Godcasts and Radio: LGBT People of Faith Explore Spirituality on Airwaves
July 29, 2009
From radio to ‘Godcasts,’ religious themed podcasts, LGBT people are reclaiming their voice within religious and faith communities. Hitting the digital airwaves is a rapidly growing trend and here are a few shows that deserve attention:
Tony Sweet
As the host of one of the top LA Talk Radio shows, Tony Sweet, a gay Christian musician, engages LGBT people of faith in Los Angeles and across the country. Reaching more than 50,000 listeners per show, On Air with Tony Sweet hosts people of all faiths to empower and strengthen his audience through music and on-air conversations with individuals from both the religious and entertainment world. A Gospel singer, Tony sang at a major rally against Prop 8 and was also in the cast of a YouTube video response to NOM’s “Gathering Storm” called “Weathering the Storm.”
Alicia Ross
Inspired by her own spiritual journey, Alicia Ross set out to help LGBT people who were trying to reconcile their faith with their sexual orientation. She charted new territory at LOGO with the video webcast, Oh God I’m Gay, which quickly became one of LOGO’s most popular webcasts. Ross now hosts One Gay Under God and invites faith leaders from many faiths and backgrounds to explore religious and social issues affecting the LGBT community that are often not covered by mainstream media.
Candace Chellew-Hodge
Fighting to claim a place for LGBT Christians in the Bible Belt is Whosoever, an online magazine for LGBT Christians founded in 1996 by Candace Chellew-Hodge. Whosoever regularly features podcasts on its website with the goal of providing LGBT Christians a space and the necessary resources to rekindle their faith and build welcoming communities by reaching out to both LGBT people and their straight allies. Whosoever won the first 2009 Pride Choice Award for best gay and lesbian focused nonprofit in the Southeast. Candace is currently promoting her book, Bulletproof Faith.
Justin Lee
Over at the Gay Christian Network (GCN) Radio, a weekly podcast on issues pertaining to LGBT Christians, Justin Lee and co-host Brian Eckstein cover a wide range of topics from the Catholic transgender experience to helping people recover from so-called “ex-gay” ministries. Lee, the Executive Director of GCN, founded the nonprofit ministry in 2001 to provide resources and support to help individuals reconcile their faith and sexuality. GCN builds networks of supportive Christian communities and works with families, friends, and churches to create respectful dialogue on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Related Posts:Surveys Reveal More Social Justice Activism in LGBT Inclusive Churches
May 13, 2009
Last month, GLAAD reported on a survey by the Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at Hebrew College and Jewish Mosaic that revealed tremendous support of LGBT people by Jewish rabbis and synagogues.
In recent press releases, the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing and the Institute for Welcoming Resources of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced two new surveys which assess the impact of LGBT inclusion on Christian congregations.
The Survey of Religious Progressives published by the Religious Institute and To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations by Welcoming Resources reveal that congregations which are welcoming to LGBT people also promote further activism on a wide range of social justice issues.
| The Survey of Religious Progressives received 438 respondents and measured the attitudes and the extent to which clergy and congregations are engaged regarding LGBT inclusion. Sixty-nine percent of the survey respondents self-identify as “progressive” and more than half of the clergy reported that their views on LGBT issues have become more liberal over the last 10 years.
The survey also found that clergy in more inclusive denominations were more likely to march or take a public stance not only for LGBT issues but on a broad range of sexuality issues. |
To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations is based on responses from 325 clergy in Christian and Unitarian Universalist congregations. The survey refutes any concerns that inclusion of LGBT would create division and/or membership loss. It found that congregations which fully welcomed and engaged LGBT members are more likely to work on social justice issues.
Furthermore, nearly three-quarters of the respondents disagreed with the statement suggesting that their congregation risked losing members if it talked too much about homosexuality. |
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The Task Force’s Institute for Welcoming Resources recently published a new resource, Building an Inclusive Church: A Welcoming Toolkit, to help congregations welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The Religious Institute plans to release a similar online guide for clergy in June.
In another press release, The Task Force addressed inclusion in congregations by partnering with Colage and The Family Equality Council to produce a curriculum called All in God’s Family: Creating Allies for our LGBT Families; the first 50 orders are free.
Lutheran Equality-Partnered Gay Clergy Might Be Accepted
April 9, 2009
Recently, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) released the final version of its social statement on human sexuality - “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust” - after an eight year process of hearings and revisions overseen by their national Church Council.
Although it is not perfect on LGBT issues, the document recommends acceptance of partnered gay clergy with an opt-out clause for congregations. Blessings or marriage rites for same-sex couples would also be left to congregations.
Nonetheless, opponents of LGBT equality in the ELCA worked hard to create roadblocks, attempting to change the voting rules to increase the percentages needed for final votes at the Churchwide Assembly in late August.
According to the ECLA’s standard voting rules, the social statement requires a two-thirds vote and attendant recommendations require only a majority vote to pass. Opponents of LGBT equality submitted a recommendation to the Church Council, however, asking that a two-thirds majority be required for both the social statement and the attendant recommendations. It was defeated, and the Church Council elected to not alter any current voting procedures.
Outlets like the Christian Science Monitor, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune and The Associated Pressreported that “recommendations” will only require a majority vote. This is technically correct-but reporters should have stated that the whole social statement first requires a two-thirds vote before the attendant recommendations can even be considered. By only reporting that a majority vote is required, it sounds like a reduction from the two-thirds vote.
Opponents are expected to try again to change the voting percentages on the first day of the Churchwide Assembly, which occurs August 17-22, when the whole body can vote. This change will require a two-thirds vote.
The ‘Pulse of Equality’
December 3, 2008
Today, GLAAD released a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive in the wake of the passage of and protests against California’s Proposition 8.
The survey reveals that majorities of Americans favor a broad range of policies and legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Laura Light, Vice President of Public Relations Research for Harris Interactive had this to say about the results:
In the Pulse of Equality survey, we observed a positive relationship between knowing a gay or transgender person and one’s attitudes toward them and the policy issues that affect their lives. Based on other surveys we have conducted on attitudes toward LGBT people and issues, the results of this survey suggest that public sentiment in the U.S. is trending toward greater acceptance of gay- and transgender-related policy issues.
Here are the survey’s key findings:
- Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Only about two in 10 (22%) say gay and lesbian couples should have no legal recognition. (Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in two states, and comprehensive civil union or domestic partnership laws exist in only five others and the District of Columbia.)
- U.S. adults are now about evenly divided on whether they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry (47% favor to 49% oppose).
- Almost two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults favor allowing openly gay military personnel to serve in the armed forces. (The current “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law bans military service by openly gay personnel.)
- About six in 10 (63%) U.S. adults favor expanding hate crime laws to cover gay and transgender people. (Hate crimes laws cover gay and transgender people in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and an additional – 20 states’ laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
- A slight majority of U.S. adults (51%) favor protecting gay and transgender people under existing laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. (Existing non-discrimination laws cover gay and transgender people in only 12 states and the District of Columbia, and eight other states’ laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
- Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. adults (69%) oppose laws that would ban qualified gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. (In several states, gay and lesbian couples are banned from adopting.)
Commenting on the survey results, GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano had this to say:
The visibility of the past several years, and the intense conversations of the past few weeks, seem to have galvanized a majority of Americans’ support of equality for gay and transgender Americans.
While this expression of support is encouraging, particularly after the setbacks we experienced on Election Day, it’s not something we can rest on. There is a lot of work to be done. We must all do what we can to sustain and expand this emerging wave of grassroots activism so that it leads to laws and policies that extend full equality under the law to all Americans – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight.
Giuliano also suggested that one of the crucial issues facing LGBT people is that many Americans aren’t aware of the injustices that they face:
Majorities of Americans clearly favor equality for gay and transgender people,” Giuliano added, “but we’ve seen that too many still mistakenly believe that the intolerance and injustices we face are things of the past. So it’s more vital than ever that we tell our stories, illustrate the injustices we face, and remind people of the common ground we share.
To read all the survey results, you can click here.
Sign in and leave your thoughts and comments about the survey – start a conversation!
Media Keeping Up With Prop 8 Protests
November 18, 2008
During this extremely active time in the LGBT community, people have been voicing their opinions in record numbers across the country about the anti-gay ballot measures that passed in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas and the media is taking note.
This past weekend brought a great amount of coverage, as protests occurred across the country. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, protests were organized in all 50 states on Saturday, as well as cities in Canada, England and Australia.
From Friday through Sunday, CNN alone presented at least nine segments discussing the post-Proposition 8 environment.
On Friday, November 14th, guest-host Joy Behar interviewed high-profile guests during a broadcast of Larry King Live dedicated to the aftermath of the passage of Prop 8. In addition to live broadcasts of Prop 8 protests, Behar interviewed Cynthia Nixon, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Dan Savage and anti-gay pastors Reverend Jim Garlow and Bishop Harry Jackson.
On Saturday, November 15th, CNN covered the Prop 8 related protests and issues surrounding the protests throughout the day, with multiple segments on CNN Newsroom and a segment on CNN Saturday Morning.
We have been monitoring the coverage very closely and released a set of guidelines last week to assist news leaders in reporting fairly and accurately on the flux of protests being organized. The overall coverage surrounding the Prop 8 related protests this past weekend was predominantly fair and GLAAD will continue to assist the media to assure that it stays that way.
Starting the Conversation
October 6, 2008
Last week was a big week for the news media — the economic crisis, the approaching Presidential debates and a contentious election all grabbed headlines. One particular story, though, brought up some interesting questions about Americans’ feelings about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in some unexpected ways.
It was the news that pop singer, Broadway actor and former American Idol contestant Clay Aiken opened up about being gay, which invoked a strong response from his very devoted fan base.
While I can’t say that I follow Clay’s music career, reading about some of the reactions on blogs and in mainstream outlets got me thinking about how some of those fan reactions resembled the kinds of conversations that can change hearts and minds about gay and transgender people.
Media outlets picked up the discussions on the Clay Aiken message boards, which included a lot of posts like this one:
“I knew in my heart for awhile that he was– …but my head was having nothing to do with it. I knew it might come eventually, but again my brain denyed it . I’m sure its a shock to all of us, weather we believe it or not .”
My immediate reaction was that it sounded just like my parents, and many parents like mine — they knew, but weren’t quite ready to admit it. For others, however, the reaction was shock:
“Please tell me I’m not the only one who is shocked beyond belief! I feel numb I’m so upset. This can’t be real!! How can you guys say this won’t change anything? This changes EVERYTHING. I don’t even know what to think right now.”
It was clear that for many of his most ardent fans, they needed to make sense of how they felt and come to terms with having to think differently about him. That’s not an uncommon reaction for people who have a friend or family member come out, and it’s a reaction that hopefully leads to conversations that result in understanding and respect.
In many cases that doesn’t happen right away. That’s why it’s important for gay and transgender people — and our allies — to talk about our stories and our lives. Many of the people that posted to the message boards spoke about their gay friends or family members, and how important those people were to them. Those types of messages seemed to allow people to speak openly and correct their own misconceptions and doubts.
Clay joins a group of openly LGBT celebrities who have moved these types of conversation forward in big and small ways — just as Ellen and Portia did last month when the images of their marriage appeared on her show and in the pages of People magazine. And decisions by other celebrities to live openly have helped create new opportunities for media visibility.
When you add that to the growing list of LGBT characters on the primetime networks, we can really see the progress that has been made in recent years to ensure that LGBT people have visibility in mainstream media, a visibility that we celebrate at the GLAAD Media Awards every year.
While we can document tremendous progress, we still have a lot of work to do. Many gay and lesbian couples — which include a lot of parents like Clay — across the country are still prohibited from making commitments that would allow them to take care of and be responsible for one another and their children. And many people live daily with the fear of being fired from their jobs because they’re gay or transgender, while many don’t even feel safe and secure in their own communities.
And though stories like Clay’s and like Ellen’s create opportunities to talk about our community and bring visibility to these issues, we all have a responsibility to talk about these issues in our homes, our workplaces and our communities. The visibility of LGBT celebrities, and the inclusion of LGBT stories in mainstream media outlets, can help to make those discussions easier to start — but it is the everyday conversations and personal stories that can have the biggest impact.
And you can start that conversation now. To find out more about how you can share your story, check out glaadBLOG.
This entry is cross posted at The Huffington Post.
Media Examine Democratic Convention and Republican Platform
August 28, 2008
With the Democratic Convention underway in Denver, and the Republican Platform being drafted in preparation for their convention starting September 1 in Minneapolis, media outlets are addressing how LGBT issues are fitting into the big political picture. At the Democratic Convention, leaders are weighing in on LGBT issues, while gay Republican advocates are speaking out in the media about their party’s platform.
The other night, Sen. Ted Kennedy, in his surprise opening night address in Denver, said that Obama would “close the book on the old politics of race and gender, and group against group, and straight against gay,” while last night Sen. Hillary Clinton said in her speech that she ran for President to “fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality — from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization [...]”
Though both speeches have been widely broadcast and picked up in mainstream media outlets, other conversations about LGBT issues have mostly garnered traction only in LGBT media outlets and blogs. DNC Secretary Alice Germond highlighted the importance of LGBT Democrats in her remarks, and openly gay Rep. Tammy Baldwin continues to talk about the historic measures for equality present in the party platform she helped draft. And yesterday, Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance and speech at the Human Rights Campaign/The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund luncheon for LGBT delegates hosted by Rep. Barney Frank (more on that on Towleroad and Pam’s House Blend).
Rep. Frank has been speaking with LGBT media outlets, including 365gay.com, about what changes LGBT voters can expect from Democrats this year. Frank said that if Democrats pick up 15 seats in the House, they could pass a transgender inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Frank also talked about Americans attitudes around marriage, saying he believes that “we are moving towards a majority in favor of same-sex marriage.” More interviews with Rep. Frank can be found in The Boston Herald and again on Towleroad.
Meanwhile, the Log Cabin Republicans have spoken out amid their party’s development of its platform, which is expected to include a recommendation for a constitutional ban on gay marriage (check out The Associated Press for more coverage).
Scott Tucker, of the Log Cabin Republicans, commented on the platform and his group’s acceptance of its limited appeals to LGBT voters, saying that this year they are “more interested in substance over symbolism” and that despite the platform, they believe McCain to be an “inclusive candidate who understands that our party needs to reach out to all Americans to win this election.”
In the coming weeks we’ll continue to examine how the issues are being discussed both in mainstream and LGBT media during the Democratic National Convention and in the days leading up to the Republican National Convention next week.
LGBT Issues Examined from All Sides
August 15, 2008
There are several interesting stories coming out of the blogosphere this week looking at the extent of influence LGBT related issues will have on voters this fall. Barney Frank and Karl Rove both commented on changing public opinion of LGBT-related electoral issues, and surprisingly, their opinions are fairly in line with each other.
Frank reacted to the primary win of Congressional candidate Jared Polis, an openly gay man in Colorado, saying it showed that amongst Democratic voters, sexual orientation was not a factor in picking a candidate. Rove expressed his belief that marriage for gay and lesbian couples won’t carry the same kind of weight politically as it did in the 2004 elections.
Rove’s commentary is especially noteworthy in the context of the marriage bans that are on the ballot in California, Arizona and Florida this year. In 2004, anti-gay ballot initiatives were viewed as a possible way to draw right wing voters to the polls, and Rove was credited with pushing that strategy. Now, he admits it’s not a draw for voters, saying that more pressing issues like the economy and healthcare are the central issues.
Despite this progress, in an interview with the Weekly Standard, Sen. John McCain discussed possible vice-presidential running mates, and ruled out New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg because of his support for the LGBT community. The blog Towleroad.com picked up on this illuminating new piece of information about McCain’s stance on gay and lesbian rights (not to mention previous anti-gay statements about McCain) but it has not received any mainstream press coverage.
The political importance of issues facing the LGBT community is drawing commentary from leaders in both major parties. Hopefully we will see coverage gain more visibility in major media sources as we head deeper into election season.
Cindi Creager is Director of National News.
