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July 19, 1999 (Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles, CA.)
White, his partner, Gary Nixon, and a distinguished group of Co-Founders and
advisors are launching Soulforce, Inc. to help mobilize and train people of
faith to do justice guided exclusively by the principles of truth, love, and
voluntary redemptive suffering as taught by Jesus, Gandhi, and King.
Dr. White fears that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered activist
community is nearly exhausted from fighting two wars at the same time: the
political war being waged against sexual minorities and the personal war
against HIV/AIDS. "Soulforce offers us a new way to renew our own tired
spirits," White explains. "And at the same time, it offers us a powerful old
way to bring truth to our adversaries."
"We spend most of our time healing our wounded and defending ourselves
against the avalanche of antigay actions at the ballot box, in the
legislatures and the courts," White said sadly. "We must continue fighting
the antigay political actions. We must continue helping those who suffer.
But we must also work to cut off that suffering at its source."
"Speech has power," White says, quoting Rabbi Abraham Heschel. "Words do not
fade. What starts out as a sound ends in a deed."
For six years, White has monitored and archived the antigay rhetoric. "The
toxic words flows endlessly into the nation's minds and hearts," he explains.
"Most of them from misinformed religious leaders. These false and
inflammatory words that poison the national discourse lead directly and
indirectly to divided homes and churches, ruined families and wasted lives.
We must do our best to stop that flow of poison at its source and the 'soul
force' rules of relentless nonviolent resistance show us how."
Already Soulforce, Inc. has two "direct actions" in process. White is
currently training five thousand people of faith in nonviolent resistance
through an eight-week, seventeen-email Journey into Soulforce. The focus of
this first email journey is to bring truth to Jerry Falwell. Mel and Gary
are inviting people of faith to sign up for the complimentary email Journey
and to consider joining them in Lynchburg, October 22-24, 1999. In
preparation for that visit, Mel is writing a series of Open Letters to Jerry
Falwell.
In Los Angeles, Soulforce, Inc. is working to bring truth to Pat Robertson
and the Fox Family Channel. This Soulforce direct action is led by an
executive committee of nearly a hundred clergy, co-chaired by Mel and the
Rev. Dr. James Lawson, the distinguished African-American civil rights leader
who trained the young people who integrated lunch counters, rode Freedom Ride
busses, faced police dogs and fire hoses. Clergy and lay people of faith
across the nation are encouraged to contact Mel for more information about
confronting the 700 Club rhetoric heard twice daily on Fox.
White, and his partner, Gary Nixon, describe themselves as "accidental
activists" who found themselves "in the front lines" after the publication of
White's autobiography Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In
America. Once a ghostwriter and filmmaker for leaders on the "religious
right," White has become a primary spokesman against their antigay rhetoric
and antigay political activism.
Recently, Dr. White and his partner received the "Distinguished
Service Award" at the Nineteenth General Conference of the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in Los Angeles. "We are
celebrating Mel and Gary's six years of service," said the Rev. Elder Nancy
Wilson who presented the award. "Together, they have traveled to forty states
on our behalf, speaking, organizing, and demonstrating for justice. We thank
them for helping to change minds and hearts across the nation and we promise
them our love and support in their new Soulforce ministry."
"We aren't ending the relationship with our UFMCC friends," White explained
in an interview after the ceremony, "We're just taking our message of
relentless nonviolent resistance to the larger ecumenical and interfaith
communities. Ending the flow of antigay rhetoric and reconciling with its
primary sources will take all of us working together."
White's new Soulforce web page offers a "Four Step Journey into Soulforce"
and a wide variety of other resources, including three "almost free, OK to
copy" Soulforce videos. To sign up for the more extensive but still
complimentary email Journey into Soulforce, contact Mel and Gary. Dr. White is also available to teach Soulforce workshops and
seminars, to speak in churches and synagogues, on college and university
campuses, and at pride and justice events.
To Contact Mel White: Email him directly at Info@soulforce.org or RevMel@aol.com. Write him at Soulforce, Inc., P.O. Box 4467, Laguna Beach, CA. 92652; or Phone: (949) 455-0999 Fax: (949) 455-0959.
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Stranger at the Gate : To Be Gay and Christian in America Mel White
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