Rev. Tami Terpstra
Staff Chaplain and Specialty Chaplain in Adult Psychiatric Care
Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO
Original Date of Submission: September 30, 2019

Initially addressed to the Unified Committee on Theology & Social Concerns (UCTSC), this letter was revised on February 29, 2024, and is now offered for consideration in conjunction with proposed constitutional amendments currently undergoing review in the church presbyteries.

As a recently ordained minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and as a chaplain who specializes in ministering to patients within three secure adult psychiatric units at Denver Health Medical Center, Colorado’s public hospital, it is important that I minister to all, regardless of race, or sexual or gender identity. Our denomination, it seems, is searching for how to do the same. Weekly, I encounter patients who have experienced deep rejection by their families and faith communities because they fall somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Usually, they have just attempted suicide. Therefore, I thank you for this invitation to provide feedback on the matter of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and its posture towards our LGBTQ+ siblings, sisters, and brothers, and for the diligence this committee has already exhibited. My prayer would be that all of our discussions may be tender, and that the expansive love of God would be our guide. Speaking on behalf of those LGBTQ+ patients to whom I have ministered, I would also pray we understand that, whether or not we are aware of it, it is highly likely that the life of someone we already know and love is at stake.

Guidance from our Confession of Faith

Before delving into specifics, it is important to highlight certain principles in the CPC Confession of Faith (COF) on which we already agree, and which provide a crucial theological frame for this discussion. First, we agree that Christ died not for a part only, but for all humanity, including our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters (COF 2015, iii). Further, that all who respond with trust and commitment to God’s invitation may rejoice in being members of the covenant community (COF 2015, 1.03, 1). Further, that the gospel of the covenant of grace is made effective, in fullness and with spiritual power, through the preaching of the word, administration of the sacraments, and acts of love towards neighbor (COF 2015, iii, 3.05, 6). Therefore, if LGBTQ+ persons have responded to God’s invitation, it follows that in order to experience “the covenant of grace made effective,” they must be welcome members of the covenant community.

However, the question at hand seems to be how fully LGBTQ+ persons are invited to participate in the life of the church– not just as members of the covenant community, but as pastors, elders, and other positions of leadership. Again, our Confession of Faith provides some guidance. It states that believers, which by implication includes LGBTQ+ believers, never achieve perfection but can be progressively conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. This is shown forth in the growth of faith, hope, love, and other gifts of the Spirit (COF 2015, 4.22, 10). These other gifts of the Spirit are given by God to each; each bearing a responsibility from God to engage in their mutual sharing for the enrichment of all (COF 2015, 6.13, 18). Therefore, it follows that all believers, including LGBTQ+ persons, having responded to God’s invitation, are indeed gifted and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit. Further, it follows that it is God’s desire that these persons exercise whatever gifts God has given them within the covenant community for God’s own glory and for the edification of the church.

The LGBTQ+ patients with whom I interact are acutely aware of the extent to which they are truly welcome—or not—in the life of the church community. For most of them, this means they are acutely aware that they are not actually welcome in the church, at all. Often, they bear the pain of rejection by their families, as well. My work in such encounters is to somehow bring Christ’s immeasurable love and gracious healing to bear. Sister Jean Prejean says it best, “Only when every person’s full humanness and gifts are prized and integrated into the life of the church will its wounds be healed and the community made whole (Prejean, 283, emphasis mine).” However, these amendments will codify a position that amounts to personal rejection not only for those LGBTQ+ persons in leadership, but for all members who may be part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as their families and loved ones.

Resisting Systemic Oppression

Affirming the inherent value of every person, our Confession of Faith states: “The covenant community, governed by the Lord Christ, opposes, resists, and seeks to change all circumstances of oppression–political, economic, cultural, racial–– by which persons are denied the essential dignity God intends for them in the work of creation (COF 2015, 6.30, 20, emphasis mine). Foundationally, when we speak about LGBTQ+ persons we are speaking of fellow human beings, made in God’s image, struggling like the rest of us in the journey towards growth in God’s likeness. Additionally, when we speak about LGBTQ+ persons, we are speaking about persons whose essential dignity has been denied in the church and in the culture at large.

This, despite the progress that has been made since 1969 when the gay community first openly defied systemic oppression at New York City’s Stone Wall Inn:

In 1969 Police raids on gay bars occurred regularly. It was illegal to serve Gay [sic] people alcohol or for Gays [sic] to dance with one another. During a typical raid, the lights were turned on, the customers were lined up and their identification checked. Those without identification or dressed in full drag were arrested. Women were required to wear three pieces of feminine clothing, and would be arrested if found not wearing them. Employees and management of the bars were also typically arrested (Kelly, https://thestonewallinnnyc.com/the-stonewall-inn-story/2017/4/4/ntmsg5ni7iixxdjimmg16hz6dvsi4v, accessed 9/28/2019).

In June of 2016, a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Though the gunman’s motives were complex, this horrific act of violence added new pain and grief to old wounds. The following article highlights some of that pain, perpetrated most often and most hurtfully by churches and families:

Up until that Saturday night, the deadliest mass murder of LGBTQ+ people in American history was on June 24, 1973, when 32 people died as a result of arson at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans. Afterward, dozens of churches refused to hold memorial services for the victims, and LGBTQ+ New Orleanians were afraid to attend the one service that did take place. Parents refused to claim their children’s bodies after finding out they were gay. A joke went around on New Orleans radio: “What will they bury the ashes of queers in? Fruit jars.” (Coaston, http://www.mtv.com/news/2891871/pride-month-origins-historic-violence/, emphasis mine, accessed 9/28/2019).

As of February 29, 2024 as I update this piece, I could add the November 19, 2022 nightclub shooting at an LBGTQ+ bar in Colorado Springs along with the recent death of Nex Benedict in Owasso, Oklahoma the day after a bullying incident in their school restroom which included their head being bashed into the floor and subsequent blackout. Nex died the next day (https://nypost.com/2024/02/24/us-news/oklahoma-teen-nex-benedict-hospital-video-shows-nonbinary-student-explaining-bathroom-brawl-to-cop/). And of course, these are not the only such hateful actions that have occurred since this letter’s first submission.

I witnessed these attitudes firsthand teaching in Kansas City, Missouri’s inner city where gifted LGBQ+ teachers, unwelcome in the white suburbs, became dear colleagues and friends. It was the 1980’s, and the height of the AIDS crisis before effective management medications, and before the nature and transmission of the virus were genuinely understood. One such colleague took in a dear friend in his last days, making sure he was fed, and his diapers changed because church and family had both turned their backs towards him in his hour of greatest need.

Christ stated that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for him. Christ was displayed in my friend and in the man dying of AIDS – and was utterly absent in the behavior of this man’s church and family, as so many others experienced.

A general overview of available data is also helpful. In my home state of Colorado, a recent report indicates that hate crimes have reached a six-year high, nearly doubling from 2017 to 2018 (Shaver, https://boulderjewishnews.org/2019/adl-hate-crimes-in-colorado-nearly-doubled-from-2017-to-2018/?fbclid=IwAR0-sXtp958xu1kgfu-wH5yHavmYTgGReXwwSpctgm6-mALW918863LuoCg, accessed 9/28/2019). Of 185 reported hate crimes, 32 of those cases were based on sexual identity and gender orientation (ibid.). It is crucial to note that hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community are often underreported due to fears of being “outed,” increasing the potential for further attacks. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, reporting on the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth, states that LGBQ youth are more than twice as likely to experience suicidal feelings, and more than four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to their heterosexual counterparts (https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/LGBTQ+_MentalHealth_OnePager.pdf, accessed 9/28/2019, see also https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/).  

The Human Rights Campaign reports the following protective factors: strong family bonds, safe schools and support from caring adults all help prevent depression and suicidality (ibid.). Further, LGBTQ+ people living in communities with more stigmatizing attitudes about their sexual orientation “die an average of 12 years earlier than LGBTQ+ people in the least-prejudiced communities (ibid.).” I work with both teens and adults who suffer from gender dysphoria. Those suffering from gender dysphoria are about 41% more likely to commit suicide than those diagnosed with any other disorder (Blosnich, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23947310/, accessed 9/28/2019). On the other hand, supportive environments, access to affirming healthcare, and social acceptance can significantly improve the well-being of individuals with gender dysphoria. While churches could be and should be places offering much-needed support, the majority of evangelical churches are non-LGBTQ+ affirming, particularly mega-churches. Those with an attendance of 2,000 or more are about 99% likely to be non-affirming– likely welcoming to some degree, but non-affirming (Williams, https://paulastonewilliams.com/2019/02/06/at-least-tell-the-truth/, accessed 9/28/2019). 

While I will include my own son’s 2019 reflection and response at the end of this letter, they have since come out to us as struggling with gender identity. This discussion, therefore, is not just statistics about other people I love, or the people I serve as a chaplain. It is about our own son and the vulnerability they have expressed to us. Ethan is more likely to die 12 years earlier than if he remains in a more prejudicial environment; Ethan is 41% more likely to commit suicide. And indeed, we have had to remain vigilant in those times Ethan has expressed such hopeless thoughts to us. These include thoughts of the spiritual loneliness he feels, having felt unwelcome in the church context in which he was raised. In fact, he now resides and remains committed to residing in Canada because of the anti-LGBTQ+ climate currently in the US, especially in our churches.

Our Confession of Faith

Our Confession of Faith states that in the corporate life of the church, we are to imitate Christ who sought out the oppressed and that we are to be advocates for victims of violence, and those who are treated as “less than persons for him Christ died (COF 2015, 6.31, 20).” We are to oppose unjust laws, and support “those attitudes and actions which embody the way of Christ, which is to overcome evil with good (ibid.).” The question before the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is how we will respond to the least of these—those who have suffered the pain and loss of rejection from both biological and church families, economic vulnerability and rejection in the workplace, and rising acts of violence.LGBTQ+ persons also struggle with the pain of trying to understand their gender and sexual identities in an intolerant society, making them especially vulnerable during this time. Many feel they must struggle hidden and alone—these persons, whom God loved so much that he sent his son so that “whosoever will ” would come to him.

Scripture

Many feel that scripture is “clear” regarding” homosexuality, and therefore all matters pertaining to LGBTQ+ individuals. In actuality, there are only a handful of biblical passages that address same-sex relations in both the Old and New Testaments. These passages are anything but clear. Beginning in Genesis 19, we find the woes of Sodom and Gomorrah. While condemnation has been rightly directed towards the men of Sodom demanding an opportunity to gang rape Lot’s male visitors, it is perplexing that little has been directed to Lot’s disturbing act of offering up his daughters for the same fate. Is this somehow less reprehensible in God’s eyes? Given the history of violence perpetrated against women, it is unfortunate for all who read this story that the narrator is silent on this point.

What then, is the sin of Sodom? Ezekiel 16:48-49 provides this interpretation: “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy (ESV, emphasis mine).” Perhaps one may rightly ask why, in the culture of the American church, has it somehow been easier to highlight what scripture does not highlight: the potential for same-sex rape of Lot’s visitors over and above Lot offering up his daughters for the same, versus the plain reason given for Sodom’s destruction offered in scripture. Ezekiel 16 indicates that Sodom seems to have a widely known pattern of corruption, namely that of inhospitality toward the stranger and failing to provide for the poor and needy, despite its abundance of resources. One might conjecture that is easier to point fingers at a minority or members of the gay community, rather than towards unjust patterns systemically embedded in our own culture, in which we all surely participate.

Leviticus 18:22 calls lying with a man as with a woman an abomination, toevah. This exact word is also applied to eating pork, camel, lobster, and shrimp (cf. Lev 11). Further, things considered toevah are wearing clothing of mixed fibers, menstruation, nocturnal emissions, giving birth, a lying tongue, and a proud look (cf. Lev 19, Prov 6:16-19).  Leviticus 20:13 calls for death as the penalty for two males having sexual relations. Death by stoning was also in order for children who disobeyed or swore at their parents, and married persons — especially women— who had sex outside of their marriage (cf Deut 21:18-21, Lev 20:10).

Romans 1:26-27 is often taken for granted as an obvious condemnation of same-sex relationships as understood both then and now. Context, as always, is key. This passage is set in a larger set of arguments aimed at leveling the playing field between Jews and Gentiles in a divided Roman Church. Beginning in Romans 1, Paul paints a picture of wayward Gentiles. Paul’s Jewish audience is meant to enjoy pointing their rhetorical fingers. Those Gentiles worship idols, rather than the one true God, eat unclean meat, and engage in lascivious same-sex encounters. Proof that they are far from God! As Helminiak summarizes, “Paul is saying that, in addition to committing real sin, the Gentiles are also soiled. Their culture is filled with unclean practices. Both sin and impurities abound among the Gentiles. And, of course, Paul is speaking from the perspective of the self-righteous Jews (Helminiak, ROI 1653).”

But as Romans 2 begins, we find Paul pointing a rhetorical finger back at the Jewish community who have engaged in the same uncleanness, despite their having Torah and knowledge of the one true God. Romans 2:1 states, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things (ESV). Paul’s larger point—we’ve all fallen short.

The overarching message is clear: nobody has got this all figured out. No one is blameless. And let’s not forget that equivalent items in Paul’s list include being haughty, boastful, and disobedient to our parents. Yet these sins seldom, if ever, exclude Christians from participation in the life of the church. In Romans, Paul takes a broad view of the cultures in which he lives and breathes, as a learned Jew and as a Roman citizen, observes the operational assumptions and prejudices, especially of his fellow Jews, and proposes a new “operating system” for the church in Rome which ultimately surpasses moral codes and ritual uncleanness. In Romans 14:13-14 Paul emphasizes a shift in focus, urging: “Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another… I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself… (ESV).  Turning away from judgment and division, Paul invites a more inclusive and compassionate approach to the Christian community.

The remaining controversy in the New Testament surrounds the Greek words malakoi and arsenokoitai (1 Cor 6:9-10, 1 Tim 1:9-10). Malakoi poses a challenge for translators as it lacks explicit clarity in the original Greek, and contextual ambiguity has allowed for multiple interpretations, resulting in various translations. In Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25, it is translated variably as “soft” or “fine” in relation to clothing. The term may be understood as describing a person demonstrating “soft morals” or exhibiting a lack of discipline, weakness, or cowardice. It has been translated as “effeminate” because, in a historical context, women were considered morally inferior. However, given our modern understanding of the equality of men and women, this translation is quite problematic. Also, to be clear, the term simply cannot be translated as “homosexuals,” as ancient literature includes depictions of malakoi describing men who spend their time pursuing women instead of engaging in productive work.

Arsenokoitai, literally “man beds,” seems to be coined by Paul (cf. Garland, 212 and Helminiak, Kindle DOI 1851). Biblical commentators have spilled much ink in argumentation over exactly what Paul was referring to in the use of these terms together. New Testament scholar Dale Martin has written, “The only reliable way to define a word is to analyze its use in as many different contexts as possible.” Following Paul’s apparent coinage of the term, subsequent uses in ancient literature mostly appear in lists of vices. As Martin has demonstrated, these contexts suggest that the word likely relates to sexual or economic exploitation. While this may involve same-sex behavior, it pertains to exploitative forms rather than loving relationships. (The Reformation Project, “1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy address exploitation”: https://reformationproject.org/case/1-corinthians-and-1-timothy/). In his book What the Bible Actually Says About Homosexuality Helminiak states:

“Various modern versions translate those words differently. Arsenokoitai is rendered as “homosexuals,” “sodomites,” “child molesters,” “perverts,” “homosexual perverts,” sexual perverts” or “people of infamous habits.” Malakoi is rendered as “catamites,” “the effeminate,” “boy prostitutes” or even as “sissies.” The 1985 New Jerusalem Bible provides the most accurate translation: “the self-indulgent.” But until the Reformation in the 16th Century and in Roman Catholicism until the 20th Century, the word malakoi was thought to mean “masturbators.” It seems that as prejudices changed, so have translations of the Bible (Helminiak, Kindle DOI 1798).”

Given both the rarity and uncertainty regarding either word, it would be both dishonest and unfair to see them as a “clear” condemnation of LGBTQ+ relationships and identity as we understand it today. As Reformation Project notes: “In order to be faithful to Scripture, we must recognize a distinction between the same-sex behavior the Bible condemns and the desires of LGBTQ Christians for love, companionship, and family today.” What may be clearly understood is first, that none of us escapes condemnation under Paul’s morality codes. Furthermore, regardless of one’s interpretation, singling out any one moral shortcoming from among any others is not a valid excuse to single out an entire minority group from participation in the life of the church.

Shall we exclude all who are at odds with their parents, either as children or as adults? All who are prone to pride or boasting? Second, what we may clearly understand in sexual matters is that the Bible promotes “mutual respect, caring and responsible sharing—in a loaded word, love (Helminiak, Kindle DOI 1995).” Romans 13:9-10 state: “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (ESV, emphasis mine).” Therefore, embracing our LGBTQ+ neighbors and siblings, and all expressions of love, aligns with the central principle of love as articulated in the Scriptures.

In Closing

On my official hospital chaplain lanyard, I wear a safety pin next to a rainbow. This is because both LGBTQ+ adults and teens (especially teens) have asked me in various ways, “I’m gay…. Can you still talk to me?” They have not experienced the church or clergy as safe places or people; the safety pin and rainbow together signal safety. Here, I will repeat that my work in such encounters is to somehow bring Christ’s immeasurable love and gracious healing to bear. After these encounters, I am often asked where I go to church. This should go without saying, however, like all of us, LGBTQ+ persons need community, belonging, and a place to exercise their many gifts—a place where they are fully received, welcomed, and embraced. Many are still working out the implications of their sexual and gender identity. Many are still single because, like heterosexual persons, they have not met and fell in love with a lifetime partner. Some conclude that a lifetime partner is out of the question. For some simply being fully welcomed as they work things out is enough.

The truth is, we are all working things out in some fashion; all of us being formed into the likeness of Christ through time and trial. Anything less than a complete welcome and open invitation, for any of us, fails to truly represent the heart of Christ. The Confession of Faith states, “God gives the message and ministry of reconciliation to the church. The church, corporately and through her individual members, seeks to promote reconciliation, love, and justice among all persons, classes, races, and nations (Confession 2015, 6.32, 20, emphasis mine).

Indeed, the thing that most drew me towards ordination in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was due in no small part to my early encounters with the Presbytery del Cristo. In those early encounters, looking around the room at the rainbow of people, hearing Spanish, Korean, and Chinese banter, it felt like the Kingdom of Heaven because of its diversity and common love for God and neighbor. As the people of Christ, called to show forth God’s kingdom on this earth, we have a call upon us towards healing, reconciliation, justice, and in a loaded word—love. My position is therefore one of advocacy for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons at every level in the life and work of the church. And again, I repeat, as we consider how best to love our LGBTQ+ brothers, sisters, and neighbors, whether or not we are aware of it, it is extremely likely that the life of someone we already know and love is at stake.

Yet, as Rev. Dr. Tizon has stated in his letter dated February 25, 2024, “the process and practice of how we engage may be as important as any conclusion we arrive at someday.” Right now, as things stand, we are all still at the table. A big table. Under this big tent called the Cumberland Presbyterian Church that has been holding sacred space for “whosoever may come.” I have been proud to be an ordained part of the Cumberland Presbyterian family, for its ability to hold us all, despite our differences—including the matter of women’s ordination. Consider also the irony of trying to pass such a divisive amendment at a time the CPC is promoting “Holy Conversations”—amplifying and extending God’s call to ordained ministry precisely because the church writ large is shrinking. We cannot call for an expanded network of ministerial candidates while shrinking our vision of who is actually welcome in the tent. As it stands right now, we are all here. Prayerful and dignified conversations can continue. The literal life-giving joy of connection, support, and relationships across a diversity of cultures and opinions can be celebrated and continued. Now, more than ever, the church needs what Rev. Dr. Tizon named “a unity deeper than agreement.” As it stands right now, we are a theologically and culturally diverse, messy, imperfect, rare, and beautiful example of the prayer of Jesus—that God would make us one. Not uniform, not homogenous, but one. The world doesn’t need any more division. Especially now. My prayer is that the expansive love of God, the beautiful witness of this large tent, knit together through the long and patient work of God’s own Spirit, and this prayer of our Lord Jesus might ultimately win the day.

From my son, Ethan, written at age 20. Ethan is now 25 and has come out as non-binary.

To the members of the UCTSC,

I did not leave the Church. There was no moment in which I stopped believing. Even today as I write this letter, I still find myself wandering into prayer. All that is to say, I am not a Christian—not because I have chosen to revolt, not because I find any fault in the Bible, and not because I have found some other faith more attractive—but because my fellow Christians, in the process of deciding what is and is not part of their religion, have come up with so strict a definition that it no longer has room for people like me.

I cannot claim to represent all members of the younger generation nor that I have some special access to the millennial mindset. I know of many intelligent and well-reasoned members of the Presbytery, members the same age as me, who in no way hold the same opinions I do. However, while I am unique, I am not alone and both believers and non-believers will find themselves in agreement with me.

My name is Ethan Terpstra. Both my mother and my great-grandmother have attended seminary and been ordained; religion runs in my family. I am old enough to have voted, worked, and traveled but young enough to still be attending college. My friends are Christian, Jewish, Atheist, and Muslim. Most are straight; many are gay; some are in relationships; others are not. I act towards each with acceptance and kindness, and they in turn accept and act kindly towards me. Both when I wore my cross openly and when I could no longer bring myself to wear it, they have cared for and supported me. Regretfully, I cannot say the same about the Church. From the pulpit, I have heard sermons casting my friends as sinners, given to some perversion and subject to Hell. I have heard that faith brings with it salvation but doubt leads to torment. I have lived with and listened to people from a myriad of backgrounds. They brought questions, but the answers only made my faith stronger. How then can I find a community in Christ when every one of my fellow Christians cast me as wrong?

I am deeply concerned by the motion to cast same-sex relations as sinful. Not only because I believe people with same-sex attraction deserve the love of the Church more than its disdain, but because motions like this were one of the factors that drove me from faith. In this, I am not alone. (Bold print mine.) Many young, college-educated believers, believers like I once was, feel alienated and alone—separated from their communities, and strangers in faith. They too have friends like mine, both straight and gay, who love and care for them. The Church is shrinking with believers feeling isolated, former believers like me feeling shut out, and potential believers only seeing the Church’s potential for condemnation rather than Christ’s enduring love. How can the Church claim to follow a man who dined with tax collectors and Samaritans when it cannot accept friends and family members who love differently?

Many have written eloquently and passionately about their opinion, and I do not want to dismiss or minimize their concerns. The question of same-sex orientation is difficult, and realms as traditionally disparate as religion and science are struggling to understand it. I understand the need to maintain what many consider to be their Christian character, and I have no wish to argue with that. However, please hear me when I say there are many people waiting to believe, and fellow Christians hovering on the edge of disbelief, for whom acceptance is paramount and who in turn, whether it agrees with them or not, the Church needs to respect.

With kindness and concern,

Ethan Terpstra

Works Cited

Barclay, William. The Letters to the Corinthians. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

Blosnich, John R, et al. “Prevalence of Gender Identity Disorder and Suicide Risk among Transgender Veterans Utilizing Veterans Health Administration Care.” American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, Oct. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3780758/.

Coaston, Jane. “We Are Not Afraid.” MTV News, 13 June 2016, http://www.mtv.com/news/2891871/pride-month-origins-historic-violence/.

Confession of Faith and Government of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church the Second Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Frontier Press, 1984, 2015.

Garland, David E. 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003.

Helminiak, Daniel A. What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. Alamo Square Press, 2000. Kindle Edition.

Human Rights Campaign Foundation. “Mental Health and the LGBTQ+ Community, LGBTQ+ Youth and Mental Health.” Lifeline, July 2017, https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/LGBTQ+.

Kelly, Bob. “The Birthplace.” The Stonewall Inn, The Stonewall Inn, 4 Apr. 2017, https://thestonewallinnnyc.com/the-stonewall-inn-story/2017/4/4/ntmsg5ni7iixxdjimmg16hz6dvsi4v.

Martin, Dale B. Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation. 1st ed., Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

Prejean, Helen. River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey. New York: Random House, 2019.

Shaver, Jeremy. “ADL: Hate Crimes in Colorado Nearly Doubled from 2017 to 2018.” Boulder Jewish News, Boulder Jewish News, 9 Aug. 2019, https://boulderjewishnews.org/2019/adl-hate-crimes-in-colorado-nearly-doubled-from-2017-to-2018/?fbclid=IwAR0-sXtp958xu1kgfu-wH5yHavmYTgGReXwwSpctgm6-mALW918863LuoCg.

The Reformation Project. “1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy Address Exploitation.” 3 Apr. 2024, https://reformationproject.org/case/1-corinthians-and-1-timothy/.

Williams, Paula S. “At Least Tell The Truth.” Paula Stone Williams, 6 Feb. 2019, https://paulastonewilliams.com/2019/02/06/at-least-tell-the-truth/.

 

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