Jim, I've been familiar with Mel White and Soulforce for a couple of years. When I was working as an undergraduate teaching assistant I had a freshman student who was openly gay and who shared with me his passion for Christian ministry and his wish to go to seminary after graduation. The Soulforce website provided him with some much-needed affirmation. I've been watching how Soulforce handled a recent demonstration at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado. This group is a class act, and I try to be mindful that there are people like White and his ministry who focus their religious passion on inclusion and compassion.
As for Anita Bryant--do you remember boycotting Florida orange juice? I worked in a frozen-yogurt and fruit drink kind of snack shop on King Street in Old Town Alexandria. We juiced fresh oranges every day. One of the owners was concerned about actually saying anything about the boycott, so along with the other owner, we arranged a window display using our empty California orange crates and put up a small sign saying that we sold California orange juice. People came flocking in. Resentment against Bryant ran high. The Florida Orange Growers Association didn't keep her on for much longer. Unfortunately, in hindsight, we can see that we were too flippant about her.
May 18, 2005 8:35 AM
MetaFilter has an interesting link today to a timeline of the anti-gay movement, put together by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It starts with Anita Bryant and goes up to the Ex-Recall "town hall" meeting -- oh, nope, it doesn't go that far, only up to 2004.
Maybe I'm naive, but I never really thought much about this stuff before getting involved in this health-curriculum thing. I still don't really understand what people get so upset about, if somebody's gay, what's the big deal? This timeline shows how we got to where we're at now -- you might not have realized that it wasn't always like this.
MetaFilter also links to a fascinating interview with Mel White. No, you don't know who that is. Read this interesting interview, it will give you some insights into what we're up against here. Take a couple of minutes, read it.
"Anti-Gay Time Line"
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Jim, I've been familiar with Mel White and Soulforce for a couple of years. When I was working as an undergraduate teaching assistant I had a freshman student who was openly gay and who shared with me his passion for Christian ministry and his wish to go to seminary after graduation. The Soulforce website provided him with some much-needed affirmation. I've been watching how Soulforce handled a recent demonstration at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado. This group is a class act, and I try to be mindful that there are people like White and his ministry who focus their religious passion on inclusion and compassion.
As for Anita Bryant--do you remember boycotting Florida orange juice? I worked in a frozen-yogurt and fruit drink kind of snack shop on King Street in Old Town Alexandria. We juiced fresh oranges every day. One of the owners was concerned about actually saying anything about the boycott, so along with the other owner, we arranged a window display using our empty California orange crates and put up a small sign saying that we sold California orange juice. People came flocking in. Resentment against Bryant ran high. The Florida Orange Growers Association didn't keep her on for much longer. Unfortunately, in hindsight, we can see that we were too flippant about her.
May 18, 2005 8:35 AM