I read the most amazing article today in Saturday's issue of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  Kim Ode, a straight woman and mother, reported on one increduble man's journey into the heart of society...a journey he calls "Straight into Gay America.  Kim has done a fantastic job of reporting, so rather than paraphrase, I'll just show you her article:

Kim Ode: A wheel and a prayer
Kim Ode,  Star Tribune
June 11, 2005 ODE0611   
 
Next Tuesday, a Lutheran pastor in Vermont will climb on his unicycle and set off on a month-long ride from house to house. He's not sure where he'll end up each evening. But he has faith that each host will lead to the next, and that each will help answer his question: What is it like to be gay in America today?

The answers will reach a wide audience through a website and, eventually, a book.

But folks already are listening. "What you are doing is so important," wrote Randi Reitan of Eden Prairie, whose son, Jake, is gay. "You can't even imagine what that news would have meant to us as I searched the paper every day just looking for the word 'gay,' hoping it was positive news -- news that would give me hope that Jake's life would be one of equality, not struggle."

The Rev. Lars Clausen has done this sort of thing before. Several years ago, he rode his unicycle through all 50 states to publicize the needs of the Inupiat Eskimos in Alaska, where he received his first pastoral call. This trip, which Clausen calls "Straight Into Gay America," also describes himself: a straight, married father of two daughters who believes he's being called to move the issue of being gay beyond the religious and political diatribes to something that resembles a conversation.

People can keep up with the answers Clausen hears through his website, Straight Into Gay America.com.

Or, they can try asking the question themselves -- without the unicycle. Without even leaving town, for that matter. The idea is to ask the question, then to listen, all the while keeping the decibel level to something resembling a bridge game.

This would be a lot harder than what Clausen is doing. He's a go-between, seeking out a friendly gay audience to enlighten the straight public. Going off on our own to understand opposing opinions seems way too personal, even a little risky. Besides, such conversations rarely have clear winners and losers. Why go to all that trouble for nothing more than an uneasy truce?

No question, I have an agenda: urging those who believe that gay people are sinful to ask gays how they deal with being the focus of such strong opinions. If their answers mirror what we hear from people who feel discriminated against because of their race, gender, age -- also things over which they have no control -- then some understanding about our common humanity might follow.

But the sword of truth cuts both ways. Fair play would mean asking people who believe that fundamentalists are hypocritical or irredeemable to ask how they deal with being the focus of such strong opinions. It's not a perfect parallel; people choose to believe what they believe. But the point is trying to understand how they make those choices.

Can this happen? Maybe. But it takes effort. There's not a lot of traffic between these polarized camps. Nor can you just dive into such questions; this is where peddling up on a unicycle actually might help break the ice.

Then again, maybe we can dive. There's something to be said for cutting to the chase, and Lord knows people rarely flinch at the chance to talk about themselves. The trick is to keep success from being defined as getting the other person to change her mind. Right now, it may be enough to hear each other out.

Clausen states that his goal is to find the "generosity of spirit in the everyday stories of everyday people." But his agenda clearly is more pointed. He wants to help gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans gain the full justice of their citizenship. If he's successful, his accounts of gays' daily lives will seem little different from the lives of straight people.

Will that be enough to illuminate the world? Not all at once. But at least he's making the effort to ease the antagonism before it grows even darker.

The need to understand each other will never go away, for as long as husbands and wives keep having babies, there will be gay people.

I urge everyone reading this to visit this website.  It's amazing that one man has so readily grasped just what our society needs to transcend the hatred that's threatening to tear us apart.  It's true: we all need to begin a dialogue that illustrates to everyone that gay people have the same hopes, needs, dreams, loves & crises that everyone else does.  Gay men and women don't have an agenda, we just want to be seen as human -- which, I think is what everyone wants.  So take a lesson from this beautiful man: take the time, gather your courage, and start talking.