Posts by Believe Out Loud
Bishop Gene Robinson Accepts Award for Commitment to LGBT Equality
The 25th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, was held in Atlanta last week. Sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the conference is an annual organizing and skills-building event that attracts over 3,000 attendees each year. For the third year in a row, the “Practice Spirit, Do Justice” track featured workshops…
Read MoreAn Undesirable Role Model Prays For The Boy Scouts
Today it was reported that the Boy Scouts of America are considering a change to their long-held policy which bans gay boys from serving as Scouts, and which bans LGBT adults from serving as Scout leaders. As the Scouts have faced increased public pressure after denying an openly gay Scout his Eagle Scout award and…
Read More30 Days of Love: A Social Justice Spiritual Journey
With social justice as their spiritual journey focus, the interfaith public advocacy group Standing on the Side of Love has started their 2013 Thirty Days of Love campaign. Standing on the Side of Love calls for religious people to harness love’s power to stop oppression by standing for respect, inclusion, and compassion in public debates…
Read MoreDespite Legal Unions, Same-Sex Couples Still Cannot File Joint Federal Taxes
Even though an increasing number of states are legalizing gay marriage, same-sex married couples still won’t be able to file joint federal tax returns this year. The federal Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman,” and that’s what the Internal Revenue Service follows when it comes…
Read MoreWeek In Review
Welcome to Believe Out Loud’s Week In Review, a weekly digest of the latest headlines at the intersection of Christian faith and LGBT equality. President Obama was officially sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on Sunday, and again yesterday in front of 1 million people. In his inaugural address, he made history…
Read MoreA Lesbian, a Bible and an Inauguration Service: In Search of Safe Homes
Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson, Moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), will read the scripture at President Obama’s Interfaith Prayer Service at the National Cathedral, to be held Tuesday morning, January 22. When I stand in the presence of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden to read the Hebrew Bible under the soaring arches…
Read MorePreacher at Inaugural National Prayer Service Evolving on Gay Issues
Reverend Adam Hamilton, pastor of a United Methodist mega-church in Leawood, Kansas, has been chosen to deliver the sermon at the Inaugural National Prayer Service. Reverend Hamilton is the author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, and his views on full LGBT inclusion in the church also currently fall into a…
Read More2012’s GLAAD Awards Recognizes Faith Leaders
Everything from the Academy Award nominated documentary How To Survive a Plague to an episode of the reality show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is recognized in the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Award’s celebration of outstanding representations of the LGBT community in film, TV, and the news. This year’s awards also…
Read MoreHow Far Will Obama Go For Same-Sex Marriage?
It’s clear that President Obama believes that states should grant gay people the right to marry. The question has now become whether he and his Administration believe that gay people have the constitutional right to marry, whether or not state legislators grant it to them. The answer will become clear as the Supreme Court hears…
Read MoreRepublican Wyoming Lawmaker Supports Marriage Equality Bill
Representative Keith Gingery, a Republican from Jackson, Wyoming, has co-sponsored a dual approach legislation that would allow the state’s gay couples to form civil unions or get married. Gingery has been in Wyoming’s Legislature for eight years and has seen lawmakers consider and reject measures on gay unions in 2007, 2009, and 2011. He believes…
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