For our upcoming Living in the Tension gathering on Monday, March 24, we will be discussing how we engage (or choose not to engage) with those we consider enemies or feel animosity towards. We’ll talk about why we choose to engage the ways that we do along with discussing what it practically looks like to engage in ways that are productive. We will be meeting at 7pm in Room 124 on 5255 N Ashland Avenue. If you’re available beforehand, we will... Read more
You’re the expert of your own experience. That’s one of the central tenets of The Marin Foundation, something we talk about all the time. Who you are, how you identify--whether as gay, lesbian, transgender, queer, asexual, straight, bisexual, pursuing celibacy, ex-gay--that’s not up for debate. Your story is sacred, and nobody is better equipped to explain who you are than you. That’s simple in theory and hard in practice. It’s never harder than when I receive emails like this... Read more
For our upcoming Living in the Tension gathering on Monday, March 10 at 7pm, David Mayer will be sharing a part of his story and thoughts as a senior in the LGBT community. We will be meeting in Room 124 on 5255 N Ashland Avenue. If you’re available beforehand, we will be meeting at Jerry’s Sandwiches on 5419 N Clark St. at 5:15pm to hang out and grab a bite to eat. We hope to see you there! Much love. www.themarinfoundation.org Read more
The Ethiopian Eunuch was a sexual minority. He felt the alienation of being outside cultural norms. But apparently he wasn’t alone. “Who is the prophet speaking about?” That was the Ethiopian’s question to Philip. And, of course, the question behind it was, “Who understands what I’m going through?” Philip's answer is Good News. Read more
The following post was written by Kevin Harris, Director of Community Relations at The Marin Foundation. In my work at The Marin Foundation, it’s a relatively common thing to come across posts written about how to be an ally in relationship to the LGBT community (a recent example). Considering that variations of such lists have been written hundreds of times, I thought I would instead focus on a couple main ideas that I have found helpful and am trying to... Read more
For our upcoming Living in the Tension gathering on Monday, January 24, we will be discussing our hopes for the LGBT community as we move into the future. Some see assimilation as the goal in essentially fitting into mainstream culture and norms and minimizing differences (or trying to change them to be the same), while others advocate that differences should be brought into the light and used to inform the construction of new ways of thinking and living in the... Read more
I remember sitting at lunch after church with Christine, who had married her wife around the same time I had married mine. We swapped wedding stories for a bit before she told me, with a shaky voice, how nervous she felt about the upcoming Prop. 8 vote and the possibility that her marriage might become legally invalidated. It was the first time I had ever considered how that might feel. With these discoveries came two distinct, paradoxical feelings in equal measure: empathy, and skepticism of that empathy. Read more
The following post is from Laura Statesir, Director of Family and Youth at The Marin Foundation. One of the questions that haunt Christian parents when their child comes out is, “How will this affect my child’s faith?” Parents worry that their LGBTQ child will lose their faith. The deeper question behind this is, “Can my child be both LGBTQ and a Christian?” Where does this fear come from? Why is it that this announcement about sexuality or gender identity causes... Read more
“I’m not sure what made our son [or daughter] gay.” That’s a phrase I hear a lot in my conversations with parents. I’ve written about the grief process that parent’s often go through in the wake of a child coming out, with feelings of loss, denial and anger. Sometimes parents have a flood of questions: “Who else knows?” “Is he being safe?” “Is she being bullied?” And sometimes parents have a flood of emotions: Shock. Sadness. Relief. Compassion. Anger. Depression. Denial. And still other times, a parent’s sentiments can boil down to just one, nagging question: what went wrong? Read more
Warren Perry is a teacher and coach, Southerner and Yankee, sinner and saint living in the tension in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @CoachPerry03 or contact him at [email protected]. Ah, February. It’s the shortest month of the year. Christmas is far behind us and spring is still too far away. And of course there’s Cupid’s big day that you either love or hate. For single people, Valentine’s Day can be a frustrating reminder of being alone or a commercialized... Read more
Love is an Orientation
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