https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to conversion therapy en https://religiondispatches.org/2023/12/01/documenting-struggle-and-suicide-young-woman-dear-alana-podcast-raises-questions-about In advance of the Catholic Church’s recent global gathering, Pope Francis raised the hopes of LGBTQ Catholics that progress may be on the horizon through a series of letters and reports that hinted at possible advancements through the Synod on… Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:25:45 EST Abigail Battles dc543d70-9c7e-4a34-9cde-2d3a70c5fa01 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/04/08/most-forgotten-queer-folks-us-are-fighting-back-against-powerful-and-publicly-funded “How do we get people to view the CCCU as an extremist organization, the same way they view ADF?” It’s a great question that Paul Southwick, a gay attorney and the director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP), put… Fri, 08 Apr 2022 01:51:59 EDT Chrissy Stroop 9e8b48cf-43dc-4f8d-9267-ac9b9c4d7ea3 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/16/why-freebritney-exvangelical-cause Everyone knows Britney Spears. Her talent, popularity, and struggles with mental illness are ubiquitous. A widely celebrated artist dubbed “The Princess of Pop,” Spears has five No. 1 singles and six No. 1 albums. She’s sold 150 million records around… Thu, 16 Sep 2021 01:47:48 EDT R.L. Stollar 6df39262-f621-4d85-8e4d-24f515a0b61e https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/12/exclusive-christian-right-bill-mill-project-blitz-hasnt-gone-away-its-just-gotten-more In the Fall of 2019, the secretive Christian Right state legislative campaign, Project Blitz, became even more of a secret. When RD first reported on Project Blitz in April 2018 the website featured their annual state legislative playbook of model… Mon, 12 Jul 2021 04:39:07 EDT Frederick Clarkson 6c54e30d-1e42-45b1-bdd3-9e471c13c6dd https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/19/james-dobsons-family-values-were-influenced-eugenicist-audio This exclusive three-minute clip, featuring historian Audrey Clare Farley, is from the May 17 episode of Straight White American Jesus, a podcast hosted by Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller. RD will be collaborating with SWAJ to regularly bring you audio… Wed, 19 May 2021 10:08:42 EDT Bradley Onishi f862caf6-f76b-4164-8d97-ae7706a14ad7 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/03/29/how-christian-nationalist-version-american-story-enabled-georgias-anti-black-voter Last week, Georgia Republicans passed a radical new law designed, as the New York Times put it, “to restrict voting access in the state.” The bill, which some have referred to as Jim Crow 2.0 for the disproportionate effect it… Mon, 29 Mar 2021 03:34:04 EDT Bradley Onishi 01f710dc-1114-4216-ad47-0202b95c43b4 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/03/18/purity-culture-also-about-national-purity-anti-asian-hate-and-purity-culture-audio The three and a half minute clip below, exclusive to RD, is from Bradley Onishi’s opening monologue of the March 17 episode of Straight White American Jesus, a podcast hosted by Onishi and Daniel Miller. RD will be collaborating with… Thu, 18 Mar 2021 05:24:56 EDT Bradley Onishi b0e0282a-fd8c-432a-b5a1-309a66578106 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/02/16/liberty-universitys-house-conversion-therapist-retires-will-christian-school-cease On January 13, Liberty University, the world’s largest and most notorious fundamentalist college located in Lynchburg, VA, announced that Pastor Dane Emerick, who functioned as its in-house conversion therapist, had retired. This news comes to the delight and relief of… Tue, 16 Feb 2021 11:50:09 EST Lucas Wilson 7d12e0d6-8e62-4ace-90e0-fc00822dc37d https://religiondispatches.org/2021/01/28/i-grew-evangelical-and-christian-nationalist-insurrection-did-not-surprise-me On Wednesday, January 6, I, like almost everyone else in America, watched as a mob of predominantly white domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol, in an attempt to prevent the Senate from certifying the electoral college vote in favor of Joseph… Thu, 28 Jan 2021 01:39:30 EST Deirdre Sugiuchi 9b27a65d-ed5c-46fa-9d30-1129d55133bb https://religiondispatches.org/2021/01/07/we-survey-damage-yesterdays-violence-what-will-christian-nationalist-politics-look-2021 This week, amid Democratic victories in Georgia’s Senate runoffs and a Christian nationalist attempt to overturn former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory in November’s presidential election, the advocacy organization American Atheists released its State of the Secular States report… Thu, 07 Jan 2021 02:06:12 EST Chrissy Stroop 080178ca-9b47-43fc-b936-fa083539211d https://religiondispatches.org/2020/04/27/how-stars-and-stripes-hijab-rupauls-drag-race-reveals-americas-troubling-relationship Honestly, we blame ourselves. We should have known that releasing an episode of Keeping It 101 (A Killjoy ’s Introduction to Religion Podcast) about religion and RuPaul this past Wednesday meant we were in for some goopery when the next… Mon, 27 Apr 2020 03:53:53 EDT Megan Goodwin 7b4aedc6-bf98-4279-a45d-7efb4fd477b4 https://religiondispatches.org/2019/02/28/lgbtq-people-christian-schools-can-be-traumatizing #ExposeChristianSchools was launched shortly after it was reported that Karen Pence was teaching at a Christian school that excludes LGBTQ students and teachers. It quickly went viral with many sharing their own stories of surviving Christian schooling. Thu, 28 Feb 2019 02:31:16 EST Tris Mamone d960c692-c612-4073-bb16-17ceee765778 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/12/18/ringing-christian-nationalist-2019-even-larger-legislative-playbook A Christian nationalist coalition, including the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, has published a new state legislative playbook for 2019 that’s 30 percent larger, and 100 percent as committed to a nation that reflects its sectarian values. Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:53:23 EST Frederick Clarkson 6956d8fa-64b6-4212-91cd-2c5666ffa635 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/01/02/2017-around-world-progress-and-persecution-lgbt-people Journalist Masha Gessen dubbed 2017 “the year Russian LGBT persecution defied belief.” Pink News called 2017 “ the year of the homophobic purge” featuring “brutal crackdowns across the world.” The Daily Xtra’s year-end recap focused more on the good news… Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:38:20 EST Peter Montgomery f1967b35-d0f3-45ce-a3ef-7e4ff0ffe508 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/21/australians-vote-overwhelmingly-marriage-equality-and-more-global-lgbt-recap Australia: Voters overwhelmingly support marriage equality; opponents seek religious exemptions Australian voters overwhelmingly expressed support for marriage equality in a non-binding mail referendum whose results were released on November 15. The win came in spite of a “well-organized religious campaign”… Tue, 21 Nov 2017 03:37:54 EST Peter Montgomery 35e156c5-5d85-4591-a61c-e17edba1c54a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/10/30/australian-church-leaders-see-marriage-vote-battle-soul-australia-global-lgbt-recap-1030 Editors from the International Press Institute told American journalists “that Donald Trump’s hostility toward the free press is emboldening dictators and autocratic leaders across the globe.” Human Rights First reacted to raids on LGBT nightclubs in Belarus by saying it… Mon, 30 Oct 2017 03:09:27 EDT Peter Montgomery f42a71e5-be18-471c-89ab-d2687bd498c3 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/10/23/rising-global-tide-anti-gay-crackdowns-more-global-lgbt-recap International At the Washington Post, Max Bearak takes note of the “rising global tide of crackdowns on LGBT communities” that we have been documenting in Religion Dispatches’ weekly Global LGBT Recap: This week, a government journal in the former Soviet… Mon, 23 Oct 2017 01:23:20 EDT Peter Montgomery cc193b3b-9a72-42f2-8132-6cfe9ec7d07a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/09/05/catholic-cardinal-slams-jesuits-bridge-building-book-and-more-global-lgbt-recap Reports from several international LGBT gatherings: The Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa (IDNOWA), founded in 2016, reported on its August gathering in Accra, Ghana, which drew more than 30 delegates from 10 countries, for interfaith worship and conversations about… Tue, 05 Sep 2017 11:26:44 EDT Peter Montgomery de0731a2-d5ea-4f4c-b711-320073d2610a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/07/17/malta-adopts-marriage-equality-over-objections-catholics-and-evangelicals-and-more The parliament of Malta, an officially Catholic country, approved marriage equality legislation with a single dissenting vote. The lone dissenter bucked his Nationalist Party’s leadership, reports AP: Nationalist lawmaker Edwin Vassallo cited his Catholic faith and its incompatibility with what… Mon, 17 Jul 2017 12:14:23 EDT Peter Montgomery 2c0b4709-37fe-4546-8d26-4841a7dd5318 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/07/10/founder-liberal-mosque-germany-under-guard-after-death-threats-and-more-global-lgbt A dozen UN agencies issued a joint statement calling for an end to discrimination in health care settings; the statement includes sex, sexual orientation and gender identity among the marginalized and stigmatized groups that are vulnerable to discrimination. In Antigua… Mon, 10 Jul 2017 01:27:20 EDT Peter Montgomery b57fdf64-d285-43b9-a5fb-a33eb5ea13bd https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/26/turkish-police-move-against-activists-who-defied-pride-ban-and-more-global-lgbt-recap The anti-equality World Congress of Families will hold its fourth Caribbean regional summit on June 29 and 30 in St. John’s Antigua, with speakers from US Religious Right groups Focus on the Family and Family Watch International joining Caribbean-based leaders… Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:50:22 EDT Peter Montgomery 8915c6f2-8b30-4212-a396-080f242237f6 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/23/texas-anti-lgbt-adoption-bill-unconstitutional-and-unnecessary-say-texas-law-professors Nine sitting law professors at major universities in Texas have drafted an open letter to lawmakers in their state who just approved a controversial “religious freedom” bill that would allow state-funded adoption agencies to discriminate against prospective parents who are… Tue, 23 May 2017 06:09:00 EDT Sunnivie Brydum 91edebf2-d860-473c-bf64-8875fe2d607d https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/15/heart-texas-aint-hateful-open-letter-lawmakers-texan-trans-queer-latinx Dear Texas Legislators, The Lone Star State still holds a ten-gallon spot in my heart, but I am afraid that the warm, welcoming place I loved, the place that proved so crucially formative to my sense of self, will be… Mon, 15 May 2017 04:05:18 EDT Robyn Henderson-Espinoza 85df9421-ba01-4af6-8346-3b598735125a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/03/video-sam-bee-roasts-president-pence-americas-coming-theocracy While some of Washington’s most revered journalists were being roasted by The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a different (though no less distinguished) crowd gathered at another D.C. hotel to join Full Frontal host… Wed, 03 May 2017 06:57:20 EDT Sunnivie Brydum e0499bc4-df49-45fc-8d63-7b935c20be1c https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/01/state-licensed-ministers-cant-pray-away-gay-scotus-affirms The Supreme Court’s refusal to consider an appeal of California’s 2012 ban on conversion therapy is the clearest sign yet that even a Neil Gorsuch Court is unwilling to allow religious practitioners to engage in objectively harmful behavior—at least when… Mon, 01 May 2017 04:45:07 EDT Sunnivie Brydum 65c590c5-ebf3-4a33-9beb-cd514ccec785