INTEGRITY

GAY EPISCOPAL FORUM

c Integrity 1975   ISSN: 0095-2184

Vol. 1  No. 10  November 1975

 

INTEGRITY:  GAY EPISCOPAL FORUM is the official newsletter of Integrity, Inc., a nonprofit religious, charitable, educational, and literary organization with offices at 701 Orange Street,  Fort Valley, GA 31030.  Signed articles represent the views of the contributors.  Copyright 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 each, although the entire first volume has been sold out.

 

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

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

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 COLLECT FOR NON-GAYS

 

INDISCRIMINATE SAVIOR, who did turn the hearts even of the vast Gentile majority, so fill with you love and understanding all nonGay peoples that they may discover and rejoice in the rich diversity of your creation, and that they and we shall dwell together in harmony, love, and mutual respect, in the name of Him who makes all miracles possible, JESUS CHRIST, OUR JOINT HEIR AND LORD.  AMEN.

 

HOUSE OF BISHOPS - 75

 

Portland, ME.  The Episcopal House of Bishops meeting here for an annual session, passed the following "Resolution on Homophiles," as submitted by the Task Force on Homophiles and the Ministry and Committee on Pastoral Development:

 

"WHEREAS, the homophile community in the United States is seeking understanding from our society, and

 

"WHEREAS, strong prejudices and discrimination do in fact operate to deny homophiles certain civil rights, thus working a hardship on persons with this sexual orientation, and

 

"WHEREAS, the Episcopal Church seeks to be sensitive to the needs of these persons; therefore be it

 

"RESOLVED, That the Presiding Bishop ask the Joint Commission on the Church and Human Affairs or such other appropriate commission as may already exist to take up this matter to assure the continuation of the dialogue between the Church and leaders of the organizing forum for homophiles who are active members of the Episcopal Church; and be it further

 

"RESOLVED, That the Task Force be asked to work with the Joint Commission, sharing with it its findings and insight and that the Task Force continue its involvement as a resource to the House of Bishops in this regard."  (Diocesan Press Service)

 

THE PRESIDING BISHOP

 

NYC.  On 3rd September The Most Rev. John Allin met with INTEGRITY president Jim Wickliff and FORUM editor Dr. Louie Crew for over an hour, discussing the needs of Gays both within and outside the Church.  The occasion was cordial and candid.

 

Bishop Allin's response is clear in a letter which he wrote afterwards, noting the subsequent decision by the House (above):  "I do believe it [the resolution] provides us with a necessary step, however, to raise the awareness of the Church....  Be sure that we are continuing to look for ways that we can increase the Church's awareness and consideration of those of you who have found it difficult to be accepted within the local church communities.  I need not tell you that it is not any easy way we walk, but we are committed to seeing what can be done."

 

GENERAL CONVENTION

 

Louisville, KY.  The Office of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, scheduled for 11-23 September 1976, has accepted an INTEGRITY deposit reserving exhibit space at the General Convention.

 

The specific kind of witness INTEGRITY will have will be determined by INTEGRITY officers as advised by the second convention of INTEGRITY, anticipated in early summer.  The consensus now seems to favor a low profile with a very positive and educative emphasis.

 

Members are urged to communicate their views through the national office.  Contributions towards the $350 space rental would make strong investments in our work.

 

METHODISTS

 

Kansas City.  Meeting at St. James Gregory UMC, on 7-9 November, the United Methodists Gay Christians hope to "solidify the UMGC's strategy and legislation for the next general Conference of the United Methodist Church."  The meeting in Kansas City will be closed to the press.

 

UMGC began the last weekend in July, in Chicago, when sixteen United Methodist Gay Christians and their supporters met ad hoc to form the national organization.  It has since won the support of all regional Gay caucuses within the denomination.

 

For details of the Missouri conference, write GAY CHRISTIAN CAUCUS/MIDWEST, P.O. Box 703, KC, MO 64141.

 

For details about the organization and its newsletter, write The Rev. C. A. Lamont, UMGC, Box 520521, Miami, FL 33152.

 

PRESBYTERIANS

 

Chicago.  Presbyterians here have given unexpected support to the Rev. David B. Sindt, national coordinator of Presbyterian Gay Caucus.

 

Rejecting the recommendation of its Committee on Ministerial Relations, the Chicago presbytery granted permission to Mr. Sindt to labor within its bounds, even as the Presbytery of the Twin Cities (Minnesota) had granted him permission to labor outside its bounds in which he is a member.

 

Mr. Sindt is presently the only publicly acknowledged Gay United Presbyterian minister in the country.  This dual positive action was necessary for his continuation in the ministry with the Presbyterian Gay Caucus.

 

MICHIGAN:  HOMOPHOBIA WINS

 

Detroit.  24 October.  Both orders of the Diocese of Michigan voting here today dealt the death blow to proGay resolutions, after five years of deliberation and one year of trial "acceptance" under decision of the Executive Council.  (See FORUM, Vol. 1, nos. 1&10)

 

                   NO        Yes

 

Clergy             101       98

Laity              198       147

                   299       245

 

The vote followed much harsh nay-saying and acrimony.

 

Several nay-sayers said privately that they were most bothered by their fear that Gay priests would be ordained and by their objection to allowing Gays to meet on Church property.

 

The resolution was in four parts, calling for creating "an atmosphere of openness and understanding about human sexuality," for making "all ministries, professions and occupations ... open to otherwise qualified people, whatever their sexual orientation," for making "all aspects of the Church's life ... available to all persons regardless of their sexuality," and for the Church "to speak publicly for repeal of all laws which make criminal offenses of private, voluntary sex acts between mature adults."

 

Meeting in Rackam Memorial Auditorium and at the Cathedral, the assembly was very emotionally charged.  Senior clergyman The Rev. Gordon Jones (St. Andrew's Ann Arbor), sensing the tension, spoke first:  "In all my 26 years as an ordained minister I have never come to a more crucial vote.  We have already debated the matter at length.  I move the previous question, with five minutes of silence for each of us to approach our Maker for guidance on this vote."

 

This incandescence was lost after the five minutes.  By the time that Bishop Coleman McGehee spoke, the room was filled with homophobic poison.  Courageously he argued for the resolution, even noting that he had been guided in his decision by Gay priests within his own diocese.  (FORUM plans to carry the full text of Bishop McGehee's address in our next issue.)  His appeal was to no avail.

 

The surprise for many was the nay vote from the clergy, who had been expected to support by a large margin.

 

With the Bishop's admission of Gay clergy already employed in the Diocese, many now fear a retaliatory witch-hunt.

 

GAY PRAYER BOOK

 

Chicago.  Gay Christians in all denominations are being called upon to contribute material for inclusion in a proposed book of prayers for the use of Gay Christians and our friends.

 

The book, which is sponsored by INTEGRITY, will include liturgies, poems, readings, as well as private prayers, collects, and litanies.

 

There is already much of this material in print, which will be edited for inclusion in the anthology, but new material is encouraged for first publication.

 

Contributions and suggestions should be sent to the Rev. Grant M. Gallup, 1619 W. Warren Blvd., Chicago 60612.  Fr. Gallup is a member of INTEGRITY and of the Bishop's Advisory Commission on Liturgical Affairs for the Diocese of Chicago.

 

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"Those who profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground.  They want rain without thunder and lightning, they want the ocean without the awful road of its many waters."   Frederick Douglass

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THE PURLOINED ATTACK

 

Delafield, WI.  The Rev. Glenn Colyer Smith, rector of St. John Chrysostom's Church here, on 1st September sent to an undisclosed number of persons printed attacks on INTEGRITY, running to four pages, according to many who received the mailing and shared it with us.

 

Fr. Smith's style is the use of lurid headlines, such as "A Word Against It!  The Homosexual Issue in the Church," "it [INTEGRITY] is NOT recognized ... nor responsible," "Apostles of Deceit, or Ministers of Christ?" ....

 

Included in the collection was an irrelevant account of a Gay morals case from an unidentified provincial tabloid, making the obvious suggestions that INTEGRITY is up to the same behavior.

 

The Rt. Rev. Bennett Sims, Bishop of Atlanta, has complained to Mr. Smith about Smith's use of "my name and letterhead included in your very disagreeable literature disavowing the homosexuals and the Gay movement....  I regard it as profoundly unethical and distasteful that you should have used my personal letter to you without my permission ... and even more do I protest your abridgment of my letter so as to distort its meaning."

 

The part of Bishop Sims's letter that Mr. Smith quoted said:  "The emergence of the 'Gay Episcopal Forum' has troubled me greatly.  By accident of employment in a college in northern Georgia, this movement is headquartered in the Diocese of Atlanta.  It has no official connection with the Church, nor any sanction by the Diocese."

 

Bishop Sims explained that his letter had also contained a longer paragraph advocating "a spirit of compassion, patience and understanding of this group of people among us.  These are Christ's own, just as much as we.  I know that I am only beginning to understand their predicament and to develop an adequate theology that surmounts the plain difficulties of certain parts of Scripture."

 

Bishop Sims's letter to Fr. Smith came as a surprise to INTEGRITY founder Dr. Louie Crew, who had in June received word from Bishop Sims:  "I know that my work here is to grow in depth and breadth of embrace."  Dr. Crew has journeyed to Atlanta on several occasions to speak with his bishop and with his bishop's staff.  Relations there remain cordial, candid, often in honest disagreement, and, according to Dr. Crew, "above all, confidential.  I regret that a priest of my Lord would try to come between a sheep and his shepherd."

 

Fr. Smith has refused to answer any queries from INTEGRITY's national office.  He stole copyrighted material, in the form of Jo Box's poem "Overbreeding," again failing to note that the poem had been abridged severely so as to hide the clues to its irony borrowed from The Rev. Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal."  Poet Ms. Box and her lover work in a factory in the rural South to support several children whom they have adopted from unloving nonGay parents.

 

INTEGRITY first reported Fr. Smith's marshalling of homophobic forces back in April (Vol. 1, no. 6, p. 2).

 

OOPS!  OUR ERROR

 

Austin, Tx.  THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE here was wrongly attacked in our last issue (September-October, page 5), when we noted that "so far Mrs. Faber has refused to print our tame response to her attack," which had earlier appeared in her publication (June).  "The Dragon Lady," as Mrs. Faber likes to be called, did indeed print our letter in her September issue; and we continue to respect her for her fairness thereby even while we all maintain our strong disagreements.  It would be a welcome change if some who like to think themselves more liberal towards us would similarly release the printed space to give any kind of attention to the needs of the more than 20 million Gays in this country for whom Christ died.

 

Meanwhile, we hope to learn more patience as we continue to discover the realities of publishing delays ourselves.

 

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                    HOMOPHOBIA HARMS PEOPLE

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

HOMOPHOBIC APOSTASY

 

Kansas City, MO.  "The Church has a permissive attitude towards homosexuality."  The Rev. M. Joseph Hirsch, former vicar of the Church of the Redeemer here, has cited this as one of his four reasons for leaving the Episcopal Church, taking with him a number of communicants, variously reported as 25 to 50 in all.  Abortion, women priests, and a wave of doctrinal heresy are the other three.

 

So far Fr. Hirsch has not responded to a request from FORUM asking for the names of those who are permissive so that our own readership can discover our long lost supporters within the Church.

 

TRUSTEES

 

Ft. Valley.  At our national office we have been advised by co-presidents Jim Wickliff and Ellen Barrett that our officers have duly appointed two new trustees to serve our organization:  Ms. Julie Peterson of Chicago and the Rev. Richard Younge of San Francisco.  These two will join Mr. Ernest Clay and his spouse Dr. Louie Crew, co-founders and the original trustees.

 

More details about Ms. Peterson and Fr. Younge will appear in a later issue.  We welcome them and urge that all members keep them in our prayers.

 

INTEGRITY AT GAU

 

NYC.  At Columbia University, 27-29 November, INTEGRITY president Jim Wickliff and FORUM editor Dr. Louie Crew will be among of the speakers at the Third Annual Meeting of the Gay Academic Union.

 

INTEGRITY/National will maintain an exhibition table at the conference, and INTEGRITY/NYC is expected to provide a Eucharist for interested participants some time during the event.

 

Mr. Wickliff will speak at a panel on emerging Gay caucuses in religious bodies; Dr. Crew will speak about job discrimination in English departments, as revealed by a national survey of English Department chairpersons which Dr. Crew has recently completed.

 

Persons interested in attending this important conference should write:  Gay Academic Union, Box 480, Lenox Hill Station, NYC 10021.  Preconference registration is only $10.

 

DR. RAMSEY

 

Chicago.  Dr. Arthur M. Ramsey, recently retired as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, was asked by an INTEGRITY member here recently about his views on the ordination of avowed homosexuals.  Dr. Ramsey said it was his practice as a bishop to make a distinction between "people of a particular temperament and people who engage in particular practices."  In determining eligibility for ordination, he explained, "matters of temperament are not to be considered, but acts are."

 

Dr. Ramsey has long been known for his outspoken support for homosexual law reform in England, and he was one of the original supporters of the Albany Trust, a group most active in that legal reform.

 

BOOKS

 

NYC.  Male and Female, a mosaic collection of essays on human sexuality, will be published here next spring by Seabury Press.  To be a Priest, a similar mosaic from the same press, will be published next month.

 

The Rev. Dr. Urban T. Holmes has informed INTEGRITY that Male and Female contains four articles explicitly about homosexuality, out of a "total of something over twenty."  Dr. Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse and Dr. Holmes co-edited the volume.

 

Dr. Holmes explained, "I'm certain that no one is going to be happy with what every essayist says.  I rather imagine you will find some of the essays speaking to your own needs, while you will find others quite repugnant."  Dr. Holmes is Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee.

 

Bishop Allin stressed to INTEGRITY leaders last month that he hopes the volumes will stimulate discussion and widespread understanding of fundamentals.

 

$  $

 

Chicago.  INTEGRITY president Jim Wickliff (429 Surf, Chicago 60657) has now made arrangements with a priest's fund so that contributions can be made through the same as tax-deductible gifts to INTEGRITY.  Some members have already done so.  Is it not time for you to inquire?  Our own status with IRS is still being processed.

 

OBISPO EPISCOPAL APOYA GAYS

Por Enrique I. Velez

 

El obispo Episcopal de Puerto Rico, Francisco Reus Froylan, ha apoyado "el derecho (de todo individuo) a ser diferente ... y la correspondiente obligacion de respetar ese derecho."

 

En un seminario sobre "Los Derechos de los Homosexuales," celebrado en la Escuela de Derecho de la Universidad de Puerto Rico en agosto, Reus Froylan opino que el machismo "esta reduciendo la personalidad del hombre a uno sola dimension" y abogo por la eliminacion de las leyes anti-homosexuales de Puerto Rico.

 

Reus Froylan fue uno de cinco panelistas en el seminario de tres horas auspiciado por la Refvista Juridica de la UPR.  Los otros panelistas, que tambien apoyaron la eliminacion de las leyes anti-gay, a los aplauso de publico, lo fueron el licendiado Ramon Cancel Negron, asesor de la comision de lo juridico penal de la Camara de Representantes; el psiquiatra Dr. Ramon Fernandez Marina; el abogado constitucionalista Santos P. Amadeo y el presidente de la Comunidad de Orgullo Gay, Rafael Cruet.

 

En su exposicion, Reus critico la posicion oficial de las iglesias occidentales hacie la homosexualidad y describio la sociedad puertorriquena como un "sociedad machista ... hypersexualizada."

 

El deponente mas controversial lo fue el Dr. Fernandez Marina, quien se encerro en una apreciacion moral de la cual no pudo deshacerse a traves del seminario y por lo cual fue duramente criticado por los asisterizes que sobrepassaban las 300 personas, en su mayoria estudiantes de leyes.

 

Fernandez Marina, aunque defendio la eliminacion de las leyes anti-gay, comparo la homosexualidid a la paralisis infantil, calificandola como "una falla en el sesardilo de loas funciones biologicas" que no permite a la gente gay el "uso adecuado de susgenitales."

 

Uno de los miembros del publico le pregunto en que basaba su declaracion sobre cual es la causa de la homosexualidad, senalandole al deponente que un estudio de libros que tratan el tema demuestra que se citan por lo menos 67 causas para pa homosexualidad.  Fernandex Marina aludio a "muchos psiqualatras."

 

Su argumento sobre el "uso adecuado de los genitales" -- una apreciacion moral -- tambien fue fustigada, preguntandosele si no era posible que el tener relaciones homosexuales fuero, en fex de una falla, una habilidad de salirse de los patrones mayoritarios de conducta.

 

From Pa'fuera! Vol. 2, no. 5

(San Juan, Puerto Rico)

 

ATTN. POETS

 

A special poetry issue of FORUM will be published next spring, edited by poet and professor John J. Soldo, of Columbia University.  Poets are urged now to begin submitting manuscripts for consideration.

 

Preference will be given to works that celebrate the Gay Christian experience, but a work does not have to be explicitly Gay or explicitly Christian to be considered.

 

Professor Soldo specifically urges submission of poems dealing with the manhood of Jesus and of poems which advocate the Second Coming.

 

Poems which respond to the Church's oppression are also welcome.

 

Sentimentality should be avoided.

 

Send all manuscripts with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope to John Soldo, 7 East 81st, NYC 10028.  Materials arriving before the first of the year have the best chance.  The deadline is 31st January.

 

ATTN. COUNSEL -ORS, -EES

 

A special focus on counseling will be published in FORUM next spring, edited by our vice co-president, Dan Fee.

 

Counselors and counselees alike are urged to submit materials for consideration therein. 

 

The issue will be eclectic as to theory.  Most welcome are shorter items (preferably under 700 words) that highlight problems and/or solutions of experiences either specifically Gay or specifically Christian, or both.

 

Professional jargon should be held to a bare minimum, to appeal to an intelligent, general audience.

 

Send all manuscripts with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope to Dan Fee, 64 Fisher Avenue, Roxbury, MA 02120.  Materials arriving before 1st February have the best chance.  The deadline is 1st March.

 

PAYMENT FOR ALL INTEGRITY MATERIALS WILL BE IN COPIES.

 

Sonnet 122

 

Jesus and John, John and Jesus,

Man in his thirties, youth in late teens,

Sandal poet, sewing metaphors

To the wind, with no time to settle or write,

Jesus -- who knew how others would pen

Your wisdom wit in making heaven

Thru words that flash and flesh delight --

And you, heart-spread, humble, John-boy,

With sight for your man, eagle or one's dreams,

Evangelist who kept his trust,

Jesus and John    Lovers most fond,

Beloved disciple    of God's muscle,

Blossoms in the duet of Galilee,

Bloom within my love and me.

 

                        --John J. Soldo

 

"Can I have Some Valium, Herr Doktor?"

 

Buddha squats upon your desk in navel-eyed omniscience.

 

LOOK AT ME!!!

 

Stop making squiggles on my chart,

Stop harassing your ring.

 

LISTEN TO ME!!!

 

If I respect the ink blots,

If I count to ten,

If I play a mandolin,

Can I have some, then?

 

Your quiet philodendron is lunging for the window.

 

LOOK AT ME!!!

 

Stop coughing so discreetly,

Stop snaking toward the time.

 

LISTEN TO ME!!!

 

I hated your costly silence

Bankrupting my breath,

The feline way you sniff

My canine scattered death.

 

The boats in your Monet are headed for the rocks. 

 

LOOK!!!  LISTEN!!!  LISTEN!!!  LOOK!!!

 

Balance or

          imbalance? -

Just a different point of view,

All I want, Herr Doktor,

Is Valium.  (screw you....)

 

                   --Don Bramkamp

 

VIRTUE'S CARDGAME

 

     Lord if I understand yr saints

     Those who marry sin

          only

     Slightly less than those who don't,

          th

     Difference being th first

          have tipped their

     Hats,

          th

     Second,

          their

     Hands

 

          dear

     God it's not th sex

          that

     Annoys you/but th self-righteousness

 

Tipping my hand

Lord I kiss Yr hand

     Yr

Wrist & fingers

     as

Well as Yr Ring

 

     let

Him who's without fault

     get his

Rocks off first

 

                   --Jim Eggeling

 

editorial

NOW!  (L.C.)

 

NOW is always the Day of Salvation.  Freedom is always NOW, never yesterday nor less still tomorrow.

 

This Scriptural insight has very terrifying consequences for those of us who labor for change in the world.  It would be altogether too tempting to think that our relief must be delayed, that the Promises Land is ever up to forty years away.  In so thinking we make inaccessible to ourselves the deep mystery of the Gospel, vis., that God loves us right now.  It is only in our present that eternity can ever be manifest.  Heaven is not "out there," but right here; not so much a place as a process.  We labor not that others might enter into a land we cannot visit, but because we are already there, or at least seeing it through the glass darkly.

 

It is simply not within the power of diocesan commissions, the House of Bishops, any deanery, or any priest, however righteous, to bestow or to deny the Kingdom of God.  We must labor to bring this good news first to ourselves or we will not be knowledgeable about what it is that we do ask of commissions, bishops, deaneries, priests, and all alike, vis., their recognition after-the-fact.  Our Salvation is in the loving hands of God! and it is accomplished right now!

 

It very much behooves us then to live with the gift of this consciousness, not as poor relations sensitive to the whimsical slights of the hetero majority, but as joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

 

It is also important to realize that we Gay folks have no monopoly on this salvation.  God loves nonGays too, with no more concern for their genital orientation than for ours.

 

Reflecting and redeemed nonGay persons do not have to wait through 200 more years of social change to come to this realization either.  Loving Christians do not have to move to a new place in geography to have the freedom to treat Gays in Christian ways.

 

By his life more than by any of his very eloquent words, Carlisle Ramcharan, my very holy nonGay priest during my last months before coming-out, taught me most of what I know about real spirituality.  I was not surprised when talking with him recently he said, "Louie, I am following INTEGRITY with great interest.  I believe that I know your answer before I ask, but I ask anyway.  Would you be willing for me to explain as best I can your work to my congregation here at St. Paul's in Orangeburg?  You worshipped with them for many months, and all of them have seen the material in The Episcopalian.  I would like for them to know so that they may have an opportunity to try to understand......"  Father Ramcharan did not need to remind me:  in St. Paul's are many very loving Christian people.  My husband and I have found many more such loving persons right here in tiny, rural Fort Valley.  No place has a monopoly on goodness, nor does any sexual orientation.

 

One of the attributes that I always most appreciate about Fr. Ramcharan in his spiritual dealings with me as a Gay person is the very genuine way that he never patronizes, me, at least never for my Gayness.  I have always gotten from him that very rare and very Christian unspoken communication that my need is not a demand from him, but a gift to him, a gift of an opportunity to be generous.  Most poignantly, most tactilely his joy in being Christian came home to me when, after being in Fort Valley as an openly Gay professor for several months I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Ramcharan speak to our faculty and students, whom he had served many years ago as an Episcopal chaplain.  I came into the room excited by the opportunity and prepared to sit at the back.  He left the respectable nonGay officials and came over with obvious concern for having the opportunity to see me again and embraced me.  I tried to whisper, "But Father, you should not run this kind of risk....." but the love in his eyes and the strength in his arms told me more than his silence I was very safely in the embrace of a power of more than human making.  Clearly he had a different understanding of risk, and preferred the Kingdom of God.

 

There is not one Gay hormone in Fr. Ramcharan's body, or is there even the germ of homophobia.  Surely only those comfortable and mature in their own sexuality can welcome and affirm the sexuality of others.  Surely only those confident and deep in their own spirituality can welcome and affirm the spirituality of others.

 

Married and loved outside my own race, I have had the special blessing to share in loving outsiders' perspectives on us white folks.  To folks who have mopped our floors, cleaned our bathrooms, built our buildings, raised our children, nursed us through our darkest hours, we have often given the least edited versions of ourselves.  Our maids and menservants can often add the breath to the icon, sometimes sourly and sometimes sweetly.

 

Being a Gay Christian stalking our Church, speaking to scores of bishops, priests, and laypersons, is very much like that too.  We smell the breaths of the nonGay icons, sometimes sour and sometimes sweet.  May the Lord raise up many more like Carlisle Ramcharan.

 

FORUM

 

There seemed to be a great desire for spiritual support among those at the Convention and the requests for prayers moved me.  I suggest that a column of the Newsletter be set aside for an Intercession List.  Headings could include such things as:  Unemployed, Opposed Clergy, Imprisoned, Lonely, etc.  Various intentions from control of VD to reform of sodomy laws to specific efforts of reform could also be listed.  In order to keep the list from becoming inordinately long, I would suggest that names and intentions not be carried over from month to month unless that is requested in new correspondence.

 

              --David

 

[This seemed to us such a good idea that we have incorporated it elsewhere on this page.  Persons wishing INTEGRITY prayers are invited to give their Christian name and/or pseudonym, together with the heading desired.  Eds.]

 

Michigan is indeed going to be an important key in the whole issue.  Unfortunately, I don't see much chance of a favorable outcome to the debate which will doubtless occur at the diocesan convention.  The diocese has a long Anglican tradition of non-commitment and politically expedient rather than socially ideal actions.  We must pray for better results this time.

 

              --Gay

 

It is very interesting to see how fast INTEGRITY has grown.  You're on the right track.  Keep up the good work.

 

              --Douglas C. Stange, Ph.D.

 

The September-October issue is well received.  The article on page 8, by Fr. James Henry has much to say, and is well said.

 

Perhaps the Editor could have made a note for fuller explanation.

 

I knew a fellow some years ago, who "had no testicles" but that was no cause for commiseration.  He was fully male, with all the pride and joy of his maleness.  He could and did function freely, with ample erection and ejaculation, yet he "had no testicles."

 

That is an unusual but not an unknown phenomenon.  His condition is what is known as undescended testicles.  They are there but not in the scrotum, as is usual.

 

              --Don Roberto

 

I am a prisoner and I would appreciate all correspondence.  If you can, would you send me more books on homosexuality?  I can receive them as long as they are from the store and sent directly to me.

 

              --Don Catron #623437

              Box 520, Walla Walla

              WA 99362 (mail no. 544 adm.)

 

Sir, there will be about ten, or up to fifteen inmates that will be reading this issue that you send me.  God bless you and your staff.  I hope to receive mail from some of your other readers.

 

              --R.O. "Tony" Workman

              Georgia State Prison

              M-3-11-1, Box 65198

              Reidsville, GA 30453

 

I read the entire September-October issue without stopping, and when I finished I went out to lunch and took the rest of the day off.  I was quite overcome.

 

              --Ralph

 

I continue to follow your organization with interest, and read INTEGRITY regularly.  I was also sorry to read about the hassle you've been going through over your apartment.  Best wishes to you.

 

              --The Rev. Benjamin Campbell

              Ed., VIRGINIA CHURCHMAN

 

The Chicago convention of INTEGRITY will be the Christopher Street of Gay acceptance within the Episcopal Church.

 

              --Larry

 

Hi.  Greetings to all my Gay sisters and brothers.  I hope I can get all your full support to our struggle here at the Behavior Modification Program, lock-up or mind-control.

 

I was sent here for organizing a Gay Rights Movement and Federal Prisoners Coalition, and for filing legal action against these pigs.

 

Many brothers are in the infamous H unit and even the box car cells, stripped of all but their pride and spirit, and kept locked up for their political beliefs.

 

Assaults, beatings by up to 20 pigs at one time, occur each day, with no medical treatment.

 

Some have been forced on drugs, ruining their minds.

 

Just last month we were cut off from our commissary items, reading material, and locked up 23-1/2 hours daily.  If you oppose the program, you get the more punitive treatment, and possible assaults.

 

Class action suits are being filed to end all mind-control programs in the federal system as a crime themselves, by cruel and unusual punishment.

 

Being Gay and proud has gotten a lot of us in the struggle I speak of, and I still remain strong in the attempt to unify our brothers in all federal prisons.

 

I ask that all brothers and sisters out there write Mr. Norman A. Carlson, Director of U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC 20537, and Edward Levi, U.S. Attorney General, Dept. of Justice, Washington 20534, and Warden Charles Fenton, Warden of U.S. Prison, Marion, IL 62959, and request that all the punitive illegal lock-up be ended, especially the Behavior modification.  Tear down the walls and free the oppressed.

 

          --John Gibbs, #86976-132 (Head of National Gay Prisoners Coalition and member of National Gay Task Force) Box 1000, Marion IL 62959

 

As a subscriber to FORUM and a member of INTEGRITY, I feel that the writer of "Michigan Now" [September-October, p. 1] has overstated his or her case.  The writer states:  "In fact, little passing as genuine study has apparently occurred."  That is incorrect.  True, not every parish and mission in the diocese has had a study group, but many clergy and laity have given many hours of time and study to the Executive Council report.  The writer's statement, as it stands, does them, I feel, a disservice.

 

Next, the writer says, "No major conferences on Gay sexuality have been held in the Diocese."  That is also not true, unless the writer feels a "major" conference must include every clergy and layperson in the Diocese.  I attended a day-long conference sponsored by the Diocese which was representative of the clergy and laity.

 

Finally, I cringed when I read "One of the lone voices crying in the wilderness....."  There are many voices being raised in this diocese.  My colleague here is just about hoarse from appearing before parishes and convocations appeal for a calm, objective approach to the question of sexuality.

 

I want to ask the writer of "Michigan Now" and all who write for the cause of justice and love not to overstate the case.  This movement is one I believe in, and I believe it is gaining power every day.  We help it grow by baptizing what has been done that is good rather than by bemoaning that everyone is not with us.

 

              --Fr. Lewis W. Towler

              Christ Church, Cranbrook

 

Please keep me on your mailing list, and send me any of the materials coming out of INTEGRITY.  I am anxious to remain informed and hopeful that I may find some way to be helpful.

 

              --The Rt. Rev. Robert L. DeWitt

 

I understand that you can help me with correspondence that is understanding and not judgmental.  This I would appreciate.  I am in prison with a life sentence for false charges.

 

              --Thomas Lee Simpson

              P.O. Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959

 

[The following letter is in response to our stated disappointment that Fr. Baker did not mention our national convention:]

It was not a matter of oversight, nor was it in any way judgmental.  Like it or not, my view of editing a diocesan magazine is not primarily the presentation of extra-diocesan or national news, nor yet the support of causes, regardless of how I feel toward them.  And I have never had enough space for what I think should appear.

 

              --The Rev. Paul C. Baker, Editor

              THE ILLINOIS CHURCHMAN

 

I am convinced that fundamentally one judges people by their attitudes toward other life forms.  At least, when the Indians kill deer for food, they dance and pray to the deer mother to forgive them for taking one of her children.  I know that flesh-eating is deeply ingrained in our society and many people have simply been thoughtless about it.  But being thoughtless often permits nameless atrocities.  Lots of Germans were thoughtless about the persecution of Jews because they weren't Jews.

 

I relate prejudice and bad behavior, bigotry and lack of empathy, directly to our treatment of "animals."  As long as we believe God put them on earth for our convenience, we will just so long consider other people put on earth for our convenience.  The exploitation of animals is directly related to the exploitation of men.  It is all based on the notion of superiority.  The doctrine that animals don't feel pain, therefore we can do anything to them we want to relates directly to the nation that "lesser" men don't feel pain the way "we" feel it.  A poor person is never sensitive -- only we are.  A minority group person doesn't have feelings, only we have them.  He can eat slop (like animals) only we can't

 

              --Burton Phillips, Taos, NM

 

It is easy to underestimate the number of Gays in the world.  In Krafft-Ebing's time, not so long ago, it was widely believed that masturbation was performed only by a very small group of psychopaths, but now it is realized that practically everyone does it at one time or another.  The old-fashioned division of the human being into "Onanists" and "normals" makes no sense any longer, and I feel that it is rather old-fashioned and nonsensical to keep dividing human beings into categories of "gay" and "straight," as the number of "straights" who are closet gays or bisexuals is far greater than even you realize.  After all, there are certain societies -- e.g., Siwa, New Guinea, etc. -- where bisexuality is 100% universal among males, and how could this situation exist unless homosexuality is biologically and psychologically inherent to the same degree that masturbation may be said to be inherent in everyone?  It is still widely thought that gayness is limited to a standard 10% of the population.  I am sometimes on the verge of firmly believing that homosexuality and masturbation are more deeply rooted in human make-up than so-called "natural" sexuality; indeed, I am tempted to believe that it is homosexuality which is inherent, and heterosexuality which is an acquired impulse.  I mean, sexual satisfaction is an end in itself, i.e., for pleasure alone, and is thus inherent; but the desire to have children must be acquired by social conditioning.  Thus, to speak of "heterosexuals" may be as absurd as speaking of "non-masturbators."  If you can find a person who has actually never felt a gay impulse, please capture it and subject it to a lie-detector test.

 

              --Stephen W. Foster, Coral Gables

 

I especially appreciated the articles [September-October] on coming-out and going-public.  I think yours is an important distinction to make, from some of the things I've read in ADVOCATE and other publications.  There is the implication elsewhere that unless one goes public s/he is really not in the movement and is not helping his/her Gay sisters and brothers.  I don't think this is the case.  There are many gifts and talents, but the same spirit.

 

Keep up the good work.  We love you.

 

              --Tom

 

I remember many times in my priesthood wishing almost sophomorically that we could retain the fervor of the early church, but being established it was such a damned hard thing to do ....... hell, it wasn't hard at all.  All we had to do was to get kicked out and find that the Gay Christian subculture IS the early Church.  And it is incredible!

 

At our local chapter two weeks ago a young man arrived at 8:00, downcast eyes, timid face, and said that he had heard about us through one of the underground newspapers.  In the course of the evening he told us about his life and his struggles with his Gayness, his religion, his attempts at trying like hell to be straight, and finally his decision to separate his Gayness from his religion.  At 2:00 the next morning when we split he was in a different place, having had his Gayness and his belief in God integrated into one personality.  He eyes weren't shifty anymore.  He had found a place.

 

              --Fr. Ron Wesner, Ambler, PA

 

The question has been asked, how does the Committee of Friends [Quakers] on Bisexuality, as the only bi religious caucus, see itself relating to the Gay caucuses?  We are eager to exchange information with you, and believe that we can all benefit from this.  While it is true that some of your problems don't appear in the same form within Friends, it seems clear to me that we are all dealing with different aspects, different faces of the same complex of problems.

 

As a group concerned with bisexuality, we feel called upon to remind Gay groups of the widespread discrimination which bisexuals feel flowing from exclusive homosexuals, both socially and ideologically, and call upon the Gay caucuses in particular to examine this touchy issue in the Light of Christ.

 

              --Bob Martin, Clerk, CFB

              723 Hastings, Union Theological Sem.

              NYC 10027

 

In reply to your inquiry, The Clergy Deployment System does provide a way to identify those clergy who have had experience in a "Ministry to Homosexuals."

 

It does not provide a way to identify those who are homosexual.

 

              --The Rev. Roddey Reid, Exec. Dir.

              Clergy Deployment Office

 

INTEGRITY INTERCESSIONS

 

Your prayers are urged this month for the following:

 

Our enemies, including Constance, Saunders, Cecil, John

The sick, including Larry, with cancer; Carlisle

In therapy, Patricia, Art, Clarke, Flo

Decloseting, Bob

Isolated, Octavio, Dick, Jimmy, Robbie, Louie, Ernie

Newlyweds, Rick & Gene, Kenneth and Timothy

Frightened, Barbara

Unemployed, Fr. Ron and Fr. John, Howard

Gay clergy, Bill, Tom; all Gay priests in Michigan

Deceased (R.I.P.), Geoffrey, Howard, Edward II (Martyr)

With gratitude, Bishops Montgomery and Primo and Dean Carroll, in Chicago, for giving us access to the Cathedral; the Rodehavers and Dr. Simcox for their sensitive reporting; Norman Pittenger, Bp. McGehee

Prisoners, Johnny, Tony, Don, Thomas Lee, Van

Events, our new chapters and their meetings; our many visits to laypersons, clergy, and bishops on behalf of Gay people; the several trials in process for Gay military personnel; the several diocesan groups meeting to discuss human sexuality.

 

WRITER QUITS PANEL

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark.  Romanian-born author and playwright Eugene Ionesco angrily quit a panel examining conditions in the Soviet Union after one of the witnesses referred to homosexuals as criminals.  Ionesco posed a question about persecution of homosexuals during testimony Saturday by a Soviet exile.  When the witness said he was not dealing with the problems of "criminals," Ionesco repeated his question but was overruled by Chairman Ib Thyregod.  Ionesco then left the hearing.

 

ONE COMPLEX REACTION

 

I want to thank you for your personal note with the assortment of issues I ordered.  I have read them all and I feel they are most worthy of a response, although I had not intended to respond when I ordered them.

 

I was most impressed with your group's ministry of "self-acceptance," or shall we say our growth in our entire identity in an atmosphere of acceptance, knowing and experience this acceptance of your Lord Jesus Christ, both towards yourselves and toward acceptance of the hierarchy of the Church.  Keep with this and the Kingdom of God will be manifest all the more.  However, I did not find all of your contributors so positive in approach.  I should think that GUILT would be the antithesis of self-acceptance, and yet I saw an element of projected built by some of your writers upon the Church leaders for their negative attitude toward your group or more largely, toward your goals.  This, if it be so, is the wrong means to the right end.  Please allow me to elucidate.

 

Guilt we say hinders self-acceptance.  Right!  O.K., then, if we want someone to accept us, as we are seeking to accept ourselves, how can projected guilt toward the ignorant persons help toward this end?  We, by our wrong witness, disarm the spirit we are seeking to fight for and not against us.

 

It is like the story about the father who said to the judge when he sentenced his son to death for murder:  "I can't understand it.  I whipped him hard for everything he did wrong."

 

Along another vein.  I have or seek to practice a ministry of self-acceptance to everyone.  I don't think I have to make a special thing out of it for Gays.  "There is neither slave nor free, etc." in communicating the Christian Gospel.

 

Likewise, don't let the secular Gay Liberation movement deceive you (I'm not saying it has or does) that the battle is between the heterosexual versus the homosexual, as it seemed to in the poem "overbreeding" (which I did feel was in very poor taste and had not one redeeming moral or Christian merit).  Life is more sacred than being reduced to terms such as "breeding" nor are the answers to misuse of life so simplistic as sex role name changing.  I know of a diocese that calls all their missions "parishes" so that the missions won't feel "2nd class"; that's nonsense methodology.  The answer is in a renewal of the sense of mission; then there will be no shame.  Just changing the name from mission to parish won't overcome the problems of a small mission, which probably are because of the Bishop's pastoral and programmatic neglect to begin with!

 

The true battle is within the heart of each person, whether s/he be hetero or homo, all of whom are sacred.

 

I may be wrong, but from experience I have found that the majority of homophobics are not heterosexuals "out to get" homosexuals, but are rather homosexuals themselves who have little self-acceptance and self-esteem.  It was true for me for a time, but I feel healthier about myself, hence my greater acceptance of others.

 

An emotionally mature self-accepting heterosexual would not be threatened or defensive.  Here again I stress that self-acceptance is the key to bringing the Kingdom of God to earth, and it is not a sexual issue per se, though ministry to a person's sexual orientation is needed here as it is to his whole personality.

 

I am not criticizing your specific emphasis because "specialists" are needed in every field of human concern.  All I am saying is that I seek to minister to total parish communities, and I do not feel called to limit my ministry to one segment; therefore I ask your patience and understanding if I remain as some would term "closeted."  Actually I feel quite the opposite and I believe many homosexuals needlessly limit themselves.  Why leave the "closet" if one can't enjoy all the other rooms in the house?  I see "leaving the closet" as more a negative rejecting of restriction and not always an automatic affirmation of life's and God's many gifts.

 

A person may be homosexual, yes.  And this is not intrinsically sinful, but a person, homo or hetero, is many other things too, and it is a sin not to seek to grow to the fullest in these other areas too!

 

That is why I remind you not to be limited to a hetero vs. homo issue as the root of the problem.  It's not that ultimately.  It is man's growth in his fullest potential whatever.  It is allowing freedom for each, whoever, to grow likewise.

 

However, I do laud and praise your work to witness to the Church leaders that a homosexual can be a competent Priest and the homosexual laymen deserve equal pastoral care.  You will be in my prayers specifically for this always.

 

But at the same time I feel no call to make my sexual orientation an issue in my ministry.  I am a Priest first.  If you can encourage Church leaders to examine clergy on that criteria and let their sexual orientation alone, then growth and self-acceptance has been accomplished.  On the other hand, I do understand a bishop's anxiety if the central issue surrounding the qualification of a Priest is his professed sexuality.

 

To illustrate, I'd be saying I'd want a job because I am a Black Priest rather than saying I am a Priest who happens to be black.  The color of skin should not affect the ministry, and if it does there is something there other than the Gospel.

 

Would you want to be hired by a University because you are homosexual and because the University wants a homosexual on the staff just so they can say so?  Or would you want to be hired because of your competence in English, your skill in teaching, and your thoroughness in research?

 

I would be insulted at the former, because I see myself as a far larger person and would not want to be limited in relationships or duties according to sexual orientation.  There are other things about my identity and personality equally if not more important and I would not want to be hung up on other people's hang-ups, pro or con.

 

But all in all, Praise the Lord if you can continue to help people overcome their hang-ups without creating some for yourself in the process.

 

Another caution:  Toy to avoid the divisiveness that is in the Charismatic Movement over the issue of speaking in tongues.  Some feel that if you don't speak in tongues you don't have as much Holy Spirit as they do.  It's the same with people's sexuality.  Be continuing to understand each person's identity.  Not all need or ought to profess their Gayness, and for those who don't, it doesn't mean that they are any less honest about it.  They may have a more effective witness by being discreet, yet accomplishing the same goals.

 

I can recall an effective ministry I had to a married couple, both of whom were discreetly homosexual or bisexual.  Through growth in discreet self-awareness and self-acceptance they became model parents to their three children and were one of the happiest families with three beautiful, loving, self-actualizing children I have ever known.  Yet it would have been disastrous to the beauty of this family unit and to the children if they divorced over this issue.  There are other things in life they could give to each other and to their children that a non-self-accepting parent couldn't have the resources within to give.

 

I want to thank you for reading this.  It may have been a bit like the banal "Tea and Sympathy," but use it as you would.  "I only ask that when you do talk about this, and you will talk about this; be kind."

 

If you do type this or print it, please don't put [sic] anywhere.  That is not kind.

 

                   --Anonymous

 

WELL ALMOST EVERYONE, ALMOST EVERYWHERE

SHEEP SEARCHING FOR A SHEPHERD

 

[Editor's note:  The exchange below has been shared with us by Robert Ragland, M.D., psychiatrist, in the hopes that his witness in decloseting may be of some help to others.  The people here are real people in real struggle.  All of them need your prayers and support.  Let us not be deceived:  it is not easy for us to confront our own Gayness, and it is certainly no easier for our Church to confront us as Gay Christians.  While we are pleased elsewhere in this issue to share accounts of happier hours, we would not be faithful to our experience if we were to deny the pain.  The happy note is that all persons speaking herein are still very much alive with still very much space to be won for growth.]

 

It all began with a news item in The Living Church:

 

Calling homosexuality a "condition which is given, not chosen," the Bishop of New York announced his support of the New York City Council bill that would ban discrimination against homosexuality in housing, employment, and public accommodations.  (June 2, 1974, p. 5)

 

Dr. Ragland, a closet psychiatrist in Jacksonville, FL, read the news and wrote to Bishop Paul Moore in NY, sharing his gratitude and telling him that Ragland is Gay.  The Bishop replied:  (June 18, 1974)

 

I can't tell you how deeply I appreciated the trust you showed in me, in writing me the letter you did.  I have had several other notes and rejoice that such a simple act has made so many people happy.  As we go down the road, let me know if there is anything I can do to be helpful.  In the meantime, you will be in my prayers.  --Paul Moore

 

Encouraged by this reply, Dr. Ragland then wrote to his own bishop, The Rt. Rev. Frank S. Cerveny, Bishop of Florida:

 

Dear Frank, In the interval between your election and consecration as Bishop, I saw you on Wednesday, March 27 and discussed with you the subject of homosexuality and asked your help.  You explained the relative poverty of the Cathedral of which you were then Dean, which obviated help of a financial nature but lack of time prevented us discussing other means of help available to you.  Perhaps there were other reasons for that omission.

 

Talking with you was a good experience and I felt a lot of warmth and caring on your part for people in general; I felt good being there with you.  But you declined to assign to anyone else the responsibility of researching the matter of homosexuality, saying you would have to do that yourself.  You said you would read the material I proffered but you did not know when.  You seemed to think or feel that there was something very definitely wrong and probably sinful about homosexuality but affirmed that you and God loved Gay people nonetheless.

 

I came away with mixed feelings but the aftertaste which persisted was and is bitter.  Getting you to take any action seems well nigh hopeless because of your extremely busy schedule in combination with the low priority to which you assign this matter.  And you are so busy that I realized that I could not even hope to clarify your meanings or correct any I had misunderstood if there were any such.  You seemed to be stuck in a position which I found untenable and from which I extricated myself late and with some difficulty.  Your acceptance into the Church of any gay person in spite of his/her homosexuality is an acceptance which I firmly believe will be rejected by any gay person who has not been brainwashed or otherwise forced into submission by the dictates of the dominant white, married, male, heterosexual society.

 

Frank, I know you are a human being as I am with human limitations, but I do not think you have stretched yourself to the limit and I ask just that.  I ask for appropriate action now and following your succession when Bishop West retires, on behalf of the many priests, vestrymen, women of the Church, and others in the Church who are homosexually inclined.  You have it within your power to set the tone of the Diocese as that this will be a good place for gay people to live, love, and work in spite of the ultra-conservative nature of the larger community.  I commend to you Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., and his example in New York, and Norman Pittenger's writings (Making Sexuality Human), the Wolfenden Report, Etc.

 

Frank, I ask you to return from your journey to Jerusalem or Jericho to give succor to that certain man lying by the side of the road, stripped of raiment, wounded and half dead, for he is your neighbor.  Be a neighbor to your priests, your parishioners, to all persons, and to me.  For I too am homosexually inclined as you may have guessed.  I am gay.  Do not pour salt into my wounds or give me vinegar to drink and count yourself a neighbor.

 

If you be not for us then you must be against us.  And if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.  Be for us and be a part of the solution.

 

It is a sad commentary that we seem to be unable to rise above our ordinary selves and respond to human need until violence demands it.  By so doing we encourage further violence.  By responding to reasonable requests we encourage reasonableness and discourage violence.  Jesus Christ was a revolutionary, a radical, who came not to emphasize the Law but to show the transcendence of Love.  He responded to the needs of the times.  He threw out the money-changers and He was critical of the Pharisees.  He fraternized with the poor and downtrodden.  He did not shrink from those things with the excuse that it would be detrimental to the Church.  Would God that He would come and set His Church in order now!  But you can begin to do it for Him.  And it is your duty.  Do not insist that "first we must convince you that our struggle is valid -- that our existence is valid -- that we are.  No one should ever have to do that" (Great Gay in the Morning).

 

We gay people are not all lying around crying and miserable.  We have made our way in life the best way we could under the circumstances, and we have done well.  But we are not masochists who delight in being kicked in the ass or having a heavy foot on our necks, or being told we have to remain secret.  In these times we are demanding to be treated like human beings which we are.  And we have things to teach the rest of society; listen and learn.  We are not ashamed of ourselves or of what we do.  We do not admit our homosexuality; we affirm it.  We are fighting mad.

 

I am happy to be who I am and cannot and would not change with anyone for anything.  I feel very good about myself and wish more people felt the same way about themselves.  But I am lonely.  I am lonely for a lot of reasons.  The world wasn't made for single people and I am single, nor for gay people and I am gay, nor for people who are different and I am different -- against the war, for legal abortions, for civil rights in a conservative community, radical, long-haired, bearded, etc.  If being lonely goes with it then so be it.  One added item is my coming out late and so being out of the mainstream of gay life, now a threat to the older ones by my activity, too old for the younger ones.  If I come out all the way I may find myself completely isolated, too threatening to be associated with.  It is a price one must pay.  I hope it will not be more than I can bear successfully.  It would help if you stood with me, publicly.

 

Priest or Samaritan?  It is your choice.  (July 10, 1974)

 

Addendum:

 

Today I realize that I am somewhat depressed, this time a bit more than before.  My feelings are certainly realistic.  I have externalized my anger and found myself powerless and impotent to produce any change.  I am virtually alone in my efforts.  And I am personally very alone.  Society, and you are its personal representative that I address, conspired to the end and required that I not realize, accept, and act on my homosexual feelings as a young man.  Now in the last year when I have come to that realization it has been impossible for me to make any kind of meaningful relationship with anyone like myself.  I have not been able to meet anyone and if I did I would be like a drowning man grasping at a would-be rescuer.

 

My anguish does not result from my being homosexually inclined but rather from the reaction of society to homosexuality or its/your failure to react positively so that I am prevented from loving and being loved.  Certainly I share the responsibility.  I have my quirks which cause me to refuse to go to the places countenanced by the rest of the world, the gay bars, the baths, the parks, the public bathrooms.  But I do not expect to find companionship, love, and affection there.  I am not looking primarily for sex and perhaps not at all for sex.  Perhaps that would be better than nothing, however.  I could buy it but it is not what I really want; the idea offends me.

 

I am homosexual.  I cannot change that if I wanted to.  If you are a heterosexual you cannot change that.  We are what we are.  It is not a cross to bear but a life to be lived.  (July 23, 1974)

 

The bishop never replied.  One year later Dr. Ragland wrote the following letter to him:

 

Dear Frank,  Today is the anniversary of my letter of July 10, 1974, to you regarding homosexuality with its July 23, 1974, addendum.  I never received a reply though at my request a friend obtained from you the information that you had received the letter but that your ministry to your clergy took precedence.

 

I have also been told that you have acknowledged ignorance of the subject to others and that it has been suggested you talk with me again.

 

Because of my public activity in the area of homosexuality and gay rights I have been made aware of the names of clergy, clergy children, parishioners, and parishioners' children who are faced with the problem of their homosexuality in our society and in the Episcopal Church.  I am sure you must be aware of some such people though only a small fraction of them.

 

Surely you must wonder how to minister to them and hopefully you have misgivings about celibacy as a modus operandi.  Surely you must want to "do no harm" as every physician is taught.  But assuredly to fail to speak out against the destructive practices and beliefs of our society is to participate in that destructiveness.  We all do that but let us try to keep it at a minimum.

 

It has been almost sixteen months since I talked with you and it does not seem unreasonable that I now ask to talk with you again at length.  Please arrange soon a mutually agreeable time and place.  I will be away for the INTEGRITY meeting in Chicago, 7-12 August and will be unavailable then.

 

The use of your Christian name is not an attempt at familiarity.  --Bob (July 23, 1975)

 

Two days later, Bishop Cerveny replied:

 

Dear Dr. Ragland:  It may be a year since we had a discussion but I want to underscore the fact that I did not close the door on any future conversations.  I am indeed aware of those who are closeted within this Diocese.  They may not know it, but the family is small and information is easy to gather.

 

You must be aware of the fact that I have counseled those who are faced with their problem of homosexuality.  It has been done on a one-to-one basis and I have not only spent time but countless hours and hundreds of dollars seeking to relocate certain people at their own request.  I care, but I prefer to respond in my own way.  It may be a bit more cautious than you would prefer, but I can assure you that we still live in the South and that Jacksonville is not Philadelphia or New York City.  We can best discuss this in greater depth upon my return from vacation.  The earliest possible date I can extend to you is Friday, September 12, at 11:00 A.M. --Frank Cerveny

 

Three days later, Dr. Ragland replied:

 

Dear Frank,  Thank you for your letter of July 25.  I know of nothing that might interfere with our meeting.... 

 

I understand your reference to living in the South.  I was born and bred there only to find in recent years that I live there much less than formerly, that I live more within my own skin.  It is here that I try to face my conscience and the highest ideals that have come to me from my family, religion, and society, as they conflict with counter-currents, both within and without.  Sometimes I may not try or I may try and fail without knowing it.  Such is the human condition.

 

Just as everywhere, there is good in the South as well bad.  And I see no choice but to speak out against the bad and for the good just as did our forefathers 200 years ago and as did Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago in the hope and faith that good is stronger than evil and in gratitude for the good that has already come to us.  I was taught to love God, myself and my neighbor, and I place them in that order, now realizing that I cannot love my neighbor adequately if I do not love myself.  That others feel and preach hate and fear does not alter the priority for them of whether the South is willing and ready to cast aside hate, fear, ignorance, and prejudice but whether or not a minority group is entitled by God's grace to love, understanding, and respect the same as any other group.  We/they are......    Sincerely yours, Bob.

 

The meeting occurred on September 12th as scheduled.  Four days later Dr. Ragland wrote the following summary and account to circulate as "A statement for Episcopalians."  He sent it to priests in the Diocese:

 

[At the September 12th meeting, Bishop Cerveny] was pleasant, cordial, attentive, even sympathetic, but in reply to my 11 requests he only gave me an appointment for November, too little and too late.

 

Bishop Cerveny seems to believe that no dialogue can take place as long as we gay people are angry and insist on expressing that anger.  We say, along with blacks and women, that no dialogue is taking place as long as we are not expressing our feelings, which include anger as a naturally occurring response to the "death and destruction" dealings heterosexual people have had with us for millennia.

 

Bishops may get to be bishops by being soft-spoken, politic, etc., but relating in this manner does not get to the root of human misery.  Our feelings must be understood and considered.  We gay people do not want to be legitimized by a vote.  We are legitimate and we are here.  Rather we want to see positive action, the recognition of value in homosexuality, the ordination of openly gay priests with no limitations on the private practice of their sexuality.  We do exist; God created us; we are not perfect (nor are you) but we do not need to be voted legitimate.  We want to be accorded the dignity and wholeness, the integrity that befits all men and women as a natural, inalienable right.  We are not interested in a discussion of the theology of homosexuality and promiscuity at this time by non-gay people.  We have been discussing that ourselves for some time.  But what we would like for you to discuss is gay people as thinking, feeling human beings.  We feel, we pray, we bruise and bleed, we cry, laugh, love and indulge in all other biologic functions and emotions.  We are ubiquitous and have been for all past time and will continue so for all future time as long as mankind exists.  The people of this country, clergy and laity, not just bishops, have kept us hidden lo these many years.  There is little that many of you are doing at this time to relieve our oppression or even to understand us.  How many of you have tried to arrange a discussion of homosexuality at your church with gay people?  In how many of your churches would this be a comfortable thing for gay people to participate in?

 

How many of you know the gay members of your families?  How many of you just hope you don't have any, just want to think that John or Mary is merely inclined to be solitary, not caring for affection, tenderness, and sex?  Or perhaps you hope and believe that everything will turn out all right, that this is just a phase, that your child is not really gay though everything points in that direction?  And how many of your family members who are gay have found a way to tell you?  Why don't more of them tell you?  Historically, who has been trying to convert gay people into what they never were, i.e., primarily heterosexual?  Who has been trying to get gay people to practice heterosexuality?

 

Bishop Cerveny and others seem to fear that a gay priest might turn out to be "predatory," i.e., one who wants to bring others into this life style at the slightest indication of interest.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  That gay people are predatory is the thinking of heterosexual ignorance and prejudice.  We are not predatory, but the heterosexually inclined are.

 

We gay people were born and bred of and by non-gay people and had no voice in whether we grew up gay or heterosexual, nor did you.  We know we can't convert anyone into being gay and we've never tried.  But we've been tried, brainwashed, cajoled, tortured, and treated as special sinners and as less than human.  But we feel just as gay as ever before, which isn't to say happy over the treatment, just attracted more by members of our own sex than by the opposite sex.  Some of you don't like us to be called gay; it offends you.  It offends us to be called queer, fairy, fruit, faggot, dyke, etc., just as it offends blacks to be called nigger.

 

There are few of us willing and able to talk to you about ourselves and about homosexuality.  Those of us who are able want that opportunity to talk to you publicly and privately, to talk to your bishop and other clergy at length, now, if not yesterday.  You must participate empathetically in our travail in order to understand in order to realize your own potential as fully human sexual beings.  Yours in the love of Christ, Bob Ragland.  (September 16, 1975)

 

Three weeks later, Bishop Cerveny, who was among those sent a copy of the letter, responded:

 

Dear Dr. Ragland:  It is evident from your recent letters to members of this community that our dialogue has brought increased frustration to you.  You made it clear that my attempts at opening communication were also "too little and too late."  Since this is  your response and since you have already developed a theological framework of the gay world to which you are firmly committed, I see little hope for any productive session on November 5.  I am canceling the appointment and I am responding in the negative to the requests you have made from this Diocese.  I will however, ask the Clergy if they would like to meet with you in the future.

 

I underscore the fact that while I will continue to respond compassionately and pastorally to anyone in need of consultation regardless of sexual orientation, homosexuality is not a given condition of life.  To assume that God who created male and female for love and procreation should select and endow a special group of people with a homosexual orientation is to eisegete scripture and to ascribe a theological position to yourself which is contrary to the Church's understanding of the nature of man for over two thousand years.  Sincerely, Frank Cerveny.  (October 6, 1975)

 

Dr. Ragland responded:

 

I regret that you have chosen to focus on our differences in theology and my criticism of the lack of more response on your part rather than on my initiation of contact with you in March and July, 1974, July 1975, and my request for much more contact than you have permitted, such as in the gay bars, at home, etc.

 

Let me state again that I am not really interested in discussing theology, though I did/do think it worthwhile to make clear to my friends, colleagues, and others that I feel good about myself, my standing with God and in the community and that I had/have a view different from that taught me earlier by others who had a different Biblical interpretation.

 

I am interested in you and other people learning about gay people as living, breathing, feeling, sexual human beings.  I wish to participate in that process and have made myself available.  Already people have responded to that offer of mine and I am happy for that.

 

I do not believe you are caught in an irrevocable decision not to talk with me personally just because you canceled the November appointment.  I prefer talking to you in my office or at my home since it is in my native habitat that you can learn more about me as a gay person.  I will be glad to arrange such a meeting when you are ready.  Sincerely yours, Robert B. Ragland.  (October 12, 1975)

 

On Wednesday, 22 October, Dr. Ragland was invited by a group of adults at a small mission church, St. Anne's in Keystone Heights, FL, to share with them his Gay Christian witness; and the response was inquisitive, warm and cordial.  When he wrote a coming-out letter to medical colleagues, some discussed the letter with him, but many more ignored it altogether.  To this editor it seems a long way away from Galilee, where our Lord spoke of the Shepherd who left the 90 and 9 looking with love for the one sheep he missed from the fold, and of the injunction to forgive an offender, or one we think an offender, not seven times, but seventy times seven.  Yet it is not so far in time or space.  Today is always the day of salvation.

 

Hail, Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of they womb, JESUS.

 

Hail, Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the house of our death.

 

THE INTEGRITY CROSS NOW AVAILABLE

 

Replicas of INTEGRITY's Annual Awards are now available to members to purchase as membership medallions or to give as gifts to friends.

 

The Annual Award is made of sterling silver, and is presented each year to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the Christian understanding of human sexuality.  This year's award (see photo) was presented to Dr. W. Norman Pittenger for the many valuable books and papers he has written on the subject.  A special duplicate award was made this year, too, to Dr. Louie Crew in recognition of the great service he provided to the Church and to its gay members in founding our organization.

 

Member's replicas of the Award are being offered in two finishes -- one silver plate over bronze, and the other a lacquered/oxidized bronze finish that looks similar to very old, mellow gold.  The words INTEGRITY are engraved in the top half of the circle, and the Latin words, Ubi caritas et amore, Deus ibi est (from the antiphon used in the Maundy Thursday service meaning "Where charity and love abound, there God is to be found").  Both the silver-plate and the bronze finish is being offered to members for $10.  A black neck strand is provided, although some members may prefer to wear it on a chain.

 

Send your orders to Mr. Robert Diehm, Executive Secretary of INTEGRITY, at 7820 South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60649.  Be sure to specify which finish you prefer, and allow three weeks (we hope to get them to you before then, but this is the first lot being manufactured, and we can't promise an earlier delivery).

 

PRE-PUBLICATION SALE OF THE CONVENTION PAPERS

 

The major papers from our August Convention are about to go to the printer.  An attractive book you will want to keep in your library, it contains many photographs taken at the Convention by Worley Rodehaver of INTERCHANGE, the order of service at our special mass, the Intercessions read by Louie Crew and several of the major papers presented, including the complete text of the address presented by The Reverend Dr. W. Norman Pittenger -- that alone is worth double the price!

 

We need a great many pre-publication orders, paid in advance, to meet the rather large cost of printing.  (Our treasury is still "in process of getting organized!")  We are planning to sell the booklet (tentatively entitled CELEBRATION) for $3.00.  If you order now, before Thanksgiving, you may get as many copies as you have use for at the special price of $2.  To judge from requests coming daily in the mail, this will be a "best seller" in Christian and gay circles.  Add 50¢ for postage and handling.

 

Send your orders to Mr. Robert Diehm, Executive Secretary of INTEGRITY, at 7820 South Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60649.  The printing date is December 1, so you can expect delivery of your copies within 10 days of that.  (Of course, if the orders come in large enough quantities we may be able to get an earlier printing date, which means for you an earlier delivery date!)

 

RECONCILIATION

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

 

November 16, 1975 has been declared a National Day of Reconciliation between Gay Catholics and Their Church.  DIGNITY members all over the world will dedicate that Sunday to prayer and fasting, and those who can be there will assemble in Washington, DC (where their National Conference of Catholic Bishops will be meeting) for a concelebrated Mass of Reconciliation.

 

I'd like to ask that we all observe November 16th ourselves, in support of our beloved and courageous DIGNITY friends.  If you are in a Chapter, you might celebrate a special hom mass that weekend.  If you aren't in a Chapter area, dedicate your regular Sunday morning attendance at church to their cause (it's our cause, too).  Remember them in your intercessions, and make your day as much as possible one of medication and prayer, reflecting on the concept of reconciliation and petitioning on their behalf.

 

So in asking that we observe November 16 for gay Roman Catholics, I'm not just suggesting a nice, friendly "gesture" to show DIGNITY that "we care."  I'm asking that we take this opportunity to carry His cross and to share still more in that universe that is His Love.

 

                        --Jim Wickliff

                          National Co-President

 

LOCAL CHAPTERS

 

INTEGRITY/Atlanta.  Co-Convenors Dr. Ara Dostourian (Dept. of History, West GA College, Carrollton, GA 30117) 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/Minneapolis.  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 Dr. Robert Bissell, 11917 PH1 Winterthur Lane, Reston, VA 22091.

 

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?