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Noel has been active in the local LGBTQ advocacy in Asheville, NC, since 1997. In 2001 she led a year-long process for her church, First Congregational United Church of Christ, to become an “open and affirming” congregation. She helped found People of Faith for Just Relationships, which advocates for marriage equality. In 2005 this group partnered with other LGBTQ supportive groups to form The Coalition of Equality. Noel served as part of the leadership for the coalition when, in 2008, in response to a national “ex-gay” conference being held in Asheville, the group sponsored a series of events called You’re Fine Just the Way You Are, exposing the harmful and misguided aspects of “reparative therapy.” Noel and her spouse, Rev. Joe Hoffman, had a religious wedding in Asheville and a legal wedding in Vermont, acknowledging that their gay and lesbian friends could not (yet) be legally married in North Carolina. |
