Last week at The Fellowship Conference in Atlanta, I discovered that radical inclusivity and sexual literacy have way more in common than I ever could have imagined.

As hundreds of mostly African American LGBT faith leaders from all over the nation convened to celebrate the radically inclusive love of Jesus Christ, I witnessed the emergence of a movement that is already dealing a powerful blow to the “church as usual” mentality which fractures people and communities.

I saw more clearly than ever that those who have hijacked religion and God himself by being exclusionary of lgbt people and others are seriously mistaken. And their mistakes are doing exactly what Jesus warned about—promoting the false idea that God’s love is only for the deserving…..constructing in so doing the category of “those who are not deserving”….and there are many of us, perhaps more than the alleged “deserving” themselves. 

Maybe it’s because it’s women’s history month or maybe it’s because they wanted to spite the lobbyist in DC for National Abstinence Lobbyist Day this week, but the new administration and newly elected Democrat controlled Congress made tremendous strides this week enacting legislation that will substantially improve women’s health (and everyone’s sexual health for that matter).

The omnibus spending bill that the Senate passed this week not only increased Title X funding and decreased funding for abstinence-only programs but it also put more money into international HIV prevention than ever before. And feminists throughout the US should celebrate because the omnibus bill also includes provisions for reducing the cost of birth control.

Not to be out done by the Senate, President Obama announced the White House Council on Women and Girls. Autumn...

The Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR), a program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, recently released transACTION: A Transgender Curriculum for Churches and Religious Institutions. This is the very first curriculum of its kind aimed at helping inclusive religious institutions to arm their congregants and members with training on how to welcome, understand and recognize the contributions of transgender persons within their faith settings. 

According to Reverend Rebecca Voelkel, IWR's Faith Work Director, "Of the 3100 or so welcoming congregations we list on our website, somewhere between 75% and 90% are welcoming of lesbian, gay and bisexual (lgb) people but haven't done anything on transgender work. This is true in non-Christian settings too. So, both for the intra-religious world and for any hopes to help religious folks advocate for a trans inclusive ENDA, this curriculum in crucial." 

Barbara Satin, a transgender Christian and IWR Faith Work Associate has had first hand knowledge for decades with regard to the lack of congregational resources addressing transgender inclusion. Barbara is the author of the curriculum and is now working with pro-lgbt religious organizations, particularly Christian ones, to get...

I believe that today I have read the clear and indisputable proof that marriage equality will become a reality in this country during the Obama presidency. And the reason is not because Obama is going to propose a change in the law. Today I saw the clear sign that the debate has shifted and that Obama had everything to do with that shift.

Bob Barr, former presidential candidate for the Libertarian party, wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, in 1996, when he was a Republican representative in the House. Yesterday he published a letter in the LA Times in which he argues for the repeal of DOMA.

Bob Barr is a libertarian who wants to limit government, the federal government most particularly. DOMA, in his view limits the states and limits the constitution’s “full faith and credit” clause. States recognize each others’ marriages on the basis of this clause. They recognize Nevada’s marriages as well as those of Florida. DOMA prohibits the recognition of same-sex marriages and this, in the view of Barr, is an infringement of states' rights.

He is clear that he doesn’t propose to repeal DOMA in order to give more rights to LGBT people. But neither do I detect in his letter any regret that such a repeal would likely make marriage equality a reality. His principle holds that states should decide...

It is hard to swallow the news that Pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. I find it hard to see anything but a cynical political ploy that deliberately insults LGBT people to show the country that Obama is not a pandering politician. President Obama wants to show that he is America's president and can build bridges across old divides in this country. 

It is hard to swallow, because is shows that I am part of the country that can be insulted for political gain, even by this President who gave such hope. It is a political decision of course, all of Obama's decisions are. And he made a calculation that in order to show the big tent he is creating, some will just have to put up and shut up.

It reminds me of the times in his South Carolina campaign. He invited Donnie McClurkin to sing. McClurkin is of course the very vocal ex-gay gospel singer who let's no opportunity go by to "show" that gay people can change. Obama at that point gave an interview for the Advocate about this choice and he said then that we all have to learn to live together in a big tent. But he was saying that to LGBT people and basically asked...