INTEGRITY

GAY EPISCOPAL FORUM

c Integrity 1975   ISSN: 0095-2184

Vol. 2  No. 2  December 75

 

INTEGRITY is the official newsletter of Integrity, Inc., a nonprofit religious, charitable, educational, and literary organization, with offices at 701 Orange Street, No. 6, Fort Valley, GA 31030.  Signed articles represent the views of the contributors.  (c) 1975 by Integrity, Inc.  10 issues/$10, including membership.  Add $1 for all subscriptions that require plain envelopes.  Couple rates are $13 for one newsletter.  Copies of earlier numbers, when available, are $2.50, although the entire first volume has been sold out.

 

Editor..................................... Louie Crew, Ph.D.

Contributing Editor.............. Ellen Barrett, M.A., M.Div.

Associate Editor.................. Ernest Clay, Cosmetologist

Contributing Editor............. The Rev. Michael G. Koonsman

Contributing Editor..................... Robert Ragland, M.D.

 

Consultant......................... The Rev. Robert W. Cromey

Consultant................. The Rev. Norman Pittenger, S.T.D.

 

National Co-president.......................... Ellen Barrett

National Co-president........................... Jim Wickliff

National Vice Co-president........................... Dan Fee

National Vice Co-President........................ Kate Jones

National Secretary-Treasurer....................... Bob Diehm

Trustee.......................................... Ernest Clay

Trustee........................................... Louie Crew

Trustee....................................... Julie Peterson

Trustee.............................. The Rev. Richard Younge

 

A GAY MALE CAROL

 

We three queens of Christendom are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar,

Trucks and tearooms, baths and barrooms,

Following yonder star.

 

Episcopalians

Born a queen in PECUSA's plain,

INTEGRITY I bring to my king;

King for ever, ceasing never,

Over us all to reign.

 

Roman Catholics

Born a queen of holy Rome,

DIGNITY I bring to God's throne;

Prayers and praising, all men raising,

Worship him, God alone.

 

Protestants

Passion's mine; its loving perfume

Breathes a life of gathering room,

Panting, sighing, living, dying,

Creator's sport and womb.

 

Glorious now behold him arise,

King and God, and Sacrifice,

Heav'n sings Alleluia:

Alleluia the earth replies.

 

GAU MASS

 

NYC.  As announced in our last issue, at the Thanksgiv­ing meeting of The Gay Academic Union at Columbia Univer­sity, there will be an INTEGRITY mass; and all in the NYC area are urged to attend.

 

The Eucharist will begin at 1 PM, Friday, 28th Nov., in St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University.  The Rev. Michael G. Koonsman will be one of several celebrants.  INTEGRITY president Jim Wickliff and FORUM editor Louie Crew will be present .

 

INTEGRITY EDITOR AT MLA

 

San Francisco.  INTEGRITY founder Louie Crew will be here in December, 25--31, to attend and speak at the na­tional meeting of the Modern Language Association.

 

He will chair a seminar "Removing the Fig Leaves from the Imagination: An Examination of nonGay Taboos Nulli­fied in Current Gay Male Fiction and poetry" -- at the Hyatt, 26th December, 7 PM, Plaza Square West.

 

Dr. Crew looks forward to meeting with the SF chapter during this week.

 

INTEGRITY & THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Atlanta, GA.  THE DIOCESE here, official publication of the Diocese of Atlanta, featured an article in the Novem­ber issue in which INTEGRITY is said to be evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church.

 

Laurie Britton, wife of The Rev. Wayne Britton, made the observation in her discussion of "Charismatic Renewal" in a conversation the DIOCESE transcribed between Ms. Britton and The Very Rev. David Collins, dean of St. Philip's Cathedral.

 

Ms. Britton cited "the recently formed Gay group for Episcopal priests and laity" as one of several areas that the Holy Spirit is breaking into the movement of the Church.  And I don't think that charismatic renewal is necessarily the only way in which the Holy Spirit is moving."

 

Dean Collins agreed:  "Absolutely not; there are many ways."

 

GROWING

 

Fort Valley, GA.  On 12 November 1975 INTEGRITY/National enrolled our 500th member.  The first member had enrolled on 7th October 1974.  We are growing at a rate of 35-40 per month.

 

GIFT OF TONGUES

 

NYC.  The Rev. John McNeill, S.J., has announced that the Jesuit General, Pedro Arrupe, has lifted a two-year si­lence and allowed him permission to publish his book on a Christian ethics of sexuality.

 

Fr. McNeill made his announcement at the third anniver­sary Mass of DIGNITY/NY.  An astounded congregation stood and applauded.

 

...... UP TO DATE IN KANSAS CITY

 

Kansas City, MO.  According to THE DIOCESAN BULLETIN for November 1975, the South Kansas City Convocation of the Diocese of West Missouri has presented for consideration of the forthcoming 86th Convention of the diocese a resolution specifically attacking INTEGRITY.

 

The BULLETIN summarized the resolution:  "This has to do with use of Church facilities and participation in, condoning of, etc., activities by 'Integrity,' which is a homophile organization.  It requires "cessation of all activities which identifies said 'Integrity' organization in any way with the Episcopal Church and further prohibits sanction of said organization directly or indirectly by use of Church properties or otherwise."

 

Bishop Vogel, when contacted by INTEGRITY, admitted to having just heard of the resolution and predicted that the resolution would never get to the floor of the Convention.  He said, by way of possible explanation, that he had been hearing repeated criticism of the Diocese of Chicago for letting INTEGRITY use the Cathedral there for our convention last summer, particularly from persons in the more rural parts of West Missouri.

 

Chairperson of the Resolutions Committee.  The Rev. L.H. Hoppe, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kansas City, took a different view, thinking that the resolution will and should be debated at the Convention.

 

"I would think that the Church ought to be discussing the Gay issue," Fr. Hoppe explained.  He added that the American Psychiatric Association in its proGay resolution of December 1973 had articulated his personal views.

 

Fr. Hoppe did note, however, the chance that the Chancellor may throw out the resolution on grounds that it would be inappropriate for the diocesan convention to set aside, or even attempt to set aside, the canonical freedom of any priest to decide how Church property is to be used.

 

INTEGRITY assured Bishop Vogel and Fr. Hoppe that we will gladly provide professional Gay witness should the resolution come to debate, but the Bishop hastened to explain that he did not think that would be necessary.

 

INTEGRITY editor Louie Crew expressed surprise at the resolution, especially in view of the fact that no chapters have even been contemplated in the Diocese and in view of the House of Bishops' resolution just over one month ago to keep open the doors of communication that FORUM has provided.

 

The diocese convenes on 23rd November.

 

LABORERS FOR THE VINEYARD

 

Those whose subscriptions have been coming up for renewal recently have been indicating on the renewal forms their areas of specific interest, for guiding our officers in planning programs, appointing committees, etc.

 

Some renewed before these forms were available, and many renewals are not due yet.  If you would like to specify such interest, do so by writing Jim Wickliff (429 Surf, Chicago 60657) or Ellen Barrett (6527 Morris, El Cerrito, CA 94530).

 

Feel free to suggest other areas in addition to those about which we have queried:  convening a chapter, writing for FORUM, counseling Gays in need, representing Gays to the Church, Lesbian Christians, Black Gay Christians, Older Gays, Fundraising, Literary Committee, General Convention Committee.

 

This is your organization and will succeed only to the extent that you invest in it your energy.  Particularly if you are disturbed by some of the directions we might take, now is the time to give weight to your own point of view by sharing it.

 

LESBIAN MANUSCRIPTS

 

Articles, photographs, and other contributions are now being sought for a book to be published on the lesbian experience in America. 

 

To be entitled The Lesbian Book, the work will be for, by, and about gay women and will reflect personal, social, and other aspects of lesbian life in the United States.  It is being published and edited by a group of lesbian feminists in the New York area.

 

Areas which the editors would like to see explored include sexual role playing, lesbian bars and/or their alternatives, gay women and heterosexual institutions, and lesbians and other minority groups.

 

Both long and short articles are welcome.

 

All contributions and inquiries should be sent to Carolyn Pope, P.O. Box 46, Old Chelsea Station, New York, N.Y. 10011.  Notice of intention to submit an article should be sent by Dec. 31, 1975, and final manuscripts are due Jan. 31, 1976.

 

TO BE INFORMED

 

Richmond.  The Rt. Rev. R. B. Hall, Bishop of Virginia, has taken out subscriptions to FORUM for all Diocesan delegates in Virginia to the next General Convention.

 

Bishop Hall explained that he wants his delegates to be informed on all issues that may likely come up for discus­sion.

 

GOAL STATEMENT

 

Some persons at our Chicago convention urged us to formulate a clear statement of our goals.  Our president Jim Wickliff would like to hear from members who would like to contribute to a draft of such a statement, with a view to presenting it at our next convention for vote of the membership.  Send to J.W., 429 Surf, Chicago 60657.

 

ATTN. GAY CLERGY

 

AMBLER, PA.  The Rev. Ronald Wesner will edit an important issue of FORUM on the conditions of Gay clergy, both those who are in the closet and those who are not, those in parishes and those who are not.  He will also consider materials from seminarians.

 

Send all queries and manuscripts to him directly, RFD 1 Brushtown Road, Ambler. PA 19002.

 

INTEGRITY INTERCESSIONS

 

Your prayers are urged this month for the following:

 

Our enemies, including Glenn, Clarence, Bill, Steniman

Our friends, Carolyn, John, Tom and Mary, Barbara and Edward, Allen and Esther, Laurie, Bobby, Tom ....

The sick, Brenda (hepatitis), Robert (mental breakdown)

The lonely, David

Facing trial, Van, David

In therapy, Jim

Unemployed, Franz

Frightened, Bob

Having employment hassles, Arnold, Louie

 

For all our parents and for all of us who are parents;

For Ernest's aunt, whose house burned down; for Ronald, who is considering being a convenor; for the bishops, clergy and laity of the Diocese of Springfield, that their homophobia may die and they learn to love; for resolutions concerning Gays before diocesan conventions in Atlanta and Kansas City; for Clark, in his new parish; for delegates being elected to General Convention.

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

TOWARDS A THEOLOGY OF GAY LIBERATION.  ed by Malcolm Macourt, SCM (Student Christian Movement) Publications, 14 Prince Arthur Terrace, Rathmines, Dublin 6, Ireland.  Price is 50p sterling, including surface postage, 80p sterling, including airmail.  Into twenty-four large pages are crammed an editorial by Macourt, an important and lucid article by Dr. Rictor Norton on "The Biblical Roots of Homophobia," a useful review article on "Recent Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality" by English Quaker David Blamires (author of the book Homosexuality from the Inside), and personal statements by Christian homosexuals The Rev. Richard Kirker, Anglican; teacher Jim Peterson, Presbyterian; vicar's daughter Polly Bluck; and librarian-teacher Angela Needham, MCC. Our very own Norman Pittenger is featured with his article "A Christian Interpretation of Homosexuality" and a Baptist minister, The Rev. Ted Clapham, wrote the title essay for the paper booklet.  On the back cover is an item called "Finding True Friendship," by Methodist The Rev. Dr. Leonard P. Barnett and author of Homosexuality: A Time to Tell the Truth.  You should rush to your post office to purchase your international money orders.  Bulk orders of 10 copies come at 3 pounds sterling.  l.c.

 

GAYS ON CAMPUS, ed by J. Lee Lehman, Director, National Gay Student Center, 2115 S Street. NW, Washington 20008, $3.  This 85-pp. paperback collects many important items on the advertised subject.  Section 1 treats "Coming Out," Section 2 Gay Student GrOups, Section 3 Gay Services (specifically "Parents of Gays"), Section 4 Gay Studies, Section 5 Lesbians as Gays and as Women, and Section 6 A Gay Bibliography, in fact the very complete one published independently by Barbara Gittings' ALA Roundtable (see our September-October 75 notice of same, p.7).  All Gay academics will find this a valuable volume, as will those wanting to catch up with changes in old oppressive patterns.  l.c.

 

DIRECTORY OF HOMOSEXUAL ORGANIZATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS, edited 1975, by the Homosexual Information Center,3473-1/3 Cahuenga, Hollywood, CA 90068, $3.  Not as much of a bargain as the American Library Association's Gay BIBLIOGRAPHY (25 cents from Box 2383, Phila. 19103), but useful, especially with the listings of organizations.  l.c.

 

SEX NEWS:  A MONTHLY DIGEST OF NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS, PUB­LICATIONS AND RESOURCES, in its seventh volume, edited by P. K. Houdek, 7140 Oak, Kansas City, MO 64114, for only $4 per year.  I find this one of the most useful nonGay publications, short, eclectic, often with very useful leads both to friends as well as enemies. l.c.

 

SEXUAL MINORITIES: SERIAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON MALE HOMOSEXUALS, LESBIANS, TRANSVESTITES AND TRANSSEXUALS HELD BY THE LABADIE COLLECTION OF PROTEST LITERATURE, compiled by Ed SantaVicca.  The list includes 127 serial titles, and is available for $1.20, from E. SantaVicca, School of Library Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48104, through April 1976.  l.c.

 

SEX IN THE BIBLE, by Tom Horner, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 26-30 South Main St., Rutland, VT 05701.  Fr. Horner includes one chapter on homosexuality, and is kind enough to include David and Jonathan passages together with the usual sodomitic fare.  The tone of the discussion is at least mildly sympathetic to the need for understanding biases in terms of their ethnic setting, but this is far from the comprehensive chapter that one hopes that Fr. Horner and others will begin to undertake.  Sometimes a good concordance and a vivid personal imagination could serve about as well, short of the documentary scholarship that still must be done and made available.  l.c.

 

SUMMATION

 

Four loves had I,

All diversified men

Yet each wrote something valid

On me with his pen.

 

To walk gaily proud

Was too much for one's stride,

So he starred in an act

Which he wrote:  Suicide.

 

Another and I

Were a mutual feast,

But he wanted a "Father"

And ditched me for a priest.

 

One was unbridled

But couldn't decide

Was it stallions or fillies

He wanted to ride?

 

My true love has wavered

Yet something still stands

Uniting our grace

And divergent demands.

 

The actor has rotted,

And what did they say,

The maggots who shucked him,

"This fellow was Gay"?

 

"Daddy's boy" caresses

An interesting view,

A holier-than-thou Roman priest

Who enjoys a good screw.

 

My faltering gelding

Will never disclose

The hard way he loved me

To his soft female rose.

 

Sometimes, late at night,

My tears are a sea

On my fourth love's true chest,

As I weep for my three.

 

             --Don Bramkamp

 

Sonnet 101

 

When I awoke, slow and stunned

To find your note, but not the slopes

Mapping the rise of your arched back,

Up from black clustered curls, then wisps

Lifting thru turns on your nape, nascent

Beneath my palm and finger tent,

Roped around your neck with my tips,

Taut flesh, handing for us a pact,

An Orion of throat, faith, hope,

To be taken by Dan from the hunter's runs,

When I awoke to the card you wrote,

Morning's despair became my care.

You asked me to write "something meaningful."

Come back from space, where you are my chill.

 

      c 1975 by John H. Soldo

 

DEAR FR. BILL ........

 

Dear Fr. Bill,

 

You have stated [August 75] that Gay morality as such does not exist and will not until such time as we are free.  You also say, and rightly, that morality covers more than just sexual relationships.  What I don't seem to understand is just what IS meant by "Gay" morality?  Is there a "Black" morality and a "white" morality; is there a "European" morality and a "Northamerican" morality; a "male" morality and a "female" morality?  Or is there, as I perhaps naively believe simply a Christian morality, one which states that I/we love God with all our heart, soul and mind and love our neighbor as ourself?  It has always seemed to me that the last paragraph on page 69 of the BCP should handle about anything that comes up.

 

True, the consequences of a "quickie" (hetero) can be graver than those of a "quickie" (Gay), but can they really?  Is the hurt any less because the roving partner did not impregnate his back-seat partner?  Is it any less an insult to the lover at home who probably doesn't know about the liaison?

 

You say that the marriage bond is for the offspring and the maintaining of the home unit.  It seems that you're also really saying that a straight couple with no children for whatever reason are also probably not to be bound by the "law" of fidelity, since there are no offspring to be protected.  If you reply by saying that the two of them together constitute a family unit to be maintained, then also two of us Gays together constitute a family unit worthy of being maintained.  A marriage does indeed exist between two persons even if they cannot have children.  My lover and I cannot have children, and we don't do anything to "interfere" with conception.  If God wants to cause one of us to be pregnant, so be it.  Therefore, a marriage exists between us and we are bound by the Summary of the Law.

 

I love God, and I love my Lover as myself!

 

I would no more think of having a quickie with some cute young thing than I would of telling my lover that he looked better fifteen years ago when he had a full head of hair and a natural set of teeth.  And fight though we do over whose turn it is to cut the grass this week, he would not risk what we have together for a mere "trick."  And of that, Fr. Bill, I am most sure.

 

You say that most of our Hang-ups are imposed by the Hetero-Ethic and do not apply to us, but then you say that our Gay-Ethic, when developed, is to be of a high standard.

 

Am I missing something?  It isn't only you.  Our local MCC chapter here in Chicago, during one of the times that they hosted Troy Perry, had an open session for the community (Gay) at large and during the discussions someone brought out the fact that the MCC has never made a statement of any kind regarding premarital promiscuity nor marital fidelity.  This statement from the floor was met by silence from the podium, and I have wondered about this silence for a long time.  Why was there silence?  It seemed a straightforward-enough question.  I think no one expects virginity any more, but surely promiscuity is a little much!

 

If we as Gay people simply differ from straight people in the sex of our partner, then that is the only way we differ, and everything else applies.

 

                        -Joe

Dear Joe

 

Thank you for your letter, which points out one of the prime weaknesses of letters.  Mine was in reply to a particular problem as expressed in a letter to me, and in trying to answer one set of problems or hangups for the very reason of simplification it is possible to overlook alternatives.  You fall into the same very human trap yourself when you use only your own particular status as a measurement of what I said.  I am not criticizing you; we all do it.  You have a lover and have had one for some time, and you have much going for you, above all, LOVE.  But of the overall Gay population permanent or even lengthy associations are not the rule.  They are what basically each wants, but those who seek outnumber those who find.      

 

In your last paragraph you say both as a statement of our faith and partly as interrogation: "If we as Gay people simply differ from straight people in the sex of our partner, then that is the only way we differ, and everything else applies."

 

For most of my life I have believed this to be true.  In fact, any counseling and advice, whether in or out of the confessional, I have made along those very lines.

 

More recently I have had to revise my thinking.  For one thing, a critical examination of the sources of the Commandments shows them to be a development of the tribal Jewish laws.  You ask, "Is there a Gay Morality, a Black morality, a white? Is there a European, a Northamerican?"  I think the answer to most of these in varying degrees is YES.  Morality (derived from mores is that which the tribe or race through centuries has evolved by a series of taboos, approvals, and in many cases by a subsequent enactment of laws by legislative or religious bodies to endorse the development.  Much of the North American ethic was determined by a horrible combination of the Puritan founders plus later the Roman Irish clergy, plus the disproportionate influence of the monastic forces.  Thus, in Europe time and time again there is a perfectly happy heterosexual marriage where a mistress is kept on the side, with at least the unspoken assent of the wife.  Here the wife rushes to the divorce court.

 

When I spoke of the marriage bond being for the off-spring and maintenance of the home unit, I was referring to the LEGAL aspect of it, developed through the years for that very purpose.  It does not apply to you and your lover.  The love which you have for one another, the mutual respect, the beautiful ebb and flow of your relationship, including the cutting-the-grass dispute, is all part of the love and beauty of your union, and it is that, and not the LEGAL aspect, that binds your union.  What I am saying is that not all the taboos we inherited from the Jewish procreation practices are valid for us.  Please don't for a moment think I am  knocking either marriage or unions.  But you and I both know of many hetero marriages which are hell on earth because they tie one to another with no love left "for the children."  In these, children exist in an atmosphere of hate, bitterness, and lack of love.

 

You have been able to jettison the Judaic taboos and accept the New Testament concept of loving God and your neighbor, and that move worked for me also; BUT there are many, many who, because of a fundamentalist upbringing or for some other reason, are not able to forget the Old Testament and the Jewish attitude towards sex and its purpose.  Because of this and of society's uneducated attitude they begin to feel there is no place for them either in society or religion.  It is only by intelligently showing the dreadful background from which these taboos came that it is possible to take them on to the next step, that is the love of God.  You are for­tunate.  I hope you remember to thank Him for all you have.

 

I believe we will eventually have a Gay morality in that God's revelation of Himself is progressive.  Can you imagine our Chicago convention having taken place five years ago?  10?  50?!  The change over from the Old to New Testament, from "Thou shalt NOT" to "Thou shalt love...." must come.  The first Christians were Jews and they took over the old ethic; within a short time of the Ascension there was dissention about circumcision, food, form of worship, etc.

 

If we look at the centuries of Christianity, we see great changes, as in the improving place for women in religion, as in the ridding of slavery, as in the improved morality both public and private for those outside the Jewish faith, etc.

 

With each growth there has ensued a change in the mores and also in the laws.  I believe that with the growing changes in criminal laws we will soon be in a position to experiment and evolve through God's help a way of life which enables us to be Christians with all the Dignity and Integrity and any other concept your heart desires.  And it may be that when the smoke of battle has cleared away lt will all be as simple as you said.

 

Bless you and your lover.

 

                        Bill +

 

EDITORIAL   WHO SPEAKS FOR GAYS?  (L.C.)

 

"Louie, I know what you're saying about personal integrity; but you realize, I hope, that the four or five Gays who have confided in me in my small parish would be most especially terrified of you.  The last thing they want is to have anyone deal with their personal Gayness openly."

 

The setting was a meeting of the Macon convocation in middle Georgia.  Unlike several of his colleagues who conveniently found an excuse to rush away rather than hear a Gay witness, the speaker was responding feelingfully.

 

Of course I realize what he means.  I didn't live for thirty-seven years ln the closet without learning the rules of my survival therein.  One of the fears that kept me from revealing that I was Gay to many persons at all was the fear that somehow the stereotypes which both nonGays and Gays alike have about Gays would then have the power to define who I am.

 

Just last week Dr. Robert Miles, one of my close friends and a nonGay, said, "But Louie, you don't come across as a Gay."  I asked him what he meant.  "Oh well, you know."  But I don't.  I am a Gay, and my Gayness informs my personhood in all aspects, even when, as most often, I am not focusing on Gayness directly, just as my friend's Blackness informs his personhood ln all aspects, even when, as most often, he is not focusing on Blackness directly.  Given the prejudice of our culture and its pervasiveness, it is understandable when we are surprised not to have our stereotypes confirmed.  Nevertheless, personal authenticity can never be dictated by stereotypes.

 

We Gays toy with the stereotypes sometimes even more oppressively than nonGays who are trying to understand us.  When I bought a motorcycle, some Gays chided, "Why are you trying to be so butch?"  When I bought a sewing machine, other Gays chided, "Must you try to be a lady?"

 

Perhaps we Gay males are most vicious with such attempts to control others when we use the tyranny of the female pronouns to discuss a person in our midst who finds those inappropriate but also does not want to be cast ln the opposing role of Mr. Man.

 

One of the joys of coming-out for me was the discovery that no longer did I have to remain silent when anyone tried to tell me what Gayness is.  At a very elementary and important level, Gay I am, and thus Gay is anything and everything I am, and I have the main voice in saying what kind of Gay I am going to be! Fortunately not everyone is so stupid as I in having to decloset to discover his/her right to self-definition.  In my own case, I enjoy the paradox that having accepted myself as a Gay who is a motorcyclist and a seamster, I am also less intimidated when I am momentarily taken as Miss Thing or as Mr. Man.  The key for me seems to be my knowledge that I have a secret that makes of high camp just a game, namely my understanding that all definition is reductionism and dangerous and that true personal liberation is effected for me only as I worship the God who refuses all reduction ("I Am That I Am") and the God who is defined only in eternally positive action ("I love unconditionally").

 

Yet while liberation is always personal and predicated on each person's right to self-definition, liberation is also corporate and communal.  Who spoke for Blacks? -- those millions, including such personally liberated souls as W. E. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver ... who all went to the back of the bus? or Rosa Parks?

 

In a very challenging article in our last issue an anonymous priest raised a very important question:  "Why leave the closet if one can't enjoy all the other rooms ln the house?"  The question is really the same as the one Moses faced:  "Why leave the house of Pharaoh and own up to being a Hebrew?"

 

The Gay community needs some to give Moses's answer, and still many more who will stay behind to work out strategies of support. We do not need, it seems to me, a bunch of folks who burn out their talents and energies before preparing to make the most significant contributions they can make.  It was very important that Moses had full knowledge of the power of the Pharaoh before he undertook to overthrow it.

 

While our integrity demands that all Gay answers be individual, it is increasingly important that we rally behind our leaders in their efforts to chant, "Let my people go!"

 

Gays are a catholic people.  Who speaks for Gay Americans?  Twenty million voices, some of us weakly, some of us loudly, some of us wisely, some of us foolishly.  Who speaks for Gay Episcopalians?  Both those four or five terrified in my friend's neighboring parish and I, and between 85,230 (4%) and 106,537 (5%) of the other Episcopal communicants.  INTEGRITY is committed to providing a forum for all of us, those in the front of the bus and those in the back, those in and those out of the closet, until there is neither front nor back, closet nor room, there is neither male nor female, neither Gay nor nonGay and we be indeed all one in Christ Jesus.

 

FORUM

 

This is a belated response to your letter of 29th July.  Not only would I privately include Gay people in a list of down-trodden, I would also include lt in a public listing.  Certainly, also, consideration of homosexuality is a very real dimension of responsible sexuality.

 

At the present time, it seems to me that your organization is one of the types that I encourage and include in my listing of signs of social involvement, that is, development of projects, task forces or societies ... to express direct involvement.

 

In my day-to-day work I serve two functions.  One is to consult and work with diocesan groups on their consideration of an involvement in a variety of social issues.  In those consultations, I do make mention of your concerns when they do not surface in discussions.  I should tell you that they invariably are brought up by the diocesan people -- your organization and others, as you well realize, have been successful in raising the consciousness of the Church in this matter.

 

The other function I have is to represent General Convention policy.  Again, as you appreciate, there is a lack of stated policy regarding homosexuality.  The inference, of course, of the tradition has been interpreted to be in opposition to homosexuality.  It is my understanding that you are addressing yourself to the General Convention and its social policy.

 

       --The Rev. Everett W. Francis

       Public Affairs Officer, The Executive Council

       815 Second Avenue, NYC 10017

 

Instead of being homophiles, you all must denounce "Paul VI" as the "heretic," as Pope Clement 15 of France called him.  Homophilism is no moral way to limit human population to its requisite quantity on this planet earth.  Each PRO-homo-sapient species has its necessary as-of-the-planet's-need-carrying capacity.

 

Ask for a vasectomy.

 

Propagandize vs. Halloween:  grease paint clogs pores.

 

       --unsigned, ln 10 hand-scrawled copies from

       Eugene, OR

 

First, let me tell you that I have nothing to say about your salvation, because only our Lord knows the condition of your heart.  Therefore, I won't be able to say about whether we'll be able to discuss the matter of the life to come.  I do know, Louie, that we'll both be sanctified if we meet there.

 

I'm glad that you mentioned the fact that Jesus' love is a redeeming love, and it was His death that paid for all our sinful nature.  We are all sinful, and our sins are apparent.  Our only problem is that of trying our own "do it yourself" justification for our sins.  Each one of us has his own type of sin or sins ... all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Jesus only wants us to know that they are sins so that He can forgive  them...;  the worst thing we face is to try to justify our behavior, to tell Jesus that it really wasn't necessary for Him to die on the cross for our behavior.

 

Sexual deviation is condoned nowhere in the Bible, but rather it is abhorred as an abomination.  To try to justify it is the deep problem.  I tell you this in the Love of Jesus and in His name.

 

My unenlightened judgmentalism continues, I suppose, but I will continue to pray that you can find healing for your sickness and that ultimately you will know total wholeness by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.

 

            Elmore Hudgens, General Secretary

            The Brotherhood of St. Andrew

 

   May I say that your essay ["One Fold, and One Shepherd" in June-July] is one of the best I have ever read, not because of the subject (so many times writers on the subject do not do what I call a proper literary job) but because it is extremely well written.  It helps me, above all, to feel that perhaps I have made contact at last with the type of people I would like to be associated with.

 

I am planning to resume my activities as a churchman, something I could not do in all conscience before your organization came along.

 

                   --J.C.

 

This past year has been the time of my birth, my coming out, my affirmation.  It has been and continues to be one of almost unmitigated joy.  To be overly brief, until two years ago I prayed almost nightly not to wake up the next morning -- you recognize the syndrome -- in the closet, lonely as hell, and feeling the shame and the guilt of being different and trying hard to be like everyone else I knew.  That has changed, radically.  Before I came to the convention in Chicago I had come out to my bishop, rector, and many members of the vestry, as well as to friends and other members of the parish.  Immediately following the convention I journeyed to Indianapolis, and had a joyful reunion and coming-out with my parents, a 75-year-old Quaker minister in a small town in Indiana and a 69-year-old mother, and my four siblings.  It was incredibly joyful, supportive and loving.  My years of discounting their love were at an end.  I knew then and I hope to know forever their love for me as a son, a man, a priest, and most of all as a Gay.

 

My return to Portland was not so joyful.  I had found while I was away that the shit had hit the fan.  If I had not resigned, that would have been forced.  I may have been able to fight it, but chose to do otherwise.  Although I don't like the context of the decision, nevertheless I feel very good about the decision itself.  After twelve years in the priesthood, spouting most of the right heterosexual values and practicing otherwise, I have called a halt to the whole process and am giving myself a break of indeterminate length to enjoy life out of the closet and a step removed from the institutional Church.  I'm now living in the woods outside Philadelphia and am free to travel around the East coast, and into the city where I relate to the Gay communities and to people in the Movement.  Later I may wish to become active again as a priest, or I may not; but now I am happy to be doing what I am.  I have made contacts with the local INTEGRITY chapter, also with G.A.A., some local parishes, and whomever else I can.

 

The INTEGRITY convention was a highly significant event to me.  Thanks for the work you are doing.

 

If you need any of my time or presence, it is available.

 

          --The Rev. Ronald D. Wesner

 

It seems to me that it would be a good idea if clergy members could be informed of fellow clergy who are being harassed or directly threatened by ecclesiastic superiors because they are Gay.  A mail-in campaign to express support for the individual and to oppose anti-Gay bigotry within the Church might make some Bishops, et al., realize that the Gay Priest is not a rare exception and that his censure will not be universally applauded or even tolerated.

 

            --Fr. David

 

[Ed.'s note:  Is there someone who would like to organize such a station on our underground railway?  Please write with particular suggestions.  We simply must develop this kind of muscle.]

 

It is with no small amount of pride earned through struggle that I share with you the fact that I am a faggot.  I don't know if I can adequately convey through a letter the joy that finally getting this worked out in my head brings into my life.  It is in being a faggot that I knock liberalism:  I have never been liberated to the extent that I could share with you [my family and friends] who I really am, or that before the last two years I did not have the strength to buck the prevailing winds (concepts of masculinity, morality, culturation, etc.) and follow my gut.  And you have not been liberated to the extent that I felt too oppressed to bring up my faggotry (at that time, my struggle with it) in your presence.

 

Business and industry are based on white, middleclass, heterosexual male values.  I cannot and do not wish to share those values.  I've had difficulties with my involvement in the psych program because even there the problems of faggots, women, racial and other minorities are not seen as having their roots in accepted and traditional male values.  It's here that pro­fessions and institutions are guilty of holding up the status quo:  this is the way it is!  And everyone had better understand that and subscribe to it if s/he wants to be a fully accepted and valuable human being.  The problem is that that is NOT the way it is!  More people than I ever realized cannot for one reason or another accept that.  Liberalism simply sugar-coats the bitter pill:  "I like you in spite of the fact that you're queer," "I'll let you work in my company despite the fact that you're black."  There's very little under­standing or acceptance of the valid differences which have always and always will exist between people.....

 

I specifically use the word faggot for several reasons.  1) There's a painful but proud history connected with the word.  When witches (often Lesbians or other women who for one reason or another -- perhaps intelligence -- could not accept prevailing values) were burnt at the stake in the Middle Ages, "faggots" (kindling) were the wood used to burn them.  Except that the male homosexuals were wrapped in the kindling to add fuel to the fire. 2) Homosexual, pervert, and invert are all words from psychiatry and psychology which in the past and with some exceptions today viewed those words as synonymous with pathology.  3) The word gay is used by most people today, and has gained a certain amount of respectability.  It is, in other words, somewhat better that your son be "gay" than a "faggot."  Although (and don't get me wrong!) both are sheer disaster, faggot seems to be about the only word (similar to black about 15 years ago) that draws any attention to the differences, and which by definition says, "I am not just like you.  I have different values from yours and I believe that mine are just as valid as yours and sometimes even more valid."....

 

     --John (a former Roman Catholic priest, who shared this correspondence written originally for his family and friends)

 

In The Homosexual Problem: Theirs or Ours? put out in 1970 by the Episcopal Executive Council, the findings in­dicated that our friends were largely seminarians and institutional clergy, more laywomen than laymen; that most felt the laws are too harsh and that most justified their rejection of homosexuals for the most part on the basis that we are "sick" emotionally.

 

It would seem to me that the APA ruling could be used to get the General Convention to go on record support­ing the HB 5452, proposed by Bella Abzug:

 

Whereas the APA has concluded homosexuality is per se no mental illness,

 

Therefore be it resolved that the General Convention of the PECUSA endorse HB 5452 and urge States to remove homosexual behavior from their criminal codes, etc.

 

Seminaries could probably be organized to promote such a resolution.

 

          --Jim Eggeling, San Antonio

 

I recently had business to do with the Barnett Bank and New England Mutual Life, so I talked with the personnel officer and general agent respectively and asked their policy regarding hiring/firing Gay people.  One said he'd ask the Board; the other will write the home office in Boston, but he is "liberal," he says, and doesn't discriminate.  I asked him to put it on his bulletin board.  The bank man acknowledged they had a non-discriminatory policy regarding blacks and women.  Why?  Because of their worth and "because we're regulated by......" I suggested that they voluntarily adopt a policy regarding Gay people before it's mandatory.

 

Almost every day something like this comes up -- what about votes by stockholders of General Motors? -- and I wish I felt a lot more people were taking advantage of an opportunity to rock the boat.

 

          --Bob Ragland, M.D., Jacksonville, FL

 

 

This is to acknowledge your letter....

 

I am interested, as always, in giving whatever moral support I can to the Church's ministry to all people including homosexuals, provided you will allow me to do so from my own perspective as a Bishop of the Church of God.

 

For instance, I cannot in conscience support your efforts to crusade for civil rights for homosexuals in the military service. The military is a voluntary selective, highly disciplined and structured community, whose mission is our country's national defence.  Whe­ther a person qualifies, or does not qualify, for such duty is not, in my opinion, a matter of civil rights.  It is the prerogative of the military services to set their own standards for fitness for service ln the Armed Forces.

 

Also, I firmly believe in the institution of Chris­tian marriage and the family, and I spend a great deal of my time in an effort to maintain the highest stan­dards for persons entering into the marriage relation­ship.  Indeed, the Church is still the principal advo­cate of the family in a world which seems to be growing increasingly hostile to the values for which the fami­ly stands, the permanence of the bond between husband and wife according to the vows they have taken ln the presence of God, and the right of children to be brought up in an atmosphere of love, trust, and forgiveness.  Thus, I heartily affirm Bishop Montgomery's recent statement concerning "homosexual marriage."  He wrote, "Some attitudes and views of extremely vocal members of the gay community are not in keeping with Christian doctrine.  ...  I do not believe that any commitment however deep and meaningful, between two persons of the same sex can be called 'marriage' and given the same sacramental character as that union of man and woman which our Lord sanctified."

 

I trust this will give you some idea of where I stand on the subject.

 

Again, thank you for your letter.  Be assured of my prayers and best wishes.

 

          --The Rt. Rev. Clarence E. Hobgood

          Bishop for the Armed Forces

 

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A WOMAN'S PLACE . . . . . . . . IN INTEGRITY

 

If I were to be offered the traditional three wishes, my requests might go something like this:  to be a whole woman; to live responsibly; to share life with others.  INTEGRITY is a part of all this for me, and here's why.

 

To be a whole woman means taking up all the threads in my life, even the most difficult to assimilate, and finding the place where they can be drawn together into a pattern which describes ME.  This means affirming myself as a Lesbian, a Christian in the Episcopal tradition, a mother, a professional, a citizen of the world.  Because my religious life has been nurtured in the Episcopal Church, I belong here; because I know myself as a woman who expresses love fully with another woman, I need to share a part of my life with Gays.  INTEGRITY represents a point at which the most diverse elements in my life can be joined, without doing injustice to any other aspect of my wholeness,

 

To live responsibly means using both my head and my heart to make choices about time and energy, groups I will belong to, causes I will support.  It means using all my talents in the ways I can be most effective; not trying to save the whole world, and not running away from opportunities which are obviously mine.  INTEGRITY's message is one I affirm, that our Gay experience can be holy.  This is a hard, unwelcome truth for both Church and world to hear, and its witnesses will not be popular.  But INTEGRITY is one of my obvious opportunities for responsible living.

 

To share life with others, especially with other women, means creating support communities for worship, for consciousness-raising, for theological searching.  It means creating communication between Gay men and women when differences of viewpoint may seem a frustrating barrier.  And it means communication between Gay and straight, in the face of hostility and fear.  To do these things alone, to make the difficult witness in an alien and uncomprehending world is too large a burden for me alone:  INTEGRITY means support.

 

Is INTEGRITY for a woman?  Will it help me find wholeness and live responsibly in community with others?

 

This woman answers, "Yes."

 

          --Kate Jones, Vice Co-President of INTEGRITY, Inc.

 

AGAINST EXCLUSIONISM

 

Biblical history reveals that over a period of centuries a group of persons called Jews, who believed themselves chosen of God, grew more and more centered upon that identity.  By building a complex system of religious and legal codes, the Jews slowly encased themselves in splendid isolation.  When Jesus Christ came to overthrow this system, we are told that one of his primary targets was "the exclusionism of Judaism."

 

Ironically, exclusionism is one of the foremost threats to Christianity in our time.  In the years that have lapsed since the Church began, we have gone through many periods of religious selectivity and, indeed, snobbery.  With great tenacity we have held to the idea that one either enters the family of God by becoming a Christian, or one remains forever outside the realm of God's love by not becoming a Christian.  We have then proceeded to identify the Christian by criteria couched in similar terms of either/or.  Where we have possibly committed our gravest error is in presuming to equate the word Christian with the relational concept of "child of God."

 

As difficult as it may be for some of us to comprehend, the fact remains that each and every person, being a unique creation of the One God, is a child of that same God.  This is a relational bond that one simply cannot escape, any more than one can escape the bond to one's natural mother and father.  One can deny, but never escape.  Of course, this whole concept is contingent upon belief ln God.  Membership in a professing family of the child­ren of God is secured by signifying (literally, "making a sign of") one's belief in God.  This sign is Baptism, in the case of the Christian, and circumcision for the Jew.  Unfortunately both signs have suffered by erosion.  When Baptism became a social custom and circumcision an hygienic practice, the richness of both rites was ravaged and pitted.

 

Thus, all persons are children of God and to all His children God offers and freely gives His love.  Where persons differ is in the response to that love.  In Baptism the Christian signifies acknowledgement of God's love and intent to reciprocate that love.  Intention, however, oft goes astray.  It is at this point that one encounters the perplexing matter of paradox.

 

We are encased in paradox.  Our days are a blend of life and death, good and evil, love and hate, faith and doubt.  As Christians we intend to love God and obey Him, yet we invariably rebel and disobey.  It is, we are told, our nature.  It is our fallen nature.  It is a fact that we love to use in our own defense, but are loath to accept as another's excuse.  It is upon this marvelous little stone in humanity's foundation that we erect our either/or standard.  We presume to judge our brothers and sisters.  We presume to measure their performance and we vainly presume to dictate God's distribution of His love to them. We presume too much!

 

It is time to cast aside our presumption.  It is time to recapture that sense of paradox which breathes, indeed crackles, through the Scriptures.  It is time to realize that we, as Christians, live in a world of both/and.  We worship Him who was both man and God.  We walk a path that leads to both death and life.  We are both sinners and saved.  We are both sons/daughters and brothers/sisters.

 

Perhaps this change in attitude would do more for Christianity and the varieties of persons within (and without) the Church than any change we could make in the canons of our own church.

 

I have tried to avoid the accusing finger and the soap-box oration.  We all stand condemned and comforted by our Lord.  Over the years of facing my own halting growth and watching the struggles of groups in growth movements, I am more and more convinced that we are only fighting skirmishes.  The war will not be won until we pull the army together and wage full-scale battle, a frontal attack which transcends all "causes" and strikes at the cause.  We are at odds, for we long to be gods.  Our Lord said much about selectivity.  He said much about sheep and goats.  But in every instance it was made perfectly clear that we are the sheep and the goats.  There was, is, and shall be only one shepherd.  Let us all pray for the humility to live ln love within the fold.

 

                   --Fr. Anthony

 

SO THEY SAY ....

 

Because the Judeo-Christian tradition condemns homosexuality, homosexuals who ascribe importance to religion face a dilemma.  In this chapter we examined the­ situation of the religious homosexual and the success of accommodations between his religious belief and his homosexuality.  Measuring religiosity as the personal importance attributed to formal religion, we found that religious homosexuals are less known about, more concerned with passing, more worried about exposure, and more likely to attribute importance to the opinion of others.  Homosexuals for whom religion is more important are also less socially involved with other homosexuals and less likely to have experienced all the sexual practices common among homosexuals, are more likely to believe they were born homosexual, and are the least committed to their homosexuality.

 

It was expected that the conflict between religiosity and sexuality would result in greater psychological problems for religious homosexuals.  Other than showing greater guilt, shame, or anxiety after their first homosexual experience, however, this is not the case.  We found that many religious homosexuals reinterpret religion as not violated by homosexuality.  And among the most religious homosexuals, whom we had expected to show the greatest psychological problems, such an interpretation can neutralize the negative psychological effects of their dilemma.  Thus, we found that some psychological problems are correlated with the perception that homosexuality violates religion, but that this relationship holds only among the most religious respondents.

 

              --from Martin S. Weinberg and Colin J. Williams,

               Male Homosexuals

 

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OFFICER'S PAGE This Month By Jim Wickliff

 

Greetings!  Ellen, Kate, Dan, Bob and I will be sharing this page from now on (aren't you thrilled?!?)  Now that we're getting so big, we need a better way to keep in touch, and FORUM's pages seem the proper way.

 

This month I want to rap with you about a number of things.

 

First, my apologies to all of you who have written with questions about Chapter organization and are still waiting for me to answer.  Actually, we've been working on some by-laws to present to the membership, part of which had to deal with Chapter definition, criteria, etc.  But we have pretty well decided that Chapters should be, as the Constitution stipulates, autonomous, so in answer to the variety of questions you have asked, I can make this one answer -- do your thing!  This isn't a cop out, it's just practical good sense.  We celebrate the diver­sity of the gay community, and I think we should protect the diversity of INTEGRITY, which is part of that com­munity.  Each Chapter is unique, with its own strengths and weakness, its needs, its aspirations, each having a character all its own.  To set up any kind of restric­tions or rules might threaten the richness of this diver­sity.  The only thing I would urge you to do, however, is GET YOURSELF INCORPORATED as soon as possible after you form.  This is to protect yourself.  You may want to work up a set of by-laws for your own group, but try not to make them so cumbersome that Chapter life becomes a drudge instead of the joy it can and should be.  I will try to answer each of your letters as soon as I get back from this current trip.  Meantime, feel your ways to progress, joyfully!

 

THE INTEGRITY CROSSES aren't going to be ready as soon as we thought -- we'd said Thanksgiving, but now the jeweler says the die has been a problem (the little sex symbols inside the circle needed strengthening) so it has taken longer than expected.  Current date, and I think it is stable now, is December 15.  We will mail them to you first class in an attempt to get them to you in time to wear to Midnight Mass Christmas Eve.  (And Keep your orders coming in!  They're great Christmas gifts, by the way, so keep that in mind for the woman who has everything!)

 

IN CELEBRATION is about ready.  We printed up 300 early copies (not proof-read, so typos abound, to my deep embarrassment!) to send out as promotion copies and to have to sell at GAU.  These will all be corrected, of course, by the time general distribution begins.  IDEA:  If you want to make some Chapter money, sell copies of IN CELEBRATION!  You can buy them from us in bulk (25 copies or more) at $2 a copy, sell them for $3, and make $1 a copy for your treasury.  They ought to go like hot cakes -- 17 photos, the complete Pittenger text.  Send your orders to Bob Diehm.  (I think we ought to sell 5,000 copies of this very important book!  It should be of interest to many more people than just Episcopalians, but you'll see what I mean when you get your copies.)

 

COMMITTEES  The bigger we get, the more work there is to do!  We need volunteers to work on committees.  Some of the most urgent committees needing people is Budget Committee (to work up budgetary systems, planning etc. with Bob Diehm); Publicity Committee (getting news-worthy events related to INTEGRITY into the papers: Dan Fee is handling that and needs help); Fund Raising Committee (the ever-­present problem of something for the Budget Committee to work with!)  Also, FORUM is getting much too large for Louie to have to fold, staple, label and stamp by himself.  This might be a Chapter project.  INTEGRITY/Chicago mailed out the issue this month, but it would work better if one of your Chapters could take this responsibility on a per­manent basis.  If interested, write Louie for further info.  Well, I'm at the end of the page already.  But this is enough to keep you thinking for a while, maybe enough to even make you act! Have a joy-filled Advent, and be good to one another.

 

                   With love in Him we serve,

 

                   Jim

 

CHAPTER NEWS

 

BOSTON has had a consistently fascinating program of speakers.  Recently Griffith Vaughn Williams, Director of August Trust and CHE in London, talked about aging and elderly gays.  CHE produced a study on this topic, and INTEGRITY/Boston has a few copies for distribution.  (Write the Convenor--they're $1.20 each.)  A very suc­cessful DIGNITY/MCC/B'nai Haskalah/INTEGRITY Halloween party was held Nov. 1st.

 

CHICAGO just adopted its By-Laws and held elections for the coming year at their Annual Meeting, a special event to be held the first Sunday of each November for this purpose.  They are planning ecumenical services in Advent with several of the other religious organizations and are taking part in the formation of Chicago's new coalition of all the city's gay organizations.  Plans are also underway for a super-Mardi Gras celebration in February.

 

DENVER members recently attended a DIGNITY retreat with Roman Catholic Fr. John McNeil, author of a book on homosexuality we are all eagerly awaiting.  "His lec­tures," writes Convenor Dobbs, "were based on his book, and were received with joy and celebration by all." The Denver Chapter at present meets monthly and is working to build membership.

 

LEXlNGTON has been meeting regularly, with discussions and worship programs.  Convenor Mitchum reports that their Chapter is very much aware of its social responsibilities and is working to maintain a balance between these and its religious activities.  A new "crisis" telephone line in Lexington is beginning to refer calls from gay Chris­tians to INTEGRITY there.

 

LOS ANGELES has all the "nuts and bolts" in place -- a well-written Constitution, elected officers, committees -- and meets once weekly for Eucharist, supper and fellowship.  Each meeting considers a special topic; recent ones have been "The Mind of the Diocese" (a report by a Diocesan official on local attitudes toward INTEGRITY); "Litur­gical Revision: Points of View, and Peer Counseling."  A retreat is planned for January 14-16.

 

NEW YORK, fabulous New York!  They meet at least weekly, but to judge from their Calendar, there are often several things going on each week.  Last month they had a visit and lecture-introduction to an exhibit of rare Anglican Theolo­gical books from the Rare Book Collection of General Seminary.  An address by Fr. Hayden of the Diocesan (NY) Study Group on Ethics and Sexuality; a theater party; a "Beer and Brain­storming Evening," a birthday party and a shared Thanksgiving Mass with DIGNITY rounded of the month's programs.  They have mass at the beginning of every meeting.  They have also been working on a grant application for their Audio/TV projects.

 

PHILADELPHIA meets weekly and celebrates the Eucharist at each meeting.  They are growing rapidly and have be­come active in so many areas it is impossible to list all of them here.  Convenor Lenhardt and Wessner attended a special conference on homosexuality sponsored by the Diocese of Central New York and ended up being the "star" witnesses there -- apparently they were the only openly, admittedly gays present.  They now plan a similar kind of conference for the Philadelphia Diocese.

 

PHOENIX meets twice monthly at various member's homes and hope they will have a church location before long.  Programs this month included "Uses of Transactional Analysis" and "Healthy Gay Life Styles."  Their major project for the coming year is to raise money to pay for the booth at General Convention.  Convenor Eff writes, "We'd like to challenge other Chapters to do likewise --maybe we could auction off an 'Arizona Cowboy' for some of you eastern types...."

 

SAN FRANCISCO is already busy with plans for our 1976 National Convention and plan to announce the date as soon as arrangements can be completed with the Cathedral.  They meet twice monthly at Cathedral House, once for Eucharist celebration followed by supper and speaker, and once for a business meeting.  Since both our national Co-President and Vice Co-president are members of this Chapter, they boast of several women members.  Their newsletter is one of the best I've seen so far (how could it not be, with Fr. Richard's mighty prose to give it pizazz!)

LOCAL CHAPTERS

 

INTEGRITY/Atlanta.  Co-Convenors Dr. Ara Dostourian (3830 Highway 5, Douglasville, GA 30134; 404 942-­9813) and Steve Matthews (404-351-1943).

INTEGRITY/Austin.  Convenor Adam F. Stricker (Box 14056, Austin, TX 78761).

INTEGRITY/Australia.  Convenor The Rev. Ron Dowling, St. George's Church, 4/296 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria, 3144, Australia.

INTEGRITY/Boston.  Convenor Joe McCauley, Box 2582, Boston 02208.

INTEGRITY/Chicago.  Convenor David Williams (Box 2516, Chicago 60690).

INTEGRITY/Columbus, GA.  Convenor John Day (205-­298-6439, a Phenix City, AL, number).

INTEGRITY/Denver.  Convenor The Rev. Thomas Dobbs (1958 Emerson Street, Denver 80218)

INTEGRITY/Eugene, OR.  Convenor Randolph Harrison West, Box 3682 University Station, Eugene 97403.

INTEGRITY/Fort Valley, GA.  Convenors Ernest Clay and Louie Crew, 701 Orange St., No. 6, FV, GA 31030, 912-825-7287.

INTEGRITY/Jacksonville.  Convenor psychiatrist Dr. Robert Ragland, 2783 Oak Street, Jville, FL 32205.

INTEGRITY/Lansing.  Convenor Gary Lee Phillips, Box 95, East Lansing, MI 48823.

INTEGRITY/Lexington.  Convenor Philip Mitchum, 1220 Octavian Circle, Lexington, KY 40502.

INTEGRITY/Los Angeles.  Convenor Dick Sheppard, 4767 Hillsdale Drive, LA, CA 90032.

INTEGRITY/Twin Cities.  Convenor Frank R. Eggers, 26 Arthur Avenue, Box 203, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

INTEGRITY/NYC.  Convenors The Rev. Michael G. Koonsman (31 Stuyvesant Street, NYC 10003 and David Allen White (23-71 27th Street, Astoria, NY 11105).

INTEGRITY/Michigan.  Convenor James Toy, Human Sexuality Advocates, 325 Michigan Union, U-Ml, Ann Arbor 48104.

INTEGRITY/Philadelphia.  Convenors The Rev. John Lenhardt (4711 Baltimore Ave., Phila. 19143, tele. 726-1089 and The Rev. Ronald Wesner (RFD 1, Brushtown Rd., Ambler, PA 19002).

INTEGRITY/Phoenix.  Convenor Bob Eff, P.0. Box 27212, Phoenix, AZ 85017.

INTEGRITY/Providence.  Edgar F. Staff, Box 71, Annex Station, Providence, RI 02901.

INTEGRITY/San Diego.  Convenor The Rev. H. C. Lazenby, ACSW (4645 West Talmadge Drive, SD, CA 92116).

INTEGRITY/San Francisco and Bay Area.  Co-Convenors Jim Frooks (1256 Page Street, No. 1, SF, CA 94117, 415-621-0182) and The Rev. Richard Younge (P.0. Box 6444, San Jose, CA 95150).

INTEGRITY/Toronto.  Convenor John Gartshore, 20 Berryman Street, Toronto, M5R 1M6, Ontario, CANADA.

INTEGRITY/Washington, DC.  Convenor has resigned for health reason.  Contact through Fort Valley office.

 

Additional convenors have contacted us about the possibilities of new chapters in the places below.  All queries should be sent to our officer in charge of chapter advisement, President Jim Wickliff, 429 Surf, Chicago 60657:

 

INTEGRITY/England; INTEGRITY/Houston; INTEGRITY/Madison, WI; INTEGRITY/Miami; INTEGRITY/Montana; INTEGRITY/North Central Rural Pennsylvania; INTEGRITY/Oklahoma City; INTEGRITY/Portland; INTEGRITY/Toledo; INTEGRITY/Topeka.

 

This ministry is very important.  We need you.  Please write today.  Isn't it time for you to convene a chapter?