Retired Authors

Rev. Dr. Ignacio Castuera

Rev. Dr. Ignacio Castuera was one of the earliest Latino straight allies in the movement for LGBT equality. A District Superintendent in the Los Angeles District in the 1980s, he was later senior pastor at Hollywood UMC, whose congregation he inspired to become the 50th Reconciling Congregation and to establish a ministry with people of AIDS, long before it was popular to do so. The church is still festooned with two gigantic AIDS ribbons broadcasting to all the churches commitment to struggle against that dreaded disease. He edited Dreams on Fire Embers of Hope, a compilation of sermons preached the week after the Los Angeles riots. He contributed essays fo Tex Sample's The Loyas Opposition and for Walter Wink's Homosexuality and the Christian Faith. He is currently senior pastor at Trinity UMC and national chaplain of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Kelli Busey

Hi. I am Kelli Busey, a transgender woman of faith and gender activist. I am a member of Agape MCC in Ft. Worth, Texas.  While attending the GMC 2008 as a Soulforce volunteer, my life became intertwined with the United Methodist Church. I love the people of the Methodist faith and hope that in some way I can help in the struggle for spiritual inclusion.

Don Deems

Don Deems has been a member of Clifton United Methodist for fifteen years now and has been active in various capacities, from treasurer and finance chair to choir member and Disciple Bible Study student.  He graduated from Miami University with a BA in Speech Communication and Wright State University with an MEd in Secondary Education and has taught English at a city high school since 1992.  He and his partner Luke (along with 20 year old cat Wesley) reside in the historic district of Newport, Kentucky, three blocks from the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati.

Sean Delmore

Sean Delmore is a doctoral student of sociology and feminist theology at Boston University's School of Theology. He became a Christian and joined the United Methodist Church during the process of transitioning from female to male.  Sean is pursuing ordination as a Deacon in the New England Annual Conference, and is blessed to call Cambridge Welcoming Ministries his local church home. He is the Program Coordinator of the Rainbow Lounge, a GLBTQA space at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and unwittingly continues the rainbow theme each time he paddles the Mystic River in his flamboyant kayak.

Jayson Dobney

Jayson Dobney grew up United Methodist in Iowa and spent about 10 years living in South Dakota where he was the music director at the First United Methodist Church of Vermillion - the only reconciling church in the Dakotas - and coffeeloft.org - the campus ministry at the University of South Dakota.  He also served in several conference positions, including as Associate Conference Lay Leader.  In 2007, he moved to New York City because he got a pretty cool day job, and he now attends the reconciling church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on the Upper West Side.

Will Green

Will J. Green has been a member of RMN's Board of Directors since 2004. Since 2002, he has been working in local churches in the New England Annual Conference, first on Cape Cod and later in Newton, MA. Currently, he serves St. Nicholas UMC in Hull, MA and is in the ordination process to become an elder. Will also works as a Housing Advocate in downtown Boston where he helps homeless people find housing. His favorite scripture passage is the one he has most recently read and his favorite hymn is the one currently stuck in his head.

Darrius D. Hills

I'm Darrius D. Hills.  I was born and raised in Louisiana; I'm also a P.K., and as such, I have been a lifelong United Methodist.  I graduated from Centenary College of Louisiana in 2006 with a B.A in Religious Studies and presently, I'm a third year student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  I'm also a certified candidate for ordained ministry on the elder track.  Because I love the academy as much as the church, I am currently working on applications to a variety of programs in Theology and Religious Studies. 

Boldly stated, I despise all forms of dehumanization that erode the liberating qualities of the church, as well as those that diminish the quality of life for a variety of human communities.  As a heterosexual male, I know firsthand the ways in which I have either implicitly or explicitly contributed to and benefitted from oppressive systems in this culture--particularly as it affects women, persons of color, and the GLBT community.  I seek to raise awareness of these injustices.

The three great challenges that confront the church are sexism, racism, homophobia, and I intend to spend my lifetime via the classroom and the pulpit calling those travesties into question with the great HOPE that they may come to an end.

Jorge Lockward

Jorge Lockward was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to a family that remains deeply involved in both religious and public service. He is a well known lecturer and workshop leaders on liturgy and global music, having served as part of the music leadership team for the IXth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Jorge is committed to a vision of the Church as a worldwide, fully inclusive body. He has served with distinction as a board member of many national and international ecclesial organizations including:

Board of Directors, General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church.
National Committee on Hispanic Ministries. The United Methodist Church,
Executive Board of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.
Executive Board of the Reconciling Ministries Network,

He currently serves as Chairperson of the New York City Urban Ministry Action Task Force and on the Board of Trustees of the New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and was elected by the same conference to be a delegate on their behalf to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Heather Murphy

Heather Murphy is a public school teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She believes that public education is her country's best resource, that GLBT  Methodists will be fully equal within twenty years, and that Salma  Hayek will call her any day now.  She reads far more than is natural.  She has been part of the United Methodist Church since since 2003, and worships with Clifton UMC.

Laura Young

Laura Young is a wife, mom, friend and advocate.  She loves music and fine arts, Houston Astros baseball, animals, photography, green tea, and shoes.  She was born into a long lineage of United Methodism and is married to a United Methodist pastor serving in the Texas Conference.  She and Kevin have 4 children ranging in age from 25 to 4-1/2.  Laura is a full time volunteer and spends a great deal of her time working in the areas of Christian education, promoting the quadrilateral, the UM Social Principles, and our calling to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  She simultaneously loves the UMC, while expressing a deep concern over the fact that the quadrilateral and loving our neighbors requires full time promotion -most especially in the Texas Conference under the heavy influence of "renewal" groups.  She is very active in her local church and serves through the Perkins Lay School of Theology – both Houston and Dallas Boards.  She is a regular participant in ministries offered through her Conference Board of Church and Society and is a member of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.  She is most proud of her association with Breaking the Silence (BTS), a group of clergy and laity working for full inclusion in the Texas Conference.  Laura and Kevin have served as co-chairs of the BTS Executive Board since 2006.

Justin White

Justin White was baptized, raised, and confirmed in the United Methodist Church in Mississippi. The United Methodist Church has always held a special place in Justin's heart and it was in the church that he found his voice for the voiceless, and his passion for the excluded. In high school, Justin went on a mission trip to Mexico and it was on this trip that he decided to dedicate his life to full time ministry. He attended Mississippi State University where he was involved in the Wesley Foundation and was also a youth minister for 2 years. After graduating from MSU, he moved to Camden, New Jersey and taught in an inner city school for a year. Currently, Justin is finishing up his last year at Duke Divinity School, and he is on trackto become a deacon in the United Methodist Church. Justin is sure that the United Methodist Church could make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ persons if the church would just open up our hearts and minds to the stories that our LGBTQ brothers and sisters have to tell. Justin envisions a church where all of God's children can truly be welcome as laity and clergy.