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by Soulforce Admin
Photo by Yonathan Arava
By Equality Rider J.D. Melendez
Do I have what it takes? Why am I getting on a bus for two months with people I don’t know, going to places where I may not be welcomed, and having discussions with people who don’t agree with me?
I have had to answer these questions from my loved ones countless times over the past few months. But, even more so, I have asked myself those same questions. Will I be able to meet hate with love? Can I follow in the footsteps of past Riders who have worked so tirelessly towards the world that we all want to see – a world where our young people aren’t bullied into taking their own lives; a world where we can walk down the streets without having to fear for our safety; a world where a student can educate themselves without having to hide who they are in order to stay in school; a world where a child never has to hear hate being preached from the pulpit of their church? There is a lot at stake here.
For many years, I have avoided the conversation about faith and sexual/gender identity like the plague. I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church and I grew tired of having to defend my right to be who I am. So, I walked away from the church. I believed it was a lost cause, and since I couldn’t justify being Queer and Christian to the people in my church, I decided that I would rather give up the Christian part of me than the Queer part of me. Although I always held on to my faith in God, it was always the most hidden part of me; it was the part of my identity that I never shared with anyone. However, there was always something nagging me in the back of my mind about my silence about my faith. I had grown pretty comfortable with not acknowledging my spiritual identity as long as it meant I didn’t have to argue with people about it. That comfort changed with the epidemic of Queer youth suicides the past few years. I knew the Queer community was missing something. We were living our lives as Queer adults while our young people were suffering in silence. So what could I do about it? How could I reach these young people?
At some point, it clicked. I have to be willing to have the hard conversations – the conversations that make me uncomfortable, but desperately need to happen. I realized that I was never going to reach these young people by staying in my comfort zone. I couldn’t help them by creating something that works for me, but leaves them behind. Rather, I have to work to change the system they are living in.
So, do I have what it takes? I hope so, but I’m still not sure. But I do know this: by having these conversations, by sharing our stories and breaking bread with the folks who disagree with us, we could plant a seed – a seed that one day could blossom into the world we all want to see.
About the Blogger:
J.D.Melendez is an activist and had worked with the homeless LGBT youth population in NYC for 13+ years. J.D. is also an aspiring documentary filmmaker and zombie expert.
Connect with J.D.:
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by Soulforce
REPRINT: Press Release
LUTHERANS CONCERNED/NORTH AMERICA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 17, 2012
Contact: Phil Soucy, Director Communications
703-980-2038 communications@lcna.org
www.lcna.org
Minneapolis Area Synod of the ELCA Speaks Out In Opposition to Anti-gay Marriage Amendment
Today, Friday, in a sea of green voting cards which said “yes,” the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) spoke out in opposition to the proposed amendment to the state constitution that would deprive the right to a civil marriage to same-gender partners.
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by Soulforce
(Photo: AP Images / The Press Democrat, Christopher Chung)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The highest court of the U.S. Presbyterian Church will convene in Texas on Friday to consider whether a lesbian minister violated ecclesiastical law when she blessed the weddings of same-sex couples in California.
The case surrounding the Rev. Jane Spahr, a 69-year-old grandmother, highlights deep divisions within the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and its 2 million members, as well as other mainline Protestant denominations over gay and lesbian marriage.
Spahr, who has battled for greater acceptance of homosexuality in the life of the Kentucky-based church for decades, was the first openly gay Presbyterian pastor asked to preside over a local ministry, though she was barred from accepting the post because of her sexual orientation.
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by Soulforce
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that new Equal Access regulations will be published this week and will take effect next month. Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the new rule Saturday at the Creating Change conference, which is hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
This fair housing rule expands protections for LGBT people seeking housing that is financed or insured by HUD. The rule also prohibits owners and operators of HUD-funded housing or housing that HUD insures from inquiring about an applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity, or denying housing based on an applicant’s LGBT status. The new rule also makes clear that the term “family” includes LGBT individuals and couples as eligible for HUD’s public housing and voucher programs – programs that collectively serve 5.5 million people.
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by Soulforce
In Michele Bachmann’s home district, evangelicals have created an extreme anti-gay climate. After a rash of suicides, the kids are fighting back.
by Sabrina Rubin Erdely
Every morning, Brittany Geldert stepped off the bus and bolted through the double doors of Fred Moore Middle School, her nerves already on high alert, bracing for the inevitable.
“Dyke.”
Pretending not to hear, Brittany would walk briskly to her locker, past the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who loitered in menacing packs.
“Whore.”
Like many 13-year-olds, Brittany knew seventh grade was a living hell.
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by Soulforce
REPRINT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2012
Michael Cole-Schwartz | michael.cole-schwartz@hrc.org | (202) 216-1553
Federal Appeals Court Agrees: California’s Proposition 8 Is Unconstitutional
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Discriminatory Amendment
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization – today praised the historic decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirming the August 2010 conclusion of U.S. Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown) that the amendment to the California Constitution barring marriage for same-sex couples, adopted in November 2008 as Proposition 8, violates the U.S. Constitution. In a 2-1 decision authored by Judge Reinhardt, the court agreed that Proposition 8’s only purpose in denying gay and lesbian Californians the freedom to marry was anti-gay animus, something the Constitution does not permit.
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by Soulforce
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just announced a historic decision affirming the August 2010 conclusion of U.S. Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown) that the amendment to the California Constitution barring marriage for same-sex couples, adopted in November 2008 as Proposition 8, violates the U.S. Constitution. In a 2-1 decision authored by Judge Reinhardt, the court agreed that Proposition 8’s only purpose in denying gay and lesbian Californians the freedom to marry was anti-gay animus, something the Constitution does not permit.
The proponents of Prop 8 are now likely to appeal this decision, either to be considered by a larger panel of the Ninth Circuit (referred to as an en banc rehearing) or for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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