I have to use the bathroom, so I excuse myself from the table and head toward the nearest restroom. Finally, relief. I linger at the sink, letting the water run over my hands a little longer than needed. It’s my favorite socially acceptable escape when
Since right-wing religionists and politicians discovered the use of “culture wars” to scare people into voting for them and their pet causes back in the Moral Majority era, we can understand why the leaders of these so-called “wars” have pushed this idea on the country
You can be gay, but not do gay. (Bishop Carlton Pearson, “Come Sunday”) I remember a church in which I was active during my early teen years running a kind of “deeper life/holiness” week titled “Christ is the Answer!” But I never really understood what
Winter is coming God, forgive them, for they know not what they do. These are words uttered in agony, a plea for grace amidst the most profound betrayal. I have started asking the question of “who” Jesus was talking to a lot these days. Was
We have few good role models to show us how to clean up the messes everyone inevitably makes in life, love, and leadership. Our president, in well-conditioned masculine fashion, won’t even entertain the idea that he’s made any. Our public relations industry and social media
I am fairly settled in my faith and how it informs my actions in the world. Yet, like a lot of others, I struggle to respond to myself with the same compassion, kindness, and love. If you struggle with treating yourself and others with love
For as long as I’ve followed the news and its weekly examples of the latest clergy or politician who has professed what are often called “family values” — which everyone knows is code for anti-LGBTQ+ equality — it has become routine, even expected, to find
Forgiving the sticks, stones and words that wound A Rosh Hashanah meditation Preached at the Unitarian Church in Charleston, S.C. I am the youngest of five children. The baby. I have a brother who is two years older than I am. Then, there is a
What does the reversal of Roe mean for Obergefell? Overturning marriage equality is now a present threat. Many of the issues both people of color and LGBTQ+ Americans confronted in President Trump’s first term — health care, unemployment, housing, immigration, voting rights, among others —
Just about seven years ago, our family had the privilege to get to know our child more deeply than we had ever known him. Our son, at the time our daughter, came out to us as transgender. While that took some explaining to understand, we