Julie is a writer, speaker, and advocate for LGBT people in Christian communities. She has served as an advisor to religious leaders, college administrators, and LGBT students at Christian colleges. She has also survived the culture war. Read more about her here or watch a recent talk she gave here.

Recent Posts

  • Campus Communities for LGBTQ College Students

    Students are back in school now and, as always, LGBTQ students are on my mind. College is an exciting and terrifying time. These are the years when you admit things to yourself that you had to suppress before. It's when we question everything we previously assumed to be true and discover new language for our principles. For some of us, the college years were a time when we thought we were the only person in our entire dorm who was too depressed to make it out of bed for afternoon classes....

    22 September, 2017
  • Meet My Fiancé

    I first heard about Amanda Hite in the Fall of 2015. My friend Dave and I were scrolling through Instagram over lunch when he suddenly squealed, "Oh my gosh! I have an Insta-crush on this super hot lesbian named Amanda Hite and she just wrote the most adorable article about coming out to her grandparents. You HAVE to read it."...

    09 August, 2017
  • Church Policies About LGBT Christians

    If you’ve served in leadership at a church or a Christian organization, policies about LGBT people have surely come up. It comes up when a lesbian couple asks to have their baby dedicated or baptized. Policies are questioned when a boy in the youth group begins to experiment with eyeliner. Leaders in the organization want to provide clarity, so they move to create policies that articulate exactly how LGBT people are allowed to exist within the community...

    15 March, 2017
  • What I’ve Been Up To And Into

    I was on a panel at Calvin College earlier this week to talk about sexual orientation change efforts. The stories are heartbreaking and, sadly, they're about a movement that's still very much alive. Young people are still sent to Christian conversion organizations, and many churches continue to encourage LGBT Christians to hope and pray for "healing"....

    10 March, 2017
  • Saints For The Rest Of Us

    No one prepares you for the lows in life. We’re well-versed in stories of triumph over struggles, but no one taught us how to go on living when we’re lost. We become drifters in different seasons for different reasons, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a community, a career, or sense of purpose....

    09 February, 2017
  • You Don’t Need Permission To Take Your Seat At The Table

    My favorite part of speaking around the country is getting to listen to stories from other cities. I like to sit in circles with small groups of new friends, hear stories about their communities, and encourage them in whatever ways I can. A common theme that comes up in conversations with LGBT Christians is their struggle to feel like true equals in their faith communities. ...

    29 January, 2017
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Speaking

Julie connects with those seeking a fresh vision for community as we become more diverse (and often more divided). She speaks with humor and candor in a variety of settings, including universities, LGBT events, women’s events, and leadership conferences. Sometimes conversations about sensitive topics are more fruitful in smaller settings, so Julie also consults regularly with Christian leaders and college administrators to discuss practical ways organizations can nurture the kinds of communities where everyone feels wanted.

Contact Julie