Posts Tagged ‘Religious Freedom’
Standing Up Against Discrimination
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear a case about whether religious beliefs give businesses that are open to the public a right to discriminate. The case is about David Mullins and Charlie Craig, who visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2012 to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. The bakery…
Read MoreLesbian Priest Persists Under Mississippi’s New Anti-LGBTQIA Law
BREAKING: Plaintiffs appeal HB 1523 to U.S. Supreme Court The world seems surreal when your own government makes laws against you. You feel like you’ve been sent back in time and space to Nazi Germany. Or like you’re stuck in a Twilight Zone episode or a Daphne du Maurier short story. This can’t be real.…
Read MoreBuilding a Racially Responsible LGBTQIA Christian Movement
Last week Wade Davis offered this invitation to white Americans in response to what happened in Charlottesville: This grand display of domestic terrorism offers America yet another opportunity to confront white supremacy, not just white supremacists. And only self-identified white liberals and progressives are the individuals who should answer the call. Confronting or condemning white…
Read MoreWill Supreme Court Allow Businesses To Refuse LGBTQIA People?
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…
Read MoreMeet The Mississippi Baker Who Refuses To Discriminate
As a baker and small business owner, I meet all kinds of people. I am truly blessed to have a job where I get to wake up each day and make people happy. People come into my bakery looking for sweets to celebrate life’s most special moments. Since 1962, we have been baking up delicious…
Read MoreQ&A: Why This Texas Pastor is Standing Against Anti-LGBTQIA Legislation
For the past five months, as Texas legislators have aggressively pushed anti-LGBTQIA legislation, the faith community in Texas has been adamant about standing against such discriminatory legislation. The strength of faith leaders in the conversation is undeniable. Very often, anti-LGBTQIA legislation is proposed in the name of religion, so it is vital that affirming people of faith raise…
Read MoreRaising A Banner For Title IX: Our Message to the NCAA
Though I had my mom with me on our crew of activists, Soulforce’s action at the women’s Final Four basketball game this weekend was one of the more daunting in my dozen years of direct action organizing. From the moment we entered the arena, police crowded us, grilled us with questions, monitored us from above,…
Read MoreCatholics Do Not Support Religious Refusals
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…
Read MoreHow People Of Faith Helped Move Transgender Equality In Massachusetts
In December, we saw some significant good news out of Massachusetts: the anti-LGBT organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit they filed in October that would have created an unprecedented, extraordinary exemption to Massachusetts’ statewide nondiscrimination law that was updated this past year to include protections for transgender people in public places. The…
Read MoreDebunking The “Gay Lifestyle”
American Idol finalist La’Porsha Renae made comments about the LGBTQ community that gave many pause. When asked about the controversial bill that was passed in her home state of Mississippi, Ranae said that she did not agree with any law that would discriminate against anyone. However, she went on to say that “I am one…
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