Category Archives: Blog
Reflecting God and Rethinking Scripture
Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler appears in the Many Voices Video Campaign, a visibility platform that illuminates the powerful presence of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Christians and allies within the Black church. Watch and share his video here. Every …
Confessions of a Beauty Queer: Saying Goodbye to Denial
Everyone keeps asking me, “What was it like navigating the pageant world as a queer woman?” I’m honestly not sure what answer anyone is looking for, but the answer I have is simple: It wasn’t like anything. Why? Because I …
Why I became honest about my truth as a Black, gay preacher
The Christian faith is about love and justice, but talking about life and light from the dark space of a closed closet would only perpetuate death. My words would be weakened if I weren’t honest about my own truth.
Is it worth it?
When you identify as a Christian, and you do it within the context of the Black Church, there is often an assumption that your thinking and reflection follow a very conservative and narrow understanding of who God is, and …
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 …
At what cost to these children of God?
My own journey as a Black, same-gender-loving man brought me, years ago, into a church whose pastor never uttered a condemning word. Outside the pulpit, the pastor was gentle and supportive. Inside the pulpit, he wasn’t gay-hateful, but neither …
A changed heart
The history described, of a written conversation with a friend about United Methodist and Biblical language about same sex unions and marriages is factual. A recent conversation with that friend, has led me to write this “imaginary letter” that he …
Talk is Cheap. Truth is Expensive.
Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree, a retired UMC elder, retired dean of Yale Divinity School of Divinity and former dean at Drew Theological Seminary, may now be the next clergy to face a church trial as a result of officiating the …
Breaking the cycle of shame and silence
This conversation was long overdue, and the time had finally come. For decades I had been living silently in my mother’s presence. I had grown tired of feeling like a coward who couldn’t speak his truth. I entered the guest …
Disclosure: Finding one’s voice amidst HIV/AIDS stigma
His 26 year old body was calculating comfortable, sprawled over a disheveled collection of towels and sheets constituting a makeshift mattress, littered with blood-tinged gauze pads, a towel soiled with oral secretions and a crusty suction tube. Upon seeing me …