People of the Second Chance (POTSC) is a movement created by author and creative, Mike Foster, which works to overthrow judgement and liberate love. POTSC is filled with a bunch of super artsy, cool and rebellious folks.

Their new campaign is Labels Lie: Don’t Use Them, Don’t Accept Them. Their most recent addition is the picture above. They asked me to write an article to accompany their new poster.

Here is my article.

Question: Do you think you can resonate with someone without taking on their labels?

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org 

So when the mail got dropped off at The Marin Foundation’s office today there were 3 huge boxes. The sender was Zondervan. I thought… Here it is! The DVD Curriculums are here! So give me some grace and view the excitement with me of opening the very first copies of our new Love Is an Orientation DVD and Participant Guide.

It officially releases on December 13th.

You can pre-order the DVD and Participant Guide combo pack here.

You can pre-order the DVD by itself here.

You can pre-order additional Participant Guides by themselves here.

I’m popping it in my DVD player right now… Can’t wait to watch it myself as I haven’t seen the final version yet. Awesome!

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org 

A few days ago the BBC World News featured the work of The Marin Foundation in written and audio form! Above is a screenshot I took of the BBC’s home page on their website… And that’s us as the feature story! It’s been crazy since it went live. We have gotten tons of folks reaching out from all over the world. This impact of our story is being felt! It’s such a humbling thing to have happen, and it’s definitely surreal to know that our bridge building message is getting spread across the globe through the most internationally trusted media company in existence. Just unreal.

You can read the full article here

You can listen to the 30 minutes segment the BBC ran on us here (and you have about 30 days to download it to keep it if you want)

Yesterday I got an email from the BBC and they gave me the following, crazy, update about our stories since they went live:

—Our radio segment (which has also been featured throughout America on NPR) is the most listened to segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our radio segment is the most downloaded segment of any from the BBC World Service

—Our article is the 2nd most shared article of any story on any of the BBC websites

—Our article is the 3rd most read article on any of the BBC websites

I have to thank Christopher Landau so very much. He was the producer of the segment, as well as the writer of the article. Christopher was the one who fought for this story to be done! Even after some higher-ups said no to his initial proposal, he kept at it over almost 1 full year (!!!!) before they finally said yes. And now look what is happening! Brenda and I first met Christopher while I was speaking in London earlier this year. He had read my book when it first released in 2009 and as he said, “kept it in the back of my head to do a story on it for just this time.”

I’m not the most trusting person when it comes to media folks… They never seem to quite tell the truth in how they are going to present or edit something. But Christopher did exactly what he said he was going to do. A stand up man. A balanced journalist. And now a person ever so dear to not only my heart, but the millions his work has reached around the world.

Just absolutely amazing what the Lord is doing with this.

No matter the outcome, faithfulness always wins out.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Life in Boystown: As all of you probably know I live in the LGBT neighborhood of Chicago called Boystown, It’s where my friends live, it’s where I hang out, it’s where I go out to eat, where I go to the bank, work out, go grocery shopping and where I get my hair cut. These are the stories of my everyday experiences in the neighborhood.

I was walking the other day to get my haircut. My stylist, and the owner of the shop, were hanging outside the shop talking. As I approached them I gave them each a hug. At the time of the hug to the final person a truck slowed down right in front of us. 3 construction workers leaned out the windows and yelled:

FFFFFFFAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOTTTTTTTSSSSSSSS

Then the truck’s wheels started squealing and it sped off.

Classy. And cowardly.

Faggot is still alive. Don’t think it’s not.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

As many of you know from Twitter and Facebook I was asked to go to the first day of Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit, as a special guest of Willow, to hear Bill Hybels response to Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks, cancellation to appear at the Summit. I was then asked by the Washington Post to write an article about it. I did. The Post decided instead of the article being “event” specific, they would like different article that focused on broader cultural thematic overviews. That article will be published by the Post soon. In the meantime, the original article, about Willow and Starbucks has been published by my friends at Patheos.

You can read my thoughts about the Starbucks and Willow Creek situation here.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org 

A few weeks back The Marin Foundation was called by a Catholic church in Chicago. They were calling because they got word that a gay activist group was going to be protesting their church on behalf of all the LGBT people who don’t like the Catholic church’s stance on gay marriage. Over the last few weeks we have tried to work as best as we could to help set up a private discussion between the Catholic church and the activist group. That private discussion never happened – and it wasn’t because The Marin Foundation wasn’t willing…

When the day of the protest arrived an interesting thing happened. An anti- same-sex marriage organization from the suburbs showed up and started protesting the protesters. It was a freaking mess. Who does that? What good is coming out of protesting a protest?

It’s like two dumb, blind donkeys walking in circles in the dark threatening each other with nothing other than the smell of their own butts.

There are few things that get me more heated than people on both sides of this topic who, for no greater good at all, stifle peaceful and productive dialogue that produces reconciliation by only wanting to hold nasty signs at each other and yell in their stupid megaphones.

You should have seen the ridiculous scene at that church: People coming in and out of mass met on the church’s steps by hateful LGBT people with signs and megaphones and then looking two feet in the other direction and a group of hateful conservative Christians with signs and megaphones protesting the protest. And not one person in either of those groups had any personal connection to that Catholic church. Amazing. Here’s a quick letter to the protestors:

Dear Protestors Who Believe You Are Doing The Right Thing,

You are not doing the right thing.

Jesus said that wisdom will be proved right by her actions. If Jesus’ words are true, then you all must have not a drop of wisdom in you. Try investing even a quarter of the amount of time and energy you currently use to promote dissent into seeking dialogue and relationships of ‘loving your enemy’ and watch how productive you can actually be. I guarantee it will be a zillion times for productive and you won’t even have to go to all of the trouble to do so much coloring of signs.

And to those conservative Christians there protesting—I have a hard pressed time even believing you are a Christ-One (literal definition of Christian). God says to Isaiah:

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

And to those LGBT people there protesting—you think your signs and megaphones make one ounce of difference to that Catholic church, The Catholic Church or any of the people in it? You don’t. You just look like hateful idiots who are solidifying the Church in thinking they’re doing the right thing.

Next time, instead of picking up your sign pick up your phone and schedule a time to sit down with ‘the other’ and have a conversation focused on trying to understand each other.

Much love.

Andrew

www.themarinfoundation.org

There has been a big court case going on in England regarding a gay couple who sued the owners of Cornish Bed & Breakfast because the gay couple was denied occupancy based on the owners of Cornish B&B’s Christian faith. You can read the story here. The ruling just came down this week that it was unlawful for the owners of the B&B to deny service to the gay couple based on their Christian beliefs. The gay couple, who sued for 5,000 pounds, won 1,800 pounds in damages. If you want to read in extreme detail about the case from a British legal perspective, go here. But what I want to talk about is the scenario if this situation happened in America, in an American context.

So let me set the fictional scenario:

A gay couple takes a trip to a cute little bed and breakfast on Lake Michigan in Geneva, IL. The owners of this B&B, which we’ll call The Inn, are a straight, married Christian couple with conservative Christian values. They have run The Inn for a number of years and still work at The Inn on a daily basis.

In taking the reservation The Inn didn’t realize it was a gay couple, as the reservation was made under just one person’s name. There has been a rule at The Inn for a number of years saying that they have the right to deny service based on their Christian values, and there has never been any issue with that rule. But when the couple showed up to check in, the owners of The Inn, who were working behind the front desk at that moment, saw they were a gay couple, asked them if that was the case, and then denied them service – explaining to them that their faith believes that same-sex couples go against biblical law and thus, cannot stay at The Inn – and all of their money was refunded on the spot.

The gay couple then sues for discrimination based on sexual orientation. The remainder of this post are some of my thoughts regarding a potential scenario like this one…

Within American law there is such a thing as a Religious Exemption. The simplest way to define it is that religious entities are exempt from having to abide by certain federal law when it conflicts with their religious belief system. The best example of such an exemption is that Catholic hospitals are exempt from having to perform abortions, and cannot get in legal trouble for denying abortion requests, even though abortions are legal in the Untied States. 

The separation between Church and State provides for such exemptions to take place. Though there are many twists and turns when it comes to the details of the public policy of ‘religious exemptions’, here is what I see as my thoughts of what is fair to the Church and fair to the State:

Registered churches, charities and NGOs that are legally documented as having a religious affiliation should be able to dictate their own hiring and service practices based on their registered religious beliefs.

Hiring is defined as: Once a person is hired in a full time position, regardless of gender, race, disability or sexual orientation, they are mandatorily given full benefits of insurance, 401k, pension, etc. In essence the registered church, charity or NGO would have the right to hire individuals according to their theological belief system. The same is true for the service practices—e.g. Catholic hospitals have the legal right to not perform abortions.

If you are not a registered church, charity or NGO but rather just a person of faith running a company, organization or institution, those entities’ laws and service requirements must align with the Federal regulations of equal protection and anti-discriminatory practices. Though the owner might be a person of faith, their for-profit entity does not fall under the religious exemption for registered churches, charities or NGOs and thus, must fall under the non-exempt rules and regulations for hiring and service.

Therefore that gay couple would have every legal right to sue for anti-discrimination and win. However, if that B&B was a Christian retreat center that governed their hiring practices and service under the religious exemption as a church, charity or NGO, they would then have every right to deny service under the exemption.

Thoughts?

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Two years ago today (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) I spoke on Capitol Hill the night before the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.

The event was an official Inauguration event, a series of government sponsored events that led up to the actual Inauguration ceremony of our country’s 44th President. This event consisted of two representatives from each of the major faiths that make-up America, to speak about something that reflects the essence of Martin Luther King Jr and the current state of our country.

It was a huge honor to be there, not just because I had the opportunity to speak on Capitol Hill during such a pivotal time in our country’s history, but because the other evangelical representative speaking was Dr. Vincent Harding, the former speech writer for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr! Here and here are two of Dr. Harding’s recent books. After MLK’s assassination, Harding worked closely with Coretta Scott King to preserve MLK’s legacy, including being the first Director of the only official MLK museum, the King Center, in Atlanta, GA.

I was humbled to find out that the talk that I gave that night (above) impacted the director of the Smithsonian Museum, who was in attendance that evening. Later, I received a document from the Smithsonian asking for my permission to archive my talk in our country’s history depository. Needless to say, I signed it and what you hear above will always be a part of our country’s history. To date, speaking on Capitol Hill with Martin Luther King Jr’s speech writer, leading to my talk being archived in the Smithsonian, the night before the Inauguration of President Obama, has been the biggest honor of my life.

It’s still amazing to me that any of this stuff has even happened. I was just a kid who moved into Boystown with my best friends because I loved them and wanted to seek the truth, because what I heard from the Church world about LGBTs and what I heard from LGBTs about the church world never matched up to any experiences I had in either community. Let’s keep this bridge building movement of reconciliation rolling…

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Recently there was a fascinating story breaking out of George Washington University’s (GWU) woman’s basketball team:

One of their players, Kye Allums, now identifies as a transgender male.

Here is the link to the story.

I am always interested in college sports stories because, as some of you may know, I received an athletic scholarship to play Division I baseball in college. All I know is that I had a hard enough time with my teammates when I told them I was moving into Boystown with my best friends – who had just come out.

Since this story broke, a lot of articles are saying that her teammates and her university are handling her admission great. I have a few thoughts as a former Division I (DI) athlete:

1. I would assume her team would be handling this situation well. My experience has shown me that the majority (being over 50%) of DI woman’s softball and basketball teams are indeed lesbian. This is not a stereotype. It’s a fact that I experienced first hand. In fact, it was the softball team at my university that introduced me to everyone I knew in the LGBT world in Chicago. Such a situation was not only true at my school, but 100% of the other Division I schools around the country that I had friends who played sports at. I’m not saying this is generalizable to every single Division I school in the country, just to my school and the dozen or so other DI schools that I had friends who played at. The question might be, then, Why are so many lesbians on DI basketball and softball teams? I don’t know. I just know what my experienced showed me.

2. I would image the school would be handling it well. GWU is located in Washington, DC. It seems to me, not in a bad way, that every secular institution wants to be on the forefront of this type of stuff.

3. I wonder what the other sports and players are saying about this – especially any of the men’s teams/coaches/players? Funny how I haven’t been able to find one article with one quote from any of them. I wonder why they’re all being so silent? Oh, that’s right… Because homophobia runs wild among men Division I male athletes and coaches!

I’m sure the administration is telling the coaches (who coincidentally want to keep their jobs) to make sure their players keep their mouths shut about this. If I was given a hard time for being best friends with LGBTs, I couldn’t imagine what is going on behind the scenes about this. Or, who knows, maybe all of the other players from the other teams just accept Kye Allums as a man now? Culture has changed quite a bit on this topic since I played in the early 2000s.

Here are some of my questions though, which I would love to hear your thoughts:

The majority of the articles on this story, when I googled it, are saying that ‘a man is now playing Division I basketball on a woman’s team‘. Is it really a male playing Division I woman’s basketball?

At what point is a transgender person ‘officially’ considered a member of the opposite sex?

I’m not trying to offend anyone, but to me these headlines seem like the ‘man who gave birth’ story.  A man cannot give birth. A post-op transgender man, in my mind, is by all social constructs a man. But giving birth is impossible for biological men. Going through a transition from female to male cannot make someone a biological man, it just aligns a person’s gender dissonance (The best book I have ever read on transgender thought is by Julia Serano, called Whipping Girl).

Just the same, Kye Allums is still genetically a female, and thus, although she is now a calling himself a [transgender] man, Kye is still a woman playing on a woman’s basketball team who identifies as a transgender male. If Kye got the surgery, took the testosterone and went the full distance, do you think he would be allowed to play on a DI woman’s basketball team? That’s up to the NCAA. But something tells me the answer would be no. I just wish we could report and label things as they are, instead of always going to the shock value of creating something that is an impossibility – a biological and/or post-op male cannot play on a NCAA woman’s basketball team.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

I am fighting back the strong, strong urge right now to write about an ongoing situation in my life that is a real big deal to me, my educational future and my work. When the time comes all of the details will be released. Or not. I don’t know. I want to, but I’m trying really darn hard to be “the bigger man” in this whole situation. But if the other entity keeps trying to play everyone stupid by retroactively continuing to label their actions in an unharmful, favorable way for them, I don’t know if I can keep my mouth shut any longer. For now, I will.

Your prayers for my heart are more than appreciated. I have so many very strong feelings of anger, betrayal, pain and an ever-growing hatred toward this entity that I need to catch myself now before I do something I will regret. As my wife is telling me, I need to move forward in a manner not based on revenge (which it would be if I wrote about all the details right now) but based on a level head focused on justice – with the appropriate steps, representation and documentation in place. So that is what I am going to try to do right now.

Below you will find some fitting lyrics that I listened to last night on my way to our Living in the Tension Gathering before these new developments dropped. Hope these lyrics impact you as much they did to me.

“I’m not afraid to take a stand. Everybody, come take my hand.

Yeah, it’s been a ride. But I guess we need to go to that place to get to this one.

We’ll walk this road together through the storm, whatever weather comes along. Let you know you’re not alone. Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road.

You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay them. But you won’t take the sting out these words before I say them.

Cause there’s no way I’m going to let you stop me from [standing up].

When I say I’m going to do something I do it. I don’t [care].

What do you think? I’m doing this for me? … I’m going to be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly …

Ok. Quit playing with the scissors, and cut the crap.

You said you were King.

You lied through your teeth …

And all those who look down on me I’m tearing down your balcony.

No if ands or buts; don’t try to ask me why or how can I. ”

Eminem: Not Afraid

The other one is a song that touched me deeply when I was in middle/high school in the mid 90s and strangely enough speaks clearly to this current situation: Mr. Wendal by Arrested Development

“Here, have a dollar, in fact no brotherman here, have two. Two dollars means a snack for me, but it means a big deal to you.

Be strong, serve God only, know that if you do, beautiful Heaven awaits. That’s the poem I wrote for the first time when I saw a man with no clothes, no money, no plate.

Mr.Wendal, that’s his name, no one ever knew his name cause he’s a no-one. Never thought twice about spending on a ol’ bum, until I had the chance to really get to know one. Now that I know him, to give him money isn’t charity. He gives me some knowledge, I buy him some shoes.

And to think people spend all that money on big colleges, still most of y’all come out confused.

Mr.Wendal has freedom, a free that you and I think is dumb. Free to be without the worries of a quick to diss society for Mr.Wendal’s a bum. His only worries are sickness and an occasional harassment by the police and their chase. Uncivilized we call him, but I just saw him eat off the food we waste.

Civilization, are we really civilized, yes or no? Who are we to judge?

Mr.Wendal has tried to warn us about our ways but we don’t hear him talk.

Is it his fault when we’ve gone too far, and we got too far, cause on him we walk?

Mr.Wendal, a man, a human in flesh, but not by law. I feed you dignity to stand with pride, realize that all in all you stand tall.

Lord, Lord, Mr.Wendal”

Let all of those words speak for me right now.

Much love.

BREAKING NEWS exclusive to my friend Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s blog, Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, who gave the bulk of financial support (here and here) to Martin Ssempa – the leader of the Anti-Gay Bill in Uganda, has finally cut financial ties with him! This is a huge blow to the sustainability of the legislation. To see Canyon Ridge’s full statement, view here.

Seriously, we all owe Warren Throckmorton so much. He never gave up on being a true and responsible investigative journalist on this; and Canyon Ridge cutting ties with Ssempa is the biggest news to date. As I have just called them, you can thank Canyon Ridge for making the right decision here.

Thanks Warren.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Yesterday my good friend Dr. Warren Throckmorton released a new church youth group resource to address bullying. Below is the press release that went out for it:

Golden Rule Pledge Releases Bullying Prevention Lesson Plans for Church Youth Groups

Contact: Warren Throckmorton, PhD, Golden Rule Pledge, 724-967-5644

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 20 /Christian Newswire/ –

On a day when many people are speaking out against bullying, the Golden Rule Pledge is releasing materials which can be used by churches to help prevent youth bullying. Available for free download on the Golden Rule Pledge website (www.goldenrulepledge.com/grpresources), these lesson plans and class activities can help churches become part of the solution to youth bullying.

A national partner of the National Bullying Prevention Month, the Golden Rule Pledge was created in 2008 in order to advocate for the application of the Golden Rule in schools and especially to speak out against anti-gay bullying.

“I urge people of faith to minimize ideological worries and become part of the solution to bullying in schools,” said Warren Throckmorton, co-leader of the Golden Rule Pledge. “A middle school student who is bullied daily doesn’t care about religious differences. He needs help.” In September, three young teens ended their lives after prolonged anti-gay harassment. Churches can play a vital role in partnering with schools and other community groups to model the Golden Rule — treat others the way I want to be treated.

Andrew Marin, Founder of The Marin Foundation and author of Love is an Orientation has endorsed this effort saying, “With such drastic consequences, it saddens my heart to see so many in the Christian world avoid a bold front-running stand to cut off all bullying in our schools, churches and communities. This curriculum is an easy and productive way to not only start the conversation, but show Jesus’ biblical mandate for His followers to stand up and live differently. The time is now. Download this curriculum. Implement it.”

Bob Finch, Director of Missions of the Pike (KY) Association of Southern Baptists agrees saying, “Recent headlines with regards to students taking their lives should be a wake-up call to all Christians to train our youth to not only stand against all forms of bullying, but to equip them to be used of God in putting an end to it in the schools where they attend. I believe this program can be used to equip and empower them to do just that…”

The Golden Rule Pledge (www.goldenrulepledge.com) is co-led by Warren Throckmorton, Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College and Michael Frey, Western PA Director of Campus Ministry for Campus Crusade for Christ. The resources can be freely accessed at www.goldenrulepledge.com/grpresources. For more information, contact Dr. Throckmorton at warrenthrockmorton@gmail.com.