Soulforce 2007 Annual Report a Note from the Executive Director

Soulforce 2007 Annual Report A Note from the Executive Director

Dear Friends, distorted representations of our lives. our donors, board of directors, and staff. 2007 was a These courageous Soulforce We’ve used every penny to finance new remarkable year for activists were not standing alone. 2007 and exciting strategies for moving toward bringing nonviolent was a watershed year for collaboration. equality as we expose and resist religious direct action to new Soulforce staff and volunteers worked and political oppression. places and new side-by-side with members of Atticus As vital as money is to our success, it is people. By stepping Circle, Beyond Ex-gay, American Civil certainly not our greatest asset. Dedi- Jeff Lutes onto the most Liberties Union, and numerous statewide cated people around the country volun- defended bastions of Christian higher equality organizations. Collaboration teered countless hours to help us create, education, Equality Riders tread new strengthens our movement, expands our organize, and implement each and every ground for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and impact, and allows us to make connec- action. I’m proud of the tremendous suc- transgender students. Survivors of ex-gay tions between oppressions in order to cess denoted in this annual report and programs, emboldened by a new sense of advance the dignity and equality of all even more grateful for the passion and community, shared their powerful witness persons. commitment of remarkable people who outside the strongholds of the ex-gay As this report indicates, our infuse Soulforce with their energy. Be- industry. Through Seven Straight Nights, annual income has gone from just over cause of you, we are making a significant straight allies found a dynamic venue $80,000 when our organization began in impact in creating a safer and more just to make public their political support 1998, to just over $1,000,000 this year. world for LGBT people and their families for equality. And at Focus on the Family, In the two years since I’ve been Execu- and a more equitable world for all. brave men and women used their relent- tive Director, I’ve watched our income In the next few pages we share the less presence to belie James Dobson’s almost double due to the loyal support of story of our 2007 activities. l The Equality Ride March 8–April 26, 2007 n 2007, 52 young adult Equality Riders traveled to I32 Christian colleges on a mission to start conversations about faith, sexuality, and inclusion. The impact of their journey is still unfolding across the nation. All of the colleges on the 2007 Equality Ride have policies that silence or exclude LGBT students. But while discrimination was the common thread, the schools exhibited a wide variety of responses to the Equality Riders’ invitation to create a public dialogue about the experiences of LGBT students. Negotiations with prospective schools began in October 2006. Some The Equality Ride at Notre Dame schools welcomed the Riders’ diverse perspectives, some set narrow limita- tions on the Riders’ campus access, and others went so far as to ban them from campus. In the end, the Riders suffered more than 100 trespassing ar- rests in order to bring a message of hope and justice to every school on both the Eastern and Western routes. Impacts on individual hearts and minds will continue to develop long after theEquality Riders have returned home. Student newspapers continue to cover students who have come out in the wake of the Equality Ride. And, in cities across America, hundreds of people have now engaged in conversations about sexuality and faith because their churches, student groups, and equality organizations joined Riders for meals, community service, and public presentations. Six of the schools now have gay-straight alliances, and students at several schools have made progress on changing policies. Seattle and New York City proclaimed April 11 and April 14, respectively, as official Soulforce Equality Ride 2007 Day. The Equality Ride at Gordon College The Right To Marry Campaign New York State July 14–28, 2007

n July 14th, 2007, a group of young Oadults from New York and across the country set out to speak with the citizens of New York and their legislators about marriage equality. For four weeks, the Soulfore Q Right to Marry campaign used a variety of creative and unconventional means to engage with local communities. The campaign kicked off with a visit to the office of State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Right to Marry participants shared their views and stories with staffers and left an unorthodox calling card: a pair of shoes. The shoes represented the young adult hopes that Bruno would “walk a mile in their shoes” and consider how marriage equality might affect their lives. In their efforts to create a statewide dialogue about marriage equality, the young adults of the Right to Marry campaign also connected directly with the citizens of New York. For example, Riders on the western route handed out free wedding cake on the streets of Elmira, along with fliers outlining the difficulties that gay and lesbian couples Right To Marry participants Ryan Werb and Gabriel Cooper, want marriage equality so currently face in creating legal protections they can serve in the Peace Corps together. They have been together over two years. for their relationships. Riders on the northern route visited the Saratoga County Fair wearing t-shirts that asked “Do you believe in marriage? I do.” The t-shirts inspired conversations with Soulforce Q Notes high school students, workers, parents, and lexey Bulokhov and Haven Herrin represented Soulforce during grandparents. Aa meeting of LGBT activists in Eastern Europe. They attended the The campaign also included meetings International Lesbian and Gay Association conference in Vilnius, with religious communities, including a Lithuania as well as a queer youth and faith conference in Budapest, forum at Long Island Community Fellowship Hungary. In 2007 Soulforce became an official member of ILGA. Alexey church, where participants examined the role comments, “It was inspiring and humbling to learn that Soulforce of the church in social justice movements work is known and admired outside the U.S.” While traveling within and the role of young adults in the lesbian, Russia, Alexey also had an Equality Ride follow-up encounter: a two gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights hour in-flight conversation with a group of recent Brigham Young movement. University graduates en route to their Latter-Day-Saint mission posts. “The opportunity to spend the past several days with the Soulforce’s Right to n July, Alexey Bulokhov and Jarrett Lucas were invited to visit with a Marry Team was eye opening,” said Pastor Igroup of high school sophomores and juniors taking a summer course Shane Hibbs. “It is an experience which calls at the University of Minnesota in Morris. The class was called “Talking all religious persons from a faith of words to About a Revolution: Dissent and Freedom of Expression in Today’s a faith of action.” World” and examined the Equality Ride among its many case studies. The Ex-Gay Survivor’s Conference University of California, Irvine • June 29–July 1, 2007

n June 28, 2007, three former leaders from Exo- Odus International—the powerful coalition of “ex- gay” ministries—appeared at a Soulforce press conference to present an unprecedented public apology for spreading the message that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are sinful and that sexual orientation can change. This historic press event was covered by CNN’s Paula Zahn, the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, and the Associated Press. The Ex-gay Survivor Conference was the very first international gathering specifically designed to help those who have experienced ex-gay ministries or reparative therapy programs. The conference was a collaboration between Soulforce, the LGBT Resource Center at UC Irvine, and beyondexgay.com and was timed to provide an alternative voice to the annual Exodus conference, which convened in Irvine at the same time. After the conference,Soulforce worked with participating ex-gay survivors and beyondexgay.com to organize a month of direct actions at significant ex-gay programs across the nation. These actions featured the personal witness of ex-gay survivors, who told of the spiritual, psychological, and financial devastation that they suffered in ex-gay programs. This campaign, dubbed The Survivor’s Initiative, brought the momentum and moral force of the conference to sites across the country.

Supporting Transgender Equality Soulforce Media Director Paige Schilt led a workshop for women with FTM and genderqueer partners at Gender Odyssey, a large FTM/transgender conference in Seattle in August. Soulforce Q representatives, Katie Higgins and Haven Herrin attended the conference. Katie Higgins, Director of Operations of Soulforce Q, participated in the TransForming Justice conference in San Francisco that focused on the transgender experience in the US jail and justice system. Haven Herrin and Alexey Bulhokov met and established a relationship with the New York Paige Schilt Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) and Transgender Legal Defense & Educa- tion Fund (TLDEF) while in NYC. These organizations agreed to help ensure that Transgender people are better represented on the 2008 Equality Ride. Soulforce Q mobilized young activists to hold “Silent T” parties in protest of the non- inclusive ENDA. Several documented their activities on YouTube. Soulforce joined 350 equality organizations in a letter urging the House of Representatives to pass a fully inclusive ENDA. Soulforce and Soulforce Q supported Kourt Osborn, a former Equality Rider, in his fight for housing at Southern Utah University. Matt Hill Comer, a participant in all the Soulforce Q campaigns, broke the story on his nationally popular blog and the Soulforce press release was picked up by state and local media in Utah. Kourt Osborn Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights Across the U. S. A. • October 7–13, 2007

traight people across the nation “came out” as supporters of equal rights for SLGBT Americans during the week of October 7–13, 2007. From Santa Rosa, California, to Montgomery, Alabama, to Augusta, Maine, night-time vigils illuminated 38 American cities over the course of seven nights, providing unprecedented visibility to heterosexual men and women with the conviction to stand up for their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender friends and neighbors. Through Seven Straight Nights, straight ally voices resonated in California and New York, two states where marriage equality is being considered by the state Supreme Court and the State Senate, respectively. In twenty-six states, Seven Straight Nights events helped straight allies connect with political organizations dedicated to LGBT equality. Soulforce and Atticus Circle, the national sponsors of the event, partnered with more than 30 national and state equality organizations, including American Civil Liberties Union, Faith in America, Marriage Equality USA, GLAAD, Love Makes a Family, Hands-On Atlan- ta, Equality Maine, Upstate United, and Equality Texas. At the vigil in Greenville, South Carolina, straight allies experienced the immediate power of their convictions when they were confronted by protesters from Zachary Baptist Church, who shouted that gays and lesbians are “doomed to hell” and brandished signs that read, “God Abhors You.” Seven Straight Nights at a Glance: In spite of the efforts to intimidate them, the Seven Number of Vigils: 38 Straight Nights participants held their ground, lighting Number of States: 26 1,138 candles to represent the rights and responsibilities Number of Participating Organizations: 32 denied to same-sex couples in the state. Supporting International Soulforce Notes n the Spring of 2007, Soulforce co-founder and President of the State Equality Efforts IBoard Rev. Mel White traveled to Bali to begin demonstrating to our growing friends around the world that Soulforce is not only concerned with religion-based oppression by Christians, but oulforce Executive Director other faiths as well. The World Health Organization estimates SJeff Lutes served as Master that at any one time there are “several thousand rent boys and of Ceremonies for the 3rd at least 5,000 young women” who work Annual Dinner of the Kentucky the streets, beaches, and brothels of Fairness Alliance, November 10 Bali, and that HIV/AIDS education was in Louisville, Kentucky. almost unknown among them. Most United around the theme workers never get tested because just “Celebrating Leaders of showing up for the test would label Change” fairness allies from all them gay, and for a Muslim that could over Kentucky gathered for din- mean unemployment and rejection by ner, dancing, and community family and friends. Soulforce will be Jeff Lutes, Jody Cofer building at the Frazier Interna- working with Metropolitan Community and Vic Basile tional History Museum. Churches to determine what is being done for HIV/AIDS prevention and to see what services are being provided for those already infected. Rev. Mel White Focus on the Facts Denver and Colorado Springs • Feb–Dec 2007 n 2007, Soulforce launched Focus on the Facts, an ongoing campaign of nonviolent Idirect action and civil disobedience which aims to intervene in James Dobson and Focus on the Family’s representations of lesbian and gay families. The campaign is coordinated by Denver resident and Soulforce volunteer Chris Hubble. During the inaugural action, Dotti Berry and Robynne Sapp of Blaine, Washing- ton, entered the Focus building and refused to leave until the organization’s founder, James Dobson, agreed to cease his misleading statements about research on lesbian and gay parents. They were arrested and escorted from the building. In the months that followed, Soulforce organizers kept nonviolent pressure on Robynne Sapp and Dotti Berry Dobson’s Colorado headquarters through a variety of means, including: • A telephone press conference featuring social science researchers who detailed Dobson’s misrepresentation of their research on same-sex families. • A vigil outside Focus on the Family. • A sit-in featuring Soulforce Q youth activists. • A tour of Dobson’s headquarters with members of the Denver LGBT community, led by Denver-based musician James Roy. In September, Focus on the Facts expanded its purview to include direct action for marriage equality. On September 24, Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder of Engle- wood, Colorado, entered the Denver Clerk and Recorder Office to request an ap- plication for a marriage license. After being denied on the basis of state and federal law, Burns and Schroeder refused to leave, insisting that discriminatory marriage laws are an example of religion-based oppression and undermine America’s tradition of religious pluralism protected by the U.S. Constitution. The two were arrested, Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder cited for trespassing, and released without bail. Their trial is pending in 2008. • • • • • • Arts and Media Exposure • • • • • • n 2007, Soulforce issued 68 press releases and was Soulforce Q Director of Outreach Ireferenced in the print media a record 203 times and in Jarrett Lucas was featured in the PBS the broadcast media 143 times. A few examples: documentary, Generation Next 2.0. Rev. Mel White appeared on Generation Next covers the challenges Larry King Live and Anderson Cooper facing young adults 18-25. Jarrett spoke 360 to discuss the passing of Rev. Jer- about his experience of being kicked out of his home his senior high school ry Falwell and Soulforce’s attempts to Jarrett Lucas on PBS change Jerry’s heart and mind about year because of his family’s Jehovah lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Witness beliefs, and his experiences on the Equality Ride. To see the documentary, visit http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ people over the past ten years. Anderson Cooper and Mel White generation-next/documentary/index.html. The trailer for SoleJourney, a doc- Soulforce Director of National umentary film covering the 2006 and Actions Bill Carpenter represented 2005 actions at Focus on the Family, Soulforce at the controversial art was included in the DVD release of exhibit “Who Do You Say That I Am? Shock to the System, a Here! Movie Visions of Christ, Gender & Justice” at starring Soulforce supporter Chad Al- the JHS Gallery in Taos, New Mexico. len. The movie was a fictional account Expecting protests, the artists invited of an investigation into the world Chad Allen is detail of painting by Donald Strachey in Soulforce to offer nonviolence training Becki Jayne Harrelson of “gay conversion therapy”— a mix Shock to the System to the community and to share in-depth (www.beckijayne.com) of psychology and religion designed about Soulforce. to turn homosexuals “straight.” For more information, see Soulforce co-founder and Board President Rev. Mel www.solejourneythemovie.com. White was interviewed for an HBO documentary, Friends of Soulforce began a partnership with Denver-based musi- God by Alexandra Pelosi. The documentary covers individuals cian James Roy on his latest release, Rise Above. Ten percent with a wide range of evangelical experiences, among them of the proceeds of this CD will go to benefit the work of Soul- visitors at religion-themed parks, a Christian comic, creation- force. For more information, see www.jamesroymusic.com. ist educators, Liberty University students, and activists. 2007 Soulforce Financial Statements 2007 Revenue 2007 Expenses Individual Donors...... $511,177 Programs...... $662,592 Foundations and Organizations ...... $486,090 Equality Ride...... $354,537 Corporations ...... $7,700 Focus on the Facts ...... $10,510 Earned Income...... $12,424 International Outreach ...... $10,740 Right to Marry ...... $68,645 Total Funds Raised ...... $1,017,391 Right to Serve (from 2006)...... $9,177 Seven Straight Nights...... $72,546 Survivor’s Initiative...... $69,740 Soulforce growth since incorporation: 2008 Actions...... $31,195 Year Annual Budget + - growth % growth Publications & Education...... $35,502 1998 80,065 n/a n/a 1999 152,025 71,960 89% 2007 Publications: 2000 183,300 31,275 20% What the SCIENCE Says—And Doesn’t Say—About Homosexuality 2001 251,213 67,913 37% Lo Que Dice o No Dice La Biblia Sobre La Homosexualidad 2002 381,064 129,851 52% (What the Bible Says—And Doesn’t Say—. . . SPANISH VERSION) 2003 319,625 -61,439 --% The Equality Ride 2007: East and West Report 2004 418,125 98,500 31% Soulforce: A Brief History, 1999- 2006 2005 497,000 78,875 18% Fundraising ...... $169,622 2006 780,591 283,591 57% 2007 1,017,391 184,587 24% Management and General ...... $165,564 2008 1,080,000 114,822 12% Total Expenses ...... $997,778

Audited financial statements will be provided upon request. Please e-mail [email protected] to receive more information.

• • • Arts and Media Exposure, continued • • • •

everal people of Soulforce play a major role in Dan SKarslake’s prize-winning documentary For the Bible Tells Me So: Rev. Mel White, our President, Mary Lou and Bob Wallner, and Randi, Phil and Jake Reitan. One of the film’s deeply moving moments is the arrest of Soulforce board member, Phil Reitan, his wife Randi, and their son, Jake, (the founder of our Soulforce Equality Ride) as they tell their story surrounded by police and television crews at a massive Soulforce protest at James Dobson’s headquarters in Colorado Springs. Featuring other testimonials by families who have conquered their fears and accepted their lesbian and gay children unconditionally and the wise counsel of such inter- nationally known religious leaders as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bishop Gene Robinson, and the Rev. Peter Gomes, this motion picture reconciles homosexuality and the Bible in new and powerful ways and is a godsend to people who Phil, Jake, and Randi Reitan protest at James Dobson’s still have questions about those “clobber passages” used to Headquarters in Colorado Springs. The event was an integral part caricature and condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans- of the documentary, For the Bible Tells Me So. gender people. In the process the film reveals clearly that prizes and standing ovations at film festivals across the US, religion-sanctioned, anti-homosexual bias is based entirely and was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 on biblical misuse and scientific ignorance. Sundance Film Festival. Even the national media are raving: Karslake’s motion picture will also inspire and inform “Inspiring!” (Los Angeles Times); “Enlightening” (Wash- those who have never seen Soulforce in action or heard ington Post); “Brilliant” (Miami Herald) and “A Triumph” the stories of those who have been transformed by stand- (Philadelphia Inquirer). Order your own DVD copy through ing with Soulforce. For the Bible Tells Me So is winning www.forthebibletellsmeso.org. Soulforce would like to thank the following Foundations: • Arcus Foundation • H. van Ameringen Foundation • Bruce Bastian Foundation • David Bohnett Foundation • Collingwood Foundation • • Gill Foundation • Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Foundation • Charles M. Holmes Foundation • JDL Foundation • Kopp Family Foundation • • Kevin J. Mossier Foundation • Judith Rothchild Foundation • Small Change Foundation • Someone Cares Charitable Trust •

Soulforce Board of Directors Chuck Phelan, Board Chairperson Entrepreneur, Los Angeles, CA Jeff Lutes Soulforce Executive Director Psychotherapist, Austin, TX Karen Ball, Board Member Attorney, Columbus, OH Bill Carpenter, Soulforce Director of National Actions St. Petersburg, FL The Reverend Paul Egertson Retired Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Los Angeles, CA Dr. Phil Lawson, Board Member Retired United Methodist Pastor and Civil Rights leader Hercules, CA Matt Kulisch, Board Member 2007 Equality Rider and former BYU student, Spokane, WA Gary Nixon, Board Secretary Soulforce Co-Founder and Business Director, Lynchburg, VA Judy Osborne, Board Member Retired PBS Executive, Seattle, WA Dr. Rodney Powell, Board Member Retired Physician and Civil Rights leader, Honolulu, HI Philip Reitan, Board Member Attorney, North Mankato, MN Rev. Mel White, Board President Soulforce Co-Founder, Lynchburg, VA