Rev. Kelley Becker
Bloomington First Christian Church
Very soon, Bloomington-Normal will welcome the Legacy Wall to our community. I am honored to have been asked to speak, on behalf of NIOT, at the Opening Reception at 4 p.m. January 31 at Ames Library on Illinois Wesleyan’s campus. Other speakers will include IWU Provost Jonathan Green, Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, Victor Salvo, and Marcus Fogliano.
The Legacy Wall is a traveling exhibit that features "mini-biographies" of LGBT people from all over the world. Its digitally interactive content is international and multicultural, and has been substantially vetted and sourced. This meaningful and useful exhibit raises awareness of the roles LGBT people have played in shared human history – information which helps to boost the self-esteem of LGBTQ youth who are raised without the benefit of historically significant role-models. The goal of the Legacy Wall is to use the lessons of history to spark conversations and promote a feeling of safety and belonging in the classroom – giving our children hope.
As the chairperson of the Faith and Outreach Committee for NIOTBN and an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the arrival of this exhibit gives me great hope. I hope that in the future we recognize that teaching our children to tolerate other people is not enough. We must teach them to embrace one another. I believe this exhibit brings us closer to that goal. The more we know about people, the easier it is to appreciate and value their contributions and their unique gifts. The Christian faith tradition teaches that God created all human beings and declared them “very good.” We have different skin colors, faith traditions, gifts, intelligences, gender and sexual orientations, but we were each created on purpose for a purpose. I believe that purpose is to bring about a world where everyone has a place to belong and contribute...a place where everyone can be whole.
I hope you will join me on January 31, to welcome The Legacy Wall to our community and to celebrate and give thanks for our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.