Help Rick Warren understand what Mildred Loving knew … and why
This book confronts one of America’s greatest moral failures40 STORIES REVEALING THE PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND RELIGIOUS PAIN AND TRAUMA OF GROWING UP GAY IN AMERICA |
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GIVE A GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
This holiday season, help the parents, teachers, and religious leaders of gay teenagers understand the harm being done and how we can stop it.
40 stories revealing the personal, social, and religious pain and trauma of growing up gay in America.
Available at booksellers or via www.crisisbook.org
For anyone who may wish to send Crisis as an anonymous gift, please click here.
For gay teens, the trauma does not end Wednesday
Next Wednesday Americans will wake to a brighter future – those whose presidential candidate won of course.
That will not be the case for gay and lesbian teenagers. Neither Sen. Barack Obama nor Sen. John McCain fully embraced them as equal before God.
Looking back on an election that in one cycle had an African-American running for president, a female running for her party's presidential nomination and a woman on another party's presidential ticket, news pundits no doubt will reflect on the significance of 2008 as a year that history truly was made.
A letter from a Christian whose life ends in 2012
The Focus On The Family "letter from a Christain in 2012" that was sent just days now before the Nov. 4 2008 election is a fictional account that compares gay marriage and the prospect of the Boy Scouts accepting gay youth into their ranks as similar to incidents of global turmoil – with the implication that a vote for candidate Barack Obama will bring about the end of Christian life.
The letter condemns gay and lesbian individuals as people we should fear and loathe. It is the supreme example of a so-called "religious organization" promoting hostility and prejudice to influence your vote as a person of faith.
Such a solicitation should find no appeal among communities of faith and it certainly holds no appeal to the future of America.
Book calls to task anti-gay religious and political establishments
Mitchell Gold's new book exposes the emotional and psychological trauma experienced by our nation's gay and lesbian youth and it puts the anti-gay political establishment on notice – stop sacrificing the well-being of young gay teenagers on the vote-getting altar.
With a unique blend of up-close and personal stories from some very public individuals, and middle America teens, philanthropist and longtime human rights advocate Mitchell Gold exposes a gay teen mental health epidemic as one of the nation's greatest moral failures in CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay In America.
The book, which launches over the next two weeks in New York, N.Y, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, Calif., asks Americans to awaken to the pain being inflicted on gay teens by a society that has been led to believe that such affliction is somehow morally or religiously justified.
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Tipper Gore comes out for marriage equality; Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams honored at LA event
Tipper Gore – the woman many Democrats believe should have been the First Lady after her husband, Vice President Al Gore, won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election – announced her opposition to Proposition 8 Saturday night during the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's 37th Anniversary gala in Los Angeles. She attended the LA Gay & Lesbian Center's gala in order to introduce Mitchell Gold, who, with his partner Bob Williams, was being honored for his philanthropy, his founding of Faith in America, and his new book, Crisis, a collection of personal stories about the trauma of growing up gay in America. Read entire article.
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At the intersection of faith, politics and Social Justice
Faith In America is working to end the harm caused by religion-based bigotry and discrimination and to promote a climate of understanding
and respect toward the good, decent people who are forced to suffer emotional, psychological, spiritual and even physical violence
simply because of who they are.
Many young gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth commit suicide in America each year because of low self-esteem and depression
promoted by a social climate of condemnation and rejection that is perpetuated by a number of vocal anti-gay religious organizations
and their leaders. Each election cycle we see these groups interject their religion-based hostility and prejudice into the political
dialogue which only has furthered this climate of fear, ignorance and discrimination toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
citizens.
It’s time to change that.
We hope you’ll join us...
Jay Bakker and Religious Straight Americans
Speak Up for Gay and Transgender Neighbors
Faith leaders from across the nation will participate in Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights 2008, a project that spotlights straight Americans' support for gay and transgender neighbors over the week of September 14-20.
"Gay and transgender Americans are our neighbors" will be the simple message of faith leaders across the nation during the week of September 14-20, 2008.
These religious leaders are part of Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights 2008, a week that will spotlight fair-minded straight people around the country. In 2007, the project's inaugural year, nighttime vigils lit up 36 American cities in 25 states over seven days.
This year, churches in cities as diverse as Brooklyn, N.Y., Superior, Wis., Danville, Ind., Modesto, Calif., Denver, Colo., and Portland, Ore., will sponsor Seven Straight Nights events.
Leading the clergy is Jay Bakker, pastor of Revolution NYC Church and star of the documentary series One Punk Under God.
"As Christians, if we follow the example of Christ in loving our neighbor as ourselves, then we have to realize that everyone is our neighbor, everyone deserves to be treated with love and respect and grace," says Bakker.
Jay Bakker is the son of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. His non-traditional approach to ministry achieved national attention in the Sundance Channel documentary One Punk Under God, which documented his journey to become a gay-affirming Christian.
Like Bakker, Michelle Garland has been on a journey to support gay and transgender friends. A Modern Orthodox Jew and married mother of three, Garland initially feared that, even as a straight woman, she would become the target of harassment.
"I was determined to do what I knew in my heart was right. I believe we are all God's children and to deny love to a fellow human is to reject the spark of Godliness that is in each of us," says Garland, who is now organizing a Seven Straight Nights event in Ames, Iowa, for the second year in a row.
Nationally, Seven Straight Nights is sponsored by Atticus Circle and Soulforce, who are currently seeking straight people who are interested in organizing a Seven Straight Nights event in their communities. For more information, visit www.sevenstraightnights.org
Atticus Circle is a national organization that educates and mobilizes fair-minded straight people to advance equal rights for LGBT partners, parents, and their children.
Soulforce is a national social justice organization that advocates freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.
Join the conversation at our new blog www.EndTheHarm.com