Religion News Service provided a breaking-news explanation of what happens next at the Vatican on Feb. 11, 2013.

Read the Feb. 11, 2013, New York Times story on Benedict’s announcement.

The Rev. Paul M. Turner is pastor of Gentle Spirit Christian Church, an LGBT-focused church in metro Atlanta. The church actively supports and participates in local Youth Pride events.

Congregation Etz Chaim in Wilton Manors, Fla., is an LGBT-specific synagogue. Email through the website.

Matt Comer is the editor of Q-Notes, an online watchdog magazine for the LGBT community in the Carolinas. His coming-out story is featured in Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America (2008). There is a video of his testimony about being young, gay and […]

Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church is located in Old Town Manassas, Va. They have hosted an annual gay prom since 2009.

Rabbi Melissa B. Simon is director of lifelong learning at Shir Tikvah in Minneapolis. She was previously a rabbinical intern at Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York City, an LGBT-specific synagogue, where she led some of the congregation’s services for LGBT people. She is an advocate for LGBT rights.

Rabbi Laurie Green is the rabbi at Congregation Bet Mishpachah, a congregation for LGBT Jews and others in Washington, D.C.

A Nov. 17, 2008, report from the Britain-based website Ekklesia notes that one in four young people from across all religions have been bullied because of their religious beliefs.