By Redhawk Power Plant

Today I walked 6.44 miles...woo-hoo!  I did what I call "the grand tour."  I walked from my house, to Hillcrest, down 6th street, across Balboa Park, past the San Diego Zoo, down Park avenue and back to my house in University Heights.

On the mapped journey from San Diego to Washington D.C., I am still approaching the outskirts of Phoenix.  At this location is the Arizona Power Service (APS) Redhawk Power Station.  What is interesting about this power station, that is comprised of two 2x1 combined cycle natural gas-fired units to produce a total of 1060 MW of electrical power, is that "critical to the planning and permitting of this facility was the source and utilization of water and the environmental impact of the station with respect to liquid emissions. Based upon these issues, Redhawk was designed to use reclaimed municipal effluent for its process water requirements." (Water Online)

Given the importance of the Gila River for irrigation downstream, this water-conscious use of waste treatment water makes a lot of sense.

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Churches can be like power plants...they can energize you and make things better, or they can be shocking and toxic.   This website has a list of churches that are open and affirming to GLBT people.  CLICK HERE  

Here's a church in the Phoenix area that is working on meeting the needs of transgender youth, many of whom are homeless.

Also, the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ has stated that they are open and affirming.

On the flip-side, we have churches like the Southern Baptist Churches, that give a long, extended argument for why they feel transgender people are just sinning "neighbors" who need to "repent" of being transgender (how is that possible?) in order to be welcomed into the membership of their church (they are allowed to attend and contribute...just not to become voting members).  CLICK HERE

There are still churches in the Phoenix area (such as Bethany Bible Church) that support "gay conversion therapy" to try to turn gay or transgender people into straight "normal" people, like this story about a "conversion" camp.  

In 2007, Bethany Bible Church in Phoenix recently held an all-day event called Love Won Out, sponsored by Focus on the Family (a group that is strongly opposed to transgender people).  One of the speakers was Allan Chambers, the chairman of "Exodus International," an umbrella organization for those who believe in conversion or "reparative" therapy.

Exodus International, an umbrella group for many Christian ex-gay ministries. He says more and more people who are uncomfortable with their same-sex attraction are seeking what some in the ex-gay movement call "reparative" therapy.
 
"Cure is not a word that I would ever use," Chambers said. "Certainly that's not what we're advocating with regards to homosexuality. But we are saying is that it is a condition that people have found freedom from, they have changed."

Clinton Anderson directs the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns Office in Washington, D.C., for the American Psychological Association. The APA says so-called "conversion therapy" is not supported by science. 

"We have the concern first of all that the therapies have never been adequately demonstrated to be safe or effective," Anderson says, "and that the promotion of such therapies contributes to the climate of prejudice and discrimination in this country." 

But leaders in the ex-gay movement say thousands of Americans are now living as former-homosexuals, and that each person should have the right to decide for themselves what is best. (NPR, "Church Hosts Conference on 'Ex-Gay' Therapy") 

It is important to note that in 2013, Exodus International apologized to the gay community and shut down its conversion/reparative "cure" ministries. 

Alan Chambers, who used to lead Exodus International, also now is an outspoken supporter of gay marriage.

But, Bethany Bible Church, under "Project Rose," still offers "diversion" therapy for prostitutes, who basically are under coercion to participate in the church program, or be sent to jail.  As we have learned, if they are transgender (and many transgender people who can't get work turn to prostitution so they can survive), going to jail mean either being put together with the men (most transgender prostitutes are male-to-female), or being put in solitary confinement "for their own good." Bethany Bible Church believes in "conversion therapy," that a gay or transgender person can be changed into a straight person by prayer and devotion to Jesus.  Al Jezeera reported this "ministry" was under duress. 

The root problem is discrimination  by potential employers.  If a transgender woman can't get or keep a job, they have few options in order to survive, and many turn to illegal activities in order to make money and survive.  If churches, and church people, want to end transgender people turning to prostitution, then offer them a job.