More information: Speakers, Presenters & Contributors
We had an amazing experience in Philadelphia at the 2010 Soulforce Symposium. More than 300 people gathered over the two-day scheduled events, including the Life Rally on Friday night and the Symposium on Saturday. Seventy percent of these individuals were at theirfirst Soulforce event of any kind. I want you to hear some of their feedback so you know what you have helped create with your support.
@Jaybakker It was awesome to see you this past weekend at the Soulforce event. Thank you for being more than an ally. #ss2010
Manny Lampon
JusticeWarrior
The soulforce symposium was stupendous – Everyone did great n totally professional job, so proud of my joyful diverse family! Thanks
Jallen Rix
gaysexpert
We needed 3 pages for all the words people had to describe the conference. Pretty inspiring stuff. #ss2010.
Jamie Boschan
jboschan
The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story by Jay Bakker while he was with us as a plenary speaker. NPR interviewed him. The EPDN and Edge covered the events. Journalists from France and Norway stayed with us all day interviewing participants.
Bill Meyer from Duke Medical Center had a standing room only crowd for his incredible research about the unholy partnership of media and religion in the historical abuse of non-gender conforming people (LGBTQI).
Christine Bakke’s workshop participants produced amazing life stories in art that will be reproduced on our site.
Rev. Jeffrey Jordan’s MCC Philadelphia members held a vigil at NARTH and then joined us to share what they saw and heard.
Petersen Toscano presented a cabaret on Saturday night that combined segments from several of his plays—deeply moving, incredibly funny and inspiring.
Six panelists and a facilitator Kevin Jones, Vincent Cervantes, Melanie Martinez, J Mason, Amanda Lee Genero, Jeffrey Jordan, and Cathy Renna responded to a question in ways that had all of us thinking again about what it really means to operate at the intersections of justice.
Dr. Daniel Helminiak took us on a spiritual journey at the closing session, reminding us that at the Spirit level of our lives, labels mean nothing.
We captured video of sessions and people’s stories that live on now as encouragement and catalysts for nonviolent resistance.
We learned so much about what is real in the lives of people who have experienced religious abuse and spiritual violence from brilliant activists and writers. We explored the "bullies in our own minds" that Mel speaks of so beautifully in his new "It Gets Better" video.
I think we gave real hope to people and created safe space for intense conversations about their lives and how to move forward in the midst of oppression.
We already have requests to bring the Symposium experience in the Spring to the West Coast and the Appalachians. More will follow.
We hope you will help us continue this work throughout the United States. In 2011, we are planning to take Symposium-like panels to at least five of the colleges and universities where the Equality Riders have gone and hold our EQ Leadership Camps to train at least 50 young advocates who apply for the Equality Ride in 2012.
You can help ensure the success of future Soulforce programs by donating today.
Sponsored in part by
COIL Foundation