Camille is a twentysomething working in the LGBT nonprofit industry. She runs an LGBT news blog at gaywrites.org.
In Keithville, Louisiana, a church has banned an Alcoholics Anonymous group from meeting on its premises for fear that they’ll later be forced to hold same-sex weddings. Last month, Pastor David Venable of Westwood Baptist Church (not to be confused with the Westboro Baptist Church) sent a letter to the leaders of the AA group, letting them know that if the church came across as tolerant enough to host AA meetings, they would eventually be required to marry same-sex couples as… Read more
A church in California has been ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention after embracing a vague policy not to denounce LGBT people. Earlier this year, Danny Cortez (below), the pastor at the New Heart Community Church, gave a sermon called “Why I Changed My Mind on Homosexuality” that sparked discussion among congregants about the church’s stance on LGBT people. They put the issue to a vote, ultimately deciding to take a step toward LGBT-inclusiveness (we wrote about the vote in much more detail here): Read more
Focus on the Family has released a mind-boggling “resource” that you simply cannot overlook. “How to Talk To Your Children About Homosexuality,” a gem of a packet by Jeff Johnston, is split into sections for preschoolers, elementary schoolers, and kids 12 and over. A quick caveat: Focus on the Family wants you to know that this is NOT for parents who actually have (*gasp*) LGBT children. Should you find yourself in that situation, there’s a hotline you can call for urgent assistance. I wish I were kidding, but this is literally printed on the first page: Read more
Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religion Liberty Commission (ERLC) posted a video of friendly Christians tackling a difficult subject: “How to Care For Your Gay Neighbor.” (Translation: “How to Justify Your Hatred of Gay People.”) In the video, ERLC’s Lindsay Swartz interviews Rosaria Butterfield, who is famous for all the wrong reasons. Butterfield is the self-described “unlikely convert” who has written widely about her conversion from a feminist lesbian English professor to an evangelical pastor’s wife. Back in February, students at Wheaton College demonstrated at her presentation about “religious and sexual conversion,” arguing that Butterfield’s narrative is “not the only story” when it comes to being LGBT and Christian. And now, because she’s been around that block, Butterfield (on the right, below) is apparently the right-wing authority on talking to and about LGBT people. Here’s the video: Read more
For the first time ever, an LGBT group (yes, only one) will be allowed to march openly in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade. And Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and an Irish-American with a long track record of opposing LGBT equality, is the grand marshal. But that’s not the funny part here. Dolan is surprisingly on board with the parade allowing LGBT people; other Catholics, however, had comically panicked reactions. The most hilarious of these came from Catholic League president Bill Donohue (below, left), who essentially told journalist Michelangelo Signorile that he’s afraid of gays masturbating publicly during the parade. Read more
