National Council: Bruce Bawer ~ Robert Callely ~ Kevin Cathcart ~ James Dale ~ Michael Denneny ~ Dr. Mathilde Krim ~ Norma Marin ~ Ned Rorem ~ Robert Taylor ~ Alan Wolfe ~ Philip Yenawine ~ Bob Zellner
	America Speaks Out    National Institute - July 25 - 28

For the second year in a row, we held our America Speaks Out national training at Southern Maine Technical College in South Portland. Twenty-two people attended the three-day institute. They came from Phoenix, Arizona; Sutton, Massachusetts; Hampstead, Maryland; Daytona Beach, Florida; Alexandria, Virginia; Greencastle, Indiana; St. Cloud, Minnesota; Monroe, New York; Peekskill, NY; Providence, Rhode Island; Williston, Vermont; and Bridgton, Cape Elizabeth, and Brunswick, Maine.

It was an interesting mix of people and hopefully they found the training a spur to focused action back home. A majority of attendees were interested in organizing Walks with the Ones You Love in their communities in 2002. We stand at the ready to help them in any way we can.

Of special interest this year was our keynote speaker at the Thursday evening reception and dinner, Bob Zellner. Bob was the first white field secretary to serve with the Student Non-Violent Organizing Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi in the early 60s. Having grown up in Alabama, son and grandson of Klan members and named after the Rev. Bob Jones, who officiated at his parents' wedding, Bob's story of becoming a civil rights activist in the non-violent tradition was fascinating and inspiring. Bob is a wonderful storyteller, a great mimic, and these attributes plus the twinkle in his eyes made him the absolute hit of the institute. (If you are ever lucky enough to meet him, ask him to tell you the story of the Yankee and the Southern women discussing the question "Do you believe in Science/Signs?" Depending on which region of the country you hail from, the question becomes a very different question!)

An exceptional moment of the institute occured during a session on "Speaking Out for Safe Schools" when a newly trained speaker from Maine told a riveting story of her (ongoing) journey as a male-to-female transgendered person. Her story was so compelling and so movingly told, it could have held our attention for an hour. On the spot, we decided that next summer's institute will have a session devoted to Transgender experiences and issues to respond to the great interest we saw expressed that day.

I was also struck by the intensity of feeling and variety of experiences that surfaced in the session on "Talking to People of Faith." One participant related an almost mystical experience of coming to terms with her faith and her ineradicable identity as a lesbian; another expressed his gratitude for the loving attention offered him by particular nuns and priests and parochial school teachers even as he delivered an impassioned tirade against the Pope and what he sees as the hubris of organized religion. The sparks flew and the contrasting experiences and strong emotions were fascinating to observe. On one point there was no disagreement: that the anti-gay positions embodied in various church doctrines and practices have deeply hurt a lot of people.