Articles From Our February, 2005 Newsletter
Jamie Tyroler and Stephanie Shockley will be guest speakers at our February meeting on Sunday the13th. Jamie and Stephanie will address the concerns of persons dealing with gender identity issues beyond the usual scope of sexual identity. Both recently participated in the "Transgender Day of Remembrance", which featured Ms. Sandie Gast, a Kansas woman whose controversial incarceration resulted from her having been born and lived most of her life as a male. Stephanie and Jamie hope to demystify the life of the transgendered by educating us on the "T" in LGBT.
Bring your family and other loved ones and join us for what promises to be a very informative meeting.
Our meetings begin at 3 P.M. We’ll meet at our usual place, Room 307 at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road.
Refreshments will be served. We’ll look forward to seeing you
PFLAG parents have been invited to the Passages Valentine Dance on Saturday Feb. 12th. Stop by any time between 8-10:00 and if you can bring a side dish to go with their sandwiches- well--they wouldn't turn it down. They are located at 4007 Central (south of westport and Central)
The Vagina Monologues at UMKC.
UMKC Women's Center and the 2005 V-Day Action Team presents the Vagina Monologues on Feb. 14th, 15th and 16th. The event will be held at Pierce Auditorium at the UMKC University Center (5000 Holmes Rd.). All proceeds from this event will benefit Hope House and Kansas City Anti- Violence Project. For more information, contact the UMKC Women's Center at (816) 235-1638.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for community members. Reserve your tickets today by calling the Central Ticket Office at (816) 235-6222 or by visiting www.umkc.edu/womenc .
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL YOU LOVERS !!
Some of you reading this have spouses, some partners, some the "glow" of a new relationship and some of you are single, but all of you are lovers. I watch the way you reach out to strangers that come to our meetings and I feel love. I see you quietly helping to set up chairs or providing the refreshments and I feel love. In the news we hear many espouse the virtues of the traditional family and what love between two people should look like. On the surface, my husband Richard and I have a "traditional" family--one man married to one woman-three kids and 25 years together. If they looked further they would see all the untraditional things as well. First, there is the age difference of 22 years--then there is the fact that I'm four inches taller--oh yeah, it's my first marriage but the third for him (with two daughters from the first)--he has one brother and I have ten siblings--we grew up in different parts of the country--we have different faith backgrounds--his mom worked outside the home and mine did not--yada yada yada. I think you get the picture. The point is no one would have bet the farm that we'd have made it this far but love is a funny thing. I heard it said just the other day that your heart doesn't know how old you are. I would venture to say that it also does not see color or gender.
Love is hard enough to find without legislating it. I have been blessed with lots of love in my life and my plan this Valentines day is to let those special people in my life know how much I love them--I shall begin with all of you lovers--thanks for being the beacons of light and love that you are.
GAY MARRIAGE NOT DEFEATED
by Chris Ayers
The “religious right” is not only celebrating the reelection of George W. Bush, they also are ecstatic about the resounding, coast-to-coast victory of states “banning gay marriage.” Out of fear that gay marriage will harm traditional marriage, on November 2 voters in eleven states approved constitutional amendments limiting state marriage licenses to one man and one woman. The amendments won, often by huge margins, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon. The bans won by a 3-to-1 margin in Kentucky and Georgia, 3-to-2 in Ohio, and 6-to-1 in Mississippi. The religious right feels morality won and evil was defeated.
State approved gay marriage with all its benefits may have been defeated in these eleven states, but gay marriage was not defeated. While states have been in the business of issuing marriage licenses for years, marriage, from a Christian perspective, is a matter of faith. It is a sacred act which requires no government approval. Marriage is between God and two people, a matter of a church and its congregants. Gays and lesbians will continue to be married with or without the support of their state governments and churches which recognize that homosexuality is not a sin will continue to celebrate with their homosexual members who decide to get married.
Best I can tell, God has been creating gay and lesbian people for a long time and my guess is that trend will continue in the future. It’s not like gays and lesbians just showed up on the scene. Gays and lesbians are not going away no matter how many states “ban gay marriage” with constitutional amendments and no matter how hard or long conservative Christians pray for homosexuals to be healed. It’s also highly likely gays and lesbians will continue to fall in love and want to get married. No country, no state, no denomination, no church, no preacher can prevent their union.
What the recent election reveals is that the need for the education of Americans on homosexuality has a long way to go, but the education will occur. It may take years or decades or even centuries, but it will occur. It will occur because more and more gays and lesbians are having the courage to come out to their families, friends, co-workers, classmates and people in their church, temple or mosque. It will occur because more and more parents of gays and lesbians will work through the misconception that their offspring’s homosexuality is their fault and they will accept their child and spread the truth to others about gays and lesbians. It will occur because more and more Christians will learn to read and interpret the Bible intelligently and will no longer accept the religious right’s false claim that the Bible is infallible and inerrant. It will occur because the world is discovering that gay and lesbian Christians actually are more Christ-like than religious right Christians.
I am a heterosexual male married to a heterosexual woman. My gay and lesbian Christian friends have in no way threatened my “traditional” marriage. They are not to be feared. Rather, they are to be celebrated. They have blessed my wife and me with their faith and perseverance even in the midst of religious persecution, which always is the worst type of persecution.
The Rev. Dr. Chris Ayers is Pastor of Wedgewood Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you have comments, send them to cayers@carolina.rr.com
NEW SUPPORT GROUP FOR STRAIGHT SPOUSES
Mention was made in last month’s newsletter about a new support group for Straight Spouses which has been formed for the greater Kansas City Area.
Following is the information on their next meeting:
The next gathering of the Greater KC area SSN will be held at Noon on February 12, 2005, at Carrabba's Italian Grill, 10586 Metcalf Lane, Overland Park, KS, 66212. For more info call 913-385-7812.
PFLAG SUPPORTS REAL FAMILY VALUES