Faith, justice and queer leadership take center stage at TFAM conference
Charlotte will host faith leaders, activists and LGBTQ+ advocates from across the country this week as The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) brings its annual Leadership Conference to the city from July 22–25. The conference is centered on the theme “Practicing Ubuntu: Resist. Repair. Regenerate.” Through worship, workshops and panel discussions, organizers hope to demonstrate…
South Carolina Presbyterian church hires transgender minister in Anderson
A small, struggling Presbyterian church in Anderson, South Carolina, has taken the bold step of hiring an openly transgender woman as its new pastor. North Anderson Community Church, Presbyterian (NACCP), a member congregation of the mainline denomination, Presbyterian Church (USA), has hired the Rev. Laura Bethany Buchleiter as its stated supply pastor (a temporary minister…
Myers Park church replaces ‘Baptist’ with ‘Covenant’
What’s in a name? Sometimes, nothing; sometimes, everything. That applies to churches as well. Since the 1980s, the trend has been for churches to drop denominational identifiers from their names. For example, in the South Carolina Upstate region, New Covenant Church has a significant presence. It is a Presbyterian congregation with ties to the Presbyterian…
Our People: Amanda Weatherspoon
Nestled in East Charlotte, there’s a kitten-loving optimist who is consistently “working towards bringing more love into the world.” From social worker to clergy member, Amanda Weatherspoon is a self-love enthusiast who lives a life defined by running an organization with the hope of finding things that make her heart sing. Originally hailing from Tennessee,…
Fun for June: let’s go to Ronda, NC for ‘Faith, Family and Freedom Month’
The small town of Ronda, North Carolina (population 400), is getting heavy coverage from conservative-slanted news because town commissioner Kevin Reece announced June 5 he will put forth a resolution to officially designate June as “Faith, Family and Freedom Month.” The move comes in direct opposition to LGBTQ+ Pride Month, which was officially recognized in…
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South Carolina is an increasingly hostile place for queer people to live, especially trans youth and their parents. According to OutLeadership, the Palmetto State is one of the five worst states in the nation for LGBTQ+ people. In the fall of 2024, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of a youth identified as…
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Coming out later in life and realizing you’re HIV-positive
On HIV infection: ‘If you’re going to be sexually active, get on some kind of PrEP as soon as you can.’ Each of us has a different life journey. That can be contingent on a variety of decisions we make and general happenstance. Perhaps you were born into a progressive family that had no hard…
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Parental rights at risk
If you are not the biological parent of the child you and your same sex spouse had together and you haven’t done an adoption, you are at risk, even if you are on the birth certificate. Although not a North Carolina case, look up Oklahoma Wilson and Williams v Vaughn. It is heartbreaking. A similar…
