Posts by Believe Out Loud
Sung Park Steps Down As Believe Out Loud Director
Sung’s top programmatic priority has been directing the Believe Out Loud campaign. He has invested thousands of hours these past three and a half years in the cause of justice and inclusion for the LGBT community. He will be missed, both here at Intersections and among our Believe Out Loud constituents. The good news is…
Read MoreInterview: The Trail Of Reverend Amy Delong
“Leave the church? To Who?” That’s what the Rev. Amy DeLong said when I asked her if she ever considered leaving the church. Her words were emphatic. “Leave the church? To who?” I knew then that Rev. Amy DeLong had an unparalleled amount of resilience…resilience that was in full display earlier this year when she…
Read MoreComing Out Christian
Coming out as Christian means coming out for love. Last Sunday, July 24, I went to the Manhattan Marriage Bureau on the first day same-sex couples could marry legally in New York State, dressed in my purple clergy robe. I went to congratulate couples and offer a religious wedding to any who might want it.…
Read MoreOut Of The Lion’s Den: Thoughts From A Believe Out Loud Intern
As a gay Southern Baptist, I have not felt particularly motivated to attend church in the past few years. Homophobia, hypocrisy, and attacks are common in the black Baptist church. Every time you go to church, you never know when a preacher is going to launch in an anti-gay tirade. You are not encouraged to…
Read MoreAcross The Aisle: Marriage Equality And Its Role In Changing The Church
I have never understood the wedding practice of seating people according to their relationship to one of the betrothed. Maybe this tradition made sense when marriage was purely an economic act: two families, each seated behind their son or daughter, were also entering into a contract. When the intended recited their vows, each side of…
Read MoreCoalition Of Welcoming Christians Hold Historic Meeting With Southern Baptist Convention
A coalition of religious and secular organizations advocating to end the harm caused to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth by religion-based bigotry met Wednesday in a historic meeting with the president of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, Ariz. It was the first time any LGBT advocacy organization, much less five different groups, has…
Read MoreDoes Your Church Walk The Talk?
As we enter the month of June, where do your thoughts turn? Graduation parties? Father’s Day? The promise of long summer days and warm summer nights? What about blocked off streets festooned with rainbow flags? Does June mean PRIDE to you? There are literally hundreds of PRIDE parades held every year…in both expected big city…
Read MoreConversations Will Move Christians Towards LGBT Welcome
Two weeks into our campaign to join A Million People for LGBT-Inclusive Christianity, Believe Out Loud has reached its first milestone, topping 10,000 online members. Perhaps even more significantly, we have sparked conversations in new places about the role of LGBT equality in the wider “progressive Christian” movement. Aided in part by Sojourners’ decision not…
Read MoreSojourners Ad Rejection Triggers Controversy
In the wake of Sojourners’ decision to not accept LGBT-affirming ads from Believe Out Loud, there have been some 75 news reports and blogs written about the controversy. While the articles themselves are compelling, the comments posted by readers are equally informative. Read selections below: “I am a Christian who happens to be gay. The central…
Read More24 Hours To Stop Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill
Tomorrow, Uganda’s Parliament is scheduled to take up its “Anti Homosexuality Bill”, a proposed law that is appalling in its inhumanity. The law would execute gays who are considered “serial offenders” and impose life sentences on individuals who engage in a single homosexual act. Anti-gay Christians, many of them from America, have been at the…
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