The 4th Anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting

Banner reading we will not let hate win

Courtesy: onePulse Foundation Today, June 12th, marks a day that devastated the LGBT community. Four years ago, 49 lives were lost after a man opened fire with an assault rifle at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida – one of Orlando’s biggest nightclubs and a safe haven for the LGBT community. Another 53 people were…

Read More

Only For A Moment

A quilt with a rainbow heart on it.

Only for a moment, was it an unmatched statistic. 

When 49 people were gunned to death in what was for some – the only safe space where they could be themselves; we watched, cried, and prayed in horror. But only for a moment did that stand as the largest mass slaying of Americans targeted by an “active shooter” actively engaged in unleashing a fusillade of bullets into a crowd of people in a confined space. Only for a moment.

Read More

Preguntas y posibilidades: Un año después de Pulse

Rows of miniature pride flags on grass

Read In English ~ Lee en ingles Hace un año atrás, nuestras comunidades fueron estremecidas por la noticia de la masacre de 49 personas en una discoteca gay en Orlando, Florida. Este acto de violencia desacralizó uno de los santuarios más importantes de la comunidad LGBTQ+. Es en la discoteca donde nuestra comunidad se siente segura,…

Read More

Questions & Possibilities: One Year After Pulse

Small rainbow flags planted across a lawn

Lee en español ~ Read In Spanish A year ago, our communities were shaken. The news of the massacre of 49 individuals at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, took most of us by surprise. This horrendous act desecrated one of the most important sanctuaries of the LGBTQ+ community. It is at the club where…

Read More

A Call For A Mass For LGBT People At The Vatican

A statue on top of a building against a blue sky.

As a Christian gay person, and former candidate for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, I propose that in response to the recent LGBT mass shooting in Orlando, Pope Francis celebrate a Mass for LGBT people in St. Peter’s Basilica and Square in Vatican City. The Pope’s effusive, rhetorical question, “Who am I to…

Read More

We’re Not Supposed To Be Here

A statue of a man in front of stained glass windows.

Have you ever felt like you’re not where you’re supposed to be? I’m not talking about misreading directions and getting lost. I’m talking about being in a place, a dynamic, a behavior where your gut tells you, “I’m not supposed to be here.” Recent storms ravaged Houston. Christ United Church of Cypress was flooded; their…

Read More

LGBTQ Groups Call For Unity In The Wake Of Orlando Shooting

Vigil with candles and Pulse support signs

Read this statement in Spanish ~ Read this statement in French ~ Read this statement in Arabic We the undersigned organizations working on the front lines of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movement share in the profound grief for those who were killed and many more who were wounded during Latin Night at the Pulse nightclub…

Read More

When Our Sanctuaries Are Desecrated

People standing close holding small rainbow flags

Lee en español ~ Read In Spanish A few years ago I found myself in Seattle, serving a congregation that very much reflected the reality of the city: white, middle-class, extremely progressive in their thinking, but with a lack of actual real life understanding of the realities of people of color. While there, it became…

Read More

Cuando nuestros santuarios son desacrados

Crowd holding rainbow flags and pinwheels

Read In English ~ Lee en ingles Hace unos años atrás me encontraba en Seattle, sirviendo una congregación que reflejaba mucho la realidad de la ciudad: blanca, clase media, extremadamente progresista en su pensamiento pero con una falta de entendimiento de las realidades de las personas de minoría étnica. Mientras estaba allí era evidente que…

Read More