well ... if i wasn't out before ...

in columbus, oh right now for the biennial mennonite church usa convention. the gathering brings together the adult delegates of the church to worship together and then also to conduct church business. but the REAL draw is the gathering of more than 4,000 mennonite youth from across the country and canada. it's an amazing thing to see this many kids all fired up. we're here because we, along with our friends scott and kathleen, are the youth leaders at our church.

generally, this wouldn't be all that blog-worthy save for these facts --

mennonite church usa is struggling with the inclusion of lgbt members in its churches. (in fact, hyattsville mennonite, my home church and a leader of the inclusion movement, has been disciplined and stripped of its voting rights because of our more than 20 year practice of allowing lgbt members - two of whom are me and kristin.) this year, a group of lgbt mennonites and allies have decided to really push the issue. a group named "pink menno" was formed to bring the issue to the forefront. they organized tshirts, worship services, a safe gathering space, workshops and a press conference.

on the way to the press conference, kristin, wearing a pink menno tshirt, happened to be stopped by a woman on her way to the press conference. and this woman happened to be a reporter for the AP. and this woman happened to start talking to kristin about the pink menno campaign and kristin's affiliation. and it just so happens that they began to talk about the fact that kristin and her "lesbian partner" were the youth leaders of a certain youth group. and it just so happens that this story got picked up by --

nbc news - columbus
fox news
the columbus ledger-enquierer
the buffalo news
the sacremento bee
the miami herald
the washington post
the san francisco chronicle

and more than 200 other news outlets!

guess i'm out now!