Heavy Burdens

"For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger."--Matthew 23:3-4

Religious faith reduces the risk of suicide for virtually every American demographic except one: LGBTQ people. Generations of LGBTQ people have been alienated or condemned by Christian communities.

Heavy Burdens helps Christians confront the ongoing effects of this legacy and empowers churches across the theological spectrum to navigate better paths forward.

"This is an essential book, one I wish we'd had forty years ago, as I believe it would have greatly reduced much unnecessary spiritual and physical destruction. I suspect it will be a game changer for the church."
--Kristyn Komarnicki, director, Oriented to Love dialogue program, Christians for Social Action

"We've needed a book like Heavy Burdens for a long time. Rivera shows us how Christians have wounded the LGBTQ children of our churches. This is a book that can begin to bind up some of those wounds and guide us, in humble love, to build churches in which the next generation of queer Christians can truly flourish."
--Eve Tushnet, author of Gay and Catholic

"In spite of--or just as often because of--my position as a 'conservative' on marriage and sexuality, I have seen firsthand the ways the evangelical movement has devastated the faith of many of its LGBTQ members. Not everyone will agree with every argument in this account of that devastation (I don't), but every Christian who reads this book will no longer be able to ignore the real harm that has been done in the name of the gospel--or to avoid grappling with the repentance and justice-seeking that the gospel continues to ask of us all."
--Wesley Hill, associate professor, Western Theological Seminary; author of Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian