For the Bible Tells Me 'No'

So, I get these Google Alerts in my email box daily - always GLBT news of some sort, particularly pertaining to Dallas where I live. Google is a great thing - if you haven't yet discovered Google Alerts, you're living in the Ice Age. Seriously...go get 'em.

On Monday, I get an alert about a new film titled For the Bible Tells Me So. Naturally, I was intrigued since it seems lately that God and all of his followers have been cramming the Good Word down my throat. For the past few months, a large gang of Jesus freaks have been congregating outside JR's (a local gay bar on the gay strip in Dallas), forming a circle and singing tunes that include words like "Jesus Saves" and "Jesus forgives." You can't blame these folks for standing up for what they believe in...but come on...you don't see a gaggle of fags standing outside a motorcycle bar singing Madonna tunes, trying to convert all of them into good little gays!

Right, so Jesus is all up in my Kool-Aid these days. The religious conservatives are all about sending us fags to hell - several even want us killed, according to signs they hold up when protesting in the streets.

After reading all about this new film, I can't wait to see it. So, I send a blanket text message to everyone in my address book, looking for someone with whom I can see the film. Bingo! My straight female friend, who has a 19-year old gay son, is all about attending with me.

The film is a documentary that was very well directed, telling the story of non-acceptance of the GLBT community in the religious world. Chronicling the lives of several families who are born and raised with religion in their lives, each family finds themselves becoming connected to the GLBT community through a sibling, child or relative who outs themselves.

This film is very powerful and quite controversial. We watch one mother tell her own lesbian daughter that she will never be accepted and that she is going to Hell for being gay. Later, the lesbian hangs herself and the mother grieves her daughter's death for years to come. This tragic turn of events makes a light go off in Mom's head, and she decides to go back and read all of these passages in the Bible that supposedly say homosexuality is wrong. Through her own education, and without the direction of her church for once, Mom understands these passages in a completely different way. Mom now believes that the Bible never meant that homosexuality is wrong...that it is misunderstood and misquoted by the entire religious community. Several reverends back this up. So, Mom sets out with her new-found knowledge and begins protesting for gay rights, remembering and memorializing her daughter's death every step of the way.

There are several real-life stories in this film about families who have their own struggles with homosexuality and religion. Each story is very moving.

I highly recommend seeing this film - gay or straight.

Check it out at www.forthebibletellsmeso.org.