Posts Tagged ‘LGBT people of faith’
Transgender Woman’s Ministry Continued Long After She Left Priesthood
If you have not heard of Nancy Ledins, who passed away in July at age 84, her story is very much worth reading if you are concerned with Catholic LGBT issues. Prior to her transition, Ledins was an ordained Roman Catholic priest for ten years. A member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, she…
Read MoreAffirming LGBTQ People In The Black Church
Much of the pain and suffering LGBTQ African Americans experience in theologically conservative churches happens in silence and secret. Some LGBTQ congregants do not even recognize the source of their pain, because sexuality, let alone non-heterosexuality, is not discussed or taught in many African American churches. Black LGBTQ people are often unaware that some of…
Read MoreSexual Wholeness As Justice Work
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 Pursuing sexual wholeness is a radical act of justice. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the church has…
Read MoreI Choose You, Part I
I woke up that day certain I was wrong about the date. Could it be? How was it here already? It was still early, long before sunrise, and everyone else was fast asleep. I crept out to my living room to see my best friends sleeping soundly in various configurations, long legs draped over blankets…
Read MoreGrowing Up As An Asexual Christian
I grew up in a Methodist Church in a small town in North Carolina. When I reached my pre-teen years, I moved from the children’s programming to Methodist Youth Fellowship, or MYF. Most of the time, I felt comfortable with the lessons they were teaching. Except for the talks about sex and sexual purity. The…
Read MoreQueer, Trans, & Deacon: A Reflection on Being Commissioned
In her book The United Methodist Deacon, Rev. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain explains, “Because deacons are also ordained but usually do not do what elders do, we are challenged to think about ordination as identity rather than function.” This understanding of ordination as identity deeply characterizes much of where my awe, overflowing joy, and gratitude come…
Read MoreLost Adrift, Or Deeply Rooted?
The annual conference I attended last week with Reconciling Ministries Network was like other trips to annual conferences in many ways—except for one small feature. It was at the beach, Jekyll Island specifically. By recommendation of a friend, on my last night there, I went over to driftwood beach. This section of the island can…
Read MoreUnited Methodist Church commissions first non-binary trans person as a Deacon
Chicago – The first openly non-binary trans person was commissioned as a deacon in The United Methodist Church (The UMC) on Sunday, June 4th in the Northern Illinois Annual Conference. Rev. M Barclay, who uses singular they pronouns, is appointed by Bishop Sally Dyck to serve as a deacon at Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN). RMN…
Read MoreLoves Makes A Family: IDAHOT 2017
May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT). It is a worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities. IDAHOT was founded in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and media to the violence and discrimination experienced by LGBTI people around the world. This year IDAHOT…
Read MorePower For & By LGBTQ People Of Faith
When I was a kid my grandmother would rock back and forth on her green metallic rocking chair singing old Spirituals like, “We shall overcome, someday.” I still remember her tears. My grandmother, big and yellow, a proud Christian, guarded our South Dallas porch singing songs like, “I’m a solider in the Army of the…
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