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It’s the Catholic Bishops, Not Those Who Toppled Junipero Serra Statues, Who Have Failed the Test of History

By Jacqueline M. Hidalgo

…stors,” pulled down another iconic Serra statue, this time in the heart of Los Angeles at Placita Olvera. The California Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCCB) responded with more empty support of anti-racist movements, yet they refuse to grapple with the ways that racism and colonial violence have structured Catholic history (let alone its current structures, and its material wealth). The Bishops accused the protesters of failing the test of histo…

‘Rising Global Tide’ Of Anti-Gay Crackdowns; More in Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…by a Lebanese band whose lead singer is openly gay. Alexandra Zavis at the Los Angeles Times reports that the brutal crackdown “has gay and transgender Egyptians asking: Is it time to leave?” “The problem is that no one can tell the limit of this crackdown and how far it might go,” said Mostafa, a community activist who asked to be identified by one name, for fear that he too might be swept up by police. “There was an incredible amount of hate spe…

Conservative Christians Oppose New ‘Inter-Religious’ University

By Philip Clayton

…ll study side by side with students from the Academy of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles and the Islamic Center of Southern California. The San Diego Jewish Journal calls it “the world’s first multi-religious graduate school.” Of course, Claremont is not alone. Hartford Seminary boasts the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the country’s oldest center of its kind. A second imam training program is being launched…

A Resurgence of “Ex-Gay Therapy” Under Trump/Pence? ABC News Report Offers a Platform to Hate Group Rep. Peter Sprigg

By Sunnivie Brydum

…dall, who is now a second-year law student at the University of California Los Angeles, highlighted the deeply religious roots of conversion therapy, even when practiced by licensed therapists who, like Nicolosi, claim their personal faith does not influence their practice. “Conversion therapy is intimately linked to religiously-motivated bias, fueled by SPLC-designated hate-group the Family Research Council,” Kendall said. “These organizations co…

Snake-Handlers, False Messiahs, and a Few Great Souls: 14 Who Died in 2014

By Daniel Silliman

…a hedge against the financial collapse he believed the Bible predicted. He lost $1.7 billion and went bankrupt in 1989. He died at 88. Johnny Lee Clary A Ku Klux Klan leader who rejected racism and became a pentecostal evangelist, Johnny Lee Clary died at 55. Clary joined the Klan at age 14. He rose quickly, heading an Oklahoma organization at 21 and, at 29, took over the ailing White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He worked to revive the Klan, but…

International ‘Pro-Family’ Summit Calls for New Anti-Gay Laws: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…man Rights in 2012 ruled in favor of lesbian Chilean Judge Karen Atala who lost custody of her three daughters to her ex-husband because of her sexual orientation. Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2012 signed what many advocates describe as the world’s most progressive transgender rights law that allows trans people in the South American country to legally change their gender on official documents without surgery and an affida…

More Mixed Signals from Pope Francis; Church of England Wrestles with Rifts; Faith Groups Lobby Pro & Con on Irish Referendum; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ore from the Blade’s Michael Lavers: Javier Soto, a pastor from the resort city of Viña del Mar, is among the most outspoken critics of the expansion of relationship recognition and other rights to LGBT Chileans. He said God sparked a massive forest fire in the coastal city of Valparaíso last April because lawmakers were considering the civil unions measure. Soto frequently confronts Rolando Jiménez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integr…

Is There Hope for a Truly Progressive Evangelicalism? An Interview with Deborah Jian Lee

By Eric C. Miller

…thread follows LGBT students at the ultra-conservative Biola University in Los Angeles. Each begins safely in the closet and proceeds by turns into the activist “Biola Queer Underground.” In a book full of underdog stories, I found this to be the most suspenseful. Would you agree? When I flew out to California to meet the Biola Queer Underground, the group was on the verge of making a really daring move. As I write in the book, they’re a secret so…

Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church: When Adults are Victims

By Kathryn Joyce

…rnandez was feted by the award’s namesake, Archbishop José H. Gomez of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, as well as Archbishop Chaput. In the Archdiocesan newspaper, Denver Catholic Register, Liliana Flores, the Archdiocese’s Hispanic Youth Coordinator breathlessly declared of Hernandez, “I think he could die for Jesus.” This wrinkle in the case gets at a larger issue: Hernandez was just one of an increasing number of lay ministers and volunteers assum…

Mormons Prepare to March in LGBT Pride Parades Nationwide

By Joanna Brooks

…tails on LDS pride parade contingents here.) First up is June 3, Salt Lake City. I spoke with Erika Munson, organizer of Salt Lake City’s Mormons Building Bridges group, a contingent of at least 100 self-described “active, faithful” Mormons that has been invited to walk at the head of the Salt Lake City pride parade. How did you come to organize Mormons Building Bridges? I’ve been active in the LDS Church all my life. I was a teenager in Boston du…