A Queer Pilgrim

After following several stories of the collapse, splintering, schism of the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA), The United Methodist Church, Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), it is good to end Pride month with a “feel good” story of a church that is celebrating and moving forward in embracing those of us who are LGBTQIA2S+. The Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) new President is a womanist theologian and ethicist who is a lesbian, the Rev. Sofia Betancourt.  For years, there was criticism within the UUA about it’s hiring practices. The first woman elected to be President was the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray. Rev. Peter Morales is the predecessor to Rev. Betancourt, who was appointed interim President after the brouhaha over the hiring practices regarding people of color in the UUA. About her tenure as President of the UUA, Betancourt told Kathryn Post of the religionnews.com, that her priorities are as follows: “C ommuna...

In seminary, I do not remember any class telling us that the best way to grow a church in terms of numbers was by telling a group of people they were not welcome. When I taught in a seminary, I did not tell my students to be sure certain groups of people were not welcomed. And as a pastor, I do not tell congregations to be sure certain people are not welcome to grow a church.  Why is it, then, that denominations are telling certain groups of people they are not welcome, will not be affirmed, and any church that welcomes such people will be kicked out of the denomination? Last week, I posted a blog on Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) which was going to ask Quest Church in Seattle to leave the denomination. Why? Because they are welcoming and affirming of LGBTQIA2S+ people of faith. I also made a reference to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) which kicked out two prominent churches because there were women in roles of pastoral leadership. Both the ECC and SBC leadership are...

We celebrated our first Pride Sunday at La Mesa Presbyterian Church on Sunday, June 11, 2023. It was the first time that I, as a pastor, celebrated an entire worship service on the theme of Pride. We are a congregation with plenty of LGBTQIA2S+ people and non-LGBTQIA2S+ allies, but it had not been celebrated in worship in this church until I became pastor of the church. And I had never celebrated it before in worship in a PCUSA church, though I did the Pride marches in Portland, OR with the Community of Pilgrims. I wore a black t-shirt that says, “This Pastor Loves You,” in which the word “Pastor” is in rainbow colors. I expressly bought the shirt after I knew I got the position at the church. We had a rainbow flag draped over the Communion table, and also smaller rainbow pendants on the pulpit and lectern. The banners were rainbow banners, too. The day before, on June 10, 2023, there were fourteen members of La Mesa Presbyterian Church who walked with a group of Episcopa...

A first! And not of the good kinds of “firsts.” The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQIA2S+ civil rights organization based in Washington, DC, has put out the first “National Emergency” on LGBTQIA2S+ rights in the US. In its 40 year existence, HRC has never put out a “state of emergency” declaration. But the time has come now to do it, because of what Republican state legislatures and Republican governors have been doing around the US. More than 75 anti-LGBTQIA2S+ bills have been signed into law in 2023 alone. This is double the number that were passed in 2022. As reported on the website, joemygod.com, “The sharp rise in anti-LGBTQ+ measures has spawned a dizzying patchwork of discriminatory state laws that have created increasingly hostile and dangerous environments for LGBTQ+ people, prompting HRC today to also issue a national warning and downloadable guidebook for the LGBTIQ+ community--including health and safety resources, a summary of state-by-state la...