“Queering the Gospel” Workshop with Shannon T.L. Kearns and Brian Murphy

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Lunch is provided with registration

Finding Yourself in Sacred Stories

What, exactly, is a queer gospel? Heresy or hope? Is it only for LGBTQ people or can it speak more broadly?

In this interactive workshop the founders of QueerTheology.com will share the good news of the queer gospel. It’s a gospel that speaks powerfully to marginalized people of all identities and gives hope and inspiration as we work to create a more just world. We will share stories from the life of Jesus and the early church and talk about how those stories continue to be guiding lights for the church today, and how, when they are put into conversation with queer and transgender identity, they become powerful examples that challenge and provoke.

Brian and Fr. Shay met in New York in one of those friend of a friend serendipitous moments.The idea for Queer Theology dot com, a resource hub and online community that took “It’s OK to be LGBTQ and Christian” as the starting point, rather than finish line of the conversation, was born through years of Skype conversations, text messaging, and personal activism before launching in 2013.

Together, they’ve started and broken open conversations around purity culture, sex-positivity and progressive sexual ethics, queer bodies, transgender theology, the interplay between queer activism and Christian activism, Christianity & polyamory, and more. They are co-authors of Queers The Word, a devotional for LGBTQ+ Christians, and speakers at universities, churches, and conferences in the US and abroad.

Their message has reached over 1,000,000 people in over 200 countries through their website, podcast, and videos.

Brian G. Murphy is an activist, educator, and certified relationship coach. He studied film production and religion at the University of Southern California as a Presidential Scholar and was inducted into Theta Alpha Kappa, the national honor society for religious studies and theology.

Before turning to activism, Brian worked in Hollywood on a number of film and television projects and produced a pilot for a national broadcast network. He received nonviolence training through Soulforce, media training from GLAAD, and participated in the 2007 Equality Ride, engaging in direct action activism at anti-LGBTQ colleges in the USA. He created award-winning marketing and advertising campaigns for GLSEN and Harlem United.

In addition to his work at QueerTheology.com, Brian runs Relationshift, a relationship coaching practice helping LGBTQ+ and polyamorous people build thriving relationships on their own terms. Brian has worked with GLSEN, Athlete Ally, Born This Way Foundation, and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as a number of local, grassroots organizations. His work has been featured in Vice, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, The Advocate, Upworthy, and NBC News.

Shannon TL Kearns is a transgender man who believes in the transformative power of stories. He is an ordained priest, a playwright/screenwriter, and a theologian. He’s been a Humanitas New Voices Fellow, a Lambda Literary Fellow, a Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow, and a Finnovation Fellow. His first book, In the Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey With Scripture was published by Eerdmans.  In addition to his work at QueerTheology.com, Shannon is a recipient of the Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowship in 20/21 and he was a Lambda Literary Fellow for 2019 and a Finnovation Fellow for 2019/2020. Shannon has appeared on many podcasts, been featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, in a TOPIC short documentary, on BuzzFeed, the Advocate, and Vice.

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