Category Archives: Youth and young adult

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

Back To School For LGBTQ Justice

  By Rev. Cedric A. Harmon By now, students in our nations’ K-12 schools, colleges, and universities have settled into classes for the Fall. We’re also just completing LGBTQ History Month, and as a person who has dedicated my life …

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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

Black Lives Matter to the Black Church

When I came home from college for winter break I noticed a flyer on my church’s Facebook page that said December 14th was designated as “Black Lives Matter” Sunday. It was a couple weeks after the Grand Jury decision to not …

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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 …

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Having the conversation, even when you’re not sure how

Rev. Dr. Terence Leathers 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. As …

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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 …

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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 …

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