Friday, January 18, 2008

Side X Culture

This is the fourth video segment of my four part Survivor series telling my story of growing up gay, becoming Christian, struggling with same sex attractions, and reconciling the conflict between my faith and my sexuality. Daniel Gonzales of Box Turtle Bulletin (and in partnership with Beyond Ex-Gay) recorded, created and edited the video (creative commons license).

To supplement this video, also read "Sankofa (Part 3)" and also "Side X Culture and a Vision for an Inclusive Community."

Have you missed previous segments? Be sure to check out:

Part 1: Suicide and the Porcelain Punisher.
Part 2: The Ex-Gay Program.
Part 3: Isolation and Exclusion.

And now watch, Part 4: Side X Culture:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Eric, your sensitivity and sincerity make of you a very attractive human being, a gem in this unforgiving world.

Thanks for sharing with us your pain, your faith and your profound hope in a more compassionate world. I too consider myself a very spiritual being, although not a practicing christian for the reasons that you evoke in your four clips.

Rest assured that there are many of us out there. It's unfortunate that it takes so much effort and time to discover each other's existence. Perhaps we are at the beginning of some transformation in our churches that may some day spend less effort and time dwelling on sin, crucifixion and death and spend more effort and time dwelling on love, compassion and resurection. You are not alone.

In the secular world, at least in Canada, we have determined that the right to love is the most basic of human rights. Based on that tenet, sexuality and sexual orientation is irrelevant. If the churches do not follow, they will continue being abandoned by the "faithful" who have lost faith in those who can only speak of love but cannot practice it.