In the lobby of Southminster Steinhauer United Church in Edmonton.
Rainbow banners fly outside the front doors.
"You know how vampires have no reflections in the mirror?" the Pulitzer Prize-winning author asked an audience at the Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ in 2009. "If you want to make a human being a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves."
"And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn't see myself reflected at all. I was like, 'Yo, is something wrong with me?' That the whole society seems to think that people like me don't exist? And part of what inspired me was this deep desire, that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors, so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it."
Junot Diaz, quoted in an article by Billy Nilles
“How can I speak up in front of a society when I am a criminal under Section 377?” she [Akkai Padmashali, a transgender activist] asked.
“I think the answer is, it begins with what you just did, which is to find your voice and be able to articulate your views and your experiences, and tell your story,” Obama answered.
“And that’s true of any group that is marginalized, stigmatized,” he continued. “Finding that voice, and being able to tell a story so that the perceptions somehow that you are different are broken down, because they start seeing their experiences in you. They see your humanity.”
“Once that voice is there, hopefully others join you. So now you have networks, and organizations, and allies,” he said.
“And then, once that happens, it’s a matter of applying political pressure and being able to mobilize public opinion,” he instructed.
Today, we apologize to former students of Newfoundland and Labrador residential schools and to the families, loved ones, and communities for the painful & tragic legacy these schools left behind: https://t.co/BKatosyFfM pic.twitter.com/PsJ30Zr6zj— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 24, 2017
LIVE NOW – Official apology in the House for the state-sponsored, systemic oppression, and rejection of LGBTQ2 people: https://t.co/55bmrnw6vZ— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 28, 2017
"Standing Stones is a gathering of Aboriginal and Non-aboriginal People to explore God in an Aboriginal Context. We come to worship Jesus, infusing Cree symbols into Christian ceremony. We smudge to purify our minds, hearts and spirits in order to come to a clearer understanding of God; we seek wisdom in Aboriginal story and scripture, we ask for God’s healing water and prayer on ourselves and our community and we celebrate God’s activities in our lives though the sharing of bannock and berries. Standing Stones is a fresh expression of Jesus to the Aboriginal Community and to the diocese. The hope is that this gathering is a means of Christ’s reconciling Love to heal ancient wounds and enlighten the next generation of all Canadians."(source)
"Data suggests that about 75 percent of any organization’s LGBT population remain in the closet … because they’re too scared to come out. I know this from first-hand experience. I was one of those employees."Read the rest of his talk at https://www.vsotd.com/featured-speech/making-small-talk-case-lgbt-diversity-and-inclusion
"Employees who feel connected to the workplace—who feel free to speak their mind without fear of being “outed”—and who feel connected to their co-workers—are more engaged and feel more empowerment.
Ideas flow more genuinely. People trust one another more. Collaboration rises.
Did you know, by the way, that natural work groups perform cognitive tasks 32 percent better when LGBT team members are “out” as opposed to when they are closeted?"
By incorporating this statistic into Bouguereau’s traditional religious portrait, Handel challenges the understanding of Christian views on homosexuality. Bouguereau’s idyllic depiction of the affectionate infants Jesus and John the Baptist in the loving embrace of the Virgin Mary evoke Christ's and Mary's love and compassion for all humanity, including the ten percent who may be gay or lesbian. The peacefulness of the scene emphasizes the stark contrast between the great benevolence and love expressed by Christ in the Bible and the hatred and violence directed towards the LGBT community that some attempt to justify with Christian ideology.
Most congregations do their best to be welcoming, but being affirming goes deeper and is public, intentional, and explicit, in their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Think “PIE”: Public, Intentional, and Explicit.
Public: An Affirming Ministry uses symbols and signs which are echoed outside and inside the church building, in worship, and in all other facets of church life. The broader community should also know what it stands for; a witness to the wider community that God’s love extends to everyone equally and without reserve. This is still a radical message!
Intentional: An Affirming Ministry is deliberate in their process of study, education and dialogue with members of their faith community (both during the Affirming process and as a piece of their ongoing work), to ensure that the history of oppression and discrimination by the Church is both understood and acknowledged, and that continued growth, education, and celebration are part of its ministry.
Explicit: Affirming Ministries should explicitly indicate in their Mission and Vision statement – and everywhere else! – that the LGBTQ+ community is a part of and embraced in all facets of church life. And as part of the Affirming process, their faith community will explore and explain how to live out that commitment.
GBA+ is an analytical tool used to assess the potential impacts of policies, programs, services, and other initiatives on diverse groups of women and men, taking into account gender and other identity factors. The "plus" in the name highlights that GBA+ goes beyond gender, and includes the examination of a range of other intersecting identity factors (such as age, education, language, geography, culture and income).Part of the goal of using GBA+ is to ensure that programs and services which are intended to produce positive results do not inadvertently have a negative effect on one subset of the population.
A new Church is coming, or rather with each passing day it is becoming; person by person being renovated.
Heart by heart it is waking up.
For a long time we have been shamed into silence, relegated to the periphery of the faith community, believing in quiet. But these days demand volume and today we raise our voices so that there can be no mistaking our intentions.
We are unrepentantly, unwaveringly LGBTQ-affirming Christians.
We will continue to make the Church and this world a more open, loving, and safe place for the queer community and their families.