Peterson Toscano's A Musing

Doin' Time in Richmond, Indiana

What a wonderful time in chilly Richmond. Apparently the weather was sunny and in the 70's up until about 20 minutes before I landed on Tuesday. Yo, I have nothing to do with the weather! It is FREEZING with like snow, but the sky is turning blue and folks here at Earlham College are so wonderful.

I did my show last night and was soooooo touched by some special people in the audience who I talked to before and afterwards. (You know who you are and I'll let you speak for yourselves if you want). Let me just say that I had a very special hug from a very special person. And I had an incredible conversation and prayer with someone before the show. And I got to see a bunch of my New England Yearly Meeting young Quaker friends too. Sweet.

Tonight will be the Take Back the Night event. According to the flyer it is,

an internationally-held march and vigil with the purpose of unifying women,
men, and children in awareness of sexual violence and other forms of violence
against women, children and families. It is about taking a stand against
violence and making the night safe for everyone.

I have been asked to say a few words after the mayor's speech. I think I will talk about transphobic attacks here in the US and abroad and the sort of terrorism many people live with simply because some people choose to feel threatened by the presence of transgender and genderqueer people. Any thoughts or suggestions? I would love to hear from you about this as it is new terrority for me (speaking at a rally like this about violence).

Next week at this time I will be in Greensboro, NC at other Quaker settings--Guilford College and New Garden Friends School. I love being with Friends as we get to connect on several levels. At the faculty meeting here yesterday at Earlham, although many of the professors are not Quaker, still we settled into a deep silence right away at the end of the meeting.

I have developed some wonderful friendships with the folks in Greensboro and I look forward to meeting some more. The regional paper published an article by Leslie Mizellby in which she writes about my appearance and also mentions bXg. She did a fine job with the article and brought out parts of my story that many journalists miss. She also included my comments about the South. I have one problem with the article though; she uses the M word! "

I tried to fix the wrong problems," he said in a radio interview March 1. "As a
Christian, I wanted to please God based on what my leaders were telling me God
wanted."Now a Quaker minister, he regrets the time lost and a failed marriage,
not to mention the $30,000 spent on fruitless treatments.

He just started beyondexgay.com, an online community for ex-gay survivors to help others who have been through the process."

After talking to hundreds of people who have been through ex-gay programs," he said in a phone interview last week from his Hartford, Conn., home, "I've come to the conclusion they cause much more harm than good."

Ahem, I am NOT a Quaker minister, or a Queer minister, or any type of minister. I am just like so many other people simply allowing a little Light and truth to affect me and hopefully others. I feel that when we make these distinctions and class people as minister/laity, it makes it seem that you have to be special or specially called to do what we all can do. I love how early Quakers deconstructed much of the church hierarchy and made it clear that ANYONE could be used by the Spirit--even the uneducated, women and children--something unheard of at the time.

Speaking of bXg, Christine, we are getting lots of great press. Christine was interviewed this morning (5am her time :P) for OutQ on Sirius Radio and the story is begining to get out there into the gay press.

We are making updates all the time and just added a powerful narrative of former Exodus leader, Darlene. Lots of great responses and LOADS of visitors. We also have updated the name of the conference to better reflect what it will be like. So please come to the The Ex-Gay Survivors Conference--Undoing the Damage, Affirming Our Lives Together.

Okay, I have to get myself ready for the day. Lots of wonderful people to see!

Labels: bXg, media, Quakerism, tour, travel

posted by Peterson Toscano @ 8:45 AM