SoleJourney tells an inspiring and true story of courageous families
confronting the anti-LGBT rhetoric and political policy-making of the
fundamentalist mega-organization Focus on the Family.

About SoleJourney Participants

Chad Allen

Courageously, in the October 9, 2001 issue of The Advocate, actor Chad Allen came out as a gay man and also acknowledged past problems with drugs and alcohol. Well-known for his portrayal of Matthew Cooper on the TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Allen most recently starred in Save Me and End of the Spear.  He also has spoken to a number of groups and at events about gay rights issues including taking part in a forum on Larry King Live on the issue of gay marriage.  In 2003 Chad moved back to Los Angeles and started to focus on a dream he had harbored for a long time--his own production company, Mythgarden.  On explaining the vision behind the project, Allen says, ”Our company is entirely dedicated to turning the page on gay and lesbian storytelling in film, television, and theatre. We believe that it's time that our stories can be told fully: good relationships, real relationships, honest characters, in all of the genres of storytelling-fantasy, fiction, fairy tales, great mysteries, adventure films, and honest drama.”  Visit Chad Allen Online.

Robynne Sapp and Dotti Berry

Dotti and Robynne both grew up in Christian families. Due to the teachings of the church, their families have experienced difficulty with the knowledge that their daughters are lesbians. Dotti was denied membership in several churches while living in Kentucky. In March, 2001, Roby was contemplating suicide because her faith taught her that being a lesbian was wrong. Even though Dotti and Roby have suffered spiritual violence in various ways, they feel that overcoming their own internal homophobia and allowing people to personally know the truth about them has been the key to transformation.  In September 2005 they began their "Gay into Straight America" journey traveling across the country to share their story and listen to the stories of others: "Two women and a poodle on a one-year mission to transform ourselves and the world, one person at a time!" Their websites include Gay Into Straight America and Stand Up Speak Out. Watch Dotti and Roby during their civil disobedience action at Focus on the Family.

Bill Carpenter

Bill grew up in Memphis, TN where in his early teens, he witnessed much of the civil rights movement, including nonviolent demonstrations and marches led by Dr. King, Rev. James Lawson and his brother Phil and other of his present day heroes. After graduating from the University of Alabama, he worked in business and marketing in retailing and real estate. Coming out as a 40 year old, he shifted his attention from a traditional business career to a life of service. Presently, Bill is an active student of Truth principles, active at his Unity church, and as a trainer in welcoming diversity and in principles of nonviolence. Bill says one of his greatest Soulforce experiences was early in Soulforce history at the United Methodist Church convention in Cleveland, OH in 2000 hearing two of his s/heroes Bob and Jeanie Graetz tell about the "second time their house was firebombed" while living in Montgomery, Alabama.

Christopher Hubble

Christopher Hubble is a gay Christian who grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He currently serves as the Soulforce Colorado State Organizer and the Soulforce Denver Group Co-Leader. His book Lord Given Lovers: The Holy Union of David & Jonathan is a provocative biblical story of passion and political intrigue.  LGBT readers will discover a story that will help them find self-acceptance and constructively challenge the prejudice of religious homophobes.  Christopher graduated in 1989 from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts in History. Also a certified massage therapist, he presently resides in Denver, Colorado.

The Lewis-Allen Family

Ken Lewis and Jamieson Allen love being fathers of four boys: Spencer, Parker, Hunter, and Tanner. Their statement about participating in the 1000 Watt March, Vigil and Concert says it all: "We decided several years ago that we wanted to have children. We knew that raising a family was a huge responsibility and a lifelong commitment. We had been together for over 10 years when we had our first child Spencer. The triplets came 3 years later. Providing a loving, stable home for our children is the most important thing in our life together. Our decisions, choices, and priorities are governed primarily by our desire to care for, protect, and nurture our children. We wake up every day committed and determined to do our very best. When we see people like Dr. Dobson tell lies about our family, and families like ours, it strikes at our very souls. We firmly believe that the example of Christ’s love is the litmus test by which we must govern our lives."

The Lutes-Stein Family

Jeff Lutes and Gary Stein are loving fathers of Niko, Trei, and Jole. Jeff is also the Executive Director of Soulforce as well as a licensed professional counselor specializing in couples and family therapy. He is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA), the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), and the Council on Contemporary Families (CCF). He has written numerous newspaper columns on issues facing same-gender couples and families, and presents relationship workshops based on the current social-science research. He has served on the Soulforce Board of Directors and volunteered since the first action in 1999.

Dani Newsum

Dani Newsum, a former civil rights and labor attorney in the office of the Colorado Attorney General, also teaches political science and history at the University of Colorado-Denver, and has written "blog" columns for the Denver Post.com. She appears every Friday night as a panelist on Colorado Inside Out, Denver's KBDI-Ch. 12's spirited current affairs program.  Dani served as communications and development director for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Colorado during 2002-2003.  In 1992, as director of the City of Boulder's Human Rights and Mediation Office, Dani provided expert legal testimony on behalf of the city in the successful effort to stop enforcement of the anti-gay civil rights measure known as "Amendment 2." In 1998 Dani received the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union's Media Award, and was named a "Media Trailblazer" by the American Association of University Women. In 1996 the Colorado Association of Black Journalists honored Newsum with its Radio Journalist of the Year award.  Dani serves on the boards of directors of Project Angel Heart and the Color of Justice. She and her husband Ron have been married for 23 years and are the parents of three children.

Reverend Dr. Nori Rost

Rev. Dr. Nori Rost is a veteran of civil rights battles in Colorado Springs and nationally. Along with Mel White 10 years ago, she fasted for seven days outside Focus on the Family to protest their anti-LGBT stance. She holds a Master of Divinity from Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO and a Doctor of Ministry from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. After serving as the senior pastor of Pikes Peak Metropolitan Community Church in Colorado Springs for 12 years,  she accepted a position as the minister of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs.

The Royster-Kinsman Family

Currently living in Bridgewater, Virginia, Linda Royster and Barbara Kinsman both have activist backgrounds that go way back in time. They strongly believe in encouraging young people to take an active part in improving the world and bring their grandsons Adam and Tony with them to many protests, marches, and vigils. About the 1000 Watt action, they wrote, "we are marching to show off our grandsons! We want the world to know that our family is fabulous and we will never accept any attempt to denigrate our love for one another."

Judy Shepard

Judy Shepard is the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, a nonprofit she and her husband, Dennis, founded in memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998.  Created to honor Matthew in a manner that was appropriate to his dreams, beliefs and aspirations, the Foundation seeks to "Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion & Acceptance" through its varied educational, outreach and advocacy programs and by continuing to tell Matthew's story. Visit the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Lewis Thompson and Laurin Foxworth

Foxworth, aged 80, and Thompson, aged 65, are Denver residents who spend much of their retirement years resisting anti-LGBT legislation and the homophobic rhetoric of organizations such as Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.  Dedicated nonviolent activists, they participate in political lobbying and direct actions in order to stand for justice and love in a state that often is assumed to be intolerant and conservative. Both are also active in their church, First Unitarian Society of Denver. For the 1000 Watt action they wrote, "with every step, we are asserting our self-awareness and knowledge that we are an important part of nature's great diversity and the interdependent web of all existence. We know in our gut that in a few years we will be part of a movement that changed the way the world looks at same-sex loving people and that we all will be richer for having stood up to willful ignorance and the exploitation of a blessed community.

Frank Volz

In 2007, Frank Volz signed on to lead the Focus on the Facts campaign in Colorado Springs, Colorado--home of Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family. He felt called to join the Soulforce efforts in Colorado Springs because of the words of his daughter when he came out to her years before. Then ten years old, Lindsey said to him, "Daddy, now you can make a difference--like Martin Luther King, Jr." Frank believes that the Focus on the Facts campaign to make Dr. Dobson accountable for disseminating dangerous misinformation about LGBT people gives him another good opportunity to live up to his daughter's declaration. Frank also finds that nonviolent resistance offers him a spiritually satisfying method to deal with the intersecting oppression he faces as an Asian American gay man.

Reverend Dr. Mel White

Raised as an evangelical Christian and taught that homosexuality was a sin, Rev. Mel White fought to overcome his own homosexual orientation for decades in all ways available to him: prayer, psychotherapy, exorcism, electric shock, marriage and family. That struggle and his halting, poignant steps to understand and accept his homosexuality, reconcile it with his Christian faith, and express his sexuality respectfully and responsibly, are described in his book "Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America," published in 1994.  Mel White founded Soulforce with his partner, Gary Nixon. Inspired by the nonviolent movements of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., White developed a program based on their principles to address the suffering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In 1997, he was awarded the ACLU's National Civil Liberties Award for his efforts to apply the "soul force" principles of Gandhi and King to the struggle for justice for sexual minorities.

About the Directors.
About the Creative Team.