So, today is the start of Princeton Theological Seminary's BGLASS week. BGLASS (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Seminarians) is a fabulous group here I have made most of my friends and actually feel welcomed and accepted for who I am. Something that was majorly lacking before I came here.
BGLASS be with you.
And also with you.
We uplift our queers.
We lift them up to the Lord.
It is right to support our queers and allies.
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Friday, January 28, 2011
Fighting to Be Yourself
One of my on-campus jobs right now is in my college's admissions office. I do everything from answering phones to entering applications, emailing students, sending out letters, putting together information on the school, guiding new and prospective students and essentially helping to figure out whether or not to accept a student. It is a great job and my boss is amazing. I get to learn things about our students before they come.
Every time I receive an application from a student that is out it breaks my heart. I realized this today when going over an application. In the time that I have worked in the office we have had a few applicants who are GLB and every time I want to tell them to run away. Due to my job I am unable to do this and I feel guilty. To say that my college is not a GLBT friendly environment would be an understatement. One student I know waited until after he left to come out. Another friend who recently graduated was out to a few people but when homosexuality got brought up in a class one day and the majority of the class essentially declared, without knowing it, that he was going to hell, he sort of shut down.
Being an ally in this environment has not been easy...especially as a theology major. we do not have a Gay Straight-Alliance or a BGLASS or anything of the sort. I have tried to defend and had people look at me like I was hand delivering Satan to campus. There really is not any venue of support on campus. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a gay man in the dorm.
When an openly bisexual student, who has been involved in the leadership of his school's GSA applies to our small extremely conservative college I want to tell him to run away. It breaks my heart looking over his application because I know that if he does decided to enroll here he will have a battle ahead of him. He should not have to fight to be who he is, but in this cruel world and in our little college bubble he will, and that depresses me immensely.
Every time I receive an application from a student that is out it breaks my heart. I realized this today when going over an application. In the time that I have worked in the office we have had a few applicants who are GLB and every time I want to tell them to run away. Due to my job I am unable to do this and I feel guilty. To say that my college is not a GLBT friendly environment would be an understatement. One student I know waited until after he left to come out. Another friend who recently graduated was out to a few people but when homosexuality got brought up in a class one day and the majority of the class essentially declared, without knowing it, that he was going to hell, he sort of shut down.
Being an ally in this environment has not been easy...especially as a theology major. we do not have a Gay Straight-Alliance or a BGLASS or anything of the sort. I have tried to defend and had people look at me like I was hand delivering Satan to campus. There really is not any venue of support on campus. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a gay man in the dorm.
When an openly bisexual student, who has been involved in the leadership of his school's GSA applies to our small extremely conservative college I want to tell him to run away. It breaks my heart looking over his application because I know that if he does decided to enroll here he will have a battle ahead of him. He should not have to fight to be who he is, but in this cruel world and in our little college bubble he will, and that depresses me immensely.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
More Light Vs. Adventist
So the Spring Semester has begun. If all goes according to plan, I will be walking across a makeshift stage May 15th and recieveing my diploma. I cannot wait for that day! This semester I am taking 16 credits through Atlantic Union College and because my advisor messed up my schedule previous semesters, I will be taking 12 credits online through another school.
The credits I am taking through AUC are some interesting classes. I have Intro to Tennis to fulfill my Life Activity credit, Computers to fulfill that requirement, Spanish (which I am doing independent study), Introduction to American Film and then rounding it off with my last two classes for my major: Revelation and New Testament Epistles. I have shared with some of the Presbys I know the required reading for my Revelation course and they have come up with other books I ought to read to dispell some of the things I will learn in class this semester. My New Testament Epistles class is rather interesting. I need to pick a topic off of a list that the professor provided and by the end of the semester I will have written an 8 page research paper on the topic, as well as multiple article reviews and preached a sermon on the topic.
I have decided that I have kept my radical liberal Presbyterian views quiet for too long. I have not shared what I truly believe and what I truly think in my time here at AUC, and that is about to change. It is my last semester in conservative Adventist land, to to cause a stir. I am not intentionally causing trouble, but once I saw topic number 13 on the list I knew it would be inevitable. Topic 13 is about homosexuality and sexual deviance as portrayed in the New Testament Epistles. He was expecting the homophobic anti-gay sentiment...he is not going to receive that. I raised my man and asked if we could alter a topic on the list. When I explained that I am interested in researching the pro-gay, we're all Christians, it's all love standpoint he agreed. However, looking around the classroom, I was waiting for my classmates to start stoning me.
The first place I plan to go for my research material will be the More Light Presbyterians. I have spent lots of time on their site before and everything is worded perfectly. I need a minimum of eight sources so I will need to find other resources of the same caliber. This could possibly be the one assignment I spend the most amount of time on in my college career. The paper, I believe, will be a lot easier than the sermon I will have to deliver in class. Preaching in front of my classmates makes me immensely nervous due to theological disagreements that I have had with them. For our viewpoints to be so diametrically opposed on this mater only elevates my anxiety.
I have kept my beliefs and opinions of homosexuality and a number of other issues to myself for far too long. I realize this semester I will cause a stir and people will look at me differently, but when this topic is presented to me in such a negative light, I cannot help but choose it and correct it.
The credits I am taking through AUC are some interesting classes. I have Intro to Tennis to fulfill my Life Activity credit, Computers to fulfill that requirement, Spanish (which I am doing independent study), Introduction to American Film and then rounding it off with my last two classes for my major: Revelation and New Testament Epistles. I have shared with some of the Presbys I know the required reading for my Revelation course and they have come up with other books I ought to read to dispell some of the things I will learn in class this semester. My New Testament Epistles class is rather interesting. I need to pick a topic off of a list that the professor provided and by the end of the semester I will have written an 8 page research paper on the topic, as well as multiple article reviews and preached a sermon on the topic.
I have decided that I have kept my radical liberal Presbyterian views quiet for too long. I have not shared what I truly believe and what I truly think in my time here at AUC, and that is about to change. It is my last semester in conservative Adventist land, to to cause a stir. I am not intentionally causing trouble, but once I saw topic number 13 on the list I knew it would be inevitable. Topic 13 is about homosexuality and sexual deviance as portrayed in the New Testament Epistles. He was expecting the homophobic anti-gay sentiment...he is not going to receive that. I raised my man and asked if we could alter a topic on the list. When I explained that I am interested in researching the pro-gay, we're all Christians, it's all love standpoint he agreed. However, looking around the classroom, I was waiting for my classmates to start stoning me.
The first place I plan to go for my research material will be the More Light Presbyterians. I have spent lots of time on their site before and everything is worded perfectly. I need a minimum of eight sources so I will need to find other resources of the same caliber. This could possibly be the one assignment I spend the most amount of time on in my college career. The paper, I believe, will be a lot easier than the sermon I will have to deliver in class. Preaching in front of my classmates makes me immensely nervous due to theological disagreements that I have had with them. For our viewpoints to be so diametrically opposed on this mater only elevates my anxiety.
I have kept my beliefs and opinions of homosexuality and a number of other issues to myself for far too long. I realize this semester I will cause a stir and people will look at me differently, but when this topic is presented to me in such a negative light, I cannot help but choose it and correct it.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Poor David
1/7/11 11:30 Am.
I sort of feel bad for David. He's traveling across the world with three women. He's a gay guy who hasn't dealt with women in years so he is totally weirded out when female topics come up. We try to be delicate and make things less awkward but it doesn't really work. He was brought along to the airport pharmacy when supplies needed to be purchase, but he went unto another store when Cindy went in. We have a twelve hour layover in Zurich so we've been wandering around the airport. He's accompanied us on shopping trips and been a great sport.
Cindy just went to buy a new pair of pants and then to take a shower so we are hanging out in some chairs. For being such a huge international airport, this airport doesn't seem very busy. We left our terminal and went to another so we could go to stores, so now we have Zurich stamped onto our passports. People walking through the airport are wearing winter jackets and it reminds me how odd it's going to be landing in Boston after spending time in Africa.
I sort of feel bad for David. He's traveling across the world with three women. He's a gay guy who hasn't dealt with women in years so he is totally weirded out when female topics come up. We try to be delicate and make things less awkward but it doesn't really work. He was brought along to the airport pharmacy when supplies needed to be purchase, but he went unto another store when Cindy went in. We have a twelve hour layover in Zurich so we've been wandering around the airport. He's accompanied us on shopping trips and been a great sport.
Cindy just went to buy a new pair of pants and then to take a shower so we are hanging out in some chairs. For being such a huge international airport, this airport doesn't seem very busy. We left our terminal and went to another so we could go to stores, so now we have Zurich stamped onto our passports. People walking through the airport are wearing winter jackets and it reminds me how odd it's going to be landing in Boston after spending time in Africa.
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