Seems I am no longer a blogger. Ah, crap, I just blogged that, so I guess technically I am still blogging. Bother!

I have not written in this blog for many months. In part it is because I experienced a significant shift in the focus of my work. Since 2003,… Read full post »

Back in 2007 when Christine Bakke and I founded Beyond Ex-Gay we discussed how those of us who have been through reparative therapies and ex-gay ministries need an opportunity to put on the record what we did, why we did it, what were the outcomes. So many other people have told… Read full post »

Lately I have been faced with the opportunity to extend forgiveness to someone responsible for harming me, some of my loved ones, and many other people–some I know–most I do not. One thing I have concluded is I can offer  private, personal forgiveness for someone who directly harmed me (… Read full post »

Darlene Bogle, Michael Bussee, Jeremy Marks

Back in June 2007 I had the privilege to work with three former ex-gay leaders as they prepared to issue public apologies concerning their roles in providing and promoting reparative therapy. At the LGBT community center in LA, I witnessed this histo/… Read full post »

According to the Love in Action Website the Memphis-based ex-gay group no longer operates it residential program:

Love In Action’s Residential program has been suspended indefinitely. Simply put, there is a significant need to bring all of LIA under one location for it to be more cost effective

… Read full post »

Yesterday I heard from a friend from the New York area, who like me survived “treatments” to de-gay us. As he prepared for the storm, he reflected on Hurricane Irene, and used it as a metaphor to explore homophobia and the religious-based anti-gay therapies he endured.

Hey I was

… Read full post »

Organizers of LGBTQ programming at the Greenbelt Festival this weekend in England asked me to write a short piece to be read aloud at a service. The theme is hospitality. I immediately thought of the famous story in Luke 24 about friends walking and the stranger who walks beside them on… Read full post »

Thanks to Michelle Bachmann and her family business that offers Christian counseling, including “therapy” to help sort the gays, the media has once again highlighted ex-gay treatments and theories that say people can be “de-gayed.” Spokespeople for the anti-LGBTQ cause get on… Read full post »

My friend, Anarchist Reverend, sent out a call with others at Sanctuary Collective for bloggers to share creative queer theology. I grow weary of defensive theology where one has to counter passages that seem to clobber queer folk. That’s why I love performing my Transfigurations play, a piece… Read full post »

I wish I could write a long blog post about the NPR Morning Edition piece I was featured on this past Monday. You can see the link to the segment here The piece ran for under nine minutes, so lots got left unsaid from the 80 minute interview I had with… Read full post »

I’m siting in Charlotte airport heading home after the TransFaith in Color Conference. 200 folks gathered. Many have had “transgender experiences” (language used at conference) and most were people of color. I was honored with an invitation to present Transfigurations–Transgre… Read full post »

Have you noticed an uptick in stories about ex-gay ministries, reparative therapies, and the slogan “Pray Away the Gay?” You have Republican presidential primary candidate, Michelle Bachmann to thank for that. The family business she liked to talk about in her early speeches is actually a… Read full post »

Coming to the end of my week with Quakers at the Friends General Conference held in Grinnell College in Iowa, I have been wondering about the experiences of Quakers who currently or have ever identified as female. I know that for a long time Quakers have aspired to gender equality,… Read full post »

This week I have the privilege and pleasure of attending the Friends General Conference (FGC) at Grinnell College in Iowa. This is the annual gathering of unprogrammed Quakers in North America. We are the Quakers who sit in silence when we worship (well until someone shares something they feel… Read full post »

This is the third in a series of posts about the Wild Goose Festival. Part One highlights the “good stuff” I experienced at this progressive Christian Festival held at a campsite in the hills outside of Durham, NC. Part Two reveals the anger I felt as I entered the weekend, not… Read full post »

Yesterday I wrote about the wonderful experiences I had at Wild Goose–the good stuff. It was so good in so many ways, but I arrived troubled and even in the midst of all the “good stuff” I wrestled with difficult feelings during the Festival.

In the four months of preparatio… Read full post »

goosed–past participle, past tense of goose (Verb)
1. Poke (someone) between the buttocks.
2. Give (something) a boost; invigorate; increase: “goosing up ticket sales”.

This past weekend my partner, Glen Retief, and I attended the Wild Goose Festival not far from Durham NC. We set… Read full post »

This week on the Queer and Queerer podcast we dive head first into the Anthony Weiner “scandal.†So he showed some saucy pics on Twitter, but what did he actually do wrong? Listen as Peterson and Zack consider the matter from a perspective of sexual liberation.

And then, we offer some… Read full post »

Kirk Andrew Murphy

Last night Anderson Cooper 360 featured the story of Kirk Andrew Murphy, who as a young boy exhibited gender non-conforming behavior. Kirk did not act like the other boys, and after seeing a therapist on TV, his parents turned for help to  who they thought were experts. See/… Read full post »

It seems I blog more when I am in Europe. Sorry for the quiet on this blog front the past few weeks. After Norway and Sweden, things actually got busy. My partner Glen has begun touring with his book, The Jack Bank–A Memoir of a South African Childhood (as if anyone… Read full post »

Glen Retief, age 12, a sensitive boy in a violent world

(This post contains lots of info about upcoming gigs and ONE special personal announcement. Can you find it?)

Actually this orchestrated public display will not be the first noteworthy event in which Glen and I flop around, a tag team… Read full post »

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I sat stuck in Stockholm airport for 7 hours with Olive Kitteridge, and boy was I glad she was on hand! It’s a moving, funny, smart book that made me feel all warm and tender inside and also toughened up… Read full post »

I was awake ALL night until about 4:30 am. It wasa combination of not adjusting to the time change here in Sweden, a little loneliness (I miss Glen!) and a new way of reading non-fiction. I blame Billy Strayhorn and the Internet.

I have been very slowly consuming a biography about… Read full post »

In a few hours I will perform once again in UmeÃ¥, Sweden, a progressive city in the North of Sweden. I believe it is the fifth time I have been here, and arriving at the home of Alex & Noa Resare, I feel like I have come home. In fact, the… Read full post »

Via Detroit and Amsterdam I arrived in Oslo yesterday morning strangely rested in spite of over an hour or two of sleep on the flights. I catch up on all those movies I want to see but don’t want to pay to see. I dozed in and out so they all… Read full post »