For our next Living in the Tension gathering on Wednesday, February 8th, we will be watching the documentary Call Me Malcolm. The documentary follows Malcolm Himschoot, a transgender man now ordained in the United Church of Christ, as he is finishing his final year of seminary after he began the process of transitioning a few years prior. Along with sharing some of his story, Malcolm travels across the U.S. visiting people with various perspectives about identity and faith. We will be gathering at our normal spot on 5255 N. Ashland Ave. in Room 120 at 7pm. We will be starting the documentary at 7pm since it is 90 minutes, so I would encourage you to arrive a few minutes early if possible. You can check out the trailer for the documentary below:

We hope to see you there.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

What do you think of when you hear someone say “building bridges” as it relates to engaging others? What does it mean for your relationships? Is the language appropriate for the work we all are engaged in when it comes to “building bridges” between the Christian and LGBT communities?

This upcoming Tuesday, January 24th, we will be gathering at 7pm for a Living in the Tension gathering to discuss these questions. We will be at our usual spot in Room 120 on 5255 N. Ashland Avenue.

We hope to see you there.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

After a little break for the holidays, we’re ready to get back at it with the Living in the Tension community gatherings. In line with this time of the year, we will be reflecting on instances in the past where efforts related to building bridges with those different than ourselves could have gone better to help us step forward in productive ways this year. We will also be taking time to hear thoughts about what individuals would like to address in the gatherings over the next year. We would still love to hear your thoughts even if you are not able to make it to the gatherings, so let us know about topics and issues that you feel would be worth working through and discussing.

We will be meeting this upcoming Tuesday, January 10th, at 7pm. We will be at 5255 N. Ashland Ave. in Room 120.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

For the next Living in the Tension community gathering on Tuesday, December 13th, we will be watching Trembling before G-d. The documentary features intimately told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay and lesbian and gives a window into their lives as they they seek to navigate their religious tradition. Regardless of where you are coming from with regards to faith, it is a great documentary worth checking out. It brings to light stories that are rarely heard, showcases the resiliency of the human spirit in relation to remaining a part of a faith community where one’s sexuality does not make it an easy road and it does a great job at humanizing an ‘issue’ while respecting the faith tradition of those in the film. We will be meeting on 5255 N. Ashland Ave. in Room 120 at 7pm.

You can check out the trailer for the film here.

We hope to see you there!

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 

Instead of gathering at our usual meeting place this week for our Living in the Tension community gathering, we will be gathering in the “SAGE Room” on the 2nd floor at the Center on Halsted (3656 N. Halsted St.) at 7pm on Tuesday, November 29th. Br. Michael Oboza, a good friend who regularly attends our gatherings who is serving as the Bisexual Liaison at the Center on Halsted, is celebrating his birthday in conjunction with hosting a guest speaker (Victor Salvo) at the Bisexual Social & Discussion Group. Victor will be speaking about The Legacy Project, which is a new outdoor ‘walking museum’ on Halsted St. celebrating the achievements and contributions of LGBT people to world history and culture.

We hope to see you there

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

So exciting! It’s almost release day for our new Love Is an Orientation DVD Curriculum which is set to release on December 13th (for those of you not in North America it will release January 1 through your respective Amazon sites and the Zondervan website).

This new resource will be for any church, university, non-profit, organization, clinic, community center, small group of friends or individuals interested in what it means to not only elevate the conversation between the LGBT community and the conservative world, but also culturally engage each community through our Living in the Tension (LITT) gatherings—as there will be an entire session devoted to building and sustaining your own LITT group. We are so, so pumped about this new resource and pray it has a huge impact in continuing to spread this bridge building movement! The six sessions will include:

1) Love is an Orientation

2) Building Bridges between Conservatives and the LGBT Community

3) Theology of Bridge Builders

4) Answering the Tough Questions

5) Teens and Sexuality

6) Living in the Tension Gatherings

We also interviewed six LGBT people from around the country, coming from all different theological, social, and political perspectives, so you can get to know them and where they’re coming from by hearing their stories from their perspectives.

We filmed in a dozen locations around Boystown and the city of Chicago, and we’re just really proud of how everything is turning out.

You can pre-order from Amazon here (DVD), here (Participant Guides) and here (Combo Pack).

Here are a few pics from our time filming. I’ll be posting many more from all of our different locations and our different interviews soon…

Looking forward for you to all have a chance to engage with it. Please feel free to post this anywhere you want to start spreading the word!

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

For the upcoming Living in the Tension community gathering on November 7th, our friend Shawn Harrison will be sharing with the group about a part of his journey with faith and sexuality followed by a Q&A portion. Shawn is a youth pastor who has same-sex attractions but has chosen to pursue marriage with his wife of ten years. We will be meeting at our usual spot in Room 120 on 5255 N. Ashland Ave. at 7pm.

We hope to see you there.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

In light of October being LGBT History Month, we will be watching the documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin for our next Living in the Tension community gathering on Monday, October 17th. We will meet at our regular location on 5255 N. Ashland Ave. in Chicago a little earlier at 6:45pm.

Bayard Rustin (pictured right with Philip Randolph on the cover of LIFE), who has been called the ‘Lost Prophet‘ by historian John D’Emilio, was a leader of the civil-rights movement. He organized the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 with George Houser, which was the first of the Freedom Rides. Rustin also helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (which he was later forced to resign from because of his sexuality) and he was the chief organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. Among other accomplishments, Rustin was also an influential voice early in the movement as he helped to spread the philosophy of nonviolent resistance among Martin Luther King Jr. (primarily in 1956 after taking leave from the War Resisters League) and other leaders after spending time with Gandhi’s movement in India (1948).

As Rustin’s political opponents often attacked him as being an immoral influence and he was even criticized by fellow pacifists and civil-rights leaders because he was an openly gay man, he rarely served as a public spokesperson. He rather acted as an influential adviser to civil-rights leaders and he decided to step away from the movement for a period as there was fear that the reactions of others to his sexuality could have a negative influence on the broader movement. Senator Strom Thurmond even produced an FBI photograph of Rustin talking to King while he was bathing to try to imply that a same-sex relationship existed between the two. They both denied the allegation, but criticism and stigma around Rustin’s sexuality continued to follow him.

Despite the climate of the day with regards to homosexuality and the criticism and accusations that he faced, Bayard Rustin made significant contributions to the civil-rights movement though his role and voice has commonly been written out of history books.

You can check out the trailer for the documentary below:

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

On Tuesday, October 4th at 7pm at 5255 N. Ashland Ave Room 120, British author and professor Keith Sharpe is going to be speaking about his new book The Gay Gospels. He is currently on a book tour throughout the United States and has decided to make a stop in Chicago with us!

You can check out his book’s website here where you can read the Introduction.

Hope to see you on Tuesday evening to be challenged with a lecture, and then live Q&A with the author…

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

If you are around Chicago, we will be meeting tonight for our Living in the Tension community gathering on 5255 N. Ashland Ave. in Room 120 at 7pm. We will be watching a documentary on transgender children and discussing the film afterwards. We hope to see you there

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org