October 1977 [HTML]

INTEGRITY FORUM

A JOURNAL FOR GAY EPISCOPALIANS AND THEIR FRIENDS

c Integrity, Inc. 1977 ISSN: 0095-2184

Vol. 3 No. 10 October 1977

INTEGRITY FORUM: A JOURNAL FOR GAY EPISCOPALIANS AND THEIR FRIENDS is the official newsletter of Integrity, Inc., a non-profit religious, charitable, educational and literary organization of gay episcopalians and their friends. Integrity, Inc. maintains a national office at 3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, phone 215/386-5430, if no answer 215/629-1309. Membership and subscription correspondence should be sent to Integrity Forum Publisher, David Williams, Integrity, P.O. Box 891, Oak Park, IL 60303, phone 312/386-1470. Editorial correspondence should be sent to Integrity Forum Editor, William Doubleday, c/o Episcopal Divinity School, 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, phone 617/723-4336.

Signed articles represent the views of the contributors. The editor reserves the right to revise all sexist language.

Copyright 1977 by Integrity, Inc. 10 issues per year. Memberships are $10; subscriptions without membership are $12. Add $3 if you would like your copy of Integrity Forum mailed in a plain envelope; Canadians remit in U.S. funds.

President................................ The Rev. Ron Wesner

Vice President................................. John Lawrence

Secretary...................................... Donn Mitchell

Treasurer...................................... Raymond Conti

Editor.................................. William A. Doubleday

Publisher..................................... David Williams

LIBERATION CLOSES FAIRFAX HOMOSEXUAL MINISTRY

Liberation in Jesus Christ, the ministry at Truro Episcopal Church, Fairfax, which sought to help homosexuals stop being homosexual, has closed its doors.

The decision by Liberation's board came a month after the board and Guy Charles, the meteoric ex-gay for whom the ministry was established, mutually decided that Charles was through at Liberation.

The notice to the press came in a tersely-worded statement dated July 15: "Munford Yates, Jr., President of Liberation in Jesus Christ a ministry of healing for homosexuals, announced today the resignation of Mr. Guy Charles as Executive Director for personal reasons."

In a letter to supporters, Charles explained that "the past four years of continually giving myself, sometimes with the day lasting into the next day without rest, has drained me spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically."

Charles ended up in the hospital for exhaustion and what was reported to be a nervous breakdown. He is considering entering Bible College in the Fall.

The break-up of Liberation involved charges against Charles; an investigation by the national Christian newspaper, The National Courier, which had earlier run a "miracle" feature about the ministry; questions about his counseling techniques; and an apparent hidden battle with his arch-foe. Ralph Blair, the head of a gay Christian group called Evangelicals Concerned.

Month's deliberation

Munford Yates of Truro, the lay chairman of Liberation's board, said that the board had thought and prayed for a month after Charles' leaving, and had finally come to the conclusion that they were "not led" to continue Liberation in Jesus Christ at Truro.

Yates explained that Charles' ministry included counseling and therapy, but was centered primarily on speaking and writing, with a newsletter and a mailing list of as many as 4000 names. He said the files and mailing list would be destroyed.

The Board of Liberation met at length with representatives of the Jesus Outreach Christian Center, Inc., of Fairmont, West Virginia, and is referring all requests for assistance to them. Yates said the board decided it was not qualified to carry on the ministry in its present form, and that they had not come across an individual whom they felt was the one to lead them. "Guy was the ministry," he said.

Wide ministry

Charles, who regularly told a dramatic conversion story about his transition from being a "gay activist" and a "homosexual prostitute," began his ministry called "Liberation" in Arlington about four years ago. In February, 1977, the ministry was incorporated at Truro as a movement within the Episcopal Church to operate counter to "Integrity," a group of gay Episcopalians and their supporters.

Charles wrote widely, saying that he thought homosexuals were people who had "an unusual capacity for loving and being loved" ‑‑ a quality which made them particularly vulnerable. That vulnerability got them involved in homosexual activity, he said.

Homosexual acts were therefore ultimately an "act of will," he said, and could be stopped. He warned his many charismatic listeners that homosexual behavior was possible "even after the baptism in the Holy Spirit."

"I know that God condemns the sin of homosexuality, but he loves the homosexual and the lesbian," he said repeatedly.

Charles embroiled himself in the center of controversy, appearing in a televised debate with leading Christian homosexuals and taking on the Integrity movement in the Episcopal Church. He wrote open letters to Bishop Paul Moore and to Ellen Barrett after the New York bishop ordained the acknowledged lesbian to the priesthood. He talked about Malcolm Boyd in his newsletter, after the Episcopal priest told an Integrity convention he was homosexual.

Charles claimed more, perhaps, than most of his counterparts in the growing nationwide Christian movement which insists that homosexuality must be treated as a particular sin. "Since I am a Christian," he claimed repeatedly, "I am no longer gay ‑‑ because of the recreative experience in Jesus Christ ..." That experience. Charles claimed, "has taken away the lusts, the desires, the fantasies, the act."

Even some of Charles supporters say now that perhaps he claimed too much, both for his own sanity and for those he sought to help. It is one thing to call homosexuality a sin and to pray for the love of God to help lead a person to repentance, they say. But voluntary celibacy, "dying to self" day after day, would be quite an achievement for many homosexuals. And perhaps, for most gays who believe God calls them to renounce homosexual activity, it is all that can or should be hoped.

‑‑ Reprinted with permission of the VA-Churchman

CHARLES KAST HIRED AS NY CHAPTER'S EXECUTIVE

The Board of Directors of Integrity/NYC has selected Charles Kast to be its Executive Director/Convenor for a two year period starting October 1, 1977. Kast is a chemical engineer recently moved to New York who is devoting himself to work for the gay cause.

Now 36 years old, with a BS degree from Northeastern University, Boston, and a MS degree in Industrial Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Kast comes to Integrity/NYC with 13 years managerial and organizational experience with the American Cyanamid Company. He has developed and administered large budgets and supervised departments employing many people. When relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan, a city of 80,000 people without any organization or meeting place for gay people, he founded Lambda of Kalamazoo, the first gay group in the area, which continues in existence. His increasing visibility in gay rights work led to a parting of the ways with American Cyanamid, after which Charles decided lo move to New York and to work for the gay cause.

While in New York, Kast has done free-lance writing for Gaysweek and volunteer work for the National Gay Task Force. He lives in Chelsea.

The New York Chapter of Integrity, founded in September 1975, works on two fronts: through the Episcopal Church and within the gay community. It meets each Tuesday evening at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields, Hudson and Grove St. The liturgy is celebrated at 7:30 pm. A program usually follows.

Charles Kast was formally installed as Executive Director/Convenor at Integrity/NYC's second anniversary celebration on Tuesday, October 4, 1977 at St. Luke's. The Rev. Ron Wesner, President of Integrity/National, was the chief celebrant.

CRAIG ANDERSON ELECTED TWIN CITIES CONVENOR

The elections for the Directional Committee for Integrity/Twin Cities were held on Friday, September 16. Craig L. Anderson was elected Convenor. Other members of the Directional Committee are Fred Gilman, Bill Herrmann, Leo Treadway and Martha Winslow. A dean, for the 1978 Integrity Convention, to be held in the Twin Cities, will be selected in the near future.

BILL HERRMANN REVIEWS "EX-GAY" PREUSSING'S ROAD SHOW

Saint Nicholas Church in Richfield, Minnesota, came into the gay arena on August 3rd with its entrant, Mr. William Preussing of King's Ministries of Denver, Colorado. Preussing is going about the country, living on donations and preaching his brand of sin and redemption. He's traveling a kind of freak show for mainline straights with a "come see the faggot" mentality. In a way, it's a shame that he is allowing himself to be used for such purposes.

His basic method is that the Bible literally, and with no room for any other interpretation, says that homosexuality is a sin. He allows that straight types should not view it as any worse a sin than other sins, but a sin nonetheless. However, Preussing, after 25 years of being in what he refers to as the gay "world" (not a community), became a born-again Christian which led him to believe that this faith could help him out of the gay world. This has been three years now and he is going out to tell the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, he seems to be talking more to the non-gay population and telling his listeners what they want to hear. He interprets scripture literally, then steps back, says he is not interpreting it, will not debate it, and furthermore isn't a theologian so is unable to debate it. This seems to please the listeners in their smugness and sets him up as an authority figure without him needing to prove his grounds for authority.

Preussing goes on to offer what he feels is freedom for the gay community: admitting of the sinfulness of homosexuality across the board and seeking of redemption from this sin. Freedom is therefore a spiritual cure from the sin.

The ministry which he is representing feels that it is at the point where Alcoholics Anonymous was 25 years ago. The plan of action is admission of the sin, feeling of forgiveness and then the help of a support group to keep the sinner from slipping. There is such an organization in the Twin Cities, by the way. Its name is Outpost and a representative of the group was also at St. Nicholas that evening.

Now, all this seems to beg two questions. 1) Is Preussing really saying what the surface words seem to say, and 2) what do Preussing and others like him offer to the gay community? The first, it is true, is not what it appears to be. Preussing has not been freed from homosexuality. What he has been freed from is sex, which, from his description of his bad experiences as an active gay is what he's been fleeing all his life. His analogy with AA is too telling. He views sex as a sickness and through his support group and repression he can now describe himself as an "ex-gay blessed with celibacy," while all the while he is a sexual vegetable who has been able to deny that part of his personhood. This offers a truly bleak future indeed.

What then does William Preussing offer to the gay community? Surely not a desirable role model. He himself comes off as very colorless and undynamic. The freedom he speaks of is a freedom from something, not a celebration style freedom of life in its fullness, which Christ has held out for us. His freedom comes from voluntary fear of a compulsion over which he has become ever vigilant against its recurrence.

But still, Preussing will go on with his travels, giving his talk and putting himself through two hours of probing questions. And those non-gay persons who came out of curiosity or concern will go away having "seen the faggot" who told them that homosexuals are sinners, so judged by God, and all fraught with great pain and anguish. Integrity/Twin Cities has offered to present a similar forum at St. Nicholas, but the offer has as yet not been accepted. Needless to say, we would welcome an opportunity to affirm our wholeness as gay persons in Christ who are offering a freedom through Him which does not divide, repress or deny the abundance of life which He has promised. We are gay, Christian and reconciled.

Reprinted from the Twin Cities Integrity/Dignity Newsletter

DIRTY LINEN & CLOSET FRESHENERS

Rev'd Marion Hammond, rector of St. Thomas, Denver, whose bishop (Frey) endorses the anti-gay "King's Ministries" movement, says: "It's nonsensical to think God intends all people to be heterosexuals. The idea of changing homosexuals to heterosexuals is in disagreement with everyone in psychology and psychiatry." ··· Rev'd W. Hamilton Aulenbach, Claremont, CA, asks in the September issue of The Witness: "Why a lesbian? The Episcopal Church in the name of the very humane Jesus ordains a woman who publicly states she is a lesbian. Of all women, why a lesbian? Today we are increasingly recognizing the homosexual (and the lesbian) has the same rights as others. That he or she is not sick or handicapped as we have previously thought. That may be anathema to some, but not to Jesus." ··· William Landram, deacon, and convenor of Integrity/Madison, Wisconsin, has had his license to officiate as deacon suspended by Bishop Charles Gaskell; he won't be permitted to function as a deacon liturgically in the diocese. He had been assistant at St. Francis' house, Episcopal student center in Madison, where the new priest-in-charge specifically requested that Bill be continued on his staff. ··· Dr. June Dobbs Butts, in Ebony magazine listed venereal disease, infertility, and homophobia as the three major sexual fears! In an article entitled, "How to Conquer your Sexual Fears," she defined homophobia as "a psychological panic state, an excessive fear of homosexuality. This type of person may be harboring a same-sex preference inside himself, even though he genuinely fears such a thing in others." ··· The Urban Bishops' Coalition of the Episcopal Church project office has issued guidelines for the public hearings, to be held in Chicago, Newark, and three other cities, which say that the criteria for cities to be chosen should include those where the church in its mission "is particularly charged to be involved with ... poverty, unemployment, crime, welfare rights, concentrations of elderly citizens, youth, women, gays." Chicago hearings will be held November 17th.··· Variety magazine reported the production of a documentary film, "Gay USA," filmed during Gay Pride Week parades June 26 in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and San Diego. It premiered in August at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. David Pasko, producer, hopes the film will be used for local group showings as well as network TV. ··· In a survey of 140 members of the Independent Association of Chicago Priests, 47% said they support the Roman Catholic Church's traditional teachings on homosexuality in public preaching, only 39% in private teaching. Most of the 577 members of the group did not return their questionnaires. ··· The National Assembly of Religious Brothers passed a resolution introduced by Brother William Roberts CSSR supporting "gay men and women in their struggle for human rights and dignity." ··· The Reverend Edward M. "Pope" Gregory convenor of Integrity/Richmond, received a doctor of ministry degree from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., for his work on teaching through liturgy. ··· A recent issue of the Dignity/Chicago newsletter carried an inventive acronym for the organization's title: Dignamur In Gaudiis Nostris Iustificationem Tenentes in Jesu. Meaning in English: "We are dignified in our joys (pleasures) having salvation in Jesus." (In Latin, I serves the functions of J and Y in English, so it fits, somewhat.) Can anyone come up with an INTEGRITY acronym? ··· Wickedness in High Places: The day after the Supreme Court decided it would not review the appeal of gay schoolteacher, Gaylord, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Anita Bryant land, voted that nuptial blessings are for heterosexual couples only, and resolved that no one should be ordained who is an advocating and/or willful and habitual practicing homosexual. ··· A task force in the diocese of Ohio has recommended that the church conduct marriage services for homosexuals and ordain avowed homosexuals as priests. Bishop John H. Burt, however, declares he does not approve of either recommendation. ··· Guy Charles, ex-gay activist, is out of the Liberation ministry of Truro Episcopal Church, Fairfax, VA, according to the September issue of the Virginia Churchman. The end of Charles's job came, according to the paper, "with charges against him, an unpublicized investigation, and his reported nervous breakdown." His files were destroyed ‑‑ some 4000 names and addresses. [Note: This article has been reprinted in this issue of Integrity Forum.] ··· Bishop of Gloucester, John Yates, called for greater understanding of homosexuals, on a BBC Radio 4 programme called "Five Per Cent." The bishop said, "Whatever the ultimate cause of homosexuality and its ultimate explanation, insofar as it is leading and helping and guiding some people to loving relations, responsible, tender, loving, caring relationships ‑‑ one with another ‑‑ that must be good, that must be of God." Bishop Yates is chairperson of the Church of England Working Party Into Homosexuality. ···

Publisher's note: This column has been compiled by Rev'd Grant Gallup, Vicar of St. Andrew's Church, Chicago. We hope to make this a regular feature of Integrity Forum. Your comments and input are welcome and should be sent to Rev'd Grant M. Gallup, 1619 W. Warren Blvd., Chicago, IL 60612.

MAKES THE BLOOD PRESSURE RISE

While the Editor was sitting at lunch last week he was handed a copy of the current issue of The Anglican Digest. In the column entitled, "Makes the Heart Sad," was this comment:

"To note that the address of the new editor of a homosexualist periodical 'for Episcopalians' is that of a training, school for priests of the Church." [The word choice and placement of quotation marks is strictly the policy of The Anglican Digest.]

The Editor solicits future contributions for this semi-regular column: MAKES THE BLOOD PRESSURE RISE.

NEW DIGNITY OFFICERS ISSUE FIRST LETTER

Dignity and Integrity Chapters around the country cooperate in a variety of ways. In a number of cities the organizations actually function together in joint chapters. Several members of Integrity were in attendance at Dignity's third biennial convention in Chicago at which new officers were elected to lead the international Dignity organization.

In a spirit of warm fellowship and growing communication, the first official letter of the new officers of Dignity is reprinted in the Integrity Forum:

3719 Sixth Avenue, Suite F

San Diego, California 92103

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Dignity,

It is with a great deal of excitement and perhaps a touch of apprehension that we introduce ourselves to you as Dignity's new officers: Walter Kay (President), Carla Kaesbauer (Secretary) and Madeline Ritchie (Treasurer). We were elected for a two-year term by delegates to Dignity's third biennial convention held at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, Sept. 2-5, 1977. As the three of us were elected as a California slate, the Dignity National Office has been moved from the Boston headquarters, where it has been located for the last four years, to: 3719 Sixth Avenue, Suite F, San Diego, California 92103, (Telephone) 714/295-4424.

It was clearly evident to us that the Chicago convention earmarked the maturing growth of Dignity. Over 600 persons came from throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, Canada, England, New Zealand and Australia. We wish all of you could have been with us to witness the dynamic forces present and the unified calling we received for a leadership which would visibly and vocally represent them within the organization, the Church and in society at large.

We know that you would have been excited to see the delegates work long, hard hours to develop a more professional and business-like organizational structure. Tapping the talents of those present, together we blue-printed a new structure which should enable us to better implement the Dignity Statement of Position and Purpose. In addition to new by-laws and proposed constitutional revisions, we established standing committees which will address themselves to our critical needs in the areas of finance, communications, spiritual development, education, minorities, religious within Dignity and a plethora of other areas which are of concern to each and every one of us.

Moreover, the delegates voiced strong support of more social action on the part of Dignity. As national officers, we were called to be more vocal in response to obvious situations of oppression; to strengthen our educational outreach to clergy and members of our Church's hierarchy and, equally important, to the public in general.

Perhaps our greatest immediate success in Chicago was the realization of our need to better address ourselves to gay women. While the women in Dignity who were with us in Chicago were few, their presence was dramatically felt. Everyone affirmed the necessity of bringing more women into the organization and providing greater opportunity for their place in the decisionmaking process. The election of two women to the national slate well indicates the sincerity of the delegates' intentions.

In order to fully realize the hopes and expectations of the delegates to the Dignity Convention, we need your assistance. But before we tell you how, allow us to tell you a little something about each of us.

Walter Kay has been actively working with Dignity in San Diego since 1974. A past president of that chapter, he is firmly committed to the Statement of Position and Purpose and to listening to those persons who voice strong feelings about Dignity's future. Walter believes that Dignity's future lays in our ability to totally tap the talents of persons from throughout the country.

Carla Kaesbauer has been with the San Diego chapter of Dignity since 1975. She came to Chicago as president of that chapter. She shares Walter's vision of the Dignity leadership tapping individual gifts.

Madeline Ritchie is the recent co-chairperson of Dignity Bay Area (San Francisco). She is delighted with the establishment of a new Finance Committee and looks forward to developing new ways to make Dignity's treasury a sound aspect of the organization. ...

In conclusion, we would like to express our gratitude to the Chicago chapter of Dignity and the Convention Committee, all of whom did a magnificent job. We also thank all of the delegates without whom none of this would be possible. And, we hasten to applaud Frank Scheuren and the Atlanta chapter for their sacrifices in getting us all engaged in deliberate thought about what we want from the national office.

Finally, we express our sincere thanks to Paul Diederich, Fr. Tom Oddo and Hank Taylor who gave selflessly of themselves. May God bless all of you and may we all grow in our awareness of our own needs and the needs of others.

In Dignity.

Walter, Carla and Madeline

BRETHREN/MENNONITE GAY CAUCUS IS ON ITS WAY

Informal visits have taken place with the Mennonite Church and Church of the Brethren leadership. Those contacted thus far have been found to be accepting and wanting to learn more about our lifestyle and Gay issues within their church.

If you are Brethren or Mennonite and concerned about Gay issues within your church, or are interested in joining or helping start a Brethren/Mennonite Gay Caucus, write to: Brethren/Mennonite, Box 582, Lancaster, PA 17604. Strict confidence will be assured.

FORUM:

Observations from some of our readers and others.

REVISIONISM AND ROLE MODELING: NO ONE-WAY STREETS

by Tom Horner

One of the most salutary effects of the new sexual freedom brought about by the so-called Revolution of the Sixties is the phenomenon known as revisionism in the fields of history and biography. Not only are new and completely revised histories and biographies appearing, but some of the new books themselves constitute good literature in their own right. The old literature of course has always been there, with its moments of truth on page after page, such as Marlowe's delightful "Come, live with me and be my love," and Whitman's Calamus poems. It was the interpretation that was all off. Generations of students were carefully nurtured on the idea that it was only heterosexual ‑‑ or asexual ‑‑ interpretations that were to be read into these works. In the case of Michelangelo's love poems to Tommaso Cavalieri there was a deliberate cover-up to the extent of altering the text to make them look as if they were written to a woman! As if the heterosexual youth growing up did not have any role models to look to for support of his or her sexual preferences! What crumbs that were to be found that would have served the same purpose for the searching gay boy or girl were cruelly snatched away.

Now we are learning that there were more than crumbs; there was in fact an entire breadbasket. This is not to say that all artists and writers are or have been homosexual; those who are heterosexually disposed were and always will be in the majority, according to deductions to be drawn from Ford and Beach, Patterns of Sexual Behavior. But of course there is the bisexual potential in all of us which is actually expressed by far more persons than society generally is willing to admit, plus the heterosexual element as I see it, must stand with the homosexual element in order to get anything accomplished that involves more than a few people. This includes getting laws changed and major books published and propagated. Meanwhile, let us rejoice in the proliferating literature that is causing and will continue to cause a rise of gay consciousness and appreciation on the part of all readers. At the top of this list are the new revisionist texts that really "tell it like it was" in history, biography and the arts.

One of the best examples of this is A. L. Rowse, Homosexuals in History: Ambivalence in Society, Literature and the Arts (Macmillan, 1977). Given the limitations of what the book sets out to do, it couldn't be better. Here is only a partial list of the figures whose homosexual orientation is discussed unabashedly against the background of their life's work: Richard Couer-de-Lion, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Christopher Marlowe, Henry III, Francis Bacon, James I, Louis XIII, Frederick the Great, Johann J. Winckelmann, Lord Byron, Tchaikovsky, Ludwig II, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Herman Melville, Somerset Maughm, Proust, Gide, Cocteau, Fritz Krupp, Ernst Roehm, T. E. Lawrence, Henry James, Noel Coward and Jean Genet.

There are many more. Shakespeare, Rowse says, was completely heterosexual. He ought to know; he is one of the world's foremost authorities on the Elizabethan period. Many of the men discussed here cursed their homosexuality as a crippling disease, without realizing, says Rowse, that this ambivalence was the very source of their genius. Another thing of which Rowse consistently informs us is the names ‑‑ and whatever else that is known ‑‑ of the numerous men who have been remembered by history for no other reason than that once upon a time a man of genius loved them. How incontestably true! Who in blazes would ever have heard of an uncouth youth named Pete Doyle were it not for the fact that the greatest of all American poets had loved him? The book admittedly is about men only. At the beginning Rowse ways that he must leave the stories of famous lesbians for others to tell, and also the lives of homosexual men who lived before the Renaissance ‑‑ although there is a beautiful "Medieval Prelude." Not being a classicist, Rowse says that he will leave the telling of those stories to others too. So now, you classicists, where are you?

Many classicists, of course, have done a great deal along these lines. (Given the material they had to work with, if they were honest how could they not have?) Still there is much, much more to be done, and specialists and non-specialists alike have been impeded in this field by some of its foremost representatives who have written such things as Sappho having had nothing erotic whatsoever in mind ‑‑ one would have to be blind not to see it! ‑‑ and that Homer never says that Achilles and Patroclus slept together ‑‑ ergo, they were 100 percent hetero! Some have written in fact that the later Greek (overwhelmingly unanimous) interpretation of the latter relationship as homosexual was itself revisionism, to make Homer's heroes conform to current practices. Such nonsense! Homer's heroes and the current practices were both predominately bisexual; there was no great change. A foremost classicist, Gilbert Murray, has written that our text of the Iliad has undergone some expurgation in this regard (The Rise of the Greek Epic [Galaxy ed., 1960], pp. 124-25). But most classicists, without being aware of it, have simply been following the party line which has said that all role models for the gay student must be taken away so that he or she will be left with nothing but heterosexual examples, for that is the only lifestyle that is normal. Another myth!

The same scenario has been present, above all, in biblical studies. That Jonathan really loved David, and that his love was returned, has been omitted from discussion in almost every seminary. One recent book, Was Jesus Married? (answered affirmatively) by William E. Phipps even tries to posit Jesus as an active heterosexual role model for today's youth! It is, thankfully, not very convincing. Jesus never exhibited any curiosity or concern about anyone's sexual orientation and the Gospels, as they now stand, do not reveal his own. It is better that way: no one side can claim him exclusively for its own.

But as for the other role models we have throughout history, whether heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual or asexual, let's get them all back. Only the greatest possible potential may be realized by our young people and by all of us if we see the truth clearly ‑‑ and follow it wherever it leads.

THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS MEETING: An Editor's Impression

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church held its interim meeting in Port St. Lucie, Florida, September 30-October 7. Meeting at the luxurious Sand Piper Bay Resort Hotel, the bishops met to reach collegial agreement on those issues which they believed could not be left totally unresolved until the next legislative session of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Denver in October 1979. The Ellen Barrett ordination and the wider issue of church schism, and the Venture in Mission Program were the primary subjects under consideration during the week, although countless reports and analyses were heard or distributed.

The Bishops of the Episcopal Church were in a very conservative mood. They frequently indicated that they wanted to appease the angry folks back home ‑‑ people who are more often than not intolerant of women priests, homosexual persons, and new prayer books. The bishops indicated a readiness to speak authoritatively about matters of human sexuality, even though most of them displayed a total unawareness of recent theological, sociological, and psychological resources. It seems quite possible that if they had been given the opportunity, a majority of bishops might have voted to repeal women's ordination. It was a miracle that the most destructive resolutions on the gay issue were turned down. It needs to be stressed that the actions taken were indeed insulting and depressing for gay people and their friends, but the actions of the meeting could easily have been far worse! It should also be noted that a significant minority, perhaps as many as 30 of the approximately 125 bishops in attendance manifested some significant degree of openness to and concern for gay people, including gay clergy. Some others appear to be educable or at least reluctant to make hard and fast homophobic pronouncements. This is not to minimize the pain involved in watching the deliberations of the bishops, but it is to point out that in some dioceses there still may be reason for hopefulness.

The Theology Committee of the House of Bishops prepared a Statement on the Marriage and Ordination of Homosexuals. It was approved as the collegial sense of the House of Bishops by a voice vote. Bishop Kilmer Myers, who filed a minority report, cast a very audible no, several other Bishops voted no or abstained. An earlier effort to receive, rather than approve the report received about forty votes, far short of the number necessary to block ratification.

The House of Bishops tabled a resolution censuring Bishop Paul Moore and the authorities of the Diocese of New York for the ordination of Ellen Barrett. The debate was long and at times cruel. The vote to table, effectively to defeat, the motion was 66 to 48. Bishop Coburn of Massachusetts was a decisive voice in securing the defeat of the censure resolution when he pointed out that he had served on the Standing Committee of the Diocese of New York which had approved Ellen Barrett for ordination. Again and again Bishop Paul Moore of New York pointed out that he had ordained a person who had professed her sexual orientation, not her sexual practice.

There was also a resolution aimed at impeding the licensure of Ellen Barrett and other already ordained homosexual clergy. That resolution was defeated by a vote of 68 to 49.

OUR OPINION

The House of Bishops did vote:

"In light of the principles concerning homosexuality adopted by this House as contained in the report of its committee on Theology, it is the mind of this House that, pending further inquiry and study by the Church, no Bishop of this Church shall confer Holy Orders in violation of these principles."

In short, gay ordinands are further discouraged from being honest about their full personhood. It will now be more difficult for liberal and/or gay bishops to be supportive, it will be easier for "witch-hunting" bishops to carry out their missions.

It was difficult, sitting in the press gallery, to keep tabs on the votes and speeches of all of the bishops, but the following is a list of bishops who stood out as important voices of concern and support for gay people:

Moore of New York; Ogilby of Pennsylvania; McGehee of Michigan; Myers of California; Swift of the American Churches in Europe; Charles of Utah; Trelease of Rio Grande; Frensdorff of Nevada; and Spears of Rochester. Several others worked helpfully behind the scenes.

Among the least helpful bishops were: Burt of Ohio; Krumm of Southern Ohio; Temple of South Carolina; Terwilliger of Dallas; Simms of Atlanta; Hosea of Lexington; Folwell of Central Florida; Robinson of Western New York; Wicher of Long Island, Parsons of Quincy; Duncan of Southeast Florida; and McAllister of Oklahoma. Countless others worked destructively behind the scenes.

The day after the critical votes on gay-related resolutions, I sent a letter to twenty-five of the bishops seeking a wider participation of gay people in the study process now going on in the Church. I reprint that letter below:

PRESS ROOM

House of Bishops Meeting

October 4, 1977

My dear Bishops:

I write collectively to a few of you to express my concern and my distress about the votes of the House of Bishops with reference to the lives and the ministries of homosexual persons in our Church. The actions of the House of Bishops on a day when the United States Supreme Court ruled that it is indeed just to discriminate against homosexual persons in the area of employment cannot help but fan the fires of hate of such individuals as Anita Bryant.

I am aware that the role of homosexual persons in Church and society is as yet a confusing and painful issue for people within and outside of the Church. I am also aware that many theologians and social scientists have come to conclusions about sexuality, including homosexuality, of which most members of the House of Bishops possess no awareness whatsoever. Has no one read Norman Pittenger? Canon Clinton Jones? Dr. C. A. Tripp? Gregory Baum? John J. McNeill, S.J.? Joseph Fletcher?

AND COUNTLESS OTHERS!

Now, more than ever, the deliberations of the Joint Commission on Human Affairs and Health and of diocesan sexuality commissions take on a truly critical dimension. Is this inquiry within our Church to be open to diverse points of view or are the conclusions of the House of Bishops, already arrived at, simply to be confirmed. If the inquiry at the level of the national Church and at the level of the diocese are to be truly open, then faithful and committed Gay Christians need and deserve to be included within the process and the deliberations of these inquiries. There are no acknowledged Gay Christians on the Joint Commission on Health and Human Affairs. There are a paucity of Gay Christians on diocesan commissions in those relatively few diocese in which commissions have been appointed to date. Likewise it needs to be remembered that there are clinical points of view which are more accepting of homosexuality than those posed by Dr. Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse or Dr. Socarides of New York. Cannot this situation be remedied? Could not the inquiry be more truly open? At the very least, could not Gay Christians be added to already established commissions as participant observers? There are now Integrity Chapters in over twenty-five dioceses of our Church. More chapters are in formation. There are thousands of homosexual clergy and a number of homosexual bishops! It is time for hypocrisy and duplicity to end. It is time for honest inquiry and faithful relationships to be affirmed in our Church.

I write as a faithful Episcopalian, as a graduate of one of our Church's seminaries, as the National Editor of Integrity Forum, and as a self-acknowledged homosexual person who follows Christ as Lord and Savior.

Faithfully,

signed) William A. Doubleday

P.S. I should be glad to speak with any Bishops about these concerns.

Throughout the week, I worked to interpret the actions of the House of Bishops to the Press, from a gay perspective, I lobbied educationally with many of the Bishops, and I gave advise and counsel to several Bishops who were personally troubled by the course and actions of the meeting.

Future issues of Integrity Forum will carry materials from or information about the House of Bishops meeting.

‑‑William A. Doubleday

GAY AND CHARISMATIC

We are gay Christians. Some of us are gay charismatics. As gay Christians we are an embarrassment to many straight Christians; as gay charismatic Christians we are an offense to most straight charismatics.

We are Christians because Jesus loves and loved us when others would not. We are charismatics because we let the Spirit take us and fill us and cleanse us and make us whole. We are what the Spirit is making us, whole, healed, gay Christians. We are striving to be as much in love with Jesus and our brothers and sisters as he is in love with all of us.

Most of us have experienced the tension between desiring to openly share our lives fully with our straight Christian brothers and sisters and seeking to avoid the time of tension and discomfort which our openness often evokes. Most of us have learned to deal with the hostility of other Christians either by being sufficiently open that those who fear us have the opportunity of avoiding us, or by choosing the time and circumstances of our openness so as to minimize our own pain and that of our friend. Some of us are willing enough to share the feelings of anger and fear of those whom we would befriend and experience with them the pain of confrontation.

Many of us have experienced the honest understanding of our selves and our standing with God that an encounter with Jesus and his Spirit brings. Part of the continuing life in the Spirit is the desire to continue to live in that honesty and openness. Because of this, charismatic gay Christians often share the experience of rejection which Christ experienced when he was rejected by his own people. But the Spirit once encountered is very hard to deny and most gay charismatics do not turn their back on Christ but either hide their sexual nature and continue in fellowship with their charismatic brothers and sisters or limit the manifestation of the experience of the Spirit and find a parish where they can be more honest about their sexuality.

In either case, the witness of the unbounded and cleansing love of God towards those that the world despises is not told. And this loss, I pray Jesus, will soon no longer be.

‑‑Pat MacCartney

Reprinted from The Manifest: The Newsletter of Integrity Los Angeles.

PERRY REACHES GOAL, ENDS FAST

The Rev. Troy D. Perry, twenty pounds lighter, ended a fast for human rights on its 16th day, September 21, when aides told him his goal had been topped and $104,000 had been raised to fight an anti-gay initiative in California.

Three hundred friends and supporters gathered for an emotion filled worship service on the portico of Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the reaching of the goal and the end of the fast. With tears streaming down smiling faces, those assembled sang "We Shall Overcome" in the light of a television filming.

Weakened but resolute, The Rev. Mr. Perry spoke for several minutes, loud enough to be heard by the whole gathering. "We are doing God's will. Injustice must be stopped. This is just the beginning. We will fight the fight."

As the long applause faded away, the audience prepared for their own Communion while Troy and his lover, Ramon (Chip) Garcia, received the Sacrament from the Rev. James Sandmire. Then the fast was symbolically broken. Early in the fast, Troy had promised Ramon that he would break the fast on his favorite, Mexican food. He asked his other half to prepare a cheese enchilada. The doctor allowed him to take one bite ‑‑ and the fast was ended, but the fight was just begun.

Perry thanked all those who had helped in any way to reach the initial goal: the workers, the one dollar gifts, those who had fasted along with him, the ten dollar gifts, the thousand dollar ones, and the final $20,000 from a Kansas City business woman, which put it over the top. "But this is only seed money," he declared. "This is just enough to start the fight. We will need over a million dollars to carry the struggle to the end."

He spoke of television, radio and newspaper ads, mailers and billboards. The Rev. Mr. Perry has been meeting with Advocate owner, David Goodstein, (who gave the first $5000 for the Fund) in order to organize a state-wide steering committee to help coordinate the campaign. The present battle is aimed at stopping State Senator John Briggs from being successful in his effort to get a referendum approved by the people which would discriminate against the employment of gay school teachers. Contributions can be sent to the California Fund for Human Dignity, Box 5570, Los Angeles, CA 90055.

During the prayer and fast vigil, Los Angeles City Council Member, Peggy Stevenson, visited the Rev. Mr. Perry three times, which caused Troy to remember that during his ten day fast on the same spot in 1970, only the late Councilman, Robert Stevenson, Peggy's husband, had had the courage to visit him.

Ed Edelman, Chairperson of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, came. City Controller, Ira Reiner, came three times. Fellow Los Angeles County Human Rights Commission Member, Elbert T. Hudson, President of the Broadway Savings and Loan Association, came, as well as several Commission staff members. Abigail Van Buren ("Dear Abbie") called to express her concern and gladly consented to have her name listed on promotional pieces as a Friend of Troy Perry.

A quickly formed list of Friends of Troy Perry was formed to be used in media ads. Those who accepted that invitation include: Diane Abbit, New Age Coalition; Wally Albertson, member, Los Angeles Community College Board; Jack Campbell, Dade County Coalition for Human Rights; Ed Edelman; Jane Fonda; Tom Hayden; Dr. Evelyn Hooker; W. Dorr Legg, Founder of One, Inc.; Mel Levine, member, California State Assembly; Burt Pines, Los Angeles City Attorney; Ira Reiner; Burt Schneider, director, The Motion Picture Industry; Peggy Stevenson; Abigail Van Buren; Pat Underwood, Chairperson of Friends of Troy Perry; Joel Wachs, Council Member, City of Los Angeles; Zev Yaroslavsky, Council Member, City of Los Angeles.

The Board of Elders of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches founded by Rev. Perry sent a letter to the 110 member church bodies asserting that "we believe we are called in this way to return to the enthusiasm of preaching God's inclusive love for all people, so that the Christian Church might be led back to the Gospel principles on which it was founded by Christ Himself."

RESEARCHERS SEEK RURAL LESBIAN MOTHERS

Researchers conducting a major comparative study of the problems and adjustments of gay and non-gay mothers are still seeking lesbian mothers willing to be interviewed with their children. Data from the study is expected to be extremely valuable to lesbians fighting child custody cases and to gays in general in combatting myths about gay parents. From the start, the National Gay Task Force has urged cooperation with the researchers, Jane Barclay Mandel and Dr. Mary Hotvedt, both of whom are sympathetic and well qualified. At this point, the greatest need is for more subjects who live in remote or rural areas, particularly if the mother is not publicly open about her lesbianism. The privacy of the participants will be fully protected and the children will not be asked any questions about their mothers' sexuality or sexuality in general. The children must be 10 years old or younger and have lived with their mothers for at least two years in a household with no adult male present. The interviews take about two hours for the mother and for each child and are arranged by appointment at convenient times in locations around the country. If you are interested, please write to Ms. Mandel and Dr. Hotvedt c/o the Long Island Research Institute, P. 0. Box Q, Central Islip, N.Y. 11722. In the Northeast, you may also call collect to Dr. Hotvedt at 516/444-2220, and in the Midwest to Ms. Mandel at 312/475-4773

HOW TO WRITE THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR YOUR RIGHTS

You may be tired of hearing it, but the fact remains that letters to public officials and legislators can be a potent force out of all proportion to their numbers; your actual vote on election day may count for less than a letter to an elected official threatening to vote a certain way! Each letter is presumed to represent hundreds or thousands or millions of non-letter-writing citizens who feel the same way. It is therefore essential for gay citizens to get into the letter-writing habit. Don't let them say, "But I've never heard from any gay constituents." Some suggestions:

1) It's time to write President Carter (1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20006) thanking him for his pledge to end federal discrimination against gays (still only partially redeemed) and urging him to bring his "human rights" campaign back home by supporting gay rights legislation (such as HR 2998, the gay rights bill in the House of Representatives).

2) Write to the governor of your state urging him to eliminate by executive action discrimination against gays by the state government and to support a state gay rights bill. Find out who your state legislators are and write to them to urge introduction of a state gay rights bill (or support for any that has already been introduced).

3) Write to your senators and representative in Congress urging support for the federal gay rights bill. (For all senators, the address is, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510; for all representatives, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.) Also, at this time it is very important to have gay input to Congress on the MacDonald amendment to the Legal Services Corporation Amendments Act of 1977 (HR 6666), which prohibits any use of federally funded "legal assistance with respect to any proceeding or litigation arising out of disputes or controversies on the issue of homosexuality or so-called gay rights." This amendment for the first time forces members of Congress to take a stand on gay rights, and on June 27 the House failed the test dismally; the amendment passed 230 to 133, with 70 not voting. (A Senate vote has not yet been scheduled.) The issue is both symbolic and substantive: why should gays be the only minority singled out as undeserving of federally funded legal assistance to protect their civil rights, and why should poorer gays be denied the legal assistance their richer sisters and brothers have access to? The representatives who voted against the amendment should be thanked and those who supported it castigated; information about how each member of the House voted (or failed to vote) is available from the Gay Rights National Lobby, Suite 210, 110 Maryland Ave., Washington, D.C. 20002; 202/546-5235. Senators should be urged to reject the MacDonald amendment if it comes to a vote there.

Remember, in any letter to an elected official, it is a good idea to point out that you are a registered voter ‑‑ and if you aren't one, get registered! ‑‑ and also, if true, that you contribute to political campaigns. If you feel you cannot sign your name, explain why you can't, since that is what the whole battle is about: freedom for lesbians and gay men to be themselves without being punished or discriminated against because of it.

TWO TOM WILSON SONGS

YOU'LL NEVER HAVE THE COMFORT OF OUR SILENCE AGAIN

Refrain: We're gay, we say it with pride;

We're gay, there's nothing to hide;

We're here, and one thing is plain,

You'll never have the comfort of our silence again.

We're your sister and your brother;

Your daughter and your son.

We're your father and your mother,

We might be anyone. (Refrain)

We listened to your theories;

We listened to your lies;

Here's where we put our foot down,

There is no compromise. (Refrain)

You told us we were sinners;

You told us we were wrong;

We took it all in silence,

But now we're feeling strong. (Refrain)

LOVE SONG TO OUR OPPRESSOR

We will teach you to love someday

We will teach you to love

And if you listen you will hear

What we're dreaming of.

We will teach you to smile someday

We will teach you to smile

It may be hard to throw off your fear

But it will be worthwhile.

We will teach you to touch someday,

We will teach you to touch

Don't back down, you're getting near

You can learn so much.

We will teach you to feel someday

We will teach you to feel

And if you follow skies will clear

All your wounds will heal.

INTEGRITY MEMBER WRITES BISHOP

The following are excerpts from two letters from a priest-member of INTEGRITY to a bishop (not his own) in which he tries to counter both theoretical and "practical" objections to the ordination of self-acknowledged gay persons and to relate the Gospel as a message of liberation, love, and acceptance for gay people. Though the Bishop has not as yet been "won over," it should be noted that he is probably moderate-to-liberal in comparison to other bishops. His desire to inform himself and be open to dialogue is commendable, but not as common as it should be.

I fear that in your diocese as well as in this one gay people have little evidence to expect support from their bishop, clergy or lay leaders. I have as yet to read one paragraph of one episcopal letter on this issue in which a bishop addresses the gay people of his diocese and explains his position to them and what this means to their life and role in the church. Of course, the bishops' first responsibility is to minister to those whose souls are in greatest danger, those who openly reject their fellow Christians, expressing hatred, in this case that means the homophobes. But I do not think that ministry should take the form of complicity even to a small degree. If one is honestly confused and uncertain, then I would suggest that either a frank assertion of that, or silence, would be the best response. St. Paul would have us limit our own freedom to avoid offending ignorant, immature Christians, and well we may, but for how long? Many gay Christians have realized for decades that there was no valid theological or moral reason for their ostracism, yet they have continued to support and minister to the clergy they loved too much to "offend" or "embarrass." I have heard clergy moan that gay people should not "rock the boat" or expect too much too soon, but I have as yet to hear one thank their gay parishioners for letting them off the hook for so long. It is a magnificent irony that, throughout the world the poor, the oppressed, the minorities are called upon to exercise the Christian virtues of patience, tolerance and love so as to avoid offending the sensibilities or threatening the security of the rich, the powerful, the established. The understanding, compassion and love with which our clergy minister to those who crucify their brothers and sisters is indeed a wonder to behold!

I am not sure what all may be implied by your reference to the "important" distinction between "celibate" and 'practicing" homosexuals. The former, of course, are less threatening to the "uptight," but as the Jesuits have proved lately, not even they would be accepted if they "went public." As far as I am concerned celibacy is one aspect of a vocation to which a small number of persons, gay or non-gay, are called and really is not related to the issue of removing the unwritten restrictions on ordination.

But this does bring me to the next point, which I think you have also recognized, which is that the gay issue is only one aspect of the Church's failure to minister to all its people as sexual beings including conservative, conventional, married ones, as the divorce rate and "serial polygamy" attest. I would like to do a doctoral dissertation on how this came about, but perhaps you will be satisfied with the basic thesis. I believe that the Church failed in the early centuries to grasp and to apply the radical implications of the Incarnation in respect to sexuality ‑‑ which is not to say that they failed to see some radical implications such as the end of the Jew-Gentile distinction. But this may have occurred had it not been for the great influence of the Stoic and Manichae schools of thought. The Catholics taught that the flesh was the matter of the Incarnation, a means of grace whereby we know and enjoy God, whereas the Manichaes held it to be the manifestation of all that is evil, irrational and perverse, which must be controlled and if possible, completely denied. My thesis, contrary to a lot of history books, is that the Catholics did not "carry the day" but rather reached a compromise with the Manichaes, or perhaps more accurately, simply "absorbed" them. Augustine is the archetypical example. It is not a gross oversimplification to say that he went from being a practicing Catholic with Manichae beliefs to being a practicing Manichae with Catholic beliefs. Catholic doctrine won the theological and christological battles only by surrendering the ascetical, moral and spiritual leadership of the Church to the Manichaes. Consequentially "Christian moral teaching" absolutized St. Paul at his worst and made celibacy and heterosexual intercourse within marriage for the purpose of procreation the only options for human sexuality. Meanwhile the Church's role as the spiritual arm of imperial totalitarianism made it a priority to find ways of insuring social and political conformity. The moral, economic and social obligations of life-long, monogamous, heterosexual marriage with sexual exclusivity was the most easily enforced norm. Marriage was thus reduced from being a special, sacred vocation for a minority (albeit a large one) of Christians to being the socially dictated fate of the vast majority. Today, as then, millions of persons who do not have this vocation are forced into it and then given a tremendous burden of guilt because the marriage "fails." This totalitarianism perverted sexual pleasure, from something everyone should have the right to rejoice in and share, into the ultimate reward for the ultimate conformity; and thus declared all non-conformist sex to be immoral and illegal. I submit that all gay people, all non-gay single people and most married people have been abandoned by the Church and often ostracized by it because the heresy of Manes rather than the Word-made-Flesh was given them as the "norm" and "model" of Christian life.

‑‑This article will be continued in a future issue.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH NEWS

POSITIVE COVERAGE OF INTEGRITY CONVENTION IN THE EPISCOPALIAN

Reporter Janette Pierce provided fair and accurate coverage of the Third Annual Convention of Integrity in a story published in the October, 1977, issue of The Episcopalian. The story ran under a headline: "Be functioning Christians, Integrity meeting told." Excerpts from the story follow:

Planning for the future, reflecting on the past and present, and a successful effort at community building were highlights of the third annual convention of Integrity, the national organization for Episcopal homosexuals.

Some 120 friends and members representing most of Integrity's 30 active chapters gathered for a four-day late August meeting in Philadelphia, PA. The convention program of speeches, workshops, and worship was held at the Christian Association building and St. Mary's Episcopal Church, both on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

The Rev. John M. Scott, rector of St. Mary's, celebrated the convention's opening Eucharist. Bishop Lyman Ogilby of Pennsylvania welcomed Integrity members. The Rev. Ronald Wesner, president, preached, calling on members to become mature, functioning Christians and not to allow social and church pressures to be excuses for less than responsible actions. "We don't have an excuse to keep our lives damaged. We don't have an excuse to keep on being victims. We don't have an excuse that allows us to give up and wallow in self-pity. No excuses! Just a promise that God's love is greater than a doubting heart, a command to love one another ‑‑ even a frightened, straight society, even a gay sister or brother who is embarrassing." ...

The Rev. Neale Alan Secor, rector of St. Mary's Church, Manhattanville, NY, delivered the first address. He said, "You have the freedom of choice available to any child of God who can accept him/herself as fully accepted by God. Liberation has been accomplished! The choice is between history's judgments and God's liberating love."

Noreen Carter, writer, educator, feminist, and member of the Massachusetts Commission on Gay Rights, spoke on "ethics and homosexuality in the light of a liberating God." She attacked as unproductive theologies which put homosexual relationships "altogether outside the moral order." She said, "The real issue for homosexuals and heterosexuals is not who they can have sex with, but who they can love ... who calls out in us genuine affection, passion, and the rich possibilities of intimacy. The Christian concern is to enable human beings to engage in trusting, committed relationships ... Homosexuals have the same moral possibilities and the same responsibilities as heterosexuals."

She concluded, "We need to find together a better way which is neither hedonistic nor legalistic, which honors differences without condoning sexual license, which does not deify sex but embraces a whole and holy sexuality as a gift from God." ...

The early session on community building apparently worked since members sat amiably through a lengthy, hot (not air-conditioned rather than controversial) business meeting to hear reports, elect new officers, and discuss ‑‑ in depth ‑‑ proposals for a constitution and by-laws which will be acted on next year. ...

WITNESS MAGAZINE ADDRESSES HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CHURCH

The October issue of The Witness magazine is devoted to a consideration of the subject of homosexuality in relationship to the Church. The issue is entitled "Gays in the Church Speak for Themselves." The Editor of The Witness, the Rt. Rev. Robert L. DeWitt, offers a helpful introductory editorial and guest editor, Brian McNaught of Dignity, handles the presentation of materials with skill and sensitivity. Ellen Barrett, Malcolm Boyd, Ron Wesner, and Louie Crew offer insights and points of view. The issue includes a superb essay, "It's Not OK to be Anti-Gay, by Dr. Sol Gordon, a child psychologist and Professor of Child and Family Studies at Syracuse University.

Because we believe that many members of Integrity will want to have copies of this issue of The Witness and because we believe some members might like to become subscribers to The Witness, we offer two possibilities to members and friends of Integrity:

1) You may receive a copy of the October issue of The Witness by sending $1.00 to the National Office of Integrity.

2) You may receive a copy of the October issue of The Witness and become a subscriber to The Witness (for a year) by sending $9.00 to the National Office of Integrity. (Through a special profit sharing plan, Integrity will be allowed to keep one-half of that subscription fee.)

A reminder ‑‑ the address of Integrity/National is: 3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

JOIN INTEGRITY

Enclosed is my check or money order for $_______.

Please [_] enter or [_] renew my subscription as indicated.

[_] $10 One Year Membership

[_] $20 Two Year Membership

All memberships include Integrity Forum.

[_] $12 One year Integrity Forum, non-member subscription

[_] $ 3 Additional charge for Plain Envelope (this must be

enclosed with any of the above categories.)

$______ is enclosed as my contribution for the general purposes of the national office. Contributions are needed to support Integrity's ministry.

Name______________________________________________

Address___________________________________________

City State & Zip__________________________________

Canadian and Foreign subscription remit in U.S. funds. Air Mail extra. Return to: INTEGRITY, P.0. Box 891, Oak Park IL 60303.

LOCAL CHAPTERS

* INTEGRITY/ALBUQUERQUE Convenor David Maulsby, P.O. Box 4996, Albuquerque, NM 87106

INTEGRITY/ATLANTA Convenor Thomas J. Jackson, Station C.P.O. Box 7934, Atlanta GA 30309

* INTEGRITY/AUSTIN Convenor Charles Arthur, 9904B Randall, Austin, TX 78753

INTEGRITY/BOSTON Convenor William Doubleday, Box 2582, Boston, MA 02208 617/723-4336

* INTEGRITY/CENTRAL INDIANA Convenor Orlando Gustilo, 5220 W. 30th St., Apt. C8, Indianapolis, IN 46224

INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/CHAPEL HILL Convenor Hogan Gaskins, P.O. Box 385, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

INTEGRITY/CHICAGO Convenor David Williams, P.O. Box 2516, Chicago, IL 60690 312/388-1470

INTEGRITY/DENVER Convenor Rev'd Thomas Dobbs, 1734 Washington Street, Denver, CO 80203

INTEGRITY/DETROIT Secretary-Treasurer Nick Benard, 22105 Gaukler, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080 313/771-0654

INTEGRITY/EUGENE Convenor Larry Monical, 310 East 14th Av., Eugene, OR 97401.

INTEGRITY/FORT VALLEY Co-Convenors Ernest Clay and Louie Crew, 701 Orange Street, #6, Fort Valley, GA 31030 912/825-7287.

INTEGRITY/HARTFORD Co-Convenors Kenneth Woods and Bonnie Gray, P.O. Box 603, Glastonbury, CT 06033

INTEGRITY/HOUSTON P.O. Box 3554, Houston, TX 77001

INTEGRITY/KNOXVILLE Convenor Jim Fleenor, P.O. Box 8174, U.T. Station, Knoxville, TN 37916

INTEGRITY/LOS ANGELES Convenor Jim Pressler, 5629 Monte Vista, #7, Los Angeles, CA 90032 213/462-5936

INTEGRITY/MADISON Rev'd Bill Landram, 21 W. Gilman St., Madison, WI 53703

INTEGRITY/MIAMI Convenor Bill Worley, P.O. Box 680457, Miami, FL 33168

* INTEGRITY/NEW HAVEN Convenor Clinton H. Warner, P.O. Box 1777, New Haven, CT 06507

INTEGRITY/NEW ORLEANS Convenor L. Sam Myers, P.O. Box 15586, New Orleans, LA 70175 504/861-1663

INTEGRITY/NEW YORK CITY Convenor Charles Kast, G.P.O. 1549, New York, NY 10001

* INTEGRITY/NORFOLK Write to the National Office

INTEGRITY/PHILADELPHIA Convenor Dr. Richard Keiser,130 S. 39th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 215/349-7214

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

INTEGRITY/PORTLAND Convenor Randy West, P.0. Box 1323, Federal Station, Portland, OR 97207

INTEGRITY/RICHMOND Convenor Edward Meeks Gregory, 1907 N. 23rd St., Richmond, VA 23223

INTEGRITY/ROCHESTER Convenor Kevin Scahill, 42 Tyler House, 17 S. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614 716/232-6521 or 716/458-8628

INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/SALT LAKE CITY Co-Convenors Hal Carter and Charles Lovely, P.O. Box 11873, Salt Lake City, UT 84147 801/268-0641

INTEGRITY/ST. LOUIS Convenor Jim Ellsworth, P.O. Box 7213, St. Louis, MO 63177 314/776-8210

INTEGRITY/SAN ANTONIO. Convenor David Allen White, 417 E. Locust #3, San Antonio, TX 78212 515/735-4393

INTEGRITY/SAN FRANCISCO AND BAY AREA. Co-Convenors Rev'd Richard Younge, P.O. Box 6444, San Jose, CA 95150 and Andrew Berry, 695 Noe St. #4, San Francisco, CA 94114

* INTEGRITY/SEATTLE Write to the National Office

* INTEGRITY/SOUTHERN OHIO Convenor Joshua Moore, 19 Bryant Ln #3, Hamilton,OH 45013 513/895-2276

INTEGRITY/TORONTO Convenor John Gartshore, 20 Berryman St., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5R 1MB

* INTEGRITY-DIGNITY/TUCSON Convenor George Neumann, P.O. Box 27929, Tucson, AZ 85726

INTEGRITY/TWIN CITIES Convenor Craig Anderson, P.O. Box 3565, Minneapolis, MN 55403

INTEGRITY/WASHINGTON, DC Convenor Wayne Fortunate-Schwandt, 2112 32nd St. S.E., Washington D.C. 20020 202/583-2158

* INTEGRITY/WESTERN MICHIGAN c/o Rev'd Donn Dunn, 311 Irwin Av., Albion,, MI 49224 Office 517/629-8710 Home 517/629-8269

* Indicates that a new chapter is in formation.

If you are interested in starting an Integrity chapter in your area, contact our President, Rev'd Ron Wesner, Integrity, Inc. 3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Telephone 215/386-5430, if no answer 215/619-1309