Posts by Believe Out Loud
Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley: LGBT Church Worker Firings “Need to be Rectified”
In a one-to-one conversation following a public speaking engagement, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley said that the firing of church workers because of LGBT issues is a situation that “needs to be rectified,” becoming the first prelate to speak against this trend. Earlier in the evening, the cardinal publicly spoke positively of the need to include and minister to the…
Read MoreSupporting Trans Youth: Building A More Hopeful Future
As fights for marriage equality have had sweeping victories across the United States, many LGBTQ activists ask, “what now?” Some have answered that advocacy for the transgender community is logically the next step in our quest toward equality. As we work to answer this question, transgender advocates like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock are gaining…
Read MoreHelp Us End Discrimination Against LGBTQ People In Ohio
This month, Believe Out Loud will join with people of faith from across the state of Ohio to help end discrimination against LGBTQ people! Register today to join us in Akron, Ohio, from September 26 – September 28 for a leadership training for people of faith working to end discrimination: PRACTICE SPIRIT DO JUSTICE OHIO POWER SUMMIT…
Read MoreMy Faith. My Mississippi.
I am Denise Donnell. I am an ordained elder in the Mississippi Conference in the United Methodist Church. I have been a member of the clergy for the last eight years of my life. I wish I could tell you that I have always been a friend of the LGBT community, but that is not…
Read MoreDignityUSA Shows Another Side Of Catholicism
Whenever the media uses the phrase “Catholic Church” when they reference statements made by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) or by individual church leaders, Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA, stands up to correct them. “The bishops try to discredit DignityUSA by saying we’re not authorized to use the word Catholic,” she says.…
Read MoreSilencing The Metronome: Living My Truth As A Trans Woman
The first words I spoke in the documentary I am making were that I always felt like I was different. In retrospect, those were the wrong words to say. What I should have said was, “Since I was little, I always knew I was a girl who was presenting as a boy.” We never expect…
Read More“I Had No Idea Your Blog Was Gay”
After posting the link to my blog, Progressive Christian Reflections, last week on a number of Facebook pages, I took our dog Hobbes to the park and began to wonder what I would write for my next post. I returned to find an e-mail that simply said, “Unsubscribe me. I had no idea that your…
Read MoreA Catholic Nun Devotes Her Life To LGBT Rights
How could Sister Jeannine Gramick have known that meeting a handsome gay stranger named Dominic at a house party on Spruce Street in West Philadelphia would completely change the course of her life? Dominic strode up to her. He was a baptized gay man who had left the Catholic Church because a priest told him…
Read MoreEncouraging Gay Men In Their Quest For Authenticity
Why retreats for gay men? My start comes from where I began. My partner and I both identify as gay men and are on a quest to live with authenticity in every area of our lives. Society challenges us at every turn and yet our determination to press forward comes from many in the LGBT…
Read MoreChristian Parents Reject Their Gay Son: What Can We Do?
A video making its way through the internet depicts one of the worst coming out experiences one can have. In it, we hear a mother start with “I love you,” and move quickly to kicking her son out of her home, then to attacking and beating him. The video is painful to watch (listen to, actually,…
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