Faith

‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ recreates a historic interview with a man living with AIDS

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In the Eyes of Tammy Faye

By Mark King

At the height of their 1980s popularity, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were television evangelist royalty, hosting multiple shows and raking in cash from their on-air collection plates. Tammy Faye, however, also had an expansive view of love and acceptance, despite her conservative Christian roots.

She proved it in 1985 when she had a gay man living with AIDS, Steve Pieters, as a guest on her show, Tammy’s House Party. The interview is recreated in the new film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, about the rise and fall of the Bakkers. It premieres September 17 and stars Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye and Andrew Garfield as Jim.

Pieters spoke with POZ magazine about the original interview, which is available on YouTube, and the new film.

It’s amazing that of all the events in Tammy Faye’s life, the filmmakers chose to include her interview with you.

I’m thrilled that they did. I’m touched and honored.

The film The Eyes of Tammy Faye recreates the original Steve Pieters interview

Tammy Faye Bakker interviews Steve Pieters on her show Tammy’s House Party in 1985.YouTube

It’s ironic that the gay man they found was also a theologian and pastor.

Yes. I was a pastor at the time with [the LGBTQ-affirming] Metropolitan Community Church [MCC], and I had been speaking about living with AIDS for two years or more. I made sure the interview went out live so they couldn’t edit it. It was a kick.

But it was a conservative environment. When did you realize it was friendly ground?

Tammy’s producer had been very friendly. She reassured me that Tammy was proud and excited to be the first to give an affirming interview to a gay man with AIDS.

You also kept bringing the topic back to your faith. When she asked you if you had given women “a chance,” you said God loves you the way you are.

I did that quite deliberately. She had said [before we went on air] that “we don’t talk about Jesus” on this show. And then, of course, we ended up talking about Jesus a lot.

It’s also surprising, frankly, that the person living with AIDS who did that interview in 1985 is still alive to talk about it.

I know! I got sick in 1982 and was diagnosed with GRID [gay-related immunodeficiency, a diagnosis used prior to the discovery of HIV]. They told me I had eight months left to live.

There’s no rhyme or reason to it, is there? Who was empowered, who fought hard, who lived, who died, in those early years.

Yes, absolutely. When I think about all those amazing people who were killed…

What was the initial response from folks to your interview?

Not much. It wasn’t until 1987, when the Reverend Troy Perry played the interview at a general conference for MCC and 1,000 people stood up and cheered, that I got much of a response.

I was so shocked. After that, I traveled for 12 years all over the world, and they always wanted me to show that interview at church events. Everyone wanted to see it.

The trailer for The Eyes of Tammy Faye gives viewers the impression that she was really going rogue with her interview with you. It didn’t please the conservatives in power. She wasn’t sticking to the political script of homosexuals being a threat to Christianity and democracy.

Absolutely. I don’t know if it was because she had a good heart or because she wanted to be known as someone who did something radical. I don’t know. But I’m told this was not the first time she had talked to a gay man.

The new film explores the mystery of Tammy Faye, meaning whether she was just playing a role or whether she was, in fact, an innocent who loved the Lord. If her constant cheerfulness and loving attitude was a persona, she never, ever dropped it.

I know she treated me like a real human being. She was very compassionate. It seemed very sincere.

Her son, Jay Bakker, and I have talked the last couple of years, and he tells me that my interview changed her, and it changed the whole family.

After that interview, she decided that she had a calling to minister to the LGBT community.

She started taking her kids to MCC services and to Pride parades and to hospices to meet people with AIDS who were sick and dying. Jay said it completely changed their attitudes and her direction in ministry.

Was Jim Bakker involved in any of this?

Jay Bakker tells me that his father was all for having the interview done.

They did decide, though, that it should be broadcast on Tammy’s House Party, rather than on their flagship show, The PTL Club [PTL stood for “praise the Lord”]. They thought it would go better if it were on her show.

Now, all of these decades later, the notoriety of doing this interview is all going to come up again. There’s an actor, Randy Havens, playing you in a major Hollywood film. How does that make you feel?

I’m thrilled about it. I got a note from the producer saying that her interview with me figures very prominently in the plot.

Did the producers of the film approach you beforehand to ask your thoughts, then and now, about the interview? Did you even know that the film was happening?

No. I was on Jay Bakker’s podcast, Loosen The Bible Belt, and he told me about the movie.

He said that the actress Jessica Chastain, who plays Tammy Faye, told him that the interview was central to the plot. Jessica decided to do the film because of that interview in the plot.

The producers apparently thought that I was no longer living. Because the interview is on YouTube, I’m considered to be a historic figure, so they don’t have to ask my permission to do it. I wasn’t even aware of it until after the film was in the can.

The film The Eyes of Tammy Faye recreates the original Steve Pieters interview

Steve Pieters Courtesy of Steve Pieters

What are your apprehensions?

There is a little bit of fear in me that this is what’s going to be the lead in my obituary.

This interview and now this film is what I’m going to be remembered for, not that I survived AIDS or was a director of AIDS ministries but that I was that gay pastor with AIDS who did that interview. Which is OK, I could be remembered for a lot worse.

To have represented a community so well on a national television show that became kind of infamous? That’s a great lead for anyone’s obituary. And the interview eventually became your calling card. Look at all the great work you were able to do as a result of that moment. It accelerated your career in advocacy as well as your ministry.

It definitely raised my profile. And I’ve had people over the years come up to me and say that that interview saved their life or that they never realized they could be gay and Christian. I had one person tell me that he was seriously contemplating suicide, and the interview changed his mind.

It is a fascinating slice of HIV/AIDS history. It deserves to be remembered. And for what it meant for representation of people living with HIV and the marvelous work it helped you do and for the lives it changed, it deserves to be the lead in your obituary—if that turns out to be the case.

That’s true. It was a big deal. And I didn’t even know it at the time.

OUTProfiles: Will Roscoe and the Many Ways to be Queer

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Author Will Roscoe

Will Roscoe is a prolific writer who has influenced many LGBTQ people by exploring the ways other cultures express, and often celebrate different genders and sexualities.

Roscoe has been active in the the Gay movement since 1975, when he helped found Lambda, the first Gay/Lesbian organization in Montana. The following year, he served an intern at the National Gay Task Force, and in 1977, as coordinator of the Gay People’s Alliance at the University of Oregon, he spearheaded the formation of the Oregon Gay Alliance, a statewide coalition of Gay/Lesbian groups. In 1978, he completed an internship at the Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley, where he coordinated a successful campaign to win United Way funding, the first Lesbian/Gay social service agency in the country to do so. He also served as voter registration coordinator for the No on 6 campaign in San Francisco (the Briggs initiative), registering over 10,000 new voters.

In 1979, he attended the first radical faerie gathering in Arizona, where he met Harry Hay, and became involved in efforts that led to the founding of Nomenus, which today operates a retreat in Southern Oregon. In 1980, with Tede Mathews and other local artists he organized “Mainstream Exiles: a Lesbian and Gay Men’s Cultural Festival” and between 1980 and 1982, he published and edited with Bradley Rose Vortex: A Journal of New Vision. In 1984, he became Project Coordinator for the Gay American Indians History Project and edited Living the Spirit, A Gay American Indian Anthology (Stonewall Inn Editions).

Roscoe’s research on the Native American berdache or two-spirit tradition has appeared in numerous journals and publications. His book, The Zuni Man-Woman (University of New Mexico Press), received the Margaret Mead Award of the American Anthropological Association and a Lambda Literary Award. He has since published Queer Spiritss: A Gay Men’s Myth Book (Beacon) and edited Radically Gay : Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder (Beacon) by Harry Hay. He is also co-editor of Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature (New York University Press) and Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities (St. Martin’s, 1998). In 1998 he publishedChanging Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America (St. Martin’s, 1998) a comprehensive series of studies of two-spirit people and traditions. His most recent book, Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (Suspect Thoughts, 2004) received a Lambda Literary Award for best work in religion/spirituality.

Roscoe holds a Ph.D. in History of Consciousness from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has taught in Anthropology, Native American Studies, and American Studies at UC/Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, UC/Berkeley, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and Dominican College, and he is adjunct faculty for the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology. From 1991-1995 he was an affiliated scholar with the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford University.

In 2003, he received a Monette-Horowitz Achievement Award for research and scholarship combatting homophobia.

adapted from www.willsworld.org

Gay Conversion Therapy Survivor Shares Her Story

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Julie Rodgers: Pray Away the Gay

For years, Julie Rodgers’s entire life revolved around trying not to be gay. She grew up in an Evangelical Christian family, hearing that she was “depraved, disgusting, broken, an enemy of God.” In her new memoir, Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story (Broadleaf Books, $24.99 paper; June 22, 2021), Rodgers tells how she went from ex-gay poster child to helping bring down Exodus, the largest ex-gay organization in the world, and to building a whole, healthy, and happy life with her wife Amanda Hite.

Rodgers’s story is featured in the documentary Pray Away, executive-produced by Ryan Murphy, which will debut on the streaming service in August, 2021. A Tribeca Festival Official Selection (2020), it will be shown at this year’s festival, in a sold-out screening on June 16.

Rodgers grew up at the center of the debate between Evangelical Christians and the LGBTQ community—a battle that continues to rage in headlines and courtrooms across the country. Hers is a painful coming of age story: a teenage girl who wants to be “good,” to be loved, to belong, but whose own mother considers her an abomination. When she came out to her family at 16, she was immediately enrolled at a conversion therapy ministry called Living Hope—an organization that is active and growing to this day. Conversion therapy has been widely discredited by medical and psychiatric organizations. Rodgers hopes her story will help young LGBTQ people who have been harmed by efforts to change their orientation.

Julie’s story is also that of a naive, earnest young woman who began to understand how she was being used by evangelical leaders to support their narrative about homosexuality, and to protect them from being branded as bigots. “I was seen as one of a handful of unicorn gays who would parrot conservative views and shield them from accusations of homophobia,” she writes of her time as a speaker at Q conferences and as the first openly gay associate chaplain at Wheaton College, an Evangelical school. “I was a pawn in their battle against my own people.”

All the while, she was self-harming, beset by self-loathing. “What’s a queer person to do,” she asks, “when the only people we’ve ever known and loved believe our love is disordered and our bodies are broken?”

“Evangelical leaders had willfully lied about the people I loved,” Rodgers writes. “They actively spun stories that denigrated beautiful queer people, drumming up fear in Evangelicals to mobilize them to support their preferred policies in every sphere of society.”

After years of trying to fit in to the conservative world she had grown up in, Julie “didn’t have the will to live another day at the center of the evangelical debate about queer people.”

Now 35, Rodgers is comfortable in the skin she once burned—out, affirming, feminist, politically progressive, and still Christian. Her faith looks a lot different now, with more room for mystery and more questions than answers. “The day I married Amanda I bore my scars with pride in a sleeveless gown. I thought they told a story about neurotic queer who was broken and deranged. I finally understood the scars told a story of a girl who was born into a system that tried to kill her and by the grace of God, I survived.”

About the author:
Julie Rodgers is a writer, speaker, and leader in the movement working for full inclusion for LGBTQ people in Christian communities. She is featured in Pray Away (2020), a documentary about the moment to pray the gay away. Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Time. Through her writing and speaking, Julie inspires people to reimagine belonging with her queer reflections on faith, public life, and chosen family.

Conversion Therapy Documentary Available on Amazon

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The Sunday Sessions

A new documentary exploring Conversion Therapy by Baltimore Director Richard Yeagley is now available on Amazon, ITunes, Kanopy, and DVD.

THE SUNDAY SESSIONS is an intimate portrait of one man’s struggle to reconcile his religious conviction and sexual identity. The observational documentary chronicles the turbulent journey of Nathan as he attends conversion therapy in hope of changing his sexual orientation. Conversion therapy is the controversial, non-scientifically based process which aims to convert an individual’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.

Yeagley states: “Seeing a man similar in age to me struggle with his sexual orientation, as well as his identity in general, was a struggle to witness. No individual in modern times should ever feel the need to hide or change their sexual identity. But unfortunately, and quite tragically, there are many communities in America and across the globe where intolerance is pervasive. In this film, I was exposed to such communities. “

Although it has been discredited by all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations, some therapists still offer the service for reasons almost exclusively rooted in a conservative religious belief system. The filmmakers had unfettered access to these secretive and controversial therapy sessions and have crafted an emotional and psychological drama which
chronicles two years of Nathan’s journey.

Find out more at www.thesundaysessionsmovie.com.

At the Crossroads of Islam and Homosexuality

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At the crossroads of Islam and homosexuality

The following piece was written by a good friend who wants to remain anonymous for the time being. You may remember that a couple years back he wrote Young, Muslim, & Halfway Out of the Closet

Stop and think for a second about how many gay people you know. Now, of those people count on your hands how many would also call themselves Muslim? I would be surprised If you could hold more than one finger up. I am a gay cisgender man who comes from a Muslim background and I’m here to try to explain why we almost cease to exist in society.

I was born and raised in a fairly moderate Muslim household in the UK. I went to Arabic school every Saturday for the best part of a decade in an attempt to learn the language and hear the whimsical fables of the many prophets. As a child, I developed an irrational fear of death after hearing stories of heaven and hell foretold by my mother. This fear and the fact that I hadn’t yet developed critical thinking skills to question what I was doing meant I continued to keep up appearances of being faithful. Praying tended to feel more like a chore and I would rarely complete my ‘5 a day’.  With the hormones of puberty came my sexual awakening. Pornography was bittersweet at first as it came with a lot of guilt. However, as I began to tepidly explore my sexuality further through chatting to likeminded people on social media, the guilt waned whilst the questions arose.

In the summer before I started university I came out to my sisters and friends who all took it well and with the dawn of university came a number of different ‘sinful’ experiences including drinking – even if it was very weak cider. I had held out until university to be free and I didn’t even feel guilty anymore. I mean why should I feel guilty about being myself? At the freshers’ fair I remember sheepishly signing up to the LGBT+ society after the guy on the stand spotted that glimmer in my eye and I’m proud to say that 2 years on I have represented my society as the BAME representative, despite not being out to my parents!

Homosexuality in Islam is very much still a taboo subject, we are elephants in the room, seen but not heard. This is why I wanted to take on the role to provide us, and other queer people of colour with a voice – think ‘The Little Mermaid’. Since, the subject is rarely discussed, many backwards beliefs remain. For example, many including my father still believe it is a ‘choice’ and you are allowed to be gay as long as you’re essentially celibate your whole life – because we all want to be monks right? In some Muslim countries you can be killed for ‘practising’ your sexuality and honour killings within British Asian communities are not uncommon. This fear has driven an increase in marriages of convenience between gay men and women or arranged marriages where the spouse is being deceived in plain sight.

Our university recently had its annual ‘Islam awareness week’ where the Islamic society held a marquee on campus containing a myriad of information about the religion, beautiful Arabic calligraphy and free samosas. Anyone would be a fool not to at least be curious. The more I have discovered my sexuality, the more I have lost touch with my faith so stepping into this space felt strange yet familiar. After exchanging my coupon for some free food I sat down and began chatting with some friendly hijabi girls. I surprised myself as I began to open up to them about why I had lost faith. None of them reacted badly to my confession and I left questioning whether I was doing the right thing again. However, ultimately they retorted the same celibacy spiel that airs from the mouths of the majority of imams (mosque leaders) in this country.

There is also a severe lack of media representation when it comes to queer Muslims. Once in a blue moon there will be a low-profile documentary putting us under the microscope but this can lead people to believe that we are just that, a microscopic problem that is hidden away. Putting us side by side with major characters in films, books and television is how we can truly become visible as invisibility in popular culture means invisibility in real life.

At the start of the year the roles reversed and I became the guy on the LGBT stand at the freshers fair seeking out shy baby gays. One of them being a wee Scottish girl who told me she, ‘can either be a proud, out lesbian or a happy Pakistani Muslim girl but cannot ever be both’. Over the year I have watched this once timid girl disprove her own beliefs by discovering the pride in her sexuality whilst maintaining her religious sobriety in gay clubs and she has now succeeded my role as BAME and Faith and Belief rep for the LGBT+ society. If a girl who struggles to make 5 foot can make herself seen, so can you! If you ever want to see you parents smile rather than tut when a gay couple comes on ‘First Dates’ you have to show yourself. It will not be easy but change in them will only come from a change within you…

Be brave,

from someone like you.

Young, Muslim, & Halfway Out of the Closet

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Halfway Out of the Closet

Coming out. Diana Ross, emotional YouTube videos and dusty old closets are just some of the things that spring to mind, but the truth is everybody’s definition is unique. For me the process began long before I opened the closet door. Coming from a Muslim background I used to pray to God to straighten me out and so naturally I avoided pornography and all the sin that comes with it for longer than most horny teens. When I finally had my sexual awakening I felt guilty at first, but the more exposure I had to this strange yet familiar gay world and the more people I spoke to, the more I began to accept myself and think maybe I don’t have to marry a woman and have kids in a dark closet. The first step is coming out to yourself because if you can’t come out to yourself, how in the hell you gonna come out to anyone else?!

My sisters were always going to be the first people I told – at the ripe old age of 19 in a Wahaca restaurant. I was fairly certain they would take it well but you always have that doubt in the back of your mind. Everyone always talks about the feeling of a weight being lifted off your shoulders but I felt more nervous and weirded out by the whole situation. Like I said everyone’s experience is different and you should never compare yourself to others. Nevertheless, it has allowed us to grow closer and I hope this continues. Meeting up with my oblivious parents the next day, after deep chats with my sister was bizarre to say the least, but having someone to talk to is always better than no one.

Over that summer I told everyone close to me who I thought would take it well and thankfully they all did. At first it all seems very serious and formal so it can be difficult to know how to approach the reveal. However, I found that the more open I was the easier it became to casually drop the bombshell, or not feel the need to make a point of it because it’s already obvious and they clearly don’t give two shits. It’s 2017, I’ve told more than one person over Snapchat for God’s sake.

University is liberating for everyone but it can be especially important for LGBT+ people to grow their often-suppressed personality, away from potential pressures and glaring eyes at home. This was undoubtedly the case for me. For the first time, I could meet people and be realer than I ever had before. I’m still working on finding my authentic self but that is what coming out is all about. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be attending drag shows with gay friends, becoming the BAME representative for the LGBT+ society or marching in a pride parade, but this and so much more is what you have to look forward to. All you have to do is turn that key.

I am speaking to you a year on from first opening that closet door, with one foot in and one foot out. Primarily due to unanswered questions about how my religion can reconcile with my sexuality and the fact that my parents are still in the dark. It’s not easy for me to enlighten them because they are practicing Muslims who are against homosexuality. This has created a barrier which prevents us from growing close as I have to act straight in front of them, or rather just exist. For this reason I have considered switching that light on as early as the end of this summer. I know it will not be easy at first and it may even drive us further apart, but I live for the chance that we could have a better relationship. I can’t see them die having lived a lie.

Being stuck in the closet for so long has forced me to suppress my personality to the extent that I don’t even know who the real me is. But I like to think that a year from now I could be finding myself to the tune of RuPaul’s latest gay anthem, as far away as possible from that dark closet I used to call home, along with many of you.

Peace and love,

Someone like you x

Support is available.  The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD) works to support, empower and connect LGBTQ Muslims.  Find out more at www.muslimalliance.org. 

Halfway Out of the Closet
Halfway Out of the Closet

The Shower of Stoles Project

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Shower of Stoles Project

The Shower of Stoles is a collection of over a thousand liturgical stoles and other sacred items representing the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith. These religious leaders have served in thirty-two denominations and faith traditions, in six countries, and on three continents. Each stole contains the story of a GLBT person who is active in the life and leadership of their faith community in some way: minister, elder, deacon, teacher, missionary, musician, administrator, or active layperson. This extraordinary collection celebrates the gifts of GLBT persons ministering in countless ways, while also lifting up those who have been excluded from service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The collection bears witness to the huge loss of leadership that the church has brought upon itself because of its own unjust policies. The vast majority of the stoles have been sent in by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people themselves. For more information contact the National LGBT Task Force. WelcomingResources.org

Shower of Stoles Project
Shower of Stoles Project

NCAA: Divest From Campuses Requesting Discriminatory Religious Title IX Waivers

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#GiveBackIX

Led by Campus Pride and Soulforce, a coalition of over 70 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ), sports, religious and youth advocacy groups have signed on to a letter calling on NCAA to divest from all religious-based institutions who have made Title IX requests to discriminate against LGBTQ youth.  The NCAA has long held as core values a commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

A list of the organizations can be found online and includes: The Los Angeles LGBT Center, GLAAD, The Tyler Clementi Foundation, Transathlete.com, PFLAG, The National Center for Lesbian Rights and dozens of others.

“Religion-based bigotry is the basis for the vast majority of prejudice and discrimination LGBTQ people face, especially young people,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride. “The NCAA cannot stand for this outright discrimination among its member institutions and we urge them to take action to ensure an inclusive sports culture that is safe and fair for all athletes, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Windmeyer concluded.

Campus Pride has kept a record of schools that have made these requests on its “Shame List,” calling out the religion-based bigotry online. There are currently fifty-nine religious-based colleges and universities on the list. The requests grew in response to the Department of Education decision in 2014 to include transgender students under Title IX protections.  The Alliance Defending Freedom and other anti-LGBTQ groups actively solicited these requests from religious-based campuses the last two years.

“As people of faith or spirit, we call upon the NCAA to act on its stated values as an LGBTQ inclusive organization and divest from these schools who are willfully and intentionally creating unsafe environments for LGBTQ students,” said Jordyn Sun, National Campus Organizer at Soulforce. “No athlete should play sports under the specter of fear and discrimination. Instead, these schools should simply follow the law,” concluded Sun.

LGBTQ young people face high rates of harassment and violence, especially transgender youth and LGBTQ youth of color.  The Title IX waiver allows campus administrators to deny transgender students admission, usage of public accommodations, and protections against anti-LGBTQ actions from students and faculty – all based on a student’s gender identity.

“The NCAA has stated that they hope those of all sexual orientations and gender identities speak out against ‘all forms of prejudice targeted toward our LGBTQ student-athletes and colleagues,” said Windmeyer. “Now is the time for the NCAA to put those words into action and only allow campuses that support their values to participate in NCAA sports.”

GiveBackIX

One Wheaton: Wedding at Cana

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Wedding at Cana

Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, has been in the press quite a bit lately due to the controversy surrounding Larycia Hawkins.  Hawkins came under fire when she wore a hijab to express solidarity with Muslim Women.  Wheaton officials insist that it is not the hijab at issue, but rather statements made in solidarity with Muslims.   Now, the the first black female professor to attain tenure at Wheaton faces possible expulsion, and we are once again reminded of the deeply rooted xenophobia that exists in America.

Those of us that are familiar with this evangelical Christian college, however (not to be confused with Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts) are probably not quite as shocked at this development as the rest of the world.  After all, evangelical Christians are more often interested in converting others to Christianity than with expressing any solidarity or commonality with other religions.  Growing up in such an evangelical Christian household I was taught to believe other religions were misguided at best, but much more likely just plain evil.

Wheaton is also, of course, a school that only loosened up their conservative Christian restrictions on smoking, drinking, and yes, even dancing (think Footloose) in 2003.  Certain types of dancing are now acceptable these days, but more risque dance (think Dirty Dancing) is still unacceptable for students

Wheaton has, in fact,  long struggled to reconcile both reason academic integrity with its evangelical base.  Even today (and after much debate) students at Wheaton are taught a very limited version of evolution.  Teachers are allowed to discuss evolutionary changes only within established species.  A very literal interpretation of the origin story prevents them from acknowledging the widespread belief that evolution of the human species predated the arrival of Adam and Eve.

And of course Wheaton still refuses to acknowledge that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals are fully equal members of society; worthy to love, and worthy to be loved.   They choose to ignore the longstanding positions of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association and what is now more than three decades of research on the matter.  Despite what most of us now understand not only academically, but as a matter of common sense,  Gay students are encouraged to be celibate, or worse yet, to try and convert to heterosexuality.

In the past few years, LGBT alumni of Wheaton have come together to form OneWheaton, offering hope to current Wheaton students.   To celebrate their fifth anniversary, OneWheaton commissioned a play written by Rachel Mariner with Lisa Maria Madera.

In this play, Wedding at Cana, a gay man tries to convince his Evangelical mother to attend his wedding with the assistance of his sister who thinks all religion is stupid and dangerous.  Many of you know Rachel Mariner is my sister, and an alumni of Wheaton College   I am immensely proud to have a sister who is both an amazing person and an amazing playwright.

For all the articles that have appeared in the news about Professor Larycia Hawkins, there has been very little discussion about Wheaton College itself and the prevailing culture of evangelical Christianity.

This play offers tremendous insight into this world.  A staged reading of the play took place October 10, 2015 at the Memorial Park Leisure Center in Wheaton, IL.  You can listen to the staged reading on SoundCloud:

Listen to Wedding at Cana now on SoundCloud

It is easy to be shocked and appalled by what is going on right now at Wheaton.  We live in a time when it is easier than ever to be isolated from people who think differently than we do.  Understanding our differences is hard.   Finding the humanity in people we so strongly disagree with can be even harder.  Art at it’s best has the ability to help us on this journey, and Rachel’s play does exactly that.

https://soundcloud.com/onewheaton/wedding-at-cana

Wedding at Cana
Wedding at Cana, a play by Rachel Marine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LGBT Asylum Group Expands Scope & Changes Name

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LGBT Freedom Asylum Network

A recent Associated Press story reveals LGBT people from around the world are seeking asylum in the United States in growing numbers. For example, asylum seekers from Russia are up 34%; many are LGBT persons fearing for their lives.  The diversity of groups supporting LGBT asylum seekers is also growing. To reflect this reality, the LGBT Faith and Asylum Network announced a name change, today. It is now the LGBT Freedom and Asylum Network.

LGBT-FAN launched in January 2014 with a congressional briefing and a working retreat. Leaders from around the country, including asylum seekers and asylees, have worked since 2012 to build a core of support and to solidify their mission. The group’s new name reflects the collaborative style of LGBT-FAN, its commitment to LGBT people of all faiths or no faith, and the coalition’s diverse membership. Ironically, while much of the persecution against LGBT people globally is driven by religion, much of the work to help LGBT asylum seekers in the U.S. is led by groups such as Chicago’s Broadway United Methodist Church and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).
LGBT-FAN supports direct-service groups, educates the wider community, and operates a charitable fund to give grants for direct services. The network advocates for the U.S. Government to protect LGBT asylum seekers, and works to support asylum seekers who face the brunt of punitive US immigration policies which deny them legal representation or
any means of support while they wait for months for officials to decide on their asylum applications.
At the heart of LGBT-FAN are a growing number of grassroots efforts that provide basic necessities such as housing to LGBT asylum seekers, most of whom are not legally able to hold employment for at least six months after filing their
asylum applications. These organizations include:
• Chicago LGBT Asylum Support Program (CLASP) (Chicago, IL)
• Center for Integration and Courageous Living (Chicago, IL)
• Freedom House (Detroit, MI)
• Housing Works (New York, NY)
• Better Together coalition (New York, NY)
• The First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
• LGBTQI Bay Area Asylum Coalition (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
• Center Global, a program of the DC Center for the LGBT Community (Washington, DC)
• The LGBT Asylum Support Task Force (Worcester, MA)

According to LGBT-FAN Coordinator Max Niedzwiecki, “The work of the LGBT Freedom and Asylum Network is increasingly important. Laws in more than 80 countries subject LGBT people to prison, torture, and abuse. Some flee their homes and come to the US seeking safety. Once here, they need shelter, a welcoming community, food, and warm clothes. More than the basics, many want guidance to attain their goals, and feel empowered to join advocacy efforts for LGBT rights worldwide, and immigrant rights here in the US. Many of us are recognizing the shared responsibility to reach out to them.”

LGBT-FAN is partnering with the National LGBTQ Task Force to produce the first-ever guide for best practices when working with this population, and with Funders for LGBTQ Issues to educate foundation staff about LGBT asylum seekers.