RUN 4 gay lives...

The names are endless. Tyler Clementi's suicide is just the lightning rod garnering national attention, but gay teens die every day and go completely unnoticed. It's time to go to the root cause of the homophobia that's killing our children, homo-hatred from on high, to bring the reality of the lives lost to their doorstep. In an article titled, We're Done Accepting Excuses, Toby Grace from Out IN Jersey magazine said it best: "Too many kids have died. We're done with giving preachers and churches who teach homophobia a free pass because "you have to respect religion." No we do NOT have to respect religions that bring hatred and death. If some cult tried to re-establish the worship of Baal, to whom the people of ancient Carthage sacrificed infants, we would emphatically NOT respect them. Why then should we respect churches, such as the Mormons, that teach it is better to be dead than gay? Because they say God told them so? Yeah, well, the worshippers of Baal said the same thing. We will no longer let gay kids be sacrificed to the perverted version of God preached by arrogant fanatics who have stolen the stage from the great majority of religious people whose faith is in a doctrine of love and acceptance. We will confront them. We will tell the kids they are all right. We will show them a path to churches, organizations and people who will support and love them. We will let them know the message of hatred they have heard preached is a theology of darkness and evil." Bishop Eddie Long is a lightning rod of another sort. The prosperity pastor has preached and marched for anti-gay causes, even advocating "death" for certain sins; which make the sexual coercion charges leveled by 4 young men recently against Long and his New Birth Baptist Missionary Church in Lithonia particularly reprehensible. David Barton, Glenn Beck’s favorite Christian nationalist pseudo-historian wondered aloud why the federal government doesn’t “regulate homosexuality,” comparing gay men and lesbians to trans fats, fast food, cigarettes, hard liquor, and salt. For these reasons, in association with SGL Café, we've launched Run4GayLives. Because we are fit, we are strong, and we are done accepting excuses for gay lives being lost to homo-hatred. The idea occurred while running and pondering the issue. The endorphines fueled a superhuman plan, a way to mix athleticism and healthy living with activism in an effort to raise awareness for the detrimental effects of homo-hatred on our youth. The original idea was to run across country - wearing shirts with the faces of youth killed by homo-hatred (whether suicide or murder), and filming the whole thing for a documentary. That plan would take the better part of a year to complete. Yikes. When the endorphine-rush faded, the plan took on a more realistic approach: to work with local LGBT friendly athletic groups, sports teams, etc. to organize local runs which would send a positive message to our youth, one with an athletic face that says the once-bullied are now strong. A face that says it certainly gets better. Contact Taylor@SGLcafe.com for more info as this action develops and if you'd like to participate or lend support. Meanwhile, to help move Run4GayLives from a crouch into a sprint, make a donation to the cause. Our generation needs to show the next one how powerful we really are.