About the Author: Rev. Irene Monroe
The struggle for Black Tulsan survivors and their descendants to receive reparations has been a century-old controversy, one that is a pox on this country's unwillingness to redress the human rights violation and the generational loss of accumulated wealth.
The most significant factor that keeps the Black Church on the down-low are closeted, homophobic ministers. Pastor Donnie McClurkin- a three-time Gospel Grammy winner and the former poster boy for African American ex-gay ministries -is one example. In a recent episode of TV One's "Uncensored," McClurkin talked about his sexual past.
I used the n-word, repeating what one of my black friends said. I was told I was wrong for using it. My black friends use it a lot and around us all. Why was I wrong for using it?
The struggle to get president-elect Joe Biden to the finish line first with 270 electoral college votes was unquestionably an epic battle. However, Joe's battle wasn't a century-long one like women finally winning the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, hoping a female would one day be elected to one the highest offices in government.
Pope Francis has expressed support for civil unions in the Catholic Church. Once again, the pontiff has sent shockwaves across the globe to 1.3 billion of his followers with another LGBTQ- affirming statement. However, this one might very well create talks of a schism in the Catholic Church, as we have seen in Protestant ones.
Ginsburg leaves a titanic influence on the law, a legacy unmatched by any other jurists. As a feisty octogenarian on the Supreme Court bench, Ginsburg earned the moniker Notorious R.B.G.- a play off the deceased rapper Notorious B.I.G.
One of the most healing and humble exchanges between two people is an apology. Saying, “I’m sorry!” can restore feelings of safety, dignity, and respect.
This Fourth of July, Americans are being forced to see the nation's celebration for independence differently. The combination of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans, and the ongoing protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd have brought attention to this nation's centuries-old history of anti-Black violence.
June is Pride Month for LGBTQ+ communities across the country. And while COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines have forced Pride to go virtual this year, our struggle and triumph will not go uncelebrated.
All places of worship are now allowed to conduct religious services. However, how safe is it to reopen them versus the legal permission to do so during an ongoing pandemic that has not hit its testing target?
Alone and together, a married couple navigates the uncertain terrain of an unprecedented moment.
Following another memorial, Monroe said she was feeling “very weepy, very frazzled, and fragile.” She hadn’t shared a hug with James in weeks.
The coronavirus, the virus that causes the deadly illness called COVID-19, eerily reminds me of when I started as a young minister during the AIDS crisis. The enormity of the pain, grief and anxiety expressed by mourners and the volume of deaths reminds me of those early years.
"Warren never reached out to us, seems never to have visited a Black church in Cambridge, never asked for Black support, just took it for granted. All of that would be constructive advice for Elizabeth if she were to consider another presidential run, and for a Senate re-election too,” a Cambridge resident emailed to me wanting to remain anonymous.
Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley revealed she has the autoimmune disorder “alopecia areata” that has rendered her hairless. Pressley revealing her bald head publicly opened the troubling conversation about black hair -- especially for African American females.
LGBTQ inclusion in the policy and practices of UMC has been a long contentious and exhausting battle- both nationally and globally. The proposed schism to be voted on in May at General Conference in Minneapolis will divide the nation’s third-largest denomination worldwide.
Free speech is one of the cornerstones of American Democracy. However, what are the boundaries of free speech? In the current political milieu, the protection of free speech appears to have an amorphous and wide expanse when it comes to sexist, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic rants on many social media platforms and college campuses.
For years, rumors dogged superstar Whitney Houston as being a closeted lesbian. Now in a moving memoir, “A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston,” by Robyn Crawford depicts their friendship and love story.
White liberal Americans want the world to look different and sound different, but do they really want things to be different?” Nathan Malin, who plays Charlie, told the Boston Globe. “The play asks the left to take a look at how committed you really are to this cause.”
Halloween is one of America’s favorite yearly activities. Unfortunately, Halloween can be America’s scariest, too - especially for those of us seen as costumes you wear rather than the human beings that we are.
Interview on PBS' Amanpour & Company
Watch Video of Interview of Rev. Irene Monroe on PBS' Amanpour & Co. discussing LGBTQ Issues in Religious Communities.
How can I feel the presence of Jesus in my life? Every time I want to know Jesus, I suddenly start having doubts he ever existed. Thank you for reading this.
Reparations to African Americans are not a government handout. It is the “promissory note to which every American was to fall heir” Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about in his “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963. "