On Friday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted by a substantial margin to affirm the ministries of gay and lesbian clergy in "committed, lifelong, same-gender relationships." In the words of my colleagues at the ELCA, the vote means "ending the discriminatory two‐tier system of the past and...

I am appalled by how some of the mainstream media has covered the assassination of Dr. George Tiller this past week. The New York Times blog asked "Is It a Moral Murder?" The Religious News Service blog asked, "Is there Biblical evidence for murdering someone to potentially save...

Despite recent advances for marriage equality for same-sex couples in New England and Iowa, public support still wavers. The latest poll from Quinnipiac University indicates that only a third of Americans believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. An ABC News-Washington Post poll registered stronger support...

You know when marriage equality comes to Iowa that lesbian and gay equality has become a mainstream American value. Yet the Iowa court decision recognizing marriage rights for same-sex couples arrived the very week that new articles appeared in Newsweek, the Washington Post and U.S. News...

Last week, the Obama administration released its first peek at its 2010 budget. One part that has received little attention so far calls for "state, community-based, and faith-based efforts to reduce teen pregnancy using evidence-based models. The program will fund models that stress the importance of abstinence while providing...

I became a minister after a 25-year career in sexuality education. I took courses at three different seminaries and was stunned to discover that none of them had a full-time course on sexuality issues for ministers; that sexuality, ever-present in the Scriptures, was barely mentioned in my classes on the...

There comes a moment in justice movements when society edges forward just enough that once-heated controversies - suffrage, racial integration, interracial marriage - become part of the cultural fabric. Sexism and racism may continue to simmer, but the overall movement can declare victory and move on.

On Election Day,...

The conventional wisdom is that religious people oppose marriage rights for same-sex couples. The conventional wisdom is wrong. This Unitarian Universalist minister is thrilled that I can now perform legal marriages for lesbian and gay couples in my home state of Connecticut. And I am hardly alone.

Today...

Sex education has made it into the presidential campaign, but not in the way I might have hoped.

I'd like to hear more about how sexuality education can be an important component of both educational policy and efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies. When almost nine in 10...

The John McCain campaign says this is a just a private family matter. Sen. Barack Obama says candidates' families, especially children, are off limits. But when family matters relate directly to policy matters, they are fair for discussion.

Obviously, I am referring to the media coverage surrounding Alaska Gov. Sarah...

You may remember the "Compassion Forum" last April at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, where Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spoke of their personal faith and America's response to poverty, AIDS and the environment. Unfortunately, there was little room at the Compassion Forum for women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and...

Watch this clip from the BBC.

Really. Stop now and watch it. It's less than two minutes. And it brought me to tears.

If you don't recognize the clergyman who is speaking, you have surely heard of him. He's the Right Rev. Gene Robinson, the ninth bishop...

Is it mere coincidence that Jamie Lynn Spears, the 17-year-old actor and sister of Britney, had her baby on Thursday, just one day after Time magazine reported a "pregnancy boom" at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts? Some might say that coincidence is God's way of getting our attention....

Earlier this month I was in San Francisco, meeting with a few dozen friends and colleagues who have spent their careers working for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in every aspect of our religious and civic life. Many are ordained clergy; many are in committed, long-term...

As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I am often called on by couples I don't know to perform their wedding ceremonies. These couples generally are from different religions or one is divorced or they don't belong to a church or synagogue. Before I will marry anyone, I ask to meet with...

You probably didn't hear about it. I thought perhaps I had just missed the television and press coverage, but when I Googled it, I didn't find any key national news stories. Entertainment press covered the benefit, local press covered the event, but such sources as the New York Times, CNN,...

On Thursday of this week, my organization is co-sponsoring a Congressional panel on religious support for sexuality education. It seems somewhat ironic to be telling members of Congress why they should support teaching sexuality education to young people in the midst of the latest revelations of sexual misconduct by yet...

You've read the allegations. I don't need to repeat them.

The compulsive game of "sexual gotcha" has officially begun this election season. More than a few commentators have worried what will happen if there is a not-so-unexpected discovery of a Bill Clinton post-White House affair. We remember back to other...

Unbelievably, late last week, the conference committee on the Labor and Health appropriations bill agreed to the Bush administration's request for more money for abstinence-only-until-marriage education. The new total in the reconciled appropriations bill is $141 million, $28 million more than it was this year.

From...

The articles and TV news stories on the Portland school board's 7 - 2 decision to provide prescription contraceptives at school based health clinics in middle school have featured alarming headlines like "Kiddie Birth Control," "Birth Control for Kids?" and "Birth Control Pills for 11-Year-Old Girls." What most have failed...