ST. PETERSBURG | Allendale United Methodist Church (UMC) shared Sept. 24 that the LGBTQ-affirming church had been vandalized.
“Allendale was again the target of vandalism,” UMC shared via social media. “LGBTQ people are more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other minority group. We will leave the spray paint up, surrounded by signs of love, to make visible the often invisible harm that the LGBTQ community receives every day.”
A House committee approved on Wednesday as part of major appropriations legislation an amendment seen to allow taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny placement into LGBTQ families over religious objections.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), would bar the federal government and state or localities from denying funds to adoption agencies that have “declined or will decline to provide, facilitate or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs of convictions.”
I’m not a very religious person. Actually, I’m not religious in the traditional sense at all. Organized religion and I have not seen eye to eye for some time. That’s not a secret to those who know me well, but sometimes I find it harder to admit that to people than to say that I am a gay man.
In a previous article of mine, I described in detail a story of how I felt manipulated by “the church,” which was the beginning of the end for me. I then attended a very religious college, which to a young and outspoken liberal just seemed like a propaganda machine and torture device.
It’s often argued that one shouldn’t discuss religion or politics,
so I’d like to talk about both.
When I was in high school, I learned through friends in my Southern Baptist youth group that the deacons of my small-town, smaller-minded church were trying to pray my gay away. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A Mississippi law unconstitutionally endorses specific religious beliefs that could lead to discrimination against people who support same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates said Tuesday in written arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court has not said whether it will consider a dispute over the law that lets government workers and private business people cite their own religious beliefs to deny services to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – For many transgender people, faith communities are a place of judgment and rejection. For Marilyn Lloyd, they are a place of possibility.
Lloyd, 62, and a transgender woman, found God at North Congregational United Church of Christ in Columbus. God and the church filled a void in Lloyd’s life she didn’t know was there, and now she hopes to help others fill the same void.
CARTAGENA, Colombia — The Vatican on March 10 announced that Pope Francis will travel to Colombia in September.
Francis is scheduled to arrive in the Colombian capital of Bogotá on Sept. 6. He is expected to visit the cities of Villavincencio, Medellín and Cartagena before returning to Rome on Sept. 11.
Some LGBT-inclusive churches might be adding some sparkle to Ash Wednesday this year, USA Today reports.
New York-based LGBT Christian group Parity has started an initiative for churches to use glitter ashes. The ashes, typically made from the ashes of palm branches, would be mixed with professional makeup-grade purple glitter.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky Senators voted Feb. 10 for the measure that defends the rights of students to express religious beliefs in public schools and allows the Bible to be used for the study of religion.
Senate Bill (SB) 17 passed with a vote of 31-3. It now moves to the House.
WASHINGTON (AP)- Religious conservatives whose overwhelming support propelled Donald Trump to the White House are watching closely for him to deliver on promised protections for religious objectors to gay marriage and abortion.
On Thursday, Trump speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a high-profile event bringing together faith leaders, politicians and dignitaries. He has not indicated how he’ll act on the provisions sought by religious conservatives, which critics say could sanction discrimination against gays.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A music director at a Catholic church in Rhode Island says he has been fired because he married a man.
Michael Templeton tells The Providence Journal he was fired last week from his post at the Church of St. Mary in Providence. He says the Rev. Francesco Francese and a representative of the Diocese of Providence told him he needed to leave because of his 2015 marriage to his partner of five years.
Was the young man who fired a semi-automatic rifle into a crowd of more than 300 people at an Orlando gay bar an ISIS terrorist? Was he a closeted gay man lashing out explosively in the ultimate act of self-hatred? Was it both?
These were the questions I fielded from reporters in the days and weeks following the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
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