Just one of the things on my mind today

Years ago, I was in an AOL chat room one night when a newcomer came in. We chatted for a while and he finally told me his “real” name: Mel White. I knew who Mel White was. A former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham, among others, Rev. White had fallen out of favor with his former associates when he came out publicly as a gay man. The reason I knew of him was because he’d written a book about his life called Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America, and I’d seen the book advertised and discussed a few years earlier in the GLBT media.

I was no longer a gullible “newbie,” as newcomers to the Internet and to chat rooms were called. I knew that people on the Internet didn’t always look exactly like the pictures they sent around. They weren’t always the kind of people they professed to be. And certainly I wasn’t going to just believe that Mel White had stumbled into my favorite chat room. After I challenged his identity with a few questions, which he answered quite accurately and graciously, we talked privately online. Ultimately, Rev. White sent me a signed copy of his book and included me on the mail distribution list of Soulforce, the organization he and his partner founded to confront religious-based hate, violence, and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons. Soulforce is founded on principles of Gandhi and Martin Luther King regarding civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance, and of course as one of the flower children of my generation, I am all over that.

You’re probably never going to see me discuss my spiritual beliefs on LiveJournal, nor should you ever see me generalize about religious people or say hateful things about any religious group. That’s just not how I roll. But speaking of rolling, I’m always interested in seeing the ways the Soulforce members put their faith into action, including their current Equality Ride. Two buses are traveling across the U.S. so that fifty young adults who are Soulforce members can talk to students at thirty-two Christian colleges and universities.

I know that it takes tremendous courage for people to stand up for what they believe in a climate that’s hostile to them. I suspect that these young people must sometimes feel like they’re struggling for acceptance from the GLBT community as well as the Christian community. I commend not only the Soulforce riders for being willing to “get on the bus,” but also those who are willing to listen to them with open hearts and minds.

There have been some incidents, including a bus defaced with anti-gay slurs, along with several arrests of Soulforce members as well as supportive students. If you want to read more about Soulforce or the Equality Ride, you can visit their Web site. Of course, if you are so inclined, you can always make a donation to help them, or you can support and thank their corporate sponsors. I often have to remind myself that taking action isn’t just vocalizing my disapproval of legislators, media outlets, and businesses that I feel are unfair. It’s also taking the time to thank them when I believe they’ve done the right thing. Soulforce does list their corporate and foundation sponsors on their Web site.