Religion

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Non-binary Teen Celebrates ‘B’nei Mitzvah’

A synagogue has held the first known gender-neutral “B’nei Mitzvah” in the UK for a non-binary teenager. The Jewish coming of age ritual is typically gendered, with males attending a Bar Mitzvah and females attending a Bat Mitzvah. When Esther Thorpe, 14, came out as non-binary last year, their mother, Miriam, worried about how the important ceremony would be held. Miriam Taylor Thorpe explained that despite the traditional routes of the ceremony, she felt strongly that her child should have something that felt right to them.  Miriam said: “I was quite concerned because if something is important in your coming […]

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Church Faces Protests Over ‘Gay Cure’ Sessions for 12-year-Olds

Pastor Jeremy Schossau A Church in Michigan faced angry protesters after launching a gay ‘cure’ programme for teenagers. The Metro City Church in Riverview, Michigan recently launched a six-week course for girls between 12 and 16 called the “Unashamed Identity Workshop”. The course targeted girls who “think they might be gay, bisexual or transgender”. The advertisement for the workshop has since been removed from the church website, although it says it is going ahead. After the church declined to cancel the event, hundreds of people turned out to protest on Thursday night – and send a message to the teens that they are fine […]

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New Mormon Leader Claims the Church Loves Gay People

The new leader of the Mormon Church has insisted the religion is supportive of LGBT rights. Russell M. Nelson, 93, was appointed head of the 16-million member church after the previous president, Thomas S. Monson died age 90.  Speaking for the first time as its president – a position which makes him a “prophet, seer and revelatory” – he said God loves people regardless of sexuality. The Church of the Latter Day Saints is opposed to gay relationships and refuses to allow women to be priests. Asked about LGBT rights, he said there were “challenges with the commandments of God, […]

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Catholic Bishops Tell Parents to Reject Their Transgender Kids

Catholic Bishops in the US are behind a new campaign encouraging parents to reject their transgender children. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a letter this week that brands transgender people “deeply troubling” and claims that changing gender is a “false idea”. There is nothing in the Bible about transgender people or changing gender, but the Bishops have called for parents to refuse to allow kids to transition. Studies have shown that an unaccepting or stifling environment drastically increases the likelihood that transgender youths will attempt suicide. The letter says: “Children especially are harmed when they are told […]

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Why This Mormon Mom Opened An LGBTQ House A Block Away From A Church Temple

Encircle Steph Larsen, founder of Encircle, a nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth.   Stephenie Larsen is a busy mother of six. When she isn’t wheeling across town, dropping her kids off at school or sports, she runs a support network for gay youth. Larsen opened the nonprofit Encircle LGBTQ Family and Youth Resource Center in downtown Provo, Utah, in February. The center aims to be a safe, open environment for LGBTQ people in this deeply religious community, and offers individual therapy and group counseling services, as well as a variety of daily activities. Utah is the home of the Church of […]

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School Policy Says It Can Kick Out Students With Gay Parents

Trinity Academy, a private Christian high school in Wichita, Kansas, came under fire this week for its policy allowing the school to reserve the right to deny admission or expel students who have an LGBT family member or live in a household that promotes LGBT equality. The school’s Statement of Understanding and Agreement for Parent and Student, initially made public on the blog Friendly Atheist, lays out some of the school’s foundational principles: the Bible is inerrant, families must be active members of a local church, students will refrain from alcohol, drugs, or premarital sex. It’s the final clause, however, […]

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Pope Francis: It’s aggressive narcissism to teach kids about safe sex and protection

  Pope Francis has claimed that teaching kids about safe sex “promotes narcissism” – and that transgender teens should be taught to “accept their own body as it was created”. The Pope last week released a long-awaited report on ‘the family’ which affirms existing church teachings opposing gay equality and same-sex marriage.  Elsewhere in the document, he rallies against sex education focussing on safe sex and teaching about condoms. He wrote: “Frequently, sex education deals primarily with ‘protection’ through the practice of ‘safe sex’ “Such expressions convey a negative attitude towards the natural procreative finality of sexuality, as if an eventual child were an […]

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Gay Imam Helps Young Muslims Balance Religion, Sexuality

Growing up in Algeria, Shaira had almost everything a young man could wish for. But he also had a big secret. In a land where homosexuality is still a crime and a sin, he was forced to live a secret life, hiding that he was gay from everyone — even his closest family. The 26-year-old Shaira, who asked that his last name not be used to protect himself from attacks, went to study in France four years ago and has never gone back to Algeria. His family still has no idea of his sexuality. Now a gay imam from Algeria […]

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Cruz, Jindal, & Huckabee To Speak At Event Organized By “Death To Gays” Pastor

  Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, and Mike Huckabee are all scheduled to speak at an Iowa event organized by Pastor Kevin Swanson, who regularly calls for a return to the “biblical punishment” for homosexuality. Right Wing Watch points us to the press release: Over 1,600 Christians around the country are gathering for a National Religious Liberties Conference, Freedom 2015, November 6th-7th at the Iowa Events Center. The conference speakers and attendees will celebrate the freedoms God has bestowed on our country, encourage those who have been persecuted or those who may experience persecution in the future and develop strategies for […]

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Jewish National Fund Award To Anti-Gay Pastor, Charles Stanley, Angers Some Jews

Decrying Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley’s “sordid history of virulent homophobic statements and actions,” a gay Jewish group is protesting the Jewish National Fund for plans to bestow a high honor on Stanley, senior pastor of First Baptist Atlanta and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Stanley, who rose to national prominence in the 1980s with his “In Touch” television series and books that sold millions of copies, “has publicly called AIDS God’s punishment for America’s acceptance of homosexuality and called homosexuality ‘destructive behavior,’” reads a letter to JNF Southeast region leaders from the Southern Jewish Resource Network for […]

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