The 52 Ways to Expand Your Welcome to LGBTQ+ People and Our Families Series
During this, our 20th Anniversary Year, we have reprised — and updated! — our popular weekly blog 52 Ways to Expand Your Welcome to LGBTQ+ People and Our Families. Every week, for the past year, we have posted suggestions on how your faith community can become more welcoming to – and inclusive of – LGBTQ+ […]
As the summer draws to a close and school starts up again, your support for LGBTQ youth, parents, and teachers can make a big difference. We hope that going back to school – safely and in person, when possible – will be a positive opportunity for growth and learning for everyone; yet this is often […]
Once your congregation has made the decision to welcome and include LGBTQ people, don’t keep the news of your welcome within the walls of the congregation – spread the word! There are many effective ways of doing this, including regular congregational advertisements in the gay and straight press (both online and print); postings on the […]
Create Inclusive Space Congregational space can be exclusive space especially with regard to transgender individuals. For instance, most congregations still do not provide all-gender restroom facilities and this omission can be a considerable barrier for transgender persons who belong, attend, or visit your congregation. Providing at least one accessible all-gender restroom is an important sign […]
Once a congregation has publicly declared its welcome, it needs to work toward including and integrating queer people more fully in all aspects of congregational life. Since a community of care assumes, accepts, and celebrates the presence of queer people within its midst, the day-to-day life of the congregation should reflect this. Renovating congregational life […]
By genuinely welcoming and integrating LGBTQ people into a congregation all members can experience transformation. When individuals who once were unwelcome and perhaps even unnamed are brought into a community of faith, new perspectives are gained on what it means to live as people of faith. When individuals who have been marginalized for so long […]
LGBTQ people understand from years of experience that they are unwelcome in most congregations. Since our culture is saturated with the anti-queer rhetoric of religious leaders who claim to represent the only authentic Jewish and Christian positions on homosexuality, a congregation that seeks to become welcoming needs to state clearly and publicly its welcome in […]