Christian and lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer in Memphis

Having lived in Memphis, TN for five years (two of those in the Love in Action–[LIA] gay 2 straight gulag) I know Memphians make up a vibrant LGBTQ community. Thanks to the folks at Integrity, Holy Trinity, the Gay and Lesbia n Community Center, BGALA at U of Memphis, and then the amazing Queer Action [...]

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Being Queer and the Fear of Death

In my play Queer 101–Now I Know My gAy,B,Cs I perform a scene as two characters–Chad, a queer studies major who has to take over the introductory to quee theory class since Dr. Eugenes, the transgender professor is out that day, and Federico Garcia Lorca, the early 20th Century Spanish poet and playwright. (see scene [...]

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Where are the Queer Quakers: NEYM Day Four

This afternoon I attended the Worship Sharing* group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Friends, one of many worship sharing groups held each day of the New England Yearly Meeting of Quakers (NEYM) during our week-long gathering. Unlike the much larger North American gathering call Friends General Conference, which has a full program [...]

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Gay to “Homo No Mo” to ex-Ex-Gay to Me: Identity Monologue

Of all the performance pieces I perform, The Identity Monologue seems to work well in every venue so far. Through eight characters in two minutes I tell my life story without actually mentioning that much of that story has to do with struggling over the fact that I was gay and that I spent nearly [...]

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Learning to Live with Pride

My partner, a very smart writer (and I would add very dishy too) Glen Retief, published an opinion piece in today’s Harrisburg Patriot News. He lives 50 minutes north of Harrisburg in the little town of Selinsgrove, PA in the Susquehanna Valley. Having come of age as a gay man in South Africa as that [...]

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Brüno, Marvin and Me

Last night my beau and I saw the Brüno film. Seems we were not the only ones; it will be the number one film in the US this weekend. Marvin Bloom also saw Brüno. This former ex-gay and now gay Christian Jew for Jesus didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I did (which you [...]

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Bryce and Zach–Two different Ex-Gay Stories

Many people reading my blog may already be aware of the story of Bryce Faulkner, a young man who as far as we know has been coerced to leave his boyfriend and attend an ex-gay program somewhere in the US. I wrote about Bryce’s situation here.
Many people have expressed their outrage and concern through blog [...]

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Young Man forced to attend Ex-Gay Program

Some of you may have heard through Facebook or on the blogs about Bryce Faulkner, a college-aged man from Arkansas who many believe has been coerced to attend an ex-gay program. As far as we know, Bryce is not a minor, but is a college-age young adult.
According to Waymon Hudson over at the Bilerico [...]

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Growing Concerns

I write from the Friends General Conference, the gathering of liberal Quakers in North America, which meets this week in Blacksburg, Virgina at VA Tech. In addition to co-leading a workshop with Kody Hersh, I plan on attending as many talks and worship sessions as possible.
Yesterday I heard ‘Ben’ Pink Dandelion speak on Quaking with [...]

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Sun shining–must be three am, Do You Know How Your Church Treats Queers?

It’s 4:00 in the morning, the sun has been up for nearly two hours (moments after it “set”) and I am still awake. Sweden in the North during this time of year means lots of light. Who wants to sleep when it is so lovely out? At 3:00 a.m. I decided to go for a [...]

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Torture, Jesus and those Damn Sodomites!

It’s been an interesting week news-wise in regards to torture. Earlier in the week President Obama stated in a press conference that “waterboarding” is indeed torture, and that some of the Bush-era practices do not fit in with the ideals and values we have as a nation. Therefore, he put an end to the practice [...]

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Detoxing from Terrorizing Texts

For some Christian men and women who have a gay, lesbian or bisexual orientation, a handful of scriptures known as the Clobber Passages, have created much turmoil and many questions. When looking to the Bible for answers about our sexuality, we found what seemed to be definitive answers–namely– gay? no way!
With minds often filled with [...]

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