October 11 is National Coming Out Day.\u00a0 I had no idea this observance even existed as a freshman in college but was introduced to it early in the morning on my way to English class.\u00a0 It was a bright crisp morning and one of the Pride groups (not their name back then, but I don\u2019t remember the groups official title) on campus had put up signs sharing the news of the day.\u00a0 Sidewalk chalk was used throughout the brick walkways of campus exclaiming \u201cGay is AOK!\u201d and \u201cEveryone\u2019s a little Queer\u201d and \u201cWho\u2019s coming out today?\u201d\u00a0 It was a colorful celebration and, honestly, the levity of it made everyone on the way to class chuckle a little bit.\u00a0 The mood was light, inclusive, and fun.<\/p>\n
But when I arrived at the English Building, I saw a huge gathering of students blocking the front door.\u00a0 Unsure what was going on, I walked up to see what was the cause of the confusion.\u00a0 What I learned was that every single door of the building had been labeled \u201cstraight door\u201d and was locked.\u00a0 However, there was one exception.\u00a0 One door on the side of the building had been labeled the \u201cgay door\u201d and that was the only way any of us could enter the building and attend class.\u00a0 It took all of us a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on, but the lighthearted and fun messaging of National Coming Out Day all of a sudden had a much sharper edge to it.\u00a0 This subversive demonstration of \u201cguerilla art\u201d had an amazing point.\u00a0 Everyday the gay community has to walk through the straight door.\u00a0 Of course, the straight door looks different in every different context, however the straight door reality does exist. Rarely, if ever, does the straight community have to walk through the gay door, and that morning everyone not only had to, but was forced to.<\/p>\n
\u201cForced to\u201d is my intentional wording.\u00a0 I was not a part of that guerilla art team that coordinated the campus wide effort, but their efforts certainly made me think about what gay people were forced to do, and what I had the choice to do.\u00a0 In that moment, being forced to go through the gay door, allowed me just a glimpse into a life without as much choice, without as much Midwestern America cultural power.\u00a0 Conversations around campus continued for weeks afterwards and my own life has been deeply impacted ever since.<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
I went to Union Theological Seminary where two of the best preachers I heard and studied with were openly gay men.\u00a0 The day I graduated my mom went up to a student who had a beautifully intricate sash over her gown and asked jokingly what she had done academically to earn the sash that her son hadn\u2019t been able to accomplish.\u00a0 My mom was informed that all the graduates wearing those sashes were from the campus group FIERCE, the LGBTQ people of color group, and that this was why, alas, I was not wearing the sash.\u00a0 Sorry to disappoint mom!<\/p>\n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n
After seminary I was in a band with a man named Ian McKenzie.\u00a0 You would think with a name like that he would be a Presbyterian of Scottish descent, but in reality, he was a six-foot seven-inch cornrowed African American who played \u201cthe guitar like he was ringing the bell.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 He knew every Prince song.\u00a0 Every Metallica Song.\u00a0 Funk, metal, punk, blues, he was amazing.\u00a0 I could play a handful of basic drumbeats and knew about three fills, and so we formed a tenacious duo calling ourselves, \u201cBlack Guy \u2013 White Guy.\u201d\u00a0 We played a handful of shows in New York City.\u00a0 Before one gig a teenager asked if he could dance on stage with us.\u00a0 Who were we to say no?\u00a0 So of course, the next thing you know, this kid shows up and is moon walking across the stage while we cover \u201cCrazy Little Thing Called Love.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 We get to know the kid a bit better over time and it turns out this teenager feels like he is a woman trapped in a man\u2019s body . . . and the only time he (she) feels like he (she) can truly express his (her) true identity, was whenever they were allowed to dance.\u00a0 Turns out that this kid\u2019s safe space was on stage at a \u201cBlack Guy \u2013 White Guy\u201d show.<\/p>\n Ian moved and so the band broke up and I haven\u2019t talked to the dancing kid in years.\u00a0 Fast Forward to when I put on Facebook that I was moving to Virginia, and leaving the NY area, one of the first people to message me was this kid who danced.\u00a0 He had fully transitioned, surgically and hormonally, from being male to female.\u00a0\u00a0 She had changed her name and was living a much fuller, happier life, had a better relationship with her parents than when we had \u201cperformed\u201d together.\u00a0 I even received Facebook voice messages wishing me the best in my move, this teen turned adult singing me songs that we had played years ago.\u00a0 Dare I say “Black Guy \u2013 White Guy\u201d provided this youth the ministry of presence?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know . . . but I like to think so.<\/p>\n ~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the liturgical holiday that commences the season of Lent.\u00a0 An organization named Parity<\/a> has encouraged churches to start to add purple glitter to their ashes as a symbol of unity with the LGBTQ+ community dubbing this phenomenon Glitter Ash Wednesday.\u00a0 I conclude this post by sharing an article I wrote about this holiday a few years ago. Enjoy!<\/p>\n Glitter Ash Wednesday.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Chuck Berry, \u201cJohnny B. Goode,\u201d Written by Chuck Berry, Chess, Chicago 1958. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p0FLZyTZBJ4<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Freddie Mercury, \u201cCrazy Little Thing Called Love,\u201d Written by Freddie Mercury, EMI, London, 1979. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zO6D_BAuYCI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October 11 is National Coming Out Day.\u00a0 I had no idea this observance even existed as a freshman in college but was introduced to it early in the morning on my way to English class.\u00a0 It was a bright crisp morning and one of the Pride groups (not their name back then, but I don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1811,1400],"class_list":["post-26226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brunskell-evans","tag-dimlgp9","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26229,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26226\/revisions\/26229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}