LGBTQ FAITH PART 3

LGBTQ+ Christianity Post PART I,  LGBTQ+ Christianity Post PART II, Christian Asexuality Post

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Hi y'all! Since starting this blog, I have uploaded two separate posts cataloguing resources for LGBTQ+ Christians, LGBTQ+ Christians, cisgender/straight Christians (like myself) who support the LGBTQ+ community, or anyone wanting to learn more. I have also done a special post amplifying the voices of asexual Christians, in partnership with an asexual Christian (who asked to remain anonymous). It makes me so happy to see more Christian spaces moving towards affirmation and more queer Christians accepting themselves and living openly. <3 

I believe wholeheartedly that God affirms, honors, welcomes, respects, and loves LGBTQ+ people. Supporting and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community is one of the most important things we can do as Christians. 

I am already in the process of researching other resources and people whose work I can amplify for part IV of this series (!!!), as I literally have been coming across multiple new ones on the daily. ***If you are an LGBTQ+ Christian, please let me know if you have personal recommendations--as I am a cis/het woman, my perspective is limited and you are the superior judge of whether a resource is helpful or not!***

Although the people listed below have a commonality in that they champion LGBTQ+ inclusion & affirmation in the Christian church, some do offer differing opinions regarding interpretations of specific Scripture or doctrine, so keep that in mind. Additionally, although I use the word "resources", several pieces of content are from the same person, so I have organized several elements of this post by the individual providing the resource. This is not to call a person a "resource", as that would be dehumanizing. 

To the LGBTQ+ community: I follow Jesus, and the Jesus I know does not look at LGBTQ+ people as sinful or wrong. God created you to be who you are, to love who you love, and to have the life journey that you have. God will love you whether you come to God or you keep your distance, whether you follow or you don't. You do not have to have all the answers. You do not need to act a certain way or be a certain person. Nothing you do or don't do affects God's love for you. Whoever you are, God is for you.

I am so sorry for the harm the church and its followers have caused you. Please know your feelings, your story, and your experiences are meaningful, truthful, and vital. I believe wholeheartedly that that God creates you to be who you are/to love who you love. 

To the church community: your job is to welcome, to protect, and to love as Jesus would. We can always be better at this, and we are always learning. Learn from this community. Let them teach us how to do our job. 

So, whether you are:

• a Christian who carries shame/guilt about your identity
• an LGBTQ+ Christian who is comfortable in both those identities and looking for support
• an ally (Christian or otherwise) looking to support LGBTQ+ people (Christian or otherwise)
• an LGBTQ+ person interested in exploring Christianity

As always, I hope this information can be of some interest and/or help to you. :)

NOTE: This post may have some triggering language or discuss painful experiences that could be triggering for readers/listeners. Therapeutic or counseling-based resources are also included. 

Podcasts

The Forbidden Apple Podcast is a podcast dedicated to discussing overcoming prejudices, finding common ground, and celebrating differences by interviewing LGBTQ artists, activists & clergy from unique religious backgrounds. The podcast is hosted by Melissa Weisz, a former Orthodox Jew, and Pelayo Alvarez a Spanish-raised Catholic. You can find them on Instagram or at their website. 

Enough Room is a podcast focusing on LGBTQ+ affirming theology, hosted by a gay Christian Adventist couple. Episode topics include understanding context in the Bible; creation, gender and the Sabbath; faith trauma, and more. You can also follow them on Instagram.

  

Writers/Speakers/Theologians

The Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a queer, Black woman and ordained minister affiliated with the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. She currently serves as the faith work director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ advocacy organization. Before joining the Task Force, Rev. Naomi was a faith organizer for POWER, a multi-faith, multi-racial network of congregations in Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania. She also served as Co-Pastor and Minister of Music at Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. Washington-Leapheart is also a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. 

• Her article for Rewire New Group, "Trump’s New Birth Control Rules Are White Christian Supremacy Veiled as Religious Freedom", written in conjunction with Kira Shepherd & Rev. Alba Onofrio (2017)
• The Washington Post feature on her work: "Naomi Washington-Leapheart: Breaking LGBTQ faith barriers" (2019)
• Her interview with The Phildelphia Tribune on breaking LGBTQ faith barriers (2019)
• An article from The Ithacan that features her and her work (2019)
• Her feature in Philadelphia Weekly (2019) about the dangers of systemic spiritual abuse for LGBTQ Christians 
• Her interview with The City of Philadelphia website 
• Her feature on the Faith in Public Life website

Sontaia P. Briggs is the founder of YouUniversity, "an online ministry uplifting and affirming the gifts of youth and young adults, as well as providing in-person college access/success coaching and counseling." She is also the producer of two independent feature films and a web series spinoff of the movie(s) Finding Me, Finding Me Truth and Finding Me the Series, and the creator of a new podcast, Experimental Radio with p.k. briggs, "a monologic exploration of meditations, sacred text and the ideas we use to engage life to adapt, survive and thrive; including special guest conversations with thoughtful humans." Briggs is also the co-creator of Queer Bible Study, a limited series podcast that explored the ‘queering’ of the Bible meaning that God’s love is non-binary and God’s love is for all. Feel free to visit her website.

• Her podcast interview with Forbidden Apple podcast. 
• Her affirmations-themed, joint interview with Brooklyn Free Speech Radio's podcast, during which they discussed praying on-the-go, the flexibility of healing, faith as practice and more.

Araya Baker is a Counselor educator, suicidologist, and policy analyst. They are also affiliated with Pride in the Pews, a community dedicated to "queering the Black Church, one testimony at a time!" (as written in their bio).

• This Instagram post of 20 affirmations for "Folks raised in Anti-LGBTQ Church Families."
• Baker also has several videos on this topic available on their IGTV.

Pastor Guy Erwin is a member of the ELCA and President of the United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg and Philadelphia. As a member of the Osage Nation, he was the first American Indian to be elected to the office of synodical bishop in the ELCA, and the first openly gay bishop in the ELCA. In 1980, he earned a B.A from Harvard College and has master of arts, master of philosophy, and doctorate in philosophy degrees from Yale. He has been with his partner Rob for over 20 years.

• Guest preaching during Calvary Lutheran Church Worship (2021)
• His video interview on "Hope Matters" as a part of the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church Santa Monica discussion series (2020)

Music

Ty Herndon is a Christian musician specializing in country, first making his chart debut in 1995 with his single, "What Mattered Most." On November 20, 2014, Herndon came out as gay in an interview with People magazine. In June 2019, Herndon re-released "What Mattered Most" with the song's pronouns changed. In 2020, Herndon created the Foundation For Love & Acceptance to support mental health and wellness for at-risk LGBTQ youth. He is currently in the studio writing and recording a new album, Jacob, that will be funded through Kickstarter. 

• Coming-out interview with People Magazine (2014)
• Interview with Billboard about his coming-out story (2014)
• “Orphans of God,” a 2020 collaboration with Kristin Chenoweth and Paul Cardall featured on his holiday release, Regifted.

Chely Wright is an American country music artist. She initially rose to fame with her number one hit, "Single White Female." She later became known for her role in LGBT activism after publicly coming out. In 2010, Wright released an album, Lifted Off the Ground, the content of which centered on her sexual and gender identities. This was followed by a documentary chronicling her coming-out story, titled Wish Me Away, in 2012, and the founding of the LIKEME foundation. After a five year break from music, she released I Am the Rain in 2016. She is now married with two children. 

• Wright's 2010 memoir, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer, chronicles her life and her eventual acceptance of her identity as a lesbian woman of faith. 
• Her coming-out article with Newsweek (2010) 
• Her interview with Entertainment Weekly following coming out (2010)

Serenade is an album affiliated with Beloved Arise. The music on this album "explores the hope and heartbreak of living as a queer person of faith." Produced by Kyle and Gretta Miller of Towr’s, the album features ten original songs written and performed by queer musicians and allies. It is the first-ever album dedicated to LGBTQIA+ youth of faith and served as the official anthems for Queer Youth of Faith Day, which took place on June 30, 2021.

Movies

• Pray Away (2021) is an American documentary film (available on Netflix) that follows survivors of conversion therapy, and former leaders. *trigger content warning*

• 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted a Culture is a documentary that investigates how the word “homosexual” was first entered into the Bible, how one man tried to stop it, and how a team of researchers recently unearthed evidence that challenges deeply-held beliefs about LGBTQ+ people and their place in God’s kingdom. Currently in production, you can follow the film's progress at their website or on Instagram.

Other Websites/Resources

According to their website, Soulforce "works to end the religious and political oppression of LGBTQI people by decloaking the ideologies of Christian Supremacy and healing our communities’ spirits from weaponized religion. We build radical analysis, political education, and spiritual power for activists across all social justice movements wherever the work is threatened by Christian fundamentalism." 

• This includes a Spiritual Resources Library, all of which are downloadable in Spanish. 
• Their work can be found and supported through Instagram, Twitter, or through their podcast Go with Grace.

The Black Trans Prayer Book is, as written on their website, "an interfaith, multi-dimensional, artistic and theological work that collects the stories, poems, prayers, meditation, spells, and incantations of Black Trans & Non-Binary people." More information about the book and its creators can also be found on their Instagram.

More Light Presbyterians is a coalition of congregations and individuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA) committed to increasing the involvement of all people in the church, regardless of sexuality. More Light churches endorse the following mission statement: "Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light Presbyterians is the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)."

Queeranteen Camp is a is a free, online, interfaith camp for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-19. 

The Christian Closet is an online therapeutic resource for people who are trying to work out what it means to have a LGBTQI (gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, intersex, queer, all of the above) sexual identity, or gender identity within a Christian context. To achieve this, Christian Closet employees meet with people from all over the world via the web as they begin to explore who they are and how this identity can co-exist beautifully with a faith and relationship with God. Those interested will journey with a LGBTQI Christian therapist, coach, or spiritual direction to work through issues of faith, church trauma, questions about God and the Bible, as well as navigating the experience of dealing with non-affirming friends and family. 

• The Christian Closet also offers therapy and support resources for friends and family at Progressive Christian Counseling, where they hold sessions with straight family members, church leaders, and friends who are trying to work through what it means for someone special in their life to be "out."

Our Bible App is a progressive devotional and bible-reading app for your phone. According to their website, Our Bible App "supports the belief that spirituality is a spectrum and that faith is a journey, [...] celebrating the diversity of God’s creation with devotionals highlighting the inclusiveness of the text. Whether one finds spiritual clarity by going to church to the sanctuary of nature, Our Bible App supports the belief that we are each trying to understand our place in this grand universe. Our goal is to untangle the binds that Christian colonizers have spread across the globe over hundreds of years. Through highlighting devotionals that are pro-LGBTQ+, pro-feminism, and encouraging of interfaith inclusivity—we hope to provide a tool that is needed to create healthy spiritual habits."

• They also have recently published The Deconstructionists Playbook, a compilation of authors speaking to a wide and diverse audience working to deconstruct "religion and systems of oppression, reconstruct faith principles around the elements of social justice, and step happily into liberation theology as an act of resistance against white supremacy and patriarchy."

Queer.Prayers posts Instagram content centering "religion from a queer lutheran point of view". 

A Queer Search for Faith is run by Lucy, and chronicles her journey as a lesbian, Catholic/Christian theology graduate exploring her faith and how religion impacts the LGBTQ+ community. You can also follow her journey on Instagram.

UNCHANGED is an initiative by Q Christian Fellowship that is "committed to proclaiming God’s love and affirmation of our experiences, identities, and expressions of selves." Their website provides stories, advocacy opportunities, and resources to further this goal.