Hello all,
I'm not GLBTQ, but I am supportive of them and have lots of friends who are and who are very into their faith.

I'm an Episcopalian.

Thought I'd say hi.

I hope I am welcome here even though I'm not GLBT.

Good evening, my brothers and sisters in Christ! I joined recently and wanted to introduce myself.

My name is Sally, I'm 28 years old, and I recently returned to Christ after a long time away. (My story is a bit long.)


I'm glad I found a community like this! This is one place where I am not stuffed in to a double closet because of the combination of my faith and orientation.

Anyways, I am looking forward to being a part of this community!

There's a really cool poem I found on another member's page. They posted it publicly, but didn't give the name of the author. I'd like to share it for it really speaks the sentiments of many of us here. I only wish I could credit the author by their rightful name. (I corrected the spelling and grammar a bit.)

Jesus I love You
I love spending every waking moment with You
And I  know You love spending time with me
which is why I always have You
inside of me.
I can feel You
moving around
Oh, how I sleep
so peacefully and sound
Jesus please wrap Your loving arms
around me
let the warmth of Your loving embrace
surround me
inside of me You live
everyone I must forgive
every day I get on my knees and pray
and I thank You for making me this way!!

Edit: poem written by christ_in_a_grl Christina Girlson

The Daily Mail, a daily British tabloid newspaper has published a disgusting homophobic piece about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.

http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2009/10/daily-mail-publishes-homophobic-article.html

Last night I discussed transgender and Christianity with my bible fellowship group. It was an overwhelming success. There were many questions asked and I was able to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

I opened up the discussion defining the many transgender terms. I explained that 'transgender' is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from their birth sex. I mentioned that the term may include transsexuals, crossdressers, gender queer, gender non-conforming and other gender-variant people.

I had the most questions about transition and Gender Identity Disorder. I explained that transitioning is a complex prcedure that occurs over a long period of time. I shared that not all transgender choose to have Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

I was able to explain what Gender Identity Disorder is and the current controversy with the medical and psychological establishments about changing the present prognosis that is used.

I shared the events of my life that led to discovering that I was a crossdresser and a transgender person. I shared that a person can be Christian and transgender because God doesn't show any favoritism.

The discussion was a huge success and eyes and minds were opened. I pray that I can do this at other places.

Gennee

I will be sharing with my bible study group in June about being transgender and a crossdresser. I was asked several months back to do this and have decided to do so. I'm currently doing some research to support some of what I want to share. I wll share my own life story, also. I'm looking forward to doing this.

Gennee

Between May 17 and June 28, 2009, groups of LGBT and allied people around the country will attend worship services at a church of their choice - a church that is not welcoming and affirming of openly LGBT members and guests. Each group will wear a lapel button that reads "gay? fine by me." For less formal churches we also have a t-shirt with this message. The lapel button (or t-shirt) serves as a conversation starter - opening dialogue with people in the church about faith, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

When that visible act of courage is paired with adequate training, then transforming hearts and minds becomes a bona fide possibility. That's why we've designed a three-part teleconference course and a resource webpage that covers the essentials of Nonviolent communication, Media talking points, and What both the Bible and science really say about homosexuality. Training teleconferences will be held on April 19, April 26, and May 3 at 4pm CST. To register for the trainings go to http://www.soulforce.org/moodle/login/index.php and enter your information.

We hope you will consider organizing a Sundays of Solidarity project in your area. It simply involves choosing a church in your area that could benefit from an SOS visit, using your contact list to recruit others to join you, attending the teleconference training sessions, and then organizing your group to take action on one of the Sundays between May 17 and June 28, 2009. To purchase a lapel button or t-shirt, please visit http://finebyme.org/sos.html.

http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com

It's been awhile, I thought I'd say "hey" and wish you all a fine day. :)

It's funny how God works, ya know? I got a chuckle out of the following article in the Washington Blade. The bolds are mine...

Activists to counter Westboro’s D.C. visit
Counter-protests, fundraising efforts held in response
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade | Mar 27, 1:27 PM

Regional LGBT groups are responding to Westboro Baptist Church’s plans to picket various local sites Monday by organizing counter-protests and fundraising drives.

( Read more... )

Hi all,
I'm a queer identified uni student working on my queer studies certificate. For my final project I'm attempting to collect queer writings in the first person. These can be fiction or truth. So basically I'm here looking for anyone who wants to write first person queer narratives and post them to my comm. queernarrative
If this is upsetting feel free to delete. If not, I hope some of you post or prompt friends or interested parties to do so.

I write for an online magazine that ministers to the transgender community. The main reason I contribute to it is to share with transgender people that God loves them. As a transgender person I know with certainty that He does.

I am perturbed by the way some 'Christians' use the bible to demean and belittle lgbt folks. I put 'Christians' in quotes because if a person truly has the spirit of Christ this certainly would be something they wouldn't do. I'm concerned that many reject God, church, and the bible because of some of the mistreatment perpetrated on lgbtqi people by the church.

Transgender people have fared worse. Many were executed as witches in the beginning decades of the American nation. Transgender people are fired from their jobs, kicked out of their homes, and do not receive proper medicare care because of their identity. Many of the transgender people murdered are women of color.The church should be the first place transgender person could go to be refreshed spiritually. Sadly this is not the case in many places of worship.

I have read and studied scriptures for 36 years. Nowhere does it say that being transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or intersex is an abomination. Nowhere does it say that you have to be straight to be saved. God calls all people into His kingdom. Your gender and sexual identity is part of who you are. I research, read, and pray over what I wish to convey. Your spiritual well being is just as important as your physical and emotional well being.

When I came out as transgender, God embraced me as His child. He knew I would come out. He knows that you would be who you are before you were born. God has used all kinds of people to glorify His name and advanced His kingdom. You are precious in His sight.

Hey everyone,

A very happy new year to you all!

My name is Imogen, I live in Cambridge UK. I was born female and am happy with my body but consider my self Gender Queer. I came out as gay at 14 (nearly wrote 144!!) and have been with my partner for a number of years now.

I am a photography student in Cambridge and I am just about to go into the final term of my 3rd year. I have covered quite a few topics over the last three years including self harm, mental health, eating disorders and physical disability. You can see some of my work here: Flickr or my own web site here: Indigo Clouds Photography

This term I want to do a project surrounding 'Gender Queer' and 'Transsexuality'. So I am looking for people who might want to be involved in the project. I will be hoping to photograph a few aspects of the topic including things like: following someone through aspects of their transition, photographing people with their families, following people to Dr's appointments, visiting and photographing both home & work, doing some studio shots (including partners, with/with out make up, in underwear etc) .. For helping me out you would get a copy of your images on a disk, a copy of your favorite 5 printed up to A2 and many many thank yous from me!

Having dealt with subjects that are often unknown to family members or friends I am more than happy for people to remain anonymous. As you can see from my self harm images most participants don't have their face in the images. I would like for some of those who wish to take part to be able to have their face in the images, purely due to the nature of the project.

I don't have any money to pay those who take part but I could help with travel costs if people are on a low income and I am more than happy to provide accommodation in the form of the sofa in my front room!

Please feel free to contact me with questions, anything you might like to know. Also, feel free to pass this post onto friends who might not see it on LJ or even to other communities. I would also like people to take part in a survey that will be part of the final project so if you would like to receive that you can get in touch.

Finally, during previous projects people have contacted me suggesting that aspects of the project might be highlighting the 'wrong' parts of the issues. I warmly welcome this contact and can only understand the subject to a point with out this source of information.

My contact details:

E mail - Imogen.Jo@Gmail.com
Mobile - 0754 99 33 030
LJ - New_Kinda_Freak

Thank you for reading,
Kind Regards,

Imogen May

During the inauguration kick off party at the Lincoln Memorial, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of the Diocese of NH gave the opening prayer.

The problem is it was not televised by HBO or NPR and there were 'technical difficulties' making it nearly impossible for the crowd of 500,000 to hear a word.

Demand to know why Bishop Robinson was part of the "pre-show" and therefore not taped.

More info and contact info at http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2009/01/did-obama-team-play-us-over-bishop.html

I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Jenny, and I'm 19 years old.  I have been Catholic my entire life and i have gone through the catholic school system up until college.  I live in the "christian" housing on my campus, and I thoroughly enjoy every second of it except for one little "religious" organization but other than that I haven't had many problems with christians.  I think I had more of a hard time accepting myself than other people have.  It took me a very long time to sort out my feelings for women because of how i was raised in the church.  My religion was telling me something that no one else was. My parents have always been very accepting and open to everyone, and taught me to love everyone.

But thats my intro, I hope everyone is well, and I look forward to talking/meeting everyone :)  
~Jenny

Hey everyone! I'm new here. My name is Danielle, I'm 18, from WV. I was raised in a Methodist church that is home to several gays. I have thanked God for this many many times. I'm very lucky.

Unfortunately, I went to Christian school in middle school, which did significant damage to my brain. It was the first place I learned that homosexuality is not accepted everywhere. I struggle with my sexuality a lot because of this. How have you learned to deal with Christians and with homosexuality?

Hello,
My name's Brendan, I'm 28 and I'm a Female to Male transsexual. I'm new to this community and I'm new to Christianity. It took a long time for me to reconcile my faith with being a transsexual. It's wonderful to see a community for GLBT Christians.

God bless you all!

While sitting here tonight doing some work, my husband expressed that he was getting tired, and wanted to head to bed soon.

I too am tired, and I want to get to bed as well- but I want to get to sleep so I can get up tomorrow morning and get back to work.

I realized that I REALLY enjoy what I am doing with my life- ministry. I have a great sense of peace and purpose, and its a wonderful experience to be living.

I anticipate a very busy year this year - the church collectively will be ordaining six men as deacons in the first six weeks of 2009 alone, and that's just the start of it.

We have some singularly amazing projects coming down the pike, all being managed by purpose filled people, and they are all focused on helping the people of God.

It's going to be an amazing year.

I've looked at this community before in the past, but never joined it. It's not until now that I feel a bit lonely and I could use some support and conversation.

I'm 22, Catholic, and bisexual. I love my faith and I'm fine with my orientation. I feel like I'm in an odd position. I'm bisexual and I'm attracted to men more, so I come off as straight to most people. Though I can picture myself marrying a women, I don't find that many attractive- maybe I'm just picky. I'm out to my close friends and coworkers. I work in a busy store in my hometown, so I'm always afraid that people from my parish will overhear something. I'm very active at my church- I teach Sunday school and help out with high school retreats, help out the sacristans, and have a friendly relationship with my pastor. I love my parish like it's my home.

I've always wanted to study theology or ministry and get a Catholic oriented job, like teaching theology at a Catholic school or being a youth minister, or something where I'm constantly surrounded by my faith. I feel like I'll have to be in the closet to make that happen. That's why I'm still reserved about my orientation.

Another issue that I have is with dating. When I've gone on dates with guys I obviously don't give them the impression that I'm attracted to women. I feel like Christian guys will be very taken back by that if they ever find out and wouldn't want to date someone who is bisexual because they won't understand. That's a fear that I always have on my mind when I meet good, holy Christian men. In terms of women, I can never find any gay Christian women! So finding women who are accepting of my faith is hard. It's a constant struggle. It sucks, because when I think about my future I just want to marry someone (it could be 20 years from now!) who is accepting of me and my faith and will want to grow in our faith and want to raise some awesome Christian children.

I thought of joining a few Catholic gay support groups a close by parishes- hoping they are positive support groups, but I'm afraid I'd be labeled a lesbian among my Catholic peers. I shouldn't care, but what if that ever blocks me crossing paths with a man that I'm meant to be with.

Usually, I try not to care about this stuff too much because it bums me out, but it's been on my mind. Does anyone else have a similar situation? Or just have a comment?

Little People like LGBT people are considered "freaks of nature", they get stares and people misunderstand them. In looking for resources for Little LGBT People, I found virtually nothing. I decided, to make an entry to educate people about little people as well as provide as much info as I can for LGBT Little People. It is my sincere hope that LGBT Little People can find solace, comfort and community and that they can begin to network and build a foundation and support system for their own sub-section of the community.

For more info and resources on LGBT Little People, check out:
http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2008/12/diversity-lesson-101-lgbtqueer-little.html