Category Archives: Gender
Praying While Black
Even as the Confederate flag is removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, shock waves are still echoing off the walls of our institutions after the June 17 Charleston Massacre. The funerals are over and people will carry on, but …
A letter to the National Baptist Fellowship of Concerned Pastors
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Recently, I learned of your public protest against the leadership of Dr. Forrest Harris, President of American Baptist College of Nashville, and his decision to invite Bishop Yvette Flunder, …
Reflecting on Black Sexualities, Black Religiosity, & Black Lives in Anti-Black Times
These reflections were first shared on October 20, 2014 at the Columbia University conference, “Are the Gods Afraid of Black Sexuality? Religion and the Burdens of Black Sexual Politics,” and published in TheFeministWire.com Seventy-three days ago, Mike Brown, Jr., an …
What kind of father?
You could probably call my father a social justice minister because he outwardly acknowledged the devastating effects of racism, the gaps between those who had and those who did not, the lack of humanity for people in prison, and the …
5 tips to begin welcoming gay/transgender people in the church
Perhaps you love your congregation, but you’re troubled or hurt by its failure to acknowledge and affirm the presence of gay and transgender (LGBT) people. You know the church is failing in its mission to welcome all, but it’s hard …
Growing the economy of belonging
We frequently look at belonging, in society and in the body of Christ, as a limited and diminishing account – few are called and few will ever measure up enough to make the cut! What does Jesus have to say …
“Get out! You’re a girl!”
The shout rang out from the men’s room in the Chicago airport, and I heard it all the way in the women’s room next door. My husband had taken our son, Sam, who is seven, to the bathroom between flights. It was not the first time I’d heard such a shout. I ran out with my daughter to find out what was happening to Sam.
My pink boy is not alone
My son Sam loves the color pink.
He wore a dress to preschool, spent years pretending he was a princess, and now, as a third-grader, he has long flowing hair and a fondness for all things sparkly. He is a pink boy. Like a tomboy, only different.