No Vulnerability, No Courage

It’s time to burn your bunker.

“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
― Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness

In 2017 I had been approached by my good friend Sara Cunningham (founder of Free Mom Hugs and author of How We Sleep at Night: a Mother’s Memoir) to protest a showing of the transphobic documentary ‘TranZformed: Finding Peace in your God Given Gender’. The “documentary” was being peddled by conversion therapy advocate and Executive Director of First Stone Ministries (FSM) Stephen Black. FSM was attempting to get the film viewed in other churches in the OKC area.

As word of our intended protest began to circulate, the leaders of the church who were going to allow the screening met with me and Sara, as well as at least one leader in the mental health community. Ultimately they agreed to cancel the screening because they didn’t realize how damaging it was. After my conversation with these leaders, I have come to believe that they didn’t…