Garrison, NY

By Ko Imani

A former Capuchin monastery overlooking the Hudson River in upstate New York overflowed with men-loving-men as the Gay Spirit Culture Project convened its first Summit at The Garrison Institute from April 29 - May 2, 2004 in association with White Crane, Manifest Love, Gay Spirit Visions, Body Electric, Spirit Journeys, and Easton Mountain.

The nonprofit Gay Spirit Culture Project, an organization with the motto, "shifting gay culture by supporting inner transformation," brought together leaders and change agents working in the areas of spiritual growth and positive gay culture in an effort to explore shared purpose and to consider how to make a positive difference in the lives of queer people, specifically gay men.

The group included Native American shamans, one the founders and many members of the Radical Faeries, several former Catholic priests, award-winning authors and theorists, the editors of White Crane Journal, erotic massage therapists, yoga teachers, businessmen, a Rabbi, several Christian ministers, witches, retreat leaders, Buddhist teachers, performance artists, foundation heads, HIV/AIDS educators, philosophers, and students. Approximately 10% of the men who attended the Summit identified themselves as men of color, 10% were identified as youth, and 20% were honored as Elders.

I was blown away by the depth, intelligence, heart and grace of these amazing men. The Summit brought together a group of experts from such diverse fields and approaches to spirituality that we had a rich opportunity to explore intersections and complementary projects. Queer women and men are as much whole beings as everyone else, but gay culture doesn’t always nurture all our best parts, physical, mental, social, and spiritual. Many LGBT people reject their natural spirituality because of bad experiences with religion. Queers tend to throw the spiritual baby out with the abusive bathwater! The Gay Spirit Culture Project hopes to remedy that dissociation by popularizing queer spiritual thought and approaches to spiritual practice through partnerships with LGBT media and organizations. Spiritual health directly contributes to mental, physical, and social well-being, so by drawing LGBT people to deeper lives and inquiry, I hope the whole culture will shift toward health!

That’s actually kind of how I ended up at the Summit. The conveners read my book, Shirt of Flame: The Secret Gay Art of War, and recognized that the simple strategy I outline is designed to create a whole, healthy LGBT community. The only ‘secret’ is to create genuine happiness and love in our lives! By doing so, we’ll finally secure the equal rights, respect and recognition we deserve. The technique is based on Mahatma Gandhi’s advice to “Become the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, who runs the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, has actually endorsed Shirt of Flame!

Anyway, there’s no question that queers are doing a lot of incredible spiritual work, most of which few people know about or understand. It’s our hope that the Gay Spirit Culture Project will make information about queer spiritual practices and spiritualities readily available to LGBT people, and that as a result, many more queer women and men will become engaged with full, transformational, deep life.

Ko Imani is the author of Shirt of Flame which was reviewed in issue #58 of White Crane. and a frequent contributor to White Crane Journal.
For more about Ko Imani, visit joshirtofflame.com