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WATCH: Many Voices Videos Spotlight Black LGBT Christians

WATCH: Many Voices Videos Spotlight Black LGBT Christians

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The video campaign began with National Coming Out Day and will continue through the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

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Many Voices, a group working for LGBTQ rights from within black churches, has launched a video campaign aimed at shedding light on the presence of gay and transgender people in the black Christian community.

The first video went online Friday for National Coming Out Day, and a new video will be released weekly until the Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20. The first features Bishop Tonyia Rawls, founding pastor of Unity Fellowship Church Charlotte in North Carolina.

Discussing Unity, Rawls says in the video, "I heard that God is love, and love is for everyone. And there was something about that, when hearing that spoken by a man who was reverend, and gay, and unapologetic. I just never knew there could be such a thing. And then to go these congregations and see people coming in with their families who were same-gender-loving people, or to see the trans man or woman show up and not have to be afraid -- I had found home."

GLAAD is working with Many Voices on the campaign. Read more about it here, and watch Rawls's video below.

ReligionChristianityGLAADAfrican-AmericansMany Voices
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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
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