Faith, the final frontier
GLBT rights movements across the nation are beginning to discover what many of us gay Christians have known all along - God matters.
If GLBT and allied political organizations want to build a broad consensus and achieve lasting progress toward equality, then they need to join hands with justice-minded people of faith. Hat tip to Rick for this article on the NGLTF merger with the Institute for Welcoming Resources.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the country's oldest gay rights organization, announced Monday that a religious organization representing 1,400 Protestant congregations that unconditionally welcome gays and lesbians has merged with the task force. Over the next five years, the task force wants to increase membership in the Institute for Welcoming Resources to 10,000 congregations ...
The merger means organizations working for acceptance of gays and lesbians in several denominations -- including the Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran churches -- will be part of the task force ...
This activity shows that the religious right is not the only religious voice on gay and lesbian issues, said Jay Johnson, programming director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
These alliances are beginning to take root across the nation, at every level from federal to state and local. Most well known is the HRC's religion and faith program. Here in in Minnesota the Faith, Family Fairness Alliance (FFFA) is a partnership between OutFront Minnesota and communities of faith to oppose an anti-GLBT consitutional amendment.
These developments signal an encouraging trend as we mobilize against the religious right and their unbiblical, un-Christian 'Christian vs. homosexual' wedge politics.