Anne M. Hallum chairs the political science department of Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. A specialist in religion and politics, she has written about the anti-poverty dynamic of religion.

Sociologist John Bartkowski at Mississippi State University has studied faith-based poverty relief in Mississippi. He co-authored Charitable Choices: Religion, Race, and Poverty in the Post-Welfare Era (New York University Press, 2003).

The National LGBTQ Task Force organizes and operates the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, a group of leaders from LGBTQ-welcoming faith organizations, and runs the Institute for Welcoming Resources, which works with eight major denominations. It maintains offices in Massachusetts, New York, Minneapolis, Florida and Washington, D.C. Contact Mark Daley.

Bishop E. Roy Riley of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America testified about welfare reform July 19, 2006, before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. He expressed concern about persistent poverty and a growing gap between rich and poor in America.

Heather Mac Donald is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. She has commented on welfare reform in a variety of New York publications.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is an organization that works to combat LGBT prejudice and bullying in schools. It conducts and compiles research about LGBT youth in U.S. schools. Contact Andy Marra.

Colage is an organization of children, youth and adults with one or more LGBT parent. It is based in Seattle, Wash. Paul Perry is the interim executive director.

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., supports LGBT seminarians and the schools and churches that hire them. The center provides the media with information about several experts, including its executive director, Bernard Schlager.

Amy Sherman is one of the country’s frequently quoted experts on faith-based response to poverty and welfare issues. She is director of the Center on Faith in Communities in Charlottesville, Va., and senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research in Indianapolis.