MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

"God Hates Fags" or "Being Gay is a Gift from God?" Which Story will Win?

{by Clayton Gibson, GodLovesGays.org}

Have you ever heard someone say "God hates fags?"

Maybe you've read that homosexuality is an abomination?

Maybe you just feel like there's something dirty or naughty (or sinful) about two men or two women together?

Well if you haven't heard those things, I'm moving to wherever you're from! They're a regular part of the conversation here in the United States. In fact, two out of three Americans agree that gay people suffer discrimination and violence and die from suicide at least partly because of anti-gay messages coming out of churches and other places of worship.

It's time for that to change. 

It's time for us to work together to lift up the voices of the thousands of LGBT-affirming spiritual communities in the USA and speak truth to power in one thundering voice, "God Loves Gays."

One small church in Toledo, Ohio, is leading the way.

Central United Methodist Church has purchased a billboard that boldly states, "Being Gay is a Gift from God." [pictured above, obviously]

The Rev. Bill Barnard, Central’s part-time pastor, tells the Toledo Blade that the billboard message will be linked to a four-week sermon series, and the overall campaign goal is “to make a leap beyond tolerance.”

“Members of the congregation have experienced places and times where being lesbian or gay was tolerated — kind of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell, I know God forgives you,’” Barnard says. “We’re saying, ‘This is the way God created you. There’s nothing to forgive.’"

In an email to MyOutSpirit.com, Central UMC Lead Team Chair Lynn Braun explains, "Central UMC has been actively and openly inclusive of the LGBT community for over 25 years but we felt it was important to make an even bigger statement so that LGBT folks hear messages from religious groups that tell them that they are loved, just the way they are."

We are organizing welcoming faith communities to proclaim love at BringYourGayTeenToChurch.com!

Our plan is for EVERY LGBTQ-AFFIRMING SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY IN THE COUNTRY to celebrate "Bring Your Gay Teen to Church Day" during their services on June 25 or 26, 2011. 

We are raising money at GodLovesGays.org to help the churches pay to promote this interfaith event so that:

Every LGBTQ youth will know that when times are tough, they have a spiritual home to turn to that celebrates their gender identity or sexual orientation (as opposed to churches that would try to change it). 

LGBTQ youth, and their parents, families and classmates, will hear from spiritual leaders that God loves transgender, bisexual, lesbian and gay people just as they are - that "Gay is a Gift from God," and not an abomination, a choice, or a sin.

Every LGBTQ teen will know that someone believes they are sacred, whole, valuable, and perfect as they are.

I don't know if we'll raise enough money to buy every LGBTQ-affirming church a "Gay is a Gift from God" billboard, but wouldn't it be nice? 

It's up to us. Which story will win: "God Hates Fags" or "Being Gay is a Gift from God?"

---

Please donate at GodLovesGays.org so we can spread the love - even if it's just a $1 - and use the "Share" tools on that page to tell all your friends about the event!

You can also find us at http://www.facebook.com/GodLovesGays and BringYourGayTeenToChurch.com.

Watching Rob Bell Squirm

{by Darrell Grizzle, wildfaith.blogspot.com}

My Calvinist friend Brandon sent me a link to this interview with Rob Bell by MSNBC's Martin Bashir (below). Rob Bell has been in the news lately because his new book, Love Wins, is upsetting a lot of evangelical Christians who view it as heretical.

The YouTube video is titled "MSNBC Host Makes Rob Bell Squirm" - and indeed Rob Bell does squirm throughout the interview, which many evangelical bloggers are intepreting as meaning the interviewer "trapped" Bell or caught him in a contradiction. But the reason Rob Bell is squirming (other than the politely hostile tone of the questions Bashir is asking) is because he keeps being asked the same questions over and over again, even after he has given an answer. The problem is that that Martin Bashir doesn't understand the answers and thinks Rob Bell is being evasive or nonsensical. As one commenter on the YouTube site puts it, "Bashir was only trying to get the truth of what Bell believes, and Bell seems to side-step the question giving strange meaningless answers... this is after Bashir asks him the SAME question 3 different times!"

If it seems at times like Rob Bell and Martin Bashir are talking two completely different languages, that's because they are. Bell is a post-modernist, comfortable with ambiguity and paradox, willing to ask questions and admit he doesn't know the answers, celebrating the diversity of views found in the historical Christian "stream." Bashir is clearly a modernist, who believes faith is a matter of propositional truth. Bashir believes only one of the propositions he raises about God and the disaster in Japan can be true and one cannot. The answers Rob Bell gives ARE meaningless to Bashir, who is unable to rise above his modernist "either/or" worldview and see that Bell is giving perfectly acceptable "both/and" answers. I imagine if Bashir were to interview Brian McLaren or Peter Rollins (or any of my Emergent friends), it would go the same way. Bell is squirming because he realizes he is not being understood. To quote Cool Hand Luke, "what we've got here is a failure to communicate."

I haven't read Rob Bell's new book yet (I agree with the title: Love Wins), but from my deep-skimming of it on my Nook Color, it really doesn't look like he's saying anything new. He is raising the same questions Madeleine L'Engle, Marcus Borg, Dom Crossan, and others raised back in the 1980's and 1990's - and which Origen raised in the AD 200's. Raising these questions is what got Madeleine L'Engle branded a universalist and banned from most Christian bookstores in the 1980's. I'm sure there will be many Christian bookstores that will not carry Rob Bell's new book. (There are already many that no longer sell Brian McLaren's books.)

True communication between worldviews IS possible. I'm grateful for my conservative friends with whom I can respectfully disagree and have true dialogue. Such dialogue not likely to happen, though, in a 7-minute interview on a cable news network.

---

Darrell Grizzle is an LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor), in private practice in Marietta, Georgia. He is an Emergent Episcopalian who has been ordained as a minister and spiritual caregiver by an interfaith healing ministry, the Sufi Healing Order. His writings on spirituality have been published in Whosoever and several other magazines. He lives in a house-in-the-woods (Bear's Hermitage) in Marietta with Leonidas (Lenny), the Mighty Warrior Cat, Lenny's brother-kitten Guy, and way too many books.

The Rebirth of Lady Gaga

We may have missed the point in the flurry of dropped jaws, jokes and awe after Lady Gaga arrived at the 2011 Grammy Awards inside a giant milky egg designed by Hussein Chalayan:

Truly growing up is a constant process of rebirthing yourself.

We all protect ourselves with a shell - a story about who we are, how others see us, what we are capable of, and how the world works.

We start creating these stories about ourselves early, based on what we learn from our parents and early childhood experiences. Our stories develop themes from our conclusions about the events of our lives, and these shadow beliefs constantly whisper that we are not worthy of love, happiness and success. 

With Born This Way, Lady Gaga encourages us to break out of our shells and claim a new story that serves our highest good.

"Our stories have a purpose," explains Debbie Ford in The Secret of the Shadow. "Even though they set our limitations, they also help us define who we are so we don't feel completely lost in the world. Living inside them is like being inside a clear capsule. The thin transparent walls act like a shell that traps us inside. Even though we have the ability to gaze outside and view the world around us, we stay safely trapped inside, comfortable with the familiar terrain, bound by an inner knowing that no matter what we do, think, or say, we can go no further... In a desperate attempt to give our lives meaning, we create and then repeat our stories; and as we cling to who we think we are, we perpetuate our dramas."

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning people are as addicted to our stories as anyone else.

Because of the homophobic, heterosexist culture we grow up in, most LGBTQ people have victimhood, shame, and rejection in our stories. Screw that.

We can burst out of our mental shells just like Gaga did at the Grammys.

We can CHOOSE what story we believe. We can choose to believe that we are fully empowered, worthy, blessed and "born this way."

We don't have to be anybody's victim. We can be SHAMELESS. We don't have to conform to anyone else's idea of who we should be; we don't have to conform to gay stereotypes any more than we have to conform to heteronormative culture and relationships.

Once you wake up and recognize your story, you can choose to break out of your shell. 

When she was the spiritual leader at my church, Marianne Williamson told us that when it's time for a chick to be born, their egg's internal environment turns toxic - it fills up with gas and the chick has to break out or die. Being trapped inside your bad story feels the same way. Will you lead a life of quiet desperation and keep listening to your toxic internal dialogue, or break out - even though it's scary -and claim the life you want?

"No matter what the problem is, our experiences are just outer effects of inner thoughts," Louse Hay explains in You Can Heal Your Life. "Even self-hatred is only hating a thought you have about yourself. You have a thought that says, 'I'm a bad person.' This thought produces a feeling, and you buy into the feeling. However, if you don't have the thought, you won't have the feeling. And thoughts can be changed. Change the thought, and the feeling must go."

Lady Gaga burst out her shell wearing Thierry Mugler and armed to the teeth with fierce. She's our queer ATHENA, born full-grown and carrying weapons - the new pop goddess of justice, warfare and wisdom.

She's ready to help you change your story, but you have to listen. Enjoy the dazzle, but don't be distracted by the sensationalism. Pay attention.

This is big.

Love,

Clayton Gibson

Founder, MyOutSpirit.com

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}

Please support our advertiser, Sounds True:

Autism, Shamans, and Love

I just had the amazing opportunity to attend a pre-screening of the movie, The Horse Boy. It is the true story of a Texas couple and their son’s journey on horseback through Outer Mongolia in an attempt to heal their son’s autism.  Rupert Isaacson, a writer and former horse trainer, and his wife, Kristin Neff, a psychology professor, sought help for their son, Rowan, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. They went to numerous doctors and tried many medications, but all traditional therapies and medications had little effect on Rowan. They discovered that throughout Rowan’s tantrums, many of which could last as long as four hours, that the one thing that helped Rowan remain calm was when he was with horses. Rowan had a natural affinity to animals and he could poke and prod the animals and their response would be a gentle, quiet stillness.

Rupert and his wife discussed bringing Rowan to shamans in Mongolia for healing. Rupert had worked with shamans before through his work as a journalist in Africa. He thought if he could bring Rowan to healers who would work with him and experience their horses, this could possibly bring about a cure. The movie revealed a profound insight into the world of the autistic mind. It showed the courage of parents who traveled half way around the world for their child – only to wonder at various points if the trip was really for Rowan or for them. The movie showed the vulnerability of parents and the everyday uphill battles of living with an autistic child. Rowan gave all autistic children a voice of hope and love.

I do not wish to reveal everything about the movie (it’s playing at the IFC theatre in Manhattan September 30 – October 1 www.ifccenter.com) I do want to say that this powerful movie shows how children can relate to their parents, to the land, to animals, to shamans, and to the world in new ways.  As Isaacson said after the movie ended, “Many cultures have shamans – Africa, Mongolia, Australia, the Rainforest, and the America’s. When you ask shamans from around the world to share their various healing techniques, they all share the same response – love. It’s all about directing love.”

I sat through the first 30 minutes of this movie crying. I was crying for a little boy who had no way of expressing himself except long screaming tantrums. I was crying for the parents who were doing everything they could to help alleviate the suffering of their son. I was crying for family and friends who have been through their own journey with autism. I was crying as a gay shaman who has spent years offering my gift of love to the world for greater healing. At the very end of the night, Isaacson spoke to the audience and told us what he was able to learn from this experience. He told us he didn’t want a cure for autism. He wants healing. Isaacson said that he doesn’t want his son to suffer, but that he wants him to keep his personality – that is what makes him special. This really is a remarkable film about a family’s extraordinary journey, adventure, shamanic and human experiences. Most of all, it is a story of love.

If you are unable to see the movie, I encourage everyone to go and purchase the book, The Horse Boy. 

Abundant love and healing, Mary Anne

This is dedicated to Rupert Isaacson, Kristin Neff, and Rowan for sharing their remarkable story as a testimony of courage and love as well as to the shamans throughout the world – seeking to direct­­ love and consequently healing. This is also, dedicated to the many families who seek healing for their autistic family members.

RICK WARREN COMES OUT FOR GAY RIGHTS

 

This SHOULD have been the headline around the world after the Rev. Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life, gave this significant interview to Beliefnet.

Unfortunately, a misunderstanding of Warren’s comments has been widely and loudly disseminated by my fellow progressives, describing Warren as bigoted and hateful, when, in fact, his comments reflect an unusual depth of understanding about gay marriage as a civil rights issue.

 

Warren may be, as The Task Force warns, an outspoken opponent of reproductive choice and stem-cell research, and that should concern us, but he has never equated marriage between same-sex couples with incest and pedophilia.

 

In this video, posted on the Saddleback website on December 22, the Sunday before Christmas,  Warren says, flat-out, "I believe no such thing. I never have."  In the video, Warren explains again that he has always firmly believed that gay couples – and other non-traditional families – should have equal access to the rights and responsibilities of marriage.  He just doesn’t think it should be called “Marriage.”

Does this necessarily mean he is ready to give up his legal marriage and go to the wall for civil unions for everyone, as MyOutSpirit.com wondered in “Reconsidering Marriage: Are Gay Activists Fighting the Right Fight?”

Probably not. 

At the same time, framing this passionate and unrelentingly civil Christian leader as a hateful bigot in the style of Jerry Falwell is unacceptable and counter-productive.

I take that back.  Attacking Warren is only counter-productive if you value dignified and thoughtful coalition-building for the long-term success of our movement for the equal rights and recognition of LGBT families.

If your priority is increasing year-end fundraising, riling up your base, or keeping your issues in the news, then attacking Warren makes perfect sense.

We should be better than that, especially as spiritual LGBT people.  We should educate our community to have deep perspicacity about our issues, and to have the maturity to do the long-term work of creating change.

LGBT activists from around the country will convene in Denver, CO, at the end of January to train and network and get inspired at The Task Force’s Creating Change conference, and I hope the messages that emerge will reflect the world as it is, and not the twisted sound-bites and caricatures that too often define the discussion, as in the case of Rick Warren.

Let's resolve to do better in 2009.

Love,

Clayton

P.S. Of course, these are MY views and do not neccessarily reflect the views of MyOutSpirit.com or its thousands of members and resources.

EnlightenNext Pursues the Next Women's Liberation

EnlightenNext (then called "What is Enlightenment? Magazine) started this deep conversation in 2007 with their first "Woman" issue, which is HIGHLY recommended reading.  Click here to check out the back issue.

MyOutSpirit.com encourages lesbian, bi-attractional and trans women to join in the conversation by writing emails, comments and letters to EnlightenNext and participating in events.  Whatever your gender and sex, we should ALL follow this deep work; the implications are really transformational. 

Learn more about everything EnlightenNext does at EnlightenNext.org.

OUT Magazine Asks: Has MANHUNT Destroyed Gay Culture?

The September 2008 issue of OUT Magazine features a powerful article of interest: "Has MANHUNT Destroyed Gay Culture?" by Michael Joseph Gross.

Gross' article focuses on Manhunt.net, a site for men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) and the fastest growing gay website in the world, with over 1 million members and more than 400,000 unique visitors per month, all  in the USA alone - and the site serves some 100 countries. 

More importantly, the article considers how online cruising has changed gay urban social life by, for example, driving human interactions from physical spaces to virtual ones and encouraging the "pornification" of gay self-expression.   

Apparently, one UK study found that in 1993, 2.3% of gay men found their first male sex partner online; by 2003 that number had risen to 61.2%.  OUT quotes Jeffrey Klausner of the San Francisco Department of Public Health: "It means that gay men who were once socialized in brick-and-mortar establishments, surrounded by other people, are now being socialized online."

The question for conscious, spiritual LGBT people then becomes, "Is that virtual socialization creating a community of healthy, self-actualized MSM?"  The answer seems to be an obvious "No."

As Gross puts it in OUT, "If you were asked to design the perfect weapon to exploit this vulnerability as it manifests in attractive, urban gay men, you'd want something that would intensify our isolation, exaggerate our propensity to objectify ourselves - by encouraging us to believe that our purpose is to look good and have lots of sex."

Isolation.  Objectification.  Lack of genuine communication and community.  These should be issues of real concern to spiritual LGBT people, especially to LGBT-affirming body/mind/spirit resource providers like those listed on MyOutSpirit.com. 

So much of our work is about affirming that LGBT people (in this case, MSM) are so much more than just bodies - that we are not only physical/sexual, but intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual beings.  The hardest part of the job, it often seems, is convincing LGBT people themselves of that truth. 

Gross writes, "The most powerful secrets we keep on Manhunt aren't the ones we keep from the outside world.  The most powerful secrets on Manhunt are the ones we keep from ourselves.  Practically every gay man has his own version of this secret, which we learned to keep while growing up in the closet: the secret fear that, if we were truly known, we would never be loved.

"...When you came out, you did it because you wanted something," Gross continues. "Part of what you wanted was sex, but part of what you hoped for was the possibility of being loved as your true self." 

As always, online or off-line, we are choosing between Love and Fear, living fully or shrinking from our potential, shining our light or hiding it under a bushel.

I won't ruin the whole article - there's a lot more there ripe for discussion and consideration, and I hope you will choose to leave your comments on the article at OUT.com as well as in response to this post. 

With the near ubiquity of online cruising among MSM, it's important that conscious LGBT people like the readers of this Gay Spirituality Blog look directly at the problems that virtual socialization may cause and how we can remedy them before it's too late.  That said, we also have to be realistic - online social networking, cruising...these things are not going away.  We need a BOTH/AND solution, not an EITHER/OR solution.

"We need to put our heads together and try to figure out what we want normative social life to look like.  Whatever the answer turns out to be, it will involve creating social structures that serve and gratify our desire to have sex with each other and also promote and support the possibility of developing and sustaining intimate relationships."  I would add to Gross' call for our attention: whatever the answers are, they must consider the development and well-being of the WHOLE person, not only sexual and romantic.  And frankly, there's no time to waste.

“Our mission is to be a catalyst for positive, caring gay culture by supporting inner transformation, increasing definition & visibility of the emerging culture and changing what it means to be gay.”  Join us.  Join MyOutSpirit.com

Remember who you want to be at MyOutSpirit.com

"Oh God I'm Gay!" Podcast

"Oh God I'm Gay" was a 2007 weekly audio podcast with host Alicia Ross introducing you to a variety of accomplished community and spiritual leaders from all different faiths, backgrounds, and points of view.  All of the episodes are still available online.  In them, Ross aims to gain insight into her guests' unique spiritual journeys while exploring relevant social issues that affect the LGBT community. Notable guests include Rev. Dr. Mel White from SoulForce; Orthodox Rabbi Steven Greenberg; Ann Craig from GLAAD; David K. Mensah of Wave Training; transgender pastor, Drew Phoenix; Jay Bakker (son of Jim and Tammy Faye); and Angelika Torres a transgender singer/dancer.

You can listen to individual programs HERE.

Today's the day to Come Out Spiritually!  Join MyOutSpirit.com! 

Is Mike Myers Film "The Love Guru" Laughing WITH or AT Spiritual Self-Help?

The movie doesn't open until June 20, 2008, but people are already talking about THE LOVE GURU and Mike Myers' latest outrageous character, Guru Pitka, "the 2nd Best Guru in India."

As you can see in the trailer below, the movie will be laugh-out-loud funny - that just goes with the territory in a Mike Myers film - but will it be helpful?

Oprah caught so much grief in the 90's when she had a segment on her show called "Remember Your Spirit," but she continued to inspire the world, most recently in partnership with Eckhart Tolle (read about it here in O Magazine).  Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay and others have achieved incredible success by helping people improve their lives, but many people still scoff at their work.  I have my own problems with "The Secret," but it's still helped millions of people feel more confident and focused and optimistic.

There are definitely ways to differentiate between what is helpful and what is not - for me, laid out most clearly in Ken Wilber's GRACE AND GRIT - and I would advocate that such discrimination is important.  THE LOVE GURU seems to point out the worst excesses of spiritual self-help, and maybe in that way will help people discriminate between what is actually useful and what is sugary slop!

Will Myers' horny guru do anything to help people in the real world or do you think the movie's mockery will take the spiritual self-help movement backward? 

How much can we laugh at ourselves?  Do we take spirituality too seriously?  THE LOVE GURU will be giving us the chance to hold it lightly!  Will you see the movie?  Does hearing that the movie is officially partnered with Deepak Chopra and Beliefnet (and that they asked MyOutSpirit for our input) change how you feel? 

JOIN MYOUTSPIRIT.COM NOW!