Bringing faith communities together to make LGBTQ Mississippians feel welcome
Using the grant from the LGBTQ Fund of Mississippi, Fondren Presbyterian will work with similar organizations throughout the state to build a Gender and Sexual Diversity Interfaith Collaborative. The Interfaith Collaborative will model best practices from other cities to implement in Mississippi coalitions.
“The…South has the largest population of LGBTQ Americans in the country. It’s also the place where the community’s rights are most at risk and where the community has the most difficulty building community. Our hope is that we will be a resource and a starting point for both building community for the LGBTQ community and allies, and also educating the broader community to hopefully break down some of the walls that stand between the community and the broader culture,” said Rob Lowry, pastor and head of staff at Fondren Presbyterian Church.
This collaborative will leverage the work of faith communities to bring together people working for change for the LGBTQ community.
“Anytime a part of our broader community is partialled off and marginalized, our community suffers as a whole. I believe that it’s important for everyone to have a seat at the table and for everyone to have the resources and opportunities that are shared by their neighbors. It is also fundamentally a matter of justice. We have a responsibility as religious communities to work for justice in our communities more broadly. Speaking as a Protestant Christian–I don’t want to speak for any other faith community–but in my tradition, working towards the equality of people and working towards building the dignity of every person is essential to our identity,” said Lowry.
This collaborative will be for the entire community, including people of any faith or people of no faith. Anyone who wants to be a part of the conversation is welcome to join. Lowry hopes that this will be the start of the conversation and that this collaborative will grow to the broader Mississippi community.
“Being homegrown means that we will be able to address the specific needs in Mississippi. For example, Mississippi has a higher proportion of people in marginalized communities who are LGBTQ. That is a reality that is different than it would be in another city, so having a locally grown, locally organized, and locally led coalition means that we will be responding to the specific needs within our community and doing that within the specific context of our state.”
Giving everyone a seat at the table
“These conversations are happening in Mississippi, and they are happening within faith communities and in a broad and robust way. I hope people will take away a sense of invitation to be a part of the conversation. This is a table that will grow as much as it needs to to fit everyone who wants to sit around it. That is fundamental to our work. We want to have room for everyone who wants to be a part of the conversation to be a part.”
“We have one of the highest church attendance rates and people identify with their religious community in larger numbers and often greater depth than any other place in the country. So, religious communities are a big part of our broader community as individuals. It’s important that we engage those places of deep commitment and deep involvement that people have. For far too long, the LGBTQ community has felt marginalized by the religious community and often unwelcome in it. We would love to break down the assumption that there’s no room in religious communities for LGBTQ Mississippians. You know, I’m a pastor of a protestant church in Jackson, and I’m an openly gay man whose congregation loves my husband to be. Those places are real, and those communities exist, and we want people to know that,” said Lowry.
Keep up to date with Fondren Presbyterian Church and the Gender and Sexual Diversity Interfaith Collaborative via their website or Facebook.