Author: Aubrey Thonvold

ReconcilingWorks Rejoices at Supreme Court Decisions on Same-Gender Marriage

  ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation is reacting with joy to today’s Supreme Court decisions on same-gender marriage. ReconcilingWorks applauds the court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the court’s majority opinion that affirmed state marriage laws seeking to protect people “in personhood and dignity.” The opinion also noted that […]

Lutherans Elect First Bishop Who is Openly Gay

Press Release RECONCILINGWORKS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   May 31, 2013 Contact: Emily Eastwood, Executive Director 952-239-3359 exec@reconcilingworks.org www.ReconcilingWorks.org Lutherans Elect First Bishop Who is Openly GayThe Rev. Dr. Guy Erwin, a premier scholar on Martin Luther, elected as Lutheran Bishop ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation celebrates the election of the Rev. Dr. Guy Erwin as Bishop […]

ReconcilingWorks Expresses Disappointment, Calls on ELCA to Support Protections for All Families

ReconcilingWorks Expresses Disappointment, Calls on ELCA to Support Protections for All Families ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation is deeply saddened to learn that the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has failed to include the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) as part of proposed federal legislation for comprehensive immigration reform. UAFA would amend the Immigration and Nationality […]

ReconcilingWorks urges participation in May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

ReconcilingWorks urges participation in May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia To North Americans, Idaho is a largely mountainous state in the northwestern United States. But around the world, IDAHO is becoming known as something else: the International Day Against Homophobia (sometimes with Transphobia as part of the name to make the acronym IDAHOT). […]

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia Many faith communities and organizations around the world commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) every year on May 17. These faith communities and organizations not only come together to highlight the intersections of faith and sexuality to remember victims of homo/bi/transphobia and to stand against religiously […]

Changes in Two Positions on ReconcilingWorks’ Board of Directors

Two members of the ReconcilingWorks Board of Directors have vacated their positions, which were filled on an interim basis at the board’s meeting earlier in March. Jeannine Janson, Yachats, Oregon, resigned from her position as Vice-Chair of Development. Her resignation signifies a retirement from many years of service on the organization’s board. She was the […]

Over 300 faith leaders support freedom to marry in Illinois

Over 300 faith leaders–including over 45 ELCA Lutheran pastors and a bishop–support the freedom to marry in Illinois. Click on the graphic below to see their letter of support and the full list of signatories.    

Bishop Wayne Miller, Metro Chicago Synod, and Illinois pastors advocate for Freedom to Marry

A report from the Rev. Kim Beckmann in Chicago: In a Valentine’s Day session, the Illinois State Senate voted 34 – 21 yesterday in favor of SB 10: the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. This vote was a significant step toward making Illinois the tenth state to legally recognize and support the loving commitments […]

Oregon Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke signs petition in support of freedom to marry

Yesterday, Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke of the Oregon Synod (ELCA), along with a large, ecumencial group of clergy in the Portland metro area, signed a petition in support of putting a call for the freedom to marry on the November 2014 ballot in Oregon. Bishop Brauer-Rieke also wrote a letter to members of the Oregon Synod, […]

ReconcilingWorks Welcomes Kari Lipke to Staff

ReconcilingWorks Welcomes Kari Lipke to Staff Kari Lipke joined the ReconcilingWorks staff in late July to help organize Lutherans in support of the Washington United for Marriage Referendum 74 campaign. Her work on the campaign was made possible, in part, through a partnership with Gethsemane Lutheran in Seattle.  At the successful completion of that campaign to […]