“It Gets Better is LGBT people talking to other LGBT people. The NALT Christians project is Christians—and hopefully, no small number of straight Christians—talking to LGBT people and to other Christians, LGBT and straight.” – Dan Savage
Writer/author/activist Dan Savage is at it again. Well—truly, does he ever stop his sex- and queer-positive activism?
NALT Christians founder John Shore has made Savage a spokesperson of sorts—one of many—for the NALT Christians Project. In fact, they’ll be crowd sourcing spokespeople worldwide. For more information, read on.
Savage Love In Motion: It’s No Sin to Be Gay
Dan Savage is all about Savage Love in motion: Savage and his hubby Terry Miller co-founded the It Gets Better Project (#ItGetsBetter) in 2010.
Prior to that of course, there’s always been that “Savage Love:” Savage’s podcasts and prose offering straight-inclusive queer-centered sex and relationship advice in his syndicated Savage Love column since 1991. He’s often placed himself dead center in the middle of “anti-Anti-gay” campaigns, and has never been afraid to name names.
Savage’s latest Pièce de résistance is all about resistance of a different kind: resisting the stereotypical idea that all Christians are anti-gay hatemongers.
He’s on board and co-promoting The NALT Project. The NALT Project seeks to disabuse the idea that “all Christians are like that.” It’s on a quest to name safe names: calling out actual allies who are less about lip service and more about love in action.
The concept could become so nebulous so quickly…not all…like what, exactly? The NALT Project released a series of videos this month to spearhead the movement and continue to share and explain the campaign.
In Dan Savage’s own words, “NALT stands for ‘Not all like that….’ At my talks, Christians were forever coming up to me and saying, ‘We’re not all like that. We don’t all hate and condemn gay people.’ I heard that so often that I started thinking of the Christians who said that to me as as NALT’s: Not All Like That Christians..”
Fully Christian and Fully LGBT-Affirming? “Click Here.”
In his video “Dan Savage on The NALT Christians Project,” which shares the project’s scope and goals as well as encouraging supportive Christians to send in their videos, Savage goes on to say the NALT Christians Project will finally provide a public platform for religious allies to share their support directly via social media.
He continues, “To the NALT Christians who confide in me their support of LGBT people I’ve always said, ‘Don’t tell me that not all Christians are anti-gay bigots. Tell that to all the so-called anti-gay Christian leaders out there who claim to speak for all Christians. People like Pat Robertson, Brian Brown, and Tony Perkins. Tell them. And tell the world there are Christians who support LGBT people. Just whispering ‘We’re not all like that’ to me doesn’t change anything.”
The many other supporters and organizations who’ve signed on to share the message of tolerance include: United Church of Christ, MCC, The Evangelical Network, DignityUSA, Adventists for Progress, Charter for Compassion and others.
Dan Savage and The NALT Christians Project want more people to know they are not alone and that silence can be more than harmful. They want Christians to join the chorus of queer and trans* persons of experience and all those in solidarity who are devoted to LGBT-affirming religious expression.
Yes, it does get better…and sharing the words “we’re not all like that” in word and deed will effect that much more healing and understanding in the world.
Get inspired: check out the project, spread the word, share the love.
Visit NALT Christians Project Homepage:
Visit NALT Project on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NALTChristians
Send tweets of support to: @NALTChristians
