October 11th is National Coming Out Day and today I’m celebrating 30 years of being openly queer. It was really unsafe when I was outed as a teenager in the early ‘90s in the Midwest and I’ve been in a process of reclaiming that experience and rescripting that narrative ever since.

Looking at photos of me from that time, it’s hard to imagine anyone hating or wanting to hurt this kid — but it was a different time in the world. I don’t see a 14 year old who has demons in him when I look at this picture. I see a sweet gay kid with big dreams, who deserved better than the hateful, anti-gay church he was born into.

For me, coming out is an ongoing process. I feel like I come out every day, in every room I enter. The term ‘coming out’ means different things to different people, and it’s informed by our individual experiences in the world. You’re still queer before you’re out. Out is a state of mind as much as it is a political act.

Are you able to be your whole self in every room you enter? If so, great. But that’s not always safe. I think people should come out when it works for them and when they are going to be safe in that process. This looks different for everybody.

It’s hard to be afraid of people when you know them to be good, and it’s even harder to hate someone you already love. Whether we are talking about our families, communities, or Hollywood, LGBTQ+ people demanding to be seen and celebrated while showing people who we really are, helps facilitate that.

Be you, baby. Fuck the haters.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎

#NCOD

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.

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