Rainbow Lifelong Learning Institute, Boston

Class Schedule:
This class will take place on Tuesdays at 1:30 PM for five weeks (1/21/25 - 2/18/25).  This course will be on zoom.

Course Description:
The inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals into many western religions has been a challenge and a journey for all concerned. This course will look at five prominent religions in the United States, present a brief overview of their fundamental beliefs, values, and religious practices, and examine what each has experienced vis-à-vis LGBTQ+ issues and individuals in their communities. Religious leaders and individuals of those faiths will discuss their journeys and then open discussion to course participants. 

Religions to be explored.

January 21. Unitarian Universalist. Reverend Erica Richmond.

January 28. Methodist. Reverend Cynthia Good.

February 4. Catholic. Kathy Ann Gianino, Dignity Boston Liturgy Committee, member.

February 11. Religious Society of Friends (“Quaker”). Susan Davies, member.

February 18. Judaism. Rabbi Lisa Edwards.

 Instructors:

Rev. Erica Richmond joined First Parish UU Church in Arlington as Minister in 2020 after several years as a hospital chaplain and one year at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in North Andover. She earned her BA and MA degrees at Clark University in International Development, Gender Studies and Community Development, and  graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 2013.

The Reverend Dr. Cynthia Good is the pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Arlington, Massachusetts. She received her M.Div. from Yale Divinity School and her D.Min. from Hartford Seminary, with a focus on spirituality, creativity, and worship;  and completed a program in Spiritual Direction with the Stillpoint Center for Christian Spirituality at Ghost Ranch. She has served as Pastor of four churches and Interim Pastor of many more. 

Kathy Ann Gianino, Dignity Boston Liturgy Committee, has been for 45 years a member of Dignity Boston, a catholic, progressive, inclusive community where all are welcome, especially LGBTQIA. She also serves as a member of WATER: Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual. Within Dignity Boston, she coordinates liturgies and creates prayerful movement, ‘liturgical dance.’ Twenty years ago, she and her wife were married at a Dignity Boston service, where biological family, friends, co-workers and anyone else who came to church that day witnessed the ‘Glorious’ blessing of the legal marriage of 2 women.

Susan Davies’ search for a faith community brought her to the Religious Society of Friends,“Quakers,” 52 years ago. Among other qualities, she was drawn by the Quaker conviction in the equal roles of men and women; that no intermediaries were needed for engagement with God/spirit; the emphasis on living the faith through pastoral work in the community; and shared governance by “coming to a sense of the meeting” rather than voting. 

Rabbi Emerita Lisa Edwards, Ph,D,, is a Jewish lesbian activist in the pulpit, online, on the page, and in the classroom and the streets. From 1994 to 2019 she served as Rabbi (now Rabbi Emerita) of Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC) and “House of New Life,” the world’s original queer synagogue, an LGBTQ+ inclusive, progressive, diverse community founded in 1972. With degrees (including ordination) from five institutions of higher education , she is still learning. She and her wife, lesbian activist and archivist Tracy Moore, have been together since 1985.

Homework:  None

Required Course Material: None