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411 Hillsborough Street • Raleigh, NC 27603

Earth Day Celebration

April 22, 2012, 2:00 to 3:30 pm at the LGBT Center of Raleigh

A Pre OutRaleigh Event

Come for a discussion of life and nature from the Native American perspective. Leave with the rhythms of spring energizing your creativity and love for life. Sponsored by the Affirming Faith Forum Folks.

Join us for:

Empowering Action for the Common Good

Do you wonder how faith can survive under fire from the proposed anti-family Amendment? Do you feel the strain of frustrations and want to talk about the triumphs of the struggle? Join with leaders from the community at this forum to energize your faith to act for the common good in practical ways. We will reflect on our experiences of what’s working and what’s getting in the way. Click here for more information.

Our goal is to act on the call to community healing and reconciliation. Participants will join community leaders, to reflect on considerations and options for staying connected with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues while discussing the issues.

You are invited to a gathering of the:

Affirming Faith Forum

Friday March 23, 2012, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
At the LGBT Center of Raleigh
411 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC

We believe that the call to be a loving and just community is significant to life in our community. This scriptural imperative is especially significant now when anti LGBTQ hate based religious rhetoric threatens our lives and well being. We meet in the strength and love of community, attesting to how shame and guilt are disarmed.

Welcome to a safe place of radical hospitality.

Dealing with Amendment One Rhetoric: Affirming Faith Forum was held Friday evening, February 24 at the LGBT Center of Raleigh to support LGBTQ folk and allies to discuss how to better address the negative messaging we are hearing in support of the constitutional amendment. As an ordained minister who is queer, I believe our work in affirming our faith, understanding our personhood, is about recognizing in ourselves and each other human dignity and the right of self determination. Now, as our access to human rights is being publicly debated as regards to the amendment, we need affirmation and strength to stand firm for justice and equality.

The forum was designed to provide a safe place to name the grievances that we as individuals have experienced due to anti-LGBTQ biases in the community, debrief from the harm of encountering verbal and even physical attacks, and provide camaraderie for each other. When one is under attack, especially in an identify-based conflict, without good options the only choice may seem to be to withdraw or ‘ignore’ the situation. Telling and listening to our personal stories from these experiences help with strategizing to establish more effective options for countering the attacks, be they stories of outrage, fear and/or courage.

I organized the agenda for the meeting and facilitated the meeting along with Jim Manchester. Participants were asked to share their stories, talking not only about the facts but more the feelings of frustration, anger, betrayal, loss, and futility. Participants reported having been threatened with verbal and physical violence, exposed to picketers at community events, and anxious about losing support from family members and communities that were their sole source of support.

Tracy Hollister, a LGBTQ community leader, spoke about her response to a heckler with love and humor, countering their bigotry with sparring and wit when she said to the disrupting gentleman, “Do you like women?” “I sure do,” he said, to which she replied, “So do I.” Jimmy Creech, a local author, co-founder of Faith in America, and a well known community ally, spoke about his countering someone’s anger with respect. “That is disarming when someone is hostile. To respond with respect.”

The stories that were told and the honest reactions shared by the participants varied from individual to individual. The value of the forum was about having a safe place and an empathizing presence to continue healing from past hurts and to think ahead about options, refining past choices and/or considering new ones. While there is a temptation to give another the ‘right answer,’ let’s face it, this is not a one size fits all situation. The forum provided an opportunity to share a common struggle for peace and fairness, assuage the wounds words of hate leave on one’s human dignity, and to try on new responses rather than a general session on “how to.”

Participants in the affirming discussion on February 24th included a straight Muslim woman, an atheist, several recovering Methodists and Baptists, and others.

The Affirming Faith Forum meets every fourth Friday at 6:30 at the LGBT Center.

Jenna Zirbel, Reverend
Ministry of Love and Justice
Rainbow Community Cares, Inc (rccares.org)
CWAC Movement, Inc (cwac.us)

You are invited to a gathering of the:

Affirming Faith Forum

Friday February 24, 2012 6:30 to 8:30 pm
At the LGBT Center of Raleigh
411 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC

We believe that the call to be a loving and just community is significant to life in our community. This scriptural imperative is especially significant now when anti LGBTQ hate based religious rhetoric threatens our lives and well being. We meet in the strength and love of community, attesting to how shame and guilt are disarmed.

Join us for:

Are you concerned about the anti-family Amendment on the ballot for May 8? Have you heard as much misleading rhetoric as you can handle? Would you like to be more adept at answering objections to LGBT marriage? Join us for a forum with leaders from affirming faith communities so that you can be better able to discuss the issues.

Jimmy Creech, along with other faith leaders in our community, will join us as we attempt to draft a faith-based response.