A Queer Pilgrim

  I can't imagine being a transgender young athlete male-to-female at this time of our modern society's life. Transgender mtf young athletes are the new "Other," the new "marginalized," the new "target" of conservative lawmakers in the US. Red or conservative state after conservative state, with some but not all, conservative Republican governors, are signing into law bills that are clearly meant to hurt and discriminate against a vulnerable population. This is what Paul LeBlanc of CNN wrote regarding the law which was just passed by Governor Justice of West Virginia: " The law, which cleared the state's Republican-led legislature in recent weeks, states that such teams must be designated based on "biological sex," thus prohibiting trans women and girls from participating on women's athletic teams 'where competitive skill or contact is involved.' ' Biological sex' is a term the lawmakers use to refer to the se...

  At SeattlePacific University, a Free Methodist school of higher education, there is a sign of liberation and hope reported in religionnews.com. Yonat Shimron reported this surprising uprising at a very conservative university: " The faculty of Seattle Pacific University, a Christian school associated with the Free Methodist Church, has taken a vote of no confidence in its board of trustees after members of the board declined to change its policy prohibiting the hiring of LGBTQ people."  72% of the faculty, staff, and student body (the school's governing body) voted no-confidence in the largely conservative Board of Trustees. How did this all start? The latest issue is hiring LGBTQIA+ in tenured, full time positions at Seattle Pacific: " The most recent conflict began in January when an adjunct nursing professor filed a lawsuit accusing the university of refusing him job opportunities because of his sexual orientation. Jéaux Rinedahl  alleged  in the ...

  Disclaimers: I don't watch "Good Morning, America" on ABC-TV regularly. I don't watch ABC's "The Bachelor" shows. I'm not a big football fan, whether college or professional.  However, I read cultures and events as if they were a text book. My Ph.D. dissertation from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was a full-blown ethnographic/anthropological  qualitative study.  And the story of Colton Underwood got my attention. It was on advocate.com, ABC blogs, towleroad.com, and queerty.com. So, I glanced at the various stories about the latest news in Colton Underwood's life. It appears that the popular, handsome, single, straight-acting bachelor came out of his gay closet.  And he did so very publicly, with an interview with out lesbian ABC personality, Robin Roberts.  As I read through the interview, this is what caught my attention, because it sounds like parts of my story as well in the Church: "Having grown up in the Catholic churc...

I was a theater geek in junior high and high school...and probably elementary school as well. To say I was drawn to the theater is an understatement. While my parents vetoed any chance of being a theater major in college, I outsmarted them and became a Presbyterian pastor. Every week I write a new script, aka, sermon, and perform it on a stage usually (pre- and post-COVID), otherwise known as the pulpit, which is usually raised above where the congregation is seated in most churches.  Part of being a theater geek is playing various roles in plays. Some times a playwright has women playing a man's part, and vice versa. And we know that Shakespeare's company of actors were all men, and played women's parts.  And when "us theater geeks" aka, student thespians, went out to one of Portland's Dennys diner after a play's performance, I was known for doing a wonderful rendition of imitating Doris Day singing, "Que Sera, Sera!" swirling around the booths ...

What is "religious freedom?" In the writings and speeches by people who are more politically conservative and part of the so-called "evangelical (political) right," part of the dying portion of American Christianity, religious freedom has become a new way of discriminating against LGBTQIA+ people. It gives those who clamor for so-called "religious freedom" the legal freedom to openly and blatantly discriminate against LGBTQIA+, because LGBTQIA+ people, by just our very existence, are considered an abomination in their so-called religion. These are the same people who promote, "love the sinner, hate the sin," as if one could be extracted from the other.  And what religion are we talking about? It isn't Muslim, Jewish, Buddhism, or Hinduism, to name four of the big five major world religions. It is an American Christianity (largely conservative politics with a little bit of Jesus) that imitates not so much the radical politics of Jesus, but the...

The question that about stopped an interview with a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation I was seriously considering recently was this: "Are you a gay pastor? Or are you a pastor who happens to be gay?" I knew what they were asking. "I'm a pastor who happens to be gay," I said. "Good," said the voice on the Zoom interview. And the one who asked the question smiled. I was a good gay man. I answered the question correctly...for them. Actually, that was the wrong answer on my part. But I froze. I played it safe. I knew what was implied in the question. I got nervous. I didn't want to lose the job right then and there, though I should've hung up on the Zoom connection immediately. The red "Leaving Meeting" button was right there. I should have hit it, and hit it hard. I said what they wanted me to say in this binary set-up, when I should have responded "yes. Yes, I'm a gay pastor  and a pastor who happens to be gay."  To ...

  Elton John beat me to the punch with his Twitter comment this morning: "How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they "are sin," yet happily make a profit from investing millions in "Rocketman"--a film which celebrates my finding happiness from my marriage to David??" Nicole Winfield of religiionnews.com wrote today in an article, "Vatican excludes gay union blessing as God 'can't bless sin,'" that "The Vatican decreed Monday (March 15, 2021) that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since 'God cannot bless sin.' The Vatican's orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which used to be run by Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict), issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions. The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was 'negative.' The decreed d...