A few months ago, when the news broke about Jennifer Tyrrell, the mother of a Cub Scout, being ousted from her position as a leader of her son's troop because she is a lesbian, a young adult friend of mine -- we'll call him J. -- called me to tell...

This week I was introduced to an online yearbook published by students of the Biola Queer Underground, an unsanctioned student organization at Biola University, a conservative Christian college outside Los Angeles. The photo layout in the publication features 15 brave students who used this creative medium to come...

It is Holy Week in the halls of justice as our justices in the Supreme Court consider the fate of Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). How fitting. They are hearing the arguments in the very week that Christians acknowledge the holy terror permitted by Pontius Pilate...

"How do geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within, if only we would listen to it, that tells...

Vatican Waging Holy War Against Sexual and Gender Minorities

The headline above first appeared on Dec. 5, 2000 in an announcement that Soulforce and Dignity/USA were combining forces to combat intolerance and planning a protest and vigil at the Vatican on Jan. 5-6, 2001.

Rev. Mel White, author...

On March 11, 2013, I was privileged to join hundreds of my fellow citizens for Equality Texas Lobby Day in Austin.

I wore several hats that day -- member of the Religion & Faith Council for the Human Rights Campaign, Executive Director of Soulforce, licensed...

On the International Day of Women, March 8, I was in Champaign-Urbana at the more than 90-year-old YMCA at the University of Illinois, home of the Fighting Illini. Their Y isn't a place where you show up to swim. It is a place where you learn to show up in...

I want to give a big shout-out to The New York Times for its persistent and intriguing coverage of Christian colleges and universities in the United States that are sifting and sorting their theological and ministry positions on homosexuality and gender expression. And I want to thank Times...

Ellen Chademana was in the worst place you could be in her home country of Zimbabwe: the Harare Central Remand Prison. The rotting jail was dark and overcrowded, with no toilets or running water. The floors were filthy, covered with feces from thousands of people. No one cared about the...

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

These are the words and wisdom of the writer of Ecclesiastes in what many Christians call the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. The writer succinctly...

The loss of lives in Newtown bears upon all of us. It is a good time to reflect on our understanding and ability to influence the people and the climate through which mass murders and genocide emerge. The International Watch for Genocide has studied the process whereby nations, communities, tribes...

For many years, my friend and colleague Don E. Messer has challenged the Church to break the conspiracy of silence about the global AIDS crisis.

If you meet Don anywhere, he is likely to hand you a bookmark that carries the logo of his organization, the Center...

I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one, I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general...

Without freedom, no one really has a name. --Milton Acorda

When looking back on these early years of the 21st century, we will remember the handful of people who made decisions to act in conscious defiance of the status quo -- to say out loud the names and needs of those...

On Wednesday, May 2, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 broadcast Pastor Sean Harris' sermon in which the spiritual leader of the Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, N.C. told dads in his congregation to "man up" with their 4-year-old boys who "act effeminate." Pastor Harris' recommendation to dads was to...

Early on Sunday, March 4, before the sun came up, I was outside a hotel in Philadelphia to say bon voyage to a bus full of young adult volunteers on the 2012 Soulforce Equality Ride. It was dark and cold outside, but the hope-filled energy and love of...

After a recent opportunity to engage with 23-year-old Matthew Segal, one of the founders of OurTime, I was thinking about why he intrigues me. I am more than twice his age. I am a Boomer. He is a millennial. Bottomline, I think Matthew is going to really shake...

What words, what story can I offer to refute the losses and, in the same moment, celebrate the indomitable spirits of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS?

Only the story I really know. My own. My brother, Patrick, died of complications of HIV in 1988 in...

On the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, many Western Christians begin a season of reflection called Advent, the official beginning of the church year and a great time to "restart." Historically, Advent has been a season of penitence, looking back to the suffering of Jesus Christ in behalf of humankind...

This is the third installment in a series about how we care for one another. As we await the deliberations of our bi-partisan Congress regarding the federal budget and listen to the righteous indignation of our elected officials with one another, I am reminded of the meanings of the words...