WILL FRIENDS HELP ME STOP OTHERS FROM TURNING A BLIND EYE TO HOMOPHOBIA?
WILL FRIENDS HELP ME STOP OTHERS TURNING A BLIND EYE TO HOMOPHOBIA?
The disheartening reality of why my book has not gotten more exposure...
Hello everyone! I am peeking out of writer's seclusion to give everyone a much needed update on how things are going. I will soon be sharing some very good news around the second week of April. I wish it was announcing dates for my book signings, but that is still in the works both here and nationally. Indeed, my signings may be for both The Stolen Light of WoMen and its sequel which I hope to have available this summer. This is a strategic move that I may not have a choice but to use.
In spite of so much praise, 5 star reviews, and interest, it has been deeply disheartening to find that efforts to get the book out to a broader market have been very hard work. I have had great interest from many independent bookstores, only to have the buyers back down because of the controversy of the topic.
Despite so many believing we are living in a more enlightened society, the fact that the book takes such a strong stand for gay rights by tackling religious homophobia at its source (the Bible) has caused many to tell me they will not take a chance on it. Small, independent bookstores whose buyers were thrilled with the topic have regretfully let me know they don't think they can carry it or risk a book signing. At least they acknowledge the dangers of taking on this topic.
On the other end of the spectrum I have experienced an unbelievable level of ignorance. Nothing has been more frustrating than having puzzled looks and being asked, "Is it really that big of a problem?" (i.e. religious discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals)
In answer to that, consider these two high profile instances of discrimination directly caused by Biblical homophobia that happened just this January 2015:
In Ohio a 17 year old transgender teen who named herself Leelah (born Josh Alcorn) committed suicide by walking out into a highway to be struck by a tractor-trailer. Her parents cited the age old religious feel-good excuse of loving their son but could not support his need to be a girl because it was a 'sin' according to the Bible. Leelah was forced into 'conversion' therapy - a barbaric, mentally abusive brain washing procedure used by homophobic churches to try to 'correct' gay and transgender youth back to the way 'God wants them to be'.
In Colorado, a Lakewood church visited by a married lesbian couple was hosting the funeral of the woman's wife. This loving couple had felt safe and accepted at this church. Then, the very day of the funeral, when the wife was mourning the loss of her beloved partner, the pastor let her know that unless pictures showing them sharing a kiss and getting engaged were removed, the funeral would be kicked out. The wife refused and the funeral was thrown out. On the worst day of this woman's life, a church that had dared to make them feel accepted, kicked them out over their zero-tolerance stand on gay marriage. Even worse, when this story hit the news, droves of evangelicals made it known that they supported the pastor's homophobic decision!
Meanwhile, on Change dot org a petition is going around to disbar a lawyer in California who has made it known he thinks it should not be a crime if a gay person is murdered...
It is 2015. Tell me again that my book, which dares to tackle each of the Bible verses that such people use to defend and legitimize their homo/transphobia, is not important for our day and time! I know the information in my book would have made Leelah's parents think twice and I know that pastor in Lakewood would not have had an argument to stand on if someone had made him face the truth that nothing in the Bible condemns homosexuality. I did not write this book because it was my opinion. I wrote it because decades of research PROVES it, but no one has been daring enough to put it out for the average reader or brought the argument straight to the church.
I have never felt more alone than I have in writing this book...
I am a straight woman with a family, but it has only made me understand the loneliness and rejection that so many in the LGBT community suffer through, all because modern homo and transphobia is built on a tradition of Biblical ignorance and control (even in our nation of freedom of expression).
I am hoping that the sequel I am writing will open more doors as its subject matter tackles all the deep, esoteric topics I could not fit into this first book: death, the afterlife, ghosts, demons, angels, and the other side. While no less fascinating, the sequel should be a great deal less controversial, and perhaps in being drawn in to that volume, more people will look back towards this first book.
With that being said, I am so grateful to see that I have been getting some Christian readers opening their minds and that the book has already begun to open the minds of at least a handful of parents. Once the fear of going against their religious beliefs is wiped away, many parents are ready to embrace their children regardless of sexual orientation or gender. To be honest that is my greatest hope at this point and I am planning on creating a shorter, more accessible book focused solely on this issue of taking away the Biblical blinders that keep so many from truly loving humanity unconditionally.
Someday I hope teens will look back on our time period and be shocked that anyone would ever kill themselves over being gay or transgender, the same way it is inconceivable now that someone would kill themselves just because of their race. Someday gender choice and sexual persuasion will be seen as the utterly normal spectrum that it is... but right now, too many are persecuted, isolated, and abused right in our own backyard, let alone the rest of the world. Personally, for me, one more youth driven to suicide over their gender or sexual orientation is one too many. But it can't stop until the last barrier is removed, until homophobic and transphobic people are stripped of their last defense: the claim that 'God' hates gay/trans people because the Bible says so.
Please help that to happen by educating yourself and others and spreading the word about my book to anyone you think needs this information not only for their own soul, but to hopefully save lives by opening minds and changing hearts.
The disheartening reality of why my book has not gotten more exposure...
Hello everyone! I am peeking out of writer's seclusion to give everyone a much needed update on how things are going. I will soon be sharing some very good news around the second week of April. I wish it was announcing dates for my book signings, but that is still in the works both here and nationally. Indeed, my signings may be for both The Stolen Light of WoMen and its sequel which I hope to have available this summer. This is a strategic move that I may not have a choice but to use.
In spite of so much praise, 5 star reviews, and interest, it has been deeply disheartening to find that efforts to get the book out to a broader market have been very hard work. I have had great interest from many independent bookstores, only to have the buyers back down because of the controversy of the topic.
Despite so many believing we are living in a more enlightened society, the fact that the book takes such a strong stand for gay rights by tackling religious homophobia at its source (the Bible) has caused many to tell me they will not take a chance on it. Small, independent bookstores whose buyers were thrilled with the topic have regretfully let me know they don't think they can carry it or risk a book signing. At least they acknowledge the dangers of taking on this topic.
On the other end of the spectrum I have experienced an unbelievable level of ignorance. Nothing has been more frustrating than having puzzled looks and being asked, "Is it really that big of a problem?" (i.e. religious discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals)
In answer to that, consider these two high profile instances of discrimination directly caused by Biblical homophobia that happened just this January 2015:
In Ohio a 17 year old transgender teen who named herself Leelah (born Josh Alcorn) committed suicide by walking out into a highway to be struck by a tractor-trailer. Her parents cited the age old religious feel-good excuse of loving their son but could not support his need to be a girl because it was a 'sin' according to the Bible. Leelah was forced into 'conversion' therapy - a barbaric, mentally abusive brain washing procedure used by homophobic churches to try to 'correct' gay and transgender youth back to the way 'God wants them to be'.
In Colorado, a Lakewood church visited by a married lesbian couple was hosting the funeral of the woman's wife. This loving couple had felt safe and accepted at this church. Then, the very day of the funeral, when the wife was mourning the loss of her beloved partner, the pastor let her know that unless pictures showing them sharing a kiss and getting engaged were removed, the funeral would be kicked out. The wife refused and the funeral was thrown out. On the worst day of this woman's life, a church that had dared to make them feel accepted, kicked them out over their zero-tolerance stand on gay marriage. Even worse, when this story hit the news, droves of evangelicals made it known that they supported the pastor's homophobic decision!
Meanwhile, on Change dot org a petition is going around to disbar a lawyer in California who has made it known he thinks it should not be a crime if a gay person is murdered...
It is 2015. Tell me again that my book, which dares to tackle each of the Bible verses that such people use to defend and legitimize their homo/transphobia, is not important for our day and time! I know the information in my book would have made Leelah's parents think twice and I know that pastor in Lakewood would not have had an argument to stand on if someone had made him face the truth that nothing in the Bible condemns homosexuality. I did not write this book because it was my opinion. I wrote it because decades of research PROVES it, but no one has been daring enough to put it out for the average reader or brought the argument straight to the church.
I have never felt more alone than I have in writing this book...
I am a straight woman with a family, but it has only made me understand the loneliness and rejection that so many in the LGBT community suffer through, all because modern homo and transphobia is built on a tradition of Biblical ignorance and control (even in our nation of freedom of expression).
I am hoping that the sequel I am writing will open more doors as its subject matter tackles all the deep, esoteric topics I could not fit into this first book: death, the afterlife, ghosts, demons, angels, and the other side. While no less fascinating, the sequel should be a great deal less controversial, and perhaps in being drawn in to that volume, more people will look back towards this first book.
With that being said, I am so grateful to see that I have been getting some Christian readers opening their minds and that the book has already begun to open the minds of at least a handful of parents. Once the fear of going against their religious beliefs is wiped away, many parents are ready to embrace their children regardless of sexual orientation or gender. To be honest that is my greatest hope at this point and I am planning on creating a shorter, more accessible book focused solely on this issue of taking away the Biblical blinders that keep so many from truly loving humanity unconditionally.
Someday I hope teens will look back on our time period and be shocked that anyone would ever kill themselves over being gay or transgender, the same way it is inconceivable now that someone would kill themselves just because of their race. Someday gender choice and sexual persuasion will be seen as the utterly normal spectrum that it is... but right now, too many are persecuted, isolated, and abused right in our own backyard, let alone the rest of the world. Personally, for me, one more youth driven to suicide over their gender or sexual orientation is one too many. But it can't stop until the last barrier is removed, until homophobic and transphobic people are stripped of their last defense: the claim that 'God' hates gay/trans people because the Bible says so.
Please help that to happen by educating yourself and others and spreading the word about my book to anyone you think needs this information not only for their own soul, but to hopefully save lives by opening minds and changing hearts.
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