Beloved Community Dialogue On Marriage Equality

Event Description

The Friends School of Atlanta (FSA) will hold its 4^th annual Beloved Community Dialogue.  To be moderated by Fulton County Commissioner Joan Garner, the panel discussing marriage equality will include:  Robin Shahar, Mayor of Atlanta’s Adviser on LGBT issues; Dr. Susan Barrett, psychologist/advocate for LGBT families; Branden Mattox, Director of the Love Under Fire Campaign to repeal the Georgia ban on same-sex marriage; and Conrad Charleston, farmer/artist. The conversation will examine issues related to marriage equality ranging from legal to the implications for families to efforts to rapidly changing attitudes about marriage equality, especially among younger people.

Founded in 1991, The Friends School of Atlanta remains the only Quaker school in Georgia. Every day at FSA, the faculty and staff strive to instill those values in its students deemed essential for building the all-inclusive Beloved Community envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., where differences are embraced as strengths, not feared, and every single person is respected as an individual of infinite worth. Like Dr. King, Quakers believe that through empathy and respect for others and personal integrity, connections can be made that can resolve even the fiercest disputes between nations, religions, cultures or individuals. In the words of one of FSA’s middle school students, “Being bullied isn’t the hardest part. The hard part is having to work through the issues with the other guy.” FSA’s Beloved Community Dialogue seeks to illuminate current civil and human rights issues so that we all are inspired to do the challenging work to resolve differences with “the other guy.” 

As the work to build Beloved Community in our society moves forward, FSA seeks to make a critical contribution by instilling the Quaker values of equality, integrity and community in its students and by hosting these dialogues that are designed to educate and ultimately uplift us all as we realize our individual and collective capacities for peace making and community building.

The Beloved Community Dialogue will be held at the FSA campus at 862 Columbia Drive in Decatur and is open to the public. General admission is $10 per ticket. Premium tickets are $100 each and include invitation to a reception with the esteemed panelists. The invitation-only reception begins at 5:00 pm, and the panel discussion will take place from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm.

The Friends School of Atlanta, offering a Pre-K – 8th grade program, has a mission to provide challenging academics in a diverse environment, drawing on the Quaker values of a simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship to empower students to go out into the world with conscience, conviction and compassion.

For more information about the event, please visit the FSA website atwww.friendsschoolatlanta.org or contact Nancy Bent, Director of Advancement: 404-373-8746 x8135; nancy.bent@friendsschoolatlanta.org.

For more information about the school and admissions, visit www.friendsschoolatlanta.org or contact Waman French, Head of School: 404-373-8746 x8136;waman.french@friendsschoolatlanta.org.