Days Off

After a very busy two days at Pepperdine University, we were able to take some time off in the Bay Area. We spent the first day in much needed team building and planning time at a Lutheran church in Berkley. I'm still amazed by the outpouring of church support. This ride has been very powerful for me to observe the outpouring of support by straight "adults" and people of faith. I let myself believe that being gay was something that was a thing of the youth generation and that the only non-gay supporters were liberal atheists who supported anything (much love to my roommate Carson!). That is simply not true. This really is a human issue. It is so exciting to really come to a full appreciation of the amazing, God-inspired diversity that exists within the LGBT community.

We were able to journey into San Francisco on our second day. One stop was the Museum of GLBT History. We were able to look through decades worth of history. Correspondence between poets in the 20s, costumes from early performers, pictures from the original Pride parades. We were also able to pour over magazine articles and periodicals about homosexuality ("the homophiles" as it was once called) and religion. They were in between exhibits so there were no elaborate displays but they took us back into their archives which was very exciting.

We got to spend the rest of the day running around the city. Mike, Kelsey, Emil and I got some drinks at surf 'n' turf shop near the Warf and went to the Castro and Market Street for some window shopping (and a little actual shopping). We tried to stop by the San Francisco LGBT Community Center but were already running late so we had to skip it.

Today's afternoon was spent in at a park in Modesto hosted by the PFLAG chapter there. Followed by an appearance at MOFEST, the Modesto LGBT film festival. We were guests of honor of sorts, rolling up in our big bus. The first thing shown was an excerpt from the Equality U documentary, which still chokes me up. I think most everyone else had a similar reaction. It is always nice to meet up with local communities as we travel. It really puts a face to the reasons why we are out in the field.

Tomorrow is community outreach in the Fresno area and final preparations for our time at Fresno Pacific next week. I'm excited!