Creating safe and welcoming spaces in our churches and community for LGBTQIA+ people and bearing authentic public witness to the loving, liberating, life-giving God that we follow.

The Episcopal Church is dedicated to full inclusion and equality in the church as well as in society as a whole.

Jesus calls us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In our Baptismal Covenant, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. When we use the name and pronouns that someone asks us to use for them, we respect their dignity as a beloved child of God and we treat them as we would hope others would treat us.

Why is this ministry needed?

Because every person is a beloved child of God and deserves to be treated with dignity and affirmed in that belovedness, but that is not what is happening in many places across our state.

In 2023 Iowa passed a record number of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws that significantly limit queer students’ and families’ ability to thrive in our state. From book bans, forced outings of trans students without consent, bans on youth gender-affirming care, and bans on discussing gender identity or sexual orientation with K-6 students, these laws are already negatively impacting LGBTQIA+ lives. Nationally the Trevor Project reports that nearly 1 in 3 LGBTQIA+ young people said their mental health was poor most of the time or always due to the anti LGBTQIA+ policies and legislation. Nearly 2 of 3 young people said that hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQIA+ people at school made their mental health worse. The laws are supported by a growing network of Christian organizations in our state, and in far too many areas the local Episcopal church is one of the only safe and affirming places of faith where an LGBTQIA+ person might hear that they are a beloved child of God.

We are incredibly thankful to have received an Evangelism Grant from The Episcopal Church in 2024 for our Episco-PRIDE ministry, allowing us to equip teams with the tools and training to create these safe, welcoming spaces.

Participating Teams

Teams from these congregations Participated in 2024:

  • Ames, St. John’s by the Campus

  • Boone/Fort Dodge/Harlan/Webster City

  • Cedar Falls, St. Luke’s

  • Cedar Rapids, Christ

  • Coralville, New Song

  • Davenport, Trinity Cathedral

  • Des Moines, St. Andrew's

  • Diocesan Team

  • Grinnell, St. Paul’s

  • Iowa City, JustChurch

  • Iowa City, Trinity

  • Mason City, St. John’s

Teams Committed to:

  1. Meetings/Trainings: having at least 1 representative present at each meeting/training date, and those representatives sharing what they learn with team members who couldn’t attend.

    • Already done: Information session; Safe Zone Training; Workshop with Iowa Safe Schools; Evangelism workshop with all participating teams.

    • Done: August 21, 6-7pm: Debrief meeting - share learnings

  2. Participating in a Community Event

    • Such as: PRIDE events, farmers markets, community festivals, campus fairs, or other gatherings

  3. Sharing learnings

    • with other team members/congregation

    • at our debrief meeting in August

    • filling out an evaluation survey

    • sharing pictures, videos, stories with diocesan Communications Missioner

Teams Received:

  • Trainings and support

  • Customized materials to share at their community event (may include custom graphics, stickers, postcards, signage, videos, and social media posts, & more)

  • Access to borrow a festival kit (including 6ft table, banners, pop-up tent, chairs, wagon for transporting, & more)

  • All of the above at no cost

    • However, there may be a cost to your team to have space at your chosen community event, or if you would like more materials (stickers, postcards, etc.) than what is included in our kits, so you may want to factor these into your planning.

The following congregations participated partially, either by attending a training or participating in a community event:

  • Des Moines, St. Paul’s Cathedral

  • Fort Madison, St. Luke’s

  • Waterloo, Trinity

 

Questions? Contact:

Amy Mellies, Children & Youth Missioner

Traci Ruhland Petty, Communications & GILEAD Grant Missioner

Rev. Cn. Meg Wagner, Canon to the Ordinary

Resources

CONGREGATION GUIDES

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa created "Becoming an LGBTQ Ally in Your Faith Community: best practices for welcoming persons into sacred spaces," a guide designed specifically for helping faith communities become more welcoming to people who are LGBTQ

The Rainbow Initiative Toolkit for Congregations, for those who work with and for people who have been forced from their home countries in search of safety; from Episcopal Migration Ministries.

Courses + Trainings

An Introduction to Queer Theology - from Virginia Theological Seminary. In this online course - Oct 2024 - we will delve into diverse perspectives, reclaim sacredness of body, and foster inclusive communities.

The Safe Zone Project: a free online resource for powerful, effective LGBTQ awareness and ally training workshops; this training was endorsed by The Episcopal Church at the 2022 General Convention

CHURCH RESOLUTIONS & POLICIES

 From General Convention 2022

Gender Affirming Care for all ages 2022-D066

Bathroom Access 2018-C022

Full Inclusion 1976-A069

Equal Protection 1976-A071

Non-discrimination, equal access to the rites and worship of The Episcopal Church 1994-C020

 

Organizations

NATIONAL

PFLAG: the nation's first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.

TransEpiscopal: a group dedicated to fostering the full embrace of trans and nonbinary people in life and worship of The Episcopal Church

LOCAL

One Iowa: advances, empowers, and improves the lives of LGBTQ Iowans statewide.

Iowa Safe Schools: offers direct services and supports to students who have been bullied anywhere in the state of Iowa.

From Bishop Monnot
March 2, 2023

From Bishop Monnot
March 3, 2022