Holding Faith / Holding Family resources

General resources 

Glossary of terms: https://www.hrc.org/resources/glossary-of-terms

Suicide prevention: The Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org) or 1-877-330-6366 (hotline set up by Canada but serving US)

Parental support: Serendipity/ MamaBears facebook page

The Genderbread Person (genderbread.org)

Advocacy: https://pflag.org/

The Bible and Gay, Lesbian and Bi Sexuality 

Torn, by Justin Lee.

Changing our Minds by David Gushee

Unclobbered by Colby Martin

God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines

A Bigger Table by John Pavlovitz

Q Christian: https://www.qchristian.org/

Gay Christian network: https://gaychristian.net/

Transgender and Non-binary Gender Identity 

Beyond Pink and Blue workshop

Jennifer Finney Boylan: She's Not There: a Life in Two Genders.

SAP Netflix special by Mae Martin

Season 8, episode 5 of Call the Midwife on Netflix on intersex persons

Gender-inclusive pronouns: ttps://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/gender-pronouns/

Austin Hartke, Transforming: the Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians

Finding an Affirming Church 

https://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/

list of affirming denominations: https://www.gaychurch.org/affirming-denominations/

In particular, our experience with these denominations has been positive. Note that there are multiple denominations within Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist and other "families" so look for these particular varieties:

Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)

United Church of Christ

Disciples of Christ

Episcopal Church

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

Metropolitan Church (the oldest affirming denomination)

Two good sources for PCUSA affirming churches: Covenant Network  https://covnetpres.org/ and More Light Presbyterians: https://mlp.org/

Within the United Methodist church look for churches that are part of Reconciling Ministries: https://rmnetwork.org/

Note that in most affirming denominations, some degree to which individual congregations include or affirm LGBTQ persons varies. When reading church mission statements, note that (frustratingly) "welcoming" does not always mean inclusive, unless followed by a specific invitation to the LGBTQ community. Instead, look for words like "open and affirming" and/or membership in Reconciling Ministries, More Light Presbyterians, or Covenant Network.