LGBTQ people are a gift to the Church and have the potential to revitalize Christianity. Frustrated by the notion that “Christian love = tolerance,” the Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman argues that Christianity, at its scriptural core, is not a tradition that is hostile to queer people but is, in fact, itself inherently queer. Edman reveals how “queering” Christianity—that is, disrupting simplistic ways of thinking about gender and sexuality, and more broadly about self and other—can illuminate contemporary Christian faith and shows why queer Christians are gifts to the Church.

Eliel Cruz, founder of Faithfully LGBT, will join the Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman in conversation.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

The Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman is an Episcopal priest and a political strategist who has been illuminating people’s understanding of Christianity and queer life for more than twenty-five years. She has worked on some of the most pressing contemporary issues in the intersection of religion and sexuality, serving as an inner-city hospital chaplain to people with HIV/AIDS, from 1989 to 1995; helping craft political strategy for marriage-equality efforts; and persevering for almost two decades to become an openly queer priest in the Episcopal Church. (New York, NY)

Eliel Cruz is the Executive Director of Faith In America, an organization dedicated to ending religious based bigotry towards LGBT people. He has worked on the intersections of faith, sexuality, and gender for five years. Cruz is a prolific speaker and writer on religion, (bi)sexuality, media, and culture as seen in the Huffington Post, Upworthy, Mic, Daily Dot, Everyday Feminism, Washington Post, Sojourners, DETAILS Magazine, Quartz, Rolling Stone. He’s the co-founder and former president of Intercollegiate Adventist Gay-Straight Alliance Coalition, an organization that advocates for safe spaces for LGBT students at Seventh-day Adventist colleges. He has a BBA & BA in International Business and French Studies from Andrews University.