Sincerely  

Anthony Venn-Brown 

Walking Between Worlds gives the above and in-depth understanding of the LGBT faith person's background and beliefs systems as well as the unique personal and mental health issues they face thus enabling them to work more effectively with their clients.

Feedback from the seminar was:

• 41% rated the seminar 10 out of 10
• 47% rated the seminar 9 out of 10
• 12% rated the seminar 8 out of 10

Who attended:

• Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) the sponsors
• Carers Queensland  
• Spiritus Counselling & Education Services 
• St John's Anglican Cathedral  
• Suncare Community Services 
• Ministry Education Commission and St Francis Theological College 
• Australian Rugby League 
• Gay and Lesbian Welfare Association 
• Queensland Health  
• Metropolitan Community Church 
• Freedom 2 b[e]  
• Christian Heritage College 
• Queensland University of Technology 
• Plus Nurse, Psychologist and Psychiatrist

What they said:

The most important things I learnt were......

• Huge weight on gay people from faith backgrounds.
• Understanding the coming out process
• How a counsellor can work with LGBT people from a structured religious background
• Particular challenges and dangers facing LGBT people of faith
• That my 'research' has not been wrong or misleading
• Anthony's two worlds concept and tips on how to help people
• You can be Christian and gay
• The difficult relationship and tensions between Christianity and LGBT
• A new space to bring LGBTIQ people together with Christian faith groups
• That networking is important for these people
• The high incidence of suicidal behaviour of the LGBT population
• Awareness of the issues people face and how best to support them
• Anthony's personal story
• The powerfully negative message that some Christians send to LGBT people
• Greater tolerance and understanding which I now have for gay Christians
• There is a way to resolve faith and sexuality

The best thing about the workshop was......

• Very appropriate at this time
• Openness, sense of humour
• Clear, concise and open for questions
• All aspects including 'Anthony's Journey' and the road he has travelled
• Passion of the presenter
• Learning where to access resources like Freedom 2 b[e] and also facebook and twitter
• Light hearted, very informative and time for questions
• New ideas for interaction
• Just a good little seminar
• The diversity of service providers at the training
• Learning so much about the issues that gay people from Christian backgrounds have to deal with. I didn't realise.

What a tremendous honour to be a finalist in the Community Hero category. Other categories include Business Award, Business Person Award, Media/Arts/Entertainment Award, Health and Wellbeing Award, Community Organisation Award. I don't envy the panel of judges knowing that each individual has done significant things in their specific areas.

Community Hero Award Finalists are:  

• Ulo Klemmer - exceptional GLBT community health promoter, volunteer and fundraiser with over 25 years of service to the GLBT community
• Gina Wilson - groundbreaking intersex rights advocate with more than 15 years of service to Australia's intersex community
• Dave Sergeant - over 35 years of service to the GLBT community as founder and director of Country Network, Australia's oldest association for GLBT people living in regional and rural Australia
• Anthony Venn Brown - founder of Freedom 2 b[e] and a leading mentor and advocate for GLBT people from Christian backgrounds

If you are in Sydney then please come along and join us on the night for the announcement of the winner of each category.

2011 Honour Awards Ceremony and Cocktail Party
Thursday 29 September, 2011 from 7pm
Sun Room, The Ivy, 330 George St, Sydney

(The event is a fundraiser for the wonderful work of ACON).

Tickets are $85 and include:

• delicious canapés
• quality wines, beers, juices and soft drinks
• great entertainment
• a silent auction featuring a stunning range of art, homewares and technological devices as well as fashion, beauty, dining and travel experiences

Purchase your ticket on line here

Many of you will know that I resigned from Freedom 2 b[e] in June. This has freed me up to devote more of my time to other work I am passionate about. I haven't walked away from the cause.

I am currently in the process of establishing a new organisation, pulling my 7 blogs and social networking together in order to be more effective. Everything will be under one banner and website. You will be the first to hear all about this through my newsletter.

The new organisation will be involved in the following areas.

• Empowering LGBT people particularly from faith backgrounds
• Bridge building projects with Churches
• Pro-actively engaging Church Leaders and denominations in dialogues
• Counteracting myths and misinformation perpetrated by churches and Christian leaders about LGBT people (previous examples Peter Madden & Adam Hood)
• Creating resources such as ebooks and MP3's
• Working in the area of gay and lesbian people in heterosexual marriages
• Church consultancy services
• Deconstructing the 'ex-gay' myth with the objective that all 'ex-gay' organisations in Australia, New Zealand and Asia are cease to exist
• Speaking engagements and lecturing
• Providing training  

Current training packages include:

• Homosexuality, Christianity and the Church - resolving the conflicts
• Walking Between Worlds - specifically for service providers
• Walking Between Worlds - specifically for LGBT people from faith backgrounds
• Walking Between Worlds - specifically for Pastors, Ministers, Church workers, Youth Leaders
• Self-image, Self-esteem and Sexual Identity - the connections
• A Glimpse into Australia's 'ex-gay' World
• Church consultancy for pastoral and church leadership teams assisting them to work through 10 essential areas in order to become welcoming and affirming churches.

Back to the top   

Some background. The letter below is the response to an op-ed piece written by Roman Catholic priest James Livingston's "Some People Can Pray Away the Gay." James Livingstone is connected with Courage which is the Catholic version of Exodus International .This is not to be confused with Courage in the UK run by my friend Jeremy Marks. Courage UK used to be affiliated with Exodus International but after years of seeing no results and the damage being created in peoples lives became a gay affirming organisation, left Exodus and Jeremy joined with other former 'ex-gay' leaders in a public apology. The same thing happened here in Australia in 2007.

Trying to Pray Away the Gay Sets One Up to Fail

By Chad OLeary

Star Tribune
September 19, 2011

I would like to thank the Star Tribune for printing the Rev. James Livingston's commentary ("Some people can make the gay go away," Sept. 12). I think that it sheds more light on the state of the Catholic Church than it does about same-sex attraction.

To say the least, I am very sceptical of Livingston's claims. I wish that he would have provided insight into the techniques he uses, solid statistics about the "successes" he sees, and the quality of life for these men and women after having graduated from such therapies.

I would respectfully suggest that the Catholic Church look within if it is serious about sexual wholeness. After growing up Catholic and attending an undergraduate and graduate school with a seminary, I can say that it is hard to build credibility when many within the ranks of church leadership are running from some question of sexuality in their life.

I would also respectfully request that the church consider what it is truly saying by offering a reparative ministry.

I was tormented as a teen because of my perceived homosexual traits. While the flying punches bruised my body, the sense of disorder presented to me by my church wounded my soul. I was told that the church loved me as long as I changed the core of who I was. This lead me to kneel on rocks while praying novenas until my knees bled, and I was even told by one priest in the confessional to drink eight ounces of holy water once per day.

Being told that I could "pray it away" set me up for what I could least afford: failure. I considered myself a failure in the eyes of God and, at the age of 14, sat with a bottle of aspirin by my bed considering ending it all.

After seven years of youth ministry within the Catholic Church, I know firsthand that there are teens on the brink of ending it all, who see themselves as disgusting anomalies for wanting to love someone of the same sex and build a family with that person. I think that perpetuating this self-loathing is the epitome of sin.

It was in seeing these kids suffer the way that I did that led me to the painful decision to leave the Catholic Church. Livingston makes it clear why I do not have a home in the Catholic Church unless, essentially, I admit that God made a mistake. I have more trust in the Holy Spirit than that.

In finding myself, I found God and my voice. I am a very proud gay man with a deep spirituality that no one can take away from me. I have a partner whom I love greatly, and God is at the center of our relationship. It took many years, but I am so glad that I couldn't pray the gay away.

And to young Catholics out there: It gets better.

Chad OLeary

Back to the top   

More than 500 people gathered yesterday for the funeral of a gay 14-year-old who took his own life after becoming the target of bullying both at school and online. Jamey Rodemeyer, from Buffalo, New York, blogged about being suicidal and thanked Lady Gaga before committing suicide last Sunday. Complete strangers were among the mourners who turned out yesterday to support the Rodemeyer family at the service at Saints Peter and Paul Church. Fellow students drove past the church with trucks and buses covered with signs showing messages of tolerance. Jamey Rodemeyer regularly posted about being bullied at school and how people would launch gay insults at him. Click on image for video.

 

Back to the top   

This month we welcome AJB Insurance Solutions Pty Ltd as a financial supporter of this work. All businesses, individual  and organisations I have known that have gone to AJB Insurance Solutions Pty Ltd have found that Anthony has saved them substantial amounts in their insurance.

• AJB Insurance Solutions Pty Ltd offers a large range of Personal and Commercial insurance products. We provide free professional advice and obligation free quotations. We continue to provide our clients with the best products at competitive premiums. If you would like to make an enquiry please contact Anthony at AJB Insurance Solutions Pty Ltd
• Love Property provides researched property solutions for investors. We help individuals invest in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Cairns.  When you want sound investment property advice contact Jason at Love Property. 

Email me to learn more about how to have your company name here. anthony@anthonyvennbrown.com   

Enormous unnecessary suffering is caused by people's lack of understanding about sexual orientation. Ignorance in this area impacts not only gay and lesbian people themselves but families, educational institutions and workplaces. This is especially true for those from religious backgrounds and certain cultures.

• High suicide rates among LGBT youth and people from religious backgrounds
• Existence of "ex-gay" programs that attract the emotionally vulnerable and tormented with false promises of change
• Eventual breakdown of marriages when one partner believed heterosexual marriage would solve their 'problem'
• Depression and other mental health issues caused by the perceived conflict of faith and sexuality
• Self-destructive and obsessive behaviours as a result of internalized homophobia
• Religious organizations reinforcing myths & maintaining stereotypes about LGBT people & their relationships
• Fragmented relationships when families and friends reject the gay or lesbian person who 'comes out'

Would you like to see this unnecessary suffering end?   

Would you be interested in helping to support this work financially?   

This includes organisations, businesses and individuals.  If you would like more information of how to become a supporter, partner of champion then send an inquiry email using this link anthony@anthonyvennbrown.com

 Back to the top   

• ALOU Launch 2004 Rebekah & Hannah Part 1 See my wonderful daughters make over 300 people laugh and cry in the space of a couple of minutesALOU Launch 2004 Anthony Venn Brown Part 2 Obviously I was speaking prophetically in 2004 its now happened over and over again.
• Anthony Venn-Brown on 7's Sunrise - Everyday Peopleis probably one of the best interviews I've done. Channel 7 liked it so much they played again on the Morning Show.
• Anthony Venn-Brown Comes Out on Shine. Dean Carey, Director of Actors Centre Australia, interviews gay ambassador Anthony Venn-Brown on Shine along with singer David Campbell. Meet my lovely daughters
• Gay Ambassador Anthony Venn-Brown interviewed on Queer TV . Anthony Venn-Brown talks about his journey, being a gay ambassador, his 50th birthday, the new edition of his autobiography, a conversation with the Hon. Michael Kirby and meeting with the Assemblies of God.
• Honey I'm gay!  Sydney Morning Heralds Sexpert, Brooke Hemphill, interviews Coach & Author Anthony Venn-Brown. "It's better to live one day on the planet being true to yourself than an entire lifetime which is a lie." "When we choose to live authentically, we chip away at others prisons' of pretend." "I'd rather be rejected for who I am, than accepted for who I'm not."
• Being Gay in a Heterosexual Marriage - Channel 7 Sunrise . Coach and Author Anthony Venn-Brown speaks on Australia's national breakfast show, Channel 7's Sunrise about being gay but in a heterosexual marriage. For many of us, being gay, lesbian or bisexual in a heterosexual marriage was not a choice of intentional deception. Our marriages were the result of the pressure to conform. Some of us grew up in a society where homosexuality was considered a perversion or psychologic.al illness. When we married, we did so believing it was the right thing to do and expecting it would change what we perceived was faulty within us. Was the current knowledge on sexual orientation available to us then, our choices would have been different.
•  Dad's Coming Out 60 Minutes Pt 1 . What do you do if you are gay but in heterosexual marriage? What about the wife and kids? Is it worthwhile coming out? Who gets hurt? How to move on? What about the parents when their child comes out?
• Dad's Coming Out - 60 Minutes Pt 2

Back to the top   

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and those questioning their sexual identity  

• Married, Gay or Bi - What to do?
• Coming Out Strategic Plan - Why? When? Who? How? What?
• Resolving faith/sexuality issues

Email me directly for more information anthony@anthonyvennbrown.com
Please Note: US, UK, Asia, NZ, Australia or anywhere in the world, coaching can be done effectively either on the phone , via the internet or face to face (if you live in Sydney). Your privacy is always respected and strict confidentiality assured.   

Professional

• Career Development/Transition/Outplacement
• Personal Productivity, Time Management, Goal Setting, Decision Making
• Strategic Planning
• Increasing Sales Performance
• Presentation Skills
• Leadership
• Interpersonal Skills, Communication, Personal Empowerment, Assertiveness
• Life Balance - including work, social, health, finance, relationships
• Job seeking, resumes, networking, interviews

 Personal

• Building a Healthy Self-Image
• Creating a Fulfilling Life in Singleness
• Relationships
• Negotiating Life Transitions, Re-inventing Yourself
• Mid Life - Turn Your Crisis into a Quest
• Life Purpose

When you want to master a new sport, the quickest way to learn is to hire a coach. Then why do leading athletes still have a coach, considering they are top in their fields? Because they know it's essential to have a coach in order to achieve optimum results. 

In the same way, a professionally trained and accredited coach assists you to achieve top performance, desired outcomes and success in all areas of your personal and professional life. It's like having a personal trainer for your life.

Ready to do, have and be more?  Click here

 Back to the top