Pro-LGBT Christians Address Racism and Gender Identity at Fa

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Temenos, USA
By David Mariner on August 30, 2008 10:42 PM

Pro-LGBT Christians Address Racism and Gender Identity at Faith Conference

Hundreds of pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
Christians will tackle issues of race, class, ability, age, gender
identity and ------ orientation at the Many Stories, One Voice
conference to take place in New Orleans, La., Sept. 4-7. Two
pre-conference institutes will discuss, *nalyze and strategize on how
to organize around these issues.

On Wednesday, Sept. 3, participants will converge at For Such a Time
as This, a gathering of transgender people and allies to discuss the
dynamics of ministry with the transgender community, the challenges
and advantages of becoming more visible in their faith communities and
how to build relationships of support and accountability between
transgender people and their allies. This pre-conference institute is
convened by TransFaith Online in an effort to highlight transgender
people and their concerns, as they become more visible in both secular
and religious communities.

"Too often, as Christians and as Americans, we have viewed differences
in identity as deficits, as problems, as things to be overcome," says
the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, Institute for Welcoming Resources and faith
work director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "This
conference celebrates the ways in which difference tells us something
about the richness and the vast creativity of God. If I do not pause
and listen to what God is telling me through my transgender kin, I am
the poorer for it. If I do not pause and listen to what God is telling
me through my brothers and sisters of color, I am the weaker for it.
These pre-conference institutes are critical both for transforming the
systems of oppression and for celebrating the gifts that come when we
do the transformational work."

On Thursday, Sept. 4, conference attendees will converge for An
Un-Holy Alliance: Racism, Classism, Homophobia, Bi-phobia, Transphobia
and How We Can Be Prophets of Liberation. The sad truth is that
Christian tradition has been a primary player in both the creation of
and the perpetuation of oppression. Utilizing a focus on racism, this
day will help participants move beyond the symptoms of racism to an
understanding of what racism is, where it comes from, how it
functions, why racism persists and how it can be undone. Participants
will leave this workshop with a common language and process to use in
their work as pro-LGBT Christians.

Many Stories, One Voice: The North American Convocation of Pro-LGBT
Christians, convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, will
offer new tools and training in the areas of faith-based community
organizing, media training, board development, fund-raising, research,
biblical studies, theology, capacity-building and other concrete
skills. Participants will also engage in discussions about issues of
race, class, ability, age, embodiment, gender identity and ------
orientation. And in the end, each participant will emerge with
individual and shared action plans for how to move the pro-LGBT
Christian movement forward.

For more information or to register, please visit www.manystoriesonevoice.org.
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sent to me by: Stephanie Stevens

Biirtha Z.
Edmonton's TransNews Service

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`I just don't get it how someone can be pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender AND christian.

Sure, you are pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, but still, you love to advocate and live your life by a book that is absurdly racist, homophobic and chauvinistic. RIGHT. Makes a lot of sense.

[reigh]

`I dont think Christians, like other religion will ever be supported with third sex, at all. One reason Im no longer a catholic and be agnostic instead. Being pro third --- can be a choice of an individual, a movement or group, but never by religion.

[noodle434]

`I didn't know Christians were pro-anything except for being pro-against everything. lol It is good that they are doing this though.

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`There are LGBT Christians who see the scriptures in different ways than the typical Evangelical and who cannot recognize spirituality in any different manner. As widely disparate as the Abrahamic religions are, we should expect that virtually any issue can be harmonized if one wants to harmonize it.

An event like this is like the proverbial silver lining in what is generally a pretty nasty storm cloud.

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I think what I am going to say is going to be very controversial, but it may just be my own insight and I would take it for a grain of salt. It's just an opinion and theory.

I think that there is a philosophy of governance among certain rich people and politicians that dictates a limit of allowed governance over a population, and part of that concerns itself with how many people can be reasonably governed in relationship to the environment and available resources. Maybe these powers ally themselves [based on these principles] with outlying groups and have decided that it is time to reverse the polarity of emphasis for population growth. Maybe these powers once sided with various religious groups such as Christianity and encouraged marriage and families with opposite --- couples who in response readily made such principles core doctrine for themselves to follow. And then all of a sudden you have booming population growth. These same people watch and make calculations about people a resources, and what amount of peaceable authority can be maintained before complete anarchy. A decision is then made by these powers to cut ties with certain outlying philosophies that promoted reproduction, marriage and family and to increase support for groups that won't cause many new people to be born. They begin to give them rights equal to or beyond others who have had them and proceed to make them seem the more desirable class. The population begins to drop. And what happens next? I don't know. Probably the same cycle over and over again. Is it a good or bad thing? I don't know.

It's just an opinion and theory.