On a normal fall day in October of 2003, Andrew Marin was walking to the famous Chicago “El” train when all at once his life and the lives of many others would change with that one moment in time. The Marin Foundation began that afternoon on Taylor Street; however the years of exploration throughout the realm of epistemological truth, religion and the GLBT community was truly the core and the start of what has today become The Marin Foundation.

Andrew was raised in Aurora, IL, a western suburb of Chicago. Andrew lived right on the boarder of Aurora and a town called Naperville; a very conservative, upper middle class town which US News and World Report has rated the #1 town in America to live. Growing up in a conservative town and attending a conservative church helped shaped Andrew’s mind set regarding homosexuality. As Andrew recalls, the topic of homosexuality was never even brought up. “The GLBT community was never on the forefront of our minds. Homosexuality was not a tangible entity within my community; and at that time, it was just a word on a sheet of paper that I had read and heard about. It’s as if homosexuality was not real to me.” This had been Andrew’s blasé ideology regarding the GLBT community until the spring of 2000, just after the completion of his freshman year in college at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

“I’ll never forget that day in June of 2000 when I was sitting on my best friend’s couch watching TV, and she sits next to me, and tells me that she is a lesbian.” No more than five minutes later, Andrew’s other best friend in college who is sitting on the couch next to him, leans over and whispers in his ear that she is gay too! And three months after that, Andrew is hanging out with one of his best friends since they were children, and he tells Andrew that he is also gay. Three months, three best friends, and now three people who have just come out of the closet for the first time in their lives. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say or how to react. I had always been a very conservative Christian, and now three people that I have grown up with and love are in essence telling me they are something that had always been stigmatized in my mind!” Without knowing what to do from either side, it was just assumed by everyone that because of the strong Christian influence in Andrew’s life, (yet two of the friends had also been raised in a Christian church), that the four of them could no longer be friends. Therefore everyone went their own way, and fully engaged themselves in their new, yet fraudulent belief system. As this was a new experience for all involved, contact drifted.

In the next couple of months, a few cordial, awkward pleasantries had been exchanged back and forth, when one night a series of serious messages had been left by Andrew and his three friends, scheduling a time and a place to do what should have been done originally…lay everything on the table, no topic untouched, or unturned. “That night was the first huge turning point in my life that set me on the path that I am on today. We talked and talked and talked until the early hours of the morning and held nothing back.” When all was said and done, Andrew and his three friends had let everything out. Andrew spoke of all the stereotypes he had ever heard of regarding the GLBT community; from sex to pedophilia to AIDS to gay genes. And likewise, his friends let go of every stereotype they had heard of regarding Christianity, and the broader religious community. They talked about God hating homosexuals, what the Bible says and the general black-balled stance from the church regarding the GLBT community. “The beginning of that night was the most difficult and uncomfortable conversation I have ever had. Yet soon enough it turned into the most truthful and liberating conversation I have ever had. To share all of that information we shared with each other that night, no matter what happens from that point on, we will all be bonded together for life.”

Yet even after that night, what still bothered Andrew was the fact that he did not have a lot of the answers to the more in depth theological and doctrinal questions that his friends were asking about. At that point in time, Andrew committed himself to start learning and researching everything he possibly could about the theological and doctrinal beliefs from the religious community regarding the GLBT community, both from the Progressive and Fundamental communities, so as to better equip himself for not only his future, but for the future of his three friends and the others around him including his family and his straight friends.

Andrew originally attended UIC on a baseball scholarship, and by the following winter of 2000, Andrew had been feeling incomplete since he started doing his own theological research. He had always grown up in an environment involved with his spiritual life not revolving just around church on Sundays, but rather intermediate Bible studies during the week also. During the spring baseball season of 2001, road trips across the country always allotted Andrew ample time to study the Bible. A specific few players on the team would always come up to Andrew and ask him questions about God and about the Bible. On one particular road trip coming back to Chicago from Tennessee, those same teammates came up to him and wanted to do a Bible study on the bus. Andrew obliged, and the next thing you know Andrew and six of his teammates began to meet once per week to have a Bible study. When Andrew told his friends who came out to him about the Bible study, they wanted to start to come and tap into their Christian past. From that point on the Bible study started to grow by amazing numbers. The interesting thing about it though, was that all of the new people who started to come were in the GLBT community! “Never in a million years did I ever think that people in the general GLBT community would want to be part of a Bible study. I knew my friends who came out to me were raised in the church and had some interest, but what ultimately shocked me the most was that other people from around the GLBT community who didn’t even go to UIC would come to campus just for the Bible study.” From that point on Andrew began to understand the depth and power of the Creator and His ultimate pull on the lives of those on this Earth, regardless of who they are, where they come from or their social or economic status. “I truly believe that everyone wants to believe in something. Even if that something is nothing, it actually really is still something.” But more often than not, Andrew began to see first hand that the general idea of a God, an all knowing, understanding and trustworthy God that can control an unseen spiritual realm was an exciting option for those in the GLBT community; an important facet of overt human life that was always present, yet hardly ever tapped in to.

By the end of April 2001, Andrew was well into the full swing of the baseball season. And just like every other Division I baseball player, Andrew had aspirations of playing professional baseball. However on May 1, 2001, it would only take one second to change the course of Andrew’s life forever. On that day, Andrew ended up getting hit in the head by a thrown ball from close proximity. He blacked out and suffered a Level 4 concussion, which is the highest grade of concussions. The problem was that Andrew had already suffered four other concussions in the past three years, and this last one not only ended Andrew’s baseball career, but jeopardized his life as a fully functioning adult. That one second landed Andrew in the hospital, damaging his brain and rendering him legally mentally retarded; as he had the brain capacity of a 9 year old boy. Andrew went from a 20 year old Division I athlete who had a grade point average of 3.5 out of 4.0, to a person who had trouble speaking, a person who had trouble remembering anything, and a person who’s right side of his body could barely stop shaking. The next seven months were filled with hours of rehabilitation each and every day. Throughout this time, the Bible study was put on hiatus as Andrew was recovering. In September of 2002, it was only by the grace of the Creator, a God who had a plan for Andrew’s life that was intended to be The Marin Foundation instead of playing professional baseball, was able to take a damaged brain and rebuilt it and let Andrew once again enroll in school. With the help of a wonderful cognitive rehabilitationist, a great physical therapist, the support and love of family and friends, along with a giving God, Andrew was able to not only fully recover, but as he states now, “I can honestly say that now, after all the brain damage that occurred, there is no doubt that I feel stronger both mentally and spiritually in every way possible…more than I ever did at my best point before the brain damage. And that can only come from our Lord, period.” Andrew’s life drastically changed, and he then shifted his time and energy to the realm of academia instead of baseball. “The way I looked at it, if I invested even half of the time into academics than I did into baseball, I’d be just fine.”

Andrew’s new plan was undirected at the time. He did not know what direction to take or where to start, although Andrew did know how to start. As he started back to school he once again reconvened his Bible study, giving everyone involved a familiar and renewed sense of hope and direction. Academically, Andrew’s interest was psychology, in which he was majoring. Shortly after the semester began, he decided to catch on with a research study to see if he liked it. As Andrew was working for one of the professor’s studies getting inundated to all of the ins and outs of research, he began to really enjoy it. Andrew started to think that he could do something like that on his own, and began going around to the psychology professors asking them to assist him in applying for a Federal grant. As he was laughed out of every office, Andrew then started on his own finding out how to apply for a Federal grant. Three months later, Andrew landed himself in the office of the Director of Human Development at UIC, and she was more than happy to help him complete the grant paper work that he started a few months earlier. The next thing that happened, Andrew became the very first undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Psychology and Human Development in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to ever receive a fully funded Federal grant, which was funded by the National Institute on Health (NIH). Andrew had an overwhelming positive experience, and the next year, his senior year in college, he ended up applying for and receiving another Federal, NIH grant. Later that year Andrew was humbled and honored to have received the prestigious University of Illinois at Chicago Chancellor’s Student Service Award for 2003.

Throughout this entire time, Andrew’s relationship with his friends continued to grow closer over the years. As much as a straight man can be immersed into the GLBT community, Andrew immersed himself in order to not just be heavily involved in his friend’s lives, but also to know for himself first hand what the GLBT community was all about! That period in Andrew’s life was a time of excitement and learning. He was always eager and excited to go out and meet new people in the GLBT community. He was always ready for a new experience, and he always relished in the fact that each new experience also brought a new important lesson learned about the GLBT community through his inquisitive eyes. Today, Andrew credits his love, respect and friendships to those within the GLBT community from those days of inundation to a new community through his friends.

Moreover, during Andrew’s brief wave of academic success, he started to plan his post-graduation future. He had planned to continue his education and obtain his PhD in clinical psychology. Through the many applications, interviews, review boards and schools, Andrew was not able to find a match with any school that would completely accept his vision within the GLBT community regarding spirituality and religion. And it is at this point that now brings us full circle, back to the beginning of the story in October of 2003 walking down Taylor Street. It took the next seventeen months, a lot of prayers, a huge blessing to Andrew as he was given the opportunity to work at the world famous Drake Hotel on the equally world famous Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and all of the money in his savings account to finally realize the dream of The Marin Foundation. In the beginning of March 2005, Andrew left his job at The Drake Hotel and embarked on what has become the point of his existence. “I feel that I was put here on this Earth to do what I’m doing today. My only job is to make a significant impact for the Kingdom, and with all that I am, I will do all that I can to fulfill this goal that I have been blessed with.” Andrew has worked extremely hard to compile the most complete curriculum ever created on the topic of the GLBT and religious communities. Through extensive social, theological and Biblical research done through The Marin Foundation, Andrew could not be more thrilled at the product that has been produced. Collaboratively, Andrew and a number of his highly regarded colleagues and friends, from PhD’s in theology, psychology and GLBT studies, The Marin Foundation is humbled and excited for what the future holds. Reflecting on all that has happened, Andrew relates, “As someone looks back on their life, it never ceases to amaze me how each step of the way, no matter how insignificant the event might be, or how confused we are at a certain point, faith and hope will never fail us, ever. Our job now is to provide an option to the GLBT community; an option that has the potential to effect all eternity. And only by God’s patience and grace will that happen one person at a time. Be blessed, and BE BOLD!”