Michigan Technological University had an anti-gay graffiti problem during it’s Pride Week recently. This sort of thing happens fairly often, and it’s easy to gloss over it for that reason… but when you see the language used in the graffiti in these photos, it leaps out as something fairly extreme, and worth calling attention to.
This is extremely disturbing, and not a hoax, despite today’s date. An “Ex-Gay” event will take place in Marion, Indiana, planned and sponsored by a church in our downtown neighborhood — the Redeemer Presbyterian Church at 1505 North Delaware, Indianapolis, IN., which is also home of the The Harrison Center art gallery, run by our neighbor Joanna Taft, who appears to be a member of the board of the church.
Ministry says it helps gays become straight
Indianapolis Star April 1, 2006Brad Grammer says he gets 120 calls a year from people asking for help in shaking their attraction to people of the same gender.
As director of Hope and New Life Ministries, a small Downtown operation based in Redeemer Presbyterian Church, he helps the callers find counselors or directs them to churches with support groups.
Grammer’s work is part of a network of “ex-gay” ministries affiliated with Exodus International, a 30-year-old Christian organization built on the premise that gay and lesbian people can change their sexual orientation.
For one week this summer, Exodus will make Indiana Wesleyan University the hub of the ex-gay movement when it brings its 31st Annual Exodus Freedom Conference to the university’s campus in Marion. The event is billed as the largest gathering of ex-gays anywhere in the world.
Exodus says the gathering, which starts June 27, will feature personal stories from people who consider themselves to be ex-gays.
“We are not trying to shove this on someone that is not ready,” said Julie Neils, a spokeswoman for Exodus International, which is based in Orlando, Fla. “We are here to say that change is possible because we have evidence of that, with hundreds of thousands of ex-gays that have come out of homosexuality.”
Leaders in Indianapolis’ gay community are wary of Exodus and its claims. They question whether anyone can turn from an orientation they were born with.
And they say perpetuating the idea that change is possible makes family members and public policy makers insensitive to the real needs of gays and lesbians.
“In my congregation, there are any number of people who had been part of the ex-gay movement,” said the Rev. Jeff Miner, senior pastor at Jesus Metropolitan Community Church, a Northeastside congregation that believes committed gay relationships are not contrary to the Bible. “The stories they tell me is that it was an excruciating time in their life when they were trying to be something they could never be.”
Religious leaders and gay rights groups have for years been locked in highly public battles over same-sex marriage.
Grammer said Christians who believe homosexuality is contrary to the Bible have frequently failed to show love and compassion toward gay individuals.
Exodus International President Alan Chambers agrees. He said Christian groups have spent too much energy pointing fingers at gays and making hostile arguments in the public square.
“The truth is that Christ died for all of us or he died for none of us,” Chambers said. “The way you win the battle is that people are changed when you reach their hearts.”
Some mainstream church denominations have opened their doors to gays and lesbians without challenging their lifestyles. Now, there are tentative signs that churches that don’t condone homosexuality are seeing the need to take a softer tone — not on their doctrine, but in how they welcome gay individuals.
Grammer said at least four such churches in the Indianapolis area have established ministries aimed at helping people who say they want to leave homosexuality. He is trying to develop more.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, a self-described pro-family lobbying group, said churches with traditional beliefs on homosexuality have been slow to get involved in ex-gay ministries. But more are getting interested.
“As homosexuality is becoming more and more acceptable in the culture, even to the point of being hip or chic — particularly among teenagers — churches are realizing that this may be a growing problem that they need to address,” said Clark, whose organization is among those telling churches about the conference.
The conference includes sessions for married couples in which one spouse struggles with being attracted to people of the same sex.
A youth-day event will point conflicted kids toward the path of heterosexuality. And there will be support groups and educational sessions for parents with gay children.
Miner, with Jesus Metropolitan Community Church, said he feels only a “deep sense of sadness” for the people who will attend.
He says few — those with an ambiguous sexuality — ever change, and many more will find only heartache.
“The message I try to give to people in the ex-gay movement is that if this doesn’t work for you, remember it is not your only option,” he said. “You can be both gay and Christian.”
But Chambers, the president of Exodus, says he is a former gay man who is now married with children.
He says hearing the stories of other ex-gays helped him find a way out.
He expects many who come to Indiana Wesleyan’s campus this summer will find it also.
“I had been told prior to that by people in the gay community that I couldn’t change, that there was no hope for overcoming that,” he said.
“The truth, in our opinion, is that people come out of homosexuality.”
Yet another natural disaster being blamed on us for no conceivable reason whatsoever:
AN outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God’s punishment for calls in election ads to legalise gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.
“The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people,” Rabbi Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.
Rabbi Basri said he hoped the deaths of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens would help atone for what he called the sins of left-wing Israeli political parties, the son, Rabbi Yitzhak Basri, said, a week before a national election.
The bird flu outbreak stemmed from far-left political parties “strengthening and encouraging homosexuality,” Rabbi Basri’s son quoted him as saying.
Geez, you’d think that the Jews would be wary about scapegoating and ostracizing people.
Yup, Outword Bound Bookstore (at 625 North East Street downtown, near Massachusetts avenue) is planning a party for the video release of the film Brokeback Mountain. Here’s an appeal they sent out for some help with the party planning:
We are planning a Brokeback DVD release party for April 3 starting at 9PM. (Call or stop by the store to reserve your copy! 317-951-9100.) So, in order to have an interesting party, we are looking for someone who would let us borrow a horse and a couple of sheep. We also need to find someone(s) who knows how to lasso, willing to let Tammara borrow their rope.
Heck, that sounds like an interesting party. I’d stop by to see what happens. I’m curious to see what Tammara’s going to do with the rope.
I mentioned the planned Equality Rides a few weeks ago — modeled after the student “Freedom Riders” of the 1960s who travelled around to centers of intolerance and bigotry, these students are traveling to Universities and military institutions that ban LGBT students. Yesterday, 20 equality ride students were arrested at Jerry Fallwell’s “Liberty” University.
LYNCHBURG, Va. – More than 20 gay rights activists were arrested on trespassing charges Friday as they tried to step onto the campus of Liberty University, the school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Many of the activists were part of Soulforce, a group on its first stop of a nationwide “Equality Ride” tour to promote gay rights at the nation’s conservative Christian universities and military academies.
Invoking the memory of the civil rights movement, Soulforce member Jacob Reitan said: “We want to come to the school today to say, ‘learn from history.'”
“We have a right to be here, because this school teaches that being gay is being sick and sinful,” said Reitan, co-director of Equality Ride. “We have a right to question and to show how we are children of God.”
Every once it a while, you get an e-mail that’s so shocking that it could either destroy your soul, or make you a completely better person.
Recently I got blind carbon-copied on an exchange a friend of mine had with “respected activist” Marla Randolph Stevens, a former resident of Indiana and former “political activist” here in the state. If you don’t know her and aren’t politically active on the gay community in Indiana, you won’t care about this at all, so don’t bother clicking through the continued link. But if you do know her, you’ll find the following e-mail enlightening, to say the least. My favorite part is the subject line “Unsolicited and probably unappreciated.” Oh, it’s appreciated more than you’ll ever know, my dear.
Julia Carson is facing a democratic challenger to her office — a gay man, Kris Kiser, with very little political experience. Much of the GLBT community supports Carson, who has been a friend of ours politically and gone to bat on gay issues with no hesitancy whatsoever. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) both support Carson over a challenger with little experience.
However, local sleazeball gay “newpaper” publisher Ted Fleischaker endorsed Kiser over Carson in an editorial in his “newspaper” (the only part of that term that is accurate is that the trash he publishes gets printed on paper), generating some controversy in the gay community and a great deal of discussion over the issue on the Advance Indiana website, which has done a decent reporting on the details.
I can’t say much about Kiser or whether he’d be a good candidate, although I think he can’t have very good judgement, since he’s trying to create a schism in the community by running against one of the best elected officials Democrats have, rather than running against a Republican incumbent. And if I were him, I wouldn’t count an endorsement from Fleischaker as a positive thing. I’d be running as far away from that as I possible could.
After a heated discussion of the issues on the Advance Indiana site, along with commentary on the validity of Ted’s paper, someone hacked the Advance Indiana site and deleted the related posts. Gee, that’s an awful striking coincidence. I remember back in the day when I was libeled on the gayindy mailing list by an “anonymous” source for expressing opinions Mr. Fleischaker disagreed with.
This is an interesting article in the Quad City Times, about a book called “The Misfits” that was banned at the elementary school level in the Quad Cities.
“I knew I had all of those signs of being gay, and I couldn’t make sense of it,” said Howe, who wrote “The Misfits,” a book about four kids and their battle with name-calling. “When I figured out it was actually something that described who I was, I was terrified of being that. It was considered an illness, morally reprehensible.”
“The Misfits” launched a firestorm in the Quad-Cities when the Pleasant Valley School Board decided to restrict its use at the elementary-school level, where teachers are not allowed to read it aloud to students. The book has a gay character, Joe, who is the main character in Howe’s sequel, “Totally Joe.”
“The Misfits” also launched a national initiative called “No Name Calling Week.” The organizers of Howe’s visit are asking area schools to have their own version of No Name Calling Week from Feb. 20-24.
Ironic that they book is about not mistreating people, including gay people, but it’s being censored, although the article does talk about programs at some of the Quad City schools to prevent bullying.
It’s interesting to me because I have a couple relatives who are employed in the school system in the Quad Cities. I wonder what they think.
Laurel Hester, the New Jersey woman who fought to get her pension awarded to her female partner died yesterday. She succeeded in making sure that her partner Stacie Andree was able to receive her money and keep their family home, after a long legal battle with county officials.
Johnny’s flamboyant, but he’s not officially out…
“I think it’s funny that people care,” Weir said before ultimately placing fourth. “I don’t have a problem with people saying anything. People could be saying, ‘Oh, let’s poll about Bode Miller. Let’s poll about Michelle Kwan being a lesbian. It’s not a big deal. Who I sleep with doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the ice or what I’m doing in a press conference.”
Earlier in the week, the Tribune interviewed Rudi Galindo, a former U.S. champion and one of the only openly gay figure skaters in the business. Galindo complained that the media was not confronting Weir about the question of whether he is gay.
“He’s drinking tea with his pinkie finger in the air, and he’s so over the top and feminine, why is everybody asking him about his style and not just ask him if he’s gay?” Galindo told the Tribune. “It’s the funniest thing to watch.”
Weir has never publicly discussed rumors that he is gay, though according to the Tribune, at nationals he said he had been through a tumultuous personal relationship recently that had had a negative impact on his skating. When asked to further discuss that issue again at the Olympics, he declined.
In past news conferences, Weir has described himself as a “diva” and called himself “princess-y,” making sure to point out that he is not a jock but an athlete dressed in rhinestones and sequins.
Then, when asked about the subject on his personal Web site, Weir replied: “People talk. Figure skating is thought of as a female sport, something that only girly men compete in. I don’t feel the need to express my sexual being because it’s not part of my sport and it’s private. I can sleep with whomever I choose.”
I’ve seen it a dozen different places already online, but I can’t help making the reference myself, because I sing the song every time I think of him – Johnny Are You Queer?