Author. Speaker. Consultant. Community Creator.
A community healer and creator at heart, I love to gather those who have been pushed to the margins of society and/or faith and bring them into a place that feels like home. I’m a national speaker, consultant, and coach passionate about ending religious trauma for LGBTQ+ people and fostering a world of acceptance and belonging.
I’m the author of three books, including my newest release Out of Focus: My Story of Sexuality, Shame, and Toxic Evangelicalism (WJK Press, 2023) and the first coming-out guide for LGBTQ+ people of faith Unashamed (WJK Press, 2019). I'm the founder and host of the Unashamed Love Collective ~ a beautiful and inclusive membership-based online community for LGBTQ+ people and allies. I also customize and lead Cultivating Community retreats, gathering small groups of people in safe spaces of belonging and empowering them to love who they are and create lasting relationships with one another.
I am the daughter of Dave Arnold (35-year executive producer of Adventures in Odyssey at Focus on the Family) and grew up in the heart of evangelicalism in Colorado Springs. When I came out as gay in 2012, I was disowned by my family and lost everything I'd ever known. My experience with grief, loss, and long-term identity suppression propelled me into social justice where I now strives to be a voice for the silenced, eradicate shame, and generate messages of hope, love, and inclusion for marginalized people.
I believe stories are the key to change, healing, and reducing isolation. I want people to love who they are at their core. Harmful theology is physically and spiritually killing LGBTQ+ people. That fact, coupled with my own personal experience with loss, makes me passionate about the work that I do. Prior to my advocacy work, I spent fifteen years in the field as a nationally certified Sign Language Interpreter. I also live with late-stage Lyme disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The intersectional identities of being a gay female with an invisible disability inspires me to actively fight for the equality, equity, and dignity of all people.
I now contract and consult with companies and churches across the nation to create inclusive environments that embrace all forms of diversity, and continue to speak whenever possible..
My Story
(Hover over each event to see a photo)
Baby me was born in Kalispell, MT.
I win a county-wide talent competition at age 3 for my recitation of “The Moon Came Too.” My mom about has a heart attack from the shock.
My dad starts working for Focus on the Family. Clearly Dobson and I hit it off from the start.
I perform my first solo piano recital at age 7…music was in my blood.
I begin acting in Adventures in Odyssey and meet Will Ryan (Eugene Meltsner).
I rock the 90’s bangs and sign a Purity Pledge on my 13th birthday, vowing a chaste life of service to God until the day I marry my someday husband. Yikes.
I graduate high school at age 16 – only a slight overachiever. 😉
Did a Christian internship for a year ‘cuz it was a thing. Made it all the way to graduation without dating a boy…imagine that. (It was a legit rule.)
Fell in love with a girl…but couldn’t tell anybody. The inner wrestling began.
Adopted my first puppy. Named her Half Pint. Fell completely in love.
I came out as gay and lost almost everyone I knew in the weeks and months to come. My world grew very dark.
Half Pint gets me through the hardest days of my life and helps me survive the suicidal feelings and self harm I was battling behind the smile.
Half Pint becomes a service dog to help me navigate life with PTSD.
I begin advocacy work to support LGBTQ+ people healing from religious trauma.
“Refocusing My Family” releases into the world.
I begin speaking nationwide and sharing my story in order to bring hope to other LGBTQ people from conservative faith backgrounds.
On tour…I can hardly stand the level of adorable.
“Unashamed” releases and becomes the first coming-out guide for LGBTQ people of faith.
I'm diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.
The Unashamed Love Collective launches amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
I continue to speak at conferences, festivals, universities, and churches to raise awareness and educate others on the importance of full inclusion.
Cultivating Community Retreats are launched out of a desire to create opportunities of connection and healing for those doing important grassroots work.
"Out of Focus" releases into the world and I make the decision to publicly name my father for the first time following the Club Q massacre in Colorado Springs.
Half Pint turns 15 years old and officially retires from service dog work. She continues to be spoiled with treats, cuddles, and copious amounts of sunbeams.
Contracting, consulting, and speaking to end religious trauma and cultivating healing for those on the underside of privilege.