Since January 2007 I have presented approximately 25 times in Quaker specific venues. These include monthly meetings, regional and yearly gatherings like Appalachian Yearly Meeting, Colorado Regional Gathering and Friends General Conference, and at Quaker centers and institutions like Woolman Hill and Earlham College.  I have attached a complete list to this report. In addition, I have presented at over 75 non-Quaker specific venues---universities, churches, conferences, theaters and community centers and on radio, television and in the print media. I move in and out of multiple faith traditions, especially diverse Christian groups, and many besides fellow Friends have endorsed my travel minute.

In addition to speaking out about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender concerns, I have shared Quakerism and the role our traditions and practices play in my work. So many people have marveled at the clearness and support committee processes I told them I have experienced through our meeting. Many of these have expressed longing for similar support in their own work. Some have since sought out ways to recreate these processes for themselves.

Traveling with the minute and having a support committee from Hartford Friends Meeting has given me stability and endurance. During personal challenges like my mother’s illness and death, the support committee provided comfort. As I have branched out into new areas and needed on-going clearness, I turned to the Support Committee. Although I most often travel alone in the work that I do, my connection with the Support Committee grounds me and provides for me people who know and care about me and who ask essential questions. I return repeatedly to various parts of the world and have begun to establish satellite communities that offer spiritual and practical support while I am away from Hartford for weeks at a time.

In public I gladly speak about the Religious Society of Friends. Many people do not know we exist. Some have since found a home among Friends. In July 2008 I spoke at the Lambeth Conference, the once every ten year gathering of the Anglican Church. The BBC World Service interviewed me for Faith Matters, a radio program that reaches over 20 million people. In that interview I shared in detail about Quakerism and how Friends have enriched my faith and practice.

The opportunities to present and the sphere of my influence have grown considerably in the past two years. Thank you for the essential support and encouragement you provide.

Peterson Toscano

Quaker Gatherings in the US & UK

The Quake that Rocked the Mid-West, Chicago, IL
Colorado Regional Gathering of Friends, Estes Park, CO
New England Yearly Meeting
Baltimore Yearly Meeting
Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting
Friends General Conference
Young Friends General Meeting, New Castle, England
Quaker Youth Leadership Conference, Providence, RI
Midwinter Gathering of FLGBTQ, Brown Summit, NC

Quaker Meeting Houses and Churches

Freedom Friends Church, Salem OR
Hartford Friends Meeting
Oxford Friends Meeting, Oxford, England
Multnomah Friends Meeting, Portland, OR
Memphis Friends Meeting
Reading Friends Meeting, Reading, England
Adelphi Friends Meeting, Adelphi, MD
Cookeville Friends Meeting, Cookeville, TN
Mountain View Friends Meeting, Denver, CO

Quaker Centers  & Schools

Guildford College
Earlham College
Woolman Hill
William Penn House, Washington, DC
New Gardens Friends School, Greensboro, NC