“I think AIDS can be won. I think we can win this fight. It is winnable. But it means behavior change. We cannot continue living in sin and think that we’re going to be safe and we’re going to be OK. We have got to be able to fight this and attack this by…
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fear
Oh, the Humanity: Gays, AIDS, and the Church, Part 4
“What does a decent society do with people who hurt themselves because they’re human? With people who eat too much, smoke too much, drive carelessly, don’t have safe sex – we don’t put them out to pasture to die because they’ve done a human thing.” – How to Survive a Plague I grew…
The Religious Right: Gays, AIDS, and the Church, Part 3
So where were the Christians? In the midst of all of this death and isolation, when people were the most vulnerable, when there was so much stigma and fear and people were begging for an ounce of compassion and love – where were the people who were supposed to be known for that? “Since…
Fear and Silence: Gays, AIDS, and the Church, Part 2
If you were a conservative Christian girl in the 90s, you probably know the phrase ‘screaming silver-blue eyes’. The Christy Miller Series was almost mandatory reading for our little sub-culture generation. And we tried to emulate this role model of holy femininity. So when Christy journaled, we journaled, and when Christy wrote letters to…
My Story: Gays, AIDS, and the Church, Part 1
The public junior high was nothing but a hotbed of sin. Or so my fundamentalist parent thought. So instead of moving on with my friends, in 6th grade I was inserted into a small church school, where everyone had grown up together. Being the outsider made for a rough year, so in 7th grade…
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
“Prosperity breeds amnesia.” You don’t need enough money to be ‘rich’ in order to be prosperous – just enough to pay the bills and then some. Just enough to insulate you from the reality of life for the most. ‘Having enough’ as we think of it means you can pay to cover the miles…
I’m White and It’s Uncomfortable
A Tender Thaw
I’m guest posting for my friend Kelly today on coming alive and how painful it can be. Here’s a little snippet (and also why I bawled through Frozen). Be honest. Be vulnerable. It’s home group, small group, community group, so it’s safe here. This is how you build strong friendships. Real community, the…
Choose Life
In the documentary Half the Sky, a girl rides her bike to school down a long country road. It is lined with trees, but no neighbors. She’s acutely aware she could be kidnapped from this road and sold. She rides anyway. Her choice speaks life and her bravery speaks hope and possibility to the rest of us. Life is…