By Lysa Allman-Baldwin

April 7–10, 2011, Unity Village will host Liberation 2011: Nothin' Broken Here! An LGBT Spiritual Experience. This retreat will be a spiritual gathering designed to empower Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people to “come out of the closet” spiritually.

At the retreat, attendees will learn spiritual practices, gain insights and experience individual and collective healing from the limiting false beliefs around sexual orientation. Participants will learn how to connect with their inner spirit to live a life of power, freedom and joy.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Anthony Lord, an internationally known gay spiritual leader. A student of many spiritual paths, Lord is a licensed Unity teacher, holds a master's degree in religion and consciousness from the Agape International Spiritual Center and is the founder and director of the Bodhi Spiritual Center (formerly Chicago Center for Spiritual Living) in Chicago.

Along with Lord, acclaimed singer, songwriter, actor and Tony Award-winner Levi Kreis, an openly gay artist, will perform during the retreat. Kreis' soulful sound and meaningful lyrics about acceptance, surrender and faith have won him fans worldwide.

New Thought Teachings Bring Peace
Raised Catholic, Lord found it difficult to follow a religion that taught God rejected him because of his sexual orientation. He later discovered a spiritual connection with Unity and other New Thought concepts, which teach of a loving and accepting higher power. “New Thought messages were so fresh, alive and different from the Catholic church,” he says. [They] planted the seeds of new spiritual concepts and ideas in me. The messages helped me redefine God and sent me on the path I am walking now.”

Lord continues, “For gay and lesbian people in pain about God [who] feel so victimized and persecuted by religion and organized beliefs, it's a journey. There was a time when being gay was a curse [for me]. Today I can tell you being gay is a calling. I use it as a cause to create love in the world.”

An elevated consciousness and greater realization of one's true spiritual potential are among the many benefits of Liberation 2011, says Unity minister and dean of Unity's Spiritual Education and Enrichment program Rev. Paul Hasselbeck, who is also gay.

The nurturing, safe environment of the retreat, Hasselbeck says, will support attendees in asking and experiencing the deeper questions that reveal and allow genuine transformation. “Many of us have separated our spiritual selves from our psycho, social and sexual gay selves. It's time we bring these glorious parts together and heal the impacts of phobias related to orientation from the inside out.”

Creating Inclusion, Freedom and Forgiveness
Homophobia, the fear of homosexuals and homosexual behavior, is experienced by both gay and straight people. Homophobia affects everyone, says Rev. Mark Fuss, a Unity minister and admissions representative for Unity Institute and Seminary, who is also gay. “This phobia is so pervasive we probably don't even recognize the effects—shame, guilt and self-loathing—and how they impact every area of our lives. Our greatness, our Divine Nature, is inside of each of us, gay and straight. It can never be hurt, harmed, hindered or lost. Liberation 2011 will help the LGBT community to nurture its divine expression and unfoldment.”

Excitement about Liberation 2011 is growing, particularly after the recent launch of Unity's new LGBT Spiritual Resource Center, dedicated to inclusiveness and offering a variety of resources specifically for LGBT people, their family and friends. In the resource center, people will find spiritual tools including feature articles, podcasts, videos and more to support, empower and inspire them in creating an abundant and meaningful life.

Helping people “clean up” their own consciousness and be of service to the world is what Liberation 2011 is all about, Lord says. “Whatever laws and social systems we change, however we step out in the world to create greater equality and freedom, we must do it from a place of love, inclusion and forgiveness. That's the way that real change occurs.”

 

Register for Liberation 2011: Nothin' Broken Here! An LGBT Spiritual Experience.

Listen to an interview with Mark Anthony Lord on Unity Online Radio.

Learn more about Unity Village.