Date: Sun, 10 Mar 96 15:15:03 EST From: "James D. Anderson" Subject: More Light Update, April 1996 (100+K) MORE LIGHT UPDATE April 1996 Volume 16, Number 9 Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns James D. Anderson, Communications Secretary P.O. 38 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038 908-249-1016, 908-932-7501 (Rutgers University) FAX 908-932-6916 (Rutgers University) Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu) PLGC-List: plgc-list@andrew.cmu.edu PLGC home page: http://www.epp.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html Masthead, with Publication Information at end of file. Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text. CONTENTS CORRECTION: David Sindt and Lincoln Park Church PEOPLE: New and retiring coordinators Saying Goodby to Loved Ones The Spirit of Detroit Award CHURCHES First United Church of Oak Park, IL Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio EVENTS Life after General Assembly: Caring for Our Soul at Stony Point, September 6-8, 1996. Gay Male Rights of Passage: Moving Beyond Coming Out to Being Out. Kirkridge, Bangor, PA, August 16-18, 1996 Walking on Water and Making Waves: Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus, August 1-4, 1996, Norfolk, VA Our Sensational God, October 31-Nov. 3, 1996 at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico. A Safe Haven for Creative Expression: for people whose lives have been changed by AIDS, November 3-9, 1996, Santa Fe, NM. FEATURE ARTICLES The Heart and Soul of the Presbyterian Church: Getting Ready for General Assembly General Assembly Council Needs Input NOW Assembly Information A Message from Marj Carpenter, Moderator of the 207th General Assembly Candidates for Moderator of the Albuquerque Assembly The Presbyterian Church: Down, But Not Out, by Norm Pott Meeting, Mission, Miracle, by Norm Pott Weathering Spiritual Growth, by Sabra Staley Keeping Heart, by Dorothy Fillmore Equal Access to the Civil Status of Marriage Books to Watch Out For Can Homophobia Be Cured? Recent Studies Contradict One Another: *Straight & Narrow?: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate* by Thomas E. Schmidt (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995); *Scripture and Homosexuality* by Marion L. Soards (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1995). The Price of Love: A Review of Chapter Six of Thomas Schmidt's *Straight & Narrow?: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate* (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995). Reviewed by Cleveland Kent Evans, Ph.D., professor of psychology, Bellevue University, Bellevue, Nebraska. PLGC Officers and Contacts (at end of file) Masthead (publication information) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CORRECTION David Sindt and Lincoln Park Church We made some errors in our story about David Sindt in our February 1996 issue. Long-time PLGCer Barry Smith has sent us this correction and clarification: In the article in the February issue about David Sindt being elected to Chicago's Gay/Lesbian Hall of Fame, a few facts got jumbled regarding his involvement at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago. In 1979, David was nominated for the Session from the floor at a congregational meeting. At that time, no other openly gay or lesbian person had been nominated or ordained at Lincoln Park Church. Although David was not elected, his nomination led the congregation of Lincoln Park Church to adopt a position paper on ordination and sexual orientation in 1980. Based on this action and others, the Session declared Lincoln Park Church a More Light Church in 1981. The first openly gay person was subsequently elected to the Session in 1982, and after many months of judicial actions, was successfully installed in 1984. Lincoln Park Church is grateful to David Sindt for the wonderful influence he has had on the life and ministry of our congregation and that of our denomination. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PEOPLE [Note: most of these notes did NOT make it into the print version! The last two did make the print version.] PLGC has two new coordinators for the Synod of the Sun: Greg Adams, 314 Steven Dr., Little Rock, AR 72205, 501-224-4724; and John P. McNeese, 1300 Brighton Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73120, 405-848-7498, 405-232-6991. William H. Moss (Bill) is a new coordinator for the Synod of Mid- Atlantic: 1327 Emerald St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5431, 202- 397-5585 Linda Manwarren, one of our coordinators for the Synod of the Southwest, has a new telephone number: 505-858-0249. Jimmy Smith, PLGC's former coordinator for the Synod of Living Waters, has moved and has relinquished this post. Any volunteers? L. Dean Hay, Synod of the Rocky Mountains, has moved to California, so he no longer serves as our coordinator in Utah. Any volunteers? Saying Goodby to Loved Ones We celebrate the lives and many gifts of faithful PLGCers as we mourn, with their families and friends, their recent deaths. The Rev. Gwendolen Dickson Beighle, a minister and chaplain in the Presbytery of Seattle, was a member of the leadership team of Presbyterian AIDS Network. The Rev. Hal Bray, pastor, teacher and journalist, was associate executive and newspaper editor for the Synod of the Sun and co-founder and president of the national Presbyterian Print Journalism Partnership. The Rev. Warren Zeh of New York City pursued his ministry with persons affected by HIV/AIDS as a staffmember with the Gay Men's Health Crisis. The Spirit of Detroit Award Congratulations to James J. Beates of Detroit, Michigan (our coordinator in the Synod of the Covenant) for receiving the City of Detroit's highest award on December 8 at the 11th annual Christmas Service for People Who Care About People with AIDS. "The Spirit of Detroit Award" was presented to Jim by City Council President Marianne Mahaffey. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHURCHES [These notes did NOT make the print version] First United Church of Oak Park, a joint Presbyterian-United Church of Christ congregation, has joined the ranks of More Light Presbyterian Churches and "Open and Affirming" congregations in the UCC. Here are excerpts from its resolution on "Becoming a More Inclusive Church": "We confess that the institutional church has often judged, alienated and excluded from the community of faith gay, lesbian and bisexual persons, or has been complicit by its silence." "We agree to celebrate, support and honor commitment ceremonies of homosexual people, recognizing the difficulty of maintaining such partnerships in the absence of the social validations, role models and legal frameworks that support heterosexual marriages." Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, of Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrates the dismissal of the Presbytery Administrative Commission that had been established in 1992 to inquire into and "resolve the delinquency" of Mount Auburn's More Light inclusive policy and practice. The Commission concluded that *nothing* be done to Mount Auburn Church until the General Assembly clearly resolves "the Constitutional discrepancies" that are apparent in its anti- gay policies. The Commission declared that Mount Auburn is a vital, growing, and unified congregation, dedicated to be an inclusive church; they did not want to jeopardize Mount Auburn's ministry. -- Based on a letter from Hal Porter, Pastor. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EVENTS Life after General Assembly: Caring for Our Soul Stony Point Conference Center, just north of New York City, will host "An Ingathering of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Presbyterians, Our Families and Friends," for reflection on the actions of the 208th Albuquerque Assembly, September 6-8, 1996. Registration, $100; room and board, $120 (scholarships available -- "We don't want anyone to stay away because of money!"). The Rev. Janie Spahr and Chris Glaser, M.Div. will facilitate. Janie Spahr leads "That All May Freely Service," an outreach ministry of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church of Rochester, NY, intended to encourage our national church's welcome of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered members. Chris Glaser is the author of four books reconciling the church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community, including *Uncommon Calling* and *The Word Is Out*. He travels the nation as a speaker and retreat leader. For information, call 914-786- 5674, fax 914-786-5919. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [The following events did NOT make the print version.] Gay Male Rights of Passage: Moving Beyond Coming Out to Being Out. Kirkridge, Bangor, PA, August 16-18, 1996, 7 p.m. Friday dinner through Sunday lunch, $225 ($100 registration deposit). Gay men face unique identity-development tasks and accompanying spiritual challenges. This workshop will focus on creating and using rituals to aid us in successfully negotiating our life stages. Such rituals will honor our encounters with the spirit in nature and through our own and each other's bodies. They will move us beyond individual survival strategies that merely react to oppression toward collectively affirmed life patterns that nurture and grow gay identities. In presentations and small and large-group sharing, we will explore a model of gay identity development. Through gay archetypes, music, storytelling, and wisdom sharing, workshop participants will call forth and ritualize what is unique and generative in gay men's lives. The weekend will provide an opportunity to awaken and channel the joys, rages, griefs, and powers of gay male experience, giving us spiritual tools to build happy, open, and successful lives. Led by: Ken White and John Linscheid, who share a passion for gay spiritual growth. Ken is Director of Continuing Social Work Education at Temple University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Psycho- Educational Process. John, a contributing editor to *The Other Side* magazine, is a writer, speaker, and teacher of Bible and gay interpretation. Together, John and Ken are studying gay male identity development and have advanced the use of ritual to observe key life passages within their own gay communities. Contact Kirkridge, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013, 610-588- 1793. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Walking on Water and Making Waves: Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus, Biennial Conference, August 1-4, 1996, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. Speakers include Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, author of *Sensuous Spirituality; Women, Men, and the Bible;* and co-author of *Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?* For information, write to EEWC '96 Conference, 1053 Cambridge Crescent, Norfolk, VA 23508, or call 804-451-8553. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Our Sensational God: a retreat for Lesbians, Gaymen, Bisexual and the Transgendered and our Families, Friends and Advocates, October 31-Nov. 3, 1996 at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico. $250. Within a Christian context, how do we glorify God with enjoyment and pleasure in this world? Through presentations, mutual sharing and spiritual exercises, come explore this question and glory in the beauty of Ghost Ranch. 505-685-4333. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Safe Haven for Creative Expression: a week of learning and creativity designed for people whose lives have been changed by AIDS, November 3-9, 1996, Plaza Resolana, Santa Fe, New Mexico, $425. For people who are HIV+, and those with AIDS, their families, friends and care givers. Participants will select a workshop to focus on the written word or mixed media art as a means of creative expression. Workshop 1, Spiritual Biography, will use daily writing exercises to help you find your voice to tell your story. Workshop 2, Mixed Media Art, will use hands on exploration in a variety of media -- mask making, fabric dying and water color. 1-800-821-5145. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FEATURE ARTICLES The Heart and Soul of the Presbyterian Church Getting Ready for General Assembly To paraphrase Republicans who claim to be "fighting for the heart and soul" of the Republican Party as they struggle for their party's presidential nomination, Presbyterians will be gathering in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the end of June, 1996, to seek and define the heart and soul of the Presbyterian Church. In the words of Choon-Leong Seow, in his preface to a new collection of essays by Princeton Seminary faculty members on *Homosexuality and Christian Community* (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996): "there are those of us who believe that nothing less than the survival of the faith is at stake. ... The failure to maintain the standards of conduct that the community of faith has long recognized to be normative would compromise the church's unique identity as a covenant people. ... We are called to obey a God who commands the covenant community to rid itself of every unsavory influence that might lead it to apostasy and the dishonor of God. We worship a God whose name is Jealous, a God who brooks no compromise. "On the other hand, there are those of us who are equally convinced that the authenticity of the church is in question if it is unchanging and exclusivistic. Again, nothing less than the survival of the faith is at stake for us. ... The church is unfaithful if it turns its back on those who are marginalized in various ways by society or if the church itself excludes people on the basis of their race, gender, or sexual orientation from full participation in its life and leadership. ... The church is called to be a community that manifests the inclusive grace and love of God. ... We worship a God whose name is Compassionate, a God who is sovereign and free to extend grace to any and all" -- Introduction, p. viii-ix. All PLGCers will want to try to take part in this important assembly, the most important for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Presbyterians since 1978 when the current anti-gay apartheid policy was put into place. You will find all the information we have thus far below, but first, some news from the General Assembly Council! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * General Assembly Council Needs Input NOW Our roving reporter, Merrill Proudfoot, reports that *opposition to the ordination of homosexual persons* is the one item mentioned most often by sessions responding to a letter sent at the direction of the 1995 General Assembly asking churches to communicate their issues of concern and their hopes for the Presbyterian Church. This was reported to the General Assembly Council (GAC) at its meeting in Louisville in late February. The GAC will report its analysis of these letters to the General Assembly in Albuquerque. [So right now, before you forget it, ask YOUR session to send a letter, addressed to Marj Carpenter, Moderator of the 207th General Assembly (100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202- 1396). Urge the denomination to move toward inclusiveness, to encompass all believers on the same basis and according to the same standards. Ask the denomination to end its current apartheid policies that have created a second class category of membership for lesbian and gay Presbyterians, baring them from all leadership positions unless we lie, stay in the closet, or repent of our very nature! -- JDA] Every member of the General Assembly Council receives a copy of every letter! While only a little more than one percent of churches have responded, of those who did, more than half agree with the way one session phrased it: "We believe that the Scripture and Confessions are clear -- homosexuality is a sin and self-avowed, unrepentant homosexuals should not be ordained as ministers, elders or deacons in the PCUSA." Among those who did not mention homosexuality, the majority expressed a theology implying a negative stance. Only 14 of 156 replies spoke up for an inclusive church. *It appears that progressive forces in the Church have fallen into a trap by not taking seriously this invitation of the 1995 General Assembly.* In another action, the Council postponed making any response to the attack mounted at the 1995 Assembly against the Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) for having passed a resolution at its biennial conference asking for full acceptance of gay and lesbian persons in the church. A committee report that would have exonerated PHEWA from any violation of its memo of understanding with the PCUSA was returned to committee for more a detailed response to objections. A stinging critique of the committee's report delivered to each Council member's seat by Presbyterians Pro-Life may have influenced the Council's action. It lambasted PHEWA for "featur[ing] workshops and plenaries led by self-affirming, unrepentant homosexual persons" at its 1995 conference and for making pink triangles available at its GA booth in 1994, adding, "there are reports from more than one source that PHEWA has invited Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (PLGC) to become one of their networks." [Of course this is mis- information. What PHEWA did do around 1990 was to suggest the possibility of forming a PHEWA network group to work toward the implementation of General Assembly recommendations and policy regarding outreach to lesbian and gay people -- recommendations of the 1978 policy statement that are mostly ignored! -- JDA] Presbyterians Pro-Life claims that because PHEWA receives some support from the denomination, it is not permitted to engage in any activity that runs contrary to the denomination's policy position. In another report to the Council of interest to *Update* readers, the Presbyterian Foundation complained that it could find no generally accepted, legally satisfactory definition of "Presbyterian." "Who has the right to declare a person or organization 'related' to the Presbyterian Church?" the Foundation queried. The first example cited -- you guessed it -- was Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns; the second -- to keep things in balance -- was the Presbyterian Lay Committee. (They also mentioned, as examples, The Witherspoon Society and Presbyterian Elders in Prayer.) The Foundation's statement left the impression that the Foundation may go to the General Assembly, requesting it to clarify who is "Presbyterian" or "Presbyterian- related." [PLGC has a couple of endowments that are managed by the Foundation -- we certainly consider ourselves, and our funds, to be "thoroughly Presbyterian"! -- JDA] After a 2 and 1/2 hour executive session -- an hour longer than was docketed -- the Council gave the nod to James D. Brown for another term as Executive Director of the Council, the highest administrative post in the denomination. The vote was 46 to 16. It is understood that in the closed session, objections were voiced from both right and left to Brown's handling of the Re- Imagining fracas, but that the negative votes came largely from the conservative group. This does not necessarily represent their numerical strength on the Council, however, as both sides had reason to fear that Brown's successor might be even less to their liking. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Assembly Information Dates: The General Assembly officially meets from Saturday, June 29 through Saturday, July 6, but PLGCers who want to actively participate in our witness should plan on arriving by noon on Friday, June 28. Place: The Albuquerque Convention Center, 3rd Avenue between Marquette and Tijeras Avenues in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. PLGC's Pre-Assembly Workshop, Friday 1 p.m., June 28 through Saturday noon, June 29. All PLGCers who want to take an active role in our witnessing, monitoring and ministering activities should attend this event. Location in Albuquerque to be announced. If you are planning to attend, please R.S.V.P. to Scott Anderson, Deana Reed, or Jim Anderson (see back of Update or Masthead for contact information). Friday evening, we will be entertained, awed and inspired by Lisa Larges and the Witness for Reconciliation players. Housing. There are four housing options. 1. General Assembly housing in official G.A. hotels. The Office of the General Assembly has booked 3 hotels close to the convention center (Hyatt Regency, Doubletree, and La Posada de Albuquerque) and several additional hotels further away (2 to 3 miles -- The Sheraton Inn and the Rio Grande in Old Town; the Albuquerque Hilton, the Fairfield Inn, and the Holiday Inn Midtown near the freeways). Prices range from $50 to $89. Most downtown rooms will go to official commissioners and G.A. staff. Special bus service will serve the other hotels. If you want to stay in a G.A. hotel, call 1-800-210-9371, select option 1 for registration and housing, and ask for a housing form to fill out. 2. Dorms at the University of New Mexico. Dorm rooms are also available through the G.A. Housing Office (so use the same telephone number given in option 1). Cost is $20 for a single; $15 each for doubles. The University is about 3 miles from downtown. The special bus service will stop there as well. 3. Thanks to local arrangement friends, PLGC has specially reserved a block of fifty (yes, fifty!) rooms at the Plaza Inn in northeast Albuquerque. Located three minutes (about 1-1/2 miles) from the Convention Center where the G.A. will meet, the Plaza Inn features free shuttle service to the Airport, Convention Center, downtown hotels (including the La Posada where the official PLGC suite will be housed) and Old Town; as well as a swimming pool, hot tub, laundry facilities and both restaurant and room service. (The official G.A. shuttle buses will NOT stop here, however.) PLGC guests will receive a fantastic rate of $59.00 (fifty-nine dollars) plus taxes per night, single or double occupancy, with only $5.00 per night charged for each additional person. Children under 18 can stay for free with their parents. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PLAZA INN IS NOT AN "OFFICIAL" G.A. HOTEL, so you must make your reservations directly with the Plaza Inn. To reserve your room(s), call Sandra Pacheco at 505-243-5693 or 1-800-237-1307 and mention that you are with "PLGC" to receive the special rates. Your first night must be guaranteed with a credit card or deposit. Be sure to thank Sandra for offering us such a great deal, too. Deadline for making your reservations at the PLGC rate is May 29. We want to fill the Plaza Inn with as many PLGC folk as possible to facilitate our internal communications and coordinate access to the Convention Center, so please reserve today! -- Thanks to Tony De La Rosa for confirming these arrangements and providing this information! 4. Housing in homes. Our fourth option is to stay in area homes. For this option, please contact the chair of PLGC's local housing committee, Nancy Haldgewachs, 3401 Monte Vista Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, 505-268-1584. If you are on email, please include your email address. Persons choosing this option should be prepared to provide their own transportation or, even better, to learn and use the city's public bus system! Travel funds. PLGCers who need help with travel and living expenses may request a $100 David Sindt Memorial Travel Reimbursement from our treasurer Lew Myrick (see address on back of Update). PLGC has 50 of these reimbursements available. Please tell Lew why it's important for you and for PLGC that you be with us. PLGC and the More Light Churches Network hospitality suites will be in La Posada de Albuquerque near the Convention Center. You may have to ask for "James D. Anderson" to get the PLGC suite number! Lisa Furr will be our suite coordinator again this year, assisted by Rob Cummings. PLGC and More Light Churches Exhibit Booths, Albuquerque Convention Center, Saturday, June 29, 10:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 30, 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Monday, July 1, 9:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Tuesday, July 2, 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Wednesday, July 3, 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Thursday, July 4, 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Friday, July 5, 9:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. PLGC's Celebration of Reconciliation, Saturday evening, June 29, 9 p.m. (right after election of the General Assembly Moderator), Doubletree Hotel, Ulam Ballroom and Reception Foyer. Cost: $10. Tickets available through General Assembly Ticket Sales or direct from PLGC. Low-cost tickets for low-income folks available only from PLGC and at the door (set your own price-- we don't want anyone to stay away!). The Celebration will feature the "Shower of Stoles," a national collection of stoles given by ministers, elders, deacons, and seminarians in the PC(USA) who are gay or lesbian and those who have been barred from ordination because of their sexual and affectional orientation. The annual Inclusive Church Award will also be presented. The Witherspoon Society Luncheon, 12 noon, Sunday, June 30. Come support our good friends in the Witherspoon Society. More Light Churches will be honored. Location and price to be announced. PLGC's Opening Worship Service, Sunday, June 30, 5:30 p.m. (preliminaries), 6:00 p.m. (call to worship), featuring the Rev. Laurene Lafontaine, PLGC's Co-Moderator, preaching on "Jesus did NOT say: Love Your Neighbor BUT ..." Hyatt Regency Hotel. PLGC Daily Evening Briefing, 9-11 p.m., beginning Sunday, June 30, and skipping Tuesday, July 2 (because of our annual meeting). Place to be announced. The annual PLGC membership meeting, Tuesday, July 2, 8-10 p.m., La Posada Ballroom. To be followed by the famous annual gala Witherspoon party & dance. Place to be announced. Overtures. Overtures supporting lesbian and gay full membership and participation in our church are pouring in from around the church. One example, from San Francisco, was printed in the March *More Light Update.* But there are just too many for us to publish the rest of them! They are available from the Office of the General Assembly, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396, 502-569-5432, or via the PLGC home page on the world- wide web: http://www.epp.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html Special requests: We are looking for "ex-ex-gays" and their parents who would be willing to witness to their experience at General Assembly. Please contact Scott Anderson or Jim Anderson (see masthead or back page of Update for contact information). A List of Martyrs: Over the centuries, and in our own time, who are the martyrs who have born the brunt of the church's homophobia? Please send names and information for this list to Jim Anderson (see back of Update for address). Please be sure to indicate whether the information is public or private! (The idea for this list came from Witherspoon Society President, Gene TeSelle.) More information? For up-to-date information prior to the assembly, contact Jim Anderson, PLGC communications secretary (see back of Update); at the assembly, visit the PLGC exhibit booth in the Albuquerque convention center. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Message from Marj Carpenter Moderator of the 207th General Assembly Following the joint meeting of the PLGC and More Light Churches Network boards, plus leaders of associated groups and the Unity Through Diversity Project, several of our leaders met with Marj Carpenter, Moderator of the 207th General Assembly (1995, Cincinnati). They invited Marj to write a message for the *More Light Update,* (as she had done for *The Presbyterian Layman*). Here it is: More Light -- After meeting with the steering committee of the More Light churches, I recognize that there is a lot of "hurting" in that group. I could feel the pain. However, my candid honesty still leads me to once again declare that I stand with the present policy of the Presbyterian Church USA. We need to remember clearly, however, that this policy includes welcoming all God's people to membership in the church. I have no patience with disdain and scorn from other kinds of sinners -- since we are all sinners except Jesus Christ. I can't find it in my heart to write lengthily about this. I just want to say -- there are some words in that old hymn we took out of the hymnbook (Onward Christian Soldiers) that said "We are not divided -- all one body we --" Think about them. Come to the Assembly with prayer. And remember that God so loved the world the he gave his only begotten Son -- that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life: John 3:16. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Candidates for Moderator of the Albuquerque Assembly Thanks to *The Presbyterian Layman* [sic], we have some idea where the candidates for moderator of the 208th General Assembly stand on the issue of an inclusive church that welcomes all Presbyterians into full and equal membership. *The Layman* asked each of the three candidates for moderator three questions, the third being: "Would you like to see our denomination's current position on the ordination of self-affirming practicing homosexuals upheld or amended in some way." John Buchanan (Chicago) said, "... I wonder if God is not calling us to find a new way to express the church's traditional commitment to faithful marriage and the family as God's good gifts, while respecting our church's traditional commitment to its congregations and Presbyteries as the places where faithful decisions are made about ordination." John Clark Poling (Las Cruces, New Mexico) said, "Homosexual practice is not within God's purpose for our lives. I share this conviction with the vast majority across our denomination. Once more we will uphold positions taken by General Assembly actions in 1978, 1979, 1991 and 1993. This year we will clarify our constitutional language to prevent the willful disregard of those actions by a few of us." Norman Pott (San Rafael, California) said, "... I believe the time has come for us to eliminate the current position altogether. We have made dubious use of Scripture by ignoring its central message of reconciliation, and by importing particular passages out of their original contexts and applying them to what we are coming to know as homosexuality today. And we are violating the ministry of Jesus by rejecting a whole class of people before ever meeting them as human beings." Norman Pott has sent two longer messages to the *Update*. Here they are: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Presbyterian Church: Down, But Not Out December 22, 1995 Dear Friends, In just over six months, we meet again in Albuquerque. Here in northern California we are turning the other cheek following the smack of another Pacific storm, and I know that most of the rest of the country is buried under a pile of snow, so it is difficult to picture Albuquerque in late June and early July, but time, if not the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), marches on. Marching is not our thing right now. Is that why "Onward Christian Soldiers" is no longer on the charts? Rather, it appears to me, the Presbyterian Church is bunkered down, deeply entrenched, in a survival mode. Our predominant reality for over three decades had been the steady erosion of members and dollars, and our response to these unrelenting statistics has too often become an anxious effort to save ourselves. For what other reason would we be devoting our best energy to restructuring ourselves (yawn!)? Why would we be going to such lengths not to offend anyone, even the obvious peddlers of fear in our midst? Why would we be engaged in giving "reconciliation" a bad name? I liked what it meant in 1967; but reconciliation as keeping the most possible Presbyterians happy is not what Paul had in mind. Recently I attended a conference where the keynoter was Loren Mead, but the gem I remember most clearly came from a panel participant who suggested this as the question for the church just now: "In this time when the old is passing away and a largely unknown and unpredictable new form of the church is emerging, are we willing to accept our ministry as a gift from God or not?" I would include in that acceptance: - the affirmation that Jesus is alive, and that it is his church. That would encourage a primary mood of celebration. It also addresses our institutional anxiety. Let Jesus worry about our survival; let us worry about the integrity of the Gospel. - the recognition that the local congregation is the primary locus for mission. It is here that our personal and material resources need to be concentrated. This is not to turn from our heritage of mission in all the world, but to seize the opportunity of this new day for mission on our threshold. - the awareness that the advent of women to leadership in the church has been the most significant expression of reformation in the twentieth century. Beyond all of the bluster, this is what re-imagining was really about. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is positioned to take full advantage of this new partnership. - the necessity of extending justice and full inclusion to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ. Certainly there must be rigorous standards in qualifying candidates for ordination. But they can not be applied before we ever meet the persons as human beings. The assumptions of our 1978 Definitive Guidance simply do not hold in 1996. Homosexual persons are not a sign of fallen humanity. All of us are. Requiring celibacy of some while affording sexual expression to the majority is alien to the Gospel which commends a healthy sexuality to everyone. One reality is unmistakable: God did not cease and desist in 1978 from calling some gay and lesbian persons to ministries which are appropriately recognized in ordination. I see a conservative resolution of this issue, which continues to sap our Gospel strength. Let us conserve our time-honored Presbyterian way, where those who are closest to the candidate make the decision to either confirm or deny a call; that is, congregations and sessions should be free to elect and ordain Elders and Deacons, just as presbyteries should be free to elect and ordain ministers of the word and sacraments. That's enough platform on which to run for Moderator. A woman in Texas corrected me ... "you stand for Moderator". I was glad to hear that. At six foot seven inches, I am one of the best "standers" around. If you've come this far, "thank you, and please, if you are so inclined, let me know where you are on any of the points I have raised. Running, or rather, standing, for Moderator has been great fun thus far, and the real dividend will be the ability to promote a lot of reflection, communication, interaction, and yes, prayer, as we come to Albuquerque. The Presbyterian Church is down but not out. You will be glad to learn that this letter does not conclude with a request for money. The campaign limit is $500 and that does not allow for much prime time television advertising, but it also saves us from leaning too hard on old friends. What we would appreciate more is your personal participation in the campaign and your support, if what I have shared touches your own concerns and vision for the church. Particularly, if you are in touch with any newly elected commissioners to the 1996 General Assembly, please feel free to pass this message along to them. I would be glad to converse with any of them directly or via Presbynet where I am NORM_POTT.parti@pcusa.org. Have a joyous Christmas season, and I hope that together we can celebrate 1996 as a truly new year, come June in New Mexico. Sincerely yours, Norm Pott, 180 El Cerrito Ave., San Rafael, California 94901, Phone (415) 453-8299. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Meeting, Mission, Miracle by Norm Pott, September, 1995 The numbers keep going down. The dollars are squeezed. A mood of anxiety, of despair, clings to the church. What do we have going for us? How about this: Jesus Christ is alive! What are the deficits in comparison to that over-arching reality? There is no better time for celebration. I see the 96-97 year in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a time to grow in our capacity and ability for worship. I was at a conference recently where everyone was turned on by a Bible study of I Corinthians, and a guy named Mike, a young Pastor in Illinois, came up with the proposal: "We have years with Africa and years with Latin America. How about a year with Corinth." The curriculum would be Paul's letters to the Corinthians (talk about a church with anxiety and conflict). Go Mike! What a great way to put our heads together on how to be the church, the body of Christ. Not that any amount of Bible study and communication could resolve our differences. But communication can help us to understand each other and even more to appreciate each other. Best of all, it will promote the kind of community which does not depend upon consensus (sorry, not possible), but rather the more powerful Christian community that holds us together in the face of differences. To move us in this direction I would like to see a number of conferences in the spring of 1997 funded by congregations and presbyteries as well as the General Assembly. We could mirror the NCAA and hold the southeast regionals, the western regionals etc. and like them draw folks from all parts of the country, clergy and laity, to worship and pray, eat and drink, study, share and converse, for the purpose of confronting and clarifying our differences, but also affirming all that binds us together. In contrast to the NCAA there would be no elimination. Marj Carpenter is right. A church in mission will diminish the destructive power of our divisions. What I see is that we don't have to travel far to be in mission. The cultural shifts that we have witnessed in the 20th Century have brought the mission of the church to the doorstep of each congregation. What an exciting time to be alive! Let us recognize that the action is in the congregations. Here is the launching pad for ministries of proclamation, of compassion, of social witness and action. The resources of presbyteries, synods, and General Assembly should be deployed more deliberately to enable congregations to seize the day, and to equip the members of churches to embody Christ everywhere. Finally, I want to promote partnerships: - Women and Men: We should make it a goal that every church in the denomination shall have experienced the ministry of an ordained woman pastor by the year 2000. This can be accomplished as presbyteries (the Bishop) insist that women be considered for calls, and particularly for churches that have not received this gift, that women be invited to serve during interim periods. - Children and Youth: We should strive to make the church's worship, education, mission and fellowship, user-friendly for children and youth, who are the church of today as well as the church of tomorrow. - Racial-Ethnic Persons: One of the reasons that I am proud to be Presbyterian is because I, as a white male, am encouraged to identify myself as a racial ethnic person, and then I am encouraged to be in communion with others across racial ethnic lines. This direction and experience must never be compromised. Race continues to be the fault line that runs through our American society, and the Presbyterian Church USA is in a unique position to witness and to work towards the future that God intends. - Gay and Lesbian Persons: The Scriptures do not speak to the phenomenon of homosexuality as we have come to know it today. In the light of the whole Biblical witness we are called now to address this issue that will not go away. Consider this: (1) God has been calling and gifting gay and lesbian persons since the Year One. This divine initiative is evidently continuing in spite of the current prohibition in the Presbyterian Church, USA. (2) Homosexual persons are not by themselves a sign of the fall; we all are. (3) Sexuality is not an expression exclusively reserved for heterosexuals while homosexuals are required to be monks and nuns. The Presbyterian Church is in an untenable position by permitting sexual expression for some and mandating celibacy for others; the Presbyterian Church should be commending healthy, responsible, relational, self-giving, pleasurable sexual expression to everyone, both gay and straight. In the reformed churches celibacy has been a choice, not a requirement. (4) Not all gay and lesbian persons who are Christian should be ordained. But where congregations in the case of Elders and Deacons, and presbyteries in the case of Ministers of the Word and Sacrament, decide that particular gay and lesbian persons have been called and gifted by God, the Constitutional freedom to examine them, affirm them, ordain them and install them should not be abridged. A friend who reviewed all this commented, "Norm, for this to happen, it would take a miracle of the Spirit." I said, "OK, I'm for a miracle of the Spirit." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Weathering Spiritual Growth by Sabra Staley I have lived long enough to see the Presbyterian Church weather *some* spiritual growth. A "Southern" Presbyterian for many years, I longed for it to value women members and give them authority to lead. They did, about 1970, and I was elected elder in 1972. (I had spent 10 years "doing my homework.") Then I longed for the church to mend the schism between Northerners and Southerners. I was a member of a union presbytery for 10 years, and finally we had merger in 1983. I then worked on the committee that put the Synods of Piedmont, North Carolina, and Virginias together into the Synod of Mid- Atlantic (and in lickety-split time, too). Now I hunger for the Church to recognize that people are people. It seems incredible to me that followers of Jesus should established a caste system! -- and divide the can-do's and can't-do's on such a private, personal issue. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Keeping Heart by Dorothy Fillmore "We make plans; our Higher Power laughs!" When I heard these words at a recent twelve step meeting, I could not help thinking about how we, in PLGC, plot, plan, pray, hope that the PCUSA will see the injustice in its ban on gay and lesbian ordination and will reverse its policy. What a dichotomy this presents for me as I work my twelve step program and I go about my PLGC work. Do PLGC's words and actions suggest that if we work or plan or hope or pray hard enough, that God's Holy Spirit will change this church? Whoa -- since when do our works and prayers empower and direct the Holy Spirit? It seems to me that our, PLGC's, words and actions often indicate a dangerous underlying assumption: that we can control the outcome of this dialogue -- we can rescue and fix a church that has been homophobic and sexaphobic for a long time. We talk about "training" ourselves to be more effective speakers at General Assembly. Doesn't this imply that if we do things the right way, we will win? A few months from now, the 1996 General Assembly takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As the official "dialogue" (uh huh) draws to a close, we, whose losses are already large, become more anxious because we cannot save the church. We cannot emotionally afford to position ourselves as the church "rescuers." It just is not in our power. So am I suggesting we do nothing ... that we be what Holly Near calls, "a gentle, angry people?" Most of us are way beyond gentle and angry about the discrimination we experience in the PCUSA. We're furious! Like the Old Testament prophets that challenged those in authority in God's name -- like Jesus, who overturned conventional wisdom to witness the Kingdom of God on earth -- like Presbyterians who worked for the inclusion of African-Americans and women -- we know ordination of gays and lesbians is just and theologically and biblically supported. We even know it to be sound polity. It contradicts neither our baptism nor our confirmation. While we work to bring God's justice and kingdom on earth *now*, at the same time we do this knowing that our picture, just like everyone else's, is incomplete and that the outcome is not in our control. So if success is unlikely and we cannot control the outcome of this year's General Assembly, what do we want to accomplish in Albuquerque? Above all, let's Keep Heart! In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes: Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart ... But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. (Chapter 4: 1,7 NRSV) We want to keep heart at this General Assembly because we remember that "it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry." We want to keep heart with each other -- knowing that whatever the outcome of our quest -- we honored and loved each other. And that is part of our witness. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Equal Access to the Civil Status of Marriage Almost all the attention at the 208th General Assembly in Albuquerque will be focused on whether or not lesbian and gay folk may be full members of the Presbyterian Church, including equal access to the privileges and responsibilities of leadership. But the assembly will also receive a commissioner resolution on equal access to the civil status of marriage. It was submitted last year to the 207th General Assembly, but that assembly didn't want to touch anything relating to lesbian and gay people, so it was referred to the 208th assembly. Here it is: Whereas, the 190th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1978) and the 119th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1979) each declared that "The Christian community can neither condone nor participate in the widespread contempt for homosexual persons that prevails in our general culture. Indeed, beyond this, it must do everything in its power to prevent society from continuing to hate, harass, and oppress them." (UPCUSA, Policy statement, p. 60 in "The Church and Homosexuality," 1978; PCUS, "Homosexuality and the Church: A Position Paper," 1979, p. 10); and Whereas, the 190th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1978) further declared that "There is no legal, social, or moral justification for denying homosexual persons access to the basic requirements of human social existence. ... Vigilance must be exercised to oppose federal, state, and local legislation that discriminates against persons on the basis of sexual orientation and to initiate and support federal, state, or local legislation that prohibits discrimination against persons on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations." (Policy statement, p. 61 in "The Church and Homosexuality," 1978); and Whereas, the 119th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1979) further declared that "The 117th and 118th General Assemblies asserted 'the need for the church to stand for just treatment of homosexual persons in our society in regard to their civil liberties, equal rights and protection under the law from social and economic discrimination which is due all its citizens.' This stand is reaffirmed." ("Homosexuality and the Church: A Position Paper," 1979, p. 10); and Whereas, on May 5, 1993 in the case of Baehr v. Lewin, the Supreme Court of Hawaii issued a preliminary decision stating that it appeared to be unconstitutional to deny the civil responsibilities and privileges of the civil status of marriage to persons on the basis of the sex or gender of the partners in such a relationship; and Whereas, it is likely that this decision will be confirmed within the coming year or two, allowing same-sex couples access to civil marriage in the State of Hawaii; and Whereas, it has long been the tradition throughout the United States, based on the "full faith and credit" provision of the United States Constitution, that civil marriages in one state are recognized in all other states; and Whereas, lesbian and gay life partner couples and their families have the same needs as heterosexual life partner couples and their families; and Whereas, it is appropriate for the church to encourage gay and lesbian persons to enter into responsible, stable, mutually supportive relationships that benefit the participants, their families, and their communities; therefore, be it Resolved, that the 207th General Assembly (1995) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) endorse the preliminary decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to deny the rights and responsibilities of the civil status of marriage on the basis of gender or sex; and be it further Resolved, that the 207th General Assembly (1995) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirms that because civil marriage has been considered a fundamental right under the constitutions of the United States and its constituent states and territories, and because these constitutions guarantee equal protection of the law, that the State should permit gay and lesbian couples access to the civil status of civil marriage and to share fully and equally in the rights and responsibilities of that status; and be it further Resolved, that the 207 General Assembly (1995) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) direct the Office of the Stated Clerk to explore the feasibility of entering a friend-of-the- court brief in support of equal access to the civil status of civil marriage in the Hawaii case, and also in the challenges to this right that have already begun to appear in other states. [Submitted by ] The Rev. Monica Styron, Minister Commissioner, Presbytery of Northern New England; The Rev. Larry Grimm, Minister Commissioner, Presbytery of Denver * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Books to Watch Out For Thanks to the dialogue on lesbian-gay issues in the Presbyterian Church (and similar attention in other denominations), there has been an explosion of books on our issues, some good, some bad, some terrible. Probably the worst book to claim some credibility is Thomas E. Schmidt's *Straight and Narrow,* because it purports to cite serious psychological and scientific literature to portray gays and lesbian in the worst possible light. We have two very long reviews of this book, the first focusing on Schmidt's misuse of the Bible and theological traditions by the Rev. Tom Hanks, Executive Director of Other Sheep, a Ministry with Sexual Minorities and former professor at the evangelical biblical seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the second focusing only on Schmidt's chapter 6 in which he mis- uses the scientific literature, by Cleveland Kent Evans, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Bellevue University in Nebraska. We can only print brief excerpts from these reviews. Please write to PLGC for copies of the complete reviews. A couple of dollars for each review would be appreciated to pay for copying and postage! [NOTE: ALL OF CLEVE EVANS REVIEW IS INCLUDED IN THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION!] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Can Homophobia Be Cured? Recent Studies Contradict One Another *Straight & Narrow?: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate* by Thomas E. Schmidt (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995); *Scripture and Homosexuality* by Marion L. Soards (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1995). Here we have two more attempts to take a patched up version of Augustine's tattered sexual ideology, read it back into the Bible and pretend that it represents Biblical theology, or in Schmidt's case New Testament Ethics. Faced with a rising ecclesiastical tide of demands that sexual abstinence be required of all true followers of Jesus, St. Augustine staked out an area that was Safe for Sex: only within marriage and for the purpose of procreation. Actually the procreation God had commanded proved highly dangerous and millions of women died from miscarriages and childbirth until modern medicine made it Safer for women who could afford doctors. Nevertheless, Augustine's sexual ideology eventually became so popular as to represent what Jacques Ellul would later term the "majority propaganda" within both Catholicism and Protestantism. When Augustine wrote, the neoplatonic allegorical misinterpretation of Song of Songs had remained virtually unquestioned in synagogues and churches for centuries. Hence the Biblical basis for a genuinely positive theology of sexual love had been effectively eliminated by an alien philosophy and hermeneutic. Given that context, it required all of Augustine's considerable genius to salvage a theology that was at least "marriage-positive" if not "sex-positive." Soards' and Schmidt's majority (heterosexist) propaganda seeks to re- establish neoplatonic sexual ideology and "marriage-positive" theology in a day when at least amongst theologians (and increasingly even amongst Catholics, who defy the Pope on birth control in overwhelming numbers) Augustine's sexual ideology is one of the most disreputable aspects of his thought. Were Saint Augustine's marriage-positive theology taken as a kind of "critical reflection on his bisexual praxis," it might even today be taken more seriously. But unfortunately the autobiographical background (homosexual relations, years living with a concubine, and on the verge of an arranged marriage to a child bride when converted) are not publicized every time the Pope invokes his sexual ideology to denounce birth control and homosexuality. Near the end of his effort, Schmidt bewails his resourceful young daughter's heavy arsenal of argumentative techniques, including "transformation of assertions into facts by sheer repetition, subtle alteration of evidence, selective memory of precedents and remarkably responsive tear ducts" (p. 160). It would be difficult to find a better description of the author's own method, which prompts reflection on the question whether his daughter's tactics should be understood as genetic, socially constructed, or a complex interweaving of the two. ... The book, his video and oral presentations are shot through with candid flauntings of his heterosexual lust designed to reassure and entertain his heterosexual readers. His current divorce proceedings may put the damper on this ploy, to the disappointment of Presbyterian audiences who have found it safe entertainment. However, near the end of the book when he finally admits that homosexual orientation exists, probably has a biological basis, and that for many homosexuals all the ExGay tortures he recommends won't change a thing, his Final Solution is to seek to impose sexual abstinence, even on millions who claim no spiritual gift of continence, because "the desire for sex is neither central nor necessary to anyone's being" (p. 150) .... It would be fun to listen in while Schmidt tries to prove to his argumentative daughter, from the Bible, with no reference to scientific discovery and human experience, the modern view of the cosmos. Despite all the ideological hype about the Bible, in all my decades in the Wonderland of Evangelicaldom, I have never met parents who still use the Bible to teach astronomy to their children. At the 1995 Presbyterian General Assembly it was fascinating to hear anti-abortionist "evangelicals" citing with such confidence and dogmatism the supposed modern scientific consensus about "human life beginning at the moment of conception," while the Bible's prescientific notion that Levi was in his ancestor Abraham's loins centuries before his birth (even paying tithes to Melchizedek, Hebrews 7:9-10), was not even mentioned (thus is the Bible manipulated to serve the interests of dominant ideologies). .... Schmidt never affirms Presbyterian positions on basic civil rights for gay men and lesbians (aside from compassionately refraining for pushing for the death penalty, which he thinks the Bible prescribes for homosexuals). Soards advocates church membership and "basic civil rights" for homosexuals in society (p. 74), but advocates continued discrimination within the church on the ordination question. In the competition for the "incoherence" badge it is difficult to declare the winner. Are there any signs of hope that Schmidt and Soards might someday be cured of their homophobia? Usually I manage to hope against hope in such cases, but I must admit that Schmidt's book puts my faith to quite a test. Sometimes, as a last resort, to keep up hope, I recall Paul's "conversion" experience ("vocation" more accurately). But should God appear to Schmidt, tell him in no uncertain terms that she is a black lesbian suffering from AIDS, and ask "Why persecutest thou me?", Schmidt undoubtedly would simply remind God that he intends to stick with his preferred interpretation of the Bible and not be misled by his experience. Schmidt's tortuous trail, of course, ends up precisely where the Pope and traditional Roman Catholicism begin: demanding that millions worldwide who claim no special "gift" abstain from all sexual activity, including masturbation. As we are continually reminded in the press, the Roman Catholic Church in the USA is currently involved in billions of dollars worth of lawsuits for purportedly celibate priests guilty of sexually abusing children. For Schmidt and InterVarsity Press, being "evangelical" means to follow the Pope in his disastrous teaching on human sexuality. Experienced, informed counselors, psychologists and pastors have known for years what this kind of "pastoral guidance" produces: depression, alcoholism, divorce, irresponsible and abusive sex, and suicide. Schmidt pretends fidelity to Jesus' "narrow" way (Mat. 7), but Jesus makes clear that this narrow way involves a costly option in support of the poor, oppressed, weak, sick and marginalized (Mat. 25:31-46). Schmidt's White Male theology of oppression, masquerading as "evangelical," is precisely the broad way that Jesus condemned. -- Dr. Tom Hanks, Other Sheep, Buenos Aires, Argentina PS: See also Merrill Proudfoot's review of Soards' book in the December 1995 *Update*. We also have a review of Soards' book from George Edwards, professor emeritus of Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. You can also contact PLGC for a copy of this review as well. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Price of Love A Review of Chapter Six of Thomas Schmidt's *Straight & Narrow?: Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate* (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995). Reviewed by Cleveland Kent Evans, Ph.D., professor of psychology, Bellevue University, Bellevue, Nebraska. Thomas Schmidt's Chapter Six of Straight and Narrow? is titled "The Price of Love." It is a well-written and clever presentation of medical and social science research designed to convince the reader that "homosexual behavior" *per se* is destructive and immoral. He claims that "the reader will easily distinguish information from interpretation by the presence or absence of documentation," but that statement forgets that it is easy to mislead by selective quoting of research and the use of unrepresentative statistics. The rest of the chapter shows Schmidt to be a master at both of these skills. After his opening remarks, Schmidt moves on to the question of the "prevalence of same-sex practice." His main purpose here is to convince the reader that the commonly reported estimate of 10% of the population being gay or lesbian is too high. This conclusion is undoubtedly correct; indeed, the gay community's obsessive repetition of this figure gives anti-gay authors like Schmidt their easiest target in claiming that gay activists themselves distort research for their own political ends. To understand this we have to go back to where the 10% figure comes from -- the Kinsey research conducted in the 1940s and 1950s. It's important to point out that Kinsey himself was not interested in labeling people as "gay" or "straight" and promoted no percentage figures. There are two different stories today as to how the 10% number was extracted from his data. Most authors assume that it comes from the statement "10% of the males are more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55" (Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin 1948, 650-651.) However, long-time gay activist and biological researcher Bruce Voeller claims that the figure came up when he "played with the Kinsey scale data on my calculator and was struck by the fact that for those who had *predominantly* homosexual experience, the percentages were about 7% for women and 13% for men .... As there are about equal numbers of each gender, an *average of 10% of the population could be designated as gay*, that is, to the homosexual side of the midpoint 3 on the Kinsey scale" (Voeller 1990, p. 33). Voeller goes on to say that he promoted the 10% number during the early gay movement because it was "handy to use the 10% figure" as it made it easy to estimate the number of gay people in any population, but also because it meant that gays were a "huge potential voting block" and "in every extended family in America." (p. 34). However much Voeller had to do with it, the 10% figure quickly embedded itself in gay and lesbian political consciousness because it was so useful both in motivating activists themselves and in making the wider community take notice. By getting into double figures, 10% is the magic number that makes a proportion seem like a "significant minority" to most of us. The problem, however, is that Kinsey did not begin his research with a random probability sample. His subjects were volunteers, many recruited from institutional settings and gay friendship networks (Laumann et al. 1994, p. 289). Kinsey's research subjects were also members of the World War II generation, a group much more likely to have experienced long-term living in sex-segregated environments than subsequent generations, which may also have inflated these figures. Research conducted since 1980 with better sampling techniques consistently shows lower percentages. In their new book *City of Friends academics*, Simon LeVay and Elisabeth Nonas conclude that between 2% and 5% of American men are gay and around 2% of American women are lesbians (p. 102), which seem to be reasonable figures based on current research. But just because Schmidt is correct that the 10% figure is way too high, that doesn't mean that he reports the situation fairly. For example, Schmidt states "What is the percentage of the population, then, that consistently desires or practices same-sex relations? The NORC data provide an estimate that ... the number of currently active homosexuals is 0.6-0.7% of the U.S. adult population" (p. 103). In the first place, Schmidt is misleading here because the NORC study he quotes asked absolutely no questions about sexual desire, but like most such studies only asked respondents about their sexual practices. Second, the 0.7% figure is clearly for those persons who have had sexual contact with only same-sex individuals since age 18, which is not the same thing as "the number of currently active homosexuals." Finally, the NORC survey Schmidt quotes here -- and which he makes the basis for his conclusion that only 1.5 million American adults are "homosexual" -- is the recent American survey with the *lowest* reported figures of same-sex contact. It was one where in-person interviewers of General Social Survey participants handed them a short written questionnaire to be returned in a sealed envelope. This was just the sort of situation designed to telegraph to interviewees that the sexual questions were somehow shameful, and therefore probably was subject to even more under-reporting of stigmatized sexual activities than other surveys (Smith 1991, p. 102). One of the main problems with this line of survey research is that almost all of it asks only questions about sexual behavior, while most gay men and lesbians define themselves on the basis of their sexual or romantic attractions. Though Schmidt mentions the concept of sexual desire in his discussion, he reports *no* figures on it, even though he does report the behavior figures from the Laumann et al. study which has been the only recent one to ask questions about desire. That survey found that 6.2% of American men ages 18-59 reported being "at least somewhat" sexually attracted to other men, while 4.4% of women reported such attraction to their sex. Meanwhile 1.4% of women and 2.8% of men in that survey identified themselves as being gay, lesbian, or bisexual (p. 297). Since Laumann and his colleagues themselves state that any estimates of socially stigmatized sexual behaviors or feelings derived from survey data are to be considered "lower bound estimates" (p. 284), the LeVay and Nonas figures of 2% women and 4% of men being gay seem much more reasonable than Schmidt's 1.3% and 0.66% figures. In his "Patterns of Practice" section, Schmidt's goal is to convince the reader that gay men and lesbians are "altogether different" from heterosexuals in terms of maintenance of monogamous long-term relationships, sexual techniques, and alcohol and drug use. In order to do this he makes heavy use of research studies that used non-representative populations and ignores research results from others which would substantially modify the negative picture he wishes to give. Of course it is impossible in our present society to obtain a truly random representative sample of gay men or lesbians from which one can draw valid statistical conclusions about all homosexual persons. That is why it's important when discussing the results of any research study to specify the population used, something which Schmidt fails to do almost anywhere in his discussion. For example, when he discusses relationships Schmidt places primary emphasis on the three books by Bell and Weinberg (1978), Saghir and Robins (1973), and Jay and Young (1979). He never bothers to tell his readers that the Saghir and Robins study interviewed only 89 gay men and 57 lesbians recruited from gay political organizations in Chicago and San Francisco. This obviously makes statistical statements based on only a *part* of this small sample (such as "75% of homosexual men over 40 experienced no relationships that lasted longer than a year") nearly useless as estimates for today's total gay male population. The Jay and Young study had a numerically much larger sample -- 962 women, 4,329 men -- but this was a volunteer sample recruited by two authors whose goal was not to gather accurate statistics but to give individuals a chance to express themselves in the tradition of "radical gay feminist journalism" (p. 6). To gather their subjects, they ran ads in various gay and lesbian publications, sent notices to 1800 different gay and lesbian organizations, and had questionnaires distributed to patrons of all-male pornographic theaters and a men's masturbation club. Fully 2,642 (57%) of their male sample were readers of *Blue Boy*, a gay men's pornographic magazine. Their study is an interesting journalistic portrait of part of the gay and lesbian community in the 1970s, but it is no more a good scientific survey than journalist Shere Hite's books are considered to provide good data about the sex lives of American heterosexual women. Jay and Young's sampling methods were sure to exaggerate the amount of all sorts of sexual activity, especially for gay men. The Bell and Weinberg study, though somewhat better as a sample than the others, was certainly not a random sample -- it was geographically limited to persons living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1970. As a study sponsored by the Kinsey Institute, it was likely to receive more volunteers from those particularly interested in sex, and of course under-represented those who were neither very sexually active nor "out" in the gay/lesbian community in 1970. Though not mentioning the nature of these samples is distortion in itself, Schmidt also mis-reports the findings of the studies. For example, he implies that the only criteria for being designated a "closed couple" in the Bell and Weinberg study was a low amount of sex outside the relationship. In fact, to be called part of a closed couple one had to exhibit low levels of "sexual problems," which included erectile difficulties, premature ejaculation, lack of orgasm, lack of sexual frequency, and concerns that one was inadequate sexually (p. 132; 332-335). In other words, you had to be very functionally sexually active and satisfied with your sex life to be called "close-coupled," so a lot more than monogamy was involved. Schmidt's statement that in the Saghir and Robins study "only 8% of the homosexual men and 7% of the homosexual women ever had relationships that lasted more than 3 years" is simply incorrect. Tables presented in the book clearly show, for example, that 21% of the men and 20% of the women had relationships lasting over three years just in the decade of their 30's (p. 57, 225). When Schmidt mentions "more recent studies," he also fails to mention relevant data about the samples. Contrary to the implications of his footnote (p. 199), most of the subjects of the "1980s Los Angeles study" he references were not merely "seeking medical help"; fully 72% of them were patients at a clinic for sexually-transmitted diseases, while the rest were clients of physicians who advertised themselves as specializing in gay male health care (Linn et al.. 1989). The "3-year Boston study" drew its subjects from patients at AIDS-related clinics and their sexual partners (Seage et al.1992). Obviously both of these groups were drawn from the more sexually active part of the gay male community. In fact, it isn't difficult to find "more recent studies" that give rather different figures from those Schmidt quotes. The recent surveys conducted among readers of the gay and lesbian news magazine *The Advocate* (which probably over-represented the affluent, highly educated, and politically liberal among gay Americans, though it was more geographically representative than most previous surveys), found 33% of its nearly 13,000 gay male respondents to be living with a partner. 71% of all gay men in that survey preferred "long-term monogamous relationships," and 52% of those who were or had been in a relationship claimed to be monogamous. 80% of all men who answered the Advocate survey said if they had to choose between living without sex and living without love, they'd live without sex (Lever 1994). Of the over 7,500 lesbians and bisexual women responding to the Advocate survey the next year (Lever 1995), 54% were living with a partner, with 80% claiming their current or most recent relationship was monogamous. Perhaps more relevant are the results of a 1989 survey conducted by *Partners Newsletter for Gay & Lesbian Couples*, which of course attracted persons already in committed relationships. One or both partners in 1266 couples (706 lesbian couples, 560 gay male couples) responded. In this sample, 91% of the women and 63% of the men were in "sexually exclusive" relationships, but 98% of the women and 78% of the men reported they had no sex outside of their relationship, showing that many in theoretically "open" relationships were in fact monogamous (Bryant & Demian 1994, p. 108-109). The average length of these relationships was nearly six years, though the average respondent was only 35 years old. 14% of the women and 25% of the men had been together ten or more years. These figures are of course no more applicable to all gay and lesbian Americans than those quoted by Schmidt, but they do show that his statement that "promiscuity among homosexual men is virtually the only experience" (p. 108) is a gross overstatement of the facts. But there is another way in which Schmidt's discussion of gay and lesbian relationships is distorted: his complete failure to report any of the research on the non-sexual aspects of these unions. This is probably because such research shows little difference between lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples on most important dimensions. For example, there is virtually no difference between homosexual and heterosexual couples on measures of love and satisfaction with the relationship (Peplau 1991). Gay male couples together more than ten years have a 4% likelihood of breaking up within the next 18 months, identical to that for married heterosexuals (Blumstein & Schwartz 1983). The predictors of relationship satisfaction and stability are similar for lesbian, gay male, and heterosexual couples, with the main difference between homosexual and heterosexual couples being that gay and lesbian couples show a more egalitarian division of household chores (Kurdek 1993). In short, in most ways gay and lesbian couples are more like heterosexual couples than they are different from them. When Schmidt moves on from discussing relationships to discussing "sexual techniques," he focuses on the same sort of unrepresentative samples. He also practically ignores any discussion of the sexual techniques of lesbians, which he tries to justify on the grounds that since there are fewer lesbians than gay men and they are on average not as sexually active, most "homosexual acts" occur in a male context. This is of course an extremely sexist response and shows a misunderstanding of human sexuality and how romantic partners show affection, as it focuses on genital acts as being the only "sexual" ones. It is also obviously a choice to ignore the group of homosexuals -- namely women -- whose average behavior would contradict the negative picture Schmidt is trying to portray. Schmidt also grossly misrepresents one fact in a way which contradicts his claim that his intent is not to "arouse repulsion" (p. 108). After quoting the figure that 80% of Bell and Weinberg's gay men had participated in mutual masturbation, he goes on to say "Mutual masturbation, incidentally, is not limited to genital stimulation but includes a variety of anal stimuli, involving the fingers and various other objects." (p. 108-109). His footnote to that sentence (#43, p. 200) refers to an article (Agnew 1986) which merely describes possible anal practices, gives no statistics on mutual masturbation, and does not refer to Bell and Weinberg. Meanwhile, Bell and Weinberg's research clearly defined mutual masturbation as "hand-genital contact" (p. 108, 282). Schmidt then repeats in his conclusion to this section that 80-90% of gay men in recent studies engage in "mutual masturbation of the penis *and anus*" (italics mine). Evidently Schmidt felt he had to get something involving the anus up to 90% to increase his readers' disgust level, even though he had to fabricate his own spurious definitions in order to misrepresent the research. Most of the studies Schmidt quotes on alcohol and drug abuse used populations drawn largely from patients at community health clinics (Linn et al. 1989; McCusker et al. 1992; Seage et al. 1992). Again, this is not a random sample of the gay and lesbian community. It's also interesting to note that 43% of the gay men in Schmidt's "other Boston study" (McCusker et al.. 1992, p.864) but only 35.2% of men in the general population (Laumann et al. 1994, p. 116) say that they never use alcohol as part of sexual activity. When Schmidt begins to discuss research on mental disorders among gay men and lesbians, he claims that research, which shows that homosexuals are no more distressed psychologically than heterosexuals, merely uses words like "adjusted" as synonyms for "self-satisfied." This is simply incorrect. Though "adjusted" and "functional" are not the same thing as "moral," in both psychiatry and psychology these terms imply that one is rational and able to fulfill occupational and social roles as well as being free from subjective distress (Sue, Sue, & Sue 1994, p. 10). He also misleads his readers in his reference to Gonsiorek's 1982 article complaining that subjects for psychological surveys are often drawn from homosexual activist organizations, as Gonsiorek presents evidence that such volunteer samples may show more psychological disturbance than average, not less (p. 374- 375). More importantly, when Schmidt points out that Bell and Weinberg's study applied the term "normal adjustment" to only two of their five relationship categories, it would have been only fair for him to add that one of the two of five categories definitely less well adjusted than a heterosexual comparison group was the "Asexuals," single persons with very low levels of sexual activity (p. 195-216). That fact is difficult to reconcile with Schmidt's idea that "homosexual practice" per se is associated with psychopathology. Though of course most of the articles Schmidt uses in discussing rates of substance abuse, depression, and suicide among gays and lesbians are not representative samples (for example, 71% of the 405 men in his "combined studies" were HIV-positive, far higher than his own estimated figures for all gay men), there does seem to be general agreement among researchers that these three problems are more prevalent among gay men and lesbians than among the population as a whole. However, it should be noted that the figures Schmidt quotes are lifetime prevalence rates, not percentages of persons who currently exhibit the disorders. Indeed, the two studies he combines to get his male sample of 405 both found current rates of depression and substance abuse no different from those of the general population (Rosenberger et al. 1993; Williams et al. 1991). Even if these studies recruited many of their participants from "supportive therapy groups," that these problems are so easily reduced to average levels with such support implies that they are not an inherent part of the "homosexual condition." It should also be pointed out that these studies found no differences between gay men and heterosexual men on anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, or psychotic disorders. Finally, it's definitely relevant that unipolar depression is the psychiatric problem for which there is the most evidence that life stress plays a strong causal role (Carson, Butcher, and Mineka 1996, p. 217-220). Chronic stress seems more important than acute stress in precipitating depression (Sue, Sue, & Sue 1994, p.367-368). It is therefore not "revisionist" to suggest that elevated rates of depression in gay men and lesbians are related to the chronic stress of living in an anti-gay society. Meanwhile, research shows that depression is clearly correlated with substance abuse (Sue, Sue, & Sue 1994, p. 304), while at least 80% of suicidal persons are clinically depressed (Sue, Sue, & Sue 1994, p. 394). Suicide rates for alcohol abusers are up to 27 times higher than for others (Sue, Sue, and Sue 1994, p. 396; Carson, Butcher, & Mineka 1996, p. 356.) In other words, it would be very odd if in any population with elevated rates of depression there were not also high rates of substance abuse and suicide. But Schmidt's most outrageous distortion of his sources comes when he claims that 10 per cent of male homosexuals are pedophiles (p. 115). His rationale for this figure is hidden in his footnotes. To obtain it he first uses the lowest possible estimate of the gay male population of 0.7% instead of the more reasonable 4% which his own experts on pedophilia use (Freund et al. 1992). Then he takes the number of victims per pedophile (150) and divides it by a 3.2 million estimate of adult males who were molested as children to arrive at a figure of 21,333 "pedophiles who molest boys." Schmidt then claims "this is not an accurate number , because it is based only on pedophiles who have been caught. The majority are probably never caught -- perhaps in part because they molest fewer boys. If we then lower the victimization rate to, say, 25 boys per pedophile, we arrive at the very disturbing number of 128,000" (footnote #89, p. 205). What is really very disturbing here is how Schmidt pulls his figure of 25 victims per pedophile out of thin air, with absolutely no justification for it from any expert on the subject. His own experts seem content to use the 150 figure without modification. Keeping that figure with a 4% figure for the adult gay male population reduces the gay male "pedophile percentage" to 0.58%. But even this is a spurious estimate because it divides victims among all adult males by the number of gay men alive today, which assumes that all the childhood molesters of men now in their 40s, 50s, or older are still living. This is preposterous. Schmidt clearly fooled around with the numbers until he could claim that 10% of gay men were pedophiles, ironically manipulating his data to arrive at the same psychologically meaningful "10%" as gay activists like Bruce Voeller did with the Kinsey data to claim 10% of the whole population was homosexual. But Schmidt's problem here isn't all mathematical. He also fails to point out that research by Kurt Freund, his own quoted expert, clearly shows that gay men attracted to adult males are no more likely to be attracted to children than are heterosexual men (Freund, Watson, and Rienzo 1989). The fact that a higher percentage of pedophiles are attracted to boys than the percentage of adult-oriented men who are attracted to other males can be explained by there being "no etiological relationship whatsoever" between pedophilia and the sexual orientation of those attracted to adults (Freund & Watson 1992, p. 41). In other words, in spite of NAMBLA propaganda, it is simply incorrect to assume that being attracted to prepubescent boys and being attracted to adult males have any relationship at all. The real mystery in this is why Schmidt, who himself says he assumes skeptics will check up on his sources (p.128), makes his most blatant misrepresentations when discussing pedophilia, just the issue most likely to inflame his critics. Could it be that his real purpose in this chapter is not to engage in productive argument on these issues, but instead to present gay men as monsters to the full extent he can get away with it? Perhaps nowhere do Schmidt's underlying attitudes come out more clearly than in his arguments against the view that societal oppression causes much of the observed pathology in the lesbian and gay community. He claims it is "unrealistic ... to expect that public relations efforts and legal requirements will rewrite the entire human literary and religious heritage, reverse majority attitudes ... and sustain all of this for the time required to reduce the disdain for homosexual practice. Human sexuality is not like the flat earth." (p. 115). If a similar argument were used to claim that African-Americans must abandon all distinctive aspects of their culture before protesting against oppression, it would immediately be realized how specious it is. More importantly, contrary to Schmidt's wishful thinking, there is no evidence that anti-gay attitudes operate any differently than beliefs about a flat earth. They are built up from stereotypes and cultural ideologies and serve the same psychological functions as other attitudes (Herek 1991, p. 65-73). Interpersonal contact with gay persons is more strongly associated with positive attitudes toward them than any other variable (Herek & Glunt 1993), which is curious if gay men and lesbians are as miserable and unhealthy as Schmidt wants us to believe. College education results in a substantial increase in tolerance of homosexuality regardless of the student's religious background (Lottes & Kuriloff 1994). Meanwhile, in the years between 1987 and 1994 the proportion of American college freshmen supporting legislation to outlaw homosexuality fell from 53.2% to 33.9% even as views on many other issues were becoming more conservative ("College Freshmen Attitudes" 1995). It seems that majority attitudes are indeed being reversed, in spite of what Schmidt might like to believe. Of course Schmidt is right when he says that the different patterns of sexual behavior, especially in regard to average number of sexual partners, found between gay men and lesbians are not solely the result of anti-gay oppression but stem from gender role differences in our own culture (and perhaps all humanity). Indeed, recent research (Bailey et al. 1994, p.1088) has found that heterosexual and gay men express equal interest in "uncommitted sex," with the greater average number of sexual partners for gay men explained by differences in opportunity, not desire. This result seems meaningful for Christians in terms of Jesus's admonitions about lusting in the heart and letting him who is without sin cast the first stone. Instead Schmidt illogically uses this observation to lead up to the conclusion that the "most sensible course of action [for gay men and lesbians] is not to engage in behavior that carries with it such a high risk of psychological harm." (p. 116). This is nonsense, because it implies that celibacy for gay persons is healthier than involvement in a committed relationship, when the research shows no such thing and in fact suggests just the opposite. Schmidt then moves on to discussing AIDS and other physical health problems. It should come as no surprise after his previous distortions that Schmidt continually gives percentages for disease as if they pertained to all gay men when in reality they refer to a much narrower population. For instance, his statement that "at least 75% of homosexual men are currently carrying one or more pathogens" (p. 118) refers to a study (Quinn 1986, p. 615) of 194 gay men attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Seattle. Most of Schmidt's figures for bacterial infections come from Quinn's article, which summarizes results from many studies using patients at STD clinics. We should note here that while Schmidt reports Quinn's figures that 5 to 15% of gay men have chlamydia, he neglects to report Quinn's assertion that "up to 30%" of heterosexual women have chlamydia, found in the same sentence (Quinn 1986, p. 618). Schmidt's figures for gonorrhea, pubic lice, and scabies come form Jay and Young's unrepresentative sample, while his figure of 65% of gay men having the virus for anal warts comes from Law et al. (1991), a study of 112 men seen at an STD clinic in Sydney, Australia. Figures drawn from such studies are necessarily inflated; they grossly over-represent the most sexually active part of the population and almost never include those who are celibate or monogamous. This criticism of course does not deny that AIDS and all other sexually transmitted diseases are much more prevalent in the gay male than the lesbian or heterosexual communities. This fact obviously goes along with the high rate of multiple sexual partners among gay males. Christians must proclaim that a pattern of uncontrolled multi-partnered sex without regard for the health of others or oneself is irresponsible and sinful. This reviewer would agree with the criticism that the gay and lesbian Christian community has been too reluctant to state this value forcefully. But the problem here is non-monogamy, not "homosexual acts" *per se* [1]. Though part of that is related to aspects of maleness that have little to do with sexual orientation, part is related to specific beliefs prevalent in gay male culture. The 1983 McKusick study, for example, found that 69% of its San Francisco sample with three or more sexual partners per month agreed that "it is hard to change my sexual behavior because being gay means doing what I want sexually." Such beliefs come from internalizing cultural stereotypes about gay male sexuality and trying to turn them into a self-affirmation. Sometimes that can be positive, as when gay men develop artistic abilities because they expect to be "creative"; but when it comes to uncontrolled sexuality this has been as damaging to gay men as the belief among African-American male teens that it is not "Black" to get good grades in school has been for them. Thankfully, there are voices now being raised in the gay media (Bawer 1993, 1994; Rotello 1995) proclaiming that being sexually irresponsible is *not* the same thing as being a gay man. Ironically, books such as Schmidt's do young Christian gay men and lesbians damage by spreading the big lie that being gay and being sexually compulsive are inseparable. ___________ Footnote: 1. Some might object here that the "anal sphincter dysfunction" Schmidt claims results from the cumulative effects of anal intercourse could occur in a monogamous relationship. The British study he quotes (Miles et al. 1993) found fourteen out of forty anal-receptive gay men with *minor* anal incontinence, but also found that this was correlated with number of partners, not average frequency of anal intercourse. This implies that here, too, it is the lack of consideration more likely to be shown in one-night stands that is the main correlate of anal trauma, not what goes on in respectful committed relationships. ___________________ That ultimately of course is what is wrong about Schmidt's entire chapter. He consistently manipulates his statistics on social, psychological, and medical problems to make a happy, productive, responsible gay or lesbian lifestyle seem impossible, while ignoring the research which shows gay and lesbian relationships to be as capable of commitment, psychological health, and spiritual growth as heterosexual marriage. Most gay and lesbian Christians see every day in their own lives and those of their friends that spiritually healthy loving committed gay relationships are possible. Lesbian and gay Christians deserve part of the blame for the extent to which the uninformed will find Schmidt's arguments convincing, at least to the extent that we have helped to uncritically perpetuate the "myth of 10%" and have failed to point out the physical and spiritual dangers of sexual irresponsibility. But the responsibility for willful misrepresentation of research, virtually ignoring research on lesbians, and spreading falsehoods and half-truths about his gay and lesbian neighbors must belong to Thomas Schmidt alone. Written by: Cleveland Kent Evans, Ph.D., January 24, 1996 References Agnew, J. (1986) "Some anatomical and physiological aspects of anal sexual practices." Journal of Homosexuality 12: 75-96. 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(1995) The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996. Mahwah, NJ: Funk & Wagnalls, p. 248. Freund, K., & Watson, R.J. (1992) "The proportions of heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles among sex offenders against children: an exploratory study." Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 18: 34-43. Freund, K., Watson, R., & Rienzo, D. (1989) "Heterosexuality, homosexuality, and erotic age preference." Journal of Sex Research 26: 107-117. Freund, K., et al. (1984) "Pedophilia and heterosexuality vs. homosexuality." Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 10: 193-200. Herek, G.M. (1991) "Stigma, prejudice, and violence against lesbians and gay men." In J.C. Gonsiorek & J.D. Weinrich (eds). Homosexuality: Research implications for public policy. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 59-80. Herek, G.M., & Glunt, E.K.. (1993) "Interperson contact and heterosexuals' attitudes toward gay men: Results from a national survey." Journal of Sex Research 30: 239-244. Jay, K., and Young, A. (1979) The gay report. New York: Summit. Kinsey, A.D., Pomeroy, W.B., and Martin, C.E. (1948) Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia: Saunders. Kurdek, L.A. (1993) "Lesbian and gay couples." In A.R. D'Augelli & C.J. Patterson (eds.) Lesbian and gay identities over the lifespan: Psychological perspectives on personal, relational, and community processes. New York: Oxford U. Press. Laumann, E.O., Gagnon, J.H., Michael, R.T., and Michaels, S. (1994) The social organization of sexuality: sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Law, C.L.H., et al. (1991) "Factors associated with clinical and sub-clinical anal human papillomavirus infection in homosexual men." Genitourinary Medicine 67: 92-98. LeVay, S., and Nonas, E. (1995) City of friends: a portrait of the gay and lesbian community in America. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Lever, J. (1994) "Sexual revelations." The Advocate, Issue 661/662, Aug. 23, 16-24. Lever, J. (1995) "Lesbian sex survey." The Advocate, Issue 687/688, Aug.22, 22-30. Linn, L. et al. (1989) "Recent sexual behaviors among homosexual men seeking primary medical care." Archives of Internal Medicine 149: 2685-2690. Lottes, I.L., & Kuriloff, P.J. (1994) "The impact of college experience on political and social attitudes." Sex Roles 31: 31- 54. McCusker, M., et al. (1992) "Maintenance of behavioral change in a cohort of homosexually active men." AIDS 6: 861-868. McKusick, L. et al. (1985) "AIDS and sexual behaviors reported by gay men in San Francisco." American Journal of Public Health 75: 493-496. Miles, A.J. et al. (1993) "Effect of anoreceptive intercourse on anorectal function." Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 86: 144-147. Peplau, L.A. (1991) "Lesbian and gay relationships." In J.D. Gonsiorek & J.D. Weinrich (eds.) Homosexuality: Research implications for public policy. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 177-196. Quinn, T.C. (1986) "Clinical approach to intestinal infections in homosexual men." The Medical Clinics of North America 70: 611- 634. Rosenberger, P.H. et al. (1993) "Psychopathology in human immunodeficiency virus infection: lifetime and current assessment." Comprehensive Psychiatry 34: 150-158. Rotello, G. (1995) "Let's talk about sex." The Advocate, Issue 687/688, Aug. 22, p. 120. Saghir, M.T., and Robins, E. (1973) Male and female homosexuality: A comprehensive investigation. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. Seage, G.R. III et al. (1992) "The relation between nitrite inhalants, unprotected anal intercourse, and the risk of immunodeficiency virus infection." American Journal of Epidemiology 135: 1-11. Smith, T.W. (1991) "Adult sexual behavior in 1989: Number of partners, frequency of intercourse, and risk of AIDS." Family Planning Perspectives 23 (May/June):102-107. Sue, D., Sue, D., & Sue, S. (1994) Understanding abnormal psychology, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Voeller, B. (1990) "Some uses and abuses of the Kinsey Scale." In D.P. McWhirter, S.A. Saunders, and J.M. Reinisch (eds.)Homosexuality/Heterosexuality: Concepts of sexual orientation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, p. 32-38. Williams, J.B.W. et al. (1991) "Multidisciplinary baseline assessment of homosexual men with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection: Part 2, standardized clinical assessment of current and lifetime psychopathology." Archives of General Psychiatry 48:124-130. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PLGC OFFICERS AND CONTACTS CO-MODERATORS: Laurene Lafontaine, 1260 York St. #106, Denver, CO 80206, 303/388-0628, PNet: Laurene Lafontaine; internet: EClaurene@aol.com; Robert Patenaude, 3346 Hollydale Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90039, 213/660-6795. COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY: James D. Anderson, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 908/249-1016, 908/932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 908/932-6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu. RECORDING SECRETARY: Jim Earhart, P.O. 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NORTHEAST (NJ, NY, New England): Sally Witherell, 28 9th St., #403, Medford, MA 02155-5140, 617-625-4823 (Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church); Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802/229-5438; John Hartwein-Sanchez, 23 Sherman St., #2, New London, CT 06320, 203/442-5138; Charlie Mitchell, 56 Perry St., Apt. 3-R, New York, NY 10014, 212/691-7118; Amy Jo Remmerle, P.O. Box 34, Amherst, NY 14226, 716/626-0734; Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716/663-9130. PACIFIC (No. CA, OR, NV, So. ID): Richard A. Sprott, 3900 Harrison #301, Oakland, CA 94611, 510/653-2134, email: sprott @cogsci .berkeley.edu; Dick Hasbany, 4025 Dillard Rd., Eugene, OR 97405, 503/345-4720. ROCKY MOUNTAINS (CO, MT, NE Panhandle, UT, WY): Laurene Lafontaine -- see Executive Board. SOUTH ATLANTIC (FL, GA, SC): Jim Earhart -- see Recording Secy; Laurie Kraus, 5275 Sunset Dr., Miami, FL 33143, 305/666-8586. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND HAWAII: Doug Elliott, 1232 Dell Drive, Monterey Park, CA 91754, 213/262-8019. SOUTHWEST (AZ, NM): Linda Manwarren, 7720 Browning Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-5303, 505-858-0249; Rosemarie Wallace, 710 W. Los Lagos Vista Ave., Mesa, AZ 85210, 602/892-5255. SUN (AR, LA, OK, TX): Greg Adams, 314 Steven Dr., Little Rock, AR 72205, 501-224-4724; John P. McNeese, 1300 Brighton Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73120, 405-848-7498, 405-232-6991; Jay Kleine, 8818 Wightman Dr., Austin, TX 78754, 512/928-4063, 331-7088 work. TRINITY (PA, WV): Rob Cummings, PO Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133-0394, 412-475-3285; Eleanor Green, P.O. Box 6296, Lancaster, PA 17603, 717/397-9068; Jim Ebbenga & Kurt Wieser, P.O. Box 1207, Landsdale, PA 19446, 215/699-4750. PLGC Executive Board Scott D. Anderson (1997), 5805 20th Ave., Sacramento, CA 95820- 3107, 916/456-7225, 442-5447 (work) Lindsay Biddle (1997), 3538 - 22nd Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407, 612/724-5429, PNet: Lindsay Biddle, internet: lindsay_biddle.parti@ecunet.org Lisa Larges (1997), 426 Fair Oaks, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415/648-0547 Tammy Lindahl (1997) 6146 Locust St., Kansas City, MO 64110, 816/822-8577 Tony De La Rosa (1997), 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 90042, 213-256-2787;Jim Earhart (1996) -- see Recording Secretary Dorothy Fillmore (1996), 7113 Dexter Rd., Richmond, VA 23226- 3729, 804/285-9040 hm, 804/828-2333 wk, PNet: DFILLMORE, internet: dfillmore.parti@ecunet.org (or) dfillmor@cabell. vcu.edu (NO TeU on dfillmor!) Michael Purintun (1996) -- see PLGC Postings Mike Smith (1996), 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236- 7955 Louise I. Thompson (1996), 12705 SE River Rd. Apt. 109-S, Portland, OR 97222, 503/652-6508. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MASTHEAD (Publication Information) MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 16, Number 9, April 1996. ISSN 0889- 3985. Published monthly (except for a double June-July issue) by Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, an organization of Ministers, Elders, Deacons, and Members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Elder James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 908-249-1016, 908-932-7501 (Rutgers University), fax 908-932-6916 (Rutgers University), Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu), 4 Huntington St., Room 316, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071. PLGC-List: plgc-list@andrew.cmu.edu PLGC home page: http://www.epp.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html Send materials marked "For publication" to the editor. PUBLICATION DEADLINES: 6 weeks prior to issue month. Most material appearing in MORE LIGHT UPDATE is placed in the public domain. With the exception of individual articles that carry their own copyright notice, articles may be freely copied or reprinted. We ask only that MORE LIGHT UPDATE be credited and its address be given for those who might wish to contact us. Suggested annual membership contribution to PLGC: $50.00. Annual subscription (included in membership) to MORE LIGHT UPDATE: $10.00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *