Posts by Believe Out Loud
Experiencing Grace: My Journey To Becoming An Ally
On an August afternoon last fall, I sat in front of my computer screen with tears streaming down my face. Maybe you did as well. Plastered all over my Facebook wall were photos of so many proudly eating a chicken sandwich in the name of American values, many in the name of Jesus. I’m guessing you saw…
Read MoreHistoric LGBT Church Leaders Condemn Russia’s Anti-Gay Law
Metropolitan Community Churches and the Global Justice Institute publicly and firmly condemn the adoption of a federal law in the Russian Parliament that bans so-called “non-traditional sexual relations” and which mandates fines and jail terms for people convicted of sharing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) “propaganda.” The Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, Moderator of Metropolitan…
Read MoreGoing Global: Working Together For LGBT Equality
In just a few days, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue its ruling on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). As public support for LGBT equality grows, there are many communities where change has yet to come. Our latest newsletter speaks to the diverse challenges and LGBT activism in the United States…
Read MoreCall Me Kuchu: Documenting The Struggle For Equality In Uganda
This film is now available on DVD and digital platforms—check out Call Me Kuchu for more information! In late 2009, we received a phone call from Uganda—it was gay activist David Kato, who we’d been speaking with as part of the initial research for our documentary film. David told us that his fears had been realized:…
Read MoreMaking Love Legal
Central Point, Virginia. 1958: Richard and Mildred Loving jailed. Their crime: marriage. He was white. She was black. “We were married on the second day of June. And the police came after us the fourteenth day of July,” Mildred Loving said in the documentary The Loving Story (HBO, 2011). An anonymous tip sent police to…
Read MoreRemembering Will Campbell: A Champion For Social Justice
One of the greatest gifts my parents gave me as a child was an awareness of my own privilege. Both of my parents grew up as white children in the segregated and violent Jim Crow South. They spent their adulthood trying to make sense of the experience by instilling in me and my brother a…
Read MoreChurch Of England Abandons Fight Against Marriage Equality
The Church of England has issued a statement officially declaring that they will no longer work to obstruct the passage of the marriage equality bill that is currently going through Parliament. Though the Church of England will not support the bill in its current form, sentiments from Church leaders on the matter are ambiguous. On Monday, the Archbishop…
Read MoreA Baptist Revival Of Love
Last year I had a dream, a vision really, of driving across country in a RV sharing the good news of the ministry of inclusion within the Baptist community that is known as AWAB, the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists. In this vision, the word “revival” was very present. I was curious about this…
Read MoreConfronting Injustice In My Childhood Church
“The Church” is a somewhat scary and intimidating phrase to me. I grew up in a “Christian family,” but that phrase means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I used to love going to church with my grandparents. I liked to hear people talk about God and I enjoyed the sense…
Read MoreComing Out: An Act of Welcoming Self
I continue to be astounded at the gifts welcoming myself into authenticity has afforded. Don’t get me wrong; it has not been without challenge. I now celebrate over seven years of being a Black Lesbian Christian Pluralist. I find it important to locate myself in these identities because I recognize my privilege and freedom to…
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