3.17.14

How do we react when confronted with ignorance?

• being out in Russia -- if you stand up for yourself, you can get arrested or hurt; so, how can we be true to our beliefs/ethics but not internalize hatred (of ourselves, of others)?
• American Baptist Church
• there are times when it is appropriate to stand up, but other times we must be aware of the risks (physical and emotional safety) -- when we don't speak up for what we believe is right, how do we feel?  Very negative feeling, so we must learn how to handle it and cope with it
• What are some outlets? Channeling our frustration through actions (political, outreach, etc), have empathy toward others, deal with it with humor, use our creative outlets (art, music, exercise, meditation)

3.7.14

Meeting session led by Ronaldo!

"Pray your gay away."

• what do we think about this phrase? if we saw it on a sign, would we feel offended? [whip-around share out]
• we can infer that this quote is saying that being gay is both a problem and not normal, and it could be fixed
• maybe all religious people don't approve of LGBTQ, and makes people who are religious look bad
• "my uncle has been praying his gay away for 20 years, and he's still as gay as they come"
• if we base ourselves on stereotypes, 
• when people say that when homosexuality is accepted, it will be the end of the world...they said the same thing when women got the right to vote, they said the same thing when segregation ended...basically, we have always been on the brink of the end of the world
• the motif of the movie Prayers for Bobby (also, But I'm a Cheerleader)
• what if heterosexuality was the sin? (reference short film about it) 
• calling them breeders...it's like reverse racism, when POC hate white people
• CONSTANT WAR AGAINST DIFFERENCE -- we should band together 

Is being gay that something you are born with?

• nature versus nurture
• genetics
• influenced by things that happen to us...trauma, relationships that we've had (or lacked)

T-shirts:

• finalize what we want it to look like (it's like asking someone to correct our homework when we are still working on it)