Parity Be the Hope Conference & Retreat
Featured Keynote Speaker
Rev. Elizabeth Edman

Liz Edman is an Episcopal priest and political strategist who has been igniting people's understanding of Christianity and queer life for more than 25 years.  She has lived and worked on the front lines of the most salient contemporary issues where religion meets sexuality, serving as an inner city hospital chaplain to people with HIV/AIDS from 1989 to 1995, helping craft political and communications strategies for marriage equality efforts, and persevering for almost two decades to become an openly queer priest in the Episcopal Church. She lives in New York City.

Liz is the author of the acclaimed book Queer Virtue (2016), a "must read" for those who care about wholeness and bringing our full selves to our lives of faith, community and civil engagement.

 “[Edman’s] tone and personal examples are compelling. By turning the conversation around to show what queerness can tell readers about Christianity, this work provides a striking road map for larger, more productive conversations and community building.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

QUEER VIRTUE: A MOVEMENT TO REFORM AND REVITALIZE CHRISTIAN FAITH

“Authentic Christianity is and must be queer.”

This is the fundamental premise of Queer Virtue. Christianity persistently calls the followers of Jesus to rupture, or "queer," false binaries that pit people against each other.  Jesus does this when he presses the question, "Who is my neighbor?", calling his followers to hit a reset button in their assumptions about who “we” are, who “they” are, and how we are supposed to treat one another. 

Queer people navigate this kind of rupturing every day.

Queer people must:
* discern an identity
* tell the truth about it, even in the face of material risk
* find others who share this identity
* build community

LGBTQ community persistently looks to the margins to see who isn’t yet included and decide what we’re going to do about it. This “path” bears remarkable similarity to the path that Christians are called to walk. Queer experience, then, is a lens that can help Christians better understand and navigate an authentic Christian path. Exploring ethical dimensions of queer experience such as Pride, coming out, scandal and hospitality, Queer Virtue lifts up the queer ethical path as a model for progressive Christian practice, illuminating and potentially vivifying the Christian faith.