GCN Radio - March 3, 2006
Transcribed by sandushinka

To listen to this episode, visit http://www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio

BRIAN: Hi, this is Brian at GCN Radio. I've been off for a couple of weeks but now I'm back. And I just want to say thank you to Justin and Kennan for hosting the show last week. You guys did an awesome job and had a great show. People have been wondering what's going on with me and you're all very sweet to ask. I did have the flu for a week and then as soon as I got better I ran up against some big time work obligations that I really couldn't get out of and took a lot of extra time. But all of that's behind me now and I'm back on track with GCN Radio. So thanks again for your prayers and support. This show that you're about to hear is a show that Justin and I recorded a couple of weeks ago. We hope you enjoy it.

[GCN Opening Theme]

JUSTIN: So I broke my mike stand today.

BRIAN: What? No.

JUSTIN: I did. I was trying to get my microphone situated for the show and the little -- it's hard to describe it -- the little thing that holds my mike is not quite big enough for the mike and so I was . . .

BRIAN: Ah, the clip.

JUSTIN: . . . trying to get it to fit and I broke it.

BRIAN: Do you want me to send you a mike clip?

JUSTIN: I don't know how it's supposed to be. I don't have a professional setup here so I don't know.

BRIAN: I've got a hundred million mike clips just laying around. I'm the audio techno-geek guy. I go through them like Kleenex. I mean, I could just send you one.

JUSTIN: Well that might help, I don't know. Right now, I'm trying to keep the microphone from falling, so if something happens during the show . . .

BRIAN: OK, we know why if you suddenly fade away, we know your microphone just went clonk.

JUSTIN: Yes. So how's your day going today? TGIF as usual, of course.

BRIAN: Happy that it's Friday. We're going through a weird weather pattern. We've actually had a lot of rain in the Midwest. It's been a very topsy-turvy winter. One day it'll be 55, the next day it'll be 35. It's been weird. My life is never dull, I can say that much. There's always something going on.

JUSTIN: Well, that's more than some people can say so that's a good thing.

BRIAN: I'm happy about that. I try to stay busy. That's my way of coping, I guess, with the life is just staying busy. When I'm bored, I'm bad when I'm bored. Wait, that's a song. [singing] I'm bad when I'm bored . . .

JUSTIN: Well, we keep you busy with doing the show as well.

BRIAN: Oh, yeah. So I hear that we have big changes coming over at GCN.

JUSTIN: We do, yes, of course gaychristian.net is the web sites and the organization that sponsors GCN Radio.

BRIAN: Our one and only underwriter.

JUSTIN: That's right. And our web site is getting ready to undergo some pretty major changes. It's going to get a nice facelift and a bunch of new features and all kinds of good stuff. So keep an eye out for that.

BRIAN: Yes. And this show may get a little change here or there too so just keep on listening and waiting. You just never know what might happen when you right-click on download.

JUSTIN: You never know. I never know.

BRIAN: Oh, you know I'm full of surprises.

JUSTIN: Ah, yes. So we've got some user comments. Let's get to our user comments.

BRIAN: Ok.

JUSTIN: I asked a question, we asked a question at the end of last season about how people found us and all that. So let me just tell you what some of these people said about GCN Radio.

BRIAN: Oh my goodness. OK.

JUSTIN: Forgive us for a moment of . . .

BRIAN: . . . self-indulgence?

JUSTIN: . . . self-indulgence. Exactly, thank you. So Caroline writes in:

"How did I find out about GCN Radio. Hmm, divine intervention. No, really, I'm not sure for some reason or another one day I got it into my head to search on Google for 'gay Christian radio'."

I wonder why? Wow, that's interesting that someone would search for "gay Christian radio." She says:

"I'm not really sure how, why or what I was expecting but on that page of random semi-related results, I followed a link to a transcript of one of your shows. I skimmed it and was very interested and immediately started listening to the previous shows up on the site. That was probably about a month or 2 ago. Keep up the good work. You guys are an inspiration. I'm very grateful to have found GCN. It and both you guys are just totally awesome."

BRIAN: Awww.

JUSTIN: I wrote that last part. No, just kidding. That's so sweet. Thank you, Caroline.

BRIAN: Yeah, thanks.

JUSTIN: Caroline's trying to butter us up so that we'll be all excited when she writes in -- the same way that we are when Jenny calls.

BRIAN: Exactly. That's right, we're going to get all enthusiastic and excited.

JUSTIN: Rebecca writes:

"Hello, I have no idea how you should open or close the show, . . . "

That's the question we'd asked before.

". . . but I can tell you how I found out about GCN Radio. I first heard of it through Eric's Two World Collision blog. Since then I've called back once or twice. I really like it. It's challenged my views about what gay people are and helped me confront why I was before reluctant to say you could be gay and Christian. So thanks, especially for the intellectual episodes."

Well, maybe we'll have some intellectual stuff today.

BRIAN: Wow, huh.

JUSTIN: Danny wrote:

"It has taken me a while to finally accept being gay. It's something I've tried hiding in the back of my mind. Lately, I've met people that experienced the same struggles I too am facing, being Christian and gay. I just happened to come across your podcast while searching the internet. Now I listen to it all the time. It really feels good to know there are other people out there helping people who are Christian and homosexual. You guys are doing awesome, I can't say that enough. Great job and thank you."

BRIAN: Thank you. That's very nice.

JUSTIN: Car writes:

"found GCN while trying to find some sort of Christian podcast. Wasn't even looking for anything gay Christian specific, didn't think it would exist. What a pleasant surprise."

BRIAN: Awww, very nice.

JUSTIN: Joel writes:

"GCN Radio was the first thing I saw or listened to on the web site . . ."

BRIAN: Meaning on GCN.

JUSTIN: Over on gaychristian.net.

". . . if not for GCN Radio I never would have heard the things that made me want to make a difference in my life and in others."

BRIAN: Awww.

JUSTIN: James writes:

"I found out about gaychristian.net and GCN Radio through a Google search. I'm just coming out and really wanted to see what was out there. I've enjoyed the site and I've listened to a good number of broadcasts already. I'm trying to broaden my understanding and be who I am. Thanks for helping me with that process."

BRIAN: I'm kind of in awe of this, I really am.

JUSTIN: I knew you'd appreciate these. And last but not least, this is totally unrelated but I thought was an interesting comment. Someone -- whose name I'm probably going to mispronounce, Ashto, I guess -- writes referring to a conversation we had on one of our previous shows.

"Hope you guys got a chance to see Brokeback Mountain. It is superb. The really sad thing is that I keep seeing Christian reviews that, while they must admit how great the movie is since it's winning so many awards, feel the need to apologize or justify their review with disclaimers that make it clear they don't approve. Just another way which homophobia cripples people. In this case, preventing them from fully understanding or appreciating a truly great film. I look forward to hearing what you guys think about the movie."

So, what do we think? Have you seen the movie Brian?

BRIAN: I don't think we can talk about this because I haven't seen it yet. You know at the conference I tried to go see it and it was sold out. And that was my only chance to go see it.

JUSTIN: Well, we'll talk about it after you've seen it. I've seen it actually but I will reserve my comments. It's a film that, the way that it opened, it was really in almost like an extended limited release, you know what I mean? And it didn't open everywhere. There were a lot of places that you really couldn't see it. So, that's certainly very understandable.

BRIAN: That brings up a good point about something that we had discussed before we went on today about people tending to think certain ways. For instance, Christians saying they saw Brokeback Mountain and what a great movie it was and, oh, but I don't approve of that. Because you're Christian -- "oh, we don't approve of that movie."

JUSTIN: Well, even more than that, a lot of Christians were strongly opposed to the movie, simply because of what they heard about it. Simply because they heard that it featured gay characters. I heard a lot of conservative Christian saying horrible things about it and wanting to boycott theaters that were showing it and all kinds of stuff without having seen it, without knowing anything about it. And then on the flip side you see the same thing in the gay community -- people who rallied behind it and were all excited about it. Again, without knowing anything about it.

BRIAN: Because it's THE THING to be excited about.

JUSTIN: Yeah, and you know it's interesting because -- forgive me for getting up here on a soapbox for a minute . . .

BRIAN: You've never, ever done that.

JUSTIN: I've never done that, no.

BRIAN: This'll be the first time, OK, go ahead.

JUSTIN: But it does bother me. I think a lot of times we see in both communities, we see people rallying to a cause that they really don't know anything about or either they have very limited information. And I feel that we do that so often. And those of us who are gay Christians get caught in the middle. Because the gay community will rally to a cause. You know, we hear that so and so was fired from their job for being gay.

BRIAN: And everyone rallies right around. Exactly.

JUSTIN: Without knowing -- maybe they're using that as an excuse and they got fired because they did a bad job. And maybe it was homophobia -- and that does exist -- but a lot of times we make an assumption without having all the information.

BRIAN: Well the media does this all the time -- person being fired for having purple hair, or whatever. And suddenly we just jump to conclusions right away, without really taking time to find the full story.

JUSTIN: Well, exactly. Like there was that TV show on NBC recently -- The Book of Daniel. Which long before the show was even aired, the conservative Christian community had heard that Jesus was a character on the show and was portrayed in an unusual fashion and that it was about this priest who had a gay son and all that stuff. And so the conservative Christian community was calling for a boycott and very angry about the show -- without having seen it. And then, of course, other people -- a lot of folks in the gay community -- kind of feel like, well, if the conservative Christians take one view . . .

BRIAN: . . . then we automatically take the opposite view.

JUSTIN: So all these people rallying behind the show -- also without ever having seen it. And the show ended up getting canceled.

BRIAN: It's like we have a party line society, almost.

JUSTIN: Well, yeah, exactly.

BRIAN: Maybe this is taking this in a different direction -- not only do we support certain things that we were supposedly "supposed to support," we act a certain way when we're around certain people. For example, sometimes we fall into that trap of saying certain things around our Christian friends that we would never say around our gay friends -- and vice versa. I think some of that's natural. But we act a certain way and sometimes I find myself talking out of both sides of my mouth just to please the people that I'm around, whether its a conservative Christian group or a gay group. And that's something that I really need to work on because that's not really being authentic and true to who I am. But don't you think we get into that?

JUSTIN: Sure. It's putting your membership in a particular group above your identity as an individual, your real beliefs. You can't have any opinions of your own, you have to go along with the party line.

BRIAN: Yeah.

JUSTIN: There's a Will & Grace episode I remember where Will is supporting this one candidate for particular office because the candidate is gay. And Grace is supporting a different candidate because the candidate is Jewish. And then they find out in the end that both of their candidates are terrible. And they ask Jack who he voted for and he says "oh, I voted for the black guy." And they're like "there was a black guy??"

And it's like, why is it that we put these party affiliations, these group affiliations above who we are? People immediately jump to an opinion or a way of talking about things, a way of acting because this is how gay people are. This is how Christians are. This is what the Christian community says, this is what the Republican community, the Democratic community, whatever. Your membership in a group then determines your values and your opinions.

BRIAN: And as Christians we're not called to go by what the group is doing. We're called to be led by our faith.

JUSTIN: Exactly.

BRIAN: There's the issue right there. There's that little itty-bitty challenge that we have there too, to rise above all of that.

JUSTIN: But I think that being led by our faith means more than jumping on the latest boycott, the latest bandwagon that the Christian community is all riled up about. I remember a few years ago this e-mail forward -- and I'm so tired of the e-mail forwards.

BRIAN: I wish they would be outlawed.

JUSTIN: The ones that are spreading misinformation really bother me. I remember a few years ago this e-mail was going around -- and it's still going around in some places -- about Pepsi, boycotting Pepsi.

BRIAN: Oh, yeah, I think I heard about this somewhere.

JUSTIN: There was this e-mail about boycotting Pepsi because supposedly they were coming out with a can design that removed the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. So all these people were upset about boycotting Pepsi. And I talked to conservative Christians who said they were boycotting Pepsi because they took "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Well, none of this was true. It was completely untrue.

The grain of truth to the story was that shortly after September 11, shortly after the attacks, Dr. Pepper came out with a can that had the words on the can "one nation indivisible." It had an American flag or something and a Statue of Liberty, I think and said "one nation indivisible." That's all it said on the can. And it was a message of solidarity in the midst of difficult times. We, as Americans, are pulling together as one nation, indivisible. Three words taken out of the pledge.

People got upset because the words "under God" weren't in there. So people started saying Dr. Pepper is taking "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. And some people, I think, either deliberately switched the rumor over to Pepsi or maybe accidentally, thinking that Pepsi makes Dr. Pepper, which is not true. Dr. Pepper is not manufactured by Coke or Pepsi. It's manufactured by the Dr. Pepper/7-Up Company, which is owned by Cadbury Schweppes, the same people who bring us those yummy cream eggs at Easter. And it was this big mistake.

And, you know, just know for sure what it is that you're fighting for before you get involved. Because otherwise we end up -- whether we as the gay community, the Christian community, whatever group you're involved in -- we end up looking like idiots.

BRIAN: Yeah, without knowing the facts and jumping to conclusions.

JUSTIN: So listeners out there, we don't normally do this kind of intense show but I had to be on a soapbox today.

BRIAN: Hey, that's ok.

JUSTIN: So for the listeners out there, I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you agree? If you disagree? Specific examples, whatever. Sound off on this whole idea of just jumping into these things and the Christian community and the gay community being at odds over some of these issues and taking automatic positions without having all the information.

BRIAN: Yeah.

JUSTIN: Let us know what you have to say about it and you can do that by calling us toll free within the US and Canada, 1-888-GAY-4-GOD or you can type it in . . .

BRIAN: You can just type it right into the textbox by where you download the program over at www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio. So we'll really look forward to hearing from people and the responses that they have.

JUSTIN: I think that could be some good stuff and we do some shows that are kind of light-hearted and silly and some where we get on a soapbox and this is one.

BRIAN: Do you feel better Justin?

JUSTIN: I could keep going. But I won't. I'm not trying to turn it into one of those AM talk radio shows. You know, you end up more angry than when you started listening. I'm not trying to do that but it is something that bugs me.

BRIAN: No, it is, that's very thought provoking. Wow, you should be a host of a radio show Justin. Amazing.

Well, I think we're about out of time but we, as always, thank people for listening and keep listening for more exciting things to come in the future. And be sure to send us comments. You can always e-mail us at gcnradio@gaychristian.net. Or you can visit us online any time www.gaychristian.net/gcnradio.

JUSTIN: And there you can subscribe to our podcast so your podcasting software, such as iTunes, will automatically download the show every week. We are out there every Friday.

BRIAN: Indeed. So for this week, I'm Brian.

JUSTIN: And I'm Justin. Have a great week. Oh, no there's my generic ending again. I'll have something better next week. Bye.