Faith leaders to discuss faith, sexuality and HIV/AIDS tonight at interfaith conference

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is co-sponsoring a conversation tonight of international faith leaders focusing on the dynamics of sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity, engaging affirming faith perspectives at the intersections of justice and HIV/AIDS. The community is invited to take part in the panel that will take place tonight, Friday, July 20, 7.30-9.30 p.m., at Cramton Auditorium, Howard University, 2400 6th St. NW, Washington, D.C. It is part of “Taking Action for Health, Dignity, and Justice,” an interfaith pre-conference leading up to the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C.

The panel “Sexuality, Justice and HIV, a Faith Roundtable” will be moderated by Bishop Yvette Flunder, member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s National Religious Leadership Roundtable and the Council of Bishops and Elders, will moderate the panel. She is the senior pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ and the presiding bishop of the The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a nationwide network of primarily African-American congregations.

The panelists include: the Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer, executive director of the United Church of Christ Office HIV/AIDS Network and member of the planning team for the faith pre-event for the AIDS 2012 Conference; Jon Bjarne Sødal, staff on the Christian Council of Norway and co-author of One Body, a resource on HIV/AIDS; Robert Mukondiwa, from Zimbabwe, a journalist who has covered HIV and AIDS issues in a context where perceived sexual orientation can result in persecution; Maxensia Nakibuuka Takirambule, from Uganda, founder of the Lungujji Community Health Care Organization, a faith based and indigenous organization ministering to orphans and women and providing psychosocial, spiritual and economic supports to terminally ill patents and their families; and MacDonald Sylvester Sembereka, from MALAWI, regional coordinator of Southern Africa working on AIDS and human rights and an ordained Anglican priest living with HIV.

More information here.