Featured Panelist: Pastor Israel Alvaran

Israel I. Alvaran is an ordained Elder in the Philippines Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He has served in various ministry settings as pastor, youth minister and faculty at a UMC university and seminary in the Philippines. A long-time activist, Israel worked as Person-in-Mission of the UMC General Board of Global Ministries for the Manila Episcopal Area, focusing on advocacy for low-wage workers. For a number of years, he was a community outreach organizer for UNITE HERE Local 2 (the hotel workers union) and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice of California. Prior to joining RMN, he served as national organizer for economic justice with the UMC General Board of Church and Society. Israel lives in San Francisco, CA and is immersed in the life of his community. Until recently, he was an officer and board member of San Francisco Pride at Work, an organization committed to LGBTQI rights in the workplace. He is currently on the executive board of the Jobs with Justice chapter in the SF Bay Area. Israel has a Masters of Divinity degree and a Masters of Theology degree from Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines. With a dissertation focused on faith-rooted organizing, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA in 2010 as a recipient of the UMC Crusade Scholarship. When not in the thick of rallies and picket lines, Israel loves to cook and bake for friends, and spends quality time with his adorable dog Waui Kush

Closing Worship Speaker: Pastor Tita Valeriano

The Rev. Tita Valeriano is currently building up an evolving progressive faith community in the East Bay Area, California while raising a son, Taal, with her spouse, Jennifer. She has served in various ministries of the church, as parish pastor, campus ministry pastor, and the Lutheran World Federation’s Youth/Young Adult Secretary in Geneva, Switzerland and Regional Officer for North America. Her work has focused on nurturing an ecumenical, multicultural, missional church that invites and includes youth and young adults and people from various cultures, race and class. She is also very involved in justice-oriented and advocacy ministries in the community especially on immigration and economic justice. Recently she participated in various advocacy and accompaniment work on the recently passed bills, Differed Action for Childhood Arrivals, Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, LGBTQ immigrants. Born and raised Lutheran in the Philippines, she was trained in holistic mission. Also trained as a musician contextualizing church music and liturgy, she has traveled in different parts of the world, where she has learned from and worked with renowned church global musicians, and regularly leads creative worship and world music celebrations. Currently she is serving a house church, Way of Grace. For fun, she loves photography, international cooking, traveling and most of all to gather people from various walks of life around a bountiful table.

Featured Presenter: Marga Gomez

Marga Gomez is a native New Yorker who makes San Francisco her home and identifies as a bicoastal Gemini. As the daughter of a Cuban comedian and Puerto Rican dancer Marga made her stage debut in New York at age 7 and was hooked ever since. Her long and colorful career includes achievements in comedy, theater, film and television. She tours nationally and internationally as one of America’s first openly Gay comics. Her awards include “Best Comedian 2009 and 2008 Reader’s Choice Award” from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her college appearances landed her on the 2009 Campus Pride Hot List as one of their “top 25 LGBT Favorites.” Marga’s television credits include LOGO’s “Wisecracks” and “One Night Stand Up,” Comedy Central’s “Out There,” HBO’s “Comic Relief VI,” and Showtime’s “Latino Laugh Festival.”

Her comedy career is profiled on Here Network’s “Laughing Matter’s” (also available on DVD.) Marga Gomez is the author/performer of eight solo plays: "Long Island Iced Latina", "Los Big Names", A Line Around The Block, Memory Tricks, Marga Gomez is Pretty, Witty & Gay, Jaywalker, The Twelve Days of Cochina and "Proud and Bothered", which, along with her collaboration with Carmelita Tropicana on an erotic horror comedy Single Wet Female, have been produced nationally, internationally and in New York at The Public Theater, The 47th Street Theater, Performance Space 122, Dixon Place and La Mama. She frequently collaborates with director David Schweizer on her theater pieces.

Marga is a Drama Desk award nominee and the winner of the GLAAD Media Award for Off-Broadway Theater, Theater LA’s Ovation Award for “Best Featured Actress,” New York’s Hola Award for “Best Solo Performance.” Marga’s acting credits include roles in the Off Broadway and national companies of The Vagina Monologues working alongside Rita Moreno, Vicki Lawrence, Lisa Ling and Jo Beth Williams. Selections from Gomez’s work have been published in several anthologies including Extreme Exposure (TCG Books), HOWL (Crown Press), Out Loud & Laughing (Anchor Books), Contemporary Plays by American Women of Color (Routledge) When I Knew (Harper-Collins) and Out of Character (Bantam Books.)