Posts Tagged ‘LGBT rights and religion’
Because Houston Deserves Better
Houston, you are an amazing place. You are the home of a thriving arts scene, a mecca of art museums and opera. You are one of the most famous cities in the wonderful, enormous state known as Texas. Not to mention, you are the home of NASA and the Johnson Space Center, where mankind’s triumphs…
Read MoreWhy I Hold My Partner’s Hand
Put simply, I love and am in love. When one’s heart is full. When one’s day is preoccupied with another. When I am in touch with the truth that I can’t live without him; and, I go through my day missing him, I can’t help but hold my partner’s hand. It is an empowering truth…
Read MoreLaunch Of The LGBT Institute At The National Center For Civil & Human Rights
On the evening of September 2nd, over 250 people poured into The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta for the premiere of a new exhibit. The LGBT Institute at the Center was launched during the premiere of this exhibit, “Forward Together: A Look at Atlanta’s LGBT History Since Stonewall.” The mission of The National Center…
Read MoreLGBT History Made At The United Nations Security Council
Two gay men who escaped Syria and Iraq with their lives shared their experiences of discrimination and violence against LGBT people at a historic session of the UN Security Council in New York City on August 24. Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee living in the United States, addressed the council in person. Out of concern…
Read MoreThe Equality Act Is A Visionary Piece Of Legislation—And Way Overdue
Something extraordinary happened last Thursday to advance fairness and equality in the United States. Members of Congress introduced legislation to amend the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 to embrace a more robust vision of equality. The bill—aptly named the Equality Act—would amend existing law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender…
Read MoreMaybe Same Sex Marriage IS God’s Will
We are not the same America. We are not the same America that we were 20 or even 10 years ago. For decades, civil liberties framed the discourse about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) justice. Now marriage, a union that is sacred for so many, is at the forefront of our national consciousness in…
Read MoreCatholic School Fires Lesbian Who Is “Perfect Example Of Living A Religious Life”
A Catholic elementary school educator in the Philadelphia area has been fired because she legally married another woman in 2007. This first-known firing case since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized marriage equality across the nation has an unusual religious exemption twist to it. Philly.com reported that Nell Stetser, the principal of Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion, a Philadelphia suburb,…
Read MoreDignityUSA Advocates for “Sacramental Equality” After Civil Marriage Is Achieved
Members of the leading LGBT Catholic organzation, meeting in Seattle for the organization’s national convention, have voted to begin advocating for equal access to all of the sacraments of the Catholic Church for LGBT people and their families. A unanimously-passed resolution states that “DignityUSA and its members call on the leaders and members of our…
Read MoreWorldwide LGBT Catholics & Parents Respond To Synod 2015 Working Document
A number of organisations and advocates who focus on pastoral care and social justice for LGBT people and their families, working to form a Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC), is disappointed by the 14th Ordinary Synod of Bishops’ Working Document (Instrumentum Laboris) on “The Vocation & Mission of the Family in the Church and…
Read MoreSouthern Baptist Convention Should Offer Third Way To Affirming Churches
It’s been almost a year since my church was dismissed from the Southern Baptist Convention. During the dismissal process, I had brought up concerns regarding the inconsistency of our denomination’s application of scripture. What has been hard for me to hear at this year’s SBC Convention is how they continue to state that Christians must stand firm on…
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