Quaker Queries about Transgender Inclusion in GLb(t) Orgs

One of t the things I like about moving with the Quakers is the quality of questions we ask each other.  We have a long history of asking questions that cause of to reflect inwardly and outwardly.
For three decades (more?) queer Quakers have been meeting in North America under a variety of names that have [...]

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Ex-Gay Books in Public Libraries: Dumb and Dumber

My friend Tania in the UK posted a link on my Facebook page about PFOX, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, and their insistence that ex-gay materials should be placed in public libraries.
According to the local NBC affiliate,

A Chicago-based group called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays is urging libraries to carry literature about reformed [...]

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Ex-Gay Treatment–Doin’ it for Jesus???

Yes, yes, yes, I know I have been negligent in my blogging duties. Just too darn busy at the moment. Let’s see It’s been almost two weeks, and I have been in Selinsgrove, PA (with my honey), Atlanta, GA, Highlands, NC, Nashville, TN, Cookeville, TN, Chattanooga, MD and today I am in Baltimore (Towson State [...]

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Science Fiction meets Religious Oppression

So many people who hear me talk about the Ex-Gay Movement and my many varied failed attempts to “de-gay” myself think I am making this stuff up–total fiction. Add to it the Evangelical world view,  some evil spirits, generational curses and football clinics–well it sounds downright nutty.
Daniel Gonzales writing for Box Turtle Bulletin, spent time [...]

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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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NEW Beyond Ex-Gay Community Site

Back in April 2007 when Christine Bakke and I launched the Beyond Ex-Gay website, we knew it was only the first of what we hoped would be several organic steps we envisioned to help support fellow ex-gay survivors. Our goal has been to help survivors connect with each other both on-line and in person.
Since the [...]

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Begging God to Fix Me: Questions about the Ex-Gay Way

Recently Christine Bakke and I received an e-mail from a 20 year old woman who visited Beyond Ex-Gay. She lives in a large city in the North East of the US. I spent time this morning with her questions and concerns, then I wrote a response. I imagine this woman represents the concerns and questions [...]

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Upon Reflection: Quakers, Queers & Ex-Gays

I just spent an utterly delightful and exhausting week in Rhode Island for the 349th annual gathering of the New England Quakers. I served as an adult “resource person” (RP) for the Young Friends (YF) high school program, which meant spending most of time assisting with the high school-age Quakers in their worship meetings and [...]

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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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British Quakers Make Waves about Marriage & Gays

In a move to unify their stance on marriages between two men or two women, the British Yearly Meeting of Quakers have had long discussions about their practice and beliefs. In the UK although people of the same sex can partner legally, marriage is reserved for opposite-sex couples.
According the British Yearly Meeting blog a [...]

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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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