Spirituality

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Bishop Yvette A. Flunder on LGBTQ Inclusion in the Black Church: ‘We Have to Have the Courage to Create Something of Our Own’

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At the bottom of the first page of the program for Spelman College’s Baccalaureate Service held on May 18, 2024, at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park, a southwest suburb of Atlanta, is the last sentence in baccalaureate speaker Bishop Yvette A. Flunder’s bio, and perhaps for some the most jarring. It reads: “Bishop Flunder is a proud mother and grandmother and recently celebrated 40 years of commitment and marriage to her partner in ministry and life—Ms. Shirley A. Miller, a renowned Gospel music artist.” It is not unusual for queer people to exist in conservative Black religious spaces, whether parishioners or clergy. However, it […]

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A transgender teen wanted to update his school records. Oklahoma created a rule to stop him.

Sitting on his living room couch, a 16-year-old high school student described all the reasons he’s fighting to change his gender identity on official documents. He doesn’t want his classmates to know he’s trans. He worries about the disrespectful comments he hears from people who don’t realize he transitioned years ago, the ugly rhetoric on social media that prompts him to put down his phone, and the alarming data and stories about harassment and violence.  But mostly, J. Doe — as the teen is referred to in a lawsuit his family filed last month against the Oklahoma State Board of Education — just wants to be […]

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Many LGBTQ+ People Are Religious. Why Don’t We Have More Data About Them?

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n the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, researcher R.G. Cravens saw a headline about the importance of LGBTQ+ voters. How would results have changed, he wondered, LGBTQ+ religious people stayed home on Election Day? But when he went to review exit polling, he found his question was unanswerable: The survey was done in waves, and questions about religious affiliation and LGBTQ+ identity were never asked together.  That lack of data isn’t unusual, said Cravens, now a senior research analyst at Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and author of the forthcoming book “Yes Gawd! How Faith Shapes LGBT Identity and Politics in […]

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Pride means knowing LGBTQ history — including that of Indigenous Two-Spirit people

As cities around the United States celebrated Pride this month — including here in Denver on Saturday — there’s been a great deal of attention given to the prominent role that transgender folks have played in the LGBTQ rights movement in the country. There’s also been a serious look into the ways anti-LGBTQ jackals have disproportionately focused their attention on trans people and trans kids over the last few years. But, as with every June, there is often less acknowledgment given to the fact that Indigenous LGBTQ people were the first people on this continent victimized by the white Christians […]

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Filipino American Who Had Strict Religious Upbringing Launches Queer Youth of Faith Day

When Jun Young came out at the age of 45, he thought back to his childhood. He was raised in a Catholic household in the Philippines, where he was taught early on that being gay was against God’s will. So when he realized around the age of 12 that he was attracted to other boys, he kept it locked away for more than three decades. “I felt like I didn’t really have a choice,” Young told NBC Asian America. “I couldn’t really come out or accept that I was gay or even explore what that meant without giving up my […]

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Caught on Camera: Thief Steals Church Display Honoring Murdered Trans People

A reverend in Ohio revealed a thief has stolen part of his church display honouring the trans people who were killed in 2019. St Peter’s United Church of Christ in Cincinnati, Ohio, describes itself as a “100 per cent hate free zone”. According to its website, the church welcomes everyone into its community “no matter your faith background, sexual orientation, gender identity [or] race”. Reverend Derek Terry had created a display outside the church, flying trans Pride flags and putting up signs showing the names and ages of trans people who had been killed in the US in 2019. But Terry told Fox 19 that […]

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Transgender Latina Makes History as Evangelical Lutheran Pastor

Before coming out as transgender, Nicole Garcia prayed daily that God would “fix” her. When her prayers weren’t answered and the feeling in her gut didn’t go away, she gave up on religion. Now, nearly four decades later, Garcia stands behind the pulpit at Westview Lutheran Church in Boulder, Colorado, and delivers weekly sermons to a congregation of more than 100 faithful as their ordained pastor. “Nobody can question my faith, my devotion to Christ, my devotion to the church. That’s why I’m the pastor here,” Garcia,who turned 60 Thursday, told NBC News. “Being trans is secondary.” Garcia, who delivered her first […]

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Pioneering Gay Pastor, Who Called for Church to Welcome LGBT People in 1960s, Dies Aged 95

Gay pastor Robert Wood has passed away aged 95. (Equality Forum) Robert Wood, who called on churches to welcome gay people in the 1960s, has died aged 95. Wood passed away at his home in New Hampshire on August 19, his friend Rejean Blanchette, who cared for him in his later years, confirmed to The New York Times. Born on May 21, 1923, the pastor marched at early gay rights protests, years before the Stonewall Riots in 1969.Wood reportedly came out as gay to the public when his article titled “Spiritual Exercises” was published in a gay magazine, showing him photographed in […]

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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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