INTEGRITY

GAY EPISCOPAL FORUM

c. INTEGRITY 1975                      ISSN: 0095-2184

Vol. 1               No. 3                   Jan. 75

INTEGRITY:  GAY EPISCOPAL FORUM.  10 issues/$5.  701 Orange Street, No. 6, Fort Valley, GA 31030.  Copyright 1975 by INTEGRITY, Inc.  Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied with stamped return envelope.  Signed articles are the views of the contributors.  INTEGRITY, Inc., is a non-profit organization of Gay Episcopalians and our friends.

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

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

Associate Editor......................... Dan Fee, Seminarian

Associate Editor....................... Rev. Michael Koonsman

Associate Editor.................... Br. Thomas Williams, LPN

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

Consultant........................... Norman Pittenger, Ph.D.

INTEGRITY/CHICAGO

Sunday, 26th January, there will be an organizational meeting of INTEGRITY/Chicago.  For information, area readers should contact Jim W., at 312/549-3988.

GAY COLLECT FOR EPIPHANY

God, as you always welcome opportunities to manifest yourself to wise and sensitive persons with alien credentials, we who are Gay have seen your star and approach your cradle of innocent, unconditional love, bringing you ourselves to be a witness to your reign in our lives and in the community of the accepting, the loving, and the faithful whom you have come to establish. AMEN

                CONSTITUTION:  INTEGRITY, INC.

  National Organization of Gay Episcopalians and Our Friends

                     Fort Valley, Georgia

                         I.  PREAMBLE

     We the members of INTEGRITY, Inc., who have signed the appropriate ballots ratifying this Constitution, do hereby constitute ourselves as a national charitable, religious, educational, literary non-profit organization, dedicated to working for the welfare of Gay Episcopalians and our friends; and herein we state our principles of governance.

                       II.   MEMBERSHIP

     Membership in INTEGRITY, Inc., is open to all Gay Episcopalians and to all friends of Gay Episcopalians, as witnessed by any person's willingness to join the organization under these appellations.  All paid individual subscribers to the organization's journal, Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, are automatically eligible to vote as members of Integrity, Inc.

     Membership will require annual subscription to Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum and any additional dues that the Trustees of the Corporation shall approve as necessary for the continued non-profit operation of the organization.

                        III.   OFFICERS

     For the period Jan.-June, 1975, INTEGRITY, Inc., will be governed by the Trustees of the Corporation, named in the Articles of Incorporation, who will in turn serve as Editor and Associate Editor of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum.  In April, 1975, the Trustees will appoint a nominating committee to place before the entire membership a slate of national officers, including a president, a vice-president, and an executive-secretary.  These three officers will be designated as the Executive Committee of INTEGRITY, Inc., and they will be responsible to the Trustees of the Corporation.

     Terms for the Executive Committee will be for one year.  The first Executive Committee will be elected by mail in June, 1975 and will begin serving 1st July, 1975.  Members may write in candidates in addition to those placed on the ballot by the nominating committee.

     Removal of any officer or trustee may be effected by a vote of two-thirds of the membership actually voting in a national ballot; and such a ballot of removal can be brought about by a petition signed by 50 members or 20 percent of the membership (whichever is smaller).

     At elections each member will have one vote.

     Trustees of the Corporation will serve three-year terms, beginning with the two trustees, and with each of the three first Executive Committees naming two more trustees per year, bringing the Board of Trustees to a maximum of eight by 1977.  Starting in 1978 trustees will retire and be replaced on staggered three-year terms.  In the event of resignation or removal, trustees will be replaced by the Executive Committee.

                         A.  President

     The duties of the president will be to call and preside over national meetings of the organization, to call and preside over meetings of the Executive Committee, to appoint committees, to suggest organizational programs, to report to the organization (especially through Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum), to represent the national organization in dealings with other organizations, and to serve as the chief liaison in efforts to organize local chapters of INTEGRITY, Inc., throughout the country.

                      B.  Vice-President

     The duties of the vice-president will be to assist the president and to preside in his absence and to replace him in the event of his resignation or removal.

                    C. Executive-Secretary

     The duties of the executive-secretary will be to serve as the chief business officer of the organization and effectively to administer the organization's on-going programs.  In the event that a national physical office is established, he will be the chief officer of that office and will administer its operations. He will be responsible for providing to the organization and its officers a regular and full account of all its finances, and he is authorized to make all payments and to receive all dues, subscriptions, contributions and the like; and he will be responsible for filing all local, state, and federal forms required of the organization.

         D.  Staff of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum

     It is the responsibility of the Executive Committee and the Trustees of the Corporation to appoint the staff of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, or to appoint the editor and to approve the editor's own junior appointments.  The editor-in-chief is immediately accountable to the Executive-Secretary of INTEGRITY, Inc., and thereafter to the entire Executive Committee and the Trustees of the Corporation.  Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum is the official publication of INTEGRITY, Inc., but will be given wide latitude to explore a diversity of points of view without representing such exploration as the official position of INTEGRITY, Inc., or that of its members.  Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum will operate as a forum for discussing matters of interest to Gay Episcopalians and our friends and most particularly as a vehicle for news of INTEGRITY, Inc.

                         IV.  PROGRAMS

     INTEGRITY, Inc., is a national organization.  It will attempt to organize reasonably autonomous local and regional chapters under its name [already forming are INTEGRITY/Chicago and INTEGRITY/Atlanta], again focusing on Gay Episcopalians and our friends; and the national organization will attempt to provide such services as in time these local and regional chapters may require.  Each chapter will be free to develop its own by-laws and to elect its own officers, to handle its own finances (including the levying of dues), and to develop such independent programs as it desires, so long as the programs are consonant with the Constitution of INTEGRITY, Inc., and particularly with the basic goals set out in the preamble to this Constitution.

                    A.  Charitable Programs

     In addition to the religious goals spelled out in Section B below, INTEGRITY, Inc., will be actively involved in eliminating prejudice and discrimination against all sexual minorities in general and against Gay persons in particular, especially those of us within the Church.

     INTEGRITY, Inc., will actively defend human and civil rights secured by law and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States to all citizens and by Canon Law to all Episcopalians.

INTEGRITY, Inc., will actively combat community deterioration and juvenile delinquency, principally by educating the Church and the community about the human needs of Gay citizens, particularly the needs of Gay young people, who are almost always by definition without the benefit of Gay families.

                    B.  Religious Programs

     INTEGRITY, Inc., will work independently of any other religious body, but will be concerned primarily to bring the services of the Gay community to the Episcopal Church of the United States and to solicit the services of the Episcopal Church on behalf of the Gay community.  Specifically, INTEGRITY, Inc., will assist bishops, priests, and laypersons within the Episcopal Church, and will promote an atmosphere of greater understanding between the Gay subculture and the other members of the Church.  INTEGRITY, Inc., will actively encourage dialogue between the two communities, particularly in the form of conferences, Corporate Communion, liturgical recognition of Gay people, etc.  It will attempt to be active in communicating with the House of Bishop's Task Force on Homophiles and the Ministry and with all other relevant groups of the National Office of the Episcopal Church and with diocesan offices and committees who concern themselves with the needs of Gay Christians.  Special efforts will be made to communicate with the human relations commissions or their equivalents in every Episcopal diocese.

     While definitely Episcopal in focus, INTEGRITY, Inc., is ecumenical in spirit and will strive to work in harmony with all other religious groups striving for related goals, most specifically with DIGNITY, Inc., with Metropolitan Community Churches, and with Gay caucuses of all Christian denominations.

                    C. Educational Programs

     INTEGRITY, Inc., will attempt to instruct the public and the Church on the subject of homosexuality and Gay identity in a broad and responsible manner, so as to inform the public and the Church of our main needs in the Gay community, as so as to make more accessible the possible contributions of Gay people to the majority culture.  We affirm the pluralism of the Gay community, and we support a full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion.  We are firmly committed to making ours a responsible Gay voice in what has before largely been a nonCay monologue about what to do with the Gay community.

     INTEGRITY, Inc., will regularly sponsor public discussion groups, forums, panels, lectures and other programs to effect its educational purposes.  A speakers' bureau will be maintained for the benefit of all public and religious groups who wish to use it.

                     D.  Literary Programs

     A major commitment of INTEGRITY, Inc., is to produce ten annual issues of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum.

     To this end, INTEGRITY, Inc., will continue to carry out national advertisements for subscriptions to Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum, particularly in publications where other Gay Episcopalians and our friends might be expected to read.

     Furthermore, INTEGRITY, Inc., authorizes the sale of Integrity:   Gay Episcopal Forum to book and magazine stores, libraries, and other organizations, with the understanding that only individual purchaser subscribers have voting privileges in INTEGRITY, Inc.

         V.  LEGISLATION AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

     All policies not specified in the Constitution will be made by appropriate officers of the organization, each subject to the review and approval of the person(s) to whom the said officers are accountable.

     Amendments to the Constitution will require a vote of two-thirds of those voting in any national balloting of the membership.  Amendments to be considered must have a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the membership or 25 members (whichever is smaller) and must be advertised for at least two issues of Integrity:  Gay Episcopal Forum before being submitted for vote, either by mail or at a national meeting.

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF INTEGRITY, INC.

     We who have signed the appropriate ballots ratifying these Articles, a majority of whom are citizens of the United States, desiring to form a Non-Profit Corporation under the Non-Profit Corporation law of Georgia, do hereby certify:

     First:  The name of the Corporation shall be Integrity, Inc.

     Second:  The place in this state where the principal office of the Corporation is to be located is the City of Fort Valley, Peach County.

     Third:  Said corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and literary purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue law).

     Fourth:  The names and addresses of the persons who are the initial Trustees of the Corporation are as follows:

     NAME               ADDRESS

  Dr. Louie Crew   701 Orange Street, No. 6, Fort Valley, GA

  Mr. Ernest Clay  701 Orange Street, No. 6, Fort Valley, GA

     Fifth:  No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to, its members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of purposes set forth in Article Third hereof.  No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.  Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, the corporation shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by a corporation exempt from Federal income tax under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law) or (b) by a corporation, contributions to which are deductible under Section 170 (c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law.)

     Sixth:  Upon the dissolution of the corporation, the Board of Trustees shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the corporation, dispose of all of the assets of the corporation exclusively for the purposes of the corporation in such manner, or to such organization or organizations organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify as exempt organization or organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law), as the Board of Trustees shall determine.  Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which the principal office of the corporation is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.

     Seventh:  As a private foundation, Integrity, Inc., shall operate under the following general provisions:

     a) Integrity, Inc., shall distribute its income for each taxable year at such time and in such manner as not to become subject to the tax on undistributed income imposed by section 4942 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.

     b) Integrity, Inc., shall not engage in any act of self-dealing as defined in section 4941(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.

     c) Integrity, Inc., shall not retain any excess business holding as defined in section 4943(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.

     d) Integrity, Inc., shall not make any investments in such manner as to subject it to tax under section 4944 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.

     e) Integrity, Inc., shall not make any taxable expenditures as defined in section 4942 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws.

     Eighth:  As a private foundation, Integrity, Inc., shall qualify as a "private operating foundation."  It will spend 85 percent or more of its income directly for the active conduct of the charitable, religious, educational, and literary purposes for which it is organized an operated.  The organization will also meet the test of deriving at least 85 percent of its support (other than gross investment income) from five or more exempt organizations and from the general public.  Not more than 25 percent of the organization's support (other than gross investment income) will be received from any one of these exempt organizations, and not more than half of its support will come from its investment income.

editorial     MOVE TO THE FRONT OF THE BUS

The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday we remember on the 15th of this month, used to say, in the early days of the Montgomery bus boycott, that those who unquestioningly go to the back of the bus perhaps deserve to go to the back of the bus.

Admittedly, with sodomy statutes on the books of almost all states, Gay citizens of the United States find a closer identification with the slaves of the last Century, before the Emancipation Proclamation.

Still, Dr. King's metaphor very much serves us.  If we accept our being abused by a hostile society, perhaps we deserve no better. William Blake told us long ago that it is our mind-forged manacles which most enslave us; and we could all cite some who dwelling in the fiercest of physical dungeons have managed to be freer than the most mobile of modern persons.

Mentioned throughout the pages of this special third issue of INTEGRITY are numerous ways in which we Gay Christians and our friends are invited to become more active in the aggressive pursuit of Justice for Gay Christians.  Some of these opportunities are open only for those of us who have found the way to be completely out of the closet.  Many more are available for those of us who cannot at this time see our way wisely to become thus vulnerable.  Each of us must make her or his own choice, in the privacy of our consciences; but we may be quite confident that remaining quietly at the back of the bus affirming no actions is itself possibly the gravest of moral decisions that one could make.

MORE THAN RHETORIC

The editors of INTEGRITY strongly urge your prompt ratification of the Constitution and Articles of Incorporation which make up a major portion of this issue, either by signing the appropriate enclosed ballot or by writing a similar statement, and mailing it to the editors.

A few months ago when the plans for our activities began, we thought small and cautiously.  We could not anticipate the amount of interest that would be generated by an organization of Gay Episcopalians and our friends.  At that time, it seemed wisest to plan mainly to form a vehicle for communication so that we might assess the feelings of our number and so that we might locate those who would even be interested in such a dialogue.  Thus Integrity: Gay Episcopal Forum was born.

Already we have over 120 paid subscriptions and over 300 more issues are seen through book stores, libraries, and complimentary issues.  The number of queries from would-be subscribers is growing weekly.  More and more letters are arriving asking not only can one subscribe, but can one belong.

Increasingly too we are aware that the kind of clout that we need as Gay Christians cannot be realized merely through the rhetoric of a publication.  We need structures of bigger sorts drawing on the talents are far more people.  We need a broader base for action in programs that are charitable, religious, educational, and literary.  We need structures that guarantee participation that is democratic and representative.  We need economic policies and statutes that make us squarely ln order to receive the standard government benefits (postal, tax, etc.) for non-profit organizations.....

Admittedly the language of these two vital documents is dry, unexciting, legalistic....  Such are the requirements.  Please read them carefully and prayerfully, and please send us your ratifying ballots by return mail, together with any suggestions and reactions.

NAKED TRUTH

Providence, R.I.  On 10th Nov., 74, the Rev. Joseph Gilbert, a former Episcopal layperson, was installed as the new pastor of the local Metropolitan Community Church.  The Rev. Paul Kintzing, pastor of the local Anglo-Catholic St. Steven's, refused a request from MCC to borrow stoles for the occasion so that MCC deacons could also be fittingly installed.  Fr. Kintzing explained that the stoles at St. Steven's had been "blest."

GAY INPUT SOUGHT

NYC.  John C. Goodbody of The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has assured INTEGRITY that the Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Priesthood and Human Sexuality will identify Gay concerns and will consider input from Gay Christians, particularly from clergypersons and laypersons.  Our readers are urged to write to the Committee directly (815 Second Avenue, NYC 10017).  Where it is possible for you to send us copies of your correspondence we will be better equipped to support your efforts to influence.  Obviously signed letters may be of more weight, but we see no reason that anonymous letters from closeted Gays should be ignored.  If you are fearful of your post stamp identifying you, we will gladly forward such mail for you.

HATE CALLS

Fort Valley, GA.  A spate of anonymous hate calls from men identifying themselves as priests has been received by the editor of INTEGRITY recently.  All have been long distance, and at least one caller was pleased to run up his bill for over fifteen minutes of prime time in his mission to declare, "You people ought to be back in the Middle Ages when we burned faggots under witches."

We rejoice that through these ludicrous occasions our Lord's twinkle has been very clearly manifest: "Happy are you when men shall revile you."

METHODIST GAYS ATTACKED

Wilmore, KY.  C. Philip Hinerman, editor of a fundamentalist publication GOOD NEWS, has begun a loud campaign of fund-raising to "combat the ordination of practicing homosexuals in the ministry of the United Methodist Church," according to a November ballot widely distributed.  Hinerman calls the campaign "the battle against ungodliness within the Church."

The ostensible target of GOOD NEWS is the United Methodist Gay Caucus, headed by Frank Howell and John Wise, subscribers and supporters of INTEGRITY.  Howell wrote us in December: "We really enjoy your newsletter. the Episcopal Church is moving."

According to CHICAGO SUNDAY TRIBUNE (22 Dec.) the real target of GOOD NEWS may well be "simply a way to raise the $100,000 needed each year to publish the magazine....  While the Rev. Mr. Hinerman admits that 'we're using this [homosexual] threat as a rallying point [for contributions], we feel the threat is a very real and viable one."'

INTEGRITY subscribers may help the besieged Methodist Gay sisters and brothers by sending contributions to the United Methodist Gay Caucus, 1784 Gazelle Way, Hayward, CA 94541.

REACTIONS

[The December 74 issue of THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE, The January 75 issue of THE EPISCOPALIAN, the Winter issue of CONNEXION and the December 74 issue of METANOIA have all carried news items about INTEGRITY, thereby bringing us many new subscribers, whom we welcome.  We encourage all readers to urge their local diocesan papers to give notice to us, and we will gladly provide promotional material on request.  When Bishop James Dees of the Anglican Orthodox Church recently reprinted materials from our first issue as an example of the kind of thing keeping him out of the ungodly Episcopal Church, many of his own readers responded by subscribing.  God moves in mysterious ways. -- Ed.]

                   _________________________

Thank you for ... the interesting copy of INTEGRITY [Dec.].  Interest does seem to be picking up ....

Easy does it in your letters column.  I have a hunch sons of Levi and Fond au Lac did not open to entirely rave reviews.

                   (The Rev.) Robert F. Herrick

                   National Gay Task Force

[We appreciate this negative warning, as we are a Forum and are sensitive to the controversies sparked by much of what our readers say.  The S & M comments of the priest alluded to here are but a sample of many controversial views we are hearing from our readership.  For the moment we consider it our task to suspend judgment as editor on many of the views; and we feel that the long-range mission we serve in public relations can best be served by open exposure of the catholic diversity in the Gay Christian community.  All readers are urged to share their opposition to views expressed in the letters so that we may get a fair index of where we are at the moment, and some suggestion of directions we need to explore. -- Ed.]

                   _________________________

This second issue surpasses the first.  Your open letter to the Church says lt all and like it is! I suppose you'll get some flack -- "it's too harsh, it's too bitter" etc. -- but from where I stand, it merely states the facts, with plenty of balls, but with Dignity and Integrity.  You make me fiercely proud to be your brother, both in Christ and in "Gaykind" (I like that term too). Bravo, and right on!

                   Jim W.

                   _________________________

....As a non-gay seminarian, I have some comments I would like to make concerning my reactions to [your December issue].

I will agree that people have certainly been unkind to homosexuals, and that a homosexual would probably be the most ostrasized [sic] and rejected person ln a heterosexual society.  This problem is real and surely needs to be delt [sic] with in the hearts of the people of God's Church today.  After all, Christ did eat with the sinners and tax collectors, a category we all fit into very well... 

I see most homosexuals as people with unanswered needs.  Sorry, but I can't buy the physical makeup thing for all homosexuals.  Perhaps in these days when men are forced to take an agressive [sic] step in asserting their masculinity many are backing down to the overpowering force of the radicals of the women's lib movement causing a retreat from the opposite sex to the security of one's own sex.  Perhaps repeated rejection by the opposite sex caused a withdrawal; it could be any one of 1000 things.  But if such a problem exists and the symptom manifests itself in homosexuality, then the root problem should be handled....

I am being trained for ministry and for a careful examination of all information which is presented to me.  My opinion of INTEGRITY is that it is so biased that it almost becomes worthless.  People who really want to respond don't want some narrow little view, but a look at the whole perspective.  The idea presented by INTEGRITY is that you are completely right and everybody else is wrong.  That is a rather immature attitude for any person really seeking truth.

                        Larry R. Murray

                        Box 21728, Emory Univ.

                        Atlanta, GA 30322

[We are not aware of being very concerned, one way or the other, with the non-Gay question of the etiology of Gay people, though we do find amusing (yet also dangerous) the folk explanation suggested here.  Are nonGays made nonGay because they have been rejected by members of their own sex?  We applaud "the whole perspective."  Are heterosexuals people with no "unanswered needs"?  Is sexual turn on, specifically erection and arousal, so compulsively voluntary as Mr. Murray suggests?  Nowhere do we presume to be so knowledgeable as this young student who jumps to close his ears to any evidence presented by the people he purports to judge the moment they proclaim their proud simple Christian bias that God loves us all, Gay and non-Gay, unconditionally.  INTEGRITY is a forum for Gay Episcopalians and our friends.  With "friends" like Larry Murray, his future Gay charges may not need any enemies. -- Ed.]

                   _________________________

What kind of 'sick' bishop wrote that letter?  Sounds like one or two I have known...

I wish that I could help with ideas for articles, etc., but I am not in Parish work anymore and I don't mingle.  I am now the Administrator of a retirement home.

Keep up the good work.  Keep the faith.

                    Father Bill

                   _________________________

Recognition of your new publication in the current EPISCOPALIAN prompts me to write for further information.

In my thirty some years in the ministry, I have counseled many who could have benefitted from the opportunity of knowing they were not alone.

Please include me on your list of subscribers and share with me information on the progress and objectives of this long neglected ministry.

                   Priest and Headmaster

                   _________________________

Thanks for the two issues of INTEGRITY.  I can see that it is off to a good start, and with loads of enthusiasm to keep it going....

One of the more disappointing things was our recent diocesan convention, which on balance seems to have taken a few steps backward...  We adopted in principle the results of a diocesan action study...  Simply put, it was a general questionnaire to every Episcopalian of whatever stripe in the diocese asking (1) what should our goals be and (2) how are we doing, and (3) how is your parish doing.  The not so surprising results from the comparatively small number who answered was that we need competent and qualified clergy, and already have them; we need to minister to our young people and figure out ways to keep them happily in the institutional church; we need to minister to our present members; we need less attention to social issues, ordination of women, revision of prayer book and liturgical reform; we need more Christian education and campus ministry and evangelism, i.e., making new members.  [The final decision was] to take no action that might seem controversial or upsetting to the status quo.  So much for the diocesan convention!

Try to be charitable even when tempted greatly to be otherwise ... and if you can manage it, tell your clerical phone harassers that you will continue to pray for them that they may be converted to Christianity.  You might even have a little prayer ready to recite while they pour forth anger and hatred.  Of course, the hardest part of that will be to mean the prayer sincerely but remember St. Stephen.

                   Priest

                   _________________________

The letter from "a bishop" in the current [Dec.] issue was simply incredible.  I believe one thing you might discuss with the Task Force of the House of Bishops could be the need for screening such characters in the psychiatric examination before consecrations.  Certainly his letter borders on the psychopathic. His emotions are far beyond personal distaste or cultural inhibition.  I pray he is crowding the age of retirement.

                   The Rev  G.T.

                   _________________________

I particularly like the gay collect [for Advent], though despite standard assumptions, I would not be prepared to maintain positively that Christ "never experienced heterosexuality" -- even if sexuality were narrowly defined as sexual coitus, and certainly not in any broader sense.  I was amused by the Right Rev. Filthy Rag.  Though his attitude may not be surprising, one somehow would expect a bit more dignity of expression from a bishop.

                   Jim Ricketson

                   263 W. 70th Street

                   NYC 10023

                   _________________________

I'm glad to be receiving INTEGRITY, and especially pleased that you plan a lesbian issue.

I wonder if you could use something from my particular point of view.  I am a woman ln midforties who married young and discovered myself as a Lesbian 13 years and 4 children later.  Now 10 years after, I find myself divorced and moving in small --oh, very small -- steps towards being open about my sexuality.  I have found this much easier to do away from the Church -- in women's groups or with a few friends -- but it is the Church relationship which means most to me I have strong feelings for the "silent women" who I know must be all around me in the pews. I also believe that being sexually responsible may mean waiting till the fullness of time, when God moves each of us, if we will let him.

I don't think I could sign any article yet.  Would that matter to you? I am most interested in being a part of the gay/church dialogue as I am able, and I need the community your publication represents.  Thank you.

                   A Christian Sister

                   _________________________

NOBLE ACTION

Kansas City.  Newly elected Massachusetts legislator Rep. Elaine Noble speaking here recently urged all Gay persons to become more aggressive ln the political pursuit of the rights of Gay citizens.  Ms. Noble was quoted ln the STAR (12-8-74) in an address to local activists:

  "Act as a political body.  Politicians need you more than you need them.  They need constituents, friends and allies.  The system is based on not bothering them, and if they get five or six letters a day they get freaked.,.,

  "Say, 'hey, you are part of the process that is hurting a lot of people -- get your foot off my neck,' Tell them you will work against them getting reelected."

GAYS EXCLUDED FROM COMMON PRAYER

Oklahoma City.  The Rt. Rev. Chilton Powell, chairperson of The Standing Liturgical Commission, has explained ln a letter to INTEGRITY how the Commission was able to complete its work without recommending Occasional Prayers with specific mention of Gays:  "A Book of Common Prayer does not lend itself to Specific mention of individual groups....  We do have a Special Committee that is combing all of our Prayer Book language, across the boards, to be sure that it is not unfair to women, as women, and other sub-groups.  This Committee has been sensitive to the problems and rights of gay Episcopalians, but with the hope that their liturgical life and common life within the Church will be patiently shared with thousands of people involved in as many causes."

When INTEGRITY inquired how the specific group "heterosexuals" could thus be recognized with an exclusive service for holy marriage without even any consideration of possible alternative support for Gay holy vows, Bishop Powell replied that while the Special Committee will give INTEGRITY's letter a hearing:  "As a matter of fact, the Standing Liturgical Commission has absolutely no authority to consider a marriage service for homophylic weddings -- not until Canon Law and State Law allows provision for them."

PUBLICATIONS CURRENT

ERRATA

The new MOUTH OF THE DRAGON noted in our Dec. issue was given the wrong price and the wrong address:  it sells for $2.25 an issue, including postage, from P.O. Box 107, Cooper Station, NYC 10003, It is a quarterly poetry journal of male love, now in its third issue.

JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY, a new quarterly journal devoted exclusively to empirical and clinical research on male homosexuality, lesbianism, trans-sexualism, and alternate sexual lifestyles; $12 a year for individuals; from Haworth Press, 130 West 72nd Street, NYC 10023.  Vol. I, no. 1 has just come off the press.  While these scholars still speak the quantitative language that has been used by oppressors of Gays within the so-called helping professions, the editors reject the medical model of homosexuality as an illness; thus they are an important voice to reply in support of Gays using the very language that has been used against us.  It yet remains to be seen whether the quantitative standards thus rigorously employed will still admit of the more important warmly humane questions that have never been asked; and we must also learn whether the editors will turn their aim properly and rigorously to ask the long ignored questions about heterosexual investigators of Gay people, such as "how much money have members of APA drained from the Gay community 'curing' illnesses now recognized as fake?" "precisely how have statistics been used against Gay people?" "what statistical evidence would support malpractice suits against APA?" etc.  Clearly the kind of questions asked will determine the value of this and related "research," if it is to avoid being just same-search.

RELIGION IN LIFE (Abingdon) in its current issue Winter, 1975, carries Norman Pittenger's article "A Theological Approach to Understanding Homosexuality," pp. 436-444, an expansion on some of his ideas in our December issue.

INTEGRITY VIDEO

NYC.  Associate INTEGRITY editor Rev. Michael Koonsman has begun an important venture of videotaping interviews with Gay persons in the movement, particularly Gay Christians, with a view to making these tapes available to public television stations and to private groups throughout the country.  A little money from each of us will thus go a very long way towards better public education.  Contributions should be sent to INTEGRITY Video Project, St. Clement's Church Open Video Center, 423 W. 46th, NYC 10036.