Press
‘One Community Luncheon’ Features Religious, Secular GLBT Leaders
Date:
February 08, 2001
Religious and secular leaders in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community came together this week at the semi-annual National Religious Leadership Roundtable (NRLR) to discuss how to more effectively work together to meet the challenges of the future.
The NRLR is an interfaith network of more than 40 religious leaders from faith-based organizations, including mainline denominations, that together represent millions of people of faith in the United States. Co-convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and Equal Partners in Faith, the NRLR works in partnership with other justice-seeking groups to amplify the voice of pro-GLBT religious perspectives.
"We know the importance of having a faith-based, pro-GLBT voice in public discourse," said NGLTF Executive Director Elizabeth Toledo. "We know this when the ex-gay, 'reparative' therapy movement shows up on our doorstep. We know this when our civil liberties are attacked by those who claim to be speaking for all people of faith. We know this every time the right wing tries to eliminate progressive and GLBT voices from the religious landscape."
"Too often we hear a faith-based anti-gay perspective and a pro-gay political perspective," said Rev. Steven Baines, executive coordinator of Equal Partners in Faith. "When this happens we concede religion to anti-gay fundamentalism. But faith is not our enemy. The voices of people of faith who support the full inclusion of GLBT people in faith communities and in the civil rights of this country must be raised up."
NRLR participants attended a "One Community Luncheon" in which panelists discussed how religious and secular GLBT leaders can better integrate their efforts. In addition to Baines and Toledo, others taking part in the discussion included Ken Brooker Langston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Marco Grimaldo of More Light Presbyterians; Kirsten Kingdon, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; Cathy Renna of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; and Rev. Elder Nori Rost of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.
Other individuals and organizations represented at the luncheon included 35 members of the NRLR, representatives from 14 additional faith organizations, and representatives from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Human Rights Campaign, National Stonewall Democratic Club, National Youth Advocacy Coalition, People For the American Way, and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
The luncheon wrapped up a two-day, semi-annual meeting of the NRLR. Roundtable members discussed how to work to eliminate anti-Semitism in interfaith work as well as the proposed White House government-funded religion initiatives that would channel tax dollars directly to religious institutions and congregations without proper safeguards and protections for social service clients and workers. NRLR members announced they will seek a meeting with John DiIulio, who has been appointed head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, to discuss their concerns.
Previously, the NRLR has met:
The NRLR has been covered by C-SPAN, New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Religion News Service, as well as by GLBT media outlets throughout the country.
For more information about the NRLR, please visit www.ngltf.org/pi/nrlr.–30–
The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
