Posts by Believe Out Loud
A Coming Out Guide for Parents of Queer Kids
“Every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends, if indeed they are your friends.” -Harvey Milk Harvey Milk’s historic call to LGBTQ+ people in the 1970s to come out of the closet was predicated on the…
Read MoreWill Supreme Court Allow Businesses To Refuse LGBTQIA People?
This week, the United States Supreme Court announced it will hear a case about whether a business can refuse to sell commercial goods to a gay couple because of the business owner’s religious beliefs. This ruling could impact all Americans who experience discrimination, not just those who are LGBTQIA. In 2012, David Mullins and…
Read MoreUnitarian Universalist General Assembly Votes To Change UU Bylaws To Include Non-Binary People
On June 24, 2017, delegates to the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in New Orleans overwhelmingly voted to approve language to make Unitarian Universalism’s second source more inclusive of people of all genders. Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes seven principles, drawn from six sources of our faith. The current language of the second source, as…
Read MoreMeet The Mississippi Baker Who Refuses To Discriminate
As a baker and small business owner, I meet all kinds of people. I am truly blessed to have a job where I get to wake up each day and make people happy. People come into my bakery looking for sweets to celebrate life’s most special moments. Since 1962, we have been baking up delicious…
Read MorePainting Privilege: Queer Family Goes Tiny in Hawai’i
Depicted clockwise: Spirit of Maná, Spirit of Aloha, Poli’ahu, Pelé, Hina, NāMaka, Papahānoumoku It started with Pelé, the Hawai’ian Volcano Goddess who governs fire, lightning, volcanoes, and the flow of lava. When my little family set off on a big adventure in June 2015, I knew I’d research and paint her as a Holy Woman Icon.…
Read MoreFor Believers of All Stripes
I was 13 and sitting in the basement of my childhood home in the Amish-laden countryside of Pennsylvania. “Crystal, are you a lesbian?” A Twizzler stuck in my throat. What a pointed thing to ask. In my youth, I didn’t quite grasp the magnitude of the question, especially coming from a gaggle of church-schooled teenage…
Read MoreLost Adrift, Or Deeply Rooted?
The annual conference I attended last week with Reconciling Ministries Network was like other trips to annual conferences in many ways—except for one small feature. It was at the beach, Jekyll Island specifically. By recommendation of a friend, on my last night there, I went over to driftwood beach. This section of the island can…
Read MoreCardinal’s Welcome to LGBT Catholics “Felt Like a Miracle”
LGBT affirming religious voices Last month, Newark, New Jersey’s Cardinal Joseph Tobin welcomed a pilgrimage of LGBT Catholics to the archdiocese’s Cathedral of the Sacred Heart—a gesture that is being hailed as a major step forward in the pastoral care of LGBT people here in the U.S. one participant going so far as calling it…
Read MorePreguntas y posibilidades: Un año después de Pulse
Read In English ~ Lee en ingles Hace un año atrás, nuestras comunidades fueron estremecidas por la noticia de la masacre de 49 personas en una discoteca gay en Orlando, Florida. Este acto de violencia desacralizó uno de los santuarios más importantes de la comunidad LGBTQ+. Es en la discoteca donde nuestra comunidad se siente segura,…
Read MoreQuestions & Possibilities: One Year After Pulse
Lee en español ~ Read In Spanish A year ago, our communities were shaken. The news of the massacre of 49 individuals at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, took most of us by surprise. This horrendous act desecrated one of the most important sanctuaries of the LGBTQ+ community. It is at the club where…
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