Thursday, July 12, 2012

a trailer and a fundraiser

We now have a trailer for Far Between.  As stated in the trailer, "Ultimately this film isn't just for homosexual Mormons, it's not about preaching to the choir or the converted, it's for anyone who feels like their life circumstances don't perfectly reconcile with their religious aspirations."  I believe everyone can benefit from exploring the questions that the film explores.  We all benefit by concerning ourselves with the questions, doubts, concerns, and uncomfortable realities of those around us. 

Through more than a year of interviews and research, we've covered our costs primarily through self-financing and donated time. To help finance this documentary that we believe will legitimately contribute to the conversation about the experience of being homosexual and Mormon, we've initiated a 40-day fundraising drive with a goal of raising $75,000 to pay for the next phase. Please donate as much as you are able to help bring this conversation to as many people as possible.


Monday, July 2, 2012

you guys, AC360 is gay

It's interesting to see the way that Anderson Cooper has chosen to come out as gay.  As Andrew Sullivan tells it, he and Anderson were having an email exchange about how celebrities are coming out these days, that it isn't as newsworthy as it once was and it's done in more of a muted, subdued fashion.  As a matter of fact, Anderson gave Andrew permission to publish Anderson's email in his column at The Daily Beast, in essence officially "coming out."  I don't think it was really a surprise to most.  I think most people knew that he had a boyfriend, right?  Or maybe it's just gay men who have crushes from afar and watch him get spray tans with Snooki or watch AC360 clips of him giggling over and over again who knew it?  If you were genuinely surprised to hear that he was gay, you should comment and say so.  I'm curious if anyone was surprised.  (I also realize that it's entirely possible that you haven't even really thought about it at all and don't care whether Anderson Cooper is gay.) 

I do like to see the shift in how people are coming out and how it's received by the public.  I like that it is becoming less newsworthy.  I remember when I first came out.  If I told anyone at all, it involved a very lengthy and dramatic conversation that clarified that even though I felt that way, I was going to fix it so everything would be ok.  And I never used the word gay.

It was interesting to see how that shifted as I started coming out in the young single adult ward (congregation) I attended up until a year and a half ago.  I remember coming out to my friend Courtney.  She had just recently moved to Portland and started attending the YSA ward.  She brought me an easter treat and I invited her in and we sat on my couch and talked and in the course of the conversation I told her I was gay.  I remember feeling so proud of myself because it wasn't something that I had planned to do (I usually knew well in advance when I was going to tell people and exactly how I was going to tell them.)  It just happened in the normal flow of the conversation and it felt good.

For the most part now, it just comes out in casual conversation.  Or as casual as the conversation can be when someone in your ward introduces himself and then insists repeatedly on setting you up with a woman he knows.