National Interfaith Service

Jonathan Allen made his television debut on "America's Got Talent" 2013 - Season 8. Since then, the operatic singer has been featured in magazines, on talk shows and on radio broadcasts. He has made numerous appearances since his departure from "America's Got Talent" and is writing and producing his first album. Allen came out at age 15. His parents were not supportive, and he was forced to move out at age 18 with just the clothes on his back. Shortly thereafter, he found his way to a musical career.

Rabbi Linda Holtzman is the adjunct associate professor of practical rabbinics at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the rabbi of Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia. Before that, she led Beth Ahavah, an LGBT congregation in Philadelphia. She is one of the first women in the United States to serve as the presiding rabbi of a synagogue and the first female rabbi to give a keynote speech for the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jews. She wrote "Struggle, Change and Celebration: My Life as a Lesbian Rabbi" in the book “Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation” (Rutgers University Press, 2000) and "Jewish Lesbian Parenting,” a chapter in “Twice Blessed” (Beacon Press, 1989).

The Rev. Jeffrey H. Jordan-Pickett leads the Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia (MCCP). A West Virginia native, he moved to Pennsylvania after being outted and defrocked by the then bishop of the 3rd Episcopal district of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. MCCP installed him as pastor in 1994. He serves on the Universal Fellowship of MCC’s HIV Advisory Board and on the Philadelphia Police LGBT Liaison Committee.

Tynan Power is a transgender progressive Muslim faith leader, writer and educator. He is the former co-coordinator of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD) and serves on the organization's steering committee. He is the founder of Pioneer Valley Progressive Muslims/Jami'at al-Inshirah in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a member of the U.S. Department of State Working Group on Religion and Foreign Policy. As a religious leader, he is committed to nonsectarian community building and full inclusion of women, LGBTQ individuals and others who are often excluded from congregational life or leadership.

The Rev. Susan Richardson is assistant minister of Christ Church. She was ordained there in 2006. The Rev. Richardson works with all the ministries of Christ Church, including integrating the LGBT community into all aspects of faith life and presiding at same-sex marriages. She is a mother, a teacher of world religions, and a blogger about spirituality and the workplace for WHYY's Newsworks.org.   

Gene Robinson is the first priest in an openly gay relationship to become an Episcopal bishop. His controversial appointment and ordination created a schism in the faith, led by its conservative members. Robinson has co-authored AIDS education curricula, done AIDS work in the United States and Africa, and has lobbied for LGBT civil rights and marriage equality. He is the subject of two feature-length documentaries and the author of two books. His most recent, “God Believes in Love: Straight Talk About Gay Marriage,” was published in 2012. Robinson has been honored by numerous LGBT organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Since 1999 the Reverend Timothy Safford has served as the 19^th rector of historic Christ Church in Philadelphia. Throughout his 30-year ministry, he has dedicated himself to outreach and social transformation, including work with the homeless, refugees and people with AIDS. He has been an activist and organizer within the Episcopal Church for LGBT civil rights and marriage equality, performing the first blessing of a same-sex couple at Christ Church in 2003. He received the Lawrence J. Mikkelsen Preaching Prize for his sermon on the Gospel, social justice and human dignity. 

Rabbi Margot Stein is an adjunct instructor in music and liturgy at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is High Holy Days cantor at Philadelphia's Mishkan Shalom. She has co-produced seven albums of original Jewish music and performs with her female a cappella trio, MIRAJ, and her rabbinical troupe, Shabbat Unplugged. Her liturgical compositions have won awards from Shalshelet: The International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music and from BMI's Mid-Atlantic Song Contest. They have been published in numerous prayer books and covered on albums. She serves on the boards of several Jewish organizations committed to inclusion, pluralism and diversity.