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On August 22, Private First Class Manning, the U.S. soldier sentenced to thirty-five years in prison on charges of leaking classified government documents, came out publicaly as a transgender woman. Rev. Allyson Robinson, former executive director of OutServe-SLDN, offers her thoughts below on Chelsea’s announcement. What is your reaction to Chelsea Manning’s coming out as a transgender…
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“Ultimately, the transgender question is about more than just sex. It’s about what it means to be human.” – Russell D. Moore, On Faith, Aug. 15 There are certainly more egregious quotes from Moore’s recent essay, but to focus on them would miss the larger point—that there is no “transgender question.” The question is about how people…
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I recently began corresponding with an old friend of mine who also grew up in a conservative Christian family. She is now an ordained minister and is the woman who presided over my marriage to my wife. We became friends in high school, but we hadn’t talked since graduation. When I moved to Seattle for…
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If you’re in DC—or coming into town for the Congressional Black Caucus or National Black Justice Coalition convenings—don’t miss Celebrating the Soul of Justice on September 17. Remember how worship and singing fueled the civil rights movement and encouraged Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and our community to move forward with resolve? So must we…
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Rev. David Weekley saw himself as a pastor tending to his flock until he came out as one of the first openly transgender ministers serving in the United Methodist Church. At the age of 58, his life moved in an unexpected direction, away from the institutional church and toward working with the transgender community. Becky Garrison…
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As issues surrounding gay rights are being brought to attention both in the political and religious arenas, it is impossible not to evaluate my own position within the movement. The question “Why do I, a person who does not identify as LGBTQ, care?” is often left unanswered; instead, we focus on why people are not in…
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I touched down in New York City last year just two weeks after graduation from seminary to join the staff at Presbyterian Welcome. Though I didn’t know what would come from it, I knew that Mieke and I had a mutual passion: making sure that youth in and out of the church know they are loved, whether…
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Stephen Lovegrove, a rising junior at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina, was informed this past Monday that he had lost his federally funded work-study position a resident advisor (RA) at his school. Lovegrove recently began posting on the internet about how he identifies as gay and Christian, and the administration took notice. The administration brought the…
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Pope Francis asked a stunning question: “Who am I to judge?” This was in response to inquiries about whether or not there are gay priests in the Vatican—the now-renowned “gay lobby.” In a 90-minute interview returning from his travels in Brazil, an affable, relaxed Pope Francis covered a range of topics, but the “who am…
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As I sit at my gate waiting for the flight to the US at the end of a transformative week at World Youth Day in Rio, I have been reflecting on the various messages we have received from the pope: live your truth, make a mess, and who am I to judge. This week has…
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