Kathy Baldock
"I’m a straight Evangelical Christian walking a path with God and striving to follow the examples of Jesus. As recently as 2004, if I had been asked, I believed I wouldn’t see any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people in heaven. Forming relationships with people who were LGBTQ (many of whom were Christians), along with much questioning caused me to wonder if what I had been told about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities was accurate."
- Kathy Baldock | Founder & Executive Director
Kathy Baldock, author, LGBT advocate, international speaker and educator, and Executive Director of CanyonWalker Connections, is a leading expert on LGBT issues in the United States, especially dealing with historical and current discrimination faced from the socially conservative Christian church and political sector.
Her 2014 book, Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: Repairing the Breach Between the Church and the LGBT Community, and accompanying "Untangling the Mess" presentations, blog, podcast, and videos, piece together the history behind LGBT persecution in the church and the need for conservative Christians and church leaders to become better educated in order to properly engage members of the LGBT community. Baldock’s heavily researched, accessible, informational approach helps people understand the LGBT community’s modern plight in terms of how threads of culture, medicine, psychoanalysis, law, science, religion, and politics have contributed to our understanding of this group of people.
Baldock currently travels across the U.S. and internationally, speaking in venues from churches to university campuses to non-profit organizations, sharing the eye-opening findings of her research in one, three, and six hour formats called "Untangling the Mess," fully tailored to Christian or secular audience needs. She engages with a visual timeline in ways that help audience members identify, assimilate, and retain information that will help them overcome cultural biases and understand the sources of negative images of LGBT people today.
Additionally, Baldock co-hosts the Sisters of Thunder Podcast along with CanyonWalker Connections’ Director of Policy and Advocacy, Yvette Cantu-Schneider. The initial six episodes of the podcast feature discussions on specific areas from Kathy's book "Walking the Bridgeless Canyon" along with current topics associated with sexual orientation, gender identity, faith and policy. This series is broken down into six one-hour audio dialogue and interview format podcasts for listeners.
The Personal Side of Kathy's Story
I’m a straight Evangelical Christian walking a path with God and striving to follow the examples of Jesus. In 1984, within one month of returning to a faith community after a 15 year hiatus, I became a Christian.
While listening to a sermon at a local Evangelical church, the Gospel just made sense to me. I need something far bigger than me to direct my life and choices.
I was raised Roman Catholic in New York City and had drifted away from any desires for faith. Following a divorce caused by my father’s adultery and abandonment, my mother was divorced. Policy in the local Catholic church at the time was excommunication. The local parish priests rejected my Mom.
This picture of church and “rejector” God stuck with me for decades. I wanted nothing to do with a God who cast my loving and innocent Mother out.
I had a desire to try to reconnect spiritually in college, but I was still too busy doing it my way. I didn’t want direction or help from a god or a person. Eventually, my plans started falling apart.
My best wasn’t working. The frustration of trying hard and never feeling peace made the decision to cede to God simple. Maybe God, who I believed created me, knew what was best for me? I gave Him a my heart, soul and will when I was 28.
Since then, I have never turned away from Him.
Please watch this video to get the back story as to why I care about the LGBT community. As recently as 2004, if I had been asked, I believed I wouldn’t see any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people in heaven.
Relationship, along with questioning caused me to wonder if what I had been told about the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities was accurate. In 2001, I was muddled in an open space that is often caused by doubt about life issues. I was finally more receptive and sensitive to the heart and voices of God’s LGBT children.
After six years of ministering in this very messy spot in and out of the churches, I became an advocate to the LGBT community for equality and inclusion in conservative Christian churches. I write, speak, educate, listen and dialogue.
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