Religion: you’re doing it right. 

About a year ago, the Christian-affiliated Pepperdine University made the news for refusing to officially recognize a gay-straight alliance on campus.

Now, a school insider reports on Forbes that the university’s School of Law has officially recognized the on-campus LGBT Legal Society, a group for discussing LGBT legal issues and networking in the professional world. However, the university still refuses to acknowledge any sort of LGBT group for undergraduates. 

I’m deeply frustrated that any university would ever consider it a problem to have LGBT students and allies meeting up for some constructive conversation, but at least this is a baby step in the right direction. Next stop: the undergrads! 

A priest in Denmark has refused to bury a deceased woman after discovering that she was a lesbian.

The priest refused to hold the funeral, making the absurd claim in front of the woman’s elderly partner of more than 30 years. The woman’s daughter watched this happen as well, and was rightly outraged.

“I thought, can it really be true that we should be ashamed of it?,” the deceased woman’s daughter, Kirsten Østergaard, told homotropolis.com. “I looked at my mother’s life partner and she was completely silent — and then I became really upset on her behalf. It’s a terrible situation to put her in.”

The priest has since apologized for his actions, but that doesn’t make up for the trauma he caused this family, not in the slightest. Remember back in February, when a priest in the U.S. refused a lesbian communion at her mother’s funeral? Why is this BS still happening in the world? 

When certain conservatives denounce marriage equality, they cite their Christian faith. When President Obama announced his support for marriage equality, he cited his Christian faith. See a problem here?

This NPR piece looks at the division in faith communities over how best to interpret the Bible - literally or contextually? As many scholars point out, there are obvious dangers in taking the Bible word for word:

Russell says you take the Bible literally at your folly.

“When you read the Bible, you can find justification for almost anything,” she says, “including slavery, the subjection of women and an argument that the sun actually revolves around the earth.”

For many, the most prominent guiding principle of the Bible is to love thy neighbor, a basic rule taken by some to mean “love your gay neighbors and let them marry.” But others see the Bible’s condemnation of relationships beside one-man-one-woman-one-marriage (except for that whole polygamy thing) as reason enough to say no to marriage equality.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially those of you who identify with a Christian religion. What do you make of all this?

The North Carolina preacher who advised people to beat their possibly gay or gender non-conforming kids has faced backlash not just from the LGBT community, but from Christians too. 

A group called Faithful America is circulating a letter expressing outrage at Pastor Sean Harris’s violent and hateful comments during a recent sermon. At the time of this writing, the letter had already earned more than 12,000 signatures of support. 

The statement reads:

Faithful Christians are appalled by Pastor Sean Harris’s hateful tirade urging violence against gay and lesbian youth. Violence and child abuse can never be justified by the teachings of Jesus Christ. All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, should be assured in church that they are beloved children of God.

Pastor Harris’s words did not in any way represent the majority of the Christian community. Thousands of Christians and certainly people of other faiths have spoken up to right this wrong, and while the pastor can’t unsay what he said, it’s reassuring to know his voice is not the loudest. 

After Dan Savage attacked Biblical teachings against homosexuality at a recent high school journalism conference, National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown challenged the columnist to a debate on religion and morality. Savage has crudely accepted.

The details, courtesy of the Advocate:

On Friday, this was Brown’s opening salvo, via NOM:

Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I’m here, you name the time and the place and let’s see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It’s easy to make high school girls cry by picking on them. Let’s pick on someone our own size!

Savage’s response, per the Stranger:

I will name the time and the place, per your offer, as soon as possible. Looking forward to it, NOMnuts.

You’ve heard the sound bites - now here’s the full video (at the link above) of North Carolina preacher Sean Harris’s extremely homophobic sermon encouraging parents to beat their gender-nonconforming children. This is especially relevant considering North Carolina will vote on Amendment One next week. 

TW: This is extremely homophobic and transphobic to the point of inciting violence, and should not be taken lightly. More. 

Dan Savage appears to be a constant source of controversy in the LGBT community, and some recent comments he made may have been the last straw.

At a high school journalism convention recently, Savage told the audience there was “bullshit in the Bible” that needed to be ignored. Some people walked out, and Savage called them “pansy-assed,” for which he later apologized. 

In this article, columnist Jay Michaelson argues that Savage’s comments were just as harmful to the LGBT community as they would have been if they were made by a super conservative a la Rick Santorum. It’s an unfortunately common misconception that people have to choose between religion and an LGBT identity, and Savage’s comments could certainly be taken as alienating to queer people of faith. 

A select blurb:

It’s all well and good for a religious progressive to insist that the Bible be interpreted selectively. But where does that leave kids growing up in religious communities committed to a more conservative view?  Must such communities abandon their faith and adopt Dan Savage’s theology in order to affirm and include their LGBT members? If that were the price of inclusion, I know many communities would refuse to pay it. But fortunately, it is not. Very traditional religious values, no theological salad bar required, support inclusion and affirmation of LGBT lives.  No matter what Rick Santorum, and now Dan Savage, says.

A lot of you have very strong thoughts about Dan Savage and obviously about Rick Santorum. What do you think? Legitimate accusation?