Religious Left

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Straight Allies Across the Nation Demand Equality for LGBT Americans Atticus Circle and Soulforce are pleased to bring back Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights , a national event that will provide straight Americans with opportunities to do justice and motivate new allies to stand up and be counted for equal rights. Last year, stories of friendship and political transformation emerged across the country during Seven Straight Nights, a first-of-its-kind event. Through Seven Straight Nights, the power of straight ally voices resonated in 38 cities in 28 different states across the country. Soulforce and Atticus Circle partnered with more than 30 national and statewide equality organizations to bring together a true grassroots effort on the part of straight allies standing up for equality. Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights consists of nighttime vigils led by straight allies during the week of September 14th through 20th, 2008. Click here to read about one of the congregations wh...

by Lois Elfman, Diverse Education There are more than 200 U.S. colleges and universities that have explicit policies discriminatory toward GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students, according to Soulforce Q. Since 2006, this young adult division of Soulforce , a social justice organization seeking to end political and religious oppression of GLBT people through nonviolent resistance, has staged Equality Ride. A group of young adults between the ages of 18 to 28 — gay, transgender and straight — take a bus trip to visit some of these institutions in the hopes of changing both policies and perceptions. full article

The Soulforce Q Equality Ride will launch on October 1, 2008. This year it will focus on the South, journeying to fifteen schools of various denominations, including some faith-based historically black colleges and universities. True to its purpose of going where it is needed, the 2008 Equality Ride will visit both undergraduate schools and graduate level seminaries. Come meet the new Equality Riders and read what they have to say about this exciting project! The Equality Ride is a traveling forum that gives young adults the chance to deconstruct injustice and the rhetoric that sustains it. It allows emerging young leaders to unite in the struggle for common equality. The idea is this. We get on a bus and journey to various institutions of higher learning. Through informal conversation and educational programming we explore concepts of diversity, comparing the effects of inclusive and exclusive ideologies. More practically, we share and gain insights about how our beliefs influence po...

Soulforce The American Family Outing is in full action as LGBT and straight-ally families have already shared the power of love, commitment, and dedication to Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church in Houston and The Potter's House (Bishop T.D. Jakes – Senior Pastor) in Dallas, Texas. This Memorial Day Weekend, beautiful families and courageous clergy travel to Beltsville, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.) to bring truth in love to Bishop Harry Jackson and Hope Christian Church. Visit the Soulforce American Family Outing site

By John Wright The Dallas Voice Bishop T.D. Jakes of the Potters House in Dallas reportedly has agreed to meet with local LGBT families and representatives from the national gay rights group Soulforce on Sunday, May 18. Paige Schilt, a spokeswoman for Soulforce, said this week that a contingent of 50 people plan to attend services at the Potters House on Sunday. Following the services, Jakes, staff members and congregants from the Potters House have agreed to meet with them, Schilt said. full article

SoulForce (Houston, TX) -- On Mother's Day, Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, brought a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families to worship at Lakewood Church -- the largest mega-church in the U.S. After the service, Bakker met privately with Lakewood's pastor, Joel Osteen, to talk about faith, family, and LGBT people. The visit is part of a nationwide fellowship effort called The American Family Outing, which aims to create dialogue between LGBT families and families at six American mega-churches. Several prominent mega-churches, including Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, and Hope Christian Church in Maryland, have agreed to meet lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families. Earlier in the week, Lakewood officials had expressed an unwillingness to meet with Bakker and The American Family Outing. A tip from a Lakewood Church member led Bakker to seek out Osteen after the Saturday evening service, during the time when the pastor ...

By CLAUDIA FELDMAN The Houston Chronicle The son of evangelical Tammy Faye Bakker Messner will spend his first Mother's Day weekend since her death in Houston, waiting to hear from Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen. Jay Bakker, a high-profile supporter of Soulforce — a group that fights religious and political oppression of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders — wants Osteen to join the nontraditional families at a picnic Saturday and welcome them to church on Sunday. "I want to celebrate my mother's life," said Bakker, pastor of Revolution New York City, "and help spread the message she lived and preached. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as 'us' and 'them.' We hope the families of Lakewood Church will open their hearts and minds to us and sit down and have a conversation and share a meal. ... Let's put our differences aside and share the love and hope of Christ." full article

(Austin, TX) This spring, Soulforce celebrates 10 years of relentless nonviolent activism for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) freedom. In keeping with Soulforce's "take it to the streets" ethos, a mix of formal events and grassroots action will mark the milestone anniversary: On Saturday, April 5, Equality Virginia will present the Fifth Annual Commonwealth Award to Soulforce Co-founders Rev. Dr. Mel White and Gary Nixon. On Friday, April 25th at 7:30pm, Soulforce hosts a 10th Anniversary Gala and Reunion at the Marriott Dallas/Fort Worth Airport South. On Saturday, April 26th, at 7:00 am, Soulforce invites all who care about justice for LGBT people to gather in downtown Fort Worth's General Worth Square for a training in nonviolence and a vigil outside the United Methodist General Conference. Ten years ago, Rev. Dr. Mel White and his partner Gary Nixon began laying the groundwork for a new social movement. Under the auspices of "Soulforce," a...

Rev. Mel White penned the life stories and speeches of conservative Christian superstars like Pat Robertson. His religious leaders publicly and vehemently condemned gays and lesbians, and White tried to overcome his homosexuality with exorcisms and electric shock therapy. In 1993, White came out as a gay man and denounced the politics of hate in the evangelical church. Now, 15 years and two books later, White spearheads Soulforce , an organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender acceptance in religious communities. White discusses the latent power of the Religious Right in the forthcoming presidential election, his antipathy toward civil marriage, and the rationale behind the Religious Right’s homophobia. full article

Four gay groups (Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE), and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches) have organized a nationwide event, hoping to bridge the gap between Straight and Gay Christians. They call it "American Family Outing", and the groups hope to hold potluck dinners, picnics, and have "soulful talk" with the mega-church members. The following churches have come online: Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas Bishop T.D. Jakes and The Potter's House in Dallas, Texas Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. and Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland (near Washington, D.C.) Bishop Eddie Long and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia (near Atlanta) Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois (near Chicago) Dr. Rick Warren and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California more information available at the SoulForce site O...

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary, For The Bible Tells Me So , brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. Rev. Bob Graetz, friend of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., has criss-crossed the country, preaching and teaching, including in the heartland of America, the Midwest, which is mis-touted by some as a bastion of conservatism that is purported to condemn and freeze-out anyone who doesn’t conform to a narrow principle. Rev. Graetz and his wife have served as instructors at The Soulforce Institute for Nonviolent Change, also held in the supposedly ‘closed’ Midwest. Soulforce is an interfaith movement which uses the nonviolent principles of M.K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. to end s...