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On March 11, 1998, the Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska, was placed on trial to determine if he had violated the integrity of the church for blessing with God’s grace the relationship of two women in his congregation who had shared their vows of love and fidelity with one another.
"I have to tell you," Rev. Creech explained, "that the integrity of the church was violated when the church decided to prohibit the celebration of the love and fidelity of two people regardless of their gender, regardless of their sex."
Just weeks before the trial, on February 12, 1998, lesbian and gay Americans celebrated Freedom To Marry Day, to help raise public awareness of the 1,047 rights and protections withheld from same-sex couples who are denied the rights of marriage by their nation and the rites of marriage by their church.
At a national press conference in Los Angeles on that day, Jimmy Creech shared the deeply personal story behind his evolutionary journey from neutrality to full support and total acceptance of God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered children.
The costly convictions of Jimmy Creech expressed in this deeply moving pre- trial interview with Dr. Mel White will help change minds & hearts in the current controversy over same-sex marriage that is dividing churches, homes, and families across the nation.
Send a check for $10 made out to Video 3 to Soulforce Videos, P.O. Box 4467, Laguna Beach, CA. 92652. Remember, it is OK to copy all of Mel and Gary's Soulforce Videos to share them freely with your friends and family, with your PFLAG chapter, community center, schools and churches, other faith or activist groups and on your local cable access TV station.
The Methodist Federation for Social Action is raising funds to pay the costs of Jimmy’s defense. You can help by writing a tax-deductible check to "Creech Defense Fund." Send your contributions and best wishes to: The Methodist Federation for Social Action, 76 Clinton Ave., Staten Island, NY. 10301.
Mel White and his life-partner, Gary Nixon, work together in an interfaith justice ministry based on the principles of militant nonviolent resistance to injustice taught by Gandhi and King. In 1997, Mel received the ACLU’s National Civil Liberties Award for his efforts to apply these "soul force" principles to the struggle for justice for sexual minorities.
The production and low cost distribution of videos like "The Trials of Jimmy Creech" is an educational outreach of Mel and Gary’s interfaith justice ministry. The donation requested for their not-for-profit videos barely cover the costs of duplicating, packaging, and mailing. Mel and Gary encourage viewers to copy and share their videos freely. They raise the funds to produce and distribute their videos through tax-deductible donations from people who support their Soulforce justice work.
THE RHETORIC OF INTOLERANCE (29 minutes) In this prize-winning "Open Letter Video to Pat Robertson…" Mel White reviews (and responds to) almost 40 of Mr. Robertson's most misleading statements, not just about lesbians and gays, but about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, separation of church and state, Muslim and other minority Americans. It is a frightening look (with a calm, thoughtful response) to the false and inflammatory rhetoric of America's leading fundamentalist Christian. A complimentary User Guide is included. To order, send a check for $6.55 made out to Video 1.
HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT GOD LOVES ME, TOO? (24 minutes) Video taped live before an amazing congregation in Spring Lake, Michigan, this is Mel White's response to those who would misuse the Biblical record to condemn God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered children. Patrick Bristow, (Peter on ABC's Ellen) says, "This simple, brilliant, theologically grounded sermon may do more for gay rights than many political actions have done. I rushed to show it to my mother." To order, send a check for $10. made out to Video 2. To receive a copy of all three videos, send a check for $25 made out to Videos.
Soulforce Videos, P.O. Box 4467, Laguna Beach, CA. 92652 RevMel@aol.com-- www.melwhite.org -- www.soulforce.org