Posts Tagged ‘Religious trauma’
An Entire Universe of Life: A conversation with Julie Wood
“Mom, isn’t it amazing that in every “body” is an entire universe of life?” – Ben Wood in “Changing the Message”* Believe Out Loud sat down with LGBT activist and author Julie Wood to discuss how the loss of her son, Ben, to suicide in 2013 led her to dedicate her life to LGBT advocacy…
Read MoreJohn Paulk Renounces Ex-Gay Therapy; Evangelicals Respond
This week, former ex-gay spokesperson John Paulk issued a public apology for his involvment in ex-gay ministries, stating that reparative therapy does not change sexual orientation and apologizing for the pain caused by his advocacy. Below is a response from the Evangelical Network regarding Paulk’s change of heart. To admit that you have made a…
Read More“I’m Sorry”: God Adores You
Someone on twitter recently asked me how I defined courage. I sat in my room turning the question over and over in my mind, but then I responded with “Courage is being able to step onto the stormy waters, despite your fear, when Jesus calls.” I felt Jesus calling this past week and I was…
Read MorePersonal Transformations: Learning to Embrace “The Gay”
Nearly all of our best and most important transformations are prompted by personal connections, when what was once theoretical becomes achingly personal and powerful enough to blast through our preconceived, long-held beliefs. It’s why, with fewer and fewer gay people staying in the closet, more and more of us are being transformed by those personal connections,…
Read MoreMe And My God
My journey to self-acceptance as a brown queer God-loving woman has been a long one, with many hurdles and wrong turns. I was raised as a non-denominational Christian. My connection to my church and my God were strong. By the time I was a preteen, I was going to church at least two days a…
Read MoreTips For Getting Through The Hard Holidays
The holiday season is rough for many people in the LGBTQ community. Extra expectations, financial strains, and social isolation cause depression rates to rise. Many people have tensions with their loved ones over their sexuality and gender expression. When that’s coupled with the extra religious observances that take place in the holiday season, it can…
Read MoreTerror & Togetherness: The Tensions of Thanksgiving
My mother called me a few weeks ago and asked what I was doing for the holidays. I shared that I would be flying back to New York to spend time with her and the rest of our family for Christmas and would head back to Chicago right before New Year’s Eve. “But what about…
Read MoreChristian Underhistory: Facing The Horrors of Christianity Past
Let me tell you about my new podcast Christian Underhistory. It’s a Christian True Crime podcast. Each week I have a different guest, usually a preacher or a theologian or a seminarian, and I tell them a true horror story from Christian history. We usually engage in gallows humor, joke so we can get through it,…
Read MoreHarmful Theology Will Not Define Us
Times are rough. Every five seconds, the news tells us something terrible that Trump and his administration has done. White Supremacists have a renewed, public boldness. Social media feeds are landmines of triggering comments about race, gender, sexuality, and many other issues that make up one’s humanity. On top of all of that, this thing…
Read MoreWhen Coming Out Costs You Everything
Ten years ago if someone asked me to predict my future, I would have said that I expected to married with kids, and involved in some sort of Christian ministry. Ironically, that isn’t far from the truth, except that the specific confines of that prediction had a drastically different outcome than I (or any of…
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