MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Christian leaders gathered outside the U.S. Capitol building this week to do two things. First, protest the Trump administration's executive orders on gender, and second, call for more solidarity with LGBTQ people within their churches. This conversation has been particularly fraught in Black denominations, as Adelle Banks of Religion News Service reports.
ANIKA WILSON-BROWN: We lift up every queer clergy member who has gathered here today, every faith leader who dares to stand and preach love in the face of hate.
ADELLE BANKS: This is the Reverend Anika Wilson-Brown, who leads Union Temple Baptist Church, a Black church in Washington, D.C.
WILSON-BROWN: And let us proclaim loudly that we will stand together. We will stand unbroken.
BANKS: While Wilson-Brown's church has become more affirming of LGBTQ people, no major historically Black denomination has issued an official statement doing this. And some, like the African Methodist Episcopal Church, have banned clergy from performing same-sex marriages. Its rulebook states, quote, "unions of any kind between persons of the same sex or gender are contrary to the will of God." Bishop Reginald Jackson is a leader in the AME Church.
REGINALD JACKSON: I think most of the major Black denominations, in terms of its membership, is divided, is split, which is one of the reasons why no definitive position has been taken. I'm not sure how much longer that can continue, but that's where we are now.
BANKS: Jason Shelton is a scholar at the University of Texas at Arlington. He says the AME Church is at a crossroads.
JASON SHELTON: If the AME Church is to be more open and affirming, some of those young people who were AME, who grew up AME and are LGBTQ might be willing to come back. And how do you get them back? Well, the first step is to open the door to them.
BANKS: Pride in the Pews is an organization seeking just that. The Reverend Don Abram is its founder. He trains Black congregational leaders to welcome LGBTQ people in the sanctuary and to advocate for queer rights in the public square.
DON ABRAM: As queer and trans siblings are under attack, we've gathered simply to say not on our watch.
BANKS: Abram sees public demonstrations like this rally at the Capitol as important but says Black LGBTQ liberation will never fully happen without the Black church. For NPR News, I'm Adelle Banks.
KELLY: And that story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
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