Sunday, December 28, 2014

I found a great book that I want to share

The coming out process for anyone is a challenge, but at the same time it's a personal challenge. It's different for everyone. In a recent discussion with a gay friend he said "I don't get this "coming out" thing, I've always just been who I am". He's in his 60's and has been "out" all his life. That's awesome for him and I couldn't be happier.

But that's not the case for everyone. For those of us who come to a realisation of our sexuality from a religious background, there's often a whole other level of "issues" we need to face. The reconciliation of our faith and our sexual preference are often at competing ends of a spectrum.


Front Cover

Anthony Venn-Brown is a gentleman I've got to know here in Sydney. You can visit his blog here. Anthony was a minister for many years, has children and is now a life coach, author and has a foundation ABBIAmbassadors & Bridge Builders International

Click Here to visit the foundation.


The Hon Michael Kirby.
The Honourable Michael Kirby, a retired Australian High Court Judge wrote the following foreward to the book:

"Human stories, like the one in these pages, play a part in advancing understanding and acceptance. It is the story of a quest to find not only self-acceptance but one of the most powerful forces in nature—human love..” 
You can read Kirby's full foreward here.


The following is an excerpt from the book:
"We are all living a life of unlearning: unlearning things we accepted as truth but created a persona so unlike who we really are. Eventually cracks appear and beliefs challenged. 
On the surface everything looked perfect. Anthony Venn-Brown was a happily married father-of-two and a popular preacher in Australia's growing mega-churches such as Hillsong. Behind the scenes he fought a constant battle to conform, believing his homosexuality made him unacceptable to God and others. 
After twenty-two years of struggle and torment, a chance meeting forced Anthony to make the toughest decision of his life; maintain the façade he had created or, be true to himself and lose it all. Tired of feeling torn and fragmented, he confessed and came out. The results of that confession took him on a lonely journey that made him who he is today.  
This sometimes brutally honest account highlights not only the costs of being true to yourself but that the rewards of resolution and integrity are worth the struggle.  
As Anthony's story is ultimately about being true to one's self, gay, straight, Christian and non-faith people have found relevance in this triumphant autobiography."  

If you're struggling to reconcile your faith with your sexuality, firstly know that you're not alone. The good news is that many of us have done just that, we've reached a point where we're at peace with who we are and still have faith in Christ or whomever we worship. 

Anthony's journey is beautifully shared in this amazing book.

Where does the time go?

I feel like 2014 has just slipped away and 2015 is here before I realised!


It's been more than 12 months since I blogged here. My time is buried in blogging for work here and at my personal work related blog here.

It's time I paid some attention to this blog :-)

2014 has been a great year. My Partner and I bought ourselves an apartment and we finally move in, February 2015. It's  brand new three bedroom apartment in Arncliffe, about 10 minutes further south from where are now in Mascot, Sydney.

We've just had a wonderful Christmas with my mum visiting. On Christmas eve we had a beautiful Christmas Eve dinner with very good friends Brett & Marcus in the Blue Mountains. They had 30 close friends and family for the most amazing dinner. One huge long table with an amazing dinner.

Being Gay in Australia in 2014

Well, nothing much has changed. Still no or limited possibility of ever getting married with our conservative federal government. Our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott continues to embarress us on the domestic and international stage. In late 2013 his government overturned a gay marriage law in the ACT, read further here.

Photo from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30584120

The recent Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney has raised some discussion around gay relationship as one of the people killed in that siege was gay. The outpouring of grief for Tori Johnson (Right) and Katrina Dawson (Left) has been amazing. Tori, was the store manager at the Lindt Cafe, he and his partner had been together for many years. 

The media and others have, in the process of reporting the siege, been respectful and inclusive in the way they talk about Tori, his partner and their relationship. Perhaps through the tragedy of the event, people's hearts will be softened and they will begin to realise that two loving people, regardless of their gender, can be in a loving and supportive relationship.

So what's up for 2015?

That's a great question. I've not really thought about it, the end of the year has snuck up on my so quickly that I'm not really sure. Moving home will be a big move. My sister turns 50 and work is looking great. So, with my partner I'm sure the year will be awesome. Here's hoping yours will be a great year too.