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rev. ashley detar birt

LGBTQIA+ Equity Advocacy Committee responds to pastors’ petition on the Olympia Overture

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As the PC(USA)’s 226th General Assembly approaches next month, a change.org petition ignited much social media chatter this week as 26 teaching elders began a dissent to challenge Part B of POL-01, commonly known as the “Olympia Overture” as it’s sponsored by Olympia Presbytery. Nearly four dozen more pastors have since signed the petition.

‘We have to shift the narrative to something that resembles Jesus’

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Amid a rash of recent legislation “intended to criminalize the existence, presence and stories” of people in the transgender and LGBTQIA+ communities, a four-member panel convened on Saturday discussed, as host Adrian White said, “how we can create space and come together to have a conversation about what we can do in response.”

Bringing about God’s Jubilee in a hurting world

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Rick Ufford-Chase, a ruling elder and the Moderator of the 216th General Assembly (2004), and the Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, who last spring co-founded, along with Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and the Presbytery of Utica, co-founded the Center for Jubilee Practice, appeared last week on A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast. The two talked about their work studying, among other things, how churches might facilitate conversations around reparations in light of the wealth gap between Indigenous and African American families and white families in the U.S.

A resilient woman who refuses to be dismissed, even by Jesus

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If you’re looking for a biblical definition of resilience, you’d do well to turn to the story of the Syrophoenician woman’s faith as recorded in Mark 7:24-30. “Sir,” the woman tells Jesus in the story’s pivotal moment, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Black Women and Girls Task Force lifts up LGBTQIA issues

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A panel discussion hosted by the Disparities Experienced by Black Women and Girls Task Force was nearing a close Thursday when the Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt asked panelists how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) could better support queer and trans Black women and girls.

Challenging the ‘idolatry’ of the nuclear family

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The first time the Rev. Lee Catoe heard the term “queer,” it was in the saying “queer as a $2 bill.” Sometimes it simply referred to something that was just odd, but other times it was referring to someone in the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

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