Queer Youth of Color Beyond Faith

  By Sikivu Hutchinson, From The New Humanism

At LGBTQ youth conferences it is common to see sunny-faced volunteers from gay-friendly ministries and other faith organizations hovering by tables stocked with attractive promotional literature. Their message is simple: God is merciful, forgiving and accepting of difference. And it is important for queer youth to know that Jesus loves them too. Each ministry claims to offer sanctuary from the draconian storm of Christian fundamentalism. As a visible and vocal faction in the LGBTQ youth movement, these faith-based organizations fill a moral, cultural, and social void that Humanist organizations have yet to proactively address.

A recent summit on improving the visibility of LGBTQ issues in K-12 curricula, instruction, and faculty training within the Los Angeles Unified School District highlighted the gaping void in secular Humanist outreach. During the summit, the San Francisco-based Family Acceptance Project screened a film called “Always My Son,” which chronicled a Latino family’s journey to acceptance of their gay son. Finding a church that welcomed LGBTQ youth and families was critical to their transition. The boy’s father spoke eloquently of how he struggled to come to terms with his own hyper-masculine identity as a tough ex-Marine. The relationships the family developed in their new gay-friendly church inspired them to open their home to other families with LGBTQ children looking for community support. In the summit’s breakout sessions, representatives from the faith community touted ministries which were accepting of LGBTQ families and youth. They maintained that the model of an angry punitive god was inaccurate. Several condemned the Religious Right for perpetuating the view that being gay and Christian was incompatible. They stressed involvement opportunities for LGBTQ youth struggling to come out. They also spoke of providing a bridge for religious families seeking to reconcile their faith with the dominant culture’s heterosexist notions of “morality.” Continue reading “Queer Youth of Color Beyond Faith”

Queer Youth of Color Beyond Faith
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Sikivu Hutchinson at Freethought Arizona

Freethought Arizona, Tucson

January 22nd @ 10 a.m., Duval Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Avenue

Sikivu on Culturally Relevant Humanism: Despite media fantasies of post-racialism and post-feminism, the U.S. remains a deeply segregated, separate and unequal nation. The election of President Barack Obama brought heady claims of equality, yet anti-secularist, xenophobic Tea Party-style white nationalism is on the rise. So while the mainstream New Atheist movement battles over science and the separation of church and state, atheists, freethinkers, and humanists of color bring an entirely different set of priorities to the table.  Sikivu will discuss these challenges, providing a social justice lens for Humanism that goes beyond Kumbaya.

Sikivu Hutchinson at Freethought Arizona