Posts Tagged ‘LGBT people of faith’
Making Trans People The Enemy Was Another Vatican Mistake
The Vatican recently announced that it is “impossible to allow” transgender people to be godparents. In the warped logic of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, identifying as transgender “reveals in a public way an attitude opposite to the moral imperative of solving the problem of sexual identity according to the truth of one’s own…
Read MoreBringing The Margins To The Center In Our Churches
I have a friend named Felipe who frequently attends worship celebrations at our church. Felipe was raised in the Valley—Brownsville, Texas—in a firmly Christian home. His father was Pastor of a Latino congregation with a vibrant outreach ministry to local youth whose poverty, a circumstantial product of their race and of living in a border…
Read MoreGood News For Two Catholic Educators In LGBT Employment Disputes
The trend of church workers losing their jobs in LGBT-related employment disputes is not slowing, but thankfully community responses and legal improvements are pushing back. Below, I offer updates on two previous incidents, including the implementation of a German bishops’ employment policy more welcoming of LGBT church workers. A German educator fired for her plans to marry a…
Read MoreGLAAD Releases Guide For Journalists Reporting On Pope Francis & LGBT People
In preparation for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the United States, GLAAD, the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, today released “The Papal Visit: a resource guide for journalists covering Pope Francis and the LGBT community.” The playbook was released after GLAAD, DignityUSA and 28 other groups published a letter asking…
Read MoreNow Is The Time To Reflect On “What Makes A Family?”
With marriage equality now legal across the United States, but yet with so many debates and controversies, particularly Catholic ones, still raging about the issue, it might be good to step back a second and reflect on the question “What makes a family?” New Ways Ministry’s Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder, did exactly just that recently…
Read MoreGod Thinks You Are Absolutely Fabulous
A little over a year ago, I took part in my first NYC Pride March, having just moved to the city in August 2013. My initial intent was to simply cheer on friends from the sidelines, as I was already exhausted from a weekend packed of Pride activities. But when my close friend, Amanda Hambrick…
Read MoreMeet Brandiilyne Dear: The Pastor & LGBT Advocate Sparking Change In Mississippi
Brandiilyne Dear, a pastor at the inclusive and welcoming Joshua Generation Metropolitan Community Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is an LGBT advocate working to accelerate acceptance in her home state of Mississippi and beyond. Brandiilyne also founded The Dandelion Project, a LGBT organization and resource, and she serves as vice-president of The Spectrum Center, a resource for the LGBT community in…
Read MoreThe Fellowship Of Affirming Ministries 2015 Convocation Celebrates Inclusion & Diversity In The Christian Church
The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) will host its 2015 Convocation from July 13 to July 19, 2015, in Oakland, California. The annual conference brings together over 1000 religious leaders and laity from across the country who support TFAM’s mission of “radical inclusion” in the Christian faith. TFAM seeks to celebrate and proclaim the radical…
Read MoreOpen Letter To Deniers Of Transgender Existence
So you believe that biological sex and gender identity are always inextricably linked. This, in spite of the fact that science is absolutely clear that they are not. This, in spite of the fact that the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association are absolutely clear that they are not.…
Read MoreMy Journey From An Ex-Gay Ministry To An Affirming Congregation
Growing up in rural southeastern Ohio, I always knew that I was gay, but I resented that part of myself. I wanted to be “normal,” to be like everyone else. In 1996, at the age of twenty, when I encountered a church that assured me that God could set me free from my same-sex attractions,…
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