Riding Alligator Alley in More Ways Than One

I just took a business with pleasure trip to Florida to meet with churches, talk about the documentary and the conference (that opens up tomorrow!) plus I have family there and had never been to Florida in person....I've been there only through web cam which was helpful to not have to deal with humidity like I did in person.

The trip was quite a learning experience. I attended a baptist megachurch and heard a message of how we must claim Christianity in the other 50% of the world that hasn't gotten into wars over it yet. Well, that was the connection I made when hearing war statistics and lands not yet converted. The music was really great though, loved the music. I can see myself going for the contemporary music and then leaving before the message if I lived there.

This was the same church I was told from several local sources that had proactively sent out letters to all the other churches in the region urging them to promote the signing of the anti-gay marriage petition in their churches and areas of reach. The church doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to demonstrating God's unconditional love...and not to mention the whole separation of church and state thing.

Nevertheless, I met great people and know straight allies within the church and throughout the conservative region. They are there and they do care. I met with open and affirming churches including a Lutheran church who is very committed to demonstrating God's unconditional love. I was really impressed by them and how they handle criticism. They know what they are standing for is urgent, right and necessary and their strength is contagious.

I was on my way to my first meeting and found a way to get on a road the locals call alligator alley which doesn't have a turnaround exit for over 20 miles. Great. I hate being late to meetings and here I was heading to Miami amongst alligators. But, I felt more comfortable and welcomed in that scary, unknown place with wild animals than in the baptist church. At least I know where I really stand with the alligators.

Laura talks about the spectrum in our movie. The spectrum where it's Fred Phelps on one end and the other is where the atmosphere is, "come, be here...and you're flawed and need to be fixed....and you can't lead any groups or have any responsibility". I just don't get the inconsistencies between persons who call themselves Christian. I call myself a Christian and I don't get why others deem it necessary to judge me because I love. It's really not that hard to not judge others, once you get out of the habit. Well, I'm writing articles about that so I'll save that tangent for later.

For now, my favorite part of the trip was hangin' with my rock star sister, who's the love of my life (next to Luane of course). I'm so proud of her. She's one of the Christian allies that just by her being her and only speaking from love, is changing the church from within. She's a beautiful person, a wonderful mother, a great running mate, a gifted writer, a stellar photographer and I'm lucky to call myself her sister. For those of you coming to the Conference, you'll get to meet her as she and my mom both are flying in to give of their time and service in making the event smooth and safe for all of us.

My sister says she has a friend that gets really fired up over the idea of allowing gay people to be married (well, we are married anyway, it's not like it's not already happening folks...gay folks have partnered for um, decades and centuries) and couldn't get a reaction out of my sister. My sister said she wouldn't argue about it as it's not an issue to her, it's a relationship. I'm a relationship to my sister, not an issue, not something to be argued and fought over, not something to be protested, stripped of rights and degraded. I'm a relationship to her and that's all that matters.

I kept in mind no matter where I went and heard or saw things that weren't so supportive of equality in Florida, I just remembered that there's people like my sister and mom there. There's more support and acceptance than is propagated. I just keep holding the vision. Holding the vision. I invite you to also, hold the vision.