“As a community of faith, we [the Atlanta Friends Meeting] have become aware of the many ways in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer people have been silenced and excluded. We will never go back to silencing these voices among us, or suppressing these gifts, for in so doing, we impoverish our whole community. Our experience has been that Spiritual gifts are not distributed with regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. Our experience has been that the life of our Meeting and its work have been immeasurably enriched over the years by the full participation and Spirit-guided leadership of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer Friends. Full participation includes encouragement in ministry and positions of leadership, ability to be married under the care of the Meeting, and nurture to all families. We therefore explicitly celebrate the participation of LGBTQ Friends in these, as in all other aspects of the life of the Meeting. Our experience confirms that we are all equal before God, as God made us, and we feel blessed to be engaged in community and religious life together.”
This Minute was approved April 2005 and reaffirmed October 2025, and Atlanta Friends Meeting continues to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, genderfluid, and queer youth and adults.
The group FLGBTQC (Friends for LGBTQ Concerns) meets twice each month, once for conversation, games and food on the first Saturday evening and again on the first Sunday when we gather during the Meeting’s monthly potluck. For more information, see our monthly newsletter or weekly announcement sheet.