In Our Lifetime

A group of people holding candles at a candlelight vigil.

She’s not a regular. I’d been meeting there weekly for almost two months, and I’d never seen her before. It must have been her first time. I was sure I knew all of the unsheltered people. She asked if I had $2. I didn’t. I still don’t. I choose not to carry cash. I walked…

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Christian Underhistory: Facing The Horrors of Christianity Past

A group of figurines in a display.

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,…

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Painting Frida Kahlo

A painting of a woman with a heart in her hands.

As we begin the month of October and ghosts decorate our homes, I am reminded of the holy days that await us. Poignant to my own background, Dia de los Muertos beckons us to remember who has gone before us. Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that is officially celebrated on October 31…

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Harmful Theology Will Not Define Us

A black and white photo of two people giving each other a high five.

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…

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Coming Out As A Pansexual Christian: Because They First Loved Me

Two women holding up a sign that says black queer feminist christian.

Over the last few years, I’ve been deeply engaged in work and research that centers on cultivating space where people of all faiths, sexualities, and gender identities can seek to both know and be known. I’ve seen so many people experience spiritual, systemic, and interpersonal harm and sincerely believe that fostering inclusive, equitable communities can…

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Why Coming Out Day Matters For The Church

Two women standing next to each other at a parade.

In 1988, LGBT activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary established National Coming Out Day (NCOD), to be observed on October 11—the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights. According to his New York Times obituary in 1995, Eichberg explained the motivation behind NCOD as this: “Most people think they…

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When Coming Out Costs You Everything

Two women hugging in front of a brick wall.

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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Do Unto Others: A Blueprint For Religious Leaders On Global LGBTI Rights

A group of people holding a rainbow flag in front of a fountain.

On Friday, September 29th, the United States cast a vote against a UN Human Rights Council resolution to ban the death penalty against LGBTI people, effectively jeopardizing LGBTI people’s lives around the world to preserve the death penalty at all costs. Though the US joined Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates…

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Response to Pope Francis’ Comments on Gender Difference

A black and white photo of a man in a white robe.

Pope Francis has once again entered the discussion of transgender issues with a statement that reveals the pontiff does not yet comprehend issues of gender identity. In a statement to the Pontifical Academy for Life’s general assembly, he said: The biologic and psychological manipulation of sexual difference, which biomedical technology allows one to see as…

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