Can a Billboard save a life?

Blessings,

I want to thank you for the prayers and support you have given me in my role as Faith Advocacy Coordinator for Gays In Faith Together (GIFT).

We have some exciting programs planned in the coming months. And as you consider spending your tax refund, I want to share with you how you can help our "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign based on just one call to our office. I  want you to know this is long. But the message is important and worth your time, so please, continue reading and know that your help will make a difference.

The young one on the other end of the phone line just wanted another voice, another perspective from a spiritual source.

So she called our GIFT office and left a message for Chaplain Jim Lucas. For some reason, her pastor decided to stand at the pulpit decrying all things homosexual. He got to the point where he said if there were any homosexuals in his congregation they should leave. Now.

The young one sat in her pew. She didn't want to move and be noticed. She didn't want to stay for a spiritual beat down. Her parents knew, but never talked about, their daughter's sexuality. They were enmeshed in their own shame fed by cultural and religious messages. So she stayed and felt alone, unheard, unseen, unwanted.

We have seen the news reports of what happens to youth who feel this way with no where to turn. Chaplain Jim returned the teen's phone call, but her angry father suggested we not call again

Imagine what that Sunday afternoon car ride home from church was like for that family driving past cornfields in silence. Heavy silence. Imagine if while driving they passed a billboard stating "Gay Christian? Yes!" and beneath those words was the web address www.GayChristianYes.org with the tagline "you are not alone."

Imagine if she went to her computer and found the site filled with sermons from local pastors whose faith journey showed them that God says yes to all God's children. What if she found pastors willing to talk to other pastors that have not yet embraced this message of hope? What if she found testimonies from young ones like her who had been in the same circumstances? What if she found others who moved from the depths of despair to the joy that comes from accepting their gayness and Christianity?

What if her mother, who dared not have the courage or know how to address the elephant in the room, went to our website and connected with other parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children? What if she found essays and books and movies and meeting spaces to engage in conversation with others like her?

What if her father, who hung up on the chaplain, decided to watch the videos on the website in his own time? The series of brief, pointed and Spirit-filled videos ask if you really know what the Bible says about homosexuality. Other videos show honest discussions of the struggle and how others came out whole.

 What if he saw and read testimonies from other fathers, mothers, pastors, like him, who are on a journey of discovering how they can honor their faith while loving and affirming their non-conforming child? What if after reviewing the entire site, the father called his pastor and said, we need to talk.

What if you could help make this happen?

YOU CAN!!!!

 We need your financial support to make this billboard campaign a success. We are preparing the website and resources for an early spring release. We are collaborating with others and creating programs and projects under the "Gay Christian? Yes!" campaign that will nurture families, churches and individuals who want to help express the welcome message that there are no mistakes, we ALL are God's children and loved.

We want to have billboards across West Michigan in the spring of 2012 announcing the good news that yes, you can be gay and Christian and directing people, who have been spiritually bullied, to places of comfort.

We don't want another young one to hear from the pulpit that they are going to hell because of who they are attracted to.

We don't want anyone to sit in silence when they hear such a message without having the spiritual and educational resources to challenge such statements.

We believe that you, too, want a world, where everyone who wants a church home, can find one where they are not condemned or ostracized because of who they love.

I believe that you want to help with this campaign and you understand that this is a tough sell and requires a lot of work. I am committed to the work and weekly give much more than the 20 hours I am paid. I just ask for your financial help to make this Campaign successful.

  A few people have supported us with major donations of $500 or more, but we also need donations of $10, $25, $50, or $100. Whatever amount you give, we greatly appreciate your partnership and your willingness to share this message with at least 10 other friends.

As an added benefit, if you send your donation before April 15, you will have an easy reminder of your wonderful tax deduction for 2012. (GIFT is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.)

We welcome your donation by check or online. If you would like to donate with a check, please make it out to GIFT and send it to our office with the Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign in the memo.

GIFT
207 East Fulton
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

If you would like to donate by credit card online, please go to our website www.GaysInFaithTogether.org and click on the Donate Now button which uses the secure Just Give service..

Would you like to learn more about GIFT’s growing ministry? We invite you to read our autumn newsletter by following this link: http://gaysinfaithtogether.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/GIFT-RAP-Autumn-2011.pdf

I think often of the young one who called and I pray that she continues to seek messages of hope regarding her faith and sexuality.  My faith tells me that since she sought us, she will continue seeking. But I worry about all of those who don’t have it in them to make such a call. They are the ones most in need. They are the ones we can reach with your help. We start by sending the message clearly and boldly:  

GAY CHRISTIAN? YES!

In Faith,

Theresa D. McClellan

GIFT's Faith Advocacy Coordinator

Gay Christian? Yes! Campaign

Why we hold the Transgender Day of Remembrance and Hope

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


Less than 200 miles from Grand Rapids, a mother is grieving the loss of her 19-year-old child who was born male and self identified as a beautiful woman named "Treasure."

She was mutilated, burned and left on the ground like a piece of trash.

The publicized reactions by some, who read of this horrendous murder in Detroit last month focused on whether the victim, was male or female. Really?

The mother had to identify the torso of her loved one. The details are horrific. But because the one who was violated, is a member of the transgender community, one of the marginalized ones, there has been little outrage.

This is why we hold the Transgender Day of Remembrance. For all the non-conforming treasures out there who are cast aside. For all the mothers who are not allowed to fully grieve, their loss clouded by inane, insensitive, inappropriate questions, speculations and comments. For all those whose lives have been lost around the world to violence because they did not conform to the sexual roles expected of them.

We hold the Day of Remembrance for those who have been slain. We hold this day of Remembrance and Hope for those non-conforming transgendered friends who have come through the journey and found solid footing.

We also hold the Day of Remembrance for the allies who are willing to stand up and say "Enough" to those who see bullying, violence and murder as sport.

By the end of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and Hope service on Sunday November 20, 2011, participants will have celebrated all the ways that we are while recognizing the toll of violence being who you are has on the Gender variant community.

It is on that tightrope of remembrance and hope that allies and gender variant people will reveal how we can make a difference and change the course of bias, said organizers.

These messages of remembrance and hope will be interwoven into a service featuring a thought-provoking message from nationally known activist and educator the Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek, soul-stirring music and presentations from the gender variant community.

The service will be held 6:00 p.m. Sunday November 20th at Plymouth United Church of Christ, 4010 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI. The service is being planned by the Transgender Education Collaboration, Transpectrum, Plymouth United Church of Christ and GIFT (Gays In Faith Together).

"So often transgender and gender variant people go through their lives unnoticed by others. But there are exceptions where bias prejudices and even violence makes life impossible and all too often cut short for people that do not follow the societies’ ideas of gender,” said transgender educator and activist Jena Lewis.

“We hope that by both taking the time to remember, but more importantly to celebrate gender variant people, we can help open eyes in the community, and maybe even open doors for gender variant people." said Lewis.

Through the sharing of stories, reading of names and visual presentations, the service will create a space where all are free to be. There is hope that the service will serve as a springboard of action for others wanting to make Michigan and the rest of the world a safer and more informed place for the transgender and gender variant communities. Following the service, organizations such as the Transgender Education Collaboration (TEC) will have information and make connections during a reception for all present, said event co-organizer M Kelley.

A planning team, led by Lewis, Kelley and VanDoren have been working to create a space where there is space for hope and remembrance. The service will have secular and spiritual overtones as recognition that some in the transgender community have been shunned by religious traditions and would not feel comfortable in a church setting.

My faith tells me God rejects no one. So when anyone is rejected by the church, or church followers it is our role to make sure that everyone knows the outstretched arms of God embrace all, even if you've been told God does not live in or believe in you.


Please join us:

Is Gay a Gift?

By Theresa D. McClellan

So a recent response to a billboard outreach to the gay community by a Toledo church has prompted another church leader to erect nine billboards stating, "Gay Is Not a Gift"

The message is that "no one would choose this."

Often I hear lesbian,gay,bi-sexual,transgender (LGBT) and heterosexual people say; why would anyone choose to be hated and demeaned?

When actually the question should be, why would anyone choose to demean, diminish and dishonor any of God's creation; especially in the name of God?

For me, gay is definitely a gift. It is one of the many gifts God has blessed me with and that I have CHOSEN to embrace. It wasn't always so. Societal pressures, media messages, even messages from some pulpits, leave no doubt that fully embracing all that God has made you to be is not ok if you do not conform to expectations of masculine and feminine.

The fallout from this pastor's message will have some - who already wonder and question why they are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender, feeling unsure and unsafe.

But that is why there are allies, LGBTQ organizations and a continuously growing number of safe places of worship where people can explore how to be all that God has meant them to be.

As the Faith Advocacy Coordinator for the "Gay Christian? Yes!" Campaign under GIFT (GaysInFaithTogether.org) it humbles and pleases me to see the collaborative efforts here in Grand Rapids for the upcoming Oct. 11 National Coming-Out Day Service at St. John's United Church of Christ, 1934 Bridge St. NW.

With Scriptures that salve and a meaningful message from the Rev. Dr. Randal Jelks, this 7 p.m. Tuesday night service will hopefully heal wounds and open doors.

With powerful music from the West Michigan Gay Men's Chorus, poignant messages from those who have made the journey out of the closet and an original gospel song celebrating and affirming all of God's children, this worship service will prayerfully help answer the question, "Is Gay a Gift?

The answer is a resounding Yes! Gay is a gift. So is being heterosexual or however God made you. There are no mistakes.

After the Tuesday night service, visitors will be able to come downstairs for a dessert reception where we will fellowship with one another. There are more than two dozen churches on GIFT's ever-growing list of gay-friendly churches.

We are getting responses daily of their intent to be represented at the service with tables of information, sermons, adult-education programs, support.

My prayer is that those here in Grand Rapids who have been shamed and demeaned because of who they are, will realize they are not alone.

My prayer for Toledo, and the rest of the world, is that those who have been hurt because of how they are made will not drive by and see harsh words condemning them. They will look up in their community, whereever they are, and see hope.