Queer Faith Panel
Sunday June 12, 12pm
Join us for a panel discussion with queer and trans religious leaders in recognition of Pride Month!
The panel will feature:
Marge Johnson (she/her) - a preacher, activist, and drag queen currently residing in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in NYC. Originally a quarantine queen who started doing drag in her friend’s abandoned studio apartment, she is glad to join progressive and lefty faith communities that are living into the value of extravagant welcome the the belief in God’s radical love. Marge believes that drag combined with worship can unlock the magic that can help us to imagine and bring about the kin-dom of heaven here on earth. Marge received her Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with an interdisciplinary concentration in biblical studies, social ethics, and queer theology. To learn more about her drag ministry, visit theologyqueen.com.
Harmeet Kamboj (they/them) - a Sikh American interfaith educator, scholar, artist, zine-maker and Interfaith Youth Core staff member
Rev. Marisol Caballero (she/her) - Faith Innovation Specialist in the UUA’s Faith Development Office, is a native Texan who lives and works in Austin. She enjoys social justice activism, cooking, dancing ballet folklorico, gardening, and traveling with her pup, Diego. She is currently serving DRUUMM, a Unitarian Universalist people of color organization, as Coordinator of the Global Majorities Collective: a UU POC Project
Anna Talhami (she/her/no pronouns) - works at the intersection of spirituality, sacred words, and human rights. She is a poet, interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and radical love liturgist whose work has been presented at the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She has performed her poetry across the U.S., including at the El Paso border for Artist Uprising with One Billion Rising, WBAI’s Radio Bloomsday featuring Alec Baldwin and Jerry Stiller, the Theopoetics Conference, and upcoming at the Emily Dickinson Museum’s Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series. Anna has created installations incorporating her poetry for museums and galleries, including the Alena Museum. She has recent poetry in The Ekphrastic Review, Rattle Magazine, Hevria, and Life as Ceremony. annatalhami.com
Nordia Bennett (they/them) - Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey— a womanist scholar, educator, and curator. Nordia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Religion from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She holds a Master of Divinity in Theology from Union Theological Seminary. Nordia serves as the Children’s Minister at Park Avenue Christian Church in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Also, Nordia works full-time as the Upstander Community Coordinator at The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE) where she facilitates dialogue on the ways in which we can engage and show up for others in public spaces using non-violent communication strategies and self-defense empowerment tools to build an anti-oppressive world. Nordia’s thesis: “A Barbershop Theology: A Womanist Reflection on the Transformation Power of the Body and The Reimagined Eucharist” fuels Nordia’s current projects providing her the depth to build pleasurable participatory experiences where community is cultivated and people have freedom to make fulfilling choices by reimagining the erotic as an epistemological revelation of the spirit in queerness through the body. When she is not working, she enjoys a nice walk and matcha lattes with oat milk. You can also catch her binge watching the latest Netflix show.
The panel will take place in-person at Fort Washington Collegiate Church (proof of vaccination, booster, and wearing a mask are required in person). We will also stream on Facebook and YouTube.