The Catholic Church, in a letter to Scouts for Equality (SFE), states that it is "hopeful" about the future of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) even if it votes to include openly gay scouts later this week.
Religion and Faith
News of LGBT and allied people of faith, and stories that show the ways in which people of faith interact with the LGBT community
Latest Update on Religion and Faith
11/29/12
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum is the senior Rabbi at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, which is the largest LGBT congregation in the world. In honor of her 20th year at CBST, Rabbi Kleinbaum recorded a “You’ve Got” video for AOL, discussing her activism and passion for LGBT equality.
11/29/12
Religious voices are dangerously absent in the international outcry against the anti-LGBT bill poised to pass in Uganda this year.
11/28/12
Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren recently spoke with CNN's Piers Morgan about his work fighting the spread of AIDS in Africa as well as his views on sexual orientation. Warren compared being gay to wanting to punch another person in the face, claiming that we all have "natural" desires that should not be acted on. Warren has not yet made any statements regarding Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill, which he condemned only after public pressure when it was originally introduced in 2009.
11/28/12
This week's Religion News Summary highlights the positive response of faith communities to the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda, and a proposed gay Muslim mosque in France.
11/28/12
Filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo is exploring her family history and finding LGBT people weren't discussed in her family. In her film, Memories of a Penitent Heart, she explores the relationship between her gay uncle, her devoutly Roman Catholic grandmother, Puerto Rican culture, and a world that was waking up to the reality of AIDS.
11/26/12
Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill is still in play, and its connection to American Evangelical leaders has become clearer. Scott Lively, who is profiled on GLAAD’s CAP page, led an “anti-homosexuality” conference in Kampala, Uganda in 2009. He is now taking credit for much of the bill in an article published on World Net Daily. At the time of the conference, Lively was heavily criticized by the international community for meeting directly with Ugandan government officials and pushing for what has become known as the “Kill the Gays” bill.
11/21/12
In honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance, Univision news program Primer Impacto aired a segment to educate its viewers on the violence and discrimination transgender people face around the world, and to remember the lives lost to anti-transgender violence.
11/20/12
After Hurricane Sandy (which was totally not God’s punishment for marriage equality), the LGBT Religion News Summary is back, featuring the election, gay Muslims around the world, and Bishop Gene Robinson.
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02/13/13
Pope benedict XVI announced his resignation on Monday, prompting the question fo whether his successor will take up his anti-gay mantile, or steer the Catholic Church in a new direction.
02/13/13
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, defended Uganda’s odious”Kill the Gays” bill and other legislation oppressing LGBT people. Last year, the National Catholic Register quoted Turkson as saying that the desire to imprison or execute gays and lesbians was understandable because hatred of gays is so ingrained in Africa: “The intensity of the reaction [to homosexuality] is probably commensurate with tradition.”
02/13/13
A prominent conservative interest group has launched a petition to suspend all federal funding from the National Cathedral in light of the landmark church's recent decision to perform same-sex weddings.
02/13/13
If you don’t know Kathy Baldock, you should. She’s a straight evangelical Christian who works very hard to bridge the divide between the LGBT community and evangelical Christian churches.
02/13/13
One Christian minister, a lesbian who leads a congregation in Chandler Park, said it's time for the Boy Scouts of America to lift its ban on gay members and leaders.
02/12/13
Jeannine Gramick, a Roman Catholic nun and co-founder of a U.S. ministry for gay and lesbian Catholics, met Pope Benedict XVI only once, by chance, on a plane flying from Baltimore to Rome in the late-'90s.
02/12/13
Three weeks ago, I attended the 25th annual Creating Change Conference as part of a delegation from the University of Pennsylvania’s LGBT center. I was fortunate enough to be a part of their first ever Latino Institute — a full day of workshops focusing specifically on the intersection between a Latin@ and queer identity.
02/12/13
Gay rights activists say they are satisfied with a new version of the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act that has been introduced in the House this session. It's the second attempt at this bill, which was first introduced last year, but died in the Senate.