Timothy Palmer

Timothy Palmer is Director of Communications and Outreach and leads LGBT initiatives for the Religious Institute. He has a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York and a Master of Arts and undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Before entering the seminary, he was an executive speechwriter and director of communications for the IBM Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., for 10 years, most recently in the office of the chairman.  Prior to joining IBM, he was a freelance writer serving corporate clients in Texas.  His work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly and other major publications.  He was actively engaged in sexual justice issues in Texas, providing pro bono services to the Texas AIDS Network, the Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Day project, the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and GLAAD. 

He was a Presidential Scholar at Union Seminary, where he was a co-leader of Union’s LGBT student caucus and a member of the ministerial and spiritual formation resource team.  He joined the Religious Institute as an Intern Minister in September 2006. He is co-author of Sexuality and Religion 2020: Goals for the Next Decade, co-author of A Time to Seek: Study Guide on Sexual and Gender Diversity, author of Acting Out Loud, an online guide for LGBT inclusion in faith communities, and lead researcher and co-author of the Survey of Religious Progressives. 

He lives with his partner, Eduardo Uribe, in Manhattan, where he is a member of St. Michael's Episcopal Church.