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♪
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[bell tolls]
TIM SEELIG: There is a storm,
and we have to learn to dance with the storm.
[chorus vocalizing]
[vocalizing continues]
CHORUS: ♪ I have struggled
♪ Through the rain
♪ Felt the sting
♪ Of every pain
♪ Do I take a step
♪ And follow?
♪ Do I trust that
♪ All is well?
♪ If I dance
♪ With the storm
♪ I'll be safe
♪ In your arms
♪ I can see
♪ Past tomorrow
♪ I can feel
♪ All your love
♪ If I dance
♪ With the storm
♪ I'll be safe
♪ I'll be whole
♪ I can run, I can rise
♪ I can face all goodbyes
♪ If I dance
♪ With the storm...
♪ With
♪ The
♪ Storm.
TIM: I would have never thought to go back home
to my roots in the South with this chorus.
And when the election happened and our board chair said,
"Why don't we go to the South?"
I was like, "Really?"
'Cause it's, like, my people.
So I get to go and sprinkle water
on some pretty dry land.
♪
STEVE HUFFINES: Take that big, deep breath. Go...
Say thank you and turn around.
ALL: Thank you.
Well, we watched the vitriol
that was pervading the entire election process
and the way people were
disregarding human worth and dignity,
and the way they treated each other.
And what I realized
was actually that hatred is the hatred I grew up with.
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama,
and it was okay to be openly racist.
And it was okay to be homophobic.
[chuckling]: And, boy, they were.
They were when I was growing up in Birmingham.
And-and I thought we had gotten past that.
And now here we are seeing it on a national scale,
recurring in a way that I never dreamt was possible.
So we just all
woke up.
♪
And there are two things that we can do.
We can sing, and we can love.
And so that's where we got the idea for the Lavender Pen Tour.
♪
♪ Amazing grace
♪ How sweet the sound...
TIM: Living and walking in the shoes
of an LGBTQ person is not an easy thing.
We fight perceptions. We fight bigotry.
We fight discrimination.
Walking into the room of a gay men's chorus is home.
It's family.
We shed all of that.
There is no one in here that's gonna discriminate against you,
make fun of you, bully you or tell you
you don't have the same rights.
It's an amazing place.
Many of you have asked,
why are we singing religious music?
Because, in the South, you don't get to making
any kind of effective change
without going through the church.
For me, when I say, "I once was lost, but now I'm found,"
was the day that I came out.
Because I was no longer lost.
I was found.
And the rest of my life has been about truth-telling.
And that's why we're singing religious music in the South.
-Amen? -CHORUS: Amen!
-Do I hear a "amen" up in there? -Amen!
We're gonna sing now. Don't ... it up.
-Okay. -[laughter]
♪ I can run
♪ I can hide
♪ I can face all goodbyes
Jesus.
♪ I can chase...
That's not the right words. ... me.
-[dog yaps] -[laughing]
This is not what I do.
I'm not a cabaret singer
that sits at the piano and sings. Okay.
♪ I can run...
So, I like to surround myself with my people
when I'm in here working or singing.
So I have... I have queens everywhere.
Just queens and queens.
I have Harvey Milk, who was, like,
the most famous elected queen.
I have myself meeting the queen.
And, uh, the caption was "lucky queen,"
meaning whichever one you wanted to choose.
I grew up in a family full of Southern Baptist ministers.
My father was a minister.
My mother was a singer with Billy Graham.
And I was expected to follow in the footsteps of the family
and become a professional Southern Baptist.
So, then I did become the associate minister of music
at First Baptist Church of Houston,
a tiny church of 22,000 members.
When, at the age of 35, I could take it no more.
I was living a lie, and I couldn't live with myself.
And so I came out,
and I've been conducting
gay and lesbian choruses ever since.
Early on in my career,
having come right out of the Baptist church,
I did not know anything about the gays.
Didn't know about a gay choir. Had no idea.
And I came to my first rehearsal,
and there was a young man on the front covered in sores,
and I had no idea what that was.
And I asked a friend of mine, um, "What is that?"
And he said, "Okay, you're really stupid,
"and you don't know what you're doing, but I'll tell you.
"It's, um, KS.
That's... he has full-blown AIDS."
And I-I was like, "What is he doing at rehearsal?
"This is so weird
that you're that sick and come to rehearsal."
And he goes, "Because it's keeping him alive.
It's what's keeping him alive."
And it was one of the moments
that changed my life dramatically.
And I realized that,
by dealing with men who have been so wounded,
I had found the vehicle where my life could find meaning.
TIM: You're so sweet. Thank you.
I needed that extra cup of coffee badly.
JIMMY WHITE: The South is desperate right now
for what we have, so...
Two days ago, Department of Justice
is arguing in court that it's okay to...
to fire people for simply being gay?
-Absolutely. Yeah. -This is ridiculous.
I was living in New Orleans with my partner.
I was working as a social worker at a psychiatric hospital.
They found out I was gay.
And so, suddenly, I could not have any contact
with the patients, 'cause I think homosexually...
[stammers] homosexuality might rub off on them or something,
and... or they might catch it or something? I don't know.
So I was basically reduced to answering the phone.
I couldn't talk to any of the patients.
All I could do is answer the phone and direct the calls.
So we sold everything we owned.
I walked into my job and said, "... you.
I'm-I'm done."
And we moved out here.
Now, here it is, 20 years later,
and we're still dealing with this shit.
Correct.
JIMMY: I have family back in the South.
Spent the first half of my life there.
I came out
in Jackson, Mississippi,
which is the first stop of our tour,
so it'll be kind of interesting to go there.
Haven't been there in a long time.
TIM: How long has it been
since you and your dad have had a conversation?
Hmm.
Six or seven years.
I have cancer now,
and that's where my energy needs to be.
Not trying to mend something
that's not gonna ever get mended.
Two days before my 50th birthday,
he said he wished I'd never been born.
So, this is the issue for him.
And it would be great if he came to this concert,
'cause it could maybe open some things up for him.
-Jimmy... -Yes.
-I'm calling you on your shit. -Okay.
Here-here's the deal.
You know, right now you're assuming
your dad knows how much...
-how-how much it means to you. -Mm.
And now you're acting like a Southerner.
-Mm. -Stop it.
-Right. -Say what you need,
say what you want, and you tell him
how important it is that he is in the audience.
-[dogs barking] -MITZI WHITE: Quit barking.
Quit barking.
[barking continues]
Okay, that's enough.
-[indistinct chatter] -[barking, howling]
Doggy... that's not
Southern hospitality.
Quit barking.
Okay.
You see my dog graveyard?
MITZI: Hasn't been out there yet.
Behind us, there's...
Uh, I've had Boston bulldogs since I was six years old.
And I've got four buried back here.
This one is the smartest.
Well, I'm sorry he bit you.
He has a bad attitude.
You got to realize that I'm from the old school.
I'm from the Bible Belt.
It's not a way of life I was brought up with.
And...
progress has been made throughout the whole country,
but the South has always been a very religious-type deal.
What he does with his lifestyle is...
that's his business.
It's not mine.
It's not something I'm gonna do.
MITZI: His dad, he knows
the chorus is coming to Jackson.
And he hasn't really mentioned it.
It's probably gonna take a little doing to get him to go.
In fact,
it probably would be any chorus.
[chuckling]: He's-he's not real big on...
Unless it's the Eagles
or Three Dog Night or Neil Diamond,
he don't go to see 'em.
You know, he's not gonna just go see a chorus.
It is his son singing in the chorus.
And that's why I'm going to try my darndest to get him to go.
Because, you know, you don't know what the future holds.
You don't know... this might be the only time
he would ever see him perform and hear him,
and that's what I'm gonna stress to him.
That, you know, you need to do this.
You need to do this for Jimmy,
and you need to do it for yourself.
TIM: This chorus has an amazing history.
And in that very beginning,
the first thing we did was,
in week number four, gather and join
the tens of thousands of people at the candlelight vigil
for Harvey Milk the day he was assassinated.
So we're gonna go back
to that very first song that the chorus sang,
and we're going to sing "Singing for Our Lives."
In the most troubled of times,
singing and music has carried us through those times.
And this music--
this very music, this very song--
has helped carry this chorus for 40 years.
♪
♪ We are a peaceful
♪ Loving people
♪ And we are singing
♪ Singing for our lives
♪ We are gay and straight together ♪
♪ And we are singing
♪ Singing for our lives...
[phone beeps]
MAN [over phone]: No, you're gonna bring
the fight to the South.
No, you're gonna bring a bunch of city-slickin',
evil Sodom-and-Gomorrahites
living in these wicked cities in America.
You people need to get back in
your little stupid closets where you belong.
Quit acting like everybody wanting to accept you,
'cause that is never gonna happen.
You're not persecuted.
This isn't a civil right.
It's called what's right and what's wrong.
Bunch of perverts.
There's no amount of singing that's gonna fix that.
♪ We are a land of many colors
♪ And we are singing
♪ Singing for our lives
♪ We are a gentle
♪ Angry people
♪ And we are singing
♪ Singing for our lives
♪ We are gentle, we are angry
♪ We are young and we are old
♪ We are gay, straight, trans, cis, a land of many colors ♪
♪ We are justice-seeking people ♪
♪ And we will keep on
♪ Singing
♪ Because we're singing, singing, singing ♪
♪ Singing
♪ Singing for
♪ Our lives...
-[song ends] -[cheering and applause]
♪
-MAN: You can kind of all cram on two chairs. -Yeah.
-Can you cram on two chairs? -Yeah.
You guys just drove in a car together, right, for, like...?
-We did. -Okay.
Great.
You're gonna be looking right at him.
-Right straight in. -Okay. Yeah.
[laughing]: Have y'all hit record?
-It's... we're shooting. -Oh, okay, okay.
All right, ask me a question.
The political system right now is just in complete turmoil,
and anything that can be done
to push people in the right direction
is excellent, in my opinion.
MAN: When you're listening to music,
you don't see black, you don't see white,
you don't see man, you don't see woman,
you don't see gay, you don't see straight.
It's... the-the music just rolls over you.
Music is a universal language. Everyone speaks that language.
And we are dealing with a very divisive
political climate right now, so what I want to do is,
let's enjoy each other, embrace each other's differences
and just, like, look, let's learn from this.
It's, uh, heartbreaking at times.
But, uh, that's one thing about our community,
is we are good at celebration
and finding ways to keep hope going around.
You know, but it is an uphill battle.
CHRIS VERDUGO: This last summer,
when we came on our advance tour, we had the opportunity
to meet this beautiful transgender woman.
She is the coordinator for the ACLU's
Transgender Education and Advocacy Program.
And it is an honor to be able to take
some of our funds and benefit the ACLU.
Please help me in welcoming Malaysia Walker.
[cheering]
MALAYSIA: If Mississippi is the Hospitality State,
like they say they are,
then everyone needs to be included.
You know,
a lot of our rights are being violated
because of 45... or whatever.
You know, commander in chief, whomever the hell he is.
You know, a lot of, um, issues
have come with him being elected.
Because they're steadily snatching away our life.
MAN: We have a person who's been elected
to the highest office in our land
who got there because he appealed to fear.
-WOMAN: Yes. -But how powerful it is
that you come to the place
where we have historically embraced a fear of one another.
-Yes. -WOMAN: But you still have fearmongers
who are codifying hate, um, in our state.
WOMAN 2: That terrible bill.
That terrible bill, HB 1523,
is the reason that we are kicking off
the Lavender Pen Tour here in Jackson.
We know that it is the most heinous
anti-LGBT legislation in the country.
You know, our hope is to be able to magnify and amplify
what it is that you all are doing in the community.
MALAYSIA: HB 1523 is a law that allows legal discrimination
because it violates their, uh,
"religious beliefs."
Because, of course, in Mississippi,
you say anything about, uh, you know, anti-LGBT,
everybody finna jump on it.
But what happened is, they persuaded folks
to think that it was, you know, anti-LGBTQ people,
but it's anti-everyone.
GOSPEL CHOIR: ♪ Somebody's calling my name
♪ Oh, my Lord...
MALAYSIA: This is just like the civil rights movement,
what we're going through now.
CHRIS: In 30 states, you can still be
fired or kicked out of your home
for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
So, are we really equal? No, we're not.
What we're looking for is equal protection under the law.
Period. And once we have that,
we as a community will breathe a deep sigh of relief.
[cheering]
♪
CHOIR: ♪ I will sing unto the Lord
♪ A new song
♪ Hallelujah, sing praises to thee ♪
♪ I will lift the Savior up for all men to see ♪
♪ Hallelujah, sing praises to thee ♪
♪ For there's no other place I'd rather be ♪
♪ Hallelujah, sing praises to thee ♪
♪ Hallelujah...
TIM: On the day after the election,
the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir contacted us
and said, "We would like to go with you."
So we got on the phone
with their executive director,
and we're like, "Really? Really?"
He goes, "Oh, this is... this is our mission.
"We sing gospel music, but our singing membership
"represents 13 religions and some with no religion.
"This is not about Jesus.
It's about-- we love gospel music."
TERRANCE KELLY: We share the need to bring love, hope
and acceptance to the world.
And that's why we needed to go on tour
with San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus to the South.
♪ Everybody dancing
♪ Everybody giving it up to him ♪
♪ Everybody dancing
♪ Everybody giving it up to him ♪
♪ Dancing.
-[song ends] -[whooping, clapping]
TERRANCE: Being a gospel choir can open doors in the South
that SFGMC can't.
Even though a full third of the choir is gay.
[chuckles]
Hmm.
JIMMY: This has been kind of a dream of mine
for a-a while, to bring chorus
to the communities in this country
that are suffering.
You know, maybe we should take a minute
to imagine the impact that we're gonna have here.
A big wave of love.
Lavender ripple effect going out.
My family's coming to see me.
So, here we are, finally.
I'm hoping my dad
will become a little bit more open-minded.
Maybe it'll crack open a little bit of that...
right-wing...
...hate anything that's different from the norm,
you know, veneer that he has.
I doubt it, but one can hope.
-Hey! -MITZI: Hey.
[chuckles] Hey.
I thought this was a one-man show.
-[Jimmy laughs] -Now's your chance.
-You look lovely. -Well, thank you.
-Mm. -You look very handsome.
-Thank you. -So excited we all get to be here.
-Me, too. -Mm-hmm.
Hey there, old man.
Hey. How you doing?
-I'm good. -[grunts]
Y'all just look alike more and more each day.
-Do we really? -Yes, you do.
JIMMY SR.: Hmm.
JIMMY: Cool.
♪
[chorus vocalizing]
PHILLIP WHITELY: ♪ I've got the picture
♪ That you gave to me
♪ And it's signed with love
♪ Just like it used to be
-♪ The only thing different -CHORUS: ♪ Ah♪
♪ The only thing new
♪ Ah♪
♪ I've got the picture
♪ And she's got you
♪ I've got the records
♪ That we used to share
♪ And they still sound the same ♪
♪ As when you gave them, dear
-♪ The only thing different -♪ Ah♪
♪ The only thing new
♪ Ah♪
♪ I've got the records
♪ And she's got you
♪ Ah-ah-ah-ah♪
[groaning]
[audience laughing]
[laughter, cheering]
[plays ascending notes]
♪ I've got the class ring
♪ That proved you cared
[laughter]
♪ And it still looks the same
♪ As when you gave it, dear
-♪ The only thing different -♪ Ah♪
♪ The only thing new
♪ Ah♪
♪ I've got these little things... ♪
♪ These little things♪
♪ And she's got you
♪ I've got these things♪
♪ She's got you.♪
[cheering and applause]
[indistinct chatter]
-Steve. -Did you see your dad yet?
I'm about to go see him right now to find out.
Yeah.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
Judy said, "I can't see him."
And I said, "Watch that little turtle head bop."
[laughing]
-Gopher, gopher. -I think the last song
was probably my favorite.
Ask Pappy what his favorite song was.
Which one was yours?
-Oh... -MAN: Patsy Cline.
-Patsy Cline. -Yeah. -[laughter]
It was great. Really good.
I enjoyed it, believe it or not.
MITZI: Oh, the... the spiritual...
Oh, she can rattle it with you.
MITZI: Oh, my God.
-It was good. -It was good.
I'm so glad y'all came.
I know, it was. It was good.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the trip up here.
Thank you. Mm. Okay.
["You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover" by Bo Diddley playing]
♪ Can't judge an apple by looking at a tree ♪
♪ You can't judge honey by looking at the bee ♪
♪ You can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother ♪
♪ You can't judge a book by looking at the cover ♪
♪ Oh, can't you see
♪ Oh, you misjudge me
♪ I look like a farmer
♪ But I'm a lover
♪ Can't judge a book by looking at the cover. ♪
♪
[song fades]
TIM: So, here's what I do in the morning.
I am going to be a guest on Real Newson WERT.
[cheering and applause]
From your applause, I can tell
-that you don't listen to that station. -[laughter]
They espouse everything that is the opposite of what I believe.
It is gonna be awesome. I got an interview
-with the alt-right. -[laughter]
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Thank you for listening to the best
conservative talk in Knoxville.
NICK CRAWFORD: He's got some passionate
feelings about health care.
MALE CALLER: When people are listening
to President Trump talk about health care costs
or they're listening to the Democratic Party,
who wants to give everybody everything,
uh, you know, what's next?
You know, so you got health care right now.
Oh, and, you know, the minute you're born,
you... you're owed housing.
You're not owed housing.
You got to work for it.
NICK: 8:08 here on talk radio 92.3 FM broadcasting live.
We have Mr. Tim Seelig. He's the artistic director,
-uh, of the Gay Men's Chorus in San Francisco. -Right.
You're going around to cities all around the Southeast.
-We are. -Promoting unity and peace.
-That's correct. -Sounds wonderful.
-Isn't that great? -I mean, A-- I, uh...
-I was in honors choir when I was in high school. -Awesome.
And I just love... I mean, love you out there, ladies.
Love you. Love... I love you altos.
I love you sopranos and first...
especially first sopranos and things like that.
But I love a good men's choir.
GRANT HENRY: When you initially started this,
spread this message of peace and unity,
it doesn't seem like there's exactly a...
a reciprocation, if you will, from the other side, right?
I-I guess what I'm asking is, is there further things
to be done to sort of bridge that unity?
And-and mostly importantly, was there a specific moment
or cause or impetus behind starting
such a movement like this, at the time that you did?
We're hurting. We're scared.
We're frightened. We woke up after the election.
And I'm talking about the LGBT community
and other communities that sometimes are called "other."
Anybody that's "other" got scared.
And so, this is a concert tour with activism behind it.
All the 300 singers paid their own way
so that in every city,
every dollar we raise from tickets or donations
stays with beneficiaries in that... in that city.
So we are raising money, and it will be divided,
um, among four beneficiaries that we've chosen.
-NICK: Abso... That is fantastic. -Yeah.
And also I want to say, too, um, no matter who you are
and how you fell, uh, during the election,
I think, after the fallout,
literally, no matter who you are,
political persuasion, wherever you come from,
there's been a lot of nonsense, no matter who you are,
that has been in response to the election,
and anybody out there using art to spread the message of unity,
I think that's... and-and peace,
it's probably more important than politics at the moment,
because we can't have political discussions,
rational ones,
if people are swinging baseball bats at each other.
-Right. -Or even just angry epithets.
-Sure. -Uh, no matter where you come from.
And I think it's a beautiful thing and a beautiful sentiment,
and I hope that people are touched by the sentiment.
-Yeah. Thank you. -Got to take a short break.
Stay with us.
TIM: Great.
This was not the show we thought we were coming to.
-We were armed. -[laughing]: Oh, okay.
-Dang it. -NICK: See, I think you'll find
that the people who are hostile,
I think there's probably a little bit of a, um...
a myth out in California that, like, there's all these people
-down here in the South that are hostile. -Abso... so...
-I know... I know we're leaving. -Those are the...
-That is the extreme minority. -Here's the cool thing.
-Absolutely true. -It is the extreme minority.
The cool thing is, I, being...
I mean, we think those people are weird.
-Mm-hmm. -You know? -A lot of the false assumptions
on both sides create these fake realities
that we all just exist in, you know?
And unless you ever really try and pursue real reality,
what we talk about all the time...
NICK: That's what we say all the time.
Reality's coming back. We're all people.
We're all just trying to make it, you know?
-Thanks. -Hey, no, thank you.
-That was great. -Thanks for coming out.
♪
JOSH BURFORD: The South is a myth, right?
The South is a distancing technique.
The South has been a place for people to overlay their fear.
And I think the tour has engendered
two very particular reactions.
There are plenty of people that want this
to happen because--
let's bring attention to the needs of local communities.
That's a great idea.
But then the other side of it is,
after being ignored for so long,
the idea of a... of a prominent national organization
doing a goodwill tour in the South
feels very white, paternalist and condescending.
And so it's like, I'm sorry,
you want to do what in the South?
Like, did anyone ask for this kind of help?
I'm of two minds myself.
I know that in the past the experiences that I've had
with large queer communities that are urban
and not in the South has not been good.
The way we describe it locally is that people show up
thinking we're a bunch of dirt-eating cousin ...
There's no way to nuance that
with people whose version of the South is
Gone with the Wind or Uncle Tom's Cabin.
And that's all the South they get.
But the South is radical and pissed off
and anti-assimilationist as much as it is friendly
-and eating cornbread and grits. -Right.
And we're all those things simultaneously.
There's no way for us to...
to fix that part of you that is resentful
-that we're coming. -[laughing]: No.
We can't fix it.
Um, however, uh, what I can say is
it never was the intent.
And I think that-that people,
uh, that choose to look at our tour here in that light,
there's nothing I can do to change them.
But there are all these people in the middle,
in Charlotte, in Jackson, Mississippi...
-Yeah. -...that really, um,
can... can be affected.
That's the people that we're going after.
[sighs] Sit up straight.
I think sometimes we get stuck
in thinking that things are harder here
than they are other places when, really, there is
a vibrancy and a resiliency here.
And-and, in fact, sometimes,
because you have to work so much harder at it,
the community feels stronger.
WOMAN: We're oppressed, you know, obviously,
but we're also such a close-knit community,
and-and that in itself is really beautiful.
Finding community in a place
where it's not easy to just be yourself.
Everyone assumes that just because
you're a queer in the South
that you are not okay, that you are struggling.
Um, we are incredibly resilient,
incredibly strong, incredibly brave.
But there are those narratives that still continue.
So the friends that I do have that are in the gay community
or, like, any minority here, pretty much,
it's, um, hush tones.
They have to hide their identity a lot more,
it seems, um,
'cause they're afraid of their neighbors.
Because of our very, very strong religious background
here in the South, um, a lot of people are still...
they still have the Bible thrown at them
for all these terrible things.
And the hyp... hypocrisy
and the-the bigotry still exists in a big, big way.
My grandparents are homophobic.
And, uh, I remember going to my first Pride Fest,
like, two years ago, and I brought home a flag,
and they just burned it on our backyard.
[insects chirping]
STEVE: This is the place where my life turned to hell.
That gym right there,
Mr. McDaniel, who was our principal,
uh, made fun of a student who was perceived to be gay
in front of the entire school.
[sighs] The worst thing you could be called was a homo.
You could be a murderer,
you could be a rapist, you could be anything,
but the one thing that you couldn't be was gay.
I am angry when I come back here, what happened to me,
but I'm more angry that it didn't just happen to me.
It's happening to a lot of other kids
and probably happening to kids right now.
That's why I want to come here.
I want to come for those kids.
RILEY McLEOD: When I started to date this trans guy,
just the reaction to it was completely extreme.
You know, they took me out of high school.
And at one point, they had kicked me out of the house.
They put me in a Christian school,
and they had me going to a Christian therapist
and all these things.
Um, it was just kind of explosive,
just the way that they reacted to the whole situation.
My parents really... they-they could stop me
from going to the concert.
Obviously, I really, really want to go.
And I want to have this experience with everyone.
I'll never forget this conversation
that I had with my dad.
He gave up on his art because his dad sat down
and told him that it was making people, like,
perceive him to be weird, I guess.
So he gave up on his art to become more likable.
And I was sitting there the whole time
thinking he's gonna get to the point
where he tells me that I shouldn't do that.
That I shouldn't give up on being myself for other people.
And it didn't get to that.
It got to: "I think you should change yourself,
"and you should be the way that other people want you to be
"because that's how you're gonna be the happiest.
"You're gonna be the happiest when other people around you
like you and are supportive to you."
When you come out, you already have to accept
that suddenly all the movies aren't about you.
All the songs aren't about you.
-Yeah. -Everything isn't about you.
-You have to accept that... -You can't relate.
You have to accept that
even in one of the more accepting countries,
only about half the population even supports gay marriage.
Yeah.
ASHLEÉ BLOW: ♪ I am changing
[cheering]
♪ Trying to...
ANNOUNCER: Hello, hello, hello, everybody.
-How are you? -[cheering]
Thank you so much for coming out tonight.
What a great crowd.
Please give it up for Ashlé.
♪ I'm trying
♪ To find a way
♪ To understand
♪ But I need you
♪ I need you
♪ I need a hand
♪ I am changing
♪ Seeing everything so clear... ♪
ASHLEÉ: I joined the chorus under a different name
and looking a lot different, so...
I'm transgender, and I'm actually transitioning.
So, for the last year,
I've been transitioning from male to female.
And when I started transitioning last year,
I was very nervous that I wasn't going to be accepted.
I was worried that I would have to give up my community.
And what happened was the exact opposite.
These men made it very clear to me
that I was welcomed here
and I didn't have to go anywhere.
♪ All over again, oh...
Being ashamed of who I was as a feminine person,
after years of suppressing all that,
at a later age, all that finally came out,
and I was able to be myself.
And it's changed my life
so much.
It's almost like this feeling of euphoria.
♪ Now...
[cheering and applause]
Whew.
Oh, that feels good. Mm.
[takes a deep breath]
When I first heard about the tour
and I was going through my transition,
I thought, well, how do I fit into this?
Because there's no way I can hide in the South
looking the way that I do.
And at first, I was like, I'm not sure I want to go.
I'm not sure if I'm in a good headspace for that.
And someone said to me this could be transformative for me.
And one thing I thought about is making connections.
We can make connections when we go outside of our community.
-[dogs barking] -[insects chirping]
-CINDY: Hi. Welcome. -ASHLEÉ: Hi.
-I'm Cindy. -Cindy, Ashlé. Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you. -I'm Frank. Nice to meet you.
Frank, nice to meet you. I'm a hugger.
Oh, wow.
-Welcome to Alabama. -Hi.
-Hi. Come on in. -Thank you so much.
-You're welcome. Right on in.
MAN: Let's bow. Our Holy Father in Heaven,
we thank you so much for this day.
We thank you for the safety of our friends as they've traveled,
and ask, Father, that you will continue to give them safety
and, uh, help them as they are going through the tour,
that-that all things will go well.
And in all these situations that we'll always
be like neighbors and help one another out. Amen.
Mm...
I used to be in chorus when I was in high school.
And, um, I... we... at our congregation and our belief
is we don't use instruments with the way we worship the Lord.
Because we don't find examples of that in the New Testament.
But I have great memories of being in the chorus.
While I'm not a terribly religious person anymore,
you know, I still have this spiritual energy,
this spiritual connection,
partly 'cause I grew up in a church.
And it was just... it's so hard for me to go back to that
because of the way I was treated as a child.
Like, in the Pentecostal church,
I was prayed over, like, every week.
Like, when I was...
when I came out as, you know, gay at 16, 17,
"pray the gay away" and-and, you know, "remove the demons"
and "you're a horrible person" and that sort of thing.
And that just leaves so many scars when you keep
trying to change or be something different,
and you're like, why isn't it working?
I keep doing this, and-and it just...
it breaks your spirit.
So it's hard for me to go back there.
CINDY: We love everybody's soul,
and we hope to bring as many people
to Heaven with us as we can,
and that's one of those feelings that I think our...
that's why we have the hospitality that we do.
MAN: It-it-it's not that
we've got to agree on a particular thing,
but as-as long as we can agree to... to be civil,
as long as we can agree to accept--
-that's your decision. -Mm-hmm.
-My decision might be different. -Yeah.
But you don't wake up every morning
deciding your life based on what I believe or what I think.
And I don't wake up every day going, okay...
And-and that's where I think, sometimes,
it's like, no, you've got to accept this.
You know, you've got to believe this instead of just going,
"Where's the way where we could work together
where we don't inter... interfere with one another?"
Being here, being able to have a-a conversation,
whether we agree or disagree with each other, is important.
And I wish that we could see, like,
-more of this just in society. -Yes.
-The fact that you opened your home up to us... -Yes.
I could not imagine, you know, years ago
sitting, um, you know, in-in the South,
-in-in Birmingham, Alabama, -[laughter]
with a family that... just opening their doors to us.
And it's just beautiful, so thank you.
-MAN: Uh, is that better? -MAN 2: I don't know.
There. There we go. That looks better.
[indistinct chatter, laughter]
[cheering and applause]
TIM: How do you like it?
There are some ground rules
about a concert when I'm there is,
you just never know what to expect.
But, people, here's the deal.
I spent my entire life,
up until six and a half years ago, in Texas.
Now, I know.
No, don't boo or hiss. Don't do it.
-[laughter] -So...
uh, until I was 35 years old,
I was the associate minister of music
at the First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas,
with a beautiful wife and two beautiful children,
-when I came out. -[scattered applause]
No, no, no, no, no. No, you don't need to clap.
-It was shit, so... -[laughter]
No, no, no.
"Oh, that's nice."
[laughter]
"I bet that went well for you."
Yeah, well, no, it didn't.
I could never say what was bothering me.
I fought it as long as I could.
I knew it...
but did what I was supposed to do.
And that was go to a nice Baptist college
and marry a nice Baptist girl.
And my wife and I, we would sing together in church,
doing pageants and dressing up
and putting on makeup, which I don't even do now.
And I knew all along
that there was something deeply wrong with this.
But I thought I could certainly pray it away and...
and I was a strong person and I could do this.
♪
As we traveled, many people flocked around Jesus.
Many of them wanted to be healed.
Many of them wanted to see again.
When I professed that I am a creature of God
and God made me gay,
the church chose to throw me out.
A group from the church
sat me down and said, "Here's what's gonna happen.
"You're gonna pack your car
"with whatever you can get in your car.
"You're gonna say goodbye to your kids,
"and you're gonna leave, and you're not gonna come back.
"And we're gonna tell the kids
"that you're on a concert tour.
"And it'll give everybody some time
to figure all of this out."
I will never get over that pain.
The church made a very conscious decision to fire me.
They were not going to stop until I had lost everything.
My house was foreclosed.
Bankruptcy.
Lost both of my jobs.
So, what was there to live for?
I think my ex-wife would have done a lot better
without the church behind her saying, you know,
"Hurt him as much as you can.
We are going to make sure that he's ruined."
And then she moved away with my two kids,
and I was not able to see them.
I hate the church
for all of the things they did to my family.
It would be really easy for us to stay at home
in our San Francisco bubble
and say, "I'm done with the hurt.
I'm done with the rejection. Let's just stay here."
But we're not gonna get anywhere
by just singing to our own people.
[church organ playing]
One of the important aspects of this tour is
-for our members to reconnect to their roots... -Mm-hmm.
-...and to understand that we can... -Mm-hmm.
-We don't sing in churches. -Mm-hmm.
Actually, there are very few churches in San Francisco.
-Mm. -So this is gonna be a spiritual journey.
MAN: Well, it's-it's a common thing here
for those LGBTQ+ individuals
to transcend the faith tradition that they grew up with.
They learn how to let it go,
to leave it behind, even leave the South.
-Like, "I'm-I'm getting out of here." -Right.
And there are so many people that...
they really do want that, and they can't have it.
-It's been taken from them, and so... -Right.
...they need to come back and redeem it
and reclaim it and make it their own again.
Because they can't be whole
until they can go back and do that.
Yeah.
So, what did you all have in mind?
We know that some people are not gonna come
hear the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.
And we want to provide the opportunity to, um...
to reach out in churches.
What we need is a place to sing.
WOMAN: Everybody right here
would absolutely love to have you.
But the man that stuck his hand in the door
is our new senior minister. He has-has the final say.
-Sure. Of course. -And, um,
we just don't know what he's gonna say.
But we are going to ask him, and it...
-and I hope he will say yes. -Mm-hmm.
Because I'm going to be really disappointed if he says no.
Thank you.
♪
TIM: "I'm writing to let you know
"that the church that I love with all my heart
"has said no to the request for using our space
for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus."
They have a new senior minister
who is homophobic and discriminatory.
And he does not like
the direction that the church was going,
which was toward inclusion.
And he was placed there by the bishop to turn it around.
And so he started with us.
CHORUS: ♪ Love can build a bridge
♪ Between your heart and mine
♪ Love can build a bridge
♪ Don't you think it's time?
♪ Don't you think it's time? ♪
MAN: The civil rights movement came here.
The Brown Chapel became the place where all the activity
of the civil rights movement took place.
We marched into history.
And we inspired the world.
Today, we connect Selma to Stonewall, to Castro.
We bring all of that together.
And what binds us together
is our humanity and our personal hope.
MAN: We want to thank you guys for coming to Selma.
And we know that, uh, Selma has
a lot of historical significance to everybody.
And at the end of the day, I like to say
they took that bridge for hate and changed it to love.
-[applause] -So thank you all for coming.
God clearly says homosexuality is abomination.
He didn't create people like that.
And then to, on top of that,
try to twist it and say it's discrimination,
and then come to a place that was known, you know,
of civil rights movements and try to compare it,
I mean, that's just a fallacy.
If you think logically about it,
it doesn't... it doesn't match up.
I've actually gone through this before.
This was a struggle for me for years
where I had felt like I was gay,
and I didn't want to be that way.
Because I know for a fact that it's wrong in the Bible.
And so I did my best to stray away from that lifestyle.
Which is why I found the best person on earth
right here next to me.
I've never actually been with a girl,
but I've had these, you know, feelings
like I belong with a girl, but I know for a fact
my religion says that's wrong, so I wasn't gonna
go against my religion for that.
CHORUS: ♪ We shall overcome
♪ Someday
♪ Deep in my heart...
TERRANCE: Bringing 200 gay men into any church
is gonna test it,
along with a whole bunch of non-Christians
singing on the Interfaith Choir.
[chuckling]: So that's pushing just about
every kind of button you can push.
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
♪ We shall overcome someday
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
♪ We shall overcome
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
♪ We shall overcome
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
♪ We shall overcome
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
♪ We shall overcome
♪ Deep in my heart
♪ I do believe
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
-♪ We shall♪ - We shall ♪
-♪ We shall♪ -♪ We shall
-♪ We shall♪ - We shall ♪
♪ We shall overcome
♪ Some...
♪ Day.
[cheering and applause]
TIM: We don't expect that within six months
Mississippi is gonna change its mind
or North Carolina's gonna change its bigotry
over the bathroom bill.
What we are focused on
is that every person that we do meet
has an interaction that changes them.
That's about it.
RILEY: There she is. Hey.
-How y'all doing? -What a hottie.
[laughing]
I've been looking forward to this
for, like, months, I guess, to be able to go to a concert.
Especially, like, for a group that,
you know, are people like us.
Yeah, just be able to be open in a public venue.
-Yeah. -[laughing]
I think there's also, like, a scary part to it.
Like, it's a huge risk to go out and be openly gay,
because there's so many things going on now.
-And it's just, like... scary. -Especially in the Bible Belt.
Yeah, and...
RILEY: You just kind of have to worry about people
taking something like this, like this concert,
to an extreme level, uh, and taking it as, like,
an attack on a "Southern way of life"
or however they might describe it.
The-the-the ratio of people who are accepting
to the ratio of people who are not accepting
-is very disheartening. -Yeah.
Yeah.
♪ We feel, we hear
♪ Your pain, your fear
♪ But we're here to say
♪ Who you are
♪ Is okay
♪ And you don't have to go through this ♪
♪ On your own
♪ You're not alone
CHORUS: ♪ You have more friends than you know ♪
♪ Some who surround you
♪ Some you are destined to meet ♪
♪ You'll have more love in your life ♪
♪ Don't let go, give it time
♪ Take it slow
♪ Those who love you the most
♪ May need more time to grow
♪ It's gonna be okay
♪ You have more friends than you know... ♪
TOM PAULINO: To be able to meet you guys
and to sing to you guys and share
what our love and appreciation of music and art is with you
is probably the highest honor that we have.
People who are out in places where it's not easy to be out
is the coolest damn thing.
RILEY: Yeah, so,
as I, like, mentioned, I'm not really out yet.
And I wasn't even really able to be honest
about where I am right now with my family.
It is kind of hard for me to...
you know, to get to be myself in my own home.
And, you know, I haven't been very, like,
actively involved in, like, this community
just because I-I haven't really had the opportunity
just 'cause my parents have been so closely monitoring me.
So, to be able to get out today and come to this
is, like, a huge opportunity for me.
And it's-it's amazing because I'm just...
I feel so, like, grateful to be around people who are so open.
And it seriously means the world to me to be here.
We have a phrase in the chorus that says,
"You have to be the one that you needed when you were 14."
And...
I-I can't tell you how many people
are gonna look out into the audience and see that.
CHORUS: ♪ Some who surround you
♪ Some you are destined to meet ♪
♪ You'll have more love in your life ♪
♪ Don't let go, give it time
-♪ Give it time♪ -♪ Take it slow
♪ Take it slow♪
♪ Those who love you the most
♪ May need more time to grow
♪ It's gonna be okay
SOLOIST: ♪ You're gonna be okay
♪ You have more friends
♪ Than you know
CHORUS: ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh♪
SOLOIST: ♪ More friends
♪ Than you know.
[applause]
WOMAN: Your chest.
Anywhere you feel.
Any time the negative emotions start to emerge.
[over speakers]: Observe that emotion.
And repeat to yourself:
"This area is love.
This area is me."
And you need to breathe deeply, right to
the very bottom of your belly.
WOMAN: I hear from y'all a lot about
the relief that comes from figuring out
that, like, internal identity
and external performance, but I also hear talk
about having that responsibility
of other people's perceptions on you.
ASHLEÉ: It was a great thing for me
to learn that trans is this umbrella
and-and everybody has their own personal journey
and their own personal identity.
And I think, for some people,
they expected that I was gonna transition
and also become, like, Laverne Cox or something.
-[light laughter] -You know, or my drag persona
with, like, all the hair and the lipstick
every day and-and all that.
And-and I think people are realizing that it...
it's not about hair and makeup.
It's interesting, also, Ashlé, hearing you talk about,
like, how you look-- because you look very feminine to me.
And so, I mean, again, it's like--
for me to judge or say anything like that,
but it's interesting again, that internal feeling
-versus the external feeling. -Yeah, yeah.
And whereas, like, for you,
for yourself, I'm sure you are, um,
-like, looking at yourself very closely. -Yes.
'Cause on any given day-- and it happens every day--
like, I'll be called "ma'am" and "sir"
-by many different people. -Right.
I have a hard time understanding how other people
-see me because of that. -Perceive you.
Like, I always feel like I have to be
either on one side or the other.
Like there's not really a middle place for me.
The tour has exposed
a lot of things that I need to figure out.
Maybe there's somewhere in the middle
that I can exist as a gender-fluid person.
I see kids younger and younger now--
they just don't care.
Like, they're playing somewhere in the middle
or they're like, they're this one day,
they're that one day.
And maybe it's a generational thing,
and I feel like it has to be this
or it has to be that.
And I'm not giving myself a break and saying,
"You can be somewhere in the middle. It's-it's okay."
A friend of mine
gave me this thing up here,
and he could see that I was struggling.
And that's... I don't know,
that's what "Love Can Build a Bridge"
means to me now.
It's just... it's bridging that-that gap that I had in me.
[sniffs]
[sighs, sniffs]
And now I have to sing that later. [chuckles]
[sniffs, sighs]
[inhales deeply]
Think I'm ready.
JIMMY: The whole week has been taxing.
Made me realize the cancer's making me weaker.
The energy level has definitely dropped.
The hospital called yesterday
and bumped up the surgery to next Tuesday, so...
-Yeah? -Uh, start chemo next week.
-I'm just like, I'm ready... -So you're wore out.
-You're wore out. -I'm tired.
-But you're here, and there's a lot of love. -I'm here.
-And this is... -And there's a lot of stuff going on.
It's so uplifting, you know.
I'm just happy to see you.
-Oh, I'm so glad to see you, too. -I'm so happy.
-I missed seeing you. -Yes.
-And Mama said hey. -Oh. Tell her I said hi.
-She was like... -Tell her I said hi.
She was like, "Are 'y'all going?"
I said, "We're gonna... we're here right now.
We're gonna see him in a couple hours."
-Awesome. Awesome. -So she was, like, excited, so...
I just love you.
JIMMY: I'm so happy.
-So, so happy you drove up here. -I'm so glad.
You got to see everybody in Jackson,
-then you get to see us here. -I know, really.
My entire family now has seen me sing.
-Can you take a picture of us, please? -Yes.
Awesome. Awesome.
That particular concert opened a door.
A little crack in the door
so that a bridge could be built.
-[Scarlett squeals] -Love it.
[chuckling]: I look different. That's good.
Can't put it in words.
It's too profound.
I feel hopeful, though.
Definitely feel hopeful.
For mending relationships, um,
music heals, so...
It's healed me. It's healing me.
Continues to heal me.
TIM: All right.
Let's see. Oh, my gosh.
-Who are you people? -[laughter]
Geez.
Every night, we've had, like, three or four.
-What is this Charlotte thing? -[laughter]
John.
Hi. These are my parents,
Tim and Melody from Columbus, Ohio.
-[cheering, applause] -MAN: My mother's best friend
and best friends of the family,
Mary and Chuck are here from Topeka, Kansas.
[cheering, applause]
MAN: This is my cousin Rhonda
and her husband Scott that I haven't seen for 30 years.
[cheering, applause]
TIM: Thank you for taking the trouble
to make this trip to support your family member, your friend.
It's not an easy road with a family member who comes out.
Nobody ever said that was easy.
You have stuck by us. You have loved us.
You have made us your own.
And tonight, you're getting 200 more
-gay brothers and sisters and mothers. -[laughter, whooping]
So we sing this song, and it started in the days
when there were so few family members and friends
that would come and stand by their loved one.
So thank you for your support.
♪ Mmm.
I miss my mom. That's it.
So I'm gonna invite her to this family party.
CHORUS: ♪ May the road
♪ Rise up
♪ To meet you
♪ May the sun
♪ Shine warm
♪ On your face
♪ And the rain fall soft
♪ On your fields
♪ And until
♪ We meet again
TIM: Hug 'em tight.
♪ In the palm
♪ Of his hand...
TIM: Welcome to the family.
[murmuring, applause]
[cheering and applause]
TIM: We are so incredibly happy to be here.
There were two states we wanted to go to.
And those were the two, sorry to say,
with pretty much the worst laws against the LGBT community.
Yeah, yeah, you do.
-You're one of them, and... -[laughter]
Yep, you are.
So we decided we had to go...
we had to go to Mississippi and had to go to North Carolina.
Because I understand, as well as many of you do,
that we are not going to effect change in our legislation
until we effect change in organized religion.
They are so inextricably combined.
PASTOR WILLIAM PENDER: Erwin reached out to me
-about maybe doing a concert here.-TIM: Mm-hmm.
-Mm-hmm. -And what I told him was...
it had a possibility.
As long as we could really play
that this is an act of hospitality.
But I said, "Erwin, I got to be honest with you.
"If it smells of demonstration,
"if it s-smells of in-your-face,
"if it smells of anything like that,
then I'm gonna get resistance, I'm gonna get pushback."
My job is to keep saying
there are ways for us to hold a center here.
And so the idea of exclusion
just rubs wrong.
So that's my starting point with anybody on this conversation.
I have, uh, in my older age, uh, found that not to be enough.
It's absolutely not enough, because I know what that means.
It means, "Oh, bless your heart."
Yes, yes.
And then you go home and just rail.
You know, and scream into a pillow.
So the levels of, um, being hospitable,
uh, that's not good enough for me anymore.
-I... -Because you can stab me in the back
-while you're hugging me. -Yes.
And so there's that, and then there's tolerance.
And I'm not interested in tolerance.
-I don't need to be tolerated. -Right. Tolerated.
And it's really hard to get
from, uh, hospitality to tolerance.
The harder step is to celebrate the uniqueness.
I just haven't felt the nudge to do that.
[Tim groans]
I've lived that very painful
Southern veneer of--
"We're hospitable to all."
And, you know, that veneer is basically bullshit.
It makes me so angry.
My ex-wife and I would go
and sing the special music at our megachurch.
And the people would just go, "Oh, it's so beautiful.
That is so beautiful."
And we had the perfect picture.
Wife, two children, lovely car.
We had the perfect life,
as long as we didn't ever say that we had trouble.
And we would sing this beautiful,
uplifting duet in the morning church,
and we would get in the car and start fighting.
And no one ever saw that part.
And so, when that veneer cracked,
all that pain explodes everywhere.
And for me, um,
having done that in a church of 20,000 people,
uh, my... when my veneer exploded,
um, it got everyone dirty.
Everyone was hurt.
And I will say that, um, of those 20,000 people
who were so hurt by me coming out,
none of them reached out in compassion.
None of them reached out in compassion.
♪
CHORUS: ♪ I ain't afraid
♪ Of your Yahweh
♪ I ain't afraid
♪ Of your Allah
♪ I ain't afraid
♪ Of your Jesus
♪ I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your god ♪
♪ I ain't afraid
♪ Of your churches...
PATRICIA TODD: In the Deep South,
the Bible is more important than the Constitution.
Every state has tried some of these
religious, quote, "freedom bills."
You know, it's fine if you believe that,
and you can practice your religion any way you want to.
But how dare you assume
that everybody in this country is a Christian.
CHORUS: ♪ The ones who say they know it are the ones ♪
♪ Who will impose it on you, I ain't afraid... ♪
PATRICIA: I know that we're gonna win this battle
for full equality.
Every social movement has used music
to both soothe the souls of the activist
and communicate their message.
Gospel during the civil rights movement.
And I think these choruses have empowered the queer movement.
CHRIS: The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus was born
with a deep sense of artistry and artistic pride,
but also a deep sense of social justice.
This chorus and the LGBT choral movement itself
started out with the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
And in the '90s, it was Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
In the 2000s, it was really marriage equality.
And here we are.
Having an equal protections bill in this country
would go a long, long way.
♪ Oh, I ain't afraid
♪ Of your children
♪ I ain't afraid
♪ Of your stories
♪ I'm afraid of what you do
♪ In the name of your
♪ God...
-[song ends] -[cheering and applause]
WOMAN: You can reach somebody through song
sometimes faster than you can reach them with a conversation.
And so that is gonna bridge a gap.
I think they're reminding us that we celebrate.
That we celebrate life.
And that, in the middle of all the oppression and the hatred
and-and the discrimination that we face,
that we still can raise our voices and sing
and that we can still gather in unity.
WOMAN: I think it's gonna hopefully
open some eyes to some of those people in this state
that are so prejudiced against, you know,
the gay and lesbian community.
To be tolerant and to be accepting
has nothing to do whether you're gay or straight
or fat or thin or pretty or not pretty.
It's because we all need to get along.
STEVE: When I came out, it was pretty much
a complete rejection from both parents.
I had done what they perceived to be the worst possible thing
that anyone could do to them-- having a gay son.
And they had done to me what I perceived to be
the worst possible thing a parent could do--
rejecting their child.
And we had really good reasons to be angry for each other...
with each other for ten years.
But God, I wish we hadn't.
They're gone now.
And I-I'd love to be able to...
[sighs] ...be a little kinder.
To them.
And I think...
there's a part of that that this story's about, too.
It's about wanting us all to be a little kinder.
I feel like it's so easy when you experience
those moments that feel like a betrayal
to shut someone off.
Whether that's a family member
or someone who's voted for somebody else
or somebody who believes differently than you do,
it's so easy to just shut that person out of your life.
And it's so destructive.
CHOIR: ♪ Ooh...♪
♪ Lord
♪ How come me here?
♪ Lord
♪ How come me here?
♪ Lord
♪ How come me here?
♪ I wish I
♪ Never was born...
[whooping, applause]
TIM: Each of the singers
comes with special painful baggage,
but nonetheless, we try to take care of each other.
VALERIA: ♪ There ain't no
♪ No freedom here
♪ Lord
♪ How come me here?
♪ Oh...♪
♪ I...
[whooping, applause]
♪ Born...
♪ Ooh...♪
-[song ends] -[cheering and applause]
[bell tolling]
WOMAN: Good morning. You want a program?
-There you go. -Thank you.
-MAN: Hi. -Hi. Welcome.
♪ If I dance with the storm
♪ I'll be safe
♪ I'll be whole
♪ I can run, I can rise
♪ I can face all goodbyes
♪ Ooh...
PASTOR ROB LOWRY: I got a phone call
out of the blue a few weeks ago saying,
"Some of us would like to come sing in a church.
Would you be willing to welcome us?"
And I said yes.
I think it was important for the chorus
to feel welcome in a church.
Too many of us in the LGBTQ community
don't feel welcome in church.
If you don't preach about
what's happening in the world,
take off your robe and quit your job.
'Cause if a church
does not preach about the world
and what is happening in the world,
the church has no business being the church.
I think that it's a mistake to conflate
religious freedom with the freedom to discriminate.
This week, a law will go into effect
that takes us back half a century
to one of the darkest chapters in our history,
to tell your pastor
he can't have lunch in their establishment.
To tell me I can't buy from their shelves.
We have a decision to make as a culture.
Where will our faith reside?
-Amen. -CONGREGATION: Amen.
[organ playing]
MAN: Thank you so much.
We in the red state need all the help we can get.
That's why we chose to come here.
And I was eyeing this scarf from up in the loft.
-It was beautiful. -Thank you. I thought today
-was a good day for wearing it. -Very appropriate.
WOMAN: Your smiles are almost
-as wonderful as your voices are. -Aw.
-Thank you. -Thank you for welcoming us
-into your community. -Oh, thank you so much.
MAN: There's pecans in the Jell-O.
No.
-I've had pecans with every meal so far. -[laughter]
I'm not complaining.
Are you gonna be able to make it tonight?
-We're gonna try to. -Okay.
ROB: What you're doing
is making an enormous difference.
And thank you so very, very much.
An 83-year-old woman in this church,
she has made it very clear to me since I got here
that she voted against me at the congregational meeting.
Not in a mean way.
-She just wanted me to know where she stood. -WOMAN: Yes.
And I-I... this morning, she came up to me after worship,
and she said, "I get it," and she hugged me.
And said, "I'm glad you're my pastor."
And that was largely because you all were here.
♪
[truck horn blares]
BELINDA TASAICO: We are here tonight
because of a friend I have met only through Facebook.
His name is Julian Francis Clift.
And we have a lot of differing opinions,
but the one thing we always agree on is respect.
JULIAN: You enjoyed yourself?
Very much.
It was such a blessing.
I felt like... I-I was telling them earlier,
I felt like I was in the... in church.
I always had my church arms going on.
-[laughing] -My Pentecostal arms going on.
It was so wonderful.
It is a very different...
I mean, our concerts are always fun.
This has a different spin on it that's really incredible.
And it's been a really unbelievable experience for me.
-This is a gift for you. -Okay.
And let me tell you a story about it.
Giving a gift is difficult with so many unknowns,
so I made a quilt for you.
The fish on the face of your quilt,
it represents the Deep South Bible Belt, baby.
[laughing]
What a challenging area to take on
to spread the message of equality,
compassion, inclusiveness
into areas still known more for their intolerance
than for understanding in equal rights.
Your quilt is made of soft, brushed cotton flannel
as a reminder that you will always find people,
even in the most unlikely of places,
that you want to wrap you in the warmth of friendship
and understanding and acceptance.
You see, quilt pieces, they're diverse and unique
when you view them individually.
Then they become stitched together,
accepting how their differences can work together,
become a stronger, unified group.
This is the world that I dream of.
A world of acceptance, tolerance and unity,
and a world I'm glad to share with you.
♪
TIM: Tomorrow's our last show.
We're singing at a mega Southern Baptist church
in South Carolina.
We have had acceptance from the Episcopalians,
the Presbyterians, the Unitarians,
but to go in the Southern Baptist church
is frightening.
The Baptist church absolutely left no stone unturned
to ruin my life.
So I carry all that tomorrow night
as I walk in to that altar
and lead 300 people that I love,
and I hope it's not to the slaughter.
'Cause it's really, really frightening.
It's frightening for me.
♪
This is the first time in 30 years
that I've entered a Southern Baptist church
at their invitation, knowing full well that I'm gay.
PASTOR JIM DANT: Welcome to South Carolina.
I have no idea who's coming tonight
or how many people are going to show up.
TIM: Jim Dant, the pastor, has welcomed us.
But it remains to be seen
if the whole church welcomes us.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
-It's gonna be full. It is full. -We'll get some people.
[applause]
I-I need to answer two questions.
I've obviously gotten a lot of phone calls
-in the last couple of weeks. -[laughter]
And I thought I would just wait and answer
the two primary questions tonight.
Uh, the answer to the first question is: no, I'm not gay.
[laughter]
But the second question is: why?
And, uh, my simple answer to that each time has been:
because I am a Christian and a follower of Christ.
-That's why. -[applause]
The only people that Jesus never was really comfortable with
were self-righteous, judgmental religious people.
[applause]
There is no way we could thank you for this experience.
I will tell you that many of us up here
have been rejected by our families,
by our churches,
and have moved away from our home cities.
One of the most wonderful things about this tour is that
we have been able to be in places
where their LGBT community is becoming part of the community.
And a church like this,
you may be getting a lot of backlash.
I almost said a dirty word in...
[laughter]
It is nothing compared to what you have done
as a shining light to all of us, to give us hope.
And we want to thank... thank you for that.
[applause, whooping]
♪
♪ Amazing grace
♪ How sweet the sound
♪ That saved a wretch
♪ A wretch like me
♪ I once was lost
♪ But now am found
♪ I once was blind
♪ But now I
♪ See...
TIM: Grace doesn't have to be from God.
Grace does not have to be bestowed by religion.
Grace is a feeling.
It's a position of acceptance.
♪ My heart to fear...
The transformation for me came in
an acceptance from a whole group of people
I never thought I would gain any acceptance from.
But I was wrong. I've been wrong.
♪ How precious
♪ Did
♪ That grace appear
♪ The hour...
STEVE: It has been such an enriching experience
for everyone on the tour.
We came thinking that we were going to be sharing
an experience of our singing with people,
but what we didn't anticipate
was how much we would... we would be getting in return.
♪
♪ Through many dangers
♪ Toils and snares
♪ I have already
♪ Safely come
♪ 'Tis grace hath brought
♪ Me safe thus far
♪ And surely
♪ Surely grace
♪ Will lead me home
♪ I shall go home
♪ When we've been there
♪ 10,000 years
♪ Bright shining as
♪ The glorious sun
♪ We've no less days
♪ To sing God's praise
♪ Than since the day
♪ We first begun
♪ Than since the day
♪ We first begun.
TIM: As long as the world continues
to discriminate against the LGBT community,
we will fight until our very last breath.
[song ends]
[applause]
♪
♪ Pass me not
-♪ O gentle Savior... -[song fades]
TERRANCE: All right, sopranos.
Here we go. Here we go. Sopranos.
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah
♪ Hallelujah
-♪ Halle... Whoo! -♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
-♪ Hallelujah♪ -Altos, come on in.
-♪ King of... -♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
♪ Hallelujah♪
♪ King of kings and lord of lords ♪
♪ Halle... Keep going.
Tenors, come in. ♪ Halle...
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
-♪ Hallelu... -♪ Hallelujah♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
-♪ Hallelujah♪ -Basses, come in.
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah
♪ Hallelu...
Let me hear you. Let me hear you.
♪ Hallelujah♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
The Jackson choir rehearsal is on next Monday Night.
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪
♪ Hallelujah♪
♪ Hallelujah
♪ Oh, hallelu...
-♪ Hallelujah♪ -♪ Hallelujah
-♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪ -♪ Hallelujah
-♪ Sing praise♪ -♪ Hallelu...
-♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah♪ -♪ Hallelujah
♪ Hallelujah♪
♪ Oh...
♪ Sing praise
♪ Sing praises to thee♪
All right, here we go.
Grab your dance partner.
You can take it to the floor
as long as you can get up by yourself.
-Are we ready? -[whooping]
Are you ready?
Are you ready, Jackson?
All right, here we go, here we go, here we go.
♪ Everybody dance
♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Everybody dance -♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Get your hands in the air
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Wave 'em like you care -♪ Everybody dancing♪
-[vocalizing]-♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Everybody dance -♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody dance
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Get your hands in the air -♪ Everybody dancing♪
-♪ Whoa -♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ -[whooping]
♪ Everybody dance
♪ Everybody dancing♪
♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Everybody dance -♪ Everybody dancing♪
-♪ Whoa -♪ Everybody giving it up to him♪
-♪ Dance -♪ Dancing.♪
Whoo!
[cheering and applause]
Thank you. We love you.
[song ends]