LGBTQ Worship Resources

The Religious Institute is pleased to offer worship resources to assist clergy in speaking out in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens and young adults. Please feel free to modify any of these in order to better serve your faith community.

“All of us have teens and young adults who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in our congregations, many who are suffering in silence and are at risk,” noted Rev. Debra W. Haffner, executive director of the Religious Institute. “One study found that 14% of teens in religious communities identify as something other than heterosexual. Almost nine in ten of them have not been open about their sexuality with clergy or other adult leaders in their faith communities.”

Newly added (November 2011):

• Litany
• Prayer of the Day
• Responsive Reading
   
• All three combined in one file

The recent suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy who was subjected to brutal anti-gay bullying after making a video to encourage other gay teens, demonstrates the sad urgency of this call to action, which remains as necessary as it was in the wake of multiple teen suicides in September 2010. 

Clergy Respond in Sermons and Prayers

Rabbi Victor Appell, Union for Reform Judaism, If Only Tyler Clementi Had Been to a Gay Synagogue

Pastor Phill Haslanger, Memorial United Church of Christ, The life of an Outcast

Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Pasedina Jewish Temple and Center, Coming out of our Closet Gay Youth Suicides

Rabbi Arthur Segal, Jewish Renewal, Derek Eretz Zuta + Rabbah

Pastor Maria Tafoya, Disciples of Christ, Where are the Others?

Rev. David W. Good, The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT, Sermons in Stone: Part IV - Everybaby and a Three Way Conversation

Cantor Dana Anesi, Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, D’var Torah—Parashat Vayeira

Rev. Brenda Fletchall, First Christian Church, The Grateful Samaritan Luke 17:11-19

Rev. Lori Johnson, Trinity Episcopal Church, There is Something Wrong and Something Needs to Change

Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Middleboro, Belonging to a Place

Rev. Eliza C. Galaher, Wildflower Church: A Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Prayer

Other Religious Institute LGBTQ Worship Helps

Acting Out Loud

This is a multifaith, online resource for faith communities that want to move beyond welcome toward a wider embrace of LGBT people and their families. Acting Out Loud explores the diversity of populations within the LGBT community and suggests dozens of practical steps that congregations can take to address the specific pastoral needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

A Time to Seek

A Time to Seek is a congregational study guide on sexual and gender diversity. Useful for individual study or group discussion, A Time to Seek offers an introduction to the science of sexual orientation and gender identity, and explores new understandings of Scriptural texts related to sexuality and gender.

Open Letter on Sexual and Gender Diversity

If you are clergy or a religious professional, click here to read and endorse the Open Letter, which makes a faith-based argument for LGBT civil rights and full inclusion in our faith communities. And encourage your colleagues to sign on as well! You may also download the Open Letter to share with members of your congregation.

Other Resources

Click on the attachments below to download the PDF versions of the sermons.

More resources are being added regularly, so check back frequently.

Have something you'd like to share? Please send it to us at info@religiousinstitute.org and we'll add (or link) to it via this page. Thanks!