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After the United Methodist Church's decision, the pain in our community was palpable; we knew we had to respond. We could talk about how homophobic theology is damaging. We could condemn bigotry masquerading as God-talk. But that’s not the story we see every day at Union.
We see a vibrant queer, community of faith—alive and flourishing. We see radical love that transcends every sinful boundary humans create. And we thought we’d tell that story instead, in their own voices. #QueerFaith
utsnyc.edu/queer-faith/
utsnyc.edu/queer-faith/
If you’re growing up in a Church that isn’t affirming;
if you’ve ever been told that who you love or how you identify is sinful;
if you were taught that God rejects you;
if you struggle to fully love yourself—in all of your God-given beauty:
This project is dedicated to you.
if you’ve ever been told that who you love or how you identify is sinful;
if you were taught that God rejects you;
if you struggle to fully love yourself—in all of your God-given beauty:
This project is dedicated to you.
Hannah Ervin | M.Div. Student
"I’m a queer person of faith currently discerning ordination in the United Methodist Church...my heart is currently breaking for a church that I know and love.
Queering faith means trusting in God when systems fail."
"I’m a queer person of faith currently discerning ordination in the United Methodist Church...my heart is currently breaking for a church that I know and love.
Queering faith means trusting in God when systems fail."
Hassan Xavier Henderson-Lott | M.Div. Student
"I was still very young and didn’t have the languages necessary to identify my perpetual sadness for what it was—depression. I wasn’t wholly convinced into believing that Jesus really loved the ‘me’ that I only pretended to like."
"I was still very young and didn’t have the languages necessary to identify my perpetual sadness for what it was—depression. I wasn’t wholly convinced into believing that Jesus really loved the ‘me’ that I only pretended to like."
Dr. Su Yon Pak ’99 | Senior Director and Associate Professor of Integrative and Field-Based Education
"As we show up in the fullness of who we are, both Queer and faithful, we, together enact liturgy."
"As we show up in the fullness of who we are, both Queer and faithful, we, together enact liturgy."
Scott Springer | M.Div. Student
“God is doing a new thing for the world in the lives of queer and trans people. It falls on the church to join the party or get out of the way.”
“God is doing a new thing for the world in the lives of queer and trans people. It falls on the church to join the party or get out of the way.”
Kamryn Wolf | M.Div. Student
“ultimate truth is the existence of all things in/between, neither this nor that, beyond, both/and...the painfully generative cycles of birth and death that each being survives in a single lifetime.”
“ultimate truth is the existence of all things in/between, neither this nor that, beyond, both/and...the painfully generative cycles of birth and death that each being survives in a single lifetime.”
Dan DeBrucker-Cota | M.Div./M.S.S.W. Student
“You are not alone, you are with a larger family of God’s children—loved way beyond the damning words of society’s insecurity.”
“You are not alone, you are with a larger family of God’s children—loved way beyond the damning words of society’s insecurity.”
Jessica Tezen | M.Div. Student
“I get to be a living witness to my LGBTQ+ community that God does love us and that we are able to love God, love our partners and love how we identify.”
“I get to be a living witness to my LGBTQ+ community that God does love us and that we are able to love God, love our partners and love how we identify.”
Cassie Hartnett | M.Div. Student
“Dear sixteen-year-old Cassie...
Ten years from now, you’re going to graduate seminary.
You’ll be a candidate for ordination in the ELCA.
You’re going to be broken, brave, queer, and loved.”
“Dear sixteen-year-old Cassie...
Ten years from now, you’re going to graduate seminary.
You’ll be a candidate for ordination in the ELCA.
You’re going to be broken, brave, queer, and loved.”
Christina Ellsberg | M.A. Student
“While the institutional Church may reject the form of my love, the form of my body, and the forms of my prayer, I will live out my ministry by living fully into all three.”
“While the institutional Church may reject the form of my love, the form of my body, and the forms of my prayer, I will live out my ministry by living fully into all three.”
Rev. Fred Davie | Executive Vice President
“The Psalmist says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Embrace it. Own it. Live it.”
“The Psalmist says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Embrace it. Own it. Live it.”
Karen Madrone | M.Div. Student
“God has not forgotten me. God never stopped loving me. I can now say that I am a lesbian repairing my relationship with the Divine who never left.”
“God has not forgotten me. God never stopped loving me. I can now say that I am a lesbian repairing my relationship with the Divine who never left.”
Mary Walker | M.A. Student
“You can’t be what you can’t see.
I thought that if I was queer then I couldn’t Catholic and that if I was Catholic I couldn’t be queer...[But] others can look to me as a young, queer, Catholic woman and they can finally be what they can see.”
“You can’t be what you can’t see.
I thought that if I was queer then I couldn’t Catholic and that if I was Catholic I couldn’t be queer...[But] others can look to me as a young, queer, Catholic woman and they can finally be what they can see.”
Rev. Benjamin Perry ’15 | Deputy Director of Communications & Marketing
“I’ve never come out publicly...but I can't be silent anymore.
Watching Christians wrap bigotry in biblical veneer breaks something in me; it perverts the gospel into pain, places violence in God’s mouth.”
“I’ve never come out publicly...but I can't be silent anymore.
Watching Christians wrap bigotry in biblical veneer breaks something in me; it perverts the gospel into pain, places violence in God’s mouth.”
Victoria Gillon | M.Div. Student
“I call on my black and brown queer ancestors who lived their lives navigating the boundaries of their queerness in spectacular ways...I call my strength and imagination to dream of places our queerness is dignified, thriving, and celebrated.”
“I call on my black and brown queer ancestors who lived their lives navigating the boundaries of their queerness in spectacular ways...I call my strength and imagination to dream of places our queerness is dignified, thriving, and celebrated.”
Anne Brink | M.Div. Student
“As I prepare to receive precepts in the Soto Zen tradition this upcoming fall, I take a vow to liberate all beings from suffering.
I refuse to compartmentalize myself from any human being, just as I refuse to compartmentalize myself.”
“As I prepare to receive precepts in the Soto Zen tradition this upcoming fall, I take a vow to liberate all beings from suffering.
I refuse to compartmentalize myself from any human being, just as I refuse to compartmentalize myself.”
Miguel Escobar | Director of Anglican Studies
The most important thing we can offer one another are our unvarnished stories about how we are—or aren’t—making it through.
The most important thing we can offer one another are our unvarnished stories about how we are—or aren’t—making it through.
Shep Glennon | M.Div. Student
“We celebrate like no one else can, but we also need space to weep and rituals to mourn, to process these ghosts which haunt us.”
“We celebrate like no one else can, but we also need space to weep and rituals to mourn, to process these ghosts which haunt us.”
Nehemoyia Young | M.Div. Student
“Queer faith is the unshakeable knowing that our bodies are divine and welcomed, not just in your church, but on Earth and in Heaven simultaneously. It is the knowing that we need no one’s permission to get close to God.”
“Queer faith is the unshakeable knowing that our bodies are divine and welcomed, not just in your church, but on Earth and in Heaven simultaneously. It is the knowing that we need no one’s permission to get close to God.”
Mary Barber, M.D. | M.Div. Student
“I need to bring all my gifts, and all that I am, into my current and future ministry—queer person, wife, mother, physician. Vocation demands nothing less than full honesty and offering our whole selves.”
“I need to bring all my gifts, and all that I am, into my current and future ministry—queer person, wife, mother, physician. Vocation demands nothing less than full honesty and offering our whole selves.”
Karmen Smith | M.A. Student
“To be called is a blessing and to be gay is a gift from God. Sometimes we will be rejected, as Christ was rejected. And in those times, I am encouraged by Psalms 118:22: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’”
“To be called is a blessing and to be gay is a gift from God. Sometimes we will be rejected, as Christ was rejected. And in those times, I am encouraged by Psalms 118:22: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’”
Shelby Johnson | M.Div. Student
"My queer ministry is fierce love in action."
"My queer ministry is fierce love in action."
Keshia Pendigrast | Admissions Processor
“Queer people have stood up to societal indignities for centuries, because the very act of coming out while acknowledging one’s own dignity illuminates an alternative way of being human.”
“Queer people have stood up to societal indignities for centuries, because the very act of coming out while acknowledging one’s own dignity illuminates an alternative way of being human.”
Jake Hearen | M.Div. Student
“Community cannot exist without the integration of queer persons as People.”
“Community cannot exist without the integration of queer persons as People.”
Jess Miller | M.Div. Student
“I am Christian and I am queer. I am calloused and raw. I am neither male nor female. I exist in between spaces, I am a twilight person seeking bridges and compassion within one’s self and between the self and others.”
“I am Christian and I am queer. I am calloused and raw. I am neither male nor female. I exist in between spaces, I am a twilight person seeking bridges and compassion within one’s self and between the self and others.”
Hannah Snyder-Samuelson | M.Div. Student
“When we clear away our own assumptions about who we can love, what we can wear, and what our roles are in society, what remains is the core of who God is calling us to be.”
“When we clear away our own assumptions about who we can love, what we can wear, and what our roles are in society, what remains is the core of who God is calling us to be.”
James Admans | M.Div. Student
“I remember that even God came out of the heavenly closet and revealed themself as Jesus Christ.”
“I remember that even God came out of the heavenly closet and revealed themself as Jesus Christ.”
Kevin Bentley | Manager of Alumni/ae Relations and Individual Giving
“My pastor at my hometown church and congregation never said anything about LGBTQ issues. I thought that meant they were affirming, but silence is just as bad.”
“My pastor at my hometown church and congregation never said anything about LGBTQ issues. I thought that meant they were affirming, but silence is just as bad.”
Carolyn Bratnober ’17 | Public Services Librarian at Burke Library
“Faith organizations should uplift those who are most in need of refuge, and transcend worldly boundaries with love and understanding.”
“Faith organizations should uplift those who are most in need of refuge, and transcend worldly boundaries with love and understanding.”
Erin Hancock | M.Div. Student
"Queerness is about more than just sexual orientation or gender identity. Queerness is about refusing to conform to society’s narrow definition of what constitutes an acceptable relationship...resisting power structures that aim to control [us]."
"Queerness is about more than just sexual orientation or gender identity. Queerness is about refusing to conform to society’s narrow definition of what constitutes an acceptable relationship...resisting power structures that aim to control [us]."
Eric Brown | M.Div. Student
Queer ministry is inspired to action, to community, to inclusiveness, and to dignity and grace—and always, always toward boundless love.
Queer ministry is inspired to action, to community, to inclusiveness, and to dignity and grace—and always, always toward boundless love.
Allison Connelly | M.Div. Student
“One day I will be ordained, and I will stand proudly in front of Christian communities, proclaiming the deep, holy, and necessary sacredness of bodies like mine.”
“One day I will be ordained, and I will stand proudly in front of Christian communities, proclaiming the deep, holy, and necessary sacredness of bodies like mine.”
Hannah Gallo ’18
“To those of you who feel their relationship to God, to the Divine, to the Sacred, is jeopardized by being queer, I’m here to tell you it is not.”
“To those of you who feel their relationship to God, to the Divine, to the Sacred, is jeopardized by being queer, I’m here to tell you it is not.”
Alyssa Kaplan | M.Div. Student
“Every day I remember my baptism. I rise to new life as the person God calls me to be—a faithfully queer, beloved Child of God.”
“Every day I remember my baptism. I rise to new life as the person God calls me to be—a faithfully queer, beloved Child of God.”
Our monumental thanks to first-year M.Div. student @mohammadmia_, who took all the photography for this project, and to the voices of our community for walking boldy in love.
We invite you to join us! If you're an LBGTQ person of faith who feels called to tell your story, post a photo and reflection on social media, and tag it #queerfaith. Let's put some love into the world!
