Would Dr. King Have Spoken Out for LGBT Rights?

His widow thought so according to this essay from Rev. Irene Monroe at UK Gay News:

King understood the interconnections of struggles. And an example of that understanding is when Martin Luther King said: “The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice.”



This statement clearly includes LGBTQ justice but would King have spoken on this subject at that time and even now?


King’s now deceased wife says yes.


In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same. “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people,” she said.

As we remember Dr. King on this day designated in his memory, let's also remember his widow's appeal.
 
Click here to read the rest of the story.

Daily Devotional 1/18/10 Rejoicing at the Lord's Table

From: Love Worth Finding

“Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.” John 21:12a

Is Satan whispering that God is not for you in your daily battles? Is he whispering lies that God is going to erase your name from the book of life for something you’ve done, yet repented over? Satan never had it so wrong! And Jesus never had it so right! Salvation in Christ is not a funeral, but a feast! The Bible is a continual feast from Genesis right through to Revelation. Covenant meals and meals of fellowship are frequent occurrences in Scripture. Our Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, has given many examples of His open invitation to be replenished and restored, to remember, and to rejoice at His table. Call your family or Bible Study group together this week and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Take time to remember the powerful promise of His resurrection, replenishment, and restoration.

Poll on Constiutionality of Prop 8

Here's a chance to have your say on California's Proposition 8:

NY Times' Maureen Dowd Talks With Odd Couple Attorneys Littigating Against Prop 8

From the New York Times:

It has been quite a journey for Ted Olson. He’s gone from being the conservative lawyer who helped crown W. by winning the Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court, to being a lesbian.



“Maureen,” he told me in his gravelly voice, “one of the biggest lesbian groups in this country told me I’m already an honorary lesbian.”


Did it make you feel different, I wondered.


“I still like women very much,” he wryly replied, as his biking pal, liberal adversary and now co-counsel David Boies laughed, snacking on a crust of sourdough bread in their temporary office on Mission Street.


In 2000, Olson and Boies sparred with each other in Washington over which candidate would marry the country. Now they have joined forces here to spar with Prop 8 defenders over who can marry.
 
I asked the lawyers if they were disappointed that the president who had once raised such hope in the gay community now seemed behind the curve.



“Damned right,” Boies snapped. “I hope my Democratic president will catch up to my conservative Republican co-counsel.”


Olson added: “I’m not talking about Obama, but that’s what’s so bad about politicians. They say, ‘I must hasten to follow them, for I am their leader.’”


Obama sees himself as such a huge change that he can be cautious about other societal changes. But what he doesn’t realize is that legalizing gay marriage is like electing a black president. Before you do it, it seems inconceivable. Once it’s done, you can’t remember what all the fuss was about.
 
We're pretty sure President Obama keeps up with the Times.  We hope he read that last paragraph.
 
Click here to read the rest of the story.

LGBT Helping Hands 1/17/10-Memphis (TN) Gay and Lesbian Community Center

Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center is a mechanism for change in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to facilitate long-term positive growth in themselves and in the community of the Mid-South.



In 1989, the plans and dreams of numerous GLBT Mid-Southerners became a reality. Through their hard work and sacrifice, they built an "oasis in the desert of our struggle." The charter for this new organization became effective on Feb 23, 1989.


Over the years, we've had several homes, great triumphs and some lean times. But through it all, the Mission of our organization has maintained us: "...to create a better future for our Community in the Mid-South. We will endeavor to offer an array of diverse GLBT services by utilizing the talents, energy, and resources among us."


Whether or not you've ever walked through our doors or attended one of our events, know that we continue to work to make life better for ALL in our community.


Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center is governed by a Constitution & By-Laws that support the beliefs on which it was established.
 
Click here to find out more.

Welcome to Sunday Worship 1/10/10

If you don't have a welcoming church near you, or you just can't make yourself step into one, we're bringing worship to you. Here are links to some worship music and services from open and affirming ministries (all times eastern). I hope you are blessed and take time out of your busy schedule to enter into the Lord's day.

Don't forget to click on the tab on the upper right of this blog and leave your prayer requests in the comment section so we can petition the Lord for your needs.

If you know of a service we should add to our list, please send an e-mail and share it with us.  
Live Sunday Services (all times Eastern) 
VIDEO
FL-Potters House International Fellowship, Tampa, 11:00 AM
VA-Believers Covenant Fellowship, Vienna, 11:00 AM

AL-Covenant Community Church, Birmingham, 12:00 AM

NC-Church of the Holy Spirit Fellowship, Winston-Salem, 12:00 PM

FL-Oasis Fellowship Ministries, Casselberry, 12:00 PM

OK-Diversity Christian Fellowship International, Tulsa, 1:00 PM

CA-Glory Tabernacle Christian Center, Long Beach, 1:00 PM

WA-Living Water Fellowship, Kenmore, 1:30 PM

Canada-Rainbow Community Church, Vancouver 9:00 PM


AUDIO

Canada, Vancouver-Christ Alive Community Church, 10:15 PM
FL-Beacon of Hope Ministries, Dunedin (Living the Good Life radio program) 4:30 PM

Video Archive

AL-Covenant Community Church, Birmingham

CA-Glory Tabernacle Christian Center, Long Beach

FL-Church of the Holy SpiritSong, Ft. Lauderdale

FL-Oasis Fellowship Ministries, Casselberry

FL-New Hope Christian Center, Pensacola

FL-Potters House International Fellowship, Tampa

GA-Gentle Spirit Christian Church, Atlanta

GA-New Covenant Church of Atlanta

NC-Church of the Holy Spirit Fellowship, Winston-Salem

OK-Expressions Community Fellowship, Oklahoma City

OK-Diversity Christian Fellowship International, Tulsa

TX-The One Church, Garland

WA-Living Water Fellowship, Kenmore

Canada-Rainbow Community Church, Vancouver


Audio Archive

AZ-Community Church of Hope, Phoenix

AK-Open Door Community Church, Sherwood

CA-Christ Chapel of Long Beach

CA-Christ Chapel of the Valley, North Hollywood

FL-Beacon of Hope Ministries, Dunedin (Living the Good Life radio program)

FL-Body of Christ Church of God, Largo

FL-New Hope Christian Center, Pensecola

GA-New Covenant Church of Atlanta

KY-Covenant Community Church, Louisville

MD-Kittamaqundi Community, Columbia

NC-Revolution Charlotte

OH-Emmanuel Fellowship Church, Akron

OH-All Saints Community Church, Cortland

TN-Covenant of the Cross, Madison

TX-New Hope Fellowship Church, Dallas

TX-White Rock Community Church, Dallas

TX-Community Gospel Church, Houston
TX-Through Him Fellowship, Houston

UT-Glory to God Christian Church, Ogden

South Africa-Deo Gloria Family Church


Can we pray for you? E-mail straight_notnarrow@yahoo.com

If a Pastor Preaches Hate, Get Up and Leave!

That's what a gay couple did in a Washington, DC church.  From the DC Agenda:

Jon Mack and his partner, Michael Garrett, said their one-year tenure as members of Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in Northeast D.C. came to an abrupt end last week.



The two gay men said they were startled and deeply hurt when Bishop Alfred Owens, the church pastor, appeared to be sending them and other same-sex couples a blunt message Jan. 3.


“Sex is only pleasing to God in the marriage bed, and the marriage bed is a man and … a woman!” Owens shouted from the pulpit, with hundreds in the church pews shouting their approval, according to accounts by Mack and Garrett.


Owens’ remarks are also captured on a recording of his sermon made available last week on the church’s web site.


“If marriage wasn’t between a man and a woman, you wouldn’t be here because two men doing it don’t produce no kids,” Owens said. “And two women doing it don’t produce no kids! It’s all about family,” he said as members of the congregation continued to clap and cheer.


“During this homophobic rant, me and my partner got up and walked out,” said Mack, 28.
 
Amen.  You do NOT have to sit and listen to someone preach against your right to love someone.  Go somewhere that affirms who you are as a person and shows you the path to a close relationship with God within that context.
 
Click here to read the rest of the story.

Transphobia in the Mainstream Media

From The Bilerico Project::

It seems like all too often when you tune your radio or television to mainstream news and talk shows these days, there's good reason to be at minimum pretty annoyed, and sometimes even genuinely pissed off and angry if you're a transgender person or ally. Despite decades of progress made in the area of LGBT acceptance and representation in mainstream media, the problem of transphobia in mainstream media remains pervasive and seemingly virtually unchecked in some quarters, even in media specifically directed toward politically progressive and left-leaning audiences.



While there are probably few on either the left or the right who'd find it unusual for pundits and their guests on Fox News or similar media to enthusiastically bash transgender and gender-variant people, it amazes me how this kind of thing is all but completely ignored by just about everyone when it happens on a show popularly considered to be liberal and/or left-wing.


Let's take "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" as an example. On a broadcast last year that took place shortly after the incident, Keith's guest, author and Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, was humorously bashing Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean for her negative response to pageant judge Perez Hilton when asked if she supported same-sex marriage. Toward the end of the segment, Musto jokingly offered that in addition to her breast enhancements, the Miss USA pageant officials also paid for Prejean to "cut off her penis, sand her Adam's apple, and get a head-to-toe waxing," along with other transphobic insults. Olbermann's reaction, as far as I could tell, was to simply chuckle right along along with Musto's transphobic jokes.
 
Click here to read the rest of the essay.

Encouraging Words 1/16/10-Appearance on GayTalk Live

Last Saturday, I (Jim) had the pleasure of appearing on the GayTalk Live Internet radio broadcast hosted by Tom Cunha.  He gave me the opportunity to talk a lot about what the Straight, Not Narrow blog and ministry is all about, and we also touched on several of the important issues you've seen address in the blog.

The program runs about 90 minutes, which is an awful lot of me, but if you want to understand what we are doing here, you'll find out if you listen.

MP3
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Encouraging Music 1/16/10 "I Believe in a Hill Called Mt. Calvary" by The Heritage Singers

Justice Department Intervenes in Gay High School Student's Lawsuit

From NPR (hat tip to Twitter account CommonComrades):

For the first time in a decade, Justice Department lawyers have moved to intervene in a lawsuit on behalf of a gay high school student who was beaten up for being effeminate.



The case marks a novel interpretation of the Title IX statute, which prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of gender.


Gay and lesbian groups see it as a bold statement about the Obama administration's priorities.


The case centers around a 15-year-old named Jacob who lives in the town of Mohawk in upstate New York. His family requested that Jacob be identified only by his first name.


"He is one of the greatest, loving, timid kids you could meet," says Jacob's father, Robbie Sullivan, who does not share his son's last name. "I love him to death, and he doesn't give me a bit of problem at all."


Long before Jacob came out of the closet at age 14, he was harassed for being effeminate. According to court papers, kids threw food at him and told him to get a sex change. One student pulled out a knife and threatened to string Jacob up the flagpole. A teacher allegedly told Jacob to "hate himself every day until he changed."


One day, Jacob came home from school limping. That evening, he called his father from a party and said he had sprained his ankle at the party.


Sullivan described taking his son to the hospital: "It was a really bad sprain. They put a cast on it, gave him crutches. And shortly after that, I found out that it didn't happen at the party. It happened at the school, because somebody had pushed him down the stairs."
 
Click here to read the rest of the story.

Daily Devotional 1/16/10 Recognize the Devil's Lies and Claim the Promises of God

From: Love Worth Finding

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8


The devil wants you to live your life from an empty cup. He wants you to think that God’s cup of grace has dried up for you. He wants you to be disenchanted with God. Most especially, he wants you to feel that God is a cosmic killjoy…that God is always thinking of ways to rob you of joy and peace. Satan knows that if you start to feel negatively about God, then he can have his way with you in other areas.

Take courage. Be strong. Jesus has won the victory for you! Send those lies back to the pit where they came from and claim the promises of God.

Wish someone the peace and joy of the Lord today.

Testimony: Prop 8 Costing Taxpayers

From 365gay.com:

A state ban on gay marriage is costing the city of San Francisco millions of dollars a year in lost revenue and increased services, an economist testified Thursday in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the prohibition.

Chief city economist Edmund Egan said married people accumulate more wealth and have more to spend on property and consumer goods, which bolsters tax revenue.



He also said the city must spend more on health care for uninsured workers because same-sex couples are not always covered under their partner’s employee health care plans.


“It’s clear to me that Proposition 8 has a negative material impact on the city of San Francisco,” he said. “These are impacts that are hard to quantify, but over the long term they can be powerful.”


Egan testified during the fourth day of a federal trial on a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the ballot measure approved by statewide voters in 2008.


The city was allowed to join the suit to demonstrate that governments bear some of the costs of the ban.
 
Just more evidence that banning same-sex marriage is NOT for the greater good of society.  Click here to read the rest of the story.

Encouraging Words 1/14/10-"A Closer Walk With God"

From The Epistle:

Since the beginning, man has chased after God seeking spiritual enlightenment, connection and oneness with Him. For many of us, God may seem distant. The only way we know how to reach Him is by calling out our prayers and hoping to appease Him.



Surprisingly, God is very easy to find, but our distracted minds and hearts prevent us from experiencing His presence. Our spiritual connection with Him is limited because of our need to feed ourselves first. We seek God to supplement and improve our lives, not understanding that putting God FIRST is EVERYTHING. When we follow His steps, He brings us closer to Him. We are the ones who stop ourselves from fully experiencing God, because our main concern is for own wellbeing, which most of the time, takes us on paths leading away from Him.


We are unable to graduate from ourselves.


He is not necessarily found on a mountaintop, a temple, or a church. He cannot be found by just reciting prayers, keeping rules or going without, but very simply, God is revealed to the humble, believing heart who desires to know Him and is willing to go with Him wherever He goes.
 
Even the most faithful of Christians can lose sight of God when we are too busy with our earthly habits. When we focus on our own world, the Kingdom of God fades and we lose sight of Him. Like Peter who was overtaken by his fear of the wind and waves when he tried to walk on the water toward Jesus in Matthew 14:30, we too take our eyes off Jesus and cannot see beyond the waves of life which always overtake us.
 
Click here to read the rest of the essay.

Encouraging Music 1/15/10 "Great is Thy Faithfulness"

SNN Recommends (Just For Fun) 1/15/10-I Can Has Cheezburgers

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Testimony Says Gay & Straight Couples "Remarkably Similar"

From the Los Angeles Times (hat tip PageOneQ):

A federal trial on same-sex marriage focused Wednesday on the similarities and differences between homosexual and heterosexual couples, with a psychology professor citing "remarkable similarities."



Letitia Peplau, an expert on couple relationships, testified that studies have found that the quality of heterosexual and homosexual relationships was on average "the same" as measured by closeness, love and stability.

"On average, same-sex couples and heterosexual couples are indistinguishable," said Peplau, a UCLA professor of social psychology called by attorneys for two same-sex couples who are trying to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 voter initiative that reinstated a state ban on same-sex marriage.


Peplau cited a survey of Californians in which 61% of lesbian respondents said they were living with a partner compared with 46% of gay men and 62% of heterosexuals.


Homosexual couples tend to have shorter relationships than married couples, she said, but so do unmarried cohabiting heterosexuals.
 
Click here to read more of this interesting testimony.

Daily Devotional 1/15/10 For Thou Art With Me

From: Love Worth Finding

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4


There’s nothing, my friend, that will bring you more face-to-face with God than going through the dark valleys of life. When you are there, you are going to cling to His garments and hold onto His hand. You won’t stray far from the fold in the dark.

Do you believe that He is with you? The ultimate Sovereign is your loving Savior. You will not have to cross Jordan alone. You will not appear before the judgment of the Holy God alone. You are not going to die alone.

What a joyful promise! You are not alone! Write these words on a card and post it in a place where you can see it all the time:

“I am not alone. God is with me.”

A Moving Eulogy for a Transgender Sportswriter

You will seldom find anything written about a transgender person under the ESPN brand, or any sports label for that matter, and when you do it is often some type of snide joke. 

Not this essay from ESPN's Rick Riley, a moving story about the late Mike/Christeine Penner, a fellow sportswriter and also a friend under either name.  Here's an excerpt:

On the same day, in the same town, two sportswriters, two friends of mine, killed themselves.



One was my old hoops buddy Mike Penner, who started at the Los Angeles Times the same year I did. The other was Christine Daniels, a blonde who bubbled from heels to highlights.


Mike was a little quiet, a little reclusive, a lot brilliant. He hated going to locker rooms. He preferred staying home, making mix tapes and writing sentences that were chunks of perfection. He once described then-Angels GM Mike Port's fractured syntax as "Port-uguese."


Christine was the opposite: gregarious, 100 mph talker, always looking to cover an event, to be seen, the Funmeter pegged, the curls bouncing. She was flirty, always lightly grabbing your arm when she talked, covering her mouth when she laughed, which seemed like all the time.
 
"Mike hasn't bought shoes in six years," Christine told me once. "I've got 50 new pairs!"



What's heartbreaking is that they were the same person.
 
Click here to read the rest of the essay.

Encouraging Music 1/14/10 "It Is Well With My Soul" by The Isaacs