A Queer Pilgrim

Cecilia Gentili, a transgender activist, actor and legislative lobbyist, was  honored  at a Feb. 15 funeral packed with mourners in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the  mother church  of the Archdiocese of New York.  According to reporter Aleja Hertzler-McCain of religionnews.com, "Cecilia was a transgender activist born in Argentina. S he moved to the U.S. in 2000, experiencing homelessness and addiction while she supported herself as a sex worker. Later, Gentili worked at a health center and for Trans Equity Consulting, where she worked with HIV+ people, trans people, sex workers, incarcerated people and immigrants.  On Feb. 6, 2024, at the age of 52 years old, she died of unspecified causes.  According to press reports, she successfully sued the Trump administration when it tried to roll back the Affordable Care Act and lobbied for the New York State Gender Expression and Discrimination Act. When Gentili died, she had been working to decriminalize sex work in New York. ” While the fun

Today, Feb. 15, 2024, the Greek Parliament approved a bill that would allow same-sex civil marriage! It is the first Orthodox country to legalize same sex-marriage. It is a landmark victory for supporters of LGBTQIA2S+ rights, which was greeted with cheers by onlookers in parliament and dozens gathered on the streets of Athens. The law gives same-sex couples the right to wed and adopt children, and comes after decades of campaigning by the LGBTQIA2S+ community for marriage equality in the socially conservative country (Who knew!?). It was approved by 176 lawmakers in the 300 seat parliament, and will become law when published in the official government gazette. Members of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy party abstained or voted against the bill, but there were enough people on the left, liberal side to vote for it, despite a tense debate. Why am I reporting/blogging on this momentous occasion that seems only state related? Because the Greek Orthodox Chur

  In my work with the OR-ID United Methodist Church Conference, along with my friendship and participation with many local organizations of LGBTQIA2S+ people, I often find a mixed reaction to when people find out I am an out Presbyterian pastor. While there are those who express a history of being raised in a church, there is a strong indication that being part of and self-identifying as part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community caused a certain trauma in the lives of those people who are out. Some would even call the period of their post-lives of having left the church as a PTSD period--post traumatic stress disorder. Trauma at the hands of a religious community. Having been denied tenure at one religious institution of higher education, and denied a few called-installed positions in a church in the Presbyterian Church (USA), I can relate to having experienced or still experiencing some trauma of being refused for tenure or a called-installed position, simply because I’m gay, and the person I