These are some of the questions that Robert V. Taylor has faced throughout his lifetime. Growing up in South Africa during the 1970s, at the height of the apartheid movement, Robert saw and felt the horrific label of racism.
“I worked as a freelance correspondent for a radio station which beamed stories from Ethiopia and Zambia into the South African government’s tightly controlled media world. At the time it was illegal to own Mandela’s writings and a criminal offense to portray his image in public. Crossing the border from neighboring countries, my anxiety and nervousness were high when smuggling those writings and recorded interviews back into South Africa.”
Robert’s anti-apartheid work led him to refuse to be drafted into the South Africa Military which was compulsory for all white males; a refusal that came with life imprisonment. Faced with the label of being a “traitor” or a “collaborator” he knew he could not accept that apartheid was “the will of God.”
As an ordained minister, Robert became an activist in helping the homeless and those suffering from the HIV/AIDS crisis. This work gave him firsthand experience dealing with the personal and political labels imposed on people living under unfortunate circumstances.
During his personal journey of self-discovery, Robert was able to transcend the limits of living with labels when he publicly revealed that he was gay. In 1999, his courage was rewarded when Seattle’s Episcopal Cathedral elected him as the first openly gay Dean of any Anglican Cathedral in the world. In 2008, he resigned from this position to become a sought after public speaker, media commentator and noted author.
He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Fox News, NBC News and the Washington Post, among others. He is the best-selling author of A New Way to Be Human and the forthcoming Beyond Limitations: Living the Questions of Courageous Love, and Reboot Your Life in 21 Days.
I got a chance to talk with Robert about his work with people to not succumb to being labeled, ways we can improve ourselves, and some of his thoughts for new parents out there. You can listen to the interview HERE!
Online he can be found at http://www.robertvtaylor.com, on twitter @robertvtaylor and on facebook.