MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

AMERICAN SPRING: MARRIAGE EQUALITY AND THE ARC TO JUSTICE

Remember the Arab Spring? Fueled by social media, the people of several Arab nations started taking to the streets five years ago to demand a different way of life, a change in the relationship they have with their governments. Now granted, the Egypt, Libya and Syria of today may not look exactly like what we might have expected as a result of the protests – but if we look at our own history in America we can see that, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, its arc is long but does indeed bend towards justice.

So we need the Arab Springs, and the long hot summers of discontent — but they’re just the beginning.

Calvary in Charleston: How forgiveness overcame guns, flags and hate

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)

The name Emanuel means “God is with us”. And as if one needed any more evidence that God is with the grieving survivors of Dylann Roof’s rampage at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the tear-stained forgiveness exhibited by the families of the victims at Roof’s bond hearing is just that, to a factor of seventy times seven.

Let There Be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin With Me

We need some powerful collective New Year's resolutions – yes, resolutions – to help us change the way things are and the way they might be.

Clearing Out the Temple

Just because I look like you, does not mean I think like you. And, just because I do not look like you, does not mean I don't feel like you.

Sex Trafficking is Our Dirty Little Secret

I can no longer plead ignorance. I can no longer be silent. I can no longer stand on the sidelines.

Doing Evil in Christ's Name in Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana and Uganda

HOW DO SO MANY STRAIGHT POLITICIANS GET AWAY WITH DOING EVIL IN CHRIST'S NAME?

Right Wing Lies to Leave Behind in 2012

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

July 2012 was the last time I wrote. Did I go on vacation? Quit writing blogs? Run out of things to write about or say?

No, No, and God knows No!

Simply put, I just got tired of having to write about the crap the religious and political right keeps lying about. How many times does one have to prove something is a lie before people begin to understand the game that is being played?

I realize one of the many reasons “stupidity” rules is because most people are like lightening. That is they take the path of least resistance. Most, (not all folks) are too lazy or too trusting to really check out information coming their way and so people who are looking to have power and control get it.  Maybe one day we will really take hold of the old sayings:  “Trust Allah … but tie up your Camel” or today's translation “Trust But Verify”.

So as we go into 2013 I thought I would do something which will allow me to write about more interesting things and to help the reader not be bored to death with repetitive stuff.

With the next couple of blogs I am going to cover the most obscene lies and un-truths the religious and political right continue to say, write, and shout out on almost a daily basis.

This way, you the reader get to read the truth, once. We deal with the fact it is a lie and why, once, and when they bring it up again I can simply refer back to this blog. Sweet!

So without further delay here are the lies listed in bold type and my answers or thoughts concerning each.

Was Justice and Mercy Served?

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

Sometimes one of the toughest parts of the job of being a pastor and to be considered a community leader is offering counsel to the community that is divided.

Recently Georgia's LGBTQIA community was faced with a deep and sharp divide.

 

February 4, 2012, a young gay man was savagely beaten as he came out of a store in his neighborhood.  This young man, Brandon White, became an instant poster child for a hate crime law in Georgia because the idiots who felt they had the right to beat him filmed it and, well, the rest is history.

On February 8, 2012 CNN reporter Moni Basu wrote the following about the crime:

“A video circulated online shows three men punching and kicking White after he stepped out of the JVC Grocery and Deli in southwest Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood. The men, believed to be members of a gang called Jack City, yelled: "No faggots in Jack City."

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