About Truth In Progress

Truth in Progress is a multi-media project dealing with issues of race, sexual orientation, and religion. We take a special look at the similar yet different experiences and histories of the Black Civil Rights and LGBT Rights Movements.

We begin with the ongoing dialogue between the Rev. Gil Caldwell, an older black male heterosexual retired pastor, and Marilyn Bennett, a younger white lesbian author and activist. The have been in correspondence about issues of race, sexual orientation, faith, and justice for over ten years, having been arrested together in an act of civil disobedience in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2000. In the years following they began a frank, personal and often humorous exchange about their life experiences and how those experiences have shaped their individual perceptions on race and sexual orientation. As they relayed their stories with one another, layers of history and beliefs were pulled back, revealing a process of give and take that continues to inform and form one another. This exchange became a “truth in progress,” a shaping and reshaping of perspectives.

They now invite you into the conversation to share your stories and thoughts so that we can foster a broader truth in progress. In addition Gil and Marilyn will be traveling to various cities significant to both civil rights movements to interview leaders and activists as well as recount historic moments in a personally visual way. That footage will be shared on this website to further the conversation. It will also be the basis on down the line for a documentary.
The interactive website that you are on right now is the hub of Truth in Progress. There are three ongoing blogs: Different Struggle, Same Fight by Marilyn and Gil; From Behind the Lens by our Film Production Manager Tonya Easbey, and a Guest Column by various writers and filmmakers from around the country. Video clips are incorporated into each of these blogs. Your comments and insights are a key ingredient to Truth in Progress. You will help shape Gil and Marilyn’s dialogue and the larger project.

The Big Three of race, sexual orientation, and religion may seem like a lot to explore in one project, but these threads more often than not intertwine, at times becoming entangled. Examining these knots and crossovers allows us to recognize the different patterns the individual and joined stitches make.