Believe Out Loud Welcomes New Program Associate

Believe Out Loud is delighted to announce the hiring of Timothy DuWhite, Jr. as our new program associate. In this role, DuWhite will manage online engagement across Believe Out Loud’s social networks and provide support across program areas. DuWhite is the former program coordinator and office manager for Urban Word NYC, New York’s premier non-profit organization…

Read More

Apply Now: 2015 Trans Leadership Exchange

A group of people posing for a photo in front of a painting.

In 2015, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will launch a 6 month leadership development program for 20 Transgender and Genderqueer leaders from across the United States. This group of leaders will participate in a learning community that will offer peer coaching, skill building, opportunities for self-reflection, story sharing, and action! Applications are due…

Read More

Supporting Trans Youth: Building A More Hopeful Future

The inside of a church with wooden pews and a chandelier.

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 More

The General Assembly Is Not God

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will soon make headlines, one way or another. The decisions we make at our 221st General Assembly will be reported across national media outlets through words loosely connected to what we actually experience together as a denominational family. (Prayers for you, reporters!) Amongst other decisions, we will vote to clarify the definition…

Read More

Love Without Condition

An american flag painted on the side of a brick wall.

I want to invite you to take a walk down imagination alley with me for a minute. You’re trying on shirts for a friend’s party when one, in particular, catches your eye. You pick it up, read the tag, and immediately throw it back into the pile. The moment you realize it is made of…

Read More

Trans-forming Love: New Ways Ministry To Advance Transgender Education And Justice

A crowd of people sitting in chairs and listening to a speaker.

As marriage equality and, broadly speaking, lesbian/gay equality become widespread, LGBT advocacy has begun focusing more on the “T” of the common acronym. New Ways Ministry and other Catholic institutions have begun to help church members better understand this community. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 84% of Catholics agree that lesbian/gay legal protections…

Read More

Living The Resurrection: My Church’s First LGBT Program

A church with a steeple under a cloudy sky.

It was Saturday afternoon at 3:38 pm: the doors to the auditorium had been open for 18 minutes, and we already had a filled room. We talked about streaming in one overflow room, but we ended up with three rooms. This was the first program Andrews University, the flagship institution of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA)…

Read More

Christian Faith Leaders Honored Among Trans 100

A group of people are smiling in front of a camera.

Last week, the second-annual Trans 100 was released, honoring Trans individuals from across the United States who are currently alive and active in the work of making the lives of Trans people better. Alongside Jen Richards, Minister Asher Kolieboi, co-founder of Legalize Trans* and current Chaplain Intern at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department, served as the Co-Director of the 2014 Trans…

Read More

Catholic School Contracts Are Unfair To LGBT Community

A group of people holding signs that say catholics and straight for equality.

About a century ago, Catholic job-seekers were routinely confronted with signs reading, “No Catholics need apply.” Now, it seems administrators in some Catholic schools are prepared to post signs that say, “No gay people need apply.” LGBT people have worked for the Catholic Church probably for as long as the church has been around. For…

Read More