Posts Tagged ‘Marriage Equality’
Good 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 MoreFeeling Heard: Meeting The LGBTQ Community In Cuba
“But when did you feel heard by the majority?” pleaded a Cuban and would-be LGBT activist, unknowingly socking me in the gut with a question for which my talking points would fall short in a room full of eager Cuban citizens, watchful Cuban government officials, and gay American singers visiting Havana. In the humid and unassuming mid-morning…
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 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 MoreReligious Liberty In A Time Of Marriage Equality
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision broadening the understanding of marriage, those who have fought same-gender marriage now express fears that they will be called upon to do things their consciences will not permit and are clamoring for “religious liberty.” It’s ironic that those who denied religious liberty to LGBT people in…
Read MoreMy Married Life Post Marriage Equality
For some time now, my spouse and I have been bickering over where we should live in our retirement years. She, being a child from the South, and me, being from the North, well, we have our tensions. I have jokingly dubbed them our “Mason-Dixon line feud.” We are not stretching our imaginations much when…
Read MoreHow Marriage Equality Is The Answer To Our Prayers
You know the old joke about praying for God’s help? The one where the man in a storm waits atop his roof while flood waters rise, having prayed for God’s help for deliverance? Meanwhile, his neighbor drives off, a boat passes by and even a rescue helicopter hovers overhead. All of which the man refuses…
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