Soulforce (organization)
Encyclopedia
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
organization that supports acceptance of lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
, and queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
(LGBTQ) people through dialogue and creative forms of nonviolent direct action. Soulforce is inspired by the principles of relentless nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
as taught and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
The organization is led by its Executive Director Rev. Cindi Love
Cindi Love
Cynthia "Cindi" Love is an American businesswoman, academic administrator and clergymember who served for four years as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Community Church , a denomination run predominantly by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people...
. It was founded in 1998 by the Rev. Dr. Mel White
Mel White
James Melville "Mel" White is an American clergyman and author. White was a behind-the-scenes member of the Evangelical Protestant movement through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, writing speeches and ghostwriting books for televangelists such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham...
, who was a ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
, Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
, Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
, and others until he came out as a gay man.
Soulforce has sought nonviolent dialogue with leaders of every Protestant denomination and the Roman Catholic Church, as well as religious leaders such as James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
, Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
, and Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
. When dialogue is denied, Soulforce, as directed by the principles of nonviolence, begins to plan and implement direct actions which have included vigils, protest rallies, sit-ins, marches, and various forms of peaceful civil disobedience. Soulforce has also helped share the stories of many "ex-gay
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
survivors
Ex-ex-gay
The term ex-ex-gay is used to describe people who at one time participated in the ex-gay movement in an attempt to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, but who then later went on to publicly accept that their sexual orientation falls under the LGBT umbrella...
", most recently by creating the Ex-Gay Survivor Conference in 2007. Through the American Family Outing project, LGBT couples and parents, as well as straight ally families, created dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity at six of the largest mega-churches in the country, including those pastored by Dr. Rick Warren
Rick Warren
Richard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...
, Joel Osteen
Joel Osteen
Joel Scott Osteen is an American author, televangelist, and the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. His ministry reaches over seven million broadcast media viewers weekly in over 100 nations around the world.-Biography:...
, Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels
William Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with an average attendance of nearly 24,000 as of 2011...
, and Bishop T.D. Jakes. The Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights campaign galvanized hundreds of new straight allies, and its Right to Serve Campaign
Right to Serve Campaign
The Right to Serve Campaign was a project of Soulforce, a national organization which counters religious and political oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people...
protested the Don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
policy in the United States military. Soulforce has also challenged policies at many Christian colleges and universities that allegedly deny academic freedom to LGBTQ students through an almost annual bus trip by young activists called the Equality Ride.
Equality Ride
Since 2006, Soulforce has supported a project called the Equality RideEquality Ride
The Equality Ride is a periodic LGBT rights bus journey across the United States led by young adults and sponsored by Soulforce, a national LGBT nonprofit organization. Its primary goal is to foster dialogue on issues of faith, sexuality, and gender, and discrimination against lesbian, gay,...
led by young adults. In 2007 it was divided into two different trips (eastern and western), each leg visiting 15-20 different colleges. Other rides were launched in 2008 and 2010. A fifth Equality Ride is planned for the spring of 2012. At nearly every school, the young adults find that many students are interested in conversations about faith, sexual orientation, and gender-identity. Some school administrators choose to allow the dialogue between students and Equality Riders. Other schools deny access.
Right to Serve Campaign
The Right to Serve Campaign was the first nationally organized youth effort to bring attention to the Don't ask, don't tellDon't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
policy of the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. Nonviolent protests and events were staged in thirty cities in 2006. The Campaign centered on bringing media and governmental attention to the existence of qualified individuals who wished to serve in the military but did not wish to hide their sexual identity.
External links
- Soulforce — official website