Growing up Jewish, my favorite holiday was always Pesach. Passover. Everyone else seemed to love Chanukah for the presents and dreidels or Rosh Hashanah for the sweet honey…

There is a moment of stillness in Midnight Mass on Noche Buena when I feel closest to God. The flickering candles, the scent of incense, and the hushed prayers…

In Hindi, the formal word for friend is mitra. A mitra is more than an acquaintance. It signifies an emotional bond so deep that its meaning is impossible to translate…

Since long before I was born, expectations and values of heteronormativity have been forced onto my people and community for centuries. Now, I am proud to be…

Trauma. Often, when speaking about the connection between queerness and religion, the word trauma is brought into the mix…

My relationship with faith has always been complex, serving as both a source of comfort and restriction. Growing up in a conservative Christian environment left me keenly aware of…

In Catholicism, a name is sacred. It demands respect, a sign of dignity marked on their tongue with just a few syllables. We are taught in long, wooden pews…

The car pulled up to the church on the hill and I stepped outside, shivering in my short white dress. Overhead, the moon hung low in the sky, casting glimmers…

As the June sun set over Denver’s Cheesman Park, I stepped in front of the crowd, struck my pose, and began to pray. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam…

On my desk sit a lesbian flag and a rosary; items often depicted in opposition, one begging for punishment, one for understanding. The flag is from my first pride parade…

When I received my letterman jacket in my small, conservative town and wore around “James: 2:16-17,” many took their double takes and questioned my faith…

Paradiso or Heaven has always been my home. Like a lampshade of sorts, it has sat by my bed illuminating my thoughts. When I was a child, my overwhelming fears of life and death…

When I first transitioned, my relationship with Judaism was the last thing on my mind. How would my religion even connect with my gender?…

For much of my life, I thought that my beliefs and my bisexuality could never coexist. Raised in a Christian faith that emphasized strict lines of right and wrong…

When I came out as gay and trans, I thought I would be embraced by a community that welcomed everyone with open arms. Instead, I felt ostracized…

As a queer person of faith, navigating the intersection of my identity and my spirituality has been a journey enriched by both challenges and triumph…

Faith and queerness are often seen as two things that cannot intertwine, forcing the subject to choose between two integral parts of their identity…

Adoration is the silence that makes me feel heard. In Christianity, Eucharistic Adoration takes place after Holy Communion, while others receive the Eucharist after you…

The biggest religious gift I ever received was the privilege to be given no set religion. My mom, a Catholic, and my dad, a Jew, agreed to raise me without a religious upbringing…

Ksitigharba Bodhisattva is said to be one of pure nondiscriminating loving-kindness, a being of unending wisdom and compassion, a being of the Buddha’s teachings…