4 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE June 4, 2010
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www.GayPeoples Chronicle.com
letterstotheeditors
I wish Soulforce had come in the '80s To the Editors:
On Soulforce's "Equality Ride" to Malone University [May 21 issue]:
I attended Malone, then known as Malone College, in the early eighties.
An evangelist, Dawson McAllister, spoke in their gym on August 23, 1979. (Currently, he can be heard on WAKS 96.5 "KISS" FM hosting a call-in talk show for teenagers.) Wearing a green T-shirt with black lettering, "Accept Me for What I AmCompletely Unacceptable," I had entered the Wonderful World of Christianity.
Naturally, I then attended Malone the following year. Confessing to some blonde female student about my struggles, I then learned that "God won't be satisfied with me until I 'repent' fully, and start liking women." Unknown to her, I was male rape victim as a junior in high school, but I tried my best.
Needless to say, if Soulforce had been around then, the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would have said, would never have taken place.
A "discipleship-type" church, then known as Brunswick Christian Community, encouraged me to quit school and join their church. A non-pastor, non-elder in the church found out that I still struggled with
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the "sin" of "self-pleasuring," and he told me never to come back until I had "fully repented."
After another church told me that "we request you find someplace else to worship because we feel you are not attaining the holiness of God enough," I eventually ended up at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. There, I got involved with Homosexuals Anonymous, a 14-step program headed by someone named Colin Cook..
Years later, while playing keyboards at an Assembly of God church in Lorain County, behind their backs I attended an Exodus-affiliated ministry in Willoughby Hills (55 minute trip, one way). This was soon after my mom had passed away in 1999 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma-my dad had died in '85 of a metastasized brain tumor, while I was a student at Moody. I had found the ministry through an advertisement in Cornerstone, a Christian newspaper.
After attending the ministry every Tuesday for quite a while, I concluded to myself that I had attractions towards men, but because I was playing keyboards at church, I couldn't act on those feelings. I quit going and wrote a letter to Cornerstone challenging the conservative Christian perspective on homosexuality. Soon afterward, the paper ceased to exist. The Exodus-affiliated
communitygroups
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ministry also folded, according to the Exodus web site.
Today, years later, I play keyboards every month or so at a Lutheran church. The pastor is aware of my struggles, and it's okay. Mind you, I haven't been with anyone for over three years now, because I'm too Christian to be gay and too gay to be Christian. If I meet someone who is gay, I don't know how to ask for sex. If I meet a Christian, I don't know how to broach the subject.
The biggest problem in the ex-gay industry and yes, it is a profit-making industry-is that in their belief system, the concept of bisexuality just doesn't exist. At all. Having never been with a woman, under the Christian construct, with their moral code of conduct, I would have to wait until I was married until I was able to see if I would be sexually compatible with some new wife.
I met the ex-gay poster boy John Paulk at an Exodus conference in California. This very effeminate man was pictured on the cover of Time magazine as "proof" that the ex-gay ministry "works." Unfortunately, he was caught in a gay bar "asking for directions" (according to Wayne Besen).
All this to say, geez, I wish that Soulforce would have been around back in the eighties when I was attending Malone.
Jeff Starks
Art, antiques, authors at Larchmere fair
by Harriet Logan
Cleveland-Celebrate your independent spirit with dozens of local merchants and indie vendors of kitsch and collectibles at the Larchmere Festival on Saturday, July 3 from 10 am to 5 pm. This is a street fair with flair!
In keeping with Larchmere tradition, the spirit of the festival rests soundly with antique decorative arts. Sublime, distinguished and well-crafted furniture and small collectibles will be featured both by merchants who have shops on the street, in addition to invited dealers who will create an Antiques Fair of quality antiques and collectibles.
There's also the Galleries Galore area, and nothing speaks summer festival more than outdoor browsing of arts and crafts. Many local, independent artists, will fill your heart with pride for your hometown, inspire your dreams, and enrich your soul with beauty. Also joining us is the nationally-acclaimed Bazaar Bizarre, the popular indie crafts fair. This is not your granny's craft fair! The artists who comprise Bazaar Bizarre are spunky, outrageous, and irrever-
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ent and so is their art.
The Larchmere Community Flea Market is back again, too. Everyone loves a flea market, and here you'll find scads of useful but used stuff for sale by friends, neighbors, residents, and you, perhaps? Here's your chance to make a buck and clean out your garage and basement at the same time. Vendor fees support the Larchmere Community Association and their neighborhood security program. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
The local literati will be there, too. Expect to meet approximately 40 writers at Loganberry Books' Author Alley. Talk to some interesting folks, expand your horizons, and take home some new reads. The networking tends to be phenomenal among this group of both mainstream and selfpublished authors, and the book fair is like none other in Cleveland.
Entertainment? How 'bout the perennial favorite Euclid Beach Rocket Car, local musicians and entertainers, giant puppets, 3-D chalk drawing and Passport Project Global Dance and Music Collective? Yes, we'll have those. We'll also have Art House conducting crafts and games at a dedicated kids' area. And (hopefully), the yet-to-beselected mural artist will be at work on the new mural on the LifeSkills building. And the balloons. Gotta love balloons. And food. Always food.
Need a chance to wind down after all this
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excitement? Head to Larchmere Uncorked,
a wine tasting. This special event will showcase wines from local and national purveyors and delectable food prepared by local restaurants. Guests will enjoy musical entertainment onsite as well as lots of great food and wine to sample. Tickets ($20 in advance, $25 at the door) include 10 wine tastings and a souvenir wine glass. Set up as a kind of festival-within-the-festival, Larchmere Uncorked will be open from noon to 8 pm and will also serve as the official after-party for vendors, merchants, residents, and guests. Presented by Summit Charitable Foundation, Larchmere Uncorked is a fundraiser for Larchmere's beautification program.
The Larchmere Festival extends from East 130th to East 121st Streets, ten blocks of shopping and entertainment.
Larchmere Boulevard is just one block north of the historic Shaker Square on Cleveland's east side.
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Find out more, including downloadable registration forms for vendors, at www.Larchmere.com.
See also Bazaar Bizarre at www.bazaarbizarre.org, the Author Alley at www.loganberrybooks.com and Larchmere Uncorked at www.Larchmere Uncorked.com.
Harriet Logan is the owner of Loganberry Books.
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