Posts by Believe Out Loud
Discovering Bisexuality As A Spiritual Calling
Last year, I ordered the book Blessed Bi Spirit: Bisexual People of Faith because I realized I still had some things to come to terms with in regards to my sexuality and my faith. I wanted to continue writing and speaking about the intersection of queerness and Christianity in my life, but I couldn’t keep…
Read MoreQueering Iconography: Painting Pauli Murray
“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” LGBTQ persons of faith know well the importance of seeing reflections of ourselves in the pulpit, pew, and podium. There is life-changing power in seeing a person who looks and loves like you affirmed, ordained, degreed. Because not all persons of faith are straight, white, cisgender…
Read MoreBreaking The Curse Narrative
Recently, two people–one queer and neurotypical, and one straight and mentally ill–confided similarly troubling worries to me. The first told me his mother had disowned him because he is gay, and, as he said, “to her that meant rejection of, and rejection by, God.” The second said her extended family was no longer talking to…
Read MoreAm I Black Or Butch Today?
“Well—a lot of them would have been safe if they weren’t out all night sinnin’.” It was the morning after the shooting in Orlando and hearing these words on the radio pierced the little bit of joy I had to give for another day of Pride events in the South—particularly on this day in Birmingham,…
Read MoreThe Reformation Project Hosts Atlanta Event To “Elevate The Dialogue”
Too often, conversations about LGBT people in the church descend into bitter debates that divide rather than build up. Consequently, many Christians are wary of engaging the conversation, for fear of being seen as hateful or intolerant if they oppose same-sex relationships, or of having their faith in Jesus and the Bible called into question…
Read MoreWhat Trans Identity Actually Teaches Children About Gender
It feels like there has been a lot of popular attention paid to the ministry of Pope Francis. Right from the moment he was chosen by the papal conclave, if not before, there was just something so unique about him. Though I am not myself a Catholic, I was fascinated. I think a lot of…
Read MoreWhen Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: Microaggressions In Our Churches
“We’re worried that our children’s program won’t grow. Parents won’t bring their child to a church with lesbian pastors and so many gay people,” a deacon stated woefully. “Isn’t she pretty?” he said as he pinched my cheeks and introduced me to a prestigious male academic, “you’d never know she’s smart.” “It’s fine that you’re…
Read MoreHappy Give Out Day!
Today is Give OUT Day! And today: we celebrate YOU! Each time you unapologetically claim your truth as an LGBTQI Christian or ally—you are liberating Christianity from the sins of transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia. Will you help us continue to spread this good news of God’s expansive love for all by donating to Believe Out…
Read MoreExecutive Order 50: The Battle Between Two New York Dioceses Over Gay Rights
New York City is divided up into two dioceses: the Archdiocese of New York covers three city boroughs–Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island–and seven upstate counties, while the Brooklyn Diocese covers the city’s other two boroughs–Brooklyn and Queens. In the early 1980’s these two dioceses were headed by bishops of very different temperaments. Archbishop John…
Read MoreA Call For A Mass For LGBT People At The Vatican
As a Christian gay person, and former candidate for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, I propose that in response to the recent LGBT mass shooting in Orlando, Pope Francis celebrate a Mass for LGBT people in St. Peter’s Basilica and Square in Vatican City. The Pope’s effusive, rhetorical question, “Who am I to…
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