WTOP is marking Pride Month by showcasing the people, places and important issues in the LGBTQ+ communities in the D.C. area. Check back all throughout June as we share these stories, on air and online.
Some believe that once a person comes out of the closet, they turn their back on their faith. Those people would be surprised that nearly half of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States consider themselves religious.
While some religious groups have gone out of their way to make sure the gay community know they are not welcome in their place of worship, others attend Pride events to recruit new parishioners or congregants.
Marianne Duddy-Burke is the executive director of Dignity USA, an organization founded in 1969 for LGBTQ+ Catholics.
Duddy-Burke has been on the front lines of improving the relationship between members of the LGBTQ+ community and the Catholic Church.
“It’s my 40-year anniversary of doing national work for queer Catholics and our families,” she said. “Claiming our place in society and our churches and at work and our homes … is really important.”
Duddy-Burke pointed out that although the late Pope Francis created visibility for the LGBTQ+ community, and met queer leaders in person including herself, the church doctrine still treats the community like second-class citizens.
“Many people interpret it that trans people and queer people are not part of God’s plan for humanity,” Duddy-Burke said.
Some queer members of the Jewish faith in the Washington area worship together at Bet Mishpachah.
“It’s the first queer synagogue in D.C.,” said Roo Sultan, a member of the synagogue. “We’ll be hitting our 50th year next year.”
The Silver Spring resident said she loves being a member at Bet Mishpachah, which meets at the Jewish Community Center in the District.
“We are a smaller congregation. We meet out of one of their meeting rooms,” she said. “Our ark is there, but we’re a really great, close-knit group. It’s a lot of fun.”
Sultan told WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander that she thinks it’s important for Bet Mishpachah to be at events like the WorldPride D.C. festival. The synagogue had a booth at the event.
“We had so many, especially young queer people, come up to our table, go, ‘Oh, my God, there are Jews here!’ And they feel represented, they feel seen,” Sultan said.
Other groups at the WorldPride D.C. festival were Bethesda United Methodist Church, Dumbarton Methodist Church and Dignity Washington DC’s Faith Community for LGBTQ Catholics.
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