 All right so we're gonna start off by me showing you our website and then I'm gonna demonstrate a little bit about about what we do and then from there we'll do a little exercise, just a little icebreaker and then we'll go from there. So I'm good. When I say choice A I'll tell you what it is choice B and then if you want choice A when I say choice A raise your hand and I'll probably ask somebody why you choose that and then choice B etc etc. Who'd rather be blind? I'd rather be blind because if you ask if I'd rather be deaf and I wouldn't hear you ask me if I'd rather be deaf. I don't give a point. Who'd rather be deaf? Why do you say you'd rather be poor and find true love? We're together, we're rich and we're together. Okay so as the video said our mission is to create environments where you can share ideas and experiences in order to educate and empower each other. So oftentimes we talk about having a serious conversation about race, having a serious conversation about police brutality, about the sexes, the battle of the sexes and things like that. Well we've created this environment to do just that. So first we're gonna go ahead and cover some of the stuff we did last year and then we're gonna segue into the 2015 topics. Okay so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna call out some of the topics on this survey we did last year. These were our top five topics and the videos of these discussions are actually on our YouTube. Why do you think people put so much emphasis on Christians being hypocrites? What's that? They're the most vocal. They're the most vocal. How so? Because of church or what? The reason about being more vocal is like say for okay you go to church and you know you go to church and people always say oh you know I'm not bashing anybody you know if you're gay you know any of that. But you know they always say in church you know that's abomination you know and they always speak out about it. They don't never keep it in the church. You know they always go out they be like oh you know you're gay you know you can't you can't worship God you know God doesn't love you if you're gay you know so that's why we're saying it's more vocal. Okay I see what you're saying. You want to say more? Okay. Now listen up listen up. My name is Pastor Sam, my mom's a pastor so I mean me as a pastor's kid I think Christians are kind of like my sister is gay so for her to be a preacher's daughter and to be gay she has to go in the church and you know have people in the audience and stuff look at her a different way because she's a preacher's kid and she's gay. They don't make my parents know if I'm any different anything like that. They don't preach about it and stuff like that but sometimes I look at I'd be like I feel bad because I'm like you kind of feel judged when you're in that situation and those are your parents so it's like a wow. It's what they're all about love. They use it in hate comments. Absolutely. Everybody's a good person. Everybody's a good person. Everybody's a good person. And just like um like one thing I know is we're not supposed to judge people everybody judge people without you even knowing sometimes. It just happens like sometimes I might look at you I'm not going to tell you what I think and I say stuff and I'd be like no that's my boy so we all hypocrites in our own sense okay it's because you don't notice what don't mean you're not. There's a lot of questions that think they can tell you when you go in the hell like you crack a ill man or joke or something they quickly tell you go in the hell you can't judge me and tell me where I'm going for what I said it's because you made his image don't make you him. Yes there's individuals in every group and there's always a few select that are usually the loudest but most often they're the most wrong. So with Christians you'll have a few that will be loud and quick to judge and quick to chastise everybody that doesn't mean the majority is the same way. The same thing can go for for white people you know you have a few select that are treating black people and other people with different colors wrong but the vast majority do not. Same thing with black people you have a small amount that will be thugs shooting kill everybody but the vast majority is not that way and that same thing goes with every single group including Christians. Touched on this at Expo she said there's a double standard between men who agrees with that. Like why are we treated like objects we are we are people just because we sleep with so many people and we sleep with so many guys. Why are we judged more than you are? Just like you can sleep with as many girls as you want to why can't you do that and I perceive the same way as you. Universal perspective man when it comes to moral values men look up to females okay men look up to you should tell your man this is wrong and he listens to you so if a woman is going out sleeping I mean what does he tell the man I mean he will do more. So why are we responsible for your morals since you have your own moral standing that should be just as high as ours if we keep ours at the same level shouldn't we be equal like shouldn't I not have to like say oh you shouldn't do that you should know better as a human being with a conscience. If men look up to women so much and hold them to such a high standard why do y'all go around treating them like they don't mean shit to y'all. There's got to be some way to get that understanding that there are some people who are like that there are but there are also some people who really do treasure you for the treasures that you are and not and not just want to discard you in any way shape or form. I know a lot of females that do this but it goes back to the portion thing um they'll say I'll trust you until you do something wrong right but see what you did wrong was being a man and because their ex because of their exes or whatever happened in the past that's already put you in a in a difficult spot let it go let things go someone hurt you in the past okay deal with it move on and then and the thing is don't jump into something else if you are not fully over the hurt that you have been doing. To me it's not necessarily about the money if you like what you're doing and if you're successful if you're successful in what you're doing that'll bring you money you never had to work a day in your life. Exactly. Let me get Donny first and then you guys handle that. No I didn't. I think um as far as money goes I think money is happiness because it's a lot of times you don't think about it but money is basically you need money to do everything like if especially in greenwood it's not a lot of stuff to do and everything you might want to do is going to cost you even driving to that place is going to cost you like it's sometimes I don't eat trying to figure out what I want to eat I don't know what money I gotta spend for like it's a bunch of and sometimes it'd be Bearcat Buzz. I don't really like it. Was it a question does money buy happiness or was it success bring happiness? It comes from money. Wait wait and this says we're equating success to the money. Okay how about say success could be a successful relationship or a successful career or a success you know you don't have to be financially well off to have happiness if you're talking about success in general because there's some broke people who have a successful relationship and then you have a whole lot of money and be you know single and miserable. I mean I think money is only just like a piece of the puzzle okay but money is comfort but at the end of the day you probably still got problems with your appearance you need to work out you still got problems with yourself you need to work out you probably feel alone you know and money is only a small part of that success is relationships what we're doing right now that's success to me thank you success can bring you happiness because happiness is conditioning you know what I'm saying a lot of times happiness is conditional but what success can't bring you is joy because joy is divine you get what I'm saying and the bible if you're a straight person how do you know that the choice is not in the situation I mean because the first you hear about suicides and gay people them getting teased them not knowing what's wrong with them because they can't help how they feel so how do you know it's a choice of not in the situation you have to choose when I was younger I mean because I know this for a long time I used to figure I mean I try to ignore it you know you could try to figure out what's wrong with me maybe I just wasn't meeting right guys you know whatever it is but the thing is you are who you are you can fight all you want to you can cut you can attempt suicide all you want to but in the end itself if you're happy accepting who you are then be who you are just like you're happy accepting that you're straight I mean you're straight when you're straight so I mean if I'm happy accepting myself that's who I am without causing my life then why not be happy straight I mean I'm straight but being you like being a straight person you can't say is homosexuality a choice when you've never had to think about that thing our society what the main thing is being straight if it was flipped the other way around you'd be like how do you know you are straight is that a choice like it's the same thing I am gay so that's what I was like it's only like a part of me like my it's not a choice like I tried for like four years to like hide everything my parents my friends like it was bad but like I can't help I feel about somebody that's real that's real I'm a christian and I mean I'm trying to I'm trying to make it so they don't they don't come off the wrong way I'm a christian and every sin is equal am I every single thing that is higher than above than everything else is not even that you deny god that's the highest thing right there so like I said my preference in that all that getting out all that way I personally believe that is not a choice you we see people the bible said you the bible said you can be born into sin I feel that homosexuality like I said is a sin you are born into that so in that case yes you can be born gay I believe um and for that reason I don't think it's a choice you can be born that way the same way that sociopaths out here are born that way the mentally ill people are born that way am I saying that mental illness is a sin I'm not equating that but I'm saying you can be born that way because you are born into sin we are born into the world into sin so in that respect that's why I would think that it's not a choice I'll say that it is and it isn't a choice depending on the person because when we had this discussion last year a guy said be chose to be gay because he wanted to be different and that's perfectly fine but um but what I've seen a lot of is when um when people people gravitate towards groups that that'll accept them so if if you feel like you're not being accepted by a certain group you're going to gravitate and for lack of a better word conform to a group that is accepting of you so I have seen instances where where people have decided well these group this group of people is not accepting me but the homosexuality community is accepting me so that's the group they gravitate towards to and that's in extent the group that they conform to but it's not always a choice yeah I think you would be born gay but there's certain instances where being homosexual may be a choice of people or they feel like it's the only thing that yeah if they have it's what they have to do because right now it's the only thing that's accepted or that's accepting of them whether for any reason at all I'm not I mean I don't have anything against gay people or nothing I have gay friends or not but they get they get parades and all type of stuff just for like in the same sex yeah they get parades you'll never hear no straight day parades I don't think I mean if they want to be equal I finish me treated like that you shouldn't get no parade and no glorification they keep commercial shows and all that stuff just for like in the same sex Donnie for the um the parades and all the stuff that they get and all the you said they get glorified for it or they get you know a picnic or whatever they get famous for it I think it's the same way that when we scream black lives matter and we get offended when they say all lives matter it's because at that time we're talking about black lives so they do get to because they can finally say hey I'm gay and I'm happy about it and they finally get the freedom in the past and not shunned for it that's why they have that window and I think that's why they deserve a window to be able to express that. At first I thought it was strictly a choice but after hearing what Al said about you know it being the same because I'm a Christian as well being born into it that means not to say it. Because I think it can both because I got a couple of homegirls that I stood up to this day that I knew for a long time as I was like four and they always been you know kind of you know their own selves not what women supposed to be and through this day they walk tall like a man and everything and like it's just one of those questions I feel like it can be both man it's not just one or the other it has to be both. I'm a Christian too and I don't think it's a sin love love I mean the whole point of being a Christian is to love everybody and to A not judge people but like when people say I'm a Christian everyone thinks oh you must hate gay people no are you kidding me love and acceptance that's what Christianity is all about like it offends me so bad when people are like oh you're a Christian no I love everybody I mean I go to the gay place too. They think if you if you hang around certain people then you like that like you think they think if you talk about somebody gay you gay like if a white person marching a black people matter he's not gonna automatically be black. You have to apply to everything you can't just pick it where you want to apply stuff too because it's relevant. You will lose friends I lost friends in high school when I came out to my parents and to my friends because they they're like you know I'm cool with you but I just I can't deal with that I'm still the same person regardless but you know you try to say it first so like you don't build a friendship with that person they just did like we don't want to have to deal with it. So like so like they know from the jump so like I don't have to deal with that. He was like McKee I didn't want to tell you because I love you and I didn't want you to treat me any different and I said I'm never going to treat you any differently like I love you you're my cousin like we've had sleepovers together like we're family your choice is your choice I will respect you as a person and when I see stuff on like his social media and stuff I'm like okay he's happy living his own life but my grandmother the minister Christian says oh my god no one cares why is people putting this mess on here and it really like irritates me because what if that was me like what if somebody was saying nothing about me you would be the first one to jump down they throw and it's actually come to me before my own father has asked me was I gay because I dress a certain way that has nothing to do with my sexuality because I like with big polo shirts or whatever that has nothing to do with what I like people do that because they're raised that way I got older brothers gay I know this I know him I don't care if he's gay or not you can never tell he's gay by who he is but I got friends that will stop talking to me because I have an older brother that's gay the reason they do that is because their parents teach them that way their grandmothers churches society teaches them that being gay is being wrong so that's the reason they stop they think oh if they're gay I can't hang out with them because I may lose friends I may stop other people may think I'm gay enough telling you like I have gay friends all about it this thing but at the end of the day I still stand to my world like it's still not let's just keep it that way it's like I just appeared here and say because I just noticed I said it's like we're all saying yeah gay friends and then we turn around and say something like that's like I'm not racist because I'm not black yeah it's like I'm telling you I got gay friends just so you won't be offended it's like it's like saying no offense but yeah so I know you got to offend me like don't tell me not to take a bitch to it because just because he thinks a certain way it doesn't necessarily mean that you know everyone's a bigot or you know everybody just likes a certain thing so extremely I had at my job last year I worked with a white male who was homosexual and he was an awesome guy and I love to talk to him he was uh he was very friendly I mean all right here's my question okay before anything I say like I just want to say like I literally love everybody like gay straight black white fat skinny whatever I love everybody okay but I just want to say this like all right so I had I do music and stuff and I had this choreographer and he was gay and anything like I like I don't got a problem with anybody who was gay like as long as you respect the boundary if I tell you that I'm straight like we can be cool you know what I mean and it always seems like and I and this this is geared to the guys I want to ask y'all um and this guy crossed that boundary okay he crossed the boundary and I was like dead it all right this is for the fellas like do y'all find it harder to be do you find it harder to be friends with a gay dude than for females are to be friends like and keep boundaries like there and have them respect boundaries yeah I'm a theater and a music kid I mean if you if you grow up in the theater then there'll there'll be guys who will come up to you and who will do some serious serious flirting and and my dad my dad's a pastor as well um I am the son of a southern Baptist minister and you can only imagine how hard it was for me to even be able to go to the theater because my parents were actually afraid that I was going to to to go buy or go gay because that that's the way that they were brought up my parents they are almost 60 years old each that that's the way that they were brought up they were brought up the way to think that being gay isn't correct and quite honestly that's the way that I was brought up too and I'm still trying to figure things out myself about where I stand on this but I know that I I'm the exact same way I love everybody and just as long as that boundary isn't crossed then there's not really going to be a problem there at all with me. He's talking about that boundary that gay people are crossing but what about the boundary that straight people are crossing because I've had gay friends and you know or I'd be like I tell one of my guys friends I'd be like who who she who is she I'd be like nah she won't do she gay be like she ain't ashamed of having me for what she's trying to try me I can change a lot more you okay it's like if Mike let her like what she likes let him like what he likes but on the Christian side I think we as Christians we're so quick to condemn people because I totally agree with Al and um okay a sin is a sin me cussing I cuss like it's going out of style in the next hour so I can't I can't sit here and tell you you're going to hell for being gay when I'm doing the same thing when I'm sinning what makes my sin any better than yours homosexuality is not what I struggle with but cursing is so just because it's not my struggle doesn't mean that I'm better than you just because I want a diverse audience right because what most people don't realize is that races usually stay to themselves in the sense that 80% of white people only live around other white people 80% of black people only live around other black people so our our perceptions of what a white person is like or what a black person is like is really up to the media you see what I'm saying and in more cases than not black people are portrayed badly white people are portrayed as racist as big it says uh as um insensitive there you go yeah so the point of this is with hearing somebody like Al's opinion or hearing Mariah's opinion or or Noah's opinion you can get an insight into their world their life the definition of racism is to be discriminated against based on a power like a power difference so like racism is based on oppression like if you don't have privilege like I have white privilege because I'm white like you can't be racist to somebody that don't that doesn't have privilege you know so like hey like the black lives matter it's about black lives when people say all lives matter it's because they're privileged enough to say that like we have more privilege than because it's like a system of oppression that's the system of oppression that's made by white people against people of color you know why this is so powerful because this is what we want we want we we're trying to facilitate perspective and we're trying to facilitate empathy as well because a lot of people especially all race we we tend to believe and and and chunk people in one category like they think like this white people think like this but to hear her say that I think that's more powerful than if I said yeah you know I'm saying so I really want you all to appreciate what just happened great thanks everyone for coming out tonight you know I respect your time and everything but you know this is a deep thought the idea of this is so deep from an international perspective we need this all of us we need this you know we have to make our mind we have bodies in our hearts years we walk through it go through school come out and express yourself see this as a tool to increase your your confidence level to be of life has changed today because of what she said that would take me a long way in life what she issues we got a lot of issues that's why we need we need to talk my brother