Rev. Peter Laarman led the Judson Memorial Church in New York and Progressive Christians Uniting in Los Angeles, each for ten years. Before deciding to train for ministry at age 40 Peter was communications director for two national unions, the AFT and the UAW.

At Judson he supported low-wage unionization drives, campaigned against Rudolph Giuliani’s racist workfare program, defended queer youth of color from police harassment, and worked to counter violent fear-based responses to Sept. 11. In Los Angeles he helped create a new online resource for queer Christians and launched a multi-faith campaign to advance criminal justice reform in Los Angeles County.

Today, Peter helps his local church in Rhode Island deal with the history of its involvement with slavery between 1720 and 1860. He is part of a team developing a new national resource to equip ground-level organizers with theological and scholarly resources.