What is the future for Gay Christians in West Michigan?

By Theresa D. McClellan
Faith Advocacy Coordinator
Gays In Faith Together


On Thursday night, crowds will pour into the Loosemoore Auditorium on the downtown campus at GVSU to watch the free premier screening of the People's History of the LGBTQ community in Grand Rapids.

From the trailers and descriptions posted on the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy, (GRIID)website, we will hear interviews, see archived Grand Rapids Press news clippings, and television news broadcasts about the struggle for justice and equality by the LGBTQ population in Grand Rapids.

We will see familiar faces from Grand Rapids' past and hear stories that make us cringe in pain over the blatant discrimination, dismissal and demonization of who we are. We will rise up in our seats in recognition of those who paved the way before us. And if we are really listening and not just socializing, we will ask ourselves what is my role, what can I do?

The faith community is an important piece and continues to be an important piece of that struggle. We will see how people of faith wielded their religion to restrict, and we will also see how people of faith stepped up and reclaimed a vision of a God of love and hope.

As we watch our history, as revealed on this screen, consider where you fit in and consider how you represented your faith? Also consider, how do you want to be seen in the future? And before and after the movie, stop by our Gays In Faith Together (GIFT) table and see where you can fit in in making West Michigan a beacon of hope for all with our "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign that will launch publicly in 2012.

Our mission is to "proclaim the love of Christ for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies and to affirm their presence and inclusion in the Christian community."

For some, that mission is pretty radical. As followers of Christ, we see it no other way. Which is why we are launching a bold, exciting, blessed and Spirit-filled Campaign that will launch publicly during the 50 days of the Easter season 2012 and continue at least through 2013.

We are forming a collaboration of churches, other organizations and individuals to lay the groundwork for this exciting campaign. There is a lot of movement in Grand Rapids and West Michigan on LGBT concerns that will affect the history and future of who we are and how we are in this community and beyond.

So make sure you also visit the tables of others such as Holland is Ready and TEAM as well as the gay-friendly churches present. And after the movie, some of you will consider joining the fundraiser at the neighborhood pub The Meanwhile Bar where the Until Love is Equal group has gathered.

Let us create a groundswell of hope and support and action.

In creating this work, GRIID creator Jeff Smith explained it this way.

"There is an underside to every age about which history does not often speak,

because history is written from records left by the privileged.

We learn about politics from the political leaders, about economics from the entrepreneurs,
...
about slavery from the plantation owners, about the thinking of an age from its intellectual elite."

Howard Zinn

Following the model of radical historian Howard Zinn, this project involves the documentation of the history of the LGBTQ movement in West Michigan.

By doing interviews and collecting archival material, this project has produced a documentary film and an online archive of material about the struggle for equality and justice by the LGBTQ community in West Michigan. The screenings of “A People's History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids” will allow for continuing dialogue about the LGBTQ movement and provide a forum for current and future organizing.

This is a project of the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. The LGBT Resource Center is proud to be a co-sponsor along with GVSU’s Kutsche Office of Local History.

Come join us Thursday 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Loosemoore Auditorum in downtown Grand Rapids on the GVSU campus.

We will be there. I hope you will also. Because our vision for West Michigan is "that every LGBT person may walk freely in the love of Christ."

That has not been our history. May it be our future.