Samuel Brown is a member of New Birth Church, the same church where Bishop Eddie Long has preached many anti-gay sermons. In 2004, Long led a march in Atlanta in support of banning same-sex marriage.
Brown also happens to be a gay male. Brown and his life partner Derrick joined New Birth initially, not saying a word about their sexuality to anyone. In light of the allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding Bishop Eddie Long, Brown has decided to share his story exclusively with BET News to express his discontent with his pastor.
Rev. Irene Monroe is a Ford Fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School.
In this interview, Irene will discuss her views on LGBT outreach to the African American community, “ex-gay” gospel singer Donnie McClurkin and the efforts of white evangelical politicians to lure black preachers.
One of Monroe’s outreach ministries is writing religion columns. She writes “The Religion Thang,” for In Newsweekly, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender newspaper that circulates widely throughout New England, “Faith Matters” for The Advocate Magazine, a national gay & lesbian magazine, and “Queer Take,” for The Witness, a progressive Episcopalian journal.
Her writings have also appeared in the Boston Herald and in the Boston Globe. Her award-winning essay, “Louis Farrakhan’s Ministry of Misogyny and Homophobia”, was greeted with critical acclaim.
Monroe states that her “columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American , queer and religious studies.” As an religion columnist she try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
Opponents of antigay prejudice and arrogance gathered in south Florida two months ago at the Anti-Heterosexism Conference to expose the deceit of the ex-gay and antigay movements.
Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Ph.D., presented the first keynote. Dr. Rhue serves as Director of Religious Affairs with the National Black Justice Coalition and is a scholar, writer, educator and sought-after public speaker. The title of her presentation was “STRAIGHT” Rackets: Why the Religious Right Needs Reparative Therapy.
The conference organizers have now made video of this address available. Video length: about 58 minutes.
Homophobia in the black church is an artifact of archaeology, and not an artifact of faith.
Authoritarian religious movements, filled with fear and loathing, wage an ongoing war against love.
Ten years ago, the ex-gay movement patterned a national ad campaign in a fashion some found starkly reminiscent of past campaigns against Negroes. In those times, southern Americans, largely Baptist, would conduct castrations and lynchings on Saturday nights and worship on Sundays without a hint of schizophrenia or guilt.
Jesus is not in the orientation-changing business, because sexual orientation is God-given and morally neutral
From Fred Phelps to Harry Jackson, numerous Christian Rightists demonstrate a basic lack of understanding of human sexuality and a lack of empathy for the harm they do.
The need of some Christian Rightists to be at war with some segment of the population highlights a lack of integrity and confidence in their theology.
The word “homosexuality” was invented in 1869, didn’t arrive in states until the turn of century, and did not appear in the Bible until c. 1940 as a mistranslation.
Most evangelical youth leave their church, never to return: They want faith, but not their parents’ faith.
The Anti-Heterosexism Conference was co-sponsored by Soulforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Truth Wins Out, Box Turtle Bulletin, Equality Florida, and Beyond Ex-Gay.
