A CLGS Queering the 2024 Vote* Workshop Series
We invite you to join PSR Professor and founder of Common Ground Dialogue Dr. Leonard McMahon for this CLGS Lavender Lunch – the last in this, our 4-part series on Queering the Vote– as we gather, post election, to explore the landscape of US society with the presidential elections behind us.
Some questions we will consider with Prof. McMahon are the following:
- How Might We Live Together in a nation so often marked by sharp political disagreements?
- As we look to 2025, how might we, in the words of Common Ground Dialogue, “bring divergent citizens into deeper conversation for the sake of our democracy”?
- In what ways might we queer our post-election communities and move beyond binards of “us vs. them,” “winners vs. losers,” and ““the enfranchised vs. the other”?
- How Might We Support One Another in our work of creating more justice, hope, love, and compassion in our world today?
Professor Leonard McMahon has a Doctorate in Theology at the Graduate Theological Union at UC Berkeley, working in spirituality, theology, and political theory. Leonard holds an MA in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School.
With his interest in improving the common good through political theology, spirituality, and pastoral care, Leonard works through his consultancy, Common Ground Dialogue, to bring divergent citizens into deeper conversation for the sake of our democracy. He is deeply concerned about political polarization and draws upon classical spirituality and modern political theory to craft a pastoral approach that attends to both the macrosocial and microsocial aspects of our common life.
Seminary students are entering a world where the increasing media presence of marginalized communities has resulted in a cultural clash between margin and center and the intense political struggle over the direction of our society and the world. In such a world, spirituality and pastoral care are integral to forming leaders who can prioritize the margins while keeping track of those at the center. Leonard agrees with Pacific School of Religion that the future belongs to marginalized communities; he sought a faculty position here because his progressive Christian faith demands he play a role in its mission to create a world where all can thrive.
A longtime member of Glide Memorial Church, Leonard has also ministered in the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association. In addition to his academic studies, he has worked on Capitol Hill and taught English and History in the Cheongdam-dong area of Seoul, South Korea. He is a big fan of the WNBA and enjoys seeing games live whenever possible.
*The CLGS Queering the 2024 Vote Workshop Series
During the current 2024 US election season, how might we, as LGBTQ people, communities, and LGBTQ-allies, be voices – and votes – of positive change for a nation in such desperate need of justice, hope, love, and compassion?