This is an electronic reproduction of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church.  All materials except those reproduced from other sources are copyrighted by Integrity, Inc.  You may reproduce all original material herein if you state "Reproduced from the Fall, 1991 issue of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church."

Material may not appear exactly as published since some changes were made after the document was transferred to desk top publishing format.

We encourage you to join Integrity.  We encourage non-Episcopalians and non-lesgay persons to join.  If you are a lesbian or gay Episcopalian and don't belong to Integrity, you're benefitting from all our work and we hope you'll strongly consider helping us by joining.  Individual annual membership $25, Couple's annual membership $40, Low income/student/sr. citizen $10.  Please mail check or money order to Integrity, Inc., P.O. Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036-0561.

**********

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letters To The Editor

From The Editor

The Washington Ordination

Schofield Bans Integrity

Religious Orders For Inclusive Ordination

Unraveling The Myth About Sexuality

Southland Convener And Spouse Acquitted

Celebrating SS Sergius & Bachus: MM Christian Archetypes Of

  Lesbian And Gay Marriages

Howe Pressures Dean To Resign

EC's Blair: No Raca!

Convention Handouts Available

Election Results

Ordination Of Another Openly Gay Episcopal Priest

Gay Tales

Our Ecumenical Partners On Sex:

  Three Quarters of Methodist Committee Back Change in Church

    Position

  United Church of Christ Reaffirms Lesgay Ordination

  Presbyterians: It Could Have Been Worse

Why Integrity?

Biblical Standard

President's Page:

  After Phoenix - Now What

********************

Fall 1991

*The Voice of Integrity*

Volume 1, Number 3

Published by Integrity, Inc.

P.O. Box 19561

Washington, D.C. 20036-0561

Telephone 718-720-3054

Bruce Garner, President

R. Scott Helsel, Editor

Edgar Kim Byham, Publisher

Contributing Editors:

Claudia Windal, Louie Crew

Blair McFadden, Layout

Dorothy Gunn, Production

Convention Staff:

Ellie Atwood-Tarbell, Paul Courry,

Bryant Hudson, Larkette Lein

Editorial Office:  201-868-2485

PO Box 5202; NYC, NY 10185

Member Episcopal Communicators and Gay Lesbian Press Association

Copyright 1991

********************

FROM THE EDITOR

As I have been putting together this issue, I have many great memories of General Convention.  I went to Convention hoping for a great victory.  When Convention was over, I felt somewhat disappointed.  Looking back on Convention, Integrity was very successful.  All Integrity members should be proud.  At no Convention in the past have Integrity and its supporters had such a positive influence on events.  By meeting, sharing stories, helping, and worshipping with other convention participants, deputies, and bishops, we are making a difference in both the Church and in society.  I hope that you can join in this education process in your parish and diocese.

********************

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

July 9, 1991

Dear Editor,

      I appreciated your article "World Council of Churches Ignores Lesbian/Gay Issues" (summer 1991).  I attended the WCC Assembly in Canberra as a member of the official delegation from the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), a denomination with a special outreach to the lesbian and gay community, and I thoroughly agree that lesbian and gay issues were ignored.  However, the picture is not as bleak as your article says.

      Your article oversimplified the situation by stating that "MCC is excluded from both the National Council of Churches and the WCC."  We have not yet applied for membership in the WCC, but we did receive the "Official Observer" status that we requested at the WCC Assembly.  Lesbian and gay issues were omitted from the official agenda, but we did form a group of lesbians, gay men and supporters that consisted of more than 50 people from at least 10 countries -- including an openly lesbian woman and an openly gay man who were official WCC delegates.  This group met three times, including once for a gay- and lesbian-affirming worship service of our own creation.  The connections we made at the Assembly have continued to grow since the close of the Assembly.

      I am enclosing a copy of our newsletter, "Keeping in Touch," which gives more details about lesbian and gay issues at the WCC Assembly.  I believe that the day is coming when the WCC can no longer ignore the spiritual renaissance of lesbian and gay people worldwide.

In Christ's service,

Rev. Kittredge Cherry

Field Director for Ecumenical Witness & Ministry

********************

THE WASHINGTON ORDINATION

by Kim Byham

      On Wednesday evening, June 5, 1991, the Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Ronald H. Haines, ordained the Rev. Elizabeth Carl to the priesthood.  There was intense media coverage, and although still and television cameras were barred from the service, one television crew peering through the windows of the church's doors provided pictures broadcast around the world.  It is not clear how the story came to the press's attention; publicity was not sought by the diocese or the ordinand.  Some sources suggest that it was an opponent of the ordination who made the first press contact.

      The ordination took place at the Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington.  Pamela Chinnis, Epiphany's Senior Warden, who was elected President of the House of Deputies (the number two position in the Episcopal Church) at the July General Convention, said, "Nobody can speak with authority how often [an ordination of an openly lesbian or gay person] happens, but everybody is agreed that it does happen frequently."

*Pre-ordination statements by Haines*

      It was obvious that the decision to ordain Carl was not one Haines had made lightly.  Bishop Haines, in a statement issued the day before the ordination, expressed  ambivalence and soul-searching.

      "In all her discussions with diocesan representatives, the candidate has been clear and candid about her sexuality and lifestyle," the statement said.  "She has handled herself well in this connection, being forthright about herself, yet sensitive to the differing views of others."

      Haines said that Carl, "has for a number of years openly lived in a loving and intimate relationship with another woman" with whom she has made "a lifelong and monogamous commitment."

      The bishop acknowledged that "ordination of one whose lifestyle involves sexual relations outside of marriage troubles me greatly." He said some "scriptural passages and historical teachings of the church appear to be at odds with ordination of homosexuals" and "cannot easily be answered or put aside."

      But when a candidate has persistently displayed "strength, leadership, spirituality, intellect, moral understanding and commitment to Christ," the bishop said, "reservation regarding the candidate's sexuality and lifestyle" should not "by itself be an absolute bar to ordination."

      Haines said Carl "does not seek to use her ordained ministry as a public platform to advance any perceived cause relating to human sexuality."

      Haines said in a telephone interview with "The Washington Post" on June 4 that the ordination would remove "an overlay of deception that was painful and causing problems."

      "Before, there was a tacit approach.  There was an understanding that a [minister] was gay, but it just wasn't said . . . and no one asked.  Now, we would rather be truthful from the beginning."

*Protests at the Ceremony*

      Several signs posted outside the church read "apostasy" and "this ordainment [sic] is sinful."

      Not long after the ordination began, Bishop Haines reached the point where the Bishop must ask, "If any of you know any impediment or crime because of which we should not proceed, come forward now and make it known."  Five persons came to the front of the church to protest.

      "We believe this is a problem which obstructs a total commitment to Jesus," the Rev. James West, 73, who recently retired after almost 50 years as Rector of Calvary, Washington, said of Carl's sexual orientation.  "We feel it is necessary to object to ordination since it is a known fact she is a lesbian."

      He was followed by TiaJuana Rountree, also a member of Calvary, Washington, who declared that Ms. Carl's sexuality made her unsuitable for the priesthood.

      Bishop Haines responded that the objectors had not presented any information that he had not "prayerfully and fearfully" considered.  He then asked the congregation, "Is it your will that Elizabeth be ordained a priest?"

      The congregation answered resoundingly, "It is."

      "Will you do your best to pattern your life and that of your household in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?", Haines asked Carl.  "I will," replied Carl.

      Nearly 30 priests from across the nation placed their hands on Carl.  She then received a red stole of the priesthood and turned to face a two-minute round of applause from the congregation.

      The preacher for the service was the Very Rev. James Earl Cavanaugh, Dean of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kansas City, who later served as chair of the House of Deputies Committee on Ministry at General Convention.

*Presiding Bishop's Reaction*

      The ordination clearly upset the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning.  In a statement, he noted the imminent General Convention and said "events such as the ordination in the diocese of Washington can trigger the sort of attention that may make positive dialogue more difficult and polarize the church."

      He added: "When I was first informed by the bishop of Washington on Tuesday, June 4, of the ordination scheduled for June 5, I asked that he reconsider for the good of the whole church and the impending discussion at General Convention."

*Other Comments*

      Flying home from his speech to the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta,  President George Bush was asked by a reporter on Air Force One what his feelings were about the Carl ordination at the Church of the Epiphany, three blocks from the White House.

      "Well, to be very candid with you, I think the churches, regional churches, branch churches have a right to do what they want," said the president, an Episcopalian.  He added: "Perhaps I'm a little old-fashioned, but I'm not quite ready for that."

      "I'm surprised at the event and the timing," said the Rt. Rev. William C. Frey, president of the right-wing Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry.  "It seems to me very unwise for any bishop to act as though the debate had already taken place and been settled."

      The Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold, Bishop of Chicago, told "The Chicago Tribune,"  "I would say that a number of dioceses in the Episcopal Church regard the resolution of the 1979 Convention [regarding ordination of "practicing homosexuals"] as advisory rather than canon law."  He said that is also his interpretation and added, "I would take seriously what Bishop Haines has said about the thoroughness of interviews" that led up to the ordination of Carl.

*Carl's Background*

      Raised in the Methodist Church in her native Houston,  Elizabeth Carl was confirmed in the Episcopal Church while a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles.  She received a bachelor's degree in comparative literature there and later received a graduate degree in library science from the Catholic University of America.  Now 44, she worked for the Library of Congress for 16 years.

      She has served as a church choir member, lay reader and lay minister to homebound and hospitalized people.  She entered the process leading toward ordination in January 1985 and served as an intern at Holy Trinity Church, Bowie, Md., and as a pastoral intern at the St. Francis Center in Washington, where she counseled terminally ill people and their families.

      Carl graduated from the Union Theological Seminary in New York City with a master of divinity degree in 1990.  On May 1, 1991 she began her present job as assistant minister at Church of the Epiphany.

*Haines' Post Ordination Letter*

June 27, 1991

To all Diocesan, Suffragan and Coadjutor Bishops

Dear Sister and Brothers in Christ:

      Several of you have been in touch with me regarding the ordination to the priesthood on June 5 of a deacon in this diocese by the name of Elizabeth Carl.  I write to give you some additional information which led to my decision.  This is not to defend the action, but to establish some perspective.

      My personal journey was an integral part of my decision.  In years past, I served on Standing Committees and on diocesan staffs where I took a close interest in the formation process of those exploring a call to ordained ministry.  My perception of that past era is that we did little to address issues of sexuality in general, much less homosexuality.  The cultural climate of the times was far less open than today.  Much has changed in recent years.  The Church, it seems to me, has become increasingly ambivalent toward our emerging society, and while some have embraced societal norms uncritically, others have grown insular in the face of change.

      All of us who are called to the Episcopal office know the struggle to bring Gospel truth to bear on the practices of an increasingly secular world.  We walk a narrow line.  I am reminded of the words of Jorgen Moltmann ("The Crucified God," p.7), "The more theology and the church attempt to become relevant to the problems of the present day, the more deeply they are drawn into the crisis of their own Christian identity.  The more they attempt to assert their identity in traditional dogmas, rights, and moral notions, the more irrelevant and unbelievable they become." My belief is that we cannot have it both ways, however, and there is ever present the challenge to apply God's truth to changing situations.

      Since coming to this richly diverse diocese in 1986 as suffragan, I have worked closely with my predecessor, our Commission on Ministry, Standing Committee, those in the ordination process, and parishes and others with clergy deployment concerns.  It has been apparent that for some of our congregations, sexual orientation was a factor to be considered in the ordination and calling processes, whereas for others, it has been a litmus test.  The dichotomy often led to a tacit policy of deception.  All this has been no small concern in a diocese that has fifteen to twenty aspirants annually.  Candidates withheld certain information about orientation, and congregations too kept secrets -- a dynamic that carried through ordination into deployment.  I became increasingly uncomfortable with a system that pretended not to know what we have always known.  The Church has, does, and most likely will continue to ordain homosexuals.  The question is not if but how.  We are faced with an ethic of truthfulness and an ethic of sexuality that are in conflict.

      In 1989, the Commission on Ministry, the Standing Committee, and I concurred that a step in the right direction would be to ask for openness regarding orientation in our ordination process.  I am aware that such candor is not without considerable risk and potential for misunderstanding.  Ms. Carl, the woman I recently ordained, already was a candidate at the time.  Since she already had shared her sexual orientation with her home parish committee, she readily agreed to the new policy.  Indeed, had she not been forthright, we would have no controversy today.

      Much has been said in the press about Ms. Carl being a "practicing lesbian" - a phrase open to interpretation out of our own imaginations.  I can tell you that she professes to being of same-sex orientation and that she has for some years made a home together with another woman.  Our process does not delve beyond that point.  We are concerned that an ordinand be a wholesome example to the people of God and that identity is not necessarily set by one's sexuality.  Those expectations are re-visited many times in our five-year process for ordination.

      It is evident we are not of one mind.  Some would reject an ordinand solely on the basis of orientation.  Others would weigh additional factors.  What I can assure you is that Ms. Carl is a woman of maturity and dignity.  She has a gentle way and a strong faith.  The fruits of the Spirit are apparent in her ministry.  If she has a cause, it is to proclaim the Gospel and be a pastor.

      Some have questioned the timing of the ordination.  Let me assure you that the choice was made on a pastoral and not a political basis.  Ms. Carl was ordained to the diaconate in June of 1990 along with seven others.  The Presiding Bishop had been informed well in advance of that event.  In March of 1991, our Standing Committee approved Ms. Carl for ordination to the priesthood and urged me to ordain her.  I refused to do so until she had a call to serve in a congregation on a sustained basis.

      In the meantime, a parish of the Diocese was in need of another priest for general work on its staff, albeit with emphasis on hospital ministry.  There was some urgency since the priest who had carried out that work for many years had died.  Ms. Carl was offered the position and began work on May 1st.  I agreed to ordain her promptly as promised.  There was no desire or effort to make the occasion a media event, but, unfortunately, that was not to be the case.

      I did not arrive at my decision easily or unilaterally.  Her home parish, an intern parish, a seminary, a calling parish, our Commission on Ministry, and the Standing Committee all affirmed Ms. Carl's priestly call.  That broad support weighed heavily in my determination.

      I do not make light of the concern of many that for an unmarried person celibacy is the-only acceptable norm.  I can accept that as a principle but wonder how one goes about the task of monitoring private behavior.  As Jesus reminded us in the parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-32), there can be a paradoxical twist to human nature.  The first son agreed to do the father's will but did not, whereas the second refused, only to repent and become the very one who acted in obedience.  The end of the parable gives even greater pause for concern.  All are called to repentance, but the righteous are sometimes the last to respond after the tax collectors and prostitutes (Jesus' words, not mine).

      It would be unfortunate if we subordinate the primary themes of scripture - justice, redemption, holiness, mission, etc., - to the secondary theme of sexuality.  I, for one, would welcome further exploration of the biblical message, provided that it be applied to all the faithful and not just some.

      My delight in the written words of Holy Scripture comes from an understanding they are alive, calling us into a dialogue with God and each other.  I do not think the meaning lies behind the text, i.e., in the mind of the original author, in the original social setting, or even in the text itself.  The meaning lies in front of the text.  We are not simply trying to repeat the original meaning or to reproduce the original setting, but to mediate, translate, and interpret it so that the passage impacts upon life in the present (cf. Hodgson & King, "Christian Theology," p. 42).  Put another way, we are drawn to Christ -- not back to some past era.

      Even the passages from Romans, most quoted in this controversy (Chapters 1-3), contain caveats that when we judge others we may condemn ourselves (Romans 2:1), because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  The over-arching call is to leave behind what we once were in an idolatrous society and move toward what we are yet to be in Christ.  Some expressions of sexuality are, in my mind, manifestations of our rebelliousness against God, but they do not exhaust the field of human sin.  Perhaps our efforts would be better spent exploring what it means for all the people of God to give witness to a Christian lifestyle in a secular world by living out our baptismal covenant.

      I ask that we continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the Church in its search for God's truth and give us the grace to live out that truth in our lives.

Yours in Christ,

Ronald H. Haines

Bishop of Washington   

********************

SCHOFIELD BANS INTEGRITY

by Kim Byham, taken from accounts by Brian Jones and others

      Last March I spoke with a person from a small town in north central California who wanted to form an Integrity chapter.  The tiny town of San Andreas has only a single mission Episcopal Church and it's not near any large cities.  That made me skeptical about the viability of such a chapter, but I was intrigued that it was located in the Diocese of San Joaquin [see "Two ESA Dioceses Ask General Convention to Bash Gays," N&N, Winter, 1991] Brian Jones, the person I spoke with, soon got in touch with Western Vice President Dorothy Beattie, of the Diocese of California and now living in the diocese of Northern California, and National Secretary Gil Grady, who is in the diocese of El Camino Real.  San Andreas is reasonably near these three dioceses.  Brian's determination and organizational abilities meant that soon memberships were pouring in and that Integrity of the Sierras, as of September 1, had 25 members.

      The chapter was welcomed at St. Matthew's Church, whose Vicar, The Rev. M. Woodrow Peabody, was especially supportive. San Andreas is a long way from the see city of Fresno, and it took a while for word to reach the bishop that the chapter had formed.  In early July, however, Fr. Peabody was summoned to Fresno to meet with the bishop, The Rt. Rev. John-David Schofield.  He took his wardens with him, but Schofield refused to meet with them.  The bishop told Peabody that he could not give permission for an Integrity chapter to meet in his church, nor could he officiate at any worship service for Integrity.

      Schofield, who is unmarried and was a member of a Roman Catholic religious order at the time of his election as bishop, is a leader of the Episcopal Synod of America.  He was outspokenly anti-gay at General Convention, and suffered a heart attack during the final days of convention.  He has now resumed all duties.

      On July 28th, there was a passive demonstration at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church to protest the bishop's decree.  The Ven. Donald Seeks, Archdeacon, was making his annual visit that Sunday.  Brian Jones reports, "There were over 40 people in support of Integrity wearing pink triangles of the 131 people present."  These included Dorothy Beattie, and her partner Louise, members of Integrity/San Francisco Bay Area and Integrity/El Camino Real.  Other guests include members nearby parishes.  "This passive demonstration was a success," Jones said.  "Archdeacon Seeks, on the other hand, was rude to everyone visiting St. Matthew's that day.  He refused to greet anyone after the service and chose to slip out the side door to avoid anyone wearing pink triangles."  A brunch for Integrity supporters followed the service.  Jones issued special thanks to the members of Cursillo and the Episcopal Women's Caucus for their support.

********************

RELIGIOUS ORDERS FOR INCLUSIVE ORDINATION.

By Harriet Howard Heithaus

      The superiors and officers of 16 Anglican religious communities throughout the United States and Canada have signed a statement saying they believe "the call to ordination is from the Holy Spirit, who cannot be limited and who may therefore all any individual, regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation."

      The statement was drafted and signed July 11, 1991 at the triennial meeting of the Conference on the Religious Life in The Anglican Communion in the Americas.  It is an organization of 24 communities comprising from 450 to 500 monks and nuns.  Twenty of the 24 member communities were represented at the meeting.

      It is the first time the conference has taken such a stand and one of the rare times the conference has issued a statement around a General Convention issue, said the Rev. Richard G. Johns, its general secretary.  "That's what's something of a surprise on this one.  But one of our members felt strongly about the issues and came to the meeting with a statement and we worked with that," Johns said.  In fact, the statement is also the conference's first affirmation of the validity of the ordination of women, he added.

      Ordination of women has been permitted in the U.S. since 1976 and in Canada since 1978, but the conference has not taken a stand; some of its member communities are opposed to women's ordination, said Johns.  "These are obviously issues the religious communities themselves have struggled with for some time," Johns said.

      The conference also passed unanimously a resolution that its superiors' council should commit itself to "serious and continued study and prayer around the issues of racism, sexism and human sexuality, beginning specifically at its next meeting."

-----

This article appeared in "Convention Daily," July 13, 1991

********************

*1992 INTEGRITY NATIONAL CONVENTION*

Houston, Texas   July 9-July 12

The Most Rev. Edmond Browning, Featured Speaker

Save the dates and watch "The Voice of Integrity" for more details

********************

UNRAVELLING THE MYTH ABOUT SEXUALITY

By Walter C. Righter

*Human Sexuality Is Up For Discussion.*

      The National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and one of the Jewish groups in the United States have all spent considerable time studying the issue of sexuality and trying to define it in 20th-century terms.  Register editor Geneva Overholser, in a responsible way, focusing on being a parent in today's world, has raised the issue for all of us to think about.

      When I was 14, a friend and I played hooky from school and went to a theater in Philadelphia called The Trocadero.  It was, pure and simple, a burlesque house.  It was also pure sleaze -- except for the comic acts which were, to a teen, surprisingly good.  In the '30s we did not need excuses from parents, and the school did not notify parents of their children's absences.  So my friend and I went back to school the next day and all was well.

      But my friend blew it!  Perhaps because of guilt, perhaps because he needed to brag.  He told his brother.  His brother told their parents.  Their parents told my parents.  And one evening during supper my mother said, "Graham's parents say you and Graham played 'hooky' and went to the Trocadero to see burlesque.  Did you?"

      Surprise and shock.  I turned beet red, owned up, and watched my 7-year-old brother chuckle at my discomfort.  Then my father surprised me.  He said, "I can certainly understand your curiosity about shows like that and what they represent.  But I hope another time you will tell me what you are about to do, and if I can, I will take you myself."

*Perspective on sexuality*

      During the next week he talked with some friends who were theater critics.  It seems the Trocadero was not very good theater -- other places were better.  We went, together, to the "best" place, and we talked about it afterward.  It was as exciting as the illicit day away from school, but it gave me a perspective about all of that, and also about parenthood.

      By going to the Trocadero, I raised the sexuality issue.  And I raised it in a context that was immediate.  My parents' reactions could have been punitive, angry, foot-stomping.  Or my mother could have feigned shock and my father could have taken me behind the house for an inadequate sex talk.  None of that, for them, was adequate.  My father was obviously struggling to launch his oldest son into the existential crisis called "the teens" with as much grace as possible.

      All of that happened in 1937.  No thought was given to seeking wisdom from the parson, or from existing teachings of the church.  When Overholser wrote in her article of June 30, "the church is even less willing to look change straight in the face than we are.  It's the last bastion of denial," I found her words profoundly true, based upon my experience as a youth, and my experience as a priest from 1951 to 1971, and as a bishop since 1972.

      All of us in the major denominations have dealt with some change in the 1960s and '70s.  In the '80s, we spent time trying to consolidate what we had done and preparing for the future.  But events got beyond us.  A faithful Roman Catholic layperson discovered and released the birth-control pill.  We still are trying to recover and interpret the meaning of that pill to ourselves, let alone the world.

*Myth about Iowa*

      In the book, "The Cry for Myth," therapist Rollo May makes a suggestion worth our thought.  He says: "A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world.  Myths are like the beams in a house; not exposed to outside view, they are the structure which holds the house together so people can live in it."

      For a long time the myth called Iowa has been embodied in words like pioneer, self-sufficiency, hard work, farming, success, etc.  Much of the world has been fed as the result of our acting out that myth.  But the myth is coming apart.  We still have 25 percent of the word's richest farm land.  We still grow enormous amounts of corn, soybeans and hogs.

      But, politically, the farm vote is no longer significant.  When I became the bishop of Iowa in 1972 I was astounded to find that the major portion of disposable personal income came from manufacturing jobs -- not farming.  I was even more astounded to discover that significant leaders in the state new it, were proud of it, but did not want to talk too much about it.  I think the latter was true because they sensed a myth coming apart.  That was 20 years ago.  It is even more clear now -- the myth of 150 years' duration no longer stands.

      Iowa still exists in all her natural beauty.  It is a good place to live.  Iowa's people are, for the most part, still honest and hardworking.  But we have to re-mythologize Iowa in order to, as May suggests, "hold the house together so people can live in it."

      Something just as profound is happening with human sexuality.  The myth by which we held our house together is no longer useful.  The "pill" is the best symbol of the newness we must deal with, but there is other newness as well.  Children must be more adequately protected from abuse.  So must parishioners whose clergy abuse them.  This latter is a recognizable and growing phenomenon across all denominational lies.  We have all this disorder and confusion because the framework no longer holds.  It is not because we have suddenly become immoral.

      Lilly Foundation in Indianapolis, Ind., has spent years and countless dollars trying to understand the malaise of the mainline denominations in our society.  They seem to know what has not caused it -- social program, ordination of women, revision of liturgy, etc.  I would suggest that May, in asking us to look at our myths, has come close to helping us discover the cause of the malaise.

*What can thoughtful people do?*

      Two things as a bare minimum.

      First, let each parish church of each denomination in Iowa spend the weeks of mid-winter doing  a serious study of human sexuality.  Read the reports of the denominations that already have done profound work.  Invite professional people in your community, or nearby, to engage in discussions.  Listen to points of view different from your own.  Organize it now so you can have the best possible resource people in your community.

      Have discussions with gays

      Second, invite members of the gay and lesbian community to meet with you in your parish study.  Listen carefully.  Scientific evidence is almost overwhelming that homosexuality is not a choice people make (therefore moral) but in most instances is given from birth.  Gay and lesbian people who have been brave enough to come out can be found if you look.  It is necessary to be inclusive of this point of view.  Churches have been ordaining gay males for more than a thousand years, and now, in many denominations, lesbians are being ordained.  The question for the churches is not "Shall we ordain homosexuals?"  The question is "Will we be honest about ordaining homosexuals?"

      I would suggest a book by Peter Drucker, a well-known business consultant, called "The Age of Discontinuity."  Drucker helps us understand that many of our beloved Bible stories have emerged from discontinuities of the past.  Those of us who despair, or give up, or get angry when we face change, think a discontinuity in history is a time when all that matters is lost.  Not os, says Drucker.  Instead, an age if discontinuity is a time when that which is the rock-bottom truth will be saved.

      What is more rock bottom than that phrase from the Presbyterian report that says, "We should be asking whether the relation is responsible, the dynamic genuinely mutual, and the loving full of caring."  That questioning attitude will rebuild the myth that holds the house together.

      Iowa has some work to do -- about the myth called Iowa and about the myth called human sexuality.  Let's do it well -- and not be afraid.

-----

Walter C. Righter, who is currently living in West Des Moines is the retired Bishop of Iowa and was until recently Assistant Bishop of Newark.  He was the subject of an unsuccessful censure effort at General Convention because of his ordination of Barry Stopfel to the diaconate in September 1990.

-----

This article appeared in the "Des Moines Register," August 1991

********************

SOUTHLAND CONVENER AND SPOUSE ACQUITTED

by Larkette Lein

      When we left off in the last issue, my husband Paul Courry and I were expecting to go to trial on May 28 for our part in disrupting Congressman William Dannemeyer's speech at a "Symposium on the Preservation of the Heterosexual Ethic."  Our attorney's motion to have the whole thing dismissed was rejected, however, and we didn't end up having our day in court until July 2.

      It looked likely that trial would run right up into the time I'd planned to be in Phoenix, working with Integrity at the General Convention.  Worse, there was a possibility that any jail time we drew would start running right away and that I'd be in jail instead of in Phoenix.  But I was very much at peace with the unknown; I was confident that God would put me where I was supposed to be, whether lobbying in Phoenix, or witnessing in court or in jail.

      However, the Lord had other things up His sleeve.  It wasn't to be that easy.  In fact, the choice that was presented us that first day in court was the most difficult I've ever had to make.  We were offered one year's informal probation and a $250 fine in exchange for pleading guilty and going away quietly.  There were all sorts of imponderables to weigh against each other.  If we insisted on trial, and were convicted, the judge promised he'd have to levy much harsher sentences -- three years' probation, a fine, and as much as 120 days in jail.

      But we hadn't gone to the trouble to get arrested for nothing.  Even if we didn't ask for a jury trial -- and our attorney recommended against it, in the county which was the birthplace of the John Birch Society -- the prosecution could, and that could easily take up the whole two weeks we were planning on being in Phoenix.

      The two co-defendants from ACT-UP decided they wanted to make a public stand.  They made it clear that there would be no hard feelings if we decided otherwise, but Paul and I knew that a great measure of the effectiveness of the action had been the inclusion of a married couple in prayerful counterpoint to their vocal disruption, and that it would be harder to convict them if we were also part of the picture.

      We paced the patio where we had adjourned to take counsel.  I kept praying, 'This isn't fair, God.  It was supposed to be Thy Will Be Done and that's all.  I wasn't supposed to have to decide my own fate with so little information and so many what-if's.  You're the One who knows it all, and you were supposed to run this show.  This is too much responsibility.  I don't like having a free will if this is what it means!'

But then it suddenly became clear that our place as Christians was not to worry whether going to trial would give us the media forum we wanted and whether we could make it worth our while.  Our place was to witness Christ's sacrificial love to our two ACT-UP co-defendants, to our attorney (a self-admitted former Catholic, who, like so many other gays of deep integrity, was forced to leave the church), and to the small group of ACT-UP supporters who had been faithfully coming to court every time the four of us had to appear.  Our witness was to go the second mile, to go further than was asked.  Once that was clear, I was at once at peace and utterly sure.

      "We're all going to trial!" The four of us shared a group hug and the spirit was intense.  By that time it was late morning, and we were told to come back the following day for a non-jury trial.  The prosecutor had opted for the cheaper way out.

      The trial began with a parade of witnesses for the prosecution, and a showing of the video tape that the seminar sponsors had made of the event.  Paul and I appeared briefly, more like props or wallpaper, behind all the wild action in the front of the church.

      The small court room was full with ACT-UP supporters, a member of our chapter's steering committee, and a bank of radio and local cable-TV reporters, as well as the L.A. Times and the Orange County Register.

      Our attorney successfully moved dismissal of the first ACT-UP defendant, on the grounds that testimony and the video tape showed his part in the action to have consisted of standing silently at the side of the person committing the great offense of reading I Cor. 13 in church.

      Although the trial was strictly an issue of whether our actions had crossed the line from allowable political speech into a violation of Congressman Dannemeyer's First Amendment rights, when I was on the stand our attorney was able to allow me to read once more in public the statement we had made while on our knees in the church, and again to the press after our arrest: "God is on the side of the suffering ..."

      However, his motion at the end of the day to have us dismissed was rejected.  But we were still one down, three to go, when the court recessed for the 4-day Fourth of July holiday.

      Over the weekend, Paul and I discussed our chances of spending our Phoenix time in jail.  That possibility was becoming more remote, as I could see the way our attorney was pointing the First Amendment arguments.  The chances of the two of us being acquitted looked better and better, as the chances of the remaining co-defendant looked dimmer and dimmer.

      Then Paul had the idea -- if we drew a lighter sentence, we would ask the judge to give us whatever he gave the remaining ACTUP defendant.  It would raise a hell of a stir in the courtroom.  But would it be seen as a genuine gesture of solidarity?  Or merely grandstanding?  Our attorney, of course, advised against it.  But David, our co-defendant, was deeply moved, and perhaps that was enough.  We talked about how and when and where to make the request -- by standing up and requesting the judge's indulgence? By passing him a note and avoiding the grandstand? What if we were acquitted? We talked late into the night.

      The next morning, I took a long run to settle my thoughts.  I'd been reading the most recent issue of The Voice of Integrity, and the griefs of so many of my sisters and brothers weighed deeply.  It was all so unfair, that so many hurts could be inflicted in the name of Christ.  And in the name of "traditional family values."  And in just plain bigotry and hatred.  I felt so helpless to help.  And even helpless to understand -- I'm not gay, it's not my problem, I haven't walked in those shoes.  But then I realized that the griefs of the world weren't Jesus' problem, either.  He'd never sinned.  Yet he agonized in the garden of Gethsemane, he yearned to protect and gather his own like a hen shelters her chicks.

      I stopped at a church along my route, found to my amazement that it was unlocked, and went inside.  Releasing the stresses and the great unknowns, and offering God my best attempt at willingness to be where I was supposed to be, I crouched at the steps to the altar and wept.  Then I looked up and found a Bible open on the lectern.  Although I'm not one for playing the let-the-Bible-fall-open-and-pick-a-verse game, I was amazed at what I found: Isaiah 8:11  "The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me ...  Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.  The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear... and he will be a sanctuary." Considering that "conspiracy to commit trespass" was the charge against us, I took heart in the passage!

      Monday, July 9, we were all back in court.  As the three of us co-defendants took their place at the table beside, I snuck a look at our attorney, and caught him with his hands clasped in front of his face, and his eyes closed.  Perhaps not so lapsed a believer after all?

      About mid-morning, the prosecution made its closing arguments.  And to our delight, the judge interrupted on numerous occasions, arguing and disputing his points, pointing out that what we had done, kneeling apparently silently behind the speaker and holding signs (I say apparently because we were inaudible on videotape and no witness testified to hearing our statement), would not of itself prevented the speaker from continuing to exercise his First Amendment rights.  It was only the audience's frenzied response to the content of our signs which created the problem and had our signs said "Go for it Dannemeyer" we wouldn't have been arrested by the seminar sponsors.  The judge then apologized to our attorney for "stealing his thunder," and indeed, our attorney began by acknowledging that "pages two and three" of his closing argument had already been voiced by the court.  Before the morning was over we had been acquitted, and, with three out of four co-conspirators eliminated, the charges against the remaining defendant were reduced to one count of disturbing the peace.

      We came out of the court-room to a classic press of the press -- a forest of microphones, a sea of videocables, and banks of bright lights.  I'd prepared my one-liner for this fleeting moment of fame, "My husband and I are here as Christians, as codefendants with ACT-UP, because too many so-called Christians are saying, 'Faggot go to hell.' By standing here as co-defendants we're saying, 'Jesus Loves You.'

      After lunch, David was sentenced to one year of informal probation and a $250 fine -- the precise plea bargain that we'd refused.  We decided it was pointless to ask for the same sentence, since we'd been totally acquitted, but we did offer to help pay his fine.  He counter-offered -- "How about if you just pay back ACT-UP for those two $50 tickets that got you in to this whole mess?" We agreed -- those were tickets for an E Coupon ride!

      And then it was on to a restful 11 days in Phoenix for the Convention ...

********************

CELEBRATING SS SERGIUS & BACCHUS:

MM CHRISTIAN ARCHETYPES OF LESBIAN AND GAY MARRIAGE

      Integrity chapter liturgists may wish to schedule the observance of SS Sergius and Bacchus on or near their 7 October feast day.  In the martyrologies, they are described as Christian soldier-lovers who were martyred in the late 3rd or early 4th century after refusing to worship their royal employer's pagan gods.  After humiliation and torture, Bacchus died first.  Sergius then, for the first time, began to waver.  His resolve was strengthened by a vision of Bacchus urging him to hold fast "in perfect fidelity that you may be worthy to earn me as the reward of the race, for my crown of justice is you."  In orthodox iconography, Sergius and Bacchus are portrayed as equestrian soldiers, their halos overlapping and their horses nuzzling each other.

      In his address, "1500 Years of Lesbian and Gay Marriage," given at the 1988 General Convention Integrity luncheon, Yale professor John Boswell cited the role of Sergius and Bacchus as the archetypes of sacramental, Christian lesbian and gay marriage rites which date back to the 5th century.  It would be appropriate to celebrate committed lesgay covenants, especially those of couples in the chapter, on their feast.

PROPERS FOR SS SERGIUS & BACCHUS

Collect: Almighty God, who gave to your servants Sergius and Bacchus the grace to love one another, the humility to bear one another's weaknesses, and the courage to confess the Name of Jesus before the rulers of this world and to die for this faith; Grant to us your servants a like unfeigned love and unashamed fidelity that we may receive with them the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our friend who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

*1st Reading*:  Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 6:14-17

*Psalm*: 133

*2nd Reading*: I Corinthians 13:1-13

*Alleluia Verse* (Rev. 2:10): Be faithful until death, says the

     Lord, and I will give you the crown of life.

*Gospel*: Matthew 10:6-22

*Preface*: Of a Saint (3)

*Hymns* (Hymnal 1982): 236-241, 351, 353 s 1 & 2, 414, 668

In celebration of covenants, the following may be included in Form I of the Prayers of the People (or adapted to any of the other forms) after the petition, "For the good earth...":

      For the union in Christ of all persons joined in holy love and inseparable life, that they may enjoy unashamed devotion and unfeigned love for all their days, let us pray to the Lord.

      R.  Lord, have mercy.

For the concluding collect at the Prayers:

O Lord our God, benefactor and friend of the human race, grant to all your servants unashamed fidelity, a sound and holy love, and all things needed for salvation and eternal life, through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

*NOTES*: The above collect and prayer forms were adapted by the author from lesgay marriage rite prayers quoted by Dr. Boswell in his 1988 address to Integrity.

The illustration of SS Sergius and Bacchus was sketched by the author from a copy of an icon provided by David White of Integrity/Washington.

-----

The Rev. L. Paul Woodrum is Director of Development of Integrity, Inc. and is Assistant at St. Alban's Church, St. Alban's, New York.

********************

HOWE PRESSURES DEAN TO RESIGN

by Ben Scott

      On August 21, after enduring three months of turmoil, the Very Reverend Harry Sherman, Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in the Diocese of Central Florida, resigned his position effective February 2, 1992.  The Dean has been under attack for openly supporting the inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in all aspects of church life.

      The controversy began in May when Bishop John Howe revised the diocesan guidelines for lay eucharistic ministers to say: "It is not appropriate to recommend for licensing anyone whose lifestyle is an affront to the gospel, for instance, anyone known to be perpetrating fraud, a malicious gossip, or someone known to be engaging in sexual relations outside holy matrimony."  The Bishop called upon the Dean to support the change "one hundred percent", but as a matter of conscience the Dean could not.  Shortly thereafter the Dean felt pressure from the Bishop to resign. 

      The guideline revision was viewed by many as one more act by Howe to encourage discrimination against gay and lesbian persons.  Howe claimed, "My position is that I do not want to single out homosexual activity as the only thing of concern.  I do not want to go on a witch hunt."  Shortly after the guideline revision, however, the Bishop singled out Dr. Barry Levis, convener of Integrity/Central Florida, as a target for removal from the altar.   Barry refused to respond to Howe's inquiries into his personal life.  Later, after reading Barry's faith story in "A Book of Revelations," the Bishop requested that he no longer serve at the altar.  Barry responded, pointing out the datedness of Howe's information and refused his request to discontinue serving.  He currently continues to serve.

      Members of the Cathedral were in a furor over reports that the Bishop was pressuring the Dean to leave.  Over 150 communicants attended the monthly Cathedral Chapter meeting in late June, a meeting normally attended only by Chapter members.  At that meeting Bishop Howe denied rumors that he was calling for the resignation of the Dean and other Cathedral clergy.  He called it a "misunderstanding" and expressed his "love and support" for the Dean.

      Dean Sherman responded saying, "From the bottom of my heart, I welcome all homosexuals into the church."  He continued, "Once the doors are open you are eventually faced with saying to people, 'you are welcome totally -- period -- into the life of any community.'"  He expressed his personal pain over the divisions in the cathedral and the national church calling on both to "cry together as a family" as we work through the pain surrounding this issue, but made it clear his position was firm.  He was interrupted several times by loud cheers, applause, and a standing ovation. 

      When explaining how he would enforce the Bishop's new guidelines the Dean responded, "Because two men live together doesn't mean that they're having sex together.  I don't know that and I don't want to know.  Don't tell me!" 

      When given an opportunity to speak, the crowd was overwhelmingly supportive of the Dean's position.  "Gays are the niggers of the 1990's," was the fiery cry of one man as he recollected the discrimination of pre-civil rights era and called upon the church to be a leader in working for the rights of gay and lesbian persons just as it has worked for the rights of women and persons of color in the past.  One Chapter member quoted the recently passed Vision Statement for the Cathedral which calls for the "embracing of all peoples" into the Cathedral family.

*HOWE SAYS ONE THING, DOES ANOTHER*

      When Howe was questioned concerning his future intentions for the Cathedral, he repeatedly stated that he wished just to be a part of the "Cathedral family" and had no desire to "take control" of it.  Nevertheless, the Bishop removed his pledge from the Cathedral within days of the meeting.  Some of Howe's supporters followed his example by withdrawing their pledges and calling for the Dean's resignation.  This small but vocal group has been the source of hateful letters to the Chapter against the Dean.  As his supporters began taking the initiative, Howe himself became publicly supportive of the Dean while continuing to acknowledge their disagreement over this issue.

      By late July, the Chapter's support for the Dean had eroded.  In a letter of August 20, to the parish announcing his resignation the Dean said, "I believe there has been a strong movement on the part of some discontented parishioners to push me out... It is scary to leave without a job and throw myself into the hands of a waiting Lord.  I wonder where my lord will lead me..."  The Dean felt this was the only way a "healing" could begin in the Cathedral.

      When interviewed the Dean offered these words to gay men and women and their friends, "This is not an issue that we can solve by legislation and politics.  This issue will only be solved by love, blood and sacrifice.  As people hurt you, you must continue to love them, even while you are still bleeding inside.  This is a cause I really believe in and I am prepared to shed blood for it."

      Obviously Dean Sherman has done so.

-----

Ben Scott is a member of Integrity/Central Florida and was an Integrity volunteer at General Convention.

********************

EC'S BLAIR: NO RACA!

by Ralph Blair

      Several years ago I drew up a whimsical little tract entitled "What Jesus Christ Said About Homosexuality."  The inside of the tract was blank.  On the back page it read:  "That's right.  He said absolutely nothing about it."  I got the idea from a tract I remember seeing as a child.  It was entitled "What You Must Do to Go to Hell."  True to the graceless theology of its publishers, the inside of the tract was blank.

      Timm Peterson, who calls himself "a Feminist-Liberation Theologian" and is a minister in the United Church of Christ, has now written a rebuttal in WAVES, the newsletter of the United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns which was reprinted in "The Voice of Integrity," Summer, 1991.

      He begins by saying: "One of my pet peeves has been the notion that in the Bible Jesus said nothing whatsoever about homosexuality."  He then refers to "the brochure of the Evangelicals Concerned and [erroneously, though it has been reprinted often and by many groups] the Universal Fellowship of the Metropolitan Community Church."  Peterson says he "never did understand the 'good news' about this pamphlet."  The "good news," such as it is, is simply this:  Jesus never mentioned what many fundamentalists think is the "worst sin."  In fact, as I have pointed out in a later tract, "The Bible is an Empty Closet": "There are no homosexuals in the Bible.  Ruth and Naomi were no lesbians.  David and Jonathan weren't gay.  Neither were Jesus and John, the men of Sodom, cult prostitutes, slave boys and their masters, nor call boys and their customers."  After presenting the comments of the best biblical scholars on so-called "homosexuality" in the Bible, I quote Helmut Thielicke's statement that questions about homosexuality as we see it today are, "for purely historical reasons ... alien" to the Bible.

      But now Peterson claims he has "discovered" a statement by Jesus indicated "that he supported [what Peterson claims was] the controversial pro-lesbian/gay Roman law [for] homosexual marriages."  Peterson, however, offers no explicit documentation for his "discovery."  He claims Jesus's statement recorded at Matthew 5:22b as his prooftext.  The New International Version translates it:  "Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin."  According to Peterson's anachronistic reasoning, "*raca* may very well mean 'faggot' in Aramaic, a street-language term that was pointedly anti-lesbian/gay in that culture."  But his exposition is careless.  For example, on *raca*, he says that "the translation 'fool' made no sense to me," even though "fool" is the usual English rending for *moros*, the next term in Jesus's threefold antithesis, not for *raca*, which usually stands untranslated.  And he claims that a Roman law protecting "holy unions" for "military soldiers" somehow protected "Lesbian/gay couples of Roman citizenship."  Lesbian Legionaries?  His conclusion that "universal salvation extended to lesbians and gays" is redundant.  He writes that "Jesus said [sic] lesbians, gays, heterosexuals and celibates are included ... just as we [sic] are."  Who, by contrast to this list, are "we"?

      Although *raca* is a New Testament hapax legomenon (appearing only here and never again imported into any extant Greek literature), there are rabbinic instances of a deprecatory expression in Aramaic, of which this Greek term is a transliteration.  On that basis, biblical scholars say that the term probably means "empty headed" (Argyle, deDietrich Filson, Gundry), "hollowhead" (Luz), "blockhead" (Heremias), "imbecile" (Hill), "brainless idiot" (Barclay), "idiot" (Guelich).  According to the fourth century Syrian church father John Chrysostom, the term was used as a disrespectful expression towards one's slaves:  "you there" or "Hey, you!"  It is, as Buare says, "obviously an insult," if a relatively harmless one at that.  But Beare notes that in the final analysis, "the meaning of 'Raca' is not certain."  Argyle agrees and the editors of the New Revised Standard Version call it "an obscure term of abuse" and elect to render the text: "if you insult a brother or sister."  Barclay puts it well when he says that it's "an almost untranslatable word, because it describes a tone of voice more than anything else.  Its whole accent is the accent of *contempt*."  Then Barclay observes: "There is no sin quite so unchristian as the sin of contempt."

      As such, what Jesus says here *does* apply to issues of homosexuality today, not because *raca* is forced to mean "faggot" but because *raca* was an invective used to depersonalize and rub out faces.  Instead of name-calling, the Good Shepherd calls by name.  When those who claim to follow Jesus refuse to follow him in equating disrespect with murder and refuse to see the links between homophobic hatred, heterosexist self-righteousness, fag jokes, anti-gay rights crusade, gay/lesbian bashing, and complicity in gay teen suicide, they fail to hear Jesus's clear *word* on "homosexuality."

      Nothing good is gained when Christians on the Right project "homosexuals" into an unfamiliar inkblot of a word in I Corinthians 6:9 or when Christians on the Left project "faggots" into an unfamiliar inkblot in Matthew 5:22.  Instead, aren't we to take seriously Jesus's sobering irony in these Sermon on the Mount Antitheses?  As Guelich explains:  "Jesus was seeking to penetrate the casuistry of his day by the deliberate use of irony in 5:22 ... to get at the underlying relationship between individuals. ... Jesus ultimately demands a relationship ... in which there is no alienation."  Doesn't that apply today between homosexual and heterosexual Christians?

-----

This article is reprinted with permission from "Review," an organ of Evangelicals Concerned. Dr. Blair is the founder of EC.

********************

CONVENTION HANDOUTS AVAILABLE

the following handouts are available from Integrity.  These handouts were distributed by Integrity at General Convention in Phoenix.  The handouts are great for chapters to give away at diocesan conventions, and many can be used as a basis for discussion at chapter and parish meetings and programs.  There is no charge for the handouts, although a contribution to cover handling and mailing costs would be greatly appreciated.  For more information call 201-868-2485 or write Integrity at P.O. Box 5202; New York, NY 10185-0043.

THE DILEMMA OF THE LESBIAN/GAY FAMILY

by Kathleen Boatwright

THE EX-GAY HOAX CONTINUES: 

THE FOUNDERS OF EXODUS TELL THE REAL STORY

Los Angeles Times

January 26 and April 5, 1990

OUTING

by Kim Byham

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE'S CREATION NARRATIVE

TELL US ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY?

by The Rev. L. William Countryman

EURRR ........UNITED?  FOR WHAT?

by Louie Crew

THE DISSENTING BISHOPS STATEMENT

COMMENTS ON EURRR'S REPORT: "SHOULD PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALS BE ORDAINED IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH TODAY?"

by Bruce Garner

BISHOP HUNT ON THE BLUE BOOK REPORT ON HUMAN SEXUALITY

BISHOP HUNT WRITES TO THE BISHOPS CONCERNING THE "BLUE BOOK" REPORT ON HUMAN SEXUALITY

DON'T SUPPORT "EX-GAY" MINISTRIES!

CONFESSIONS OF AN "EX-GAY" SURVIVOR

BY Cheryl A. Johnson

THE MORALITY OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTS: A RECONSIDERATION

by Jim LaMacchia

A "CONSERVATIVE TRADITIONALIST" JUSTIFICATION FOR THE BLESSING OF SAME-SEX UNIONS

by The Rev. Herbert G. McCarriar, Jr.

A BASIS FOR MINISTRY TO GAY PEOPLE/A THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR MINISTRY WITH THE HOMOPHILE COMMUNITY

by the Committee on Homophile Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester

HOMOSEXUALITY: A REALITY THAT WILL NOT GO AWAY

by The Rev. Canon Peter C. Moore

ON THE GOODNESS OF GAYNESS: A SHORT ESSAY IN REVIEW OF AND IN RESPONSE TO "SHOULD PRACTICING HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS BE ORDAINED IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH TODAY?" BY THE REV. KENDALL S. HARMON

by The Rev. David L. Norgard

CHURCH OF ENGLAND REPORT SUPPORTS LESBIANS AND GAYS

An article and editorial from the "Church Times," February 16, 1990.

GAY LIVES AND COMMON MORALITY

In the church, tolerance is not enough

by The Rev. Jennifer M. Phillips

BIBLE DOESN'T SAY WHAT WE THOUGHT IT DID; NEW BIBLICAL DISCOVERIES MOVE TOWARD ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS.  THE LAW SHOULD DO THE SAME.

by Marshal Alan Phillips

GOD, SEX, AND JUSTICE

A sermon preached by Dr. George F. Regas

ALMOST 20 YEARS OF DIOCESAN-APPROVED BLESSINGS OF SAME-SEX UNIONS

Statement by the Department of Social Ministries of the Diocese of Rochester and an article from the Toronto Star, November 4, 1989

REVISITING A 1977 POINT OF VIEW

by Bennett J. Sims, Bishop Emeritus of Atlanta

AN ADDRESS TO THE INTEGRITY WORSHIP SERVICE AT THE GENERAL CONVENTION, July 12, 1991

by The Rt. Rev. John S. Spong

EXCOMMUNICATION IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF SYDNEY

FAMILY MINISTRY AND THE HOMOPHILE COMMUNITY

by The Rev. Walter Lee Szymanski

A BASIS FOR MINISTRY WITH LESBIAN AND GAY PEOPLE

by The Rev. Canon Walter Lee Szymanski

A RESPONSE TO EURRR

by The Rev. Dr. Walter Lee Szymanski

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE

DIOCESE OF WASHINGTON: INTERIM REPORT

Task Force on Issues of Human Sexuality

AN ANGLICAN GUIDE TO PROPER RITES FOR CELEBRATING COMMITMENTS:

A LIGHTHEARTED VIEW OF A SERIOUS SUBJECT

by The Rev. L. Paul Woodrum

AN AELRED ANTHOLOGY

by Nick Dowen

********************

ELECTION RESULTS

Congratulations to the following who were elected as Regional Vice-Presidents in May:

Midwest:  Jeff Dey

Northeast:  Patti O'Kane

Southern:  Rob Rynearson

Western:  Dorothy Beattie

Nominations are being sought for all Integrity Board positions (Regional Vice-Presidents, President, Treasurer, Secretary) for 1992's election.  Further information will be sent to members at a later date in "The Voice of Integrity."

********************

ORDINATION OF ANOTHER OPENLY GAY EPISCOPAL PRIEST

by Kim Byham

      The Rev. Barry Stopfel, an openly gay man living in a committed relationship and an Episcopal deacon for one year, was  ordained to the priesthood on September 14, 1991, by The Rt. Rev. John S. Spong, Bishop of Newark (NJ).  The ordination took place at the Church of the Atonement in Tenafly, New Jersey, where Stopfel has served as Assistant since 1988.

      Stopfel became be the fourth openly gay or lesbian person to be ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in the full glare of the media.  In 1977, The Rev. Ellen Barrett was ordained priest by the Bishop of New York, The Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr.  In 1989, Bishop Spong ordained The Rev. Robert Williams, and in June of this year, the Bishop of Washington (DC), The Rt. Rev. Ronald Haines, ordained The Rev. Elizabeth Carl.  That is not to say, of course, that Stopfel will be only the fourth openly gay or lesbian Episcopalian to be ordained a priest.  Many other such ordinations have been unreported or reported only in the gay press.

      Stopfel's ordination is unique in several respects, however.

It is the first such ordination to be announced in advance at the denomination's House of Bishops.  During the extended debate on ordination of lesbians and gays at the General Convention, Spong several times announced his intention to ordain Stopfel in September.  Although the Bishops approved a compromise on the ordination issue, they decisively defeated attempts to amend the compromise resolution to provide a moratorium on lesbian/gay ordinations until further study is completed.

      The second unique aspect of the Stopfel ordination is that his previous ordination, to the Diaconate in September, 1990, was the subject of controversy and media coverage.  Barrett, Williams, and Carl had all been ordained deacons without press attention.  The earlier Stopfel ordination became an issue at General Convention when an effort was made to censure both The Rt. Rev. Walter Righter, then Assistant Bishop of Newark, who officiated at the Stopfel ordination, and Bishop Haines for the Carl ordination.  The censure resolution was soundly defeated.

      The third unique aspect of the Stopfel ordination is that his life partner is also an ordained clergyperson.  The Rev. Will Leckie is a minister in the United Church of Christ.  The UCC has officially permitted the ordination of openly lesbian and gay persons since 1983.  Leckie is currently pastor of a new congregation ministering with the lesbian/gay community in New York City.  The congregation, known as Spirit of the River, is affiliated with both the UCC and the Disciples of Christ.  Leckie also serves as chaplain at the Passaic Valley Hospice in Totowa, NJ.

      "Our relationship has helped us both grow spiritually," said Stopfel.  "When the challenges to my ordination mounted, both our relationship and our mutual commitment to ministry were a vital source of strength.  While the church often sees the sexual loving of gay and lesbian persons as sin, our experience as a couple is that in such loving we often experience God's grace and sustaining power."

      The road to ordination has not been an easy one for Stopfel, who is 43.  After a career in business, he graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1988 and has been actively pursuing his call to the priesthood ever since.  His ordination to the diaconate, originally scheduled for June 2, 1990, was postponed only days before by Bishop Spong who was responding to a request by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church to allow the church to debate the issues without further incident.

      Stopfel said of his ordination, "To me the important thing about openly gay and lesbian people being ordained is that now we can speak with our own voices.  The Holy Spirit speaks through people representing all facets of God's creation.  Finally affirming gay men and lesbians are being given official voice by the church.  African Americans, Native Americans and women were all denied the right to speak for themselves by the church, and as their voices were freed, their messages have deeply changed the church for the better.   I pray that the voices of lesbians and gay men will also call the church to greater faithfulness to the Gospel."

      The preacher was The Rev. Carter Heyward, Professor of Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Dr. Heyward, who is openly lesbian, was one of the first 11 women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in an unauthorized service in 1974.  Dr. Heyward was also the preacher for the ordinations of three openly lesbian and gay Lutheran ministers in San Francisco in January, 1990.  Among the presenters were Dr. Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, and Kim Byham, Director of Communications.  In an unusual move, the members of the Diocesan Standing Committee were present to emphasize the collegial nature of the approval process.

********************

GAY TALES

      Armistead Maupin, author of "Tales of the City" and other popular books about life in San Francisco, was brought up an Episcopalian. Like many others, he has been alienated from the church because of homophobia. A few years ago, while visiting his native North Carolina, he shared a story about when he first told his parents that he was gay. His father reacted, "I wish we had known sooner. We could have gotten you into seminary."

********************

OUR ECUMENICAL PARTNERS ON SEX

THREE QUARTERS OF METHODIST COMMITTEE

BACK CHANGE IN CHURCH POSITION

      A special committee of the United Methodist Church has completed a report on homosexuality after three years of hearings and debate.  "The New York Times" reported on August 28 that three days earlier, at the end of a four-day meeting in North Carolina, 18 of the committee's 24 members endorsed a version of the report that included a sentence asking the 8.9-million-member denomination to remove the condemnation of homosexual practice from the church's official statement of social principles.

       Only four committee members endorsed an opposing version that has a sentence asking the church to retain the condemnation, which calls homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching." The chairwoman and a staff member of the denomination working on the committee declined to endorse either version.

       The denomination's General Council on Ministries, a 133-member body of clergy and laity representing the Methodists' 114 regional conferences (the equivalent of dioceses) in the United States and overseas will review the conflicting versions of the report.  In December, the council will decide whether to send one or both versions to the Methodist General Conference (the equivalent of General Convention), which meets next May. The council can also amend either version of the report or reject both.

      The Methodists' study on homosexuality was mandated by the General Conference after a proposal to remove the condemnation was brought before the conference in 1988. The study committee, appointed by the General Council on Ministries, was made up of clergy and laity.  Like the Presbyterians and unlike the Episcopalians, the Methodist committee included two gay persons.

      According to the "Times," except for fewer than a dozen words out of approximately 14,000, the two versions of the report are identical.  The document sets out points of agreement and disagreement about homosexuality among medical, psychological and sociological authorities, biblical experts, pastors and theologians.

      The majority's view is that the current, unsettled "state of knowledge and insight" among these experts "does not provide a satisfactory basis upon which the church can responsibly maintain the condemnation of all homosexual practice." But the minority said this lack of expert consensus "does not provide the satisfactory basis upon which the church can responsibly alter its previously held position."

      In other respects, the committee members were unanimous, for example in the conclusion that the church should be "a place of acceptance and hospitality to all persons," including gays and lesbians.  Both versions of the report said those who find homosexuality incompatible with Christian belief could be caring of gay men and lesbians while at the same time trying to influence them toward changing their lives.  Both versions also urged the church to support efforts to assure the "basic rights and civil liberties" of gay and lesbian persons and "stop violence and other forms of coercion" against them.

      The committee's apparent attempt to come down on both sides of the fence came as a result of publicity surrounding a straw vote taken last February which showed the committee strongly in favor of rescinding the denomination's condemnation of homosexual behavior.

      Reportedly, only about 60 of more than 1,100 letters received by the General Council on Ministries supported the pro-gay sentiment reflected in the straw vote.  Church officials told "The New York Times" that this summer at least 50 regional conferences debated the issue of homosexual practice, with more than 35 voting to retain the present condemnation.

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST REAFFIRMS

LESGAY ORDINATION

      The church of the Pilgrims has reaffirmed its long-standing  policy of non-discrimination in ordination at its biennial convention, June 28 - July 2.  Delegates to the United Church of Christ's General Synod (the equivalent of General Convention) rejected proposals that would have reversed the church's past stand, declaring that an ordination candidate's sexual orientation by itself was not grounds for denying ordination.

      Under UCC policy, regional associations and conferences (the equivalent of dioceses) decide whether a candidate is qualified, and many of them have approved ordination of lesbians and gay men in the last two decades.

      Its first acknowledged gay clergyperson, the Rev. William Johnson, was ordained in the denomination's Golden Gate Association in 1972.  Johnson was also the founder of the United Church Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Concerns, Integrity's UCC counterpart.  Johnson, now based at the church's headquarters in Cleveland, has headed its AIDS ministry for two years.

      In the ensuing decade and a half after Johnson's ordination, about a dozen other gay men and lesbians were ordained around the country, after which the church ceased keeping count as the policy became commonplace.  General Synod formally recommended opening the ordination process in 1983.

      At its General Synod, held in Norfolk, Va., the church also asserted the right of private, consensual, non-commercial sexual activity between adults.  The resolution denounced Virginia's so-called sodomy laws - similar to laws in 23 other states - as fomenting discrimination against gay men and lesbians and violating the "spirit of justice" and the U.S. Constitution. This was in sharp contrast to General Convention which ignored a similar resolution.

      A generally progressive body, the 1.6 million-member United Church of Christ took its present name in an unusual merger in 1957 of the Congregational Church, which grew from Puritanism, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, which has German origins.  It was the first U.S. church merger to unite denominations of different national origins.

PRESBYTERIANS: IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE

by Kim Byham

      "No, General Convention will be nothing like the Presbyterian's General Assembly," I told anyone who asked.  "It simply isn't conceivable that the Episcopal Church could ever pass a resolution stating, 'We conclude that homosexuality is not God's wish for humanity.'  I could never belong to a church like that!"

      Tiresome Anglican superiority aside, in some sense I was right.  General Convention was far calmer than General Assembly.  But I was frightened when I read how similar Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns' comments about Assembly were to Integrity's about Convention.  Something didn't add up.  Being as objective as I can be (which is not very), the Episcopal Church is ten years ahead of the Presbyterian Church (and ten plus years behind the United Church of Christ).  To me the most telling difference is that at General Assembly conservatives claim they won, while at General Convention they are wailing that they lost.

      The focus of General Assembly was the controversial task force report, "Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality and Social Justice."  [V of I, Summer, 1991]

      The nine-day annual convention in Baltimore was the most heavily attended General Assembly in history.  More than 2,600 people registered, including 602 elected delegates, known as commissioners.  Thus it was somewhat less than half the size of General Convention, even though the Presbyterian Church-USA is larger, with 2.9-million members.

      Although the task force report was more moderate than certain passages would suggest, they received widespread publicity:

      "It may be said simply: Where there is justice-love, sexual expression has ethical integrity.  That moral principle applies to single, as well as to married persons, to gay, lesbian and bisexual persons, as well as to heterosexual persons."

      "The desired end is to dismantle the patriarchal family and establish new family structures of genuine equality, mutual respect and wholeness....  The moral norm for Christians ought not be marriage, but rather justice-love."

      "Any model of sexuality and sexual relations which serves to keep heterosexual women, lesbians and gay men subordinate is fundamentally unjust.  It deserves not our allegiance but our strongest critique," said the report, produced by a 17-member committee of clergy and lay members.

      Before the General Assembly began, the report had been rejected by 43 of the church's 171 presbyteries (the equivalent of dioceses).  Another 43 presbyteries criticized parts of the report, prepared at the direction of the church's 1987 General Assembly.  Not one openly supported the document.  Forty presbyteries had asked that the report not even be included in the minutes of the meeting.  Attempts to keep it out failed, however.

      On June 10, by a vote of 534 to 31, the commissioners accepted the recommendation of an Assembly committee to set aside the report.

      The delegates voted to continue to abide by church positions on homosexuality, adopted in 1978 and 1979.  While saying that gays and lesbians are "fully welcome" as members and opposing discrimination against gays in the secular world, they prohibit practicing homosexuals from being ordained as ministers or elders.  (There is no close Anglican equivalent to an elder, though it is sometimes compared to a deacon.)  The statement, "We conclude that homosexuality is not God's wish for humanity," is in the 1978 resolution.

      Harlan W. Penn, of Washington, DC, Co-Moderator of Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns, was given the opportunity to address the Assembly prior to the vote, asking it to reject affirmation of the 1978 statute.  "If you abide by the 1978 resolution, gays and lesbians can be refused membership in our churches," he said.  "Even the gays who are members will be second-class."

      More than two-thirds of the commissioners, however, turned down a proposal to make the 1978 ban on ordination "advisory and non-binding."

      Despite the overwhelming vote against the report, the Assembly called on the denomination's Theology and Worship Ministry Unit to use the report - along with studies reflecting other viewpoints - to prepare a plan for continued church examination of sexual issues, encouraging congregations to "discover their own conclusions."

      The Assembly also voted to send a letter to its 10,500 churches affirming the sanctity of the marriage bond and the 1978 and 1979 statements.

      Most of the assembly erupted in applause as action was completed on the report.  Outside the assembly hall, about 50 protesters shouting "No, No, No" and carrying signs reading "One Way" and "Remember Why God Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah" urged the church to uphold traditional standards.  One of the demonstrators held aloft a placard that read "Dialogue is Sin." !! (There were never more than two demonstrators at General Convention.)

      The letter was read the following Sunday in place of the sermon at hundreds of Presbyterian churches.  While the letter affirms that "the marital covenant between one man and one woman" is "to be lived out in Christian fidelity,"  a proposal that it include an explicit statement that sexual intercourse "is to be confined to heterosexual marriage" was narrowly defeated, 31 votes to 24, by the General Assembly committee which drafted it.

      The letter also raised important issues.  "We are being torn apart by issues of teenage sexuality and practice, sexual violence, clergy sexual misconduct, new reproductive technologies, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and the sexual needs of singles, gay and lesbian persons, the disabled and older adults."

      Politically, the letter also stated, "Let it be said that in Baltimore the 203rd General Assembly heard the cry of the church for an Assembly that listens to the grass roots."

      The chairman of the Assembly committee, Gordon C. Stewart, said his 67-member group concluded that Presbyterians were not ready to make any fundamental changes in sexual policy.  The task force report sparked so much dissension that Stewart said one of his major objectives was to keep the church from splitting apart.

      "We tried to find as much common ground as we could," Stewart said.  "We're a family here; we wanted to keep the family together.  Presbyterians are 'an independent bunch,'" said Stewart, and any major changes will have to come more from the grass roots than from Presbyterian committees.

      But Sylvia Thorson-Smith, a lecturer in religious studies and sociology at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and a chief author of the sexuality report, criticized the priority given to finding common ground and calming those who had been disturbed by the conflict rather than those who were "marginalized" in the church.  "We do not find common ground by continuing to stand on the backs of gays and lesbians....  I think this is a pastoral word to those in the church that were disturbed by the report: 'Not to worry, nothing's changed,'" she said.

      She also protested the frequent references to organizing a grass-roots study by the church in contrast to the one she worked on.  "I am the grass roots," said Ms. Thorson-Smith, who is an elder in her church.

      The Presbyterians' new Moderator Herbert D. Valentine of  Baltimore, closed the meeting by asking commissioners to "pray for those who continue to feel excluded." Following his remarks, several hundred of those observing the Assembly, including some delegates, silently marched down the center aisle of the convention floor to support gays in the church.

      James Waller described what happened in the last issue of "Outweek," July 3, 1991:

      Then, from the back of the vast plenary hall, a procession began - led by four or five men and women carrying a large wooden cross.  In absolute silence, they approached the platform at the front of the hall, followed by hundreds of supporters, some carrying black banners that read "Never Again" and "Silence = Death."  As the procession moved forward, it was joined by some of the voting delegates on the floor and by many of the visitors from the observers' galleries.  When it reached the dias, the cross was raised aloft, to allow those following to pass beneath, then laid on the floor.  The aisles were filled with demonstrators; my view was blocked, and, when I heard a metallic sound ring out, I couldn't at first tell what was happening.  Then I looked overhead, at one of the big-screen monitors above the dias.  the camera had been turned on the cross, and one of the demonstrators was slowly hammering nails into it.

      Though my skepticism has since returned, at that moment, I thought that I understood why so many Christian lesbians and gays refuse to abandon the struggle.  Others' contempt must look a lot less fearsome when you've got a gospel lesson to teach.

      The demonstration was organized not by PLGC but by a new group, Presbyterian ACT UP.  "I guess we are using the cross in our demonstration as a symbol of our anguish and pain," said The Rev. Howard B. Warren Jr., organizer of the group.

      "The vote against the sexuality report was just a continuation of the tortuous interpretation of Scripture that left African-Americans and women without full rights in the Presbyterian Church for years," said Warren, director of pastoral care for the Damien Center in Indianapolis, a support agency for People with AIDS.

PLGC REACTS

In PLGC's newsletter, More Light Update, August, 1991, Bret Hannon, PLGC's Issues Coordinator at General Assembly gave a generally positive reading about what happened.

      "[W]e did not get the "worst case scenario" from the Assembly either.  There were several options that the commissioners could have chosen from, but did not, which would have represented major setbacks for lesbians and gay men in the church.

      "The Assembly did have the power to restrict the future availability of the report in several ways, and although there were attempts by some commissioners to do so, they failed.  Over 42,000 copies of the majority and minority reports have already been sold, and they will continue to be made available through the Office of the General Assembly.

      "There were two other actions of the Assembly dealing with lesbian and gay issues that were overshadowed by the report of the special committee.  The first has to do with same-sex commitment services.  The commissioners voted that *if* a session [the equivalent of a vestry] determines that a same-sex union in *not the same* as a marriage (which the "Book of Order" defines as a relationship between one man and one woman anyway), then they may allow the church building to be used for that service and not be out of compliance with the "Book of Order."  Ministers are allowed to perform the services if they make the same determination.  This action was taken at the end of a long day of debate, and may be appealed at a future Assembly."

      In another article, erroneously headlined, "Holy Unions Approved," the actual language of the resolution was given.  "Session ... should not allow the use of the church facilities for a same sex union ceremony that the session determines to be the same as a marriage ceremony."  Harlan's interpretation of what is not said may be overly optimistic.

      James Waller, in his article, sights a conversation with "More Light Update's" editor, James Anderson, a dean at Rutgers.  "Oh, the church will change,"  Anderson told Waller, "but it may be the last institution to change.  The society in general - even the military - they'll change first."  Waller comments, "Anderson's animated face and upbeat manner exuded the cheerfulness that's a necessary trait if you're working against such great odds.  During my stay in Baltimore, I found myself wondering how so many lesbian and gay Presbyterians found the strength to continue to fight their battle."

      We should never forget that many people say the same thing about lesbian and gay Episcopalians.

********************

WHY INTEGRITY?

by Gary Miller

      Why do I support something like Integrity?  Why do I even concern myself with something which can be such a frustration to me?  Why do I keep on pushing Integrity to do and be all I think it can do and be?  What meaning does Integrity hold for me?  To what mission does Integrity hold me?  To what obligation do I hold Integrity?  What is Integrity's purpose and duty in the church and society?

      Integrity MUST exist.  As long as those people prevail who would deny rights to any human being, Integrity must exist.  As long as people live who cannot perceive or even believe the oppression of others endures, Integrity must exist.  As long as there are priests and bishops and theologians who fly in the face of statistics and biblical critical analysis with their own private theologies, Integrity must exist.  As long as politicians, whether within the church or without, hold sway over subordinates to force their own opinions upon others, Integrity must exist.  As long as there are persons who believe that Jesus died for them but not for me, Integrity must exist. 

      I have heard the Good News and believe that Jesus, the Christ, died for me; and I accept Him in my heart as my Savior.  Integrity has heard that same Good News and its response is the same as mind: we will exist together to work for justice and dignity for all people, the end of human oppression, and witnessing to the Good News that the world and all people in it have been liberated and redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ.  I support Integrity's twofold ministry of bringing the Episcopal Church to the gay and lesbian community, and bringing the concerns of this same group to the church.  In addition, Integrity's ministry of reconciliation is of equal importance.  Although many gay men and lesbians have left the church due to its sometimes not-so-subtle intolerance, many other gay men and lesbians have come back to the church seeking the opportunity to be open, honest Christians within parish life throughout the church.

      Integrity also stands on guard against the so-called "militant" gay rights groups which often disrupt and offend the sensibilities of everyone.  I will not embarrass the Episcopal Church, and neither will Integrity.

      It may appear to some upon shallow investigation that Integrity serves no useful purpose or function.  These people have not taken the time and energy required to "read, mark, and inwardly digest" Integrity.  Nor, more than likely have they ever attended an Integrity chapter meeting.  What must they think goes on there?  I have no doubt of the sincerity of many of those included in the paragraphs above, but must I be required to abide by their opinions, learned though they may be, because they hold ecclesiastical or some other theological or metaphysical authority over me?  Sorry, I can't abide that.  God loves me, too - just as I am.

-----

Gary Miller is the editor of The Integrity Heartland Voice, the publication of Integrity/Kansas City.  this editorial appeared in the June, 1991 issue.

********************

BIBLICAL STANDARD

The following is excerpted from an article which appeared in the June, 1991 issue of "The Vintage Voice," the publication of the Church Pension Fund.

      There is a biblical standard of morality.  Let us not focus only on one chapter or verse about one specific practice, such as gambling, pornography, homosexuality, adultery, abortion or larceny.  Then we would debate one verse and miss the basic attitude of the scriptures.  The New Testament affirms that certain life styles which pagans practice are a "no no" for those who have committed themselves to Christ and become new creatures.

********************

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

AFTER PHOENIX - NOW WHAT?

by Bruce Garner

      I write this issues' column on a flight bound for San Francisco.  I am on my way to attend the memorial service of my very dear and long time friend, Zach Long.  He died of AIDS last week. 

      I spent several days in early July with Zach and his partner Doug before going on to Phoenix for General Convention.  I'm glad I had the time to be with him.  I think I knew I was also saying goodbye.  We had several good talks.  Zach was Presbyterian and his denomination had already been through a convention much like the one we were facing. 

      Zach's congregation is an open and loving one.  They ordained him a ruling elder with the knowledge that he was gay.  They also stood a twenty four hour a day vigil at Zach's bedside as he gently slipped out of this world and into the waiting hands of the God he knew loved him. 

      With Zach's death, I have lost the last link I had to a substantial portion of my history as a gay man.  No one is now left alive who shared some very special parts of my life.  Zach was also the last connection I had to my best friend Alan, who died in 1987.  This loss may be beyond what words can express.

      It is within that context that I want to share with you my vision of what I think should happen "after Phoenix."  It is within the urgent realization of how fragile and short this life is, that I convey to you the vital importance of what we as lesbian and gay Episcopalians must now do.  We do not have the time to wait for others to do anything.  *We* must take whatever initiative is to be taken to obtain the justice from our *church* that our *God* meant for us from our birth and that our Savior redeemed from the cross of Calvary.  We must be gentle, loving and patient - but we must *no longer wait*.

      Resolution 104 instructs the church (once again!) to enter into dialogue *with* us and to educate herself *about* us.  We cannot wait for mother church to initiate those points however.  We essentially waited for most of the last three years for others to begin to move.  Abysmally few even attempted to speak with us or learn about us.  Most of the forward movement was at our behest and with our encouragement.  So, with the initiative in our court, what do we do?

      The first and perhaps most important action we can take is for as many of us as possible to come out within our parishes.  The more visible our numbers are, the more the rest of the church will realize our existence and involvement in the life of the Episcopal Church.  Let me also add that I realize many of us *cannot* come out for very valid reasons.  I understand that reality and I respect it completely.  There are, however, tremendous numbers of us who have no reason not to be out of the closet about the sexual identity God has bestowed upon us. 

      Those of us who can be out have a moral obligation to *be* out for ourselves as well as for our sisters and brothers who cannot. 

      One of the greatest educational tools we have is just being ourselves.  People come to know us as the ordinary and extraordinary people we really are.  They see their daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles, parents, and friends.  They begin to see us as folks not really any different from themselves.  They put a human face on what is for so many an abstract concept:  a living and breathing, crying and laughing, growing and hurting homosexual child of God.  Once we have a face, we are never the same to them again.  Education has begun.  Change has also begun.

      The next action we need to take is to get visibly involved in our church.  We must be *seen* as being involved as vestry members, church school teachers, layreaders, altar guild members, chalice bearers, acolytes, choir members, organists, ushers, acolyte masters and mistresses, and on and on.  We've always been involved in the lives of our parishes.  Unfortunately, much of that involvement has been invisible.  We need to continue to be involved, perhaps even more so.  The people of our parishes must realize how involved we are.

      We must also get ourselves involved in the legislative and policy making aspects of our church.  We have the skills our church needs and we must make those skills available.  Taking our places on parish vestries insures our input into the processes that most directly affect our lives, and it insures it at the most basic level possible.

      We must also seek roles that involve us at the diocesan level.  There's no reason we shouldn't be voting delegates at our diocesan conventions.  There no reason we can't offer our services as members of every committee and commission of every diocese in the country.  I doubt that any diocese has an abundance of people willing to be involved!  Our interest should be welcomed.  Where we aren't welcomed, we must be persistent.  The Holy Spirit can't work if we are not present as her vehicle.

      We began this convention with two openly gay deputies.  Many of us heard what sounded like a third one come out on the floor of the House of Deputies.  By next convention there must be more openly gay and lesbian deputies.  Kinsey statistics indicate there should be at least 80 of us.  We'll never occupy those seats unless we get off our ecclesiastical rear ends and work for them.  And who knows, maybe by next convention, some of our compatriots in the "other" house will have come out also.

      Time is precious and it's not guaranteed to any of us.  Time is even shorter for some of us.  Three years is enough time for us to work with God to create a few miracles.  God may be omnipotent, but God can only do so much *for* us without our presence as a vehicle of God's grace.  God can do very little if we aren't there to be that vehicle.  We have another chance and we have a responsibility.  Let's not waste either. 

      Goodbye Zach.  Rest with God.  Your journey is finished.  Pray for us that we complete our journeys as witnesses to the beauty and wholeness of God's entire rainbow of creation.

Postscript on the return flight: 

      I saw God at work at Zach's memorial service.  It was a wonderful gathering of God's children from more walks of life than one can imagine.  A third of the congregation was dressed in leather and *with* them sat the San Francisco Symphony and Opera Guilds, board members of a youth center, an AIDS emergency fund, and a myriad of others.  All this took place in an old (1848) mainline conservative Presbyterian congregation.  All sorts and conditions of humankind had gathered in tribute to one whose work on behalf of God had touched them all.  The inclusivity of the Gospel appeared in human form.  It gave me hope and inspiration for our own future.

      I return home to attend yet another funeral.  My grandmother died the day before my scheduled return.  This loss is different:  Grandmother would have been 90 years old in November.  She lived a long and full life - a life deeply rooted in her faith in Jesus Christ.  God *is* at work in this world and the next.  May God's grace uphold us in both.

********************

Integrity Canvas Bag Now Available!

bearing the inscription:

"No good thing will God withhold from those who walk with INTEGRITY    Psalm 84.11"

Only $9.00 shipping included

High quality off-white canvas bag.  Rainbow handles.

Send payment to:  Integrity, P.O. Box 5202, NYC, NY 10185-0043

Write for Quantity Discount information and/or Integrity chapter orders.

********************

CHALLWOOD STUDIO

Victor Challenor   Paul Woodrum

Custom designed and made ...

     EUCHARISTIC VESTMENTS

     PREACHING GOWNS - STOLES

     ALBS - SURPLICES - TIPPETS

100 Lexington Ave., Suite 1-L,

Brooklyn, NY 11238

Phone:  718-398-2877

********************

*1991 GENERAL CONVENTION SUPPLEMENT*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What Is Integrity?  What Does It Hope To Accomplish At General 

  Convention?

A Letter To The Presiding Bishop

Deputy Thanks Integrity

Thanks to Integrity's 1991 General Convention Volunteers

Open Hearing on Human Sexuality

  Stina Pope's Comments

  Walter Szymanski's Comments

  Statement by Warner Traynham

Reflections on General Convention

  Bruce Anderson

  Kathleen Boatwright, Dorothy, Phil Nicholson

  Betsy Hess, Hans Franzen

  Dorothy Fuller

  Bruce Garner

  Gil Grady, Claudia Windal, Walter Lee Szymanski

  Nayan McNeill, Sue Thompson

Integrity Worship At Cathedral

Perverse and Foolish

  Bishop MacBurney Strayed

Church Army Alienates Convention

Bishop Spong's Sermon

In The Presence of Mine Enemies:

  God's Oils At Phoenix

Claudia's Column

Evangelize Gays, Church Told

Troy Perry Welcome By The House Of Bishops

The Integrity Resolutions

The Landlord And The Gays

Bishop Revisits A 1977 Point of View

The Road to Compromise: Origins

The Road to Compromise: Deputies

Other Integrity Events

How Deputies Voted on Three Main Resolutions

Keep Your Eye On The Prize, Harris Tells Integrity

The Racism/Heterosexism Connection

Convention Videos

The Road to Compromise: Bishops

House of Bishops Vote:

  Howe Amendment To Add Frey Resolution To The Compromise

Bishops Reject 'Local Priests' Quarantine Resolution

The Compromise Resolution (A-104sa)

Deputies Come Out On The Floor of General Convention

A Model Resolution For Submission To Diocesan Conventions

Bellah Tells Church To Reclaim Moderating Role

Haines and Righter Escape Censure

Right Wingers Say They Lost, Does That Mean We Won?

R.I.P. E.U.R.R.R.

Integrity And UFMCC

********************

WHAT IS INTEGRITY?

WHAT DOES IT HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AT GENERAL CONVENTION IN 1991?

by Scott Helsel

      In 1974, Dr. Louie Crew started a newsletter for lesbian and gay Episcopalians, calling on his adopted church to show "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You."  Joined by hundreds of lesbian and gay Episcopalians and friends,  chapters were formed around the country and a national convention held.  In 1976, Integrity was represented at General Convention, where two major resolutions passed: one  "...that homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church;"   the other  "...that homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection of the laws with all other citizens, and calls upon our society to see that such protection is provided in actuality."  Integrity has been represented at every General Convention thereafter.

      Although some perceive Integrity as a "lobbying organization,"  few Integrity members would identify with that label.  In 47 chapters and 10 chapters-in-formation in the United States (plus affiliated chapters in Australia and Canada) the primary focuses are worship in a supportive environment, emotional support and counseling, spiritual nourishment and Christian education, service to the Church and the lesbian/gay community.  Our Pittsburgh chapter, for example, runs a house for homeless persons with AIDS.  Through Integrity's evangelism, thousands of lesbians and gay men, estranged from the Episcopal and other churches, have returned to worship and fellowship.  For seventeen years, Integrity has been the most successful evangelistic organization in our Church.

      At this convention we would like our Church to fulfill its 1976 promises.  We hope the "love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church" will be manifested by removing ordination barriers based solely on sexual orientation, guaranteeing non-discrimination in church governance, lesbian/gay representation at the Church Center and on commissions and committees, rites for blessing committed relationships, and clerical/lay education.  We hope our Church will "call upo