Posts Tagged ‘Family’
12-Year-Olds Can Speak Up Against Injustice Too!
These days, it’s not every day that a 12-year old brings me to tears. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you that last time I talked to a 12-year old but I’m sure I would have probably chastised the kid for living in a new digital age and not being able to appreciate the wonders…
Read MorePlease Help Us Find Some Lost Sheep
A Pastoral Letter to the PCUSA: For some time, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) has been working to reflect in the life of our church the place of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people (LGBTQ) in God’s heart. This is all good. It is also a process.
Read MoreGrieving through the Holidays: Painting Holy Women Icons of Grief
The holidays can be the toughest time of the year. We expect warm nostalgia, celebrations—both sacred and secular—overflowing with family warmth and bonding. For queer people estranged from their families of origin, this can be doubly difficult. Grief, too, can be one of hardest things to deal with around the holidays. Whether it’s grieving a…
Read MoreTips For Getting Through The Hard Holidays
The holiday season is rough for many people in the LGBTQ community. Extra expectations, financial strains, and social isolation cause depression rates to rise. Many people have tensions with their loved ones over their sexuality and gender expression. When that’s coupled with the extra religious observances that take place in the holiday season, it can…
Read MoreClose The Door, Or Open to All?
I was excited to take my now husband to the city I had considered home for many years. It was going to be his first time in New York City, having lived his whole adult life in the Pacific Northwest. I had lived in New York City for several years before moving to Washington State…
Read MoreBearing the Light of Advent with Holy Women Icons
As much as we want to share gratitude during the season of Thanksgiving, prepare for the hope of Advent, or celebrate Christmas, it’s difficult because the holiday season can be tough for queer folks. Disproportionately estranged from family means we often must create our own family. While these chosen families can be tremendously life-giving, it’s…
Read MoreTerror & Togetherness: The Tensions of Thanksgiving
My mother called me a few weeks ago and asked what I was doing for the holidays. I shared that I would be flying back to New York to spend time with her and the rest of our family for Christmas and would head back to Chicago right before New Year’s Eve. “But what about…
Read MoreComing Out As A Pansexual Christian: Because They First Loved Me
Over the last few years, I’ve been deeply engaged in work and research that centers on cultivating space where people of all faiths, sexualities, and gender identities can seek to both know and be known. I’ve seen so many people experience spiritual, systemic, and interpersonal harm and sincerely believe that fostering inclusive, equitable communities can…
Read MoreWhen Coming Out Costs You Everything
Ten years ago if someone asked me to predict my future, I would have said that I expected to married with kids, and involved in some sort of Christian ministry. Ironically, that isn’t far from the truth, except that the specific confines of that prediction had a drastically different outcome than I (or any of…
Read MoreLesbian Priest Persists Under Mississippi’s New Anti-LGBTQIA Law
BREAKING: Plaintiffs appeal HB 1523 to U.S. Supreme Court The world seems surreal when your own government makes laws against you. You feel like you’ve been sent back in time and space to Nazi Germany. Or like you’re stuck in a Twilight Zone episode or a Daphne du Maurier short story. This can’t be real.…
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