Extra Muscle for Marriage Equality in Maine

Four firefighters standing in front of a fire truck.

For firefighters in Maine, it is all about teamwork. “If a guy works hard and does his job, I’m not going to judge him,” said Dave Lorandeau, a firefighter in Maine voting YES on Question 1. Recently, Mainers United, has put out a series of web ads showing how straight allies can make a real…

Read More

Reverand Lang Speaks To Washington On Marriage Equality

A man and woman sitting on a couch.

The clock is winding down ’till the vote for marriage equality and Referendum 74 in Washington. Washington United for Marriage recently spoke with Rev. Rich Lang, of the University Temple Methodist Church in Seattle, and his wife Cathy, who shared why they are voting for marriage equality November 6th.  For a couple who has been…

Read More

Catholic Parents Talk To Maryland About Marriage Equality

An older couple sitting on a wooden bench.

Marylanders for Marriage Equality released a new web ad featuring lifelong Catholics Pat and Jenny Nugent. They have been married for forty-eight years and have seven children and eleven grandchildren. “We are both cradle Catholics, have always participated in church been very active in our parishes,” Jenny said. When their son Kevin was a sophomore…

Read More

Week In Review

Minimalist two-bubble conversation symbol

Good Monday morning. Welcome to Believe Out Loud’s Week In Review, a weekly digest of the latest headlines at the intersection of Christianity and LGBT equality. If you were told God is not a Christian, nor a Muslim or a Jew, what would you say? Bishop Shelby Spong, former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of…

Read More

Marriage Equality: A New Heaven, A New Earth

Photograph - rainbow in the clouds fine art print.

Investigative reporting can pull back the curtain on truths that are kept hidden. When Carlos Maza went “under cover” to a NOM (National Organization for Marriage) weekend event for college students, he listened, observed, and took notes on all the anti-gay rhetoric that was paraded out. Toward the end of the event — and the…

Read More

Deportation Guidelines To Officially Define Same-Sex Couples As Families

A woman standing at a podium in front of flags.

Via Huffington Post Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday that she will instruct immigration agents to consider same-sex relationships the same as heterosexual ones in determining whether an individual should be deported, a victory for advocates and members of Congress who worried verbal instructions could be ignored. Although the administration had previously…

Read More

A Lutheran Pastor’s Thoughts On Inclusivity In The Faith Community

Two rings with the word equal on them.

“It’s about relationship,” I say to the people in our small Lutheran congregation.  “Authentic faith is grounded in, springs from, and blossoms into relationship.  Relationship that has a particular shape to it….this shape,” I say, making the sign of the cross.  “Relationship that is first and foremost a deep engagement with others, represented in this…

Read More

LGBT Rights To Take Center Stage At The Supreme Court

Overlapping message icons in soft peach

On Monday the United States Supreme Court returns from its summer break. From their very first day back on the job, the justices will begin considering what is surely the largest number of LGBT equality cases that they have ever faced in a single term. And these aren’t just any cases, either. The cases on…

Read More