Today’s LGBTQ+ youth are just the latest generation to experience 2,500 years of elder hand-wringing Every generation that has ever existed on the planet, it appears, has complained about its younger generations. In the 4th century B.C.E., to cite one example, Aristotle wrote: [Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances… They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it. Psychologists have studied the why behind it. And at the heart of the phenomenon, they seem to agree, is flawed memory ..read more

Christian nationalism won’t ever show itself out, so we need to help it find the door LGBTQ+ people are far from alone in knowing the personal and collective impact of the seeping poison of Christian nationalism in our society, as it has steadily and significantly impacted various social and political landscapes, particularly in undermining the rights and dignity of marginalized groups. As LGBTQ+ people of faith, here’s why we must fervently oppose Christian nationalism, advocating for a progressive, affirming vision of Christianity that genuinely reflects a spirit inclusivity and a love of ju ..read more

Christian nationalism won’t ever show itself out, so we need to help it find the door LGBTQ+ people are far from alone in knowing the personal and collective impact of the seeping poison of Christian nationalism in our society, as it has steadily and significantly impacted various social and political landscapes, particularly in undermining the rights and dignity of marginalized groups. As LGBTQ+ people of faith, here’s why we must fervently oppose Christian nationalism, advocating for a progressive, affirming vision of Christianity that genuinely reflects a spirit inclusivity and a love of ju ..read more

Picture this: It’s the year 1077 in Canossa, Italy. A German king stands outside a papal castle barefooted and dressed in beggar’s clothing for three days, begging the Pope for an audience so he can be restored to his kingdom and re-admitted into the Church. The reason for the king’s being excommunicated and deposed? He refused to acknowledge that the papacy had as much power and authority over the region as the king. King Henry IV lost this fight when Pope Gregory VII excommunicated him. The citizens of his region refused to obey him, and his kingdom became unmanageable. The trip he took acro ..read more

I was a painfully awkward kid. Truth be told, I’m still a painfully awkward adult. Laughing too loud, in the wrong places, at the wrong times. Trying to fit in with the cool kids and failing miserably. Now, though, being older, I don’t really give a crap if people like me or not. Actually, that’s not completely true. I still envy the cool kids, sitting at their cool kids’ table — only now it’s in a bar instead of the cafeteria. Having their cool kid conversations — now over craft beers and wine and martinis instead of chocolate milk. I’ve always been the queen of the island of misfit toys. It ..read more

Why make religious scapegoats of other people? Have you ever thought about the fact that “religious” people all over the world — I mean everyday people, not elite thinkers or those who use religion to push their career and political agendas — care about the same things when they practice their religions? I’ve been observing that in my formal studies and teaching as a historian of religion for more than 50 years. The religious thinkers, philosophers, theologians, and organizational leaders can give us all the great theories, scriptural quotations, logical cosmologies, and “important” doctrines ..read more

Note: Since 2010, Trans Day of Visibility has existed to celebrate transgender identity separate from media coverage of the very real violence observed on Transgender Day of Remembrance, “while still acknowledging that due to discrimination, not every trans person can or wants to be visible.”  On Easter, Jesus rose and showed his disciples that he was alive! On Trans Day of Visibility, we let people know that, while we do die, we also live. We live full lives, in spite of how this cisgender-supremacist world sees and treats us. The disciples were overjoyed and filled with hope when they s ..read more

For there are eunuchs who were born that way [cisgender], and some eunuchs have been made eunuchs by others [sexually assigned] — and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs [transgender] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. (Matthew 19:12) Introduction: Neither male nor female Gender-affirming care is a tenuous topic of discussion for Christians. The Gospel according to Matthew offers only a glimpse of the instruction Jesus contributed to this debate. David Hester tells us, “The eunuch of Matthew 19:12 has long been viewed as a symbol ..read more

So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27, Amplified Bible) This verse is often used against transgender and gender expansive/diverse people. Bigots wave this back and forth, claiming it is proof that the gender binary was ordained by God. But is that true? Remember, these Scriptures belonged to Jewish folk long before White European Christians absorbed and abused them. So what do the rabbis have to say? Male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27) G‑d created the first man as a two-sided creature ..read more

Women’s History Month doesn’t do enough to lift up black lesbians. Fifty years ago in Boston, several lesbian and feminist women of African descent founded the Combahee River Collective. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by and because of their ancestors — known and unknown — who came before them. Its name honors the military action of abolitionist Harriet Tubman — known as the 1863 Combahee River Raid — that freed over 750 enslaved people. The CRC’s founders and frequent participants were an A-list of Black feminism’s foremothers: Cheryl Clarke, Demit ..read more