Celebrating the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Nonbinary, Two Spirit, and Asexual Community

Clergy Care Collective affirms and celebrates members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, nonbinary, two spirit, and asexual community. Our Executive Director and Creative Director are gay. David Lembeck, our Creative Director, and his husband, have been involved in a love affair for over 30 years. We are excited by the following positions from Christian religious denominations:

• The United Church of Christ at its 2005 general synod endorsed marriage equality. The United Church of Christ also affirms the transgender community: in 2003 its general synod passed a resolution, Affirming the Participation and Ministry of Transgender People Within the United Church of Christ and Supporting Their Civil and Human Rights.

• The Evangelical Lutheran Church ("ELCA") in America came out with the Official Document Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust (2009 social statement) that affirmed marriage equality. In 2009 the ELCA opened ordination regardless of gender identity.

• The Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) at its 2013 General Assembly Resolution GA-1327 affirmed full inclusion of LGBTINTA+ people. In 2019 it passed Resolution GA-1929 titled Becoming a People of Welcome and Grace to All, affirming the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people.

• The Presbyterian Church in the USA in a 2014 amendment to its Book of Order endorsed marriage equality.

• The Episcopal Church at its 2015 General Convention passed Resolution A054 allowing same-sex marriage rites. In 2012 the General Convention approved resolutions adding “gender identity and expression” to nondiscrimination canons.

• We support the Catholic Church's beginnings of full LGBT inclusion via Fiducia Supplicans, a Declaration issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, with Pope Francis’s explicit approval, on December 18, 2023, allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions. We pray for the day when the Catholic sacrament of marriage is extended to same-sex couples. In October 2023, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Pope Francis, explicitly confirmed this position: Transgender people can be godparents or receive baptism, and they can have their children baptized, as long as there is a sincere intention to raise the child in the Catholic faith.