Phoenix, June 1-2
The CLGS OutFront Conferences are designed to help progressive people of faith and their allies throughout the country become voices of authority and agents of societal change in the current heated debates around sexuality and religion by developing and/or increasing their expertise in matters of sexuality and religion. CLGS is excited to be working with the Arizona-based group No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice on this OutFront weekend in June, especially on this conference devoted to family diversity. Marriage equality is not just about social justice; it's about family and it's about faith. OutFront Arizona will offer an excellent opportunity to consider anew the radically good news of the Gospel: every family is valued in the household of God where everyone finds a family - single or partnered, lesbian, straight, transgendered or gay. This is the first OutFront Conference devoted specifically to the issue of family diversity and CLGS is looking forward to building an ongoing alliance with progressive people of faith in the state of Arizona. For more information or to register for this conference, go to the CLGS website (www.clgs.org).

Working closely with PSR's PANA Institute, the CLGS Racial/Ethnic Roundtable Project has helped to create and sponsor the Network on Religious Justice for Asian and Pacific Islander LGBT People. Among the several projects undertaken by the Network is the documentary film, In God's House: Asian American Lesbian and Gay Families in the Church, including a study guide. This film offers a way to break the silence around sexuality in Asian American churches with honest and thought-provoking stories from church families. Screenings have been held both in the United States as well as in Japan, Taiwan and other international locations. The film will premier in San Francisco's Chinatown on June 1, 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Chinese for Affirmative Action, 17 Walter U. Lum Place. For more information on screenings, go to (http://www.ingodshouse.com/screenings.html). For more information on the Network, visit the CLGS website or the Network's own website at http://www.nrj-api-lgbt.org.

CLGS and PSR Welcomes Mel White this Summer!

The PSR Certificate in Sexuality and Religion provides both on-campus and on-line education for clergy, laity, and professionals from a wide range of vocations in the critical issues at the intersection of sexuality and religion. Courses for the CSR can be taken on course-by-course basis and are offered in week-long intensives during both the January Intersession and the Summer Session. This year PSR and CLGS are pleased to welcome the Rev. Mel White as one of our Summer Session faculty, who will be offering a course based on his latest book, "When Religion Goes Bad." Topics for the other courses include sexuality and the Bible, human sexuality and the church, HIV and theology and transgender issues in religion and faith communities. For more information on these courses and how to register, go to http://summer.psr.edu/.

The summer season always offers a variety of conferences and gatherings at the intersection of religion and sexuality. Some of the highlights this year include the following.

Witness Our Welcome is an annual interfaith event in the San Francisco Bay Area, this year sponsored by more than 30 congregations, PFLAG groups and other organizations. The worship service will take place on June 2 at 7:00 pm at Danville Congregational Church and will feature Rabbi Jhos Singer of the Coastside Jewish Community in Half Moon Bay. For more information contact Alan Kelchner (alan@danvillechurch.com).

The Religious Coalition for Equality in Washington State is inviting religious leaders, faith communities and faith-based organizations to march together in the Seattle Pride Parade on June 24. For more information, contact Kathy Sakahara (kathysakahara@hotmail.com).

Christian Lesbians Out (CLOUT) will convene in Atlanta July 12-15 around the theme "Crossing Borders, Confronting Racism, Claiming Grace." Speakers include Yvette Flunder, Irene Monroe, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, and Beverly Harrison. For more information, go to www.cloutsisters.org.

The Coalition for LGBT Concerns of the United Church of Christ will gather during its 35th anniversary year in Hartford, CT, June 19 - 21, just prior to the UCC General Synod, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary year. The Coalition will bring its diverse constituencies together around theme "God's Gift: Our Wholeness" (Bernard Schlager, CLGS Director of National Outreach, will be among the workshop facilitators.) For more information, go to http://www.ucccoalition.org.

The Reconciling Ministries Network of the United Methodist Church will convene its Ninth National Reconciling Convocation in Nashville August 2-5. Gathering around the theme "Faith, Hope and Love," the convocation will feature such speakers as Dr. Miguel De La Torre, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, Bishop Sharon Rader, Dr. David Myers, Rebecca Voelkel, Michael Yoshii, Randy Miller, Jorge Lockward and Troy Plummer (as well as a workshop by Jay Johnson, CLGS Acting Executive Director). For more information, go to http://www.rmnetwork.org/index.html.

Sign up for the Coalition e-newsletter!

The Bay Area Coalition of Welcoming Congregations (CWC), an innovative and unique CLGS project, sponsors a wide range of original local programming throughout the year. If you live in or near the San Francisco Bay Area and would like to stay informed of these and other events through a monthly CWC e-events calendar, go to www.cwcbay.org. "Join CWC Mail List" is located on the left-hand side of the page.

Erotic Justice, by Marvin M. Ellison Revolutionary Reading "Revolutionary Reading" is an occasional feature in this e-newsletter for linking scholarship and advocacy - a key aspect of the CLGS mission. In this issue we're featuring a book by a scholar who will also be speaking during the upcoming OutFront Arizona conference, Marvin M. Ellison, professor of Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine. While his book, Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996) is now more than ten years old, it's still a fresh and lively read with insights and observations still very much needed today. Rather than just personal or private sexual ethics, Ellison proposes to construct a social sexual ethic. As he notes in the Introduction, "Our loving well requires that we pursue justice in all social relations, including those closest to our skin." Thus the question he pursues throughout the book is this: "What would a profeminist, gay-positive, and anti-racist rereading of Christian tradition offer to the renewal of Christian sexual ethics?" Clearly grounded in solid academic scholarship yet accessible to a wide audience, Ellison provides in this book the means to connect a variety of topics and issues - such as liberation theology, pleasurable sex, domestic violence, and economic justice - into an integrated vision of erotic spirituality. The way he links cultural and religious analysis on these issues helps enormously in constructing that integrated vision. (If you order this book through the Amazon portal on the CLGS website, CLGS will receive a potion of your purchase price!)