Gay Activist Rev. Steve Parelli Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson chats with Steve Parelli, Executive Director of Other Sheep, a multicultural ecumenical Christian ministry working worldwide for the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith within their respective faith traditions. Parelli’s current priority is to stop the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 which will impose the death penalty and prison on the Ugandan LGBT community. He is urging the evangelical community to email their evangelical leaders. “Tell evangelical leaders like Rick Warren to tell the-largely-evangelical Ugandan people to STOP the bill. Why tell Rick Warren? Because of his endorsement of the widely acclaimed 2006 Zondervan Africa Bible Commentary in which a featured article entitled "Homosexuality" by a Nigerian evangelical leader supports no toleration for homosexuals in Africa and says homosexuals are no better than beasts. This is the evangelical talk in Africa and Rick Warren of the USA and John Stott of England and Douglas Carew of Kenya have endorsed it." Email Rick Warren...
On a personal note, Steve, a graduate of Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan, had served the Faith Baptist Church of Sparta, New Jersey, as senior pastor for ten years when in 1997 he chose to leave the ministry to make a new life with his partner, Jose. Prior to leaving the ministry, Steve was in reparative therapy with Joseph Nicolosi, "ex-gay" support groups, an international male mentoring group and spiritual counseling, all with the purpose of "overcoming" his homosexual attractions. After leaving his now ex-wife and four children and establishing himself in a gay relationship, Steve was accordingly defrocked by the First Baptist Church of Sinclairville, New York. On May 31, 2009, Steve was ordained by Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). Steve and his spouse Jose were legally married in Sacramento, California, August 25, 2008. They make their home in the Bronx, New York.
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Activist Cleve Jones on Gay Leadership

In the conclusion of this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson talks with veteran Gay Activist Cleve Jones about LGBT leadership in America. Recently Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT lobbying organization has come under fire for statements he made about the timeline for our LGBT civil rights. Congressman Barney Frank has also been criticized for statements he made that seem to be undermining LGBT grassroots efforts. Jones gives an historic retrospect of our LGBT movement dating back to the late seventies beginning with his work with Activist Harvey Milk. “ Something terrible happened to our movement. Something terrible happened to our leadership and that terrible thing was AIDS. In the late seventies this movement was growing. We were this early first generation movement that was just gaining power. Then we experienced the loss of Harvey Milk. We survived that. We began to grow in number and power and then we were hit with a pandemic.” Jones explains that during that time we lost an enormous number of leaders to AIDS and those who survived were required to create infrastructure to build services that the government failed to provide. Jones believes that this changed everything, “Our leaders now tend to be bureaucrats, they’re administrators of these massive programs. Their job is to keep the money flowing. These aren’t bad people, they’re good people. They are cautious by nature, conservative and focused by necessity on not to rock the boat so the money keeps coming. I find this frustrating. These people need to be there to do the work but they’re not the folks that should be devising our political strategies. For that we need visionaries. We need people who are willing to take risks and who are bold.”
Part 1: Gay Activist Cleve Jones Federal Agenda
More Info: clevejones.com

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Gay Leader Robin McGehee Post March Plan

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson catches up with Robin McGehee, Co-Director of the National Equality March that took place in Washington D.C., to get her first hand perspective of this recent historic event. When asked what she thought the National Equality March accomplished for our LGBT community McGehee stated, “If anything it brought attention to the fight for full federal equality. I think that the show of support was amazing. Time Magazine came out with a number of over 200,000 people marched and I know that for me seeing a continual sea of people coming down Pennsylvania Avenue, that alone sent a very big message that we are demanding full federal equality in all fifty states.” President Obama addressed the Human Rights Campaign dinner the eve before the March. The speech was very passionate but redundant rhetoric of promises he has been making to our LGBT community since he was candidate Obama. When asked to comment about this McGehee said, “This is only the second president that has gone to the national dinner of HRC. I think we need to acknowledge that he is speaking to our populous. What he’s doing is just getting an A+ on the cliff notes version of our struggle. He’s getting a C- in my opinion in actually taking any kind of action to take care of those struggles.” Next step on their agenda will be to bring congressional district action teams together across the United States and provide information on how to lobby federal representatives about our issues such as the Defense of Marriage Act, (DOMA) Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and a transgender inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Pre-March Audio Interview w/ Activist Robin McGehee
For More Info: Equality Across America.org

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Gay Activist Robin McGehee Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Robin McGehee, Co-Director of the National Equality March taking place in Washington D.C. this weekend, provides Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson an insider’s view of this historic event. The National Equality March is organized by a new grassroots effort called “Equality Across America." According to McGehee, “Its main goal is to bring congressional district action teams together across the United States who have organized in their own districts to bring people to D.C. to stand up for full equality.” There will also be workshops offered on October 10th and 11th providing information on how to lobby your federal representatives about our issues such as the Defense of Marriage Act, (DOMA) Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and a transgender inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Among the speakers appearing will be Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond, President of the NAACP, and Hate Crime Activist Judy Shepard who has tirelessly worked to pass The Matthew Shepard Act named for her son who was tortured and killed in a hate-motivated crime in 1998. Also addressing the rally will be Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar Winner Screenwriter of “Milk”, DADT Activist Lieutenant Dan Choi, Activists Cleve Jones and Urvashi Vaid, Comedian Kate Clinton and many more. When asked what she thought the National Equality March would accomplish, McGehee answered. “It already accomplished what I wanted it to do and that’s to bring more visibility and attention to the struggles that our LGBT community faces.” For More Info: National Equality March

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Gay Activist Malcolm Lazin Speaks OUT

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson chats with Malcolm Lazin, Founder and Executive Director of Equality Forum. This is an important GLBT organization that is dedicated to getting the word out about our GLBT heritage. In October Equality Forum presents GLBT History Month which was conceived in the mid-1990’s by educators and embraced by the GLBT community. Equality Forum took over the reins of this project in 2006 and solicits Icon nominations from state, national and international executive directors and other community leaders. The criteria are GLBT persons, living or deceased, who have distinguished themselves in their field of endeavor, are a national hero or have made a significant contribution to GLBT civil rights. Every day this month a GLBT Icon is featured with a video, biography, bibliography, downloadable images and other educational resources. Among those being honored this year are Choreographer Alvin Ailey, Commentator Rachael Maddow, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Film Director Gus Van Sant, Financial Expert Suze Orman, Designers Todd Oldham and Yves. St. Laurent, singer k.d. lang and Activist Urvashi Vaid . “For a community deprived of its history, GLBT History Month teaches our heritage, provides role models, builds community, and recognizes our extraordinary national and international contributions. We think this is a hugely important project because we are the only minority community in the world that’s not taught its history at home, in public schools or in religious institutions. So online is a great way for us to teach that history.” Lazin stated.

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Gay Activist Urvashi Vaid Speaks OUT

 

 

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson chats with veteran Gay Activist Urvashi Vaid who will be speaking at the National Equality Rally in Washington D.C., October 11th. When asked what she hoped the National Equality Rally will accomplish Vaid said, “That it allows a whole new wave of people to express themselves by getting out on the street and coming to a national gay lesbian bisexual and transgender liberation march. I believe in the power of the people getting off the internet and into the streets. Whether it’s a hundred people or a hundred thousand people or a million people, that’s a matter of degree but for that individual who gets up and registers their voice in a protest it’s a transformational experience. It empowers you to put your body on the line for something you believe in. Right now for October 11th 2009 I think it is important for people to stand up, to be vocal and to say ‘We believe in the full rights and dignity of LGBT people and we’re not going to stop.’

Urvashi Vaid is being honored this year by Equality Forum as one of their LGBT Icons for 2009 and by Out Magazine's 50 most influential men and women in America. Her career of LGBT activism spans over 20 years. She has served as Executive Director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and currently is Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights. On a personal note, Vaid shares homes in Manhattan and Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her partner, comedian Kate Clinton. For Info About the Arcus Foundation

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