The Marin Foundation, which we discussed recently with some skepticism, tries to bridge GLBT and Evangelical communities. It is doing a survey about GLBT views towards religion. It might be good if they heard from progressives.
Go here to check it out.
11 comments:
Done. Since they asked for my birth place, I am sure they will say --oh, well, of course.....
Of course! It is something in the water.
They ask for people from the GLBT community. I wonder if that includes people who consider themselves allies?
They ask at the end whether you identify as completely gay or completely straight, or what level in between, so I don'tknow what they are after.
They needed someone to review the questions. Some of them certainly need 'not applicable' as a choice.
On the gender question, I would have been happier w/ "Male", "Female" or "Other." (Making "Transgender" the third choice negates the fact that most Trans people ID as one or other of the genders, and THEN maybe Trans also!)
There was definitely an agenda to the poll, IMO: "How do we turn 'Spiritual, Not Religious' queers into Christians?" [And I just hope that's the ONLY "turning" Marin has in mind!]
Since they asked for my birth place, I am sure they will say --oh, well, of course.....
I don't quite follow.
Margaret and I are hippies from Berkeley, JCF.
Heh: as was my brother! (though he's now a conservative, go figure. O_o).
By the time I was born, my parents had moved East to the wilds of Walnut Creek (Contra Costa Co).
[IT, now that I'm writing on my own computer again (Yay), I can access my email address book (ergo, check your email, soon!)]
Actually, they don't ask how you identify, they ask about your sexual experiences, which is a typical evangelical way of thinking about the issue! I wish there had been a general comment box!
Too true, Erika.
I've written to them and had an out-of-office reply until 19 July. If they reply, I'll let you know what they said!
This is what I wrote:
"I've been fascinated by your survey on lgbt people and their spirituality.
But can I please point out that your last question is unlikely to give you any worthwhile data?
To which extent someone identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or straight has absolutely nothing to do with their actual sexual experiences.
A woman could have had boyfriends and a husband and then suddenly found the love of her life with another woman. According to your scale, that would make her predominantely straight, when all it says is that she had discovered true love late in life. She could be bisexual, she could have been a closeted lesbian.
And what about married bisexuals who have only ever had sexual experiences with their marriage partner. They are still bisexual even if their actual sex-life doesn't provide evidence of it.
Closeted lesbians would still be lesbian even if in a heterosexual marriage, but in your survey they would come out as 100% straight.
And celibate people don't feature at all in your survey, although they also have a sexuality.
This obesssion with sex really doesn't help much to discover anything worthwhile about sexuality."
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