I was interviewed this week for Artis Waves: Pride Edition. We talked about life, love, my new record with GLASYS and Jay Mohr, and a bunch of gay stuff cuz, you know…PRIDE.

Click HERE to check it out on the Artist Waves site, or keep reading below for the transcript:

What Pride Month Means to Me:
Music and video has always been a way for me to push back on dominant culture. As a queer youth, making songs about coming to terms with my own sexuality and exit from the non-affirming conservative Christian cult I was raised in, there were many times where being able to connect to myself by way of those songs was really instrumental in keeping me alive. Pride is a 365 day annual experience for me. I come out over and over and continue to be a visible gay person in rooms that have maybe historically not been very welcoming…and are sometimes not welcoming still. My songs, my records, my style, my voice out in the world — those are the ways in which I am able to combat the oppression in my life. My response to the election, to the violence in the community, is to dial my gay up. You thought I was sparkly before? Well, look at me now. Read the rest of this entry »

Those of you who followed me while I was doing community work for Portland’s Q Center between 2010-2014 are most likely already familiar with the story of my Inter-Community Dialogue Project between the LGBTQ Community and Mars Hill Church…or, at least, you might think you are familiar.

I have been sitting on a documentary I made over the course of those years, but with everything going on in the world right now, it feels important to finally let people know what REALLY happened.

One major note that’s not captured in the film, is that Mars Hill Church members from our group subsequently denounced the teachings of their former leader and disassembled all of their congregations after we shot the final scenes.

Here is our story…

Watch “Lead With Love”

ABOUT THE FILM

What happens when an out, gay musician befriends an anti-gay church leader?

Notoriously anti-gay conservative evangelical megachurch Mars Hill landed in Portland, Oregon in 2011.  The public reacted swiftly in protest of the arrival of these unwelcome ideals and the media picked up the story of their purchase of “the castle” immediately.

When local musician and LGBTQ activist Logan Lynn, who was working as the spokesperson and publicist for Portland’s Q Center at the time, was quoted in The Oregonian as saying he would “extend an olive branch“ and “be respectful of them and try to make friends“ – and then he proceeded to do just that — all hell broke loose in the media, as well as in the community.

From broken windows to broken hearts, through death threats and violence, this is the true story of what can happen when sworn enemies set aside their differences and get to know one another as people.

“People have been telling the story of what happened between me and Mars Hill Church completely wrong for years,” Lynn says about the controversial inter-community dialogue project, which he created. “I gave up correcting strangers and the media half a decade ago, but I also made this documentary as it was all happening so that the truth could someday be told. That someday is now.”

After the final scenes of Logan Lynn’s “Lead With Love” documentary were shot, the controversial founder and leader of the church, Mark Driscoll, resigned and all of the Mars Hill Church congregations were dissolved across the nation.

Read the rest of this entry »