Call Speakers

A Prayer for Activists, A Prayer for Myself

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

As I think about what my activism looks like, I come back to the serenity prayer more and more these days. I also come back to the adage "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I used to believe this meant that I should not wait for someone else to step up and change the world, I should change the world.  Instead, today, four years later after I was first introduced to nonviolence, I think that I really get that change begins within me.

I am not called to change the world, I am called to be the change.

It is a sobering moment to pray the serenity prayer and realize that "the things I cannot change" are in fact everything outside of me. That the only thing I can really, truly change is myself. 

I want desperately to change the world. I want to stop bullying, and prevent suicides, and create jobs, and ensure everyone is well fed. I want to make my friend's parents understand and accept his gender and I want to make a different friend's parents see how truly wonderful she is, to pay attention to her.  I want everyone to have fulfilling employment and adequate healthcare. There is so much I want to do for the world.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

I know the day my parents' attitude toward my queerness began to change: it was the day I told them I was ready to loose them forever. I could not change my parents. So I took care of myself. I had friends who loved and supported me. Some of them had parents who gave me mints before dates and asked how I was doing emotionally. Heck, Golden Globe nominee Stephanie Zimbalist even asked if I was planning to go vacation with my boyfriend! Somehow I managed to realize I could not change my parents, that I would need to make my own serenity. I am thankful for that wisdom (and I am thankful that my parents changed and are wonderful, affirming parts of my life today).

God grant me the courage to change the things I can.

When all that I can change is myself, changing the things I can is scary stuff. It is uncomfortable to change myself. To change myself means I might have to admit failure and wrongdoing. I like to believe I'm perfect.

Help me to truly change myself. To be willing to look at the unearned privilege I receive everyday: as a white person; as a man; as someone who is cis gender; as an American citizen; as typically abled; as debt free.

Give me the courage to give up the unearned privilege I receive daily in ways big and small, privilege which allows me to step on or over or past others. Give me the courage to seek out answers to difficult questions, to do my own homework and to educate myself. Give me the courage to step off the platform and allow someone else to step up. Give me the courage to refer interviewers or guest post requests or speaking engagements or book deals to those who know more and who are more affected by the issues.  Give me the courage to listen. Give me the courage to learn. Give me the courage to change myself.

If I want to be the change I wish to see in the world, if I wish to change the things I can, I have a lot of work to do.

Give me the courage to judge myself not on how many debate points I score, rallies I attend, speeches I write, decisions I influence, or hearts & minds I change. Give me the courage to judge myself on how thoroughly I examine myself and my motives, how justly I act in the world, how interconnected I am willing to be with others.

God grant me the serenity 
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

 

Brian Gerald Murphy is the founder of a web design and media consulting firm, Be Gee M: Design & Media, and manages the branding and marketing of several diverse online ventures. He is also the co-founder of Sanctuary Collective, an organization that inspires, empowers, and supports young LGBTQ adults and allies living and organizing for justice in Christian communities. He was a participant in the Soulforce Equality Ride in 2007, where he and a number of other young adults visited colleges and universities across the Western United States. Brian was raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, and graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in cinematic arts and religion. Connect with him online via twitter @begeem or at www.briangerald.com.

Image source: Indi Samarajiva

Gay artist censored by Smithsonian for ants on crucifix video

{Kittredge Cherry, JesusInLove.org}

In an outrageous and unprecedented act of censorship, the Smithsonian Institution recently removed a video by gay artist David Wojnarowicz from exhibition after a few hours of pressure from religious and political conservatives.

Titled “A Fire in My Belly,” the video combines various images of loss, pain and death as a metaphor for the suffering caused by AIDS.  The four-minute video was denounced as anti-Christian “hate speech” by the Catholic League because it includes a scene of ants crawling over Jesus on a crucifix.  Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the incoming House speaker, called it a misuse of taxpayer dollars. 

The video had been on display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC since Oct. 30 as part of the LGBT-themed show “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” the first national art exhibit about sexual orientation and gender identity in American art.  Smithsonian president Wayne Clough decided to pull the video on Nov. 30, claiming that he didn’t want controversy to distract people from the rest of the exhibit.

A Smithsonian spokesperson said that this was the first time that the gallery has pulled an artwork from an exhibit because of complaints from the public.  About 100 people protested the removal with a silent march to the Smithsonian on Dec. 2 organized by Washington’s Transformer Gallery.

May We Not Forget: Transgender Day of Remembrance

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

Saturday is a day of mourning. It is not a day that is on the national calendar. In fact with the exception of a small percentage of people in this country, this day of mourning will pass completely unnoticed - the twelfth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Those who take a moment and remember on this day will find themselves swinging between tears of grief and deep waves of anger not to mention a certain amount of fear of further attacks.

The devastating images of those viciously killed in 2010 for simply trying to be themselves is something we should remember, something that should burn in our souls.

The people we mourn for this day are apart of a community most would just as soon not deal with. Oh, we go to watch the drag shows and we have added a “T” to the GLB_Q, but still don’t take seriously enough that folks in the transgender community live in a very dangerous and unsupportive world.

Gay Pride Important This Year

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

"We're here!"

For those who have watched the “Godfather” trilogy starring Al Pacino among many stars as Michael Corleone as the head of a powerful crime family will recognize the intensity of my quote to start this blog. Michael throughout the movies is portrayed as the good son, who is attempting to take the family business and turn it from a dynasty of crime to one of legitimacy. Almost at every turn there is some action by other crime families, which keep him from reaching his goal. This idea carries all the way to the third movie where we find Michael in a fit of frustration say: "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

For the last several years I have said and thought “Gay Pride” had really lost it’s punch. It was no longer a large political, social and spiritual gathering bringing together hundred’s of thousands of queer folk to stand in solidarity for a common cause. In fact over the last several years it seemed to me “Pride” had become simply a major street party and a vendor’s dream come true. When the decision was made in Atlanta to move “Pride” from June to October, I thought, well, if it is going to be a party at least the weather is better!

Then much like in the “Godfather” movies, in step the religious and political right. Just when the community seems to making incredible progress on the road to equality the heat from the right gets turned way up. We begin to see headlines and tragedy from several parts of the country:

Church fires artist for turning anti-gay DVDs into sculpture

A Minnesota artist is transforming an archbishop’s anti-gay DVDs into art with an inclusive message.

Artist Lucinda Naylor has come up with a creative way to counteract 400,000 anti-gay DVDs that are being mailed to Catholic households across Minnesota this week by Archbishop John Nienstedt.

“Give me your DVDs and I’ll recycle them into art: transforming a message of fear into hope,” she says on the “DVD to Art” Facebook group that she started.

Because of the protest, Naylor was fired on Sept. 26 from her post as artist in residence at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, losing about a third of her income.  She had held the position for 15 years. 

Naylor is asking everyone who receives the DVD to give it to her for an art project.  She plans to use the DVDs to build a large sculpture with a positive theme using fire or water as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Naylor got the idea for the project last week when she read the news about the pre-election mass mailing.  The DVDs have a 14-minute video message urging Catholics to seek a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.  They were produced by the Knights of Columbus with mailing costs paid by a secret donor.

In news reports, Naylor said she was prompted to act by the experience of her friends who are mothers of gay children.  They wrote to Nienstadt earlier this year begging him to soften his rhetoric against same-sex marriage.  All they got in return was a form letter questioning their salvation.

Volunteers are helping Naylor collect the DVDs in front of churches and at drop boxes at supportive businesses.

“I have a button that says ‘art changes everything,’ Let’s use the Archbishop’s DVD to change the message from one of division and fear into a piece of art about inclusion and the joyful Spirit that moves among us,” Naylor says.

For more info, visit:

DVD to Art Facebook Group

DVD to Art Blog

Video news report

___

This was written by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry.  She blogs regularly at the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts.

Homophobia, An Efficient Killer

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

 I guess it has been about 2 years since the Rev. Al Sharpton stood in the pulpit of Tabernacle Baptist church and gave this little gem concerning black clergy and the church:

“They preach homophobia from their pulpits Sunday morning and cruise the parks at night!”

I also remember after that service was over; this statement was stuck in my head.

Talking with some of my colleges and friends in the black community, I was informed not only was that statement true but also in fact there were any number of black clergy in the city of Atlanta who were an exact fit. “In fact, Pastor Paul, there are some pretty big and powerful preachers in the black church for whom Rev. Sharpton hit the nail on the head.”

I was dumbfounded.

I am sometimes naïve when it comes to the real world. I know a lot of politicians who would sell their own mother if it meant them getting elected and then lie about the sale, but pastors are and should be different right?

Apparently I am still somewhat of a heterosexist. Sure, there might be the whole hetro adultery thing going on in churches, but why would these very conservative, anti-gay preachers really take the risk of doing what they so virulently preach against - especially in such a small, talkative community?

Do they not understand if you beat us up long enough eventually we will expose you for who you really are?

Further, why would this small talkative community simply turn and take on the persona of “don’t ask, don’t tell?”

I have come to believe it is because homophobia is alive and well and more dangerous than ever.

“Homophobia” is the unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality.

Which is why in a homophobic culture there is nothing worse than to be a homosexual or to practice homosexual behavior.  But strangely, the community seems to hold a different standard for black preachers as compared to white preachers. 

One might survive if they use drugs, one might survive if they misuse church funds and they might even survive if they are caught playing with the deacon’s wife. One survives these transgressions because “we all sin and fall short of the glory of God!” 

Remember the good Rev. Stanley of Peachtree Baptist? All was forgiven and forgotten. Bless his heart. Those who are part of the United Methodist Church know if a preacher is caught playing around in the congregation, come annual conference time the preacher is simply moved to another church. There is a long list of black preachers who are divorced or were divorced during their time in the pulpit and have survived rather nicely.

Yet, to cross the homosexual line and express homosexual behavior is the sin of all sins. This sin is the worst thing a person can do. One’s career, calling and respect in the community will be lost if they dare cross this line and get caught. 

There is nothing which will get the news Medias attention faster than a black male preacher who is caught having sex with another man. They jump on it with all the alleged details and leading statements of how horrific this person is. In very short order it becomes the subject of national news with powerful people weighing in with their knowledgeable (really lack of facts) opinions and attitudes. 

Of course if the accused person is anti-gay and is rather famous for attacking the LGBTQ community, then this just adds fuel to an already hotly burning fire.

Bishop Eddie Long ha been an ardent opponent of the LGBTQ community, even to the extent of having an “ex-gay” kind of ministry as a part of his mega church and who lead a huge march against gay marriage.  And now, Bishop Long has been accused not by one but four young men of stepping over the line into the sin of sins.

Now, I have to say for the sake of being honest, I have never been particularly impressed by the Bishop. Having Bentleys parked in one’s driveway, owning a private jet, and such excess has never struck me as the ministry of the gospel, but rather a ministry of prosperity and over-indulgence.

At the same time, his church claims 25,000 members! Damn, that is 9,000 more people than the town I grew up in.

If we do the math this also means conservatively speaking there are probably 1200 plus LGBTQ people associated with this ministry. 

Anyway, I digress. As I mention a few blogs ago the “victims” are already being blasted by the Bishop’s supporters. They are being called everything in the book and I would imagine before it is all said and done they will be painted as the predators of a powerful preacher. As I said before, this simply is the roots of homophobia rising to the surface…cause; well you know all gays are criminals.

Reports on the story have not said if the four young men themselves are gay or not. Before people write me and say this is not important…yes it is. Why? 

It would change the dynamics of the story from abuse of power to the possibility of a really messed up love triangle. There may be abuse of power but it would be a whole different animal at that point. A full day before the story broke, I got a heads up from a friend, “By the way, stay tuned, a very prominent local Bishop is about to be outed by his secret lover in a lawsuit.”

Now, please - if the way this story has been covered doesn’t prove how evil, how nasty, how un-repented and how dangereous homophobia is, then we are asleep.

It is true the Bishop set himself for a huge fall and made himself a target of people just dying to prove he is the ultimate hypocrite. 

Yet, the real problem here, the reason this story is so devastating is because of the homophobia that is intertwined all through it. This Bishop made a huge mark for himself with a ministry designed to destroy my (our) community. As a friend Craig Washington wrote in a column for “the Root”:

“Whether or not Long actually committed the acts of which he was recently accused, this much is true: He is assuredly guilty of engendering fear and hatred of LGBT people among thousands. He has convinced countless numbers of gays that they are sinners whose salvation rests on becoming 'reconditioned' into heterosexuality. Such toxic teachings reinforce the stigma that compromises HIV-prevention efforts as well as our mental and physical health.”

If the accusations are correct, there is a price to pay for such devastating hypocrisy. If the facts turn out to be something else, how will we deal with that?

While it is easy to be critical of how people live their lives, if these accusations turn out to be factual, will anyone ask or see how homophobia drove the Bishop to this moment. How, even knowing he had a gift to preach, he had to hide who he really was to pursue his career and calling?

Will the black congregations ever discuss their complicity in this drama, because the worst thing their preacher could do was be a homo?  Will the black church confront the ways it lives out “don’t ask and don’t tell” to the destruction of its young men every day.

If it turns out these accusations are really about something else, will my community stand and say to Bishop Long, “Hey we are really sorry we jumped the gun, cause you know you are such a jerk when it comes to our issues…well, we just wanted you to fall hard…sorry”.

Regardless of the outcome of this story, will we spend some time seeing how the devastating tentacles of homophobia wrapped themselves around the Bishop, the Bishop’s family, his friends, our community and as the outrage was expressed choked our any thought of compassion, understanding and love?

My friends this is a sad and heart breaking story, because it is really not about Bishop Long. The author of this story no matter how the facts turn out, no matter the drama unfolds, is Homophobia. It is a killer, it kills those who practice it and it kills those who internalize it. It sometimes kills those who fight it.

I think that may be why my friend Elder Tony Jones had this to say on his Facebook status:

“I reflect on Bishop Eddie Long and this recent matter, I am reminded of this one thing: Regardless to the outcome, unconditional love is still appropriate and necessary.”

My prayer is we all take heed; we all take a deep breath and take the Elder’s words to heart. For if we do, there is an opportunity here to begin to dismantle the destruction of homophobia and begin to heal.

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

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The Day Fear Paid A Visit and Stayed

On September 11, 2001 at 8:50am my phone rang and it was our church deacon asking if I had seen the news. My day was just starting and I had not got through my first cup of coffee, let alone turned on the TV. He went on to say a jet airliner had crashed into the World Trade Center. “Oh my God, did a pilot have a heart attack, did something go wrong with the plane?” I was shocked and told the deacon I would call him back.

I turned on the news to see a picture of the World Trade Center and thick black smoke coming out of the side of the building. I don’t really remember what the reporter was saying when suddenly a large jet crossed the screen and slammed in the 2nd tower. I was stunned, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and in another 30 seconds or so my mind started asking questions…

Hysteria and Paranoia

By the time readers are done reading this particular blog I may lose a few friends, maybe a few church members and a few colleagues will finally have proof that “I have just finally gone over the cliff.”

Those who are promoting the hysteria and paranoia around the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City are in the truest sense of the word “idiots.” I am using this word in the modern sense of its understanding: “describing an extreme folly or stupidity, and its symptoms (foolish or stupid utterance or deed)."

Yes, for a pastor this is VERY strong language, however this controversy is an embarrassment to me as a follower of Christ, an embarrassment as a reasonable educated person and an embarrassment as an American.

First and foremost the term “the Ground Zero Mosque” is misleading and a lie. This proposed building is a full four city blocks from where the World Trade Center stood. In most cities such as Chicago and New York where the geography is grid like, there are about 8 blocks to a mile. 4 blocks would be almost a half a mile from where the World Trade Center stood. This is hardly “ground zero.”

According to Gary Leupp who is a Professor of History, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion, at Tufts University this whole ridiculous controversy got its start from a person by the name of Pamela Geller. Pamela Geller maintains a blog called Atlas Shrugs. She has written a book about Barack Obama in which she alleges his real father was Malcolm X. She leads an apparently tiny wacko group called Stop the Islamization of America. 

"Oh, Rubbish, You have No Power Here"

As I sit here writing this blog, I cannot help but feel the intense emotion of pride for our LGBTQ community. Sometimes we mess up and get ourselves over reactive to situations brought to our community. Yet, not this time...this time we did it correctly. This time we allowed our enemies to put their sizable feet right into their mouths.

As every one knows “The National Organization for Marriage” (NOM) found their way to our little part of the world. To say the rally they held was a complete and utter failure is to understate how bad it really was for them.

As has been reported by various sources they were lucky if the number of attendees reached 20 (this is minus reporters, speakers, entertainers, and the Capital police).

Meanwhile across Washington Street, 300 plus of the LGBTQ community and straight allies showed up to give witness to the fact we are diverse, wise and a gentle people.

I say diverse because in that crowd were straight, gay, queer, trans, black, white, Latino, Asian as well as many other ethnic groups.

I say diverse because there were punks, Goths, suburbanites, college students, employed, unemployed, people of faith, people of no faith and there was even a gnome.

I say wise and gentle because when it was first announce NOM was headed this way, leaders in the LGBTQ community got together and discussed, argued, and struggled with how to respond to these bullies.

This process was a beautiful example of how creative the LGBTQ community can be when we decide to act as opposed to re-act.