Posts Tagged ‘LGBT equality and inclusion’
President Obama Proclaims LGBT Pride Month
President Barack Obama has issued a proclamation declaring June 2014 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. In this proclamation, President Obama traces the origins of the LGBT movement and names the injustices we still face today, urging Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to protect LGBT workers from discrimination based on their…
Read MoreLove Without Condition
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“Room for Me?” Spotlights LGBTQ Christians In The Reformed Church In America
I see God alive as the church continues to widen our embrace for all people, especially for LGBTQ people of God. God is moving, I have no doubt of this. In the denomination in which I’m ordained, the Reformed Church in America (RCA), I see more churches choosing to follow the way of Jesus and…
Read MoreCrossing The State Border: From Married To Single In An Instant
I want to begin my musing with a little history. In June 1958, two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a Black woman, and Richard Loving, a White man, were married in the District of Columbia pursuant to its laws. Shortly after their marriage, the Lovings returned to Virginia and established their marital abode in Caroline…
Read MoreWhen Our Daughter Came Out
Four years ago our daughter came out to us as bi. She was 20. My first thoughts were that we’d never be the same in the church. No kidding. My daughter is telling me something very intimate and scary, several thoughts are going through my head, and I am a little surprised to realize that…
Read MoreIs Religious Freedom For Everyone?
Tony Perkins (above), president of the Family Research Council and frequently-booked anti-LGBT extremist pundit, recently announced that unless you are an orthodox Christian, then you are not entitled to religious freedom. Furthermore, he claims that you can only be considered an orthodox Christian if you do not believe in LGBT equality. So, in short, religious freedom…
Read More“Jesus Preaches In The Temple”
It took Douglas Blanchard’s painting “Jesus Preaches in the Temple” and Kittredge Cherry’s reflections on his series of 24 paintings of Jesus’ life, The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision, to remind me that scripture says several times that Jesus taught in the temple in the midst of the Passion narrative. Of course, most of us remember that when Jesus…
Read MoreFinding God In Transition
From my teens to my early twenties, I was a good Catholic boy. I went to mass several times a week, which included playing guitar with two different church choirs. In college, I even went to Protestant Bible studies to hear the Word of God. When I was 18, I began to explore becoming a…
Read MoreMy Roots: Reflections On Metropolitan Community Church’s PAD Conference
Whenever I think about my experiences over the years at the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) Conference for People of African Descent, Our Allies and Friends (PAD), I can’t help but think of the Tree of Life. Perhaps you’ve encountered this tree (pictured above) before and just didn’t know it. Remember Rafiki, the old and wise mandrill from The Lion King,…
Read MoreThe Freedom To Say “I Do”
I was delighted when I heard the news that the United Church of Christ (UCC) had brought a landmark lawsuit against the State of North Carolina to hopefully overturn Amendment One. According to multiple media sources, the UCC filed a lawsuit to challenge state marriage laws that restrict a pastor’s freedom to exercise their religious…
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