Posts Tagged ‘Activism’
Feeling Heard: Meeting The LGBTQ Community In Cuba
“But when did you feel heard by the majority?” pleaded a Cuban and would-be LGBT activist, unknowingly socking me in the gut with a question for which my talking points would fall short in a room full of eager Cuban citizens, watchful Cuban government officials, and gay American singers visiting Havana. In the humid and unassuming mid-morning…
Read MorePutting Faith Into Action: HIV/AIDS Advocacy
People of faith often feel called upon to be of service. Volunteering for a social issue they feel passionate about is a popular way to put faith in action. As both a volunteer and volunteer manager myself I have learned a key to being of service is to bring skills, but also leave behind a…
Read MorePride Beyond Possibility
Living today in New York City, my hometown of Calhoun, Georgia, often feels far away. But when I go home for the holidays and spend time with my friends and family, I’m easily transported back to my childhood, revisiting the house and the town where I spent my most awkward teenaged years willfully ignoring my…
Read MoreLGBTQ Faith Leaders Travel To Cuba To Meet Faith & Government Leaders
President Obama and Cuban leader, Raul Castro, made history in April of 2015 with a handshake. On April 28, leaders of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) will make history by traveling to Cuba at the invitation of leaders of the Baptist LGBTQ group, Abriendo Brechas de Colores, from the Federación de Iglesias Bastistas de Cuba. Leaders…
Read MoreIt’s Time for Trans Lives to Truly Matter to Us All
Each November LGBT centers, local groups, and churches host events for Transgender Day of Remembrance. It’s a single evening, a few hours, dedicated to memorializing those who were violently murdered for being transgender. Nearly all of the victims of violence are women, of color, poor, and many likely engaged in sex work. In the United…
Read MoreHow One Pastor Broke The Silence About LGBTQ People
As the faith organizer for Equality Pennsylvania, I am honored to work with people of faith across the state of Pennsylvania to end discrimination against LGBTQ people. I meet clergy from across the state who support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. However, many of these faith leaders are afraid to speak up because…
Read MoreWalking In Two Worlds: A Queer Spiritual Journey
I walk in two worlds. As a queer person of faith, my lived experience is a series of negotiations between contexts that affirm either my Queerness or my Faith Walk. It is not unusual for a context that is life-giving to one of these facets of my being to not make much room for the…
Read MoreThe Gay Christian Network Conference: A Glimpse Into The Future Of The Church
Four years ago I didn’t think it was possible to be both Gay and Christian. Those identities were diametrically opposed in my mind. To be gay was to have adopted a false identity rooted in sin and to be Christian was to find one’s identity in Jesus Christ alone. So any attempt to mesh these…
Read MoreSaying “Yes” To Life
Etched in my memory on a daily basis these days are the Black men who have been killed over the last several months by people whose task it was to protect and serve them. As a black, queer trans-identified male, who is also aware of the violence too often inflicted upon queer and Trans bodies…
Read MoreA Prayer For Transgender Day Of Remembrance
Today, let us pray to whatever Universal energy, whatever God, whatever entity we feel resonates most with our intentions. Let us remember to hold space for all the trans people that have unfairly lost their lives due to discrimination, due to violence and due to the indifference of those who remain silent. Universe allows us…
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