Cute sayings from Colton

The other day we went to an outdoor expo at the Amarillo Civic Center. When we went in there was a man in the ticket booth. As we were leaving, a woman was working in there. This was noticed by Colton. He said, "First there was a man and now there's a woman. It changed!!"

That evening at supper Colton started talking about the "hot girl" on TV. Now, coming from the 5-year-old, that seemed strange. I asked him what he was talking about. He said, "you know, the hot girl on TV with the wings on her back." I asked him if he meant Hawk Girl from one of his cartoon videos. I then remarked to Sandy that the only hot girls with wings I knew about on TV were in the Victoria's Secret commercials. That's when Colton piped up and said "Yeah, that's the one!"

Freedom from sin in Christ

This was written in March 2007.

Charlene Cothran has come out of the closet — again.
The publisher of Venus Magazine, which caters to homosexual African-Americans, has exchanged her lesbian lifestyle for Jesus Christ. Her conversion has branded her both traitor and heroine. When she “came out of the closet again” last year she ignited a firestorm in the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered community.
Once their torch-bearer, she re-purposed Venus Magazine to turn people away from homosexuality and toward a relationship with Christ.
“I got several angry reactions from the gay community, from all over the country,” she said in a telephone interview.
She said she felt down in the first few days after she went public with her conversion. Hate mail came in. Friendships ended. Advertisers pulled out.
“Please be advised as you claim to look towards Heaven that you do not allow yourself to be deceived by those with an agenda,” wrote Alvin McEwen of Columbia, S.C. “Already some folks are using your story in attempts to deny those of us who are comfortable with our orientation our basic rights. ... Don’t allow yourself to be used to deny me my rights as a gay black man.”
“Given your public profile among lesbians, the damage you might do is not inconsiderable, as the coverage given your 'redemption’ by Christian fascist outfits shows,” wrote Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network of Chicago.
“I’m just hurt deeply at the remarks made by Charlene Cothran. Having worked with Charlene on many activities both in Atlanta and New York, I cant believe how quickly she has become a gay basher. We all know the Lord for the most part, and believe in our hearts and confess with are mouths we shall be saved. It doesn’t take a church or a collar wearing person to give you that,” wrote Andreas of New York.
But then came an outpouring of love. Christians of all races and walks of life began sending letters, e-mails and phone calls encouraging her and supporting her newfound cause.
“Three days later it was like God resurrected something,” she said.

Her first trip out of the closet

Cothran wasn’t always a lesbian. When she came to Atlanta nearly 30 years ago to attend Georgia Tech, she began hanging out with friends at gay bars.
“After a while it becomes kind of normal,” she said.
She took people at face value and didn’t differentiate between gay and straight.
“One day someone approached me and I thought 'Why not? I’ll give it a try,’ ” she said.
Before too long she was attending gay social events. She then started planning them. She joined Hospitality Atlanta.
“We were women of color who partied together,” she said.
She befriended a woman named Venus Landin, who was a GLBT activist.
“We were never lovers but always friends,” Cothran recalled.
In 1993, Landin was killed in a murder-suicide. The next morning their friends began to meet at Cothran’s apartment. People started to look to her for leadership since it was known that she wanted to start a publication for gay and lesbian people.
“Her death created a vacuum on the Atlanta Pride board,” Cothran said.
The various boards and committees that Landin was on asked Cothran to take her place.
“I had to learn all the things that were important to her,” she said.
As she engaged in gay activism, she launched her magazine, named in honor of her late friend.
“Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues. I’ve organized and participated in countless marches and various lobbying efforts in the fight for equal treatment of gay men and lesbians,” she wrote in her story about her Christian conversion. “I have kept current on the issues and made financial contributions to those organizations doing work about which I was most passionate.”

A change of heart

Cothran’s conversion took time. Looking back, she can pinpoint the start of her conversion while helping run an event for black homosexuals in Chicago. She said she felt at odds with what she was doing, but didn’t know why.
“It was like a jar fell off the shelf and broke,” she said.
She began looking at what was going on around her. “This is the saddest thing I have ever seen,” she thought to herself.
“I knew I didn’t belong there spiritually,” she said.
With an internal struggle brewing, Cothran continued to publish Venus and support GLBT causes. Last June came a phone call that forced her turmoil to the surface. The Rev. Vanessia M. Livingston called her about a story in one of Cothran’s other publications, Kitchen Table News.
Their conversation turned to matters of salvation. Cothran bristled and her gay pride convictions rose within her — for the last time.
“I’m a lesbian,” she blurted out to Livingston.
She ranted about publishing a magazine for gays and lesbians. She told her about the gay/lesbian groups and organizations she belonged to. She preached her same old rhetoric.
“I figured if I said the word 'lesbian’ enough it would end the conversation,” she said.
It didn’t. Livingston continued to minister to her. Finally, sitting in her car in a mall parking lot and talking on her cell phone, Cothran tearfully released the conflict within her.
“The holy spirit shut me up long enough for her (Livingston) to see the conflict in me,” Cothran said.

A new purpose

In a bold move, Cothran made herself the cover story in the next issue of Venus. She spoke about her homosexual activism and the creation of Venus. She then made the bombshell announcement about her conversion and the new mission for the magazine.
She said she is not engaged in gay-bashing and wants to lovingly call homosexuals out of the gay lifestyle and into the Christian faith.
“You know they were not born this way. God didn’t make (homosexuality),” she said.
She said she wants all people — gay, straight, black, white or otherwise — to embrace the teachings of Jesus.
“God will come and get you at the appointed time, wherever you are,” she said.
She wants people to know her conversion is real and not a stunt to promote the magazine.
“For those who are not walking in the spirit, consider that I was living comfortably on the income from Venus, so why would I pull a 'stunt’ to increase circulation or hype gay agenda if that 'stunt’ would erode my business and personal income?” she said. “That doesn’t make any sense does it? I knew that by standing on the truth and releasing my testimony, things would change for me financially, but I trust God. And he has already begun to show the results of his promise.”
Despite the lost relationships and lost revenue, she feels confident God will provide and she will reap rewards for turning her life around.
“I love where I am right now,” she said.
She said she relates to the biblical story of Esther, who risked her life to go before the king and plead for the lives of her people.
“If I perish, I perish, but I will go down telling the truth,” she said.
Given the support she has found from Christians, however, Cothran said she is confident her testimony will changes lives for good.
“God himself has sent an army of encouragement. ... I’m blown away by what God has done,” she said.