The founder of one of the nation's few educational nonprofit social justice organizations, Marc Adams, is bringing his message of self-acceptance to Nashville.

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, Adams will offer a presentation at the Scarritt-Bennett Center/Laskey Library (2nd floor) at 7 p.m. outlining his humorous and educational journey toward self-acceptance, the creation of HeartStrong and the life saving work done through the organization. The Center is located at 1008 19th Avenue South in Nashville.

Adams' father was a fundamentalist Baptist minister who thought people like Jerry Falwell were left wing liberals. That's part of the reason Adams rebelled against his parents and attended Falwell's university where he expected to change his homosexual ways.

"He was the first person I heard speak about God changing homosexuals," Adams said. "Being at that university allowed me the space to come to terms with who I was and eventually led to my own self acceptance."

Adams is the author of nine books including "The Preacher‘s Son" and "Do’s & Don'ts of Dealing with the Religious Right". He is a widely respected authority on subjects ranging from fundamentalism, the religious right, gay civil rights as well as his groundbreaking work with his own non-profit, HeartStrong.

HeartStrong is a social justice organization providing hope and help to GLBT students who are persecuted in religious educational institutions.

"There has been a tremendous increase in students coming to HeartStrong for help," Adams said. "Religious schools worldwide are experiencing tremendous growth. This makes our work more relevant today than when we began back in 1996."

Adams’ presentation will be the 40th HeartStrong outreach since the group was formed and will cover an often dark side of life as he bridges the serious discussion with humor and all-encompassing human compassion. The event is being sponsored by PFLAG chapters in Nashville, Chattanooga and TriCities.

For more information, visit heartstrong.org.