Posts Tagged ‘Rule of Law’
Guns Will Not Save Us
I was 14 years old the first time I held a gun. My parents had recently divulged that they owned not one, but two, 9 mm semi-automatic handguns. The thought of guns in my house was scary, even if they were kept in small lock boxes, stashed far in the back of my parent’s closet.…
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 MoreThe Role of Churches in Ending Anti-Sodomy Laws
We once again celebrated Pride month and many LGBTQI people and their allies in the global north revelled in the hard-won advances for the recognition of human rights for our communities. But 73 countries across the world still criminalize private same-gender intimacy between consenting adults, with 11 imposing the death penalty. These so-called anti-sodomy laws…
Read MoreWhat I Learned When I Broke My Arm Without Health Insurance
As a child, I was desperate to have a cast. At some point in elementary school, my classmates started showing up with brightly colored arms and legs, casted to protect their quietly healing broken bones. I didn’t understand this miraculous process. All I saw was neon colored plaster to be signed, attention lavished on the…
Read MoreDignityUSA Moves Toward Radical Inclusion
The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world. The fight for the dignity and inclusion of its LGBTQI parishioners is a fight for the church’s soul and moral integrity. DignityUSA since its inception has asserted that God loves the LGBTQI community equally. This year DignityUSA held its 23rd biennial national conference in…
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 MoreUnitarian Universalist General Assembly Votes To Change UU Bylaws To Include Non-Binary People
On June 24, 2017, delegates to the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly in New Orleans overwhelmingly voted to approve language to make Unitarian Universalism’s second source more inclusive of people of all genders. Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes seven principles, drawn from six sources of our faith. The current language of the second source, as…
Read MorePainting Privilege: Queer Family Goes Tiny in Hawai’i
Depicted clockwise: Spirit of Maná, Spirit of Aloha, Poli’ahu, Pelé, Hina, NāMaka, Papahānoumoku It started with Pelé, the Hawai’ian Volcano Goddess who governs fire, lightning, volcanoes, and the flow of lava. When my little family set off on a big adventure in June 2015, I knew I’d research and paint her as a Holy Woman Icon.…
Read MoreTrump Administration Proposes Eliminating LGBT Elders from Key Federal Survey
New York, NY—Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE) announced today that it is launching a nationwide effort to oppose the Trump Administration’s proposed erasure of LGBT elders from the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NSOAAP). Specifically, SAGE opposes changes that would eliminate questions that allow the federal government to assess the extent…
Read MoreIt’s Up to Us (Always Has Been)
One of the most frustrating and emotionally and spiritually damaging aspects of Transgender justice work is the persistent confrontation with silence. There is always a moment when individuals, organizations of all kinds, family members or friends, communities of faith, and government entities have an opportunity to offer care, kindness and compassion into our lives as…
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