With the sudden and unexpected death of Paul Egertson on Wednesday afternoon, January 5, 2011, Soulforce lost a powerful and prophetic ally and the LGBTQ Community lost a courageous and committed friend.

Paul was Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) from 1995 to 2001. He was appointed a member of the Soulforce Board of Trustees in April 2004 and served on our Board for two terms from 2004 to 2010.

“We loved Bishop Paul,” says Dr. Cindi Love, the new Executive Director of Soulforce, “because unlike most church leaders, Protestant and Catholic alike, Paul was not content to talk endlessly about full inclusion for LGBTQ people. He was an activist who risked his career on our behalf.”

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Dear beloved family,

After spending the better part of my adult life as an advocate, activist, and minister to those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, today, World AIDS Day remains such an important part of who and what I am. I woke up with a start at 6AM this morning to realize that for the first time in more than 6 years, I am not scheduled to speak, preach, or teach today. There is some healing peace in that and also some grief. AIDS transformed me from a small town fundamentalist 13 year old boy into a prematurely developed activist, shouting down the barriers of power which keep people needlessly oppressed, isolated, and in fear that if anyone discovers their HIV+ status they would lose all.

I was so blessed to have a mother who could accept that I needed a path that was different than the one proscribed by societal norms and when I finally left home just shy of my 16th birthday, I knew that if I wanted to earn my place in this world, I would have to work very, very hard and learn to defend myself against those who told me that I was an abomination and wanted violence to take my life.

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A participant in numerous Soulforce campaigns, and the current webmaster, Brian Gerald Murphy responds to Alan Chamber’s recent open letter.

Four years ago, health insurance changed my life forever. I was home in late November and after dinner with my parents one night, the discussion shifted to my upcoming graduation from college and my plans. A film student, I intended to pursue production jobs which means no stable health insurance. As I mulled over options with my parents we began talking about YoungLife, an evangelical Christian organization my mom worked for at the time and one with which I’d spent a great deal of time participating and volunteering.  They have excellent health insurance. They also don’t hire LGBTQ people.

The discussion took a turn for the worse and I realized that in the three years since I’d come out, I thought I was being patient, thought I was giving my family space, thought I was being respectful… I realized I was being silent. My parents had not changed because I had not asked them to change.

And then it clicked.

America would not change unless someone asked it to. The world would not change unless someone asked it to.  I could be that person.

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This guest post is from Unfinished Lives which is a place of public discourse which remembers and honors LGBT hate crime victims.

Out Impact, the Gay Online Magazine, has a feature news article on the work of the Unfinished Lives Project and its Director, Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle, in its latest issue.  Chrishelle Griffin, a graduate of Spelman College, carried out the interview with Dr. Sprinkle for Out Impact.

In a portion of the Q & A, Griffin asked Dr. Sprinkle what he believes are the most glaring misconceptions about hate crimes against LGBTQ people. “Let me share two with you,” Sprinkle responded..  ”The first is that LGBTQ hate crimes victims were engaging in ‘risky’ behaviors that contributed to their deaths.  This is nothing but an internalized version of the old ‘gay panic defense’ that says we are somehow responsible for the victimization we suffer.  I never met a gay hate crimes survivor who had a death wish,” Sprinkle said.  ”These women and men were simply trying to live what is normal for them.  They were looking for love, seeking companionship, or whatever.  Straight people do the same sorts of things all the time.  We, however, live in a culture that makes our lives vulnerable—all of our lives, for every one of us. That is the message most of us never seem to get. As long as the majority culture permits some of us to be killed and maimed, every one of us is at risk.”

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John D. Powell, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist. He was a staff psychologist at the University of Illinois Counseling Center from 1984-2007. During his 23 years there, he served in several capacities in addition to providing individual and group therapy: Coordinator of Intern Training, Chair of Trauma Response Team, Adjunct Professor in Psychology, and clinical supervisor for many doctoral trainees.

The National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) recently published a letter addressing some misconceptions and misinformation regarding NARTH.  The letter is respectful in its tone and compelling in its content, as long as one holds the same views of homosexuality as NARTH.  Their view is that people who are “dissatisfied with their unwanted homosexual attractions should be given the opportunity to choose their own path and to pursue change if they so desire.”  The implication is that those who discover they are attracted to some individuals of the same sex but are uncomfortable with that attraction are probably not homosexual to begin with, and should therefore have the chance to “receive assistance in pursuing a different identity.”

While this sounds reasonable and respectful, NARTH appears to dismiss the fact that a vast majority of gay and lesbian youth and adults who have grown comfortably into their sexual identity have also experienced periods of dissatisfaction with their unwanted homosexual attractions during the coming out process.  With few exceptions, gay and lesbian college students with whom I have worked described times during which they adamantly did not want to be gay.  It is often a long and arduous emotional and interpersonal journey from initial curiosity and confusion to accepting their own identity.  That journey almost always involves going through periods of profound fear of being gay and a longing that it not be true.  These feelings are particularly intense in the early stages of coming out.  Who would want to be gay or lesbian in a family, church, school, or culture that held such behavior as unacceptable, sinful, perverted, or shameful?  With those messages in their ears, who would not have periods of “dissatisfaction with unwanted homosexual attraction?”

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