Rabbi Allen Bennett is considered the first openly gay rabbi in the U.S.  He has been at the forefront of numerous gay rights and social justice causes since the late 1970s. He was most recently the rabbi at Temple Israel in Alameda, California before retiring in 2012. He was already nationally known when as the rabbi at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco he officiated at the 1978 funeral of the assassinated openly gay board of supervisors member Harvey Milk. His work has included leadership positions in the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.

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The Rev. Nicole Garcia is the first known transgender Latina to serve as a pastor within the 4 million-strong Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She delivered her first sermon as a pastor at Westview Lutheran Church in Boulder, Colorado in 2019. She is a licensed counselor, and has been organizing for the National LGBTQ Task Force—the nation’s oldest LGBTQ advocacy group—helping coordinate the nonprofit’s Creating Change Conference. She led the faith track, “Practice Spirit, Do Justice,” working with spiritual leaders of many faiths to create an interfaith coalition working towards LGBTQ+ rights.

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The Rev. Darlene Garner—a lesbian Christian woman of African, Cherokee, and Irish descent with a National Baptist and Episcopal spiritual heritage—has been a pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church since her ordination in the denomination in 1998, serving in leadership roles at MCC churches in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Northern Virginia and in Cape Town, South Africa.. She was also a founding co-chair of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, and participated in the historical first meeting between the U.S. White House and gay and lesbian people of color.

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The Rev. Dr. Carter Heyward is an Episcopal priest, professor, theologian, activist, and writer.  An activist for racial and gender justice from her teen years, she became a pioneer in the areas of feminist liberation theology and the theology of sexuality. She garnered national fame as one of the “Philadelphia 11,” the group of 11 women who in 1974 were ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church in defiance of prohibitions against women entering the priesthood.  She later began teaching at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has since written or edited more than a dozen books and served as a leading voice of lesbian feminism.

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The Rev. Brandan Robertson is the pastor of Sunnyside Reformed Church in Queens, New York. He has written and posted on social media prolifically on the topic of LGBTQ+ inclusion. He also  speaks around the world to churches, universities, and governments about the dangers of conversion therapy, the value of inclusive faith communities. He previously served as national spokesperson of Evangelicals For Marriage Equality, which promoted civil marriage equality. Rolling Stone placed Robertson on their 2021 “Hot List” of influencers and leaders who were impacting the world for good.

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Pride in the Pews is a nonprofit working to build bridges within the Black church to “empower Black LGBTQ+ communities to thrive in the public square, the pulpit, and the pew..” The organization is widely recognized for its dedication to the holistic health and wellness of Black LGBTQ+ communities. Its founder, the Rev. Don Abram, is a queer public theologian, Harvard Divinity School graduate, and a 2023 inductee into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. Pride in the Pews programs include the “State of the Black Church” symposium, most recently held at Spelman College in February 2024.

Explore the Pride in the Pews website.