Jamayne was born in the Houston Texas & has worked in the field of Social Work for the past 10 years. Equal fairness & equality is what lead him into his career-field of choice.Jamayne identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community & has been happily married to his husband since August 2014. His favorite thing to do is to indulge in family time with his kiddos, cook, listen to music, enjoy nature, & binge watch Criminal Justice television shows while eating unhealthy snacks. The motto in which he lives for is "do whatever it takes to gain your inner peace & genuine happiness.
TikTok name is: mayne.latrey1
Morgan Davis works with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, Special Victims Unit.
Davis has worked for over 10 years in the District Courts of Travis County, specifically with the Child Protective Services program.
He is currently serving as Commissioner on the Austin City Council Human Rights Commission. Working with groups such as Equality Texas, TENT and HRC, Davis has helped to foster a safe and nurturing environment for the LGBTQIA+ community. Davis also provides special advocacy on Transgender health care critical during the current political climate and continues to work to keep medically necessary care available to everyone.
When he’s not working, Davis’ passions include reading, music, puppies, and breakfast tacos.
Rev. Crystal is a dissertation scholar through the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI). Her work has been largely focused on the history of Muslim-Christian relations and currently, her dissertation work explores expressions of Christian Zionism in Latin America and among Latine Protestants. Crystal is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and has served on the board of the Parliament of the World’s Religions and serves as part of the immigration collaborative of the United Church of Christ. Her academic research is informed by her commitment to interfaith relationships, the rights of immigrants, and the Latine community. Crystal was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. Her mother, grandmother, aunts, and uncles immigrated to the United States from Mexico and it is their stories along with being raised on the border that has shaped her spiritual and personal identity as a scholar and minister. She resides in Texas with her partner and children.
Rev. Aurelia Dávila Pratt is the lead pastor and a cofounder of Peace of Christ Church. She is also the author of A Brown Girl’s Epiphany: Reclaim Your Intuition and Step Into Your Power. Find her on Instagram @revaureliajoy where she is reimagining faith and theology via spoken and written word.
Rev. Chelsea McCutchin was born in the wagon of a traveling show. She is ordained in The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and currently serves Trinity Church of Austin, a congregation affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. She is committed to ecumenism, living the Gospel, and lots of caffeine. Chelsea lives in Austin with her husband and their hilarious teenage son.
Marisa Prince is passionate about building bold, creative initiatives that facilitate transformative experiences. She's produced over twenty projects, and her short film, "Awakenings", was submitted for consideration for the 2014 Academy Award for Best Short Film. In addition to earning a B.A. in Sociology from Spelman College and a JD from Boston College Law School, Prince is also a proud graduate of the Los Angeles Film School’s Immersion Producing Program.
Calvin Lee is an emerging activist and social entrepreneur captivated by the idea of a “radical togetherness”. From working in a U.S. Senate Race to serving with multiple international non-profits, he has been actively bridging racial, cultural, religious and political divides since 2014. Calvin earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
In 2018, Marisa and Calvin Co-Founded American Awakening, an Arts/Entertainment Campaign raging against the divisiveness of the 2020 political cycle. The AA Team (spread across Massachusetts, Tennessee, Florida & Hawaii) partnered with William Morris Endeavor (WME), HarperCollins/Zondervan Publishing, Relevant Media Group, Christianity Today, Premier Productions, and Q Ideas to produce/distribute a book, 71 episode podcast, global concert event, daily devotional, published articles, docuseries sizzle reel and national thought-leader gatherings.
In 2020, Prince & Lee launched [GOSPEL], an initiative to curate creative spaces to catalyze more for the American Christian Church. Their Film, “Are We There YET” premiered in Fall 2022, and served as a central organizing tool for the January 2023 Boston Activation Experience, a citywide gathering to combat Christian Nationalism.
Today, Marisa and Calvin have a new Campaign called LAY IT DOWN, which encourages Americans to lay down their guns in solitude to end gun violence. For more information on this project, go to https://www.layitdown.us.
A former fundamentalist who became the first openly transgender man ordained to the Old Catholic priesthood, Shannon TL Kearns believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer all of his work revolves around making meaning through story. He is the co-founder of QueerTheology.com. His first book In the Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey With Scripture just released from Eerdmaan’s books. He started and led Uprising Theatre Company for 6 years. Shannon is a Humanitas New Voices Fellow for 2022 and was a recipient of the Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowship in 20/21 and he was a Lambda Literary Fellow for 2019 (in playwriting) and 2022 (in screenwriting) and a Finnovation Fellow for 2019/2020. He is a sought after speaker on transgender issues and religion as well as a skilled facilitator of a variety of workshops.
To say that Richard is a ray of sunshine is an understatement. He is someone that you just can’t help but feel at ease an invited to be your full self around. Richard is known, by many, as the “unofficial” gay mayor of Round Rock Texas. He founded their first pride in 2022, along with a wonderful board and many many volunteers. It was a success. Richard came out much later in life, and yet has made a meaningful impact
along the way, never meeting a stranger. These are just a few areas that Richard has helped with;
He is actively contributing to the quality of life of my community through boards, commissions, committees, and other leadership roles.
Presently:
Founder and President Round Rock Pride 2022
Round Rock Historic Preservation Commission
Board Member Round Rock Black History Organization
Training Advisory Board (Williamson County Sheriff's Office)
Representative: Local Legends Committee
Round Rock Preservation Board
Arts Ambassador, Arts & Culture Dept. City of Round Rock
President Kensington Neighborhood Association
Council of the Arts, Round Rock I.S.D.
Past:
Round Rock Arts Council Board of Directors
Round Rock Symphony Board of Directors
Last part is from linkedin.
If you are interested in starting Pride in your small town, reach out to president@roundrockpride.com.
Rev. Devon is the Pastor at Westminister Presbyterian Church in Lawton Oklahoma. Devon grew up with a conservative background, yet questions EVERYTHING. She took a small break from church, and she felt that Spirit kept calling. She got involved with a Presbyterian church, which was a breath of fresh air for her, and eventually found herself ordained, pastoring a church and helping others who also came out of religious trauma. She is also active with the Poor Peoples Campaign: a National Call for Moral Revival.
Here is a link to the book, Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revalation.
The comedy queen with the blistering voice, Flamy Grant is a gospel & roots musician from the Bible Belt who will move you, soothe you, help you heal some trauma and always leave you laughing.
Flamy’s 2022 debut record Bible Belt Baby is the world’s first full-length contemporary Christian album by a drag performer — and a 2023 San Diego Music Award nominee for Best Pop Album.
Whether telling irreverent, hilarious stories of religious trauma in her one-woman show “Godless Sheathen” or filling a room with her iconic voice and original music, Flamy drags you into a therapeutic, theatrical mix of music, comedy and storytelling. Armed with a bold lip and a big lash, Flamy will convince you that:
nothing is sacred (but everything is holy);
shame belongs in the closet;
and you are a brilliant, resilient badass ready to take on the world.
Bio from flamygrant.com https://www.neverthelessshepreached.com/
https://open.spotify.com/album/2D7jJO9e71QFrHu2J9TqjV?si=IrIcnaD7QwGMdAYmEN3Jrw
This week I am interviewed by our friend, Carrie Holly-Hurt! I am the host and founder of Another Exvangelical Podcast, and I wanted to wrap up season 1 with an interview from yours truly. We will navigate through my of where my religious experience started, till now. I am currently a student at Austin Theological Seminary, pursuing a Masters in Divinity. I have a wife, 2 kids, with one on the way, and 6 dogs! Please enjoy this interview and follow us on Instagram and Facebook! Don’t forget to subscribe!
Kevin Garcia is a spiritual recovery coach, a mystical theologian + practitioner, an author / speaker, and a wild lover of life based in Atlanta, GA. After coming out in the fall of 2015 as a queer Christian, Kevin has reached thousands of individuals across the globe with messages of God’s unending love for all people. regardless of who they are, what they profess, or what they actually believe. Kevin’s the author of Bad Theology Kills: undoing toxic beliefs and reclaiming your spiritual authority, published Janurary 2020. Kevin’s work also appears in several anthologies by queer people of faith.
Through their work as a digital creative and public theologian, Kevin has used their writing, podcast, and YouTube Channel to help foster communities of authentic spiritual seeking, pulling apart the bad theology and beginning to reconstruct sustainable spiritual practices. Kevin believes that by telling our stories, we set others free to tell their own.
Kevin holds a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology from Columbia Theological Seminary (2020) and a Bachelors of Music in Choral music education from Christopher Newport University (2013).
In addition to LGBTQ advocacy and spiritual awakening, Kevin’s passions include good music, tacos, and really horrible dad jokes.
SOMETIMES A CHRISTIAN.
OFTEN A WITCH.
ALWAYS A MYSTIC.
Bio borrowed from thekevingarcia.com.
Mike Maeshiro is the founder of Numa, a spiritual intelligence organization that equips people in theology, spirituality, and faith. Mike is gay, an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and a queer theology enthusiast. He is the author of the book #themikeboard and also travels the world teaching on queer theology, emotional health, and redemptive deconstruction. He is a social media influencer and thought-leader. Mike loves Japanese food, watching movies, playing volleyball with friends, and has a depth of useless knowledge of X-Men lore.
Bio from MikeMaeshiro.com
For Mike’s book resources click below.
https://www.mikemaeshiro.com/lgbtq-resources
You can follow Mike on Instagram.
The Rev. Yadi Martínez-Reyna (M.Div.) is bilingual Latinx gender non-binary artist, a borderlander, and founder of Color Splash Out, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating safe and brave spaces for LGBTQ+ Youth and their ally friends. Rev. Yadi serves as a Pastor at First UCC in 2nd Life,United Church of Christ. A real life church with standing in the Nevada Southern California Conference of the United Church of Christ. Pastor Yadi has a Masters in Divinity (M.Div.) and a Latino/a studies certification from Brite Divinity School located at TCU in Ft.Worth, Texas and a Assosiates Degree in Graphic Design and multimedia.
You can check out Color Splash at colorsplashout.org.
Jody is a Trans singer and songwriter who advocates for the Queer community. In her previous life she was a worship leader. She is an all around lovely human being and such a delight to talk to and get to know. Please check out her new album Chrysalis and her band, Public Universal Friend.
Sarah and I met through one of Glennon Doyle’s posts on Instagram where we both shared how much Doyle’s book Untamed wrecked us. It led us both through a journey of coming out and divorce. Sarah comes from a Pentecostal background who is well versed in Purity Culture. She is a late bloomer Lesbian, who is now married to her amazing wife. Sarah also works in education.
Susan is an alum of the seminary I am currently at and I interviewed her as I was deciding if going to school later in life was for me. This interview was kind of a full-circle experience for me. Susan is an amazing person with and a wonderful mothering heart, she and her husband Rob have an organization called Freedhearts.
“Founded in 2013, FreedHearts reaches into hurting communities with a message of love, inclusion, belonging, and hope — for parents, LGBTQ+, educators, therapists, and the church. We help people deconstruct their faith to free their heart to love and be loved. FreedHearts is in the trenches, providing safe spaces, inspiration, and encouragement. We have dynamic, transformational live, podcast, print, and film resources for LGBTQ+, parents, families, allies, and communities—to free hearts that change the world.” Freedhearts.org. You can also check out Susan’s Tedtalk on Youtube.
Once upon a time Rick was a pastor and a seminary professor. Now he’s a spiritual coach, artist, free soul who continues to cause holy trouble from time to time. He is unorthodox in just about every thing he does, and it’s great! Check out his artwork and keep an eye out for his book.
I know Marian from a time when many folks from 220i, an internship at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge Louisiana, came together and told our stories of abuse and mistreatment. Marian has come along way and is now thriving in her photography and videography ventures. Please look her up and give her some love on instagram @Marian Gbaiwon Productions and on Facebook at Marian Gbaiwon.
