Bursting Through Connections Issue 4

Photo by Eugenia Porechenskaya

Photo by Kristopher Minnich

From Steve

Welcome to the December issue of Bursting Through Connections. This issue focuses on Bursting Through’s FIRST annual National Out Ally Day, which was held on November 13 in Las Vegas.

Planning and hosting National Out Ally Day was a deeply personal and powerful experience for me. We set out to create an experience that was both familiar and distinctive to CELEBRATE, ACTIVATE and EMPOWER everyone who identifies as an LGBTQIA+ supporter.

I was honored and humbled to see Bursting Through Members, this amazing community we have created, share their time and talents to ensure we produced a powerful show that put the right message into the world.

Many members sent in video messages, some shared their stories live, while others showed us a window into their soul through beautiful musical performances. Everyone who contributed did so with such authenticity and compassion that it filled the space with a true sense of community.

Please enjoy this special issue focused on National Out Ally Day and know this is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see how National Out Ally Day unfolds for November 13, 2023 and look forward to seeing you there.

Take care, Stay Safe and Speak out.

Steve Petersen (he/him)

Founder, Bursting Through and Connections Editor

Email Steve

The marquee at The Space

Selfies before the celebration

Before the celebration, people gathered for photos

Guests engaging with Allyship Alley Enjoying the opening reception

Watch National Out Ally Day

Legislation + Conversation

stories

by Steve Petersen

The Respect for Marriage Act does, for the first time, enshrine same-sex and interracial marriages into federal law and allows the federal government to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone who violates the statutory rights of gay, lesbian or interracial couples. The bill also notably repeals the 1996 federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which once defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

Our power, our experiences and our

President Biden at the signing ceremony. Photo credit : The Advocate

On December 13, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act, further protecting the

Google images

right to marriage for same-sex and interracial couples.

The signing of the bill was acknowledged with a star-studded White House South Lawn celebration including Cyndi Lauper, long time queer rights advocate, singing her signature queer anthem True Colors. This was a historic day indeed and needed to be celebrated. But is not the end of the fight for the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies.

Legislation is one of the most important instruments of government in organizing society and protecting citizens, but it is only part of the equation. Another part of the equation is continuing the conversation beyond legislation. We need to see new laws as a beginning point for our society to advance from, not the end of a debate. When you stop and think about it, at the core of the legislative process is storytelling. When a bill is being discussed and debated in hopes of becoming a law, the negotiation is grounded in conversation and storytelling.

One of the most powerful tools legislators use to sway other legislators and their constituents is sharing personal experiences or telling them a story.

Cyndi Lauper- google image Sam Smith- google image

Once the bill becomes law it is natural for the conversation in the legislature and in the news to change but it must continue for us. This is where WE (the queer community and allies) need to pick up the conversation and continue the dialogue with those in our orbit, where we exist and live every day.

We have too often reached a milestone and lost momentum or changed the conversation. The fight for Queer rights officially started at Stonewall on June 28, 1969 and has never stopped despite the majority of this country believing in Queer Rights.

Washington DC 2022- Google Image

Stonewall 1969- Google Image Newsweek reported on December 20, 2022 that 76% of Americans polled are in support of laws that protect LGBTQ individuals from being discriminated against in housing, jobs and public life. The poll found just 19% of respondents saying they oppose LGBTQ rights. So why are Queer rights still a thing, a debate, a national dialogue? Read the Newsweek article here

I truly believe it’s because we (the Queer community and our allies) allow the debate to continue instead of using our power, our experiences and our stories to shape the world and society we want to live in.

We must speak up when those who oppose Queer rights wish to continue the debate. We must add conversation to the legislation.

Bursting Through believes that stories are the most powerful change agent in the world and that our voices are our Superpower. We need to activate and lean into the superpower consistently if we want to be the best version of ourselves and live up to the image and reputation of a country that champions and fights for all.

Here are THREE tips to add conversation to legislation and create the change we really want and need to see.

1. 2. 3. Contact Steve

Don’t underestimate your power to change lives by just sharing your stories of true love, acceptance and allyship.

Don’t overthink what you will say or how you will share a story. Stories come out organically in conversation.

Realize it is really easy to reach your local community leaders and politicians via social media. Use your social media accounts to share your stories and accept your power.

Steve Petersen is the founder of

Bursting Through, queer rights activist, speaker, host and storyteller

Steve (he/him)

Shop now

EXTRAORDINARY

Jeannie: ACTIONS

Messing Up Properly

Jeannie, (she/her)

SavvyAllyAction.com

Bursting Through sees the extraordinary in people, in the ordinary of their everyday lives, even if they don’t see it in themselves. An extraordinary person's story is not a list of accomplishments or akin to a late night talk show interview that is fairly predictable and is mostly about promoting something. It is about what brought a person to activism, their internal dialogue, struggles and triumphs.

Jeannie (she/her/hers) is the founder of Savvy Ally Action and the author of The Savvy Ally. In 2003 Jeannie looked up the word gay in the phone book, found the local LGBTQ+ Center in Rochester, NY, the Out Alliance (formerly the Gay Alliance), and called to ask if she could volunteer.

Making that life changing phone call in 2003 was driven by multiple factors however three major moments of clarity that propelled her to action.

MOMENT #1.

2003 was a forward moving year for LGBTQ+ rights. The Supreme Court struck down the “homosexual conduct” law, which decriminalized same-sex sexual conduct and opened the door for a national dialogue about same-sex couple rights and marriage equality.

“I had always felt strongly about LGBTQ+ inclusion despite not having grown up with anyone in my life who identified in that way (openly) but I had never done anything about it until this point. In 2003, marriage equality was newly being talked about in the news. It was one of the first things I was able to latch onto as something I could help with. I knew so little about what needed to be done, that I didn’t even have any action pieces until marriage equality. I thought this is something I could actually march in rallies about.” Jeannie told Bursting Through. Google images

#2.

Both her children were in school. Her son was in first grade and her daughter in preschool. Jeannie was starting to think about getting back into the workplace as a volunteer when something happened that nudged her once again towards LGBTQ rights.

She explained “I was really unhappy with what my son was telling me about how boys were teasing each other at school. They were calling each other derogatory names having to do with being gay. I thought ‘REALLY in 2003?

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I was actually truly shocked that it was still a thing. Of course it was in my time, but I was so frustrated that it still was.”

MOMENT #3.

Lastly she was reading the book Not for Ourselves Alone, the companion piece to the Ken Burns’ documentary of the same name about the women who fought for their right to vote. “I was doing what I always do when I read history, which is putting myself in that time. I imagine how I would have behaved. I convinced myself I would have been marching right alongside these amazing women and it just hit me what a hypocrite I was.” she said.

Jeannie had a conversation with herself where she realized there were civil rights fights going on right now and she was doing NOTHING about it. “Here I was fantasizing about how I would have behaved if I lived back then and there are civil rights fights right now in my lifetime and I am not doing a damn thing about it,” she explained.

Everything seemed to be pointing Jeanine to joining the LGBTQ+ civil right fight when one final thought put it over the top. What if her future grandchildren asked her what she did during the fight for LGBTQ+ rights? “I didn’t want to say I did nothing. I wanted to have an answer,” she said

Even though her intent to get back into the workforce was intentional, becoming an LGBTQ+ activist and eventually the Savvy Ally was not.

Jeannie reflected on her initial allyship phone call, “I was nervous as hell to make that call to the LGBTQ center. This was 2003 and I didn’t even know the word ally in the social justice sense.

I didn't know if there was a role for me and I wasn’t even sure I would be welcomed because I had no one in my family who identified as LGBTQ.”

She was afraid she’d be told hell no, we don’t want your help. She wasn’t told that but what they did offer added to her fears. The only volunteer roles they had at that time were for volunteer speakers. Jeannie knew she wanted to be involved but considered herself to be a terrible public speaker. Feeling terrified, she went to the meeting anyway.

She walked in and realized that everyone already knew each other. She was starting not knowing anyone, but also having no knowledge. She confessed that she raised her hand and asked what LGBTQ stood for.

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At this meeting, attendees picked a scenario out of a hat, got up in front of the group and talk about it for three minutes. Her scenario was coming out in the workplace. Jeannie had no first hand experience and to her knowledge was the only straight person in the room. She really thought she was going to be asked to leave once that was discovered.

L- Lesbian G- Gay B- Bisexual T- Transgender Q- Queer or Questioning

She said, “That is where I started from. I literally knew NOTHING!”

When her turn arrived she got up despite her nerves, “I was sweating bullets, my knees were knocking, the paper I was holding with my notes was literally shaking.” She composed herself enough to share her scenario and that she was not part of the LGBTQ community and that she didn’t really know how to address her topic. She recalled saying something like “I don’t know anything about coming out at work, but I can tell you what it was like coming into this room not knowing anybody and not being part of the community and it was scary. I really want to help out and I think I have a lot of offer and I hope you don’t kick me out.”

She laughed as she reflected on how she just ‘blathered’. “It was pure honest word vomit.” When she finished and was making her way back to her chair, a woman reached out, grabbed her hand and said “You truly belong here.” That brought a tear to Jeannie’s eye and started her on a new journey.

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The difference from Jeannie’s first day of activism to today is almost unimaginable.To date, Jeannie has facilitated or co-facilitated close to 1,000 Queer ally training and workshops in multiple venues across the county. She has written The Savvy Ally and launched savvyally.com and has made teaching Queer allyship her profession.

Jeannie in action.

Something incredibly powerful

Jeannie has learned about being an ally is that it is an ongoing journey of messing up and she teaches this in her workshops. “We need to learn how to mess up properly, how to get it right the next time, how to move forward and apologize appropriately.” She gives her audience full permission to mess up because it’s not a matter of if someone will mess up but when and that resonates with all people.

Jeannie knows that allyship is a choice and wants to make it easy for people to make that choice. She believes in giving people the tools.

“The more people learn and the more you encourage them and give them good feedback and move them along, they are going to do more and check off more of those boxes because you are being kind and you are helping them and you are being forgiving when they make mistakes.”

She would love to see a time when allies step up and do more. She believes in and wants to encourage ally-to-ally education and hopes that as allies move along in their allyship journey, they will become mentors and educators to other allies. She envisions a day when allies do not always rely on the Queer community to tell them what to do.

Jeannie thinks about allyship in terms of sustainability. She likens allyship to healthy living and having a good diet. You have to have lifelong patterns of change and make good choices everyday.

Jeannie's superpowers are turning inspiration into action, conquering her fears and learning from messing up. She wears many different hats including author, workshop facilitator and parent. She is proud of the impact she has made and continues to make and has “launched two badass human beings into the world.”

Jeannie and her family Jeannie and some of her accomplishments

She’s also proud of being an author but admits it was unplanned. “Writing a book was never on my radar or something I dreamed of doing but it was a book that needed to be out in the world.

Actually, the book is doing so well that my publisher asked for a second edition and I have just submitted the first draft of that, with illustrations.”

Jeannie is truly extraordinary and it all began with an ordinary, terrifying, phone call. She left us with her three favorite actions for being a savvy ally:

For example, in The Savvy Ally she talks about her friend Jonathan going into a grocery store to buy flowers for his husband. The cashier, just trying to make conversation asked, “Those are so beautiful, are

This kind question boxed Jonathan into a corner. He had to decide whether or not to come out. In a split second Jonathan had to evaluate his safety, who is around that might be listening, how this cashier might react and more.

Action #1.

Ungender your language when you know nothing about a person and mirror their terms when you hear them.

they for your wife?”

Action #2.

Add pronouns even when they are obvious.

This creates a culture of inclusion and makes things the norm.

It is a great ally action because it normalizes the behavior and makes it easier for the people whose pronouns may not be obvious. Think about how awkward it would be if the only people who used pronouns were the people who really needed to. That is classic othering and would be weird.

Action #3.

When someone gives you feedback on how to be better, accept it as the compliment that it is.

Try to sit with it, listen to it and thank them for it. If someone is giving you feedback on how to be a better ally, they have faith that you want to be a better person, that you can be a better person, that they care about your relationship. No one is giving feedback to someone about how to be better if they don’t care about the relationship.

JEANNIE: Jeannie, (she/her)

Fearless Activist, Powerful Parent, Awesome Author, Kind Human Being and Bursting Through Friend.

Savvy Ally Videos share tips on effective allsyhip and how to create LGBTQ+ spaces and launch monthly.

The second edition of The Savvy Ally book is due out in April 2023.

BY JEANNIE GAINSBURG

National Out Ally Day

Through the lens images from Kristopher

Kristopher is a network guru, awesome human being and talented photographer .He and his camera are always at events important to the Las Vegas Queer Community.

He has a beautiful way of capturing people, their experiences and their emotions.

Bursting Through was lucky enough to have Kristopher at National Out Ally Day.

Kristopher (he/him)

Kristopher and his camera Kristopher at work Kristopher and his husband, Gary

The opening reception

Welcoming the guests New and old friends connecting Anticipating the celebration Discussing allyship

Catching up before the celebration Adding their voices to Allyship Alley

Allyship Alley

messages from you

During 2022, Bursting Through engaged with people at multiple events by asking them what allyship meant and capturing their answers.

For National Out Ally Day, we created Allyship Alley from those messages and invited our audience to add their own.

Reading allyship messages

Reading allyship messages

Bursting Through’s Allyship Alley

The Celebration Celebrate - Activate - Empower

Welcoming the audience Listening to live music

Live storytelling Straight alley of the year

BURNLINE Listen now

The National Out Ally Day Anthem Floating Away by Lily DeTaeye

Every movement and day of recognition needs a powerful anthem to define its values and unite us through the power of music.

All great songwriters are incredible storytellers. They have something so powerful to say that it comes out in song and they selflessly invite us into their heart, soul and emotional journey.

When National Out Ally Day needed an anthem, songwriter and musician Lily DeTaeye was called upon to create it. Not only is she an incredibly talented human being, but she is an authentic and kind person with a fierce creative soul.

Please listen to this powerful anthem and share with your friends and family.

I’m so thrilled and honored to have been asked to compose a song for this year’s National Out Ally Day. Floating Away is an anthem about loving yourself despite a society that tells you you shouldn’t. And it is dedicated to my LGBTQ+ brothers, sisters, and siblings who must continuously love themselves the best because our world doesn’t do it for them. Your strength and persistence are what revolutions are made of. It is an honor to fight alongside you.

Lily

FLOATING AWAY Download now

Queer ally of the year Live storytelling

The Empowerment Panel Listening to a story

The Empowerment Panel in action

Social Justice Social Responsibility Create Social Change and

Bursting Through is a social change company that believes we ALL (companies and individuals) have a social responsibility.

Social responsibility is different than social justice.

Political organizations like HRC, politicians, policies and legislation pave the path to social justice.

Politicians and Legislation do the very needed work FOR THE PEOPLE but their work is not where it ends.

Bursting Through does the work that connects WITH THE PEOPLE and connects PEOPLE TO EACH OTHER.

Join the Bursting Through Movement

Straight Ally of the Year

A Bursting Through Moment is a short story with a big impact. For this National Out Ally Day issue, we turned to our award winners and are sharing some of their heartfelt remarks and the moments of compassion and wisdom.

The National Out Ally Day Straight Ally of the Year Award was created to celebrate and recognize someone who is a true out ally and lives their values everyday, authentically and outloud.

The FIRST Straight Ally of the Year award recipient was Corey Fagan for many reasons. The most obvious reason is her unyielding support of Queer Owned Businesses and Artists through her work as Executive Director of First Friday Foundation of Las Vegas.

The values of First Friday Foundation are Connect, Inspire, And Support and honors those values each day in all she does. She is a a true force of good and agent of change in the world who tells us to Be Who you are, Do what you want, Make a Difference and Change the World.

Corey

Moments of Compassion from Corey

I identify as a straight woman who believes wholeheartedly in everyone being connected and being who you are. It doesn't matter how you identify, you just are and let’s accept people for their kindness, their love and how they contribute to our environment and community and how they support each other and lift each other up.

I have a gay brother in law. He has been my brother-in-law (my brother) since he was three. One day he had to come out to his family, to us. He was frightened and scared. I was thinking ‘how is everyone going to accept that and what will it mean?’ I know I and his family were going to love and accept him for who he is but there was that fear. When you are really an ally you just accept. In your family, it shouldn’t be a worry or concern, but it is. I’ve seen his journey and it was difficult.

I have learned that the gay community is an ally of the straight community. I identify as straight and I can be ok too. Why can’t we all be ok together and just love everyone because I genuinely love everyone? I love who everyone is as a being. If you are here on earth you are here for a purpose.

Corey and Bursting Through Founder, Steve Petersen

Queer Ally of the Year

A Bursting Through Moment is a short story with a big impact. For this National Out Ally Day issue, we turned to our award winners and are sharing some of their heartfelt remarks and the moments of compassion and wisdom.

The National Out Ally Day Queer Ally of the Year Award was created to celebrate and recognize someone who truly knows how to make connections and engage with everyone they encounter.

The FIRST Queer Ally of the Year award recipient was Will Rucker for many reasons. The most obvious reasons are his never ending commitment to social change as a community leader, minister, politician and gay man. .

Throughout his life, Will has been guided by a clear sense of purpose directed by his values of compassion, fairness, and love. He is a true force of good and agent of change in the world. Will believes

Everyone deserves the opportunity to be safe, happy and to live at the level of their divine worth.

Moments of Compassion from Will

Even in outside moments I found a place to belong. I will never forget when I shared with my great grandmother that after a rough patch in my marriage, my husband and I had worked things out. She said “Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus,” and then stopped because she was so confused. On one hand she was really happy but on the other she was not supposed to be happy because of her religion and it was such a weird space to be, but she knew that love made me happy and that mattered most to her.

Nearly 20 years ago, my husband and I took a road trip and passed through Mississippi to visit my sister. At the time, my nephew was a young boy. She asked that we don’t do any “gay stuff” around him like hold hands, hug or show any affection because she didn’t want him exposed to it. This year, she came to visit with my nephew and the first thing she said was “Where is your husband?”

I try to live in such a way that the first thing people see is my love, not my orientation. Sometimes that means the first thing people have to see IS my orientation because of my love. It is so important that we live boldly, we live proudly and we continue to wave the rainbow flag until we don’t need it anymore.

You are not just a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop and what you do matters so live compassionately.

You did an amazing job last night with your event.

The stories, the music, the heart! It was all felt and so well done. I hope you more than triple your awareness and audience for next year and one day our world gets to a space where we can all just be and not even need a room or stadium to create awareness because we are all on the same page of humanity.

National Out Ally Day Empowerment Panel

The Empowerment Panel

The National Out Ally Day empowerment panel was created to bring together subject matter experts to share their knowledge and talk to us through their lenses, life experiences and expertise.

Our empowerment panel included a politician, a faith leader/therapist, an educator and a business owner. Many of them are also parents of straight and queer kids.

During the National Out Ally Day opening reception, we gathered questions for the panel from our audience.

Our Empowerment Panel

Kara Jenkins—affectionately known by colleagues and friends as “KJ”—has been a public servant for the state of Nevada for over 10 years.

At present, she proudly serves as the Administrator to the Nevada

Equal Rights Commission. A proud HBCU grad, KJ is lawyer by education, a Harvard Kennedy School of Government alumna and is running for Las Vegas Mayor in 2024.

KJ- Political and Government Expert

Michael Colby Doefler is a Clark County Las Vegas Community School District elementary school teacher. Michael is a multiple Heart of Education Award nominee.

He is a loving and supportive husband to Bart and the proud father of a daughter,Lorelei.

He is preparing to be an empty nester as his Lorelei prepares for college this fall.

Michael - Education Expert and parent

Nicholas L. Neubauer, LCSW, ACS is a native Las Vegas, Nevadan. As a life-long Las Vegan, a husband, father, professional/business owner, member of several community organizations, advocate, and Priest serving The Episcopal Church.

Nicholas cares deeply about and is heavily involved in the community and that of its collective residents. Outside of his professional role(s), Nicholas is husband to his wife, Brooke, and father to four children.

Angela Rene’ is the founder and operator of Rene’ Tyler who creates contemporary designs for women sizes 12 and above.

In 2016, Rene’ Tyler made history as the first-ever plus-size brand to show at LA Fashion Week. She opened the first-ever plus-size boutique on the Las Vegas Strip, at The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort.

In 2020 the boutique opened at the Fashion Show Mall. She was recently featured in the September issue of Vegas Magazine as one of 2022’s Dynamic Women.

Rev Nicholas- Faith Leader and parent

Angela- Business Expert and parent

Q.

Kara- Politics and Government

The midterms have been dubbed the rainbow wave with over 430 LGBTQ candidates winning up and down ballots. In your opinion as a government official, can this give us hope about reversing the trend of increasing anti-LGBTQ legislation, which ramped up in the last two years?

Regarding legislation, yes, I’m really happy Nevada voted yes on the equal rights act. We already have state legislation that really protects people but to put it in the constitution does afford protections for everyone regardless of their race, color, national origin, gender identity or expression of that identity, your ability or your disability, your age or your religion.

Kara

This is really important because when you have state laws that can be enforced at the court level you can fall back on the state constitution if the federal government is not acting right.

We have some trying times. We have a lot of voices coming in but the more you make your voices known the better we all are. I was recently called to stand with the Latino Student Association at Nevada State College because they were getting a lot of hate literature distributed on campus.

One of the things I was asked was, “What can we do?” I encouraged them to take note of the civil rights movement that had the benefit of embracing everybody but was really rooted in black activism and that is YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN EVEN IF YOU ARE AFRAID. Do it… make good trouble.

We are riding a great rainbow wave and yes that matters and that helps and you have to help support your friends

Q. Michael- Education and Parenting

I am trying to be very thoughtful about this question. I am a school teacher and I am also gay. I have been with my husband for 22 years and we have a 17 year old daughter who is a senior in high school.

The legislation is terrifying and it opens up a really strange can of worms. I don’t feel as an educator that it is our place to discuss with kindergarten through third graders (where I teach) gender or sexual identity

That might be controversial coming from a gay man but to actually activate that into legislation is very scary because it gives the parents permission to then attack the teacher and administrators in the school if ANYTHING comes up like even my husband coming to help me decorate my classroom for a Halloween party. I am now is a position where I have to be creative when introducing my husband to my students. I say thing like, “This is my relative” or, “This is Mr. Bart” .

My students are 8, so they are like “Oh, hi Mr. Bart” I teach third grade and they don’t think about it at all. By fifth grade they are like, “Is Mr. Bart your boyfriend?” and I say no but we are related and then they realize he is my husband and they really don’t think anything of it. I fear this legislation and this kind of legislation or the kind of words like “DON’T SAY GAY” puts it out there that this is something bad and it is almost a way of teaching the children that being LGBTQ+ is not a good thing or that it isn’t ok.

How do we talk to our children about anti-LGBTQ legislation like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay”? More specifically, how do we, as parents, share our outrage at this kind of legislation without instilling fear not our children?

Michael

It’s like taking a 50 year step backward. To tell kids “you can’t say that, it’s not ok, it’s not appropriate” is not right.

Kara added: Laws are meant to protect communities, to uplight people and be a bridge between government and people to help essential needs. But when a law is trying to control your personal life, which is different than personal safety like a speed limit. There is a fundamental difference between laws that are meant to control you as opposed to laws that are meant to liberate you. It’s important to realize that difference.

Michael continued: I discussed this topic with my daughter, who identifies as bi-sexual. I don’t think that talking to your children about this is negative or bad but showing them outrage is not going to be helpful either.

When we sat down to talk about it today, my 17 year old daughter said, “I don’t think you need to talk about it with 8 year olds but I don’t think people should be making laws about this.” We shouldn’t show our outrage to our children but we should be teaching them about compassion, understanding and inclusion.

Our children need to understand that everybody is different and everyone deserves love and compassion. Creating legislation that puts away that love and compassion is very unfair and scary.

Q. Nicholas- Faith and Mental Health

How do I reconcile my Christian faith, which tells me homosexuality is wrong and a sin, with my love for my LGBTQ loved ones? Are they really going to die and go to hell?

When I first heard this question it broke my heart but I do this for a living and I am also a therapist and know there is no shortage of folks that feel this way. It’s important to understand that they don’t feel that way on their own. They feel this way because that is what they were taught and that is how the world behaved around them.

Again, I know a lot of people feel that way and that makes me feel truly blessed to be here tonight and be able respond to this question because the reality of it is: You have nothing to reconcile.

You are a child of God and God made you just the way you are. AMEN to that and if there is any reconciliation to be done it is the reconciliation of the Christian faith with the Queer Community.

To that end, the church has hurt people in many ways over time for perversions of theology and are mostly rooted in people trying to manipulate scripture, trying to manipulate or own God. Nobody owns God but you. That is it.

Beyond that, when we talk about the Christian faith saying that homosexuality is a sin, we need to think about what ISN’T a sin. If you go through the Bible enough you are bound to find a sin in about everything that you do.

I'M SURE I’M SINNING NOW, LOOK AT ME!

The thing is that reconciliation is not necessary because just over 2000 years ago we were all reconciled through the sacrifice offered through Jesus Christ. We are beyond that. If you read the Bible and you come out of it with whoever and however you are that you are bad, you are reading it wrong.

There are a lot of words in the Bible that are scary and hard to understand but if you understand the context, if you understand the history and if you look at who the writers were, what their culture was like at the time there are a lot of things to be discussed about that

Reverend Nicholas

Do not have anxiety about going to hell. I don’t believe hell is a real destination. We come from love, we are born into love, we are created from love. From dust we are made and from dust we shall return. WE ARE ALL GOING BACK TO LOVE.

People who tell other they are going to hell do not have that authority and are sinning by telling you that.

Angela- Business and Humanity

What advice can you give small business owners, especially LGBTQ business owners, about how to create successful businesses given the current economic course correction the world is going through?

Being straight and being a fashion designer and having a store in Fashion Show Mall, I am all about the glitter and the glam and I have so many people in the queer community who are my customers. For me, it’s really a no brainer because I have always been inclusive.

You have to let people know they are welcome. Vegas is a small place that still

Angela

relies on word of mouth. It is important to let people know it is safe for them to come into your space. I have a lot of customers who are transitioning that come in, especially younger customers. I see them when they come in and I know they know they are welcomed. If you Google my business you see the Pride Flag so they come to my business. You have to let them know when they walk through that door that they are a human being, they are special and they belong.

I really believe in the power of social media in this instance. Social media has helped my business grow, especially through Covid. During lockdown, I had to reevaluate how to make money and it was online, rebranding, adjusting my designs to reflect what people needed.

As a business owner you have to get out there and know what is going on with your business and with people. You have to be involved in the community and come to events like this where you are surrounded by like-minded people and you can let them know what you can do for them.

My advice would be: Be out there, be who you are, let the Queer community know you exist and that you welcome them.

Thank you to our empowerment panel for their time, knowledge and compassion.

To watch the entire empowerment panel discussion including additional questions and answers, click here and go to time stamp 1:11:30. National Out Ally Day

Dr. Christopher Salute Author, Coach, Professor, Consultant