Posts Tagged ‘LGBT people of faith’
Believe Out Loud Director James Rowe Says Goodbye
I started working at Believe Out Loud almost five years ago. Before that time, I had no idea that there were places to turn to talk about the intersection of being LGBTQ and Christian, other than to talk about it from the harmful narrative that had been forced upon most of us for far too…
Read MoreA Multi-Faith Theology On Moving Beyond Intimate Partner Violence
As a Black transman, I get a lot of messages about who I am supposed to be, what I am supposed to look like and what my life should manifest as. Sometimes I fit those ideas, but largely I don’t. When I found myself in a violent relationship with another trans person of color, I…
Read MoreDiscovering Bisexuality As A Spiritual Calling
Last year, I ordered the book Blessed Bi Spirit: Bisexual People of Faith because I realized I still had some things to come to terms with in regards to my sexuality and my faith. I wanted to continue writing and speaking about the intersection of queerness and Christianity in my life, but I couldn’t keep…
Read MoreQueering Iconography: Painting Pauli Murray
“If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” LGBTQ persons of faith know well the importance of seeing reflections of ourselves in the pulpit, pew, and podium. There is life-changing power in seeing a person who looks and loves like you affirmed, ordained, degreed. Because not all persons of faith are straight, white, cisgender…
Read MoreRev. Dr. Karen Oliveto Becomes United Methodist Church’s First Openly Lesbian Bishop
Reconciling Ministries Network celebrates with great joy the election of the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church (The UMC). This is an historic moment in the movement of LGBTQ persons for spiritual and civil equality both in the church and the public square. The election of Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto of Glide…
Read MoreI’m A Lesbian Christian Unlearning Shame
I’m writing here about what I always, somehow, write about: the unlearning of shame. This is the topic on which I’m most focused. It’s my focus, for in the process of unlearning shame, we simultaneously remember our worth, which connects us to Love. And Love—the inherent sense that we’re both loved and emanations of Love—is…
Read MoreA Queer Muslim Response To Orlando
A non-religious man with an Arabic name walks into a bar and slaughters 50 people. Under a system of white supremacy, all Muslims are implicated. As queer Muslims, we are demanded to be experts on the internal workings of a man whom we have never met, and on what it means for queerness, when all…
Read MoreI First Saw The Rainbow Flag In A Church
I first saw the rainbow flag of LGBTQ Pride in a church. It was 1985, back when same-sex marriage was so taboo that pollsters didn’t even ask about it. I had just come out of the closet as a lesbian and moved to San Francisco with my life partner. On our first Sunday in town,…
Read MoreI Am A Beloved Daughter Of God
In college I started a blog. The website was orange text on different-orange background that hurt the eyes to read. The top was emblazoned the title “HYPOCRITE,” and below the title was a quote from the book of Matthew. It was the scene of Judas betraying Jesus, but I’d cut the context and just left…
Read MoreA Letter To Mi Querida Iglesia
Para mi querida Iglesia, For a long time I have struggled with my relationship with you—at times proud of my Catholic faith, at times ashamed and hurt by my Catholic faith, at times a combination of all of this and much more. My journey of faith has been incredible and filled with experiences that I…
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