I’m heartened by the number of Green Party-endorsed candidates running for all kinds of offices throughout the United States in this year’s midterm elections.
Following are two pieces about Maui’s Green Party candidate, Pāʻele Kiakona, who not only has significant community support but the endorsement of all five of Hawaiʻi's largest labor unions – Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association (HGEA), ILWU Local 142, Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association (HSTA), United Public Workers (UPW), and UNITE HERE! Local 5.
These five organizations together represent nearly 96,000 workers across the state, marking an unprecedented level of labor support for a Green Party candidate in Hawaiʻi history.
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Aloha mai kākou!
My name is Pāʻele Kiakona and I am running as a Green Party candidate for Maui House Representative, District 14 (Lahaina, Maalaea, and Waiheʻe-Waiehu).
Many of you may recognize me from being on the front lines of the recovery and rebuild of our hometown. Together, we stood up a grassroots movement, activated the community and pushed for policy change to create a more balanced, safe home. However, my advocacy work started long before, where my family has showed what it means to be responsible stewards of this place.
My ‘ohana comes from Mala Village. Grandma always shares stories from pre-commercialization, when Honoapi’ilani highway used to be bush that she’d trek through to farm taro up mauka. Our family raised sow and fished the abundance of ‘opelu right in the front yard. Back then, they understood the relationship from mountain to sea and knew that we had a crucial role to play in giving back to what nourishes us. We look back at what was to shape what can be.
Iʻm running as House Representative to continue this path that my ʻohana has paved for me. I am passionate about protecting and preserving what is left of our home, honoring the rich history of this wahi, and finding solutions so that our people continue to remain here.
My campaign is focused on three things: opportunity for our communities, living in balance with ʻāina, and accountability in leadership. That means rebuilding Lahaina safely, making sure local families can afford to live here, and protecting the land and water that sustain Maui.
For Pāʻele Kiakona, protecting water resources and the ʻāina is key.
“Environmental studies has been my major, my background,” he told Hawaiʻi Public Radio. “I grew up in the taro patch, and I’m born and raised in Lahaina. I feel like that is something that sets me apart. And I show up. I’m accountable, and I always put community first.”
He has worked as a community organizer, advocated to shift housing priorities to local ʻohana, and served on the Maui Board of Water Supply. “If you look at a lot of our issues, whether it be cost of living, whether it be resiliency, regreening Lahaina, all of these things are almost always related right back to the health of our environment.”
Kiakona believes his campaign’s momentum has been building.
“I’ve seen a lot of people in my generation get so much more involved, and a lot of them getting even more involved because they know that I’m running for office. I’ve seen people come out and sign-wave when they've never done so before. I have people, hundreds of people that I know personally that are voting for the first time because they believe in what’s happening here.”
Kiakona hopes the education and awareness he’s raised along the campaign trail will have wider-reaching impacts, regardless of next month’s results.
“Getting in is also the goal," he said. “But part of the goal was to educate community and show them I’ve been fighting every step of the way for this community. I’ve shown up to every single community meeting. We’ve had a lot of success just doing the work and not letting your typical politics get in the way of doing that work. If the community sees this person that they’ve seen for three years fight and had success take a different route and jump into a separate party of the two-party system, then at least, it is my hope.”
Kiakona doesn’t feel that the status quo has been working effectively.
“I just saw how it was very much so relationships that put people in hard situations where they may not, say, support a bill because of the relationship with the person who wrote the bill, and I just didn’t feel like that was the right way to go about it,” Kiakona said, explaining his decision to run under the Green Party, while also describing it as “a much harder route.”
District 14 includes Maʻalaea, Olowalu, Lahaina and Kaʻanapali.
The following 15-minute video is from September 28, 2026, when Pāʻele Kiakona officially launched his general election campaign for Hawaiʻi State House District 14 at Hanakaʻōʻō, Canoe Beach in Lahaina. In 2023, a series of wildfires destroyed approximately 80% of Lahaina, resulting in the deaths of 102 people.
I’ve mentioned previously (here and here) that in the current U.S. midterm election season I’m supporting and working with the Green Party of Minnesota, a people-powerd party dedicated to building a more affordable, sustainable, and democratic North Star state.
We have six Green Party candidates on the ballot in November that many Minnesotans are supporting and getting the word out about – Steve Young and Jane Kirby for Governor and Lieutenant Governor; Seth Kuhl-Stennes for Secretary of State; Ngone Niang for State Senate, District 39; Bruce Johnson for Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District 4; and Rachel Braaten for Three Rivers Park Board, District 3.
Following are some images of my involvement with the Green Party, accompanied by writings by and videos of many of the Minnesota Green Party candidates.
I’ll start by sharing the following from the latest newsletter of the Green Party of Minnesota.
The Green Party of Minnesota is growing rapidly, with many new active members since the 2024 presidential campaign and increasingly younger and more diverse representation. This year we also have more candidates stepping forward, all committed to our foundational Green values* by refusing corporate and special-interest money.
With this growth comes the need for stronger party infrastructure. In recent months we have reinvigorated our social media presence, updated our website, and established a newly functional boardroom in our office. We are also continuing to cultivate leadership that can engage our growing membership, support our candidates, and continue building the infrastructure needed for long-term growth.
The genocide in Gaza, funded by U.S. tax dollars and perpetrated by Israel, has awakened many people to the corruption and Islamophobia within both major parties. The Green Party has long suported Palestinian liberation and the right to return.
In early 2025 the Green Party of Minnesota chartered the Muslim American Caucus, the first of its kind in Minnesota, creating a space for Muslim Americans to organize, build political power, and strengthen their voice within the party. A similar movement is also growing within the Green Party nationally.
This year the Green Party of Minnesota is proud to field statewide candidates committed to putting our values into action, including support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Above: Steve Young (right), Green Party candidate for Minnesota Governor, greets attendees at Twin Cities Pride – June 28, 2026. For more images of our presence at Pride, click here.
Above: My friend Jane Kirby, Green Party-endorsed candidate for Lieutenant Governor. She’s pictured phone-banking outside the building in south Minneapolis that houses the Green Party MN office – August 26, 2026.
Says Jane:
I’m running because Minnesota needs to be the leader in protecting citizens from ICE and protecting our Water from pollution and waste by outside corporate entities. Minnesota will create green jobs in the fields of alternative energy and regenerative farming and ecologically sound tourism. By taxing the rich and corporations fairly we can provide universal healthcare, education and a guaranteed living wage for all. Our Green administration will operate by the guiding principles of non-violence toward all sentient beings, ecological stewardship with a future focus, and sustainability, social and economic justice, and grassroots democracy, including proportional representation and ranked choice voting.
Above: Stuffing and addressing envlopes for a mass mailing with Green Party friends Tim and Rachael at Pizza Luce on Franklin Ave., Minneapolis – September 2, 2026. Rachel is the Green Party MN-endorsed candidate for Three Rivers Park Board, District 3.
My name is Rachel Braaten and I’m running for Three Rivers Park Board in District 3. If you live in St. Louis Park, Golden Valley, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Brooklyn Center or St. Anthony, I’ll will be on your ballot on November 3rd. I’ve been leading volunteer habitat restoration groups for over 15 years. I was trained to do that by the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. In 2020 I began leading groups in Crystal, and now Crstal has an official program that I’ve been leading for the past five years. I’m running because I’d like the opportunity to be a greater voice for our natural resources and the habitat needs for all the wild creatures.
Above: With Green Party friends at Pizza Luce on Franklin Ave., Minneapolis – August 12, 2026.
My friend Seth is the Green Party endorsed candidate for Minnesota Secretary of State. On August 19 he was interviewed by KTTC TV.
For two other videos featuring Seth, click here and here.
Above: Members of the Green Party of Minnesota and its Muslim American Caucus at the October 10, 2026 fundraising event for Women Against Military Madness (WAMM).
Noted the Green Party of Minnesota on its various social media platforms:
We say with a unified voice: FREE PALESTINE. Divest, boycott, and sanction Israel. Defund the military industrial complex, and let’s invest in universal health care, education, and basic human needs like housing and transit. The Green Party can’t be bought, and tonight we represented with the only political candidates of any party at this very well attended event. Let’s normalize integrity!
Above: At left (wearing my Franz Fanon t-shirt) with fellow members of the Green Party of MN’s Lavender Caucus – Thursday, May 28, 2026. Where at The 19 Bar, the oldest gay bar in Minneapolis and among the oldest in the United States.
Above: Green Party candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Steve Young and Jane Kirby, speak at an event in St. Paul – Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
For a June 2026 interview with Steve and Jane, click here.
Above: Green Party MN candidates Ngone Niang, Jane Kirby, and Seth Kuhl-Stennes at a meet-and-greet in St. Paul earlier this evening – Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Above: Prior to this evening’s meet-and-greet was a community forum co-sponsored by the Green Party of MN and entitled “Surveillance Versus Security.” This forum focused on flock cameras, Skydio drones, and the Waterfall company, and explored the question: “Do local government contracts with these companies make us less safe?”
The forum panelists were (from left) Cedar Larson of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM); Ngone S Niang, Green Party-endorsed candidate for Senate District 39; and Mike Madden of Veterans for Peace.
Above:Ngone Niang, Green Party-endorsed candidate for State Senate, District 39 – Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Says Ngone:
Change doesn’t happen simply because we hope for it. It happens when we organize, challenge the systems that no longer serve us, and build something better together. My campaign has always been about more than winning an election. It’s about putting people, planet, and peace at the center of our future. Real change starts with us.
Above:Seth Kuhl-Stennes, Green Party MN-endorsed candidate for Sectretary of State – Thursday, October 22, 2026.
I am an independent candidate (outside the two major parties in Minnesota) endorsed by the Green Party and am running on a set of issues that ties into their values and the work of the Secretary of State's Office. I do not accept donations from for-profit or nonprofit corporations, Political Action Committees (PACs) or lobbyists. I only accept donations from individuals. So, I am not beholden to any sort of corporate or special interest. I will be responsive to Minnesota voters and businesses and will work to take measures to strengthen our state's democratic institutions and economy.
My top three priorities (in no particular order) are:
• Institute an electoral system that honors the will of MN voters through adopting proportional representation for the MN House and ranked choice voting for MN executive branch offices, allowing cities and counties to use these methods for electing multi-member and single-seat local officials, and moving to direct election of the U.S. President by ranked choice voting.
• Advocate for state and global well-being by divesting from weapons manufacturers, genocidal nations, nuclear power and fossil fuel extraction, animal harm, and any such companies that profit from those actions and shifting those state investments into entities that uphold peace, human rights, ecological health, and animal welfare.
• Foster a healthy MN business and worker environment by facilitating the growth of cooperatives, credit unions, and community land trusts and honoring employers that provide living wages, practice just-cause employment, and support the right to unionize.
Above:Jane Kirby, Green Party MN-endorsed candidate for Lieutenant Governor – Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Left:Bruce Johnson, Green Party MN-endorsed candidate for Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District 4 – Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Finally, here’s and a piece from my Facebook friend Joshua in Michigan on why he’s voting for Green Party candidate Douglas Campbell for Governor. Although Joshua is in Michigan, not Minnesota, his reasoning for voting Green actually applies everywhere.
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Why I’m Voting Green
Joshua Combs on why he's voting for
Douglas Campbell for Michigan Governor
Both parties are rotten to the core and I’m done pretending otherwise.
The Democrats are not a resistance. They are the ones who paved the way for Trump in the first place.
In 2015 they had a “Pied Piper” strategy where they deliberately elevated Trump, Cruz, and Carson and told the press to take them seriously because they thought Trump would be easy to beat. In 2022 they spent over $53 million boosting MAGA extremists in Republican primaries for the same cynical game.
They fund genocide. They take corporate money. They lecture you about lesser-evil voting while they push war, fracking, and police militarization, then blame Green voters when they lose elections they rigged against their own base.
The Republicans are worse. [Republican candidate for Michigan Governor] John James is Trump in a suit. Pure culture war, tax cuts for billionaires, book bans, attacks on libraries, attacks on trans kids, attacks on abortion, and selling Michigan’s water and land to corporations.
Greens don’t take corporate PAC money. We stand for:
• NO VOTE FOR GENOCIDE
• Fully fund libraries and public schools, not charters
• Medicare for All and housing as a human right
• 100% renewable Michigan
• Get money out of politics
Democrats and Republicans built this mess together. Greens are trying to clean it up.
My vote is not wasted. Your two-party system is wasted.
* Following are the 10 Key Values of the Green Party, originally ratified at the Green Party Convention in Denver, Colorado, June 2000. It should be noted that there is no authoritative version of these values. Instead, they are best seen as guiding principles that are adapted and defined to fit each state and local chapter.
1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
4. NON-VIOLENCE
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.
5. DECENTRALIZATION
Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
We recognize it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one that can create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance. A successful economic system will offer meaningful work with dignity, while paying a “living wage” which reflects the real value of a person’s work. Local communities must look to economic development that assures protection of the environment and workers’ rights; broad citizen participation in planning; and enhancement of our “quality of life.” We support independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
7. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.
8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY
We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines. We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.
9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.
10. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.
The only reason I am wasting my precious time symbolically voting at the risk of appearing as if to validate another winner-FAKE-all election like a dumb chump is to say “Fuck the winner” with a ballot cast for my friend, Seth Kuhl-Stennes for Minnesota Secretary of State, the Green Party candidate. He and the Libertarian candidate were again unsurprisingly not invited to participate in the theater of yet another undemocratic debate because only Democrats and Republicans have allowed themselves on the front and back of the bus. Team Blue and Team Red may not be exactly the same, but they do both unanimously agree with bipartisan collusion on the only issue that doesn’t matter: A Dysfunctional Two-Party System.
If your team doesn’t support Proportional Representation for the MN House of Representatives then they support Disproportionate Representation, the root cause of a doomed Republic. Because elections are the pillar of representative government and if your donkey or elephant mascot is willing to compromise democratic integrity at the first sign of real competition by a third party independent diagnosis then those two parties have agreed to enable each other’s failures and bipolar disorder just for a symbolic, temporary victory at the cost of every disenfranchised taxpayer who deserves so much more than this fucking played out bullshit. End of rant. Schuler out. 🎤⚡️
The media is telling us today that 1 in 3 Brits think Zack Polanski should stand down as Green leader. This is an interesting way off saying 2 in 3 Brits do not think he should stand down!
He just got TEN TIMES more votes in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election than his party got under Caroline Lucas, so why are they pretending things are getting worse for the Greens?
Do you really think they’re concerned for the welfare of the party? Or do you think they’re more concerned that the Greens are finally influencing the country’s political direction? Answer honestly.
Prior to Polanski, the government only felt pressure from the right and that kept the conversation exactly where media moguls and billionaires want it to be.
Suddenly, Polanski shifted the conversation in the other direction, and instead of talking about how bad Muslims and immigrants are all the time, and how we couldn’t afford to do anything other than slash welfare, we were talking about the cost of living, issues that affect real people, and our government’s complicity in genocide.
Keir Starmer is a war criminal who had no answers to the problems people were facing. He offered only managed decline and contempt for workers. The moment we started having conversations that exposed that, his government collapsed.
If it wasn’t for Polanski, we’d still be stuck with a prime minister who completely ignores the needs of ordinary people. We now have a prime minister in Andy Burnham who at least pretends to listen and who will make some concessions.
This is only happening because of Polanski’s leadership. If the Labour government returns to letting us down like it did under Starmer, the Greens are there to fill that void. Labour knows they can no longer afford to ignore our concerns.
The Greens are ensuring the people who aren’t supposed to have representation under neoliberalism are heard.
The last thing the establishment wants is for those voices to grow louder and turn into real power. They see Zack Polanski as a threat to the status quo in a way they don’t with any other political leader.
All of the politicians who’ve spent years letting us down are joining ranks with the media who’ve poisoned our political discourse to bring down one man. That should tell you everything you need to know about who is on your side.
Minnesota made history on primary night. For the first time, all of the candidates for the top political offices in Minnesota are women. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth will face each other for governor this fall, and Michele Tafoya and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are vying for U.S. Senate.
This is simply not a fact-backed statement of truth.
For contrary to what MPR News declared, not all the candidates for Minnesota’s top offices are female. The Green Party’s candidate for Governor, Steve Young, is male. Young’s running mate, however, is female – Lieutenant Governor candidate Jane Kirby. (You can read about their campaign here.)
MPR’s erroneous reporting confirms the recent observations of Kristina Gronquist, a former Green Party-endorsed candidate for Minneapolis City Council. In a letter-to-the-editor of the Star Tribue, Gronquist notes the following.
Truth be told, there exists numerous feisty, principled candidates who are anti-fascist, unapologetically working class and who do not have monsters in their backgrounds. But you won’t find us in either of the two [corporate-backed “major”] parties. We are in third political parties, like the Green Party. Our platforms promote universal health care, peace through diplomacy, the environment, women’s rights and economic democracy. All our positions challenge the oligarchy and unfettered capitalism. Problem is, our voices are drowned out by the back-and-forth scandals of the two parties and a media that only reports on Democrats and Republicans, as if nothing else and no one else matters.
“[A] media that only reports on Democrats and Republicans, as if nothing else and no one else matters.” There it is, folks. And MPR’s recent failure is clear evidence of this pitiful state of affairs. It’s a failure that makes a mockery of the network’s own ethics guidelines which insist that “We are here to inform the public by considering multiple perspectives, but ultimately presenting fact-based truths.”
If you’re as concerned and disappointed by this failure on the part of MPR News as I am, then I invite you to join me in letting the network know this by clicking here and sharing your thoughts.
Above:Steve Young and Jane Kirby, Green Party candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor – June 2026. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)
I’m going to write something here that we all know is true but few are willing to just say out loud: There is a non-zero chance that the national Democratic Party, its donors and its media will decide to abandon/sabotage populist anti-establishment Democratic nominees in the upcoming general election.
Many in this corporate faction would rather such nominees lose – even if that means Democrats losing the Senate and governorships – than see these candidates win.
Why? Because if these candidates win, they threaten to change the Democratic Party and make the corporate faction irrelevant.
The outcome of Michigan’s Senate race will have major implications for the balance of power in Washington, DC, and for the future of the Democratic Party. With primaries taking place tomorrow, August 4, many are paying close attention to the contest between progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate (and AIPAC darling) Haley Stephens to see who will represent Democrats in November’s general election.
The Michagan race is at the heart of what’s being described as a “civil war” within the Democratic Party. Here’s how Astead Herndon of Vox outlines this longstanding intra-party conflict and explains why Abdul El-Sayed is the current central figure in it.
I’m supporting Abdul, as he’s the type of “threatening” politician we need. He threatens the corporate capture of our politics, and of the Democratic Party in particular. It’s a capture that has had a corrosive, corrupting influence on our politics for the past 40+ years.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson once said we need to “disrupt the corrupt” in order to return the U.S. to the democratic and humanitarian ideals of its founding.
At a rally in Grand Rapids, The Lever’s David Sirota put that question to progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed argues that party leaders aren’t worried he’s unelectable – they’re worried he’ll win and challenge a political system fueled by corporate money.
El-Sayed says AIPAC, Big Tech, Big Pharma, DTE, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and other powerful interests have helped drive nearly $70 million in spending against him.
“I’m not going there to make friends,” El-Sayed told Sirota. “I’m going there to get stuff done.”
I established The Wild Reed in 2006 as a sign of solidarity with all who are dedicated to living lives of integrity – though, in particular, with gay people seeking to be true to both the gift of their sexuality and their Catholic faith. The Wild Reed's original by-line read, “Thoughts and reflections from a progressive, gay, Catholic perspective.” As you can see, it reads differently now. This is because my journey has, in many ways, taken me beyond, or perhaps better still, deeper into the realities that the words “progressive,” “gay,” and “Catholic” seek to describe.
Even though reeds can symbolize frailty, they may also represent the strength found in flexibility. Popular wisdom says that the green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm. Tall green reeds are associated with water, fertility, abundance, wealth, and rebirth. The sound of a reed pipe is often considered the voice of a soul pining for God or a lost love.
On September 24, 2012,Michael BaylyofCatholics for Marriage Equality MNwas interviewed by Suzanne Linton of Our World Today about same-sex relationships and why Catholics can vote 'no' on the proposed Minnesota anti-marriage equality amendment.
"I believe your blog to be of utmost importance for all people regardless of their orientation. . . . Thank you for your blog and the care and dedication that you give in bringing the TRUTH to everyone."– William
"Michael, if there is ever a moment in your day or in your life when you feel low and despondent and wonder whether what you are doing is anything worthwhile, think of this: thanks to your writing on the internet, a young man miles away is now willing to embrace life completely and use his talents and passions unashamedly to celebrate God and his creation. Any success I face in the future and any lives I touch would have been made possible thanks to you and your honesty and wisdom."– AB
"Since I discovered your blog I have felt so much more encouraged and inspired knowing that I'm not the only gay guy in the Catholic Church trying to balance my Faith and my sexuality. Continue being a beacon of hope and a guide to the future within our Church!"– Phillip
"Your posts about Catholic issues are always informative and well researched, and I especially appreciate your photography and the personal posts about your own experience. I'm very glad I found your blog and that I've had the chance to get to know you."– Crystal
"Thank you for taking the time to create this fantastic blog. It is so inspiring!"– George
"I cannot claim to be an expert on Catholic blogs, but from what I've seen, The Wild Reed ranks among the very best."– Kevin
"Reading your blog leaves me with the consolation of knowing that the words Catholic, gay and progressive are not mutually exclusive.."– Patrick
"I grieve for the Roman institution’s betrayal of God’s invitation to change. I fear that somewhere in the midst of this denial is a great sin that rests on the shoulders of those who lead and those who passively follow. But knowing that there are voices, voices of the prophets out there gives me hope. Please keep up the good work."– Peter
"I ran across your blog the other day looking for something else. I stopped to look at it and then bookmarked it because you have written some excellent articles that I want to read. I find your writing to be insightful and interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more of it. Keep up the good work. We really, really need sane people with a voice these days."– Jane Gael
"Michael, your site is like water in the desert."– Jayden
