What I Learned When I Broke My Arm Without Health Insurance

A man taking a selfie with his arm in a cast.

As a child, I was desperate to have a cast. At some point in elementary school, my classmates started showing up with brightly colored arms and legs, casted to protect their quietly healing broken bones. I didn’t understand this miraculous process.  All I saw was neon colored plaster to be signed, attention lavished on the…

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Will Supreme Court Allow Businesses To Refuse LGBTQIA People?

Two men hugging each other in a church.

This week, the United States Supreme Court announced it will hear a case about whether a business can refuse to sell commercial goods to a gay couple because of the business owner’s religious beliefs. This ruling could impact all Americans who experience discrimination, not just those who are LGBTQIA.   In 2012, David Mullins and…

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I Want Our Christianity Back!

A black and white photo of a hand holding a key.

I want my face back! Those were the first words out of my mouth last week in the dermatologist’s office. Soft. Smooth. Glowing. Clear. To be envied. These are the adjectives people once used to describe my face, not Scaly. Dry. Itchy. Inflamed. Puffy. I want my face back! While I educated the doctor about…

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Loves Makes A Family: IDAHOT 2017

Celebrate the power of love.

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…

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Catholics Do Not Support Religious Refusals

A priest is holding a cup in front of a painting.

A new survey reveals that a majority of Catholics oppose allowing small business owners in their state to refuse products or services to gay and lesbian people, if doing so violates their religious beliefs. The data from PRRI shows that 63% of Hispanic Catholics and 61% of White Catholics oppose refusals based on religious beliefs. When…

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Queering Mary Magdalene

A painting of a woman holding a heart.

Many of the revolutionary women in my Holy Women Icons Project identify as queer in some way. Many are emboldening straight allies. And there are many whose sexuality we know nothing about. When it comes to some of the women in scripture, reading their stories through the lens of queer theory, or “queering” their stories,…

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Claiming My Religious Right

A painting of people gathered around a cross.

In the days of my youth, I knew little of the meanings of terms such as the “religious right” and the “liberal left.” I was taught to believe in a loving God, and I have begun to understand that this is the greatest fortune of my birth. I was raised by parents who believed in…

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Pilgrimage Of Mercy Seeks Equality For LGBTQ Catholics

Four people standing in front of the supreme court building.

Greg Bourke and his husband were plaintiffs in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that brought the freedom to marry to same-sex couples nationwide in June 2015. Now the men, who were named Persons of the Year by the National Catholic Reporter, are leading a “Pilgrimage of Mercy” to celebrate and recognize LGBT Catholics—and calling…

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Believe Out Loud Director James Rowe Says Goodbye

Four people posing for a photo in an office.

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…

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