{"id":2126,"date":"2011-07-14T11:54:10","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T11:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.qwocboston.org\/?p=2126"},"modified":"2011-07-14T11:54:10","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T11:54:10","slug":"get-on-the-bus-2-month-tour-targeting-religious-based-lgbt-oppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/?p=2126","title":{"rendered":"Get On the Bus: 2-Month Church Tour Challenges Religious-Based Homophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cMaybe you just needed a little dick\u201d, said a catholic mother to her youngest child, a lesbian,\u00a0after it had been revealed this particular 16 year old had been raped for the second time.\u00a0As a youth worker in the LGBTQ community, I have had to bear witness to many awful\u00a0and disgusting forms of abuse from parents that kick their kids out on the streets, medical\u00a0organizations that refuse to treat transgender clients, educators that call their students faggots,\u00a0dykes and worse…What is hard for many people to hear when I retell these stories of abuse, is\u00a0that often the abusers acting in these situations are doing so out of love- often in the name of\u00a0God. I heard a poet ask once, what the world would look like with more love. Well, this is what\u00a0the world looks like when faith and love are used as weapons.<\/p>\n

From government sanctioned discrimination to the internalized force that drives many in our\u00a0community to drugs and alcohol, it has become my belief that the number one way to create a\u00a0society that is safe for all folks regardless of their sexuality\/gender identity is to address religious\u00a0based oppression. We cannot sit idly by and avoid the religious debate. We must welcome\u00a0it. Face it head on. We must create a worldwide dialogue in which we reach beyond people\u2019s\u00a0intellectual selves and touch them where their morality and compassion lies. For many, this is the\u00a0function of their faith.<\/p>\n

The organization I work for, Soulforce (www.soulforce.org<\/a>), is a national agency that targets\u00a0religious-based oppression impacting LGBTQ people. Every 2 years or so, we organize a two-\u00a0month bus ride around the country for folks 18-30. On this social justice excursion we stop at\u00a0various religious universities and organizations that have anti-LGBTQ policies. From there, we
\nhold dialogues, trainings and information sessions with members of those organizations and\u00a0surrounding community members on creating safer and more affirming spaces. This being our\u00a0biggest program, the Equality Ride was started in 2006 and has helped to change policies and\u00a0anti-LGBTQ practices at institutions all over the country.<\/p>\n

Currently, we have an open application process for the 2012 ride that closes the 1st week<\/strong>\u00a0of August.<\/strong> I would like to challenge each and every one of you that seeks to create lasting\u00a0tangible change for LGBTQ people to consider getting on that bus. As a Black\/Trans activist\u00a0and educator, I know the impact I have seen in my community when we are able to walk people\u00a0through these very important discussions. Whether you claim Christian like my mother, Muslim\u00a0as my father, Atheist as my sister or simply aren\u2019t sure where you fall on the spectrum yet- you\u00a0are welcomed here. We want folks of all kinds, colors, ablenesses and backgrounds. This is
\nwhere change happens. Do you have what it takes to get on the bus?<\/p>\n

Highest Regards,<\/p>\n

Mason<\/p>\n

J. Mason
\nProgram Coordinator
\nSoulforce Inc.
\nMason@soulforce.org
\nwww.soulforce.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soulforce (www.soulforce.org), is a national agency that targets religious-based oppression impacting LGBTQ people. Every 2 years or so, we organize a two- month bus ride around the country for folks 18-30. On this social justice excursion we stop at various religious universities and organizations that have anti-LGBTQ policies. Apply!…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29],"tags":[393,630,746,874,935],"class_list":["post-2126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-jobs-and-internships","tag-equality-ride","tag-lgbt-equality","tag-oppression","tag-religion","tag-soulfource"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/test.qwoc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}