Blogs
Greater NW Pride: Is God Gay?
2/17/2021
Is God Gay? My answer, as the blogger, is yes. This is not the view of any official theological position of any denomination, including The United Methodist Church or Presbyterian Church (USA), which is the denomination in which I am ordained. And my response to this rhetorical question is yes. God is gay. Background. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the increased use of non-gender specific language in society and in the Church (universal) in terms of how we address one another. Many ...
Greater NW Pride: Recognizing NBHAD (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness DAY)
2/9/2021
Recognizing NBHAD (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness DAY) February 7th was NBHAD, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. As Drs. Stephen Tang and Giffin Daughtridge wrote on hivplusmag.com, it “is a day to highlight the disproportionate impact of HIV on Black communities, to celebrate the work of Black HIV advocates, and to support Black people living with HIV in America. We also celebrate the efforts of our local and federal partners, the HIV workforce, and community advocates who have ...
Greater NW Pride: “My Name is Pauli Murray”
2/2/2021
“My Name is Pauli Murray” For over twenty-five years of my adult life, I lived in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. My Ph.D. came from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), in special education with a focus in the humanities. My doctoral studies were split evenly between UNC-CH and Duke University in Durham, NC. I got to know the “Tobacco Mile,” as the road was called between the two campuses, well. I lived in Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Pittsboro, NC. ...
Greater NW Pride: LGBTQIA+ Young People and the Church
1/26/2021
LGBTQIA+ Young People and the Church “When did you know you were gay?” is a question I am often asked in this work as the LGBTQIA+ Advocacy Coordinator. As I’ve said before on this blog and in many conversations in many church groups, I was either in the second or third grade at the time. I simply found myself more interested in young boys my age rather than young girls. Here was a pseudo-test for figuring all this out. Many people are asked when they kissed or wanted to kiss a person ...
Greater NW Pride: Symbols Matter
1/22/2021
Symbols Matter Symbols and signs in our culture matter. They are indicators of what direction a people and a culture are taking. The difference between a symbol and a sign is that “a symbol can convey a deeper and more complex meaning than a sign. A sign is an indicator or marker for something very specific, very concrete and, in general, unambiguous in meaning. ... A symbol conveys a message of deeper meaning and is open to interpretation.” Another way of saying it is that symbols, more ...