It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

A man sits on the ground with candles in front of him.

On July 8th, I wanted to scream at a little kid on the subway. Usually, I love kids.  I have been babysitting since I was ten years old. My first job out of college was as a youth leader. I currently spend my days either working with children or planning programs so that I can…

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When Our Sanctuaries Are Desecrated

A group of people standing in a crowd.

Lee en español ~ Read In Spanish A few years ago I found myself in Seattle, serving a congregation that very much reflected the reality of the city: white, middle-class, extremely progressive in their thinking, but with a lack of actual real life understanding of the realities of people of color. While there, it became…

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A Letter To Mi Querida Iglesia

A statue of mary holding a child.

Para mi querida Iglesia, For a long time I have struggled with my relationship with you—at times proud of my Catholic faith, at times ashamed and hurt by my Catholic faith, at times a combination of all of this and much more. My journey of faith has been incredible and filled with experiences that I…

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Learning To Wear My Own Clothes

A person's feet are standing on a rainy day.

My name is Carol and I live in the south of England. I am married to a straight man and am the usually proud owner of three children, two boys and a girl. Because we live in the UK, our kids have to wear school uniform.  For my younger son in primary school, this consists…

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Why I Can’t Forget My Blackness

A group of people sitting at a table.

The discomfort of being THE black guy in the room is something that I have to negotiate over and over again. Often/especially in progressive and/or queer political spaces, I am one of very few people of color—it seems that there are places where the demographic “count” to cover all bases means that there’s one of…

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If Dr. King’s Dream Had Come True

A statue of martin luther king jr.

When I was in the fourth grade, I saw a video of Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time. As I was nine and we were watching it on a blurry box TV, I didn’t pay much attention to it. That was unfortunate because, as an adult,…

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My Christian Journey: Coming Out As Transgender

A group of people posing for a picture in a living room.

Hi, my name is Izek, and I identify as a bi-racial queer transman (FTM). Most importantly, I identify as a Christian. I have had positive and negative experiences coming out as transgender. Luckily, I already had supportive friends, family, and church community. This support made transitioning less intimidating. Although I had a decent amount of…

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My Coming Out Helped Me Realize My White Privilege

A man with a white band over his face.

Five years ago, at Christmas, I went home for the holidays and announced to my family that I was planning on going to seminary. For the most part, my family was excited and supportive of my decision to pursue ordained ministry, but a few were resistant. As it turned out, they felt that my being…

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A Call to Action on World AIDS Day

A mural of a rainbow ribbon on a building.

Liberation for Black folks must start with a focus on the issues that hinder the most marginalized in our community. Fueled by movements like #BlackLivesMatter, there is a new generation of freedom fighters that are shifting the conversation—Black millennials. This has led the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading civil rights organization dedicated…

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The Black Church: Bold Enough To Affirm LGBTQ People?

A black and white photograph of a church.

The recent VH1 segment, Out in Hip Hop: What Happens When Your Church Doesn’t Accept You; and the recently released BET documentary, Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church reminded me of what I hear over and over again from Black LGBTQ people who experience a loss of connection to the essential social/spiritual network…

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