Rev. Edmonds-Allen is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years’ professional experience serving youth and families in various denominations throughout the country. She is well known and highly regarded in the movement for LGBTQ equality, particularly where it intersects issues of faith. She is an ordained pastor, the co-founder of the LGBTQ Youth Continuum of Care, and previously served as Executive Director of OUTreach Resource Center in Ogden, Utah, and as the National Program Director of the Family Acceptance Project in San Francisco, California. Marian is relocating to New York City with her family from Salt Lake City, Utah, and will begin work at Parity on Sept.12.
Parity Board President Tim Palmer Curl said, “Parity is now writing our next chapter of engaging the faith world to move us all toward inclusion and justice. I am confident that, under Marian’s leadership, this chapter will read as brilliantly as all those that have come before.” Parity has served Presbyterian communities since 1997, and expanded its work ecumenically in 2014.
Rev. Edmonds-Allen has a strong vision to create welcoming, inclusive spaces for LGBTQ Christians in the global Church. She said, “I am excited to join Parity, an organization that is at the forefront of the intersection of LGBTQ and faith. The LGBTQ world has seen monumental changes in the last few years, and it is now very clear that the national focus is on where religion and LGBTQ meet. Parity has had an incredible impact in supporting LGBTQ clergy and youth, and will expand its influence to meet the growing needs of LGBTQ persons and their allies during this time of change in the world.”
Rev. Edmonds-Allen will be leading Parity’s programs to provide new, dynamic and ecumenical worship opportunities and education for large and small congregations; formational training and support for LGBTQ pastors and ministerial candidates; a vibrant youth leadership and engagement program; and LGBTQ advocacy on a national scale. She is scheduled to make her first public appearance at the Parity Awards, on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (130 West 30th Street, Manhattan).
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