Let’s review what we’ve learned as we face 2021. The moveable middle is shrinking. This is both good and bad news. It means that more people are sympathetic with causes for equality, while it also means that others are stuck in the extremist right-wing and
One of the features of being in foster care for many, especially in the ’70s and ’80s, was there was no contact with the birth family to be had. Depending on family circumstances, that can be a good or bad thing. But the result is
October is historically LGBTQ+ History Month, but we’ll really learn a lot that’s useful every day from recent anti–LGBTQ+ history. Most importantly, when we look back at it, we learn that there’s nothing new today that’s being said about LGBTQ+ people by their detractors. Yes,
We can’t deny that we were warned in 2006 during the height of the anti-LGBTQ+ crusades: “Consciously or unconsciously, fundamentalist Christians are using their anti-homosexual campaign to test how much intolerance the American people will tolerate.” Since that time, just as insider Mel White predicted
I’m beautiful in my way ‘cause God makes no mistakes I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way … No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life I’m on the right track baby, I was born to survive. (Lady Gaga, “Born
Will American Catholics embrace love? As I cope with the Sunday-morning death of my father, thoughts of religion and spirituality occupy me. As extended family gathered around his deathbed last week, I reflected on my membership in a large Irish-Catholic clan. While much of my
The next time you’re confronted with a homophobic or transphobic person who wants to bully you with the Bible, try this simple four-step formula for dealing with the situation, courtesy of the chorus of the Kenny Rogers hit “The Gambler,” whose first four lines go
“I feel like I’m undercover in my own home, waiting to be discovered for who I truly am.” These are the words of my peer — let’s call them “Ollie” — who lives in a constant state of anxiety and paranoia since they have returned
According to what we’re told in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian “Old Testament”), Jonathan, a king’s son, loved a man who would become a more famous king, David — and David in turn loved Jonathan. No matter the actual history behind the story, what we’re
People bring their prejudices with them when they come to the Bible. It’s why the most popular of the choices of how to interpret those passages used to clobber LGBTQ+ people is the one that is historically less probable but supports a dominant cultural prejudice.