Category Archives: Sexual orientation

Becoming Love Medicine

I stood there in the Norman Manley Airport of Kingston, Jamaica. My small 11-year-old palm connected to my lanky brown hand held tightly on to my mother’s full warm palm center.   What do you do when your home and …

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Posted in Black Lives Matter, Blog, Bullying/violence, Church leaders, Economic disparities, Family, Gay/lesbian, Gender, Interfaith, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Stigma, Women of color, Youth and young adult | Comments Off on Becoming Love Medicine

For Freedom’s Sake: Ending Child Sexual Abuse in Black Churches

I am a freedom fighter, writer, minister, scholar, and survivor of child sexual abuse. I am also the founder of Children of Combahee, a newfound project through the Just Beginnings Collaborative that mobilizes against child sexual abuse in Black church …

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Posted in Black Lives Matter, Blog, Bullying/violence, Children, Church leaders, Family, Gay/lesbian, Gender, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Stigma, Women of color, Youth and young adult | Comments Off on For Freedom’s Sake: Ending Child Sexual Abuse in Black Churches

“But Those Were Just Words”: Things We Should Stop Saying After This Election

By Jameelah Jones, M.A. This commentary originally appeared on Jameelah Jones’ Medium blog.  I won’t type the presidential election results because you already know them. For 24 hours, I didn’t know what so say. For many of us who do …

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Posted in Black Lives Matter, Blog, Economic disparities, Gay/lesbian, Gender, Respectability, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Stigma | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on “But Those Were Just Words”: Things We Should Stop Saying After This Election

Treading Water: The United Methodist Church’s Latest Plea

    As I watched the business of the 2016 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, my mind flashed back to my childhood. I remembered being a lifeguard. I used to teach people how to tread water. This was …

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Queer flesh and worship respectability

    Following the memorial service for Daryl Coley, I stood in awe at the numerous social media posts, re-posts and comments — both of B. Slade’s virtuosic performance of Donald Lawrence’s “When Sunday Comes” and the video clips of …

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The Black church: Bold and bad enough to accept and affirm

The Black Church has been a strong pillar of the community. I pray that it will have the courage not only to accept, but affirm its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender children. The recent VH1 segment, Out in Hip Hop: …

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Posted in Church leaders, Congregational life, Economic disparities, Family, Gay/lesbian, Hospitality, Media portrayal, Opening to change, Pop culture, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Stigma, Straight allies, Transgender, Youth and young adult | Comments Off on The Black church: Bold and bad enough to accept and affirm

Maybe Same Sex Marriage IS God’s Will

We are not the same America. We are not the same America that we were 20 or even 10 years ago. For decades, civil liberties framed the discourse about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) justice. Now marriage, a union …

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Posted in Church leaders, Church seasons, Congregational life, Family, Gay/lesbian, Hospitality, Opening to change, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Straight allies, Theology, Transgender | Comments Off on Maybe Same Sex Marriage IS God’s Will

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, …

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Posted in Church leaders, Gay/lesbian, Gender, Hospitality, Opening to change, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Straight allies, Theology, Transgender | Comments Off on A letter to the National Baptist Fellowship of Concerned Pastors

Laying my burdens down: Embracing Black, Queer Christians in the church

In February, Black LGBT activists Wade Davis, Tiq Milan, and Darnell Moore hosted a #ThisIsLuv town hall forum in Washington, D.C. #ThisIsLuv brought the Black Queer community together and showcased the support and love that we receive from our friends …

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Posted in Congregational life, Family, Gay/lesbian, Opening to change, Sexual orientation, Social justice, Straight allies, Theology, Transgender | Comments Off on Laying my burdens down: Embracing Black, Queer Christians in the church

When is “enough” enough?

Recently, some African American pastors who came to “heckle” me changed their minds and instead asked me what they could do to move the conversation about moral equality for LGBT people in the Black church forward. I appreciate their honesty …

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Posted in Blog, Church leaders, Congregational life, Gay/lesbian, Opening to change, Sexual orientation, Straight allies, Theology | Comments Off on When is “enough” enough?