the place for glbt

Placerville CA - Prior to September 24, we were told about Richard and Luke Otterstad and their church group. The Otterstad’s are known locally in Placerville and the surrounding area as members of the religious right who are very active and vocal about everything they believe is heinous. Churches subsidizing gas for members and homosexuality are just two reasons why this father/son duo and other local think-alikes hit the streets with their signs.
            Local liberals, PFLAG, the El Dorado County Human Rights Roundtable Committee and others have grown weary of Otterstad and his minions.
            Our HeartStrong educational forum in Placerville, sponsored by PFLAG and the El Dorado County Human Rights Roundtable, became the latest target for Otterstad.
Over our ten years of outreach work and eight years of holding educational forums we have certainly encountered our fair share of groups like Otterstad’s. They are a nuisance but provide living examples of many of the things that we talk about so much.
            Luke Otterstad had caught wind of our forum and wrote a letter to the editor at the Mountain Democrat newspaper. In his letter to the editor, he referred to me as a sodomite whose books showed that I hate true Christians. I generally don’t do the letter to the editor thing. However, out of respect for any closeted gay person in Placerville, I decided to respond. My response was distributed to our email list and is reprinted inside this newsletter for those of you who have not read it yet.
After speaking in the morning service at the Unitarian Universalist Community of Grass Valley (about 50 miles north of Placerville), we arrived early in Placerville to scope out our new friends, the Otterstads, and those they brought with them to protest my appearance.
            I must say that I felt sadness and we drove up to the main intersection of town, where they were protesting me. I saw several children with their protest signs. (Obviously children who had been recruited or forced since no child I’ve ever encountered would willingly spend their Sunday afternoon sitting on the hard sidewalk with signs they can’t comprehend protesting a total stranger.)
            As we parked our car and prepared to go and speak to them, I had some brief flashbacks of when I used to be in their exact same shoes. I remembered how many years ago I would stand with my friends and protest things like abortion, homosexuality, and adultery and would promote notions like “peace through strength.” I remembered how lonely I felt when I would stand and have people scream nasty things to me from their cars. I remembered how I thought I would be rewarded by my god for taking a stand. It didn’t matter to me how many people sneered at me or shouted nasty things, I thought I was doing what was right.
            With that in mind, I walked up to Richard Otterstad (pictured with me on the left). He had somewhat creatively decided to dress up in a (cheap) devil outfit and hold a sign that said “Gay is OK” and another sign, pointing to the Federated Church where I was speaking, which said “This way to Hell.” He was shouting to the cars passing by. “If you want to see the next person going to Hell, go hear Marc Adams tonight.”
            I immediately thought about how many times in my life as a young boy, teenager and young adult (while I was still trapped in fundamentalist Christianity) that I had told people they were going to Hell. This man in front of me was not doing anything different than I had once done.
            “Hi Marc, “ he greeted my by name. “Hi Marc!” his son, Luke, yelled from across the street. I thought it funny and flattering that they knew me by face.
I extended my hand to shake the hand of the devil (so to speak). Richard just turned his head away and continued inviting people driving by to see the man who was on his way to Hell.
            After giving Richard some constructive criticism about the authenticity of his devil outfit, I told him I was flattered he took the time to come and protest me and HeartStrong. I crossed the street and spoke to his wife and the children recruited to protest me.
            I was able to say whatever I wanted to the recruited children. It was a great opportunity for them to see/meet in person a gay person and for me to make statements about being gay that they would never hear at home or church.
            Across the street, closer to the alleged devil, were a group of eight or so young people. They were holding handmade signs that read, “Being Gay is OK”, etc. I didn’t recognize them from the two sponsoring groups so we went over to talk to them. We found out that this group of mostly young women had simply seen Otterstad protesting and decided they had to present the other point of view. They ran home, made some rough handmade signs and became immediate activists.
            It was overwhelming to see these young people trying to do everything they could to restore dignity to their hometown. It didn’t matter to us, what their signs said, it was the fact that these young people were not afraid to express themselves and face their town’s devil. ( You can see a picture of me with the young women on the back page of this newsletter. More photos from this day are also available on the HeartStrong website.)
            What does all of this have to do with HeartStrong? Well, aside from the fact that it was a HeartStrong educational forum that was being protested, not too much. However, this minister and his recruited protesters are part of the same religious sect that so many GLBT students in religious schools are forced to exist in.
            The hope of my message that day was that there is always hope. If someone like me can find their way out, so can the students who we work so fervently to reach.
            We left Placerville with a renewed sense of our commitment to our work. While some things in our world are changing with regards to GLBT issues, in the worlds that our students live in, almost nothing has changed. Making our work more relevant today than when we started ten years ago.