Journey Story
It happened at the end of recess, after the bell had rung and all the other junior-high kids had gone inside. After beating him in a schoolyard basketball game of “H.O.R.S.E.,” my beefy, mop-topped classmate, whom I’ll call Neil, hurled basketballs at my chest while his friend held my arms back so that I couldn’t…
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I thought because I hadn’t seen a healthy relationship my entire life, and had my formative years tainted with unwanted advances, I was doomed never to truly love anyone—not even myself. But, I did love her! Having just escaped an abusive heterosexual relationship, meeting Karen became a breath of fresh air. I knew she had to be my…
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Wade Jones and I were married here in Atlanta by the Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson during a private ceremony last week on my 65th birthday, a few days shy of our 15th anniversary, a week before his 55th birthday, and one day after the 10th anniversary of my ordination in the Metropolitan Community Churches. Wade and I met between my 50th and his…
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Growing up as a gay male in the 60’s and 70’s, with the wider LGBT community just beginning to open the door to the great closet, the culture of our invisible community was hidden from me. Living and growing in the world as it was, I often felt like I had been kidnapped and forced…
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I think one of the hardest, trickiest, most admirable things to do in this world is to be yourself. I grew up in central Indiana in a town called Anderson. Anderson was a small-ish town just outside of Indianapolis. I’d like to say we were suburb-of-Indy status, but we weren’t. From a very early age I…
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Two gay men who escaped Syria and Iraq with their lives shared their experiences of discrimination and violence against LGBT people at a historic session of the UN Security Council in New York City on August 24. Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee living in the United States, addressed the council in person. Out of concern…
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I wonder what life would have been like if I never had to hesitate when I crossed my legs. I get a feeling sometimes that my aunt will come out of nowhere and say, “Boys don’t cross their legs.” I wonder what life would have been like if I was allowed to clutch my shirt…
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As the iron gates to the White House grounds opened at 8:45 on Monday morning, July 13, the assembled group of delegates to the 2015 White House Conference on Aging began joyfully streaming toward the security stations, the preliminary steps in gaining access to the hallowed halls where aging issues and policies for the next…
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People of faith often feel called upon to be of service. Volunteering for a social issue they feel passionate about is a popular way to put faith in action. As both a volunteer and volunteer manager myself I have learned a key to being of service is to bring skills, but also leave behind a…
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In the spring of 2014, I found myself in the last place I’d ever expected—the dark, close-set box of an old confessional. The wood muffled all other sounds as the priest slid open a little screen before me. I knelt down and said I couldn’t remember the last time I was there, and I began…
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