Out In The Mountains : News

     Washington, DC – Cracked cranks, a split seat, and a broken post could not stop Lutheran pastor Lars Claussen from unicycling 1000 miles on his "Straight into Gay America" tour.
       The minister completed his tour in Baltimore, MD on July 19, when he boarded a plane to fly home to Washington state. His mission was to discover what it’s like to be gay or lesbian in America today. Claussen wondered why so many straight people were using religion to exclude lesbians and gay men from equality, and whether a straight, white Lutheran pastor could act as a bridge from one community to another.
       He learned a lot on his pedal from Burlington, Vermont, to Baltimore, and so did those who followed his journey in "tour updates" posted on his web site (StraightintogayAmerica.com). Claussen stayed in the houses of people he'd met online, people they knew, others he met on the road, and occasionally, when the web of acquaintances and friends failed, in a hotel. He listened to stories: of gay and lesbian civil unions in Vermont, of marriages in Massachusetts, of neighbors who objected or who didn't care. The further south Claussen rode, the harder it became for him to be open about the purpose of his ride, and the more he understood about anti-gay prejudice and discrimination.
      His ride took him to New York City on Pride weekend, and he rode in the parade: "My own place in the parade is at the end of the Religious and Spiritual Section. Straight Into Gay America follows the Queer Dharma Buddhist group, the St. Francis Xavier Catholic church, the largest LGBT focused synagogue in the world and dozens of other religious organizations that are reaping the benefit of living out their faith tradition’s calls to compassion... I think the beeline distance is something like three miles. I take a queer route, circling and figure-eighting back and forth, riding in place when the parade stops... By the end of the ride my odometer tells me I've done a 12-mile parade."
      Further south, in Pennsylvania, the energy was a bit different: "Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Amish Country. When I asked this tourist what he thought of gay rights, he shook his head, NO. But after a moment, he told of having gay and lesbian friends who were every bit as good as his other friends. And then after I told about people I met in Vermont who now have the right to hospital visitation, inheritance, and taxation equality, he nodded his head once more, 'Yes, everyone should have those equal rights.'
      "I have yet to find a person on this ride, no matter how vociferously they might believe homosexuality is wrong, who doesn't also believe that everyone is entitled to equal rights."
     As of the end of his ride, finishing up at a Black gay conference in Washington, DC, Lars Claussen had ridden 1,024 miles on his unicycle over 35 days through eight states. He's seen and felt the hate lgbt communities face. He's gone beyond labels to speak of equality and found a potential bridge. And now he's writing the book.