Welcome to the the very first entry of the Stained Glass Rainbows
Blog. My name is Kent Williamson and I am the producer/director of the
forthcoming documentary film Stained Glass Rainbows: Exploring the Bed-Wrestle Between Homosexuality and Faith.
Allow
me to introduce myself... I'm a conservative, straight, white-bread,
male. I'm happily married and have a house-full of kids. So why am I
making a film on the topic of homosexuality and faith?
This project had it's inception as I was finishing my previous film Rebellion of Thought: Post-Modernism, the Church, and the Struggle for Authentic Faith. In Rebellion of Thought
I needed a few seconds of footage of a gay pride parade, so in June of
2007 I packed up the camera and traveled to Washington DC for the
Capital Pride event. As the parade began I left my space on the curb
near Dupont Circle and I stepped out into the street. Little did I know
that step would change the next several years of my life.
I soaked in the parade through the viewfinder of my video camera
and the things I saw were remarkable. Up and down the parade route were
men and women, all created in the image of God, and all of them
promoting their version of homosexuality...
Some were long-time committed
lovers.
Some were swingers.
Some were gentle and others were militant.
Some were demanding equal rights and some just wanted to be left alone.
I
imagine that in their hearts some of them were more free on the day of
that parade that they've ever been in their lives. I imagine that
some of them were fearful of my camera, wanting to be there at that
moment, but not wanting to be filmed. I imagine that some of them
hurt inside having wrestled with words like "sin", "outcast" and
"shame".
There were two things I was most blown away with at the Capital
Pride parade. The first was the number of churches that were represented
in the parade... spanning all the major denominations. But the
thing that moved me the most was the oppressive feeling, not of a
straight man being surrounded by homosexuals, but of the weight and
burden of my own sin. Now my sin is not homosexual in nature. My sins of
choice include greed and lust and things like that which are much more
"socially accepted" in the conservative Christian circles in which I was
raised and have lived my entire life. But regardless, that day on the
streets of DC I was overwhelmed with their weight and I realized that
this is why Christ came. To pay the price with his life for my sin...
their sin... our sin.
After the parade, as I rode the metro back to my
car, I tried to process everything I had seen, heard and felt that day. I
knew in my heart I had to make a film about this topic and that was
moment that Stained Glass Rainbows was conceived. In a sense I
was impregnated by thousands of homosexuals that day... and now I am
preparing to give birth to a film.
Over the course of shooting Stained Glass Rainbows I have filmed five Gay Pride parades. I have interviewed people from Florida to Pittsburgh, from Cincinnati to
Connecticut. I have talked with lesbian ministers and homosexual
pastors. I've spoken with people from the God Hates Fags group. I've
interviewed theologians, ex-gays, and people that minister to the
homosexual population. And the things I've learned along the way have been fascinating. I'm eager to share them with you through this story.
Over the next few months I will be wrapping up this film and then will get it into distribution. Please join me for the journey.
Thank you, Kent, for attempting to find balance in your film. In one of your trailers you mention that there are two groups of people: 1) those who believe it is a sin and 2) those who don't. There is another group of people. They are people who believe even though the homosexual behavior is a sin, same-sex attraction is involuntary and God wants to help us understand why we struggle with SSA and how He desires to bring emotional and relational healing to us - first through a relationship with Himself and then through healthy relationships with others. Call it the "ex-gay" movement, but this is what Exodus minsitries teach and believe. Exodus mmember ministries have great compassion for the gay community and for those who come to them for help, and they are tirelessly trying to educate the Church on how to show love and provide ministry to those affected by homosexuality.
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure of interviewing two folks who work with ministries like Exodus. Both John Westcott and Kristin Johnson Tremba formerly lived out there homosexual desires and both now reach out with love and compassion to those who desire to change within the homosexual community.
ReplyDeleteMost people in that line of work are used to being harassed, mocked, and spat upon (in a figurative sense if not a literal one). They are constantly bombarded with "homosexuals can't change!" and "I was born gay" that you think the cultural tide would just wash them away, but the results of their work continually leads to changed lives and that continues to empower them.
Are you connected to an Exodus ministry? Or do you know anyone who has been served by a group like that? I'd be curious to hear from people who have gone through the program. What was the approach? Was it effective? How is life different as a result?