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When it comes to supporting gay and lesbian rights, many people of faith are torn. They often see and hear religious leaders advancing the view that gays and lesbians do not deserve equal treatment, and yet they are motivated by their faith to want to love their neighbors as themselves.
Believe Out Loud is a collection of clergy and lay leaders, LGBT activists and concerned individuals working together to help the Protestant community become more welcoming to gays and lesbians. Centered around a sophisticated web hub, Believe Out Loud is using advertising, community organizing and other strategies to build a self-sustaining movement for LGBT inclusion in churches around the country.
The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund was the lead funder of the collaborative research and planning effort that preceded the launch of Believe Out Loud in early 2010. The Fund’s goal, together with its partners in this work, is to counter the religious right’s message of intolerance toward gays and lesbians. Through its support for Believe Out Loud, the Fund seeks to support more people of faith, and more churches, to “break the silence” and show their support for equality for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Rev. Robert Chase, Executive Director of Intersections International and Project Manager for Believe Out Loud, said, “Thus far, the largely secular proponents of LGBT equality have been unable to craft successful strategies to counter arguments advanced by the religious right and instead have all but ceded organizing in faith communities to some of the staunchest opponents of LGBT justice. The ‘God vs. gays’ battle continues to rage. Believe Out Loud seeks to change that story.”
