Homo No Mo Halfway House

Peterson Toscano is an intriguing "theatrical performance activist" who is known for his awesome one-man show called "Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House." Peterson experienced 17 years in the ex-gay movement (which i've coined here at TWC as Side X) enduring years of gay reparative therapy. In his show, he does an awesome job of introducing us to an inside look into these kinds of ministries that present the notion that a person can and should change to be heterosexual. Through five characters, he uses incredible humor to bring to light the emotionally challenging struggle that so many of us experience when our faith and sexuality seem to collide and he also exposes the hilarious but illogical strategies of Side X ministries that try to make a person straight.

I got to see Peterson's show this past Friday night and on Saturday a group of us local GCN'ers went out to lunch with him at the Santa Monica Pier here in the Los Angeles area. He's a great guy with a huge heart who has worthy insight to offer about life, faith, sexuality, community and relationships. I'll be taking him out to lunch tomorrow before he leaves to go back home to the East Coast. I'm looking forward to connecting with him and sharing hearts and vision for God's work in "our" community.

For more on my own story and time in Side X ministries, read Sankofa (Part Three).