Search
Close this search box.

LGBTQ+ Family Support Network

LGBTQ+ network image
lgBTq+ Family support network

Creating a safe space

Family members can experience a range of emotions when they learn a loved one is part of the LGBTQ+ community. This ministry is a faith-based welcoming, confidential, and non-sectarian safe forum for LGBTQ+ persons and their relatives and friends. We receive education, peacefully advocate, and share insights, comfort, and encouragement.

upcoming events

Pride flag with girls silhouette and hand heart

Monthly Meetings

Monthly meetings are held the third Tuesday at Manchester UMC that may feature speakers, book study discussion or simple fellowship. A few additional social activities open to group members and their families also are planned during the year.

past events

How To Be An LGBTQ+ Ally

Debbie Reinhardt, Leader of the LGBTQ+ Family Support Network, explores how you can be an LGBTQ+ ally.

Dr. christopher lewis answers lgtbq+ questions

In March, 2022, the LGBTQ+ Family Support Network of Manchester United Methodist Church hosted a free educational program about orientations, identities and LGBTQ+ health. During this community event, Dr. Christopher Lewis, M.D., of Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, shared information and insights about the LGBTQ+ community and answer questions submitted by event participants

Christopher Lewis, M.D. Pediatric Endocrinologist Co-Director of the Transgender Center, Washington University School of Medicine Dr. Lewis earned his M.D. at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, and completed his pediatric residency at Washington University.

About Dr. Christopher Lewis As a part of the LGTBQ+ community himself, it was quite disheartening for him to hear the struggles these parents had to go through just to have their children receive medical attention. During his fellowship, with the guidance and support of the division of pediatric endocrinology, he was able to cultivate his passion for transgender health and lay the groundwork for the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. He has presented at local, regional and national conferences, as well as academic institutions outside of Washington University to promote LGBTQIA health equality. His efforts were recognized by the Human Rights Campaign, the largest civil rights organization in the U.S. fight for LGBTQIA equality, after being voted as the 2017 Human Rights Campaign Equality Award recipient.

For more information about this group, please email the LGBTQ+ Family Support Network Ministry Leader, Deborah Reinhardt.

More
articles

Pastor's Note

Good News From The Cemetery

In the summer of my sixteenth year, my parents procured a job for me. I suppose that they were tired of watching me mope around the house without direction and tired of me listening to rock and roll records at top volume. My parents had reached out to a lifetime

Learn More »
Pastor's Note

Rock Sunday

I was in the ministry for thirty years (that’s thirty Palm Sundays!) before I realized that, unlike Matthew, Mark, and John’s gospels, in Luke’s version of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, no one actually waved any palm branches.  How could I have missed this?  In Luke’s version, religious leaders demanded

Learn More »