Irene

To the shock of many of us LGBTQ people of faith is the Vatican’s recent decision in the document “The Gift of Priestly Vocation,” to ban gays to the priesthood; thus, reaffirming it’s 2005 stance. Those of us who have “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” or who “support the so-called ‘gay culture’” are categorically denied to serve one of the church’s most revered and respected posts. And to know that Pope Francis, our LGBTQ pope- friendly pontiff, approved the document have many of us in disbelief.

More than a decade now, when this holiday season rolls around we can always count on a yearly kerfuffle about what the appropriated season’s greeting should be, exemplifying the continued chapter in the culture “War on Christmas.” This year we can see the divide between both religious and political party lines.

***“Get woke” and “Stay woke” refers to being aware of what’s going on around you in regards to racism and social injustice issues. “Woke” is the past tense of “wake,” and it refers to waking up to what's going on around us.

In 2016 many black churches are woefully far behind the country’s acceptance of LGBTQ Americans. These places of worship are still spewing homophobic rhetoric from their bully pulpits. And unfortunately, some LGBTQ victims of IPV have internalized the church’s message they are an abomination to God and therefore deserved to be abused, flogged and beaten.

When I was told that the framing devise of Boston’s SpeakEasy’s current production of “The Scottsboro Boys” is a minstrel show I was aghast. Employing a defunct and racist American theatrical form - where black face makeup used by white performers is its signature - to narrate a horrific travesty of justice, on surface, you don’t expect it to trickle your funny bone nor to entertain you. However, John Kander and his collaborator and lyricist the late Fred Ebb, have pushed theatrical boundaries by subverting the minstrel trope to highlight gearing forms of racism and discrimination in our judicial system.

Halloween is America’s gay holiday. In the words of the lesbian poet and scholar Judy Grahn, Halloween is "the great gay holiday." And this weekend of lavish costumed theatricality will attract everyone, but especially lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) revelers.

Black votes matter! So, too, the black lives many politicians pander to in order to get them. However, exploiting cultural markers- like Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump did by reading a scripted text in a black church or like Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary R. Clinton did by giving a shout-out on an a.m. urban radio show stating she, too, always carries hot sauce around with her- not only infuriates most African Americans, it also insults the political intelligence obviously both politicians think we don’t have.

When the dominant white culture doesn’t see and hear African-American voices concerning our pains, fears, and vulnerabilities our humanity is distorted and made invisible through a prism of racist, LGBTQ and sexist stereotypes. So, too, is our suffering. I’m calling on my white LGBTQ brothers and sisters for help because my spouse and I don’t know where our Black bodies are safe in America.

June is LGBTQ pride month and parades and festivities abound month-long. Pride 2016 is particularly important because it marks the one-year anniversary of “Obergefell v. Hodges,” the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Boston Pride was last week with its signature Pride Parade extravaganza on Saturday. Come Sunday morning I woke up to the devastating news of the Orlando club massacre where the gunman, Omar Mateen, killed 49, and injured 53 LGBTQ revelers and allies who just happened to be patrons at Pulse on its most popular club night, which is Latin Night.

The United Methodist Church is in the need of prayer. And, one that emphasizes full inclusion of all its parishioners. At General Conference this month in Portland the struggle to move the church’s moral compass against its anti-LGBTQ policies was courageously demonstrated when over 100 United Methodist Church(UMC) ministers and faith leaders came out to their churches - with Rev. Jay Williams of Union United Methodist Church in Boston’s South End as one of them. While these ministers and faith leaders undoubtedly moved the hearts of many the church’s policies remain unmoved.

When you reside at the intersections of multiple identities anniversaries of your civil rights struggles can be both bitter and sweet. And this May 17th was a reminder. At 12:01 a.m. on May 17, 2004, the city of Cambridge was the first to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. At 9:15 a.m. the first couple was married. Then Cambridge City Clerk Margaret Drury said to Tanya McCluskey,52, and Marcia Kadish,56, of Malden, Massachusetts, “I now pronounce you married under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Also, on that day was the 50th anniversary of the historic U.S. Supreme Court case of "Brown v. Board of Education,” a ruling that upended this country’s “separate but equal” doctrine, adopted in the “Plessy v. Ferguson” decision of 1896. While joy washed over me that day knowing my partner and I could now follow McCluskey’s and Kadish”s footsteps and be legally married, we could not rejoice over the limited success, huge failures, and ongoing resistance of Brown that allowed a few of us entry into some of the top universities of this country, as it naggingly continues to be challenged as a form of reverse discrimination.

What was expected to be a friendly and light-hearted skewering of political and media elites at the White House correspondents’ dinner by Larry

  Pope Francis’ long-awaited apostolic exhortation — “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love” — was just released. The good news is that

Mississippi and North Carolina can now be added to the list of states codifying transgender discrimination. To date, only seventeen states across the country have passed non-discrimination bills protecting transgender citizens in public spaces. Shockingly, Massachusetts isn’t one of them. With Massachusetts lauded as one of the most pro-LGBTQ states in the country my lawmakers have disappointed me with their political foot dragging and staling on our “Bathroom Bill”. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg and Attorney General Maura Healey fully support the bill. Governor Charlie Baker, however, has declined to take a stance on it.

“Their emigration to Jonestown in Guyana, South American represents another leg of the African Diaspora, but this time black bodies are stolen and

Gentrification of neighborhoods always disrupts existing communities within them. In the past several years, Harlem’s empty lots and burned-out buildings have sprung up luxury condos, upscale restaurants, boutique shops, hotels, B&Bs, and unimaginable improved services in an area the city had long forgotten. And the resentment of this shift has targeted both Harlem's recent and life-long LGBTQ communities.

We were told by religious conservatives if the U.S. legalized such an ungodly act as same-sex marriage, it would not only end the institution of marriage but bring about the demise of civilization. Many also said the righteous hand of God would stop same-sex marriages before they could occur.

It's not enough for Francis to say he embraces our community. He must also do it.

Martin Luther King’s actual birthday is January 15th, and I believe if MLK were alive today he would be witnessing a country scapegoating its fears on the backs of immigrants and Muslims.

Although Christmas is mostly thought of in terms of feasting and celebrating, Jesus’s, birth — like his death -- was born of struggle, and that struggle was to be fully accepted. Similarly, when I think of the birth of Jesus, one of the themes that looms large for me is LGBTQ youth and young adult homelessness.

With Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, and Christmas all celebrated this time of year, one would think that we would embrace an all-inclusive seasonal greeting emblematic of our nation’s religious landscape with two simple words—Happy Holidays!

"Gay men make up only 1.4 percent of the total black population in the U.S., yet they account for an astounding 53 percent of new HIV infections in the black community. And while new HIV infection rates have decreased among black women and injecting drug users, infections continue to rise among black gay and bisexual men. In addition, although gay men are 40 times more likely to get HIV than the general population, that figure rises sharply to 72 times more likely among black gay men.”

... it helps us to remember and respect the struggles that not only this nation’s foremothers and forefathers endured, but it also helps us to remember and respect the present-day struggle Syrian refugees face as well as the ongoing struggle our Native American brothers and sisters face everyday - and particularly on Thanksgiving Day.

With four GOP debates now aired where all the presidential hopefuls are clearly either conservative or ultra-conservative on social issues, one has to wonder—where are the Log Cabin Republicans in pushing forth LGBTQ concerns this campaign season?