Posts by Believe Out Loud
Faith Journeys: Coming Out, Together
Believe Out Loud sat down to interview an LGBT interfaith couple about how they met and how their religious upbringings influenced their ability to live authentically as LGBT persons of faith. This interview was recorded anonymously to protect the couple’s identity. Created by: Victoria Anderson and Ben Ohene Background Tracks: Archive.org – Encyclopedia Britannica “Pakistan”…
Read MoreOn Walls – A Believe Out Loud Perspective
What is a wall? Often, we hear these days, walls keep people out. Of course, they do much more than that. Walls provide a sense of in and out, of here and there, of us and them. By indicating the end of territory, they define space and enable those within their perimeters to understand themselves…
Read MoreArm Wrestling for Our Lives
Trigger Warning: Discussion of suicide and depression
As our collective consciousness was recently focused on the themes of depression, suicide and suicide prevention, I wish to express what many of us in our community know: LGBTQ+ people are at an increased risk for dying by suicide. Here’s my story of self-destruction, spiritual obedience and renewal.
Read MoreKeep it Simple
I believe God empowers each of us to look at the most complicated problems with Divine simplicity. That is the beauty of the dissent written by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd., et al v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Justice…
Read More12-Year-Olds Can Speak Up Against Injustice Too!
These days, it’s not every day that a 12-year old brings me to tears. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you that last time I talked to a 12-year old but I’m sure I would have probably chastised the kid for living in a new digital age and not being able to appreciate the wonders…
Read MoreNativity Stories
We each have our own “nativity story.” Mine is that it was a difficult birth, a prolonged labor, my mother turned blue, my father told the doctor she needed oxygen, I was born feet first, my legs were crooked and doctors wanted to put braces on them, but my mother resisted, choosing another therapy: massaging…
Read MoreA Little Taste of the Election 2012
Hurricanes, Homosexuals, & Other Culprits of Convenience
Since the intentional misreading of the Sodom and Gomorrah story in Genesis 19 in the Bible where the twin cities were supposedly destroyed because of homosexual depravity, the causes of natural disasters always find ways to be placed on the backs of LGBTQ Americans. We have become an easy, go-to explanation. And, usually by Bible-thumping…
Read MoreBlack and Brown Make Green
Back in 2010, I was teaching part-time for Operation Understanding, a leadership development program for Black and Jewish high school students in Philadelphia. We did lots of things together. But, the most intense part of that experience was during the summer. We spent the month of July traveling around the country on a bus. We…
Read MoreReconciling United Methodists of Texas Conference Offers Support for Bishop Karen Oliveto
Reconciling United Methodists of Texas Conference unreservedly supports Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Area. We pray her episcopacy will be long and fruitful—resulting in many disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We give thanks for vocal disciples in the Western Jurisdiction nominating, electing, consecrating, and assigning Bishop Oliveto. We…
Read More