Date: Sun, 7 Mar 99 18:43:25 EST From: James Anderson Subject: More Light Update Mar.-Apr. 1999 (200+ K) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MORE LIGHT UPDATE March-April 1999 Volume 19, Number 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTENTS OUR COVER: More Light Baptism, United University Church, Los Angeles Will this be your VERY LAST UPDATE? WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS MERRILL PROUDFOOT'S GIFT RESOURCES Ex-Gay Movement Exposed New Books from Chi Rho EVENTS FEATURE STORIES More Light Babies: Mowing the Grass at Stonehenge, by Lisa Larges If the Church Had Been There, Matthew Shepard Would Not Have Died, by Chris Glaser A Pastoral Letter To be Read in All Congregations: Now, No Condemnation, by the Rev. Paul H. Sherry The World Council of Churches: Lesbian & Gay Highlights, by Louie Crew ON THE FRONT LINES Controversial College Women's Group Will Survive Despite Denunciations, by Jerry L. Van Marter A footnote on Presbyterian Porn, by Chip Blankenship Marxism: who has the real last vestige? Presbytery Supports Congregation's Dissent on Ordination Requirements The Empty Seat, by Gene Huff Presbyterian Pluralism: a Book Review, by Gene Huff Religious Leaders on AIDS: Complacency in the Crisis? by Chris Glaser Hate Crimes: Everybody's Responsibility, by Peg and Doug Atkins Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians Gets New Director Gay Groups Call For Churches to Put Pressure on "Homophobic" Zimbabwe, by Edmund Doogue, Ecumenical News International MLP OFFICERS AND CONTACTS MLP Board of Directors MLP National Liaisons MLP Chapters MLP State Liaisons PRESBYTERIAN ALLY ORGANIZATIONS MASTHEAD (Publication Information) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *We limit not the truth of God To our poor reach of mind, By notions of our day and sect, Crude, partial and confined. No, let a new and better hope Within our hearts be stirred: for God hath yet more light and truth To break forth from the Word.* -- Pastor John Robinson, sending the Pilgrims to the New World, 1620; paraphrased by the hymnwriter George Rawson, 1807-1889. For all ministers, elders, deacons, members and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) More Light Presbyterians (Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns) James D. Anderson, Editor P.O. Box 38 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University) FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers University) Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu) Email discussion list: mlp-list@scils.rutgers.edu (to join, send email to: Majordomo@scils.rutgers.edu; in body of message put: subscribe mlp-list; to leave list, put: unsubscribe mlp-list) MLP home page: http://www.mlp.org Masthead, with Publication Information at end of file. Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OUR COVER: More Light Baptism, United University Church, Los Angeles More Light Pastors gather to celebrate the Baptism of Caitlyn Elizabeth Bove, born 23 November 1998 (left to right): The Revs. Bear Ride, Susan Craig, Janie Spahr, Lisa Bove (mother!), and Dan Smith. See Lisa Larges' story on "More Light Babies" for all the details! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Will this be your VERY LAST UPDATE? [NOTE: The following notice appears in the print version of this issue. After it was printed, the MLP board decided to delay the implementation of this policy. But this policy will likely be implemented soon! -- JDA] Keep the *More Light Update* Coming to You! This will be the VERY LAST *More Light Update* going to everyone on our mailing list. Henceforth, the *Update* will go only to members of MLP, to persons and organizations who subscribe for the annual fee of $18.00, on exchange with other organizations, and to contributors to PLGC, MLCN, or MLP over the last few years. So if you want to continue receiving the *More Light Update*, you need to take some action (unless you have already done so!): > Join MLP, with a dues contribution of $50, or *whatever you can afford*. If you can't afford even $1, then no contribution is required, but you will still need to join! You can join via our website: http://www.mlp.org > Subscribe to *More Light Update* for $18 per year. > If your organization would like to exchange publications, please write to James D. Anderson, Editor, *More Light Update*, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, or email to: . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS Hey folks, we are running out of photos for the *Update*. We need your photos! Please send us all your MLP-related pictures. We can use colored pictures just fine. Don't be bashful -- send them in! The photos in this issue were provided by Lisa Bove and Bill Moss. We regret that these wonderful pictures are NOT in the electronic version! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MERRILL PROUDFOOT'S GIFT We have received yet one more gift from Merrill Proudfoot, after countless gifts during his life with us. PLGC (and More Light Presbyterians) is receiving a major portion of Merrill's estate. Merrill's gift will be greatly appreciated as we augment our ministries and advocacy. We encourage all our friends and members to consider More Light Presbyterians in their wills. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * RESOURCES [THE FOLLOWING STORY DID NOT APPEAR IN THE PRINT VERSION; WE WILL TRY TO RUN IT IN THE PRINT VERSION SOON! -- JDA.] Ex-Gay Movement Exposed **Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy.** This is the name of a report released in October, 1998, describing how the Christian Right is promoting the ex-gay movement as camouflage for a "kinder, gentler" offensive in its long-running campaign to deny civil rights protections to lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons. The report was jointly sponsored by Equal Partners in Faith, Political Research Associates, and The Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Below is an article about the report, written by Greg Kubiak, a syndicated writer and a board member of GLAD (Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples) -- a GLBT rights group within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Following the article you will find order information, links to the report, and additional resources. In Our Interest by Greg D. Kubiak "Ex-Gay Movement Exposed" A detailed report has recently been released declaring what many of us have alleged about the ex-gay movement for some time. Primarily, the movement "provides political cover for a significant new phase in the Christian Right's long-running anti- gay campaign." The three-year study declares that "the Christian Right has now shifted to a strategy of emphasizing personal salvation for homosexuals -- through the Ex-Gay movement. Behind the mask of compassion, however, the goal remains the same: to roll back legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and enforce criminal laws against them." The report was jointly sponsored by the only gay "think tank," the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, along with Equal Partners in Faith (a multi-faith network), and Political Research Associates (a Boston-based non-profit research center). Unlike a typical interest group press release, this 30-page report is a footnoted study of how a marriage of convenience has occurred between the Christian Right and a fledgling ex-gay movement. The height of the relationship's success came on July 13, 1998, when the national newspaper ad campaign began in *The New York Times* with Anne Paulk, a "former lesbian." Two other ads and $206,000 later, the effort, according to the report "sparked a media firestorm which resulted in the largest exposure that the ex-gay movement has ever received." *Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy* was prepared by reviewing source material, interviewing ex-gay and Christian Right leaders, and attending two ex-gay conferences. Work on the report began in 1995, well before the exposure of the developing public partnership of the two. The partnership might not have been necessary, except that the divisive tactics of the Christian Right against gays was failing. The report notes that the Christian Right continued their attacks on gay men and lesbians into the 1990's "by painting the 'gay lifestyle' as unhealthy and obsessed with sex." Their political and fund-raising efforts included propaganda like "The Gay Agenda," a twenty minute video featuring sensational scenes from pride marches and interviews with homophobic doctors. The purpose was to enrage the base of the Right, so their political efforts to fight pro-gay legislation could be bolstered. "For years the Christian Right has used homophobic rhetoric to raise money and recruit followers." A tip-of-the-iceberg example is a 1992 fund-raising appeal by the Concerned Women for America, in which they declare, "We are at war in America today .... We don't want our children taught that the sin of homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle choice." By inciting fear within their donor base, these groups found success in raising money to fight the "activist, militant, homosexual agenda." Yet, the report notes, not only has public opinion on gay rights improved, but many mainstream religious denominations are sympathetic to the plight of Gays. A number of Protestant churches are open and affirming, or at least tolerant, of Gays. And in 1997, a U.S. Catholic Bishops' public letter stated that "God does not love someone any less simply because he or she is homosexual." Further, an April 1997 Human Rights Campaign poll shows by 3 to 1, "Christians believe that Americans should be protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace." These elements have harmed the efforts of the Christian Right to grow their movement, raise money, and advance their agenda against Gay Americans. Thus, the idea of working with the ex-gay movement as compassionate "political cover" was born. "Calculated Compassion" notes several examples of coordination in sharing people and resources between the camps: * James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" hired ex-gay leader John Paulk as their legislative and cultural affairs analyst; * The Family Research Council (FRC) has given organizational and financial support to Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (P-FOX); * FRC's cultural director sits on the P-FOX board of directors; * The architect of Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2 is also the co-author of a recent ex-gay book, *Not Afraid to Change*. The report sums up the political result of this cabal. "The Christian Right has a new tool, the logic of the ex-gay movement, to persuade the right wing of the Republican Party that gay men and lesbians do not need legal protections because their homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not an immutable trait." Theirs is an unholy alliance. And as long as the Christian Right manipulates the myth of conversion therapy, the quest for Gay civil rights and acceptance will continue to elude us. [BOX: Greg D. Kubiak, public policy analyst, author and activist, writes "In Our Interest" for several Gay publications. He can be reached by e-mail at GKubiak@aol.com.] Complementing the report is *Challenging the Ex-Gay Movement, an information packet* with a range of educational and organizing resources. These include: an analysis of the ex-gay movement's links to the Christian Right; fact sheets on leading ex-gay organizations, listings of secular and faith-based organizations opposing the ex-gay movement; organizing tips; and reprints of selected articles. You may see the *Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves The Right's Attack on Democracy* at http://www.ngltf.org/press/exgayrpt.html (acrobat pdf file) or at http://www.publiceye.org/pra/equality/x- gay/Calculated_Compassion_TOC.htm (html file) The materials are also available from: Political Research Associates, 120 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143. The cost is $6 each for individual copies, including shipping and handling. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery (rush orders are $5 extra.) Discounts for bulk orders are as follows: $5 each for 10-99 copies; $4 each for 100-499 copies; $3 each for 500 or more. Add $5 for shipping and handling for orders of 10-50 copies. Please call PRA at 617-661-9313 for rates on larger orders. **Equal Partners in Faith** is a multi-racial network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity. Our diverse faith traditions and shared religious values lead us to affirm and defend the equality of all people, regardless of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation. As people of faith, we actively oppose the manipulation of religion to promote exclusion and inequality. Equal Partners in Faith is helping mainstream and progressive people of faith promote a more inclusive vision of religion and society. Please join us in this important work. Write, call or email us for more information. To learn more about Equal Partners in Faith, you can contact EPF at: 2026 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, 202-296- 4672, fax 202-296-4673, e-mail epf1998@aol.com, website:www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4497/EqualPartners.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * New Books from Chi Rho If you would like to review any of these books for the *More Light Update*, let Jim Anderson know (jda@scils.rutgers.edu, PO Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038). The Bible and Homosexuality, 5th ed., by Michael E. England, is a new edition of our all-time best selling book. Newly updated, expanded into perfect binding format, with color cover, this book is a must for all who study the issue. $10.95 each, $8.95 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling. From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered People and Those Who Love Them, compiled and edited by Roberta Showalter Krieder. An anthology of 50 stories of GLBT people and their family members, about their lives in and out of their faith communities. People from many different Christian backgrounds, and one Lesbian rabbi. $19.95 each, $14.95 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling. Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as Gay Men and Lesbians, 2d ed., by Chris Glaser. Originally published in 1990 by Harper, Chris has added five new chapters to the original 20 and updated the entire text. One of his best books! $19.95 each, $14.95 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling. Books can be ordered from Chi Rho Press at P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898, phone/fax 301-926-1208, ChiRhoPrss@aol.com email. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EVENTS March 5-7. 1999. Learning to Tell Our Stories: Biography as Theology, led by Chris Glaser and Lisa Larges, Friday 6 p.m. through Sunday 1 p.m. $90 registration, $110 room and board. Stony Point Center, a national conference center of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 17 Crickettown Road, Stony Point, NY 10980, 914-786-5674, 800-253-4285, fax: 914-786-5919 March 12-13, 1999. More Light Presbyterians Weekend: A weekend of inspiration and renewal sponsored by MLP / Greater Houston, led by Chris Glaser, at Camp Allen, Navasota, TX. $75 per person for double room plus 3 meals. Begins 5 p.m. Friday through 5 p.m. Saturday. Contact Charles Johnson, 1138 Jerome, Houston, TX 77009; or Pat & Gail Rickey, 281-440-0353, patrickey@aol.com. March 19-21, 1999. Eighth Annual National Conference for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Seminarians and their Allies, Chicago Theological Seminary and Meadville-Lombard Theological School, Chicago, Illinois, USA. The theme for the conference is "Common Pain, Common Hope." It will be a weekend of learning, worship, and fellowship. More information forthcoming. If you have questions, contact Michael Cooper (m- cooper@mindspring.com), Tanya Denley (TDenley@juno.com), Marilyn Nash (mnash100@aol.com), or Ken Stone (kstone@chgosem.edu). April 15-18, 1999. Beyond Inclusion: Making the Justice Connections, at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City. Geared primarily to Episcopalians, but some of the workshop topics and papers look very interesting: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism: a Complex Design; The Use of the Bible in Debates about Same-Sex Unions; Preaching Gay & Lesbian Issues; Latino Culture, Gays and Lesbians; Being Single in a Same-Sex Blessing Culture; Gay Families, Children and the Church; Gay and Lesbian Ministries on a Parish Level. More information at www.beyondinclusion.org; 626- 583-2740. $150/person, $175/person after March 15, 1999. April 17, 1999. Building an Inclusive Church: Loving each other when some of us in the family of God are not straight. A one-day conference sponsored by an interdenominational network of concerned persons and groups from mainline Protestant churches. Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Lyndale at Groveland, Minneapolis, MN. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Contact RWHenn@winternet.com, or see web: http://www.winternet.com/~rwhenn/inclusive.htm, or call 612-729-7457. April 29-May 1, 1999. Unity and Diversity Conference, mandated by the 1998 General Assembly (proposed by a group of African American Presbyterian Leaders). April 29-May 2, 1999. That All May Freely Service conference, Rochester, NY. Contact Jane Adams Spahr, 415-457-8004, email: Janie_Spahr@pcusa.org May 10, 17, 1999. Is the Bible Really Anti-Gay? The Bible has long been used to justify exclusion and persecution of gays and lesbians. Find out why this message is actually a betrayal of Scripture. Part I, Monday, May 10, 8-9:30 p.m.; Part II, Monday, May 17, 8-9:30, The Lesbian & Gay Community Center, 1 Little West 12th St., New York City. $8 per session. Led by David A. Yegerlehner, Ph.D. in Biblical Studies, Boston University; United Methodist minister for 10 years. May 13-16, 1999. Voices of Sophia Annual Gathering, Washington, DC. "Embracing Sophia-Wisdom: Celebrating Her Voices." Keynote Speaker: Clarice Martin, Professor of New Testament, Colgate- Rochester; also ethicist Beverly Harrison, Union Theological Seminary, NY. Contact Registrar, Madeline Jervis, 703-527-9513. May 21-23, 1999. More Light Presbyterians Annual Conference, Oklahoma City. See information and registration forms in the January-February 1999 *More Light Update*, or contact John McNeese, 405/848-2819, email: john33@ix.netcom.com June 10-13, 1999. Gay and Christian: Bringing the Conversation Home to Rural America, Missoula, Montana. With special attention to helping rural congregations participate in this conversation. Cosponsored by Lutheran Student Foundation of Montana and the Northern Rockies Institute of Theology. Contact Lutheran Campus Ministry, 538 University Ave., Missoula, MT 59801, email: jlhurd@mssl.uswest.net June 10-13, 1999. Gay, Lesbian and Christian: That They All May Be One. Led by Fred A. Davie, Jr., John McNeill, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, and Nancy Wilson. 6:30 p.m. Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch. $305 ($150 registration deposit). Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610- 588-1793, fax 610-588-8510, www.kirkridge.org June 19-26, 1999. General Assembly, PCUSA, Fort Worth, TX. **Openly Gay Harvard Preacher to Keynote Covenant Network Luncheon at General Assembly** [Note: That's *our* headline, not the Presbyterian New Service's -- they neglected to say that Gomes is openly gay. Don't they know it? Or did they choose to ignore this interesting fact? Just curious! -- JDA] Louisville, KY, 15 January 1999 -- Rev. Peter J. Gomes, professor of Christian morals at Harvard University and minister of The Memorial Church at the university, will be the featured speaker at the Covenant Network of Presbyterians General Assembly luncheon in Fort Worth, Texas, next June. Widely regarded as one of America's most distinguished preachers, Gomes was named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life. He is the author of two best sellers: *The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart* (1996) and *Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living* (1998). Tickets will be available from the General Assembly ticket service. -- Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service. July 11- 17, 1999. Cultivating the Inner Voice of Love: Discerning and Cultivating Our Spirituality, A Retreat for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered People and Our Families, Friends, and Advocates from a Christian Perspective. Led by Chris Glaser. Sorrento Centre is a conference and retreat centre located in the interior of British Columbia and is associated with the Anglican church of Canada. It is ecumenical in its programming, and inclusive in its welcome to all. Contact Wayne McNamara, Sorrento Centre, P.O. Box 99, Sorrento, B.C. V0E 2W0 Canada, 250- 675-2421, fax; 250-675-3032, email: sorrento@jetstream.net, web: www.sorrento-centre.bc.ca August 13-15, 1999. Behold We Do a New Thing: Rites of the Gay Male Spirit. Led by John Linscheid and Ken White. 7 p.m. Friday dinner through Sunday lunch. $235 ($135 registration deposit). Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610-588-1793, fax 610-588-8510, www.kirkridge.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FEATURE STORIES More Light Babies Mowing the Grass at Stonehenge by Lisa Larges 1998 was a year for babies in my life. Not my own, I must hasten to add, heading off any rumors. Rebecca, Josiah, Max, Ariel, Kyler, Kami, and Caitlyn all were born to members of my circle of friends and acquaintances. It so happens that none in this particular batch were adoptees or foster children. Three of the seven -- Rebecca, Max, and Kami -- came into the world in much the same way I did, with two heterosexual parents, duly married and established. Two -- Kyler and Josiah -- were born to two Lesbian parents. These same two came into the world after many difficult years for their mothers in trying to have children. Two -- Ariel and Caitlyn -- were born to single mothers who happened also to be Lesbian. One of these, Caitlyn Elizabeth Bove, daughter of the Rev. Lisa Bove, bears the distinction of being among the youngest More Light Presbyterians. Among her other credits, Caitlyn played the part of the baby Jesus in United University Church's Christmas pageant, she had six (count 'em six) godparents pledged to her upbringing at her baptism, and her service of baptism marked the coming together of more out gay and lesbian Presbyterian clergy than at any other such service, though admittedly adequate records have not been kept in this area. For me, the presence of all these little people has meant learning more than I perhaps cared to about where to buy gifts for baby showers and christenings, and that the religious right's "family values" rhetoric has seemed louder and more strident. Listening to a.m. talk radio, scanning the op-ed pages, or reading any of the slew of pseudo-scholarly books on the subject, one could only conclude that these are great times to be a father, and hard times for mothers. Stock in fatherhood has indeed risen to the level of saints and saviors. One would think in fact that having two fathers would be highly desirable, but I doubt that any gay male couples with children have reaped any benefits. This rise of a militant heterosexual agenda is more antigay and antifeminist than it is profamily, but what I want to know amid all this profamily noise is just what has happened to love as a sufficient prerequisite for starting a family. Aren't there enough unwanted children born into the world each year to call us to celebrate and support anyone -- whether or not they are gay or straight or partnered -- who earnestly desires to love and nurture and provide for the spiritual and material well being of children? Shouldn't our vision of the family be as elastic and broad as the "family of God" represented by the diverse and slightly odd collection of people who were Jesus' community? Faithful to that image, shouldn't the family of God embrace all configurations and include women and men who choose not to have children? Rather than singling out single women for special vilification, oughtn't we honor and support in any way we can any woman or man who has the courage and conviction to raise a child as a single parent? I suppose that the religious right would counter that love is just another failed, fuzzy-headed liberal notion. Almost to the exclusion of any other factor, according to this socio-political- theocratic rhetoric, what it takes to raise a child is one woman married to and preferably subservient to one man. Apparently this is the only way in which male children will learn how to be a heterosexual man and female children will learn how to love and obey heterosexual men. Children brought into the world by the selfish and misguided dreams of single and/or non-heterosexual persons are susceptible to the dreaded "gender confusion" -- a disorder invented by the religious right, and once thought up, is now seen lurking behind every societal ill. Anyone with children, and many of us without, know full well that it doesn't take two people to raise a child. It takes a whole lot more than that! Some would claim that it takes a village, and maybe even the Village People. Furthermore, what all children need in their lives are not role models of perfect manhood or womanhood, but women and men who understand something about what it means to be a whole person. I'll admit a bias on the point, but it seems to me that gay, lesbian, bi, and transgendered men and women, by virtue of having to struggle in this society to claim their identity, possess an awful lot of hard won knowledge about being a whole human being, knowledge from which our children may benefit. Mowing at Stonehenge There is a postcard image which I've found to be striking for its metaphoric potential. In the background is Stonehenge. In the foreground is a man cutting the grass. All of this inflated talk, on all sides, about parenthood, family values and the rest of it is like so much grass-cutting. In the middle is the mystery. When I touched Josiah's head with the water of baptism, when my partner Angie witnessed the birth of her niece Rebecca, when a friend goes each Saturday morning to the nursery of a local hospital to hold the babies born addicted to crack, when the congregations of West Hollywood Presbyterian and United University celebrated together the baptism of Caitlyn, we all came into the presence of the mystery in the center, the deep holy miracle of new life. I recently talked to Lisa Bove about the meaning to her of Caitlyn's birth and baptism. Yes, it is a bit insensitive to ask a new mother to express articulately her theological reflections on bearing a child -- Mary after all, only pondered these things in her heart -- but Lisa was up for the task. The Rev. Lisa Bove, a former co-moderator of PLGC, was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1986 and worked in the Chicago area in campus ministry and in community ministry with people with HIV/AIDS before joining the staff at West Hollywood Presbyterian in southern California. Finding her options as an out Lesbian clergywoman somewhat limiting, Lisa pursued her Masters in Social Work, graduating from USC in 1995. Having worked with abused and neglected children, Lisa now works at Los Angeles Children's hospital with children with lymphoma and leukemia, and is Parish Associate at United University Church. Having always felt called to raise children of her own, in her mid-thirties and without a partner, Lisa began a long and prayerful discernment process about whether to begin a family as a single parent. A significant part of that discernment process was talking with friends and colleagues about the level of help and support they could offer. The promises of support she gained in these conversations led her to go ahead with the high-tech process of getting pregnant and on November 23, 1998 Caitlyn Elizabeth was born. Lisa says that the promises of support she was given before Caitlyn's birth paled in comparison to the outpouring of love and practical help that has overflowed as Caitlyn begins her life. In speaking of her own faith, Lisa says that part of what she has discovered in a new way is the gift of community. By the time Caitlyn arrived on that November evening, fourteen people had gathered to be a part of that sacred event, an unplanned and spontaneous coming together of people who needed to be there. Knowing that she and Caitlyn would need to rely strongly on their community, Lisa intentionally asked six people to be Caitlyn's godparents. A More Light baby indeed! many individuals from our community played a part in supporting Lisa in her pregnancy and in offering practical and prayerful support as Caitlyn begins her life. Lisa learned she was pregnant while on vacation with the Rev. Howard Warren -- a scoop for *The Layman* if there ever was one! Cleve Evans, a noted expert on baby names, was a faithful email correspondent. Time spent in discernment and prayer with the Rev. Janie Spahr marked part of the deep spiritual journey in the decision to have a child, and the pastoral staffs and congregations of United University and West Hollywood Presbyterian church celebrated and pledged to support Lisa and Caitlyn on their journey together. As part of her own faith journey Lisa is committed to making sure that Caitlyn will grow and learn in the middle of a thriving faithful and diverse community. But equally powerful to Lisa is witnessing the way in which Caitlyn, as Rev. Dan Smith said in his sermon at her baptismal service, is also a gift to the community. She, like all children, is a sign of hope and an expression of God's life- seeking presence. The walls of the bedroom which Lisa and Caitlyn share are lined with paper. On that paper is the outline of the hands of all the people who have come to share in Caitlyn's life -- a graphic reminder not only of how Caitlyn has been touched and held and loved by the community, but also of the lives she has touched. In the midst of this mostly absurd debate about families, in the end we can only reaffirm that in fact love matters. Those seven children -- Rebecca, Josiah, Max, Ariel, Kyler, Kami and Caitlyn -- with all the children that touch our lives and those we will never know, are an embodied sign of the power of God's love to seek life and enfold each life. Remembering that mystery that is at the center, here is a poem written by a friend, Annika Fjelstad, that was read at the baptism of her and her partner Heather's son Josiah: I pray that in my desire to protect you I do not teach you to fear what is around you. I pray that in my desire to ease your way that I not remove the challenges from which you will grow. I pray that in my desire to guide you by my own dreams for you that I not overlook or misunderstand your own dreams for yourself. I pray that in my desire that you have all that you need that you also can learn to need what you have. I pray that in my desire for you to know your own strength that you also learn through weakness to feel the need of God. I pray for support and guidance in helping you; with the support of my friends, community and family to help you discover pride and humility, work and play, solitude and community; to trust people and to use good judgment, to seek answers, to love questions, to respect authority and to question it. Josiah, I wish for you patience, flexibility, family, friendship, community. I wish for you to be still and know thy God. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * If the Church Had Been There Matthew Shepard Would Not Have Died by Chris Glaser Moment for Mission, presented at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, New York City, December 6, 1998, on the occasion of the reunion of the Task Force to Study Homosexuality during the 20th anniversary year of delivery of its report to the Presbyterian Church. Copyright (c) by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-profit duplication with attribution. Martha went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when Mary heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Those who were with her in the house, consoling her, followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him precisely what Martha had said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother Matthew Shepard would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and those who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Come and see." Jesus began to weep. So everyone said, "See how he loved Matthew Shepard!" But some of them said, "Could not one who gave vision to the visionless have kept Matthew from dying?" The gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally killed this past fall was born in 1976, the year that the Presbyterian Church set up the Task Force to Study Homosexuality. As we held our meetings and regional hearings to determine whether homosexuality was a sin and a bar to ordination, Matthew Shepard's mother was changing his diapers and dreaming who he might become. Matthew Shepard was just learning to walk when the 1978 San Diego General Assembly rejected the recommended policy of the majority report of our task force that homosexuality was neither sin nor a bar to ordination. Though we were devastated by this outcome, at least the General Assembly had not changed the *Book of Order*, had not set its recommended policy for presbyteries and congregations in stone. But, as Matthew Shepard was learning to talk, the denomination's Stated Clerk muted our hopes by declaring that the Assembly had interpreted the church constitution in a way that made its recommendation binding on presbyteries and congregations. Many congregations balked, and, as friends and family told Matthew Shepard's parents what a sweet little boy they had, a handful of Presbyterian churches such as Rutgers began passing statements saying they would welcome people into their churches and into church leadership without regard to sexual orientation. Thus began the More Light church movement, which gave rise to similar movements in other denominations. Today I stand before you as editor of *Open Hands*, the quarterly journal of the welcoming congregations movement, sponsored by seven such programs. Matthew Shepard entered school as denominations across the United States resisted being schooled in matters related to sexuality. Churches kept an arm's length from homosexuality and human sexuality by commissioning church committees to study these issues only to dismiss and even condemn their conclusions and recommendations. So, as Matthew Shepard was becoming aware of his own sexuality, our church and almost every church was announcing in the media that it was sinful, not God's wish for humanity, evil, and sick. Matthew would have had an easier time of it had he grown up in the 1950s when few people talked about homosexuality. In Matthew's final years of high school, as he was developing the normal crushes and contemplating what he would do with his life, the Presbyterian Church was busy codifying its antigay position by an amendment to our *Book of Order*. As Matthew began a college career focused on political science and international relations and hoped someday to serve the United States government in a foreign embassy, that same government passed legislation that prevented recognizing the same-gender marriage he might have had. And the night of Matthew's death, the Presbyterian church was sleeping on its ecclesiastical sofa, having declared a moratorium on homosexuality. Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney were coming of age at the same time, exposed to the same antigay messages that the church was sending to Matthew Shepard. If the church calls gay life sick and depraved, why shouldn't they? If Christians angrily attack the so-called homosexual agenda, why shouldn't they attack homosexuals? If Christians rob gays and lesbians of their spiritual inheritance and vocations, why shouldn't they rob Matthew? If the church excommunicates gays and lesbians, why shouldn't they cast Matthew out? Excommunication means to send out of community, away from the resources needed for survival, to die of exposure in the wilderness. And in the wilderness of Wyoming, Russell and Aaron executed that sentence upon Matthew Shepard. *If the Body of Christ -- the church -- had been there, Matthew Shepard would not have died.* *If the Body of Christ had been there, Russell and Aaron would not have brutalized him simply for who he was.* Unlike Jesus, the Body of Christ doesn't have a second chance with Matthew. The church cannot resurrect people. So it needs to get there sooner if it is to bring life to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community. It cannot dawdle, lest its only service to gay people be to bury its failures at rescuing the spiritually abused. "Lord, if you had been there, our brother Matthew Shepard would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Pastoral Letter To be Read in All Congregations Oh, how we wish this pastoral letter had some from the leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)! But then, we *are* in *full communion* with the United Church of Christ, so doesn't this make Paul Sherry *our* president, too? I think so, and I urge all More Light Congregations to do as he requested -- read this pastor letter from your pulpits! -- JDA First, Some Background Dr. Paul H. Sherry, President of the 1.4-million-member United Church of Christ, recently sent a pastoral letter to all UCC congregations. He asked that the letter be read in every UCC pulpit. The letter is entitled, "Now, No Condemnation: The Rights of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Persons in Society and their Membership and Ministry in the Church." The Spanish language version of the letter is available via snail mail from Bill Johnson at UCC headquarters (United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44120, or . Copies of this Pastoral Letter have been sent to the heads of communions of Christian denominations with whom the UCC has ongoing ecumenical relations, and to the denominations with whom we are bound by specific mutually cooperative agreements, namely, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Reformed Church in America. Expressions of support for Dr. Sherry's leadership would be appreciated. He may be addressed at . As you might imagine, there will be some hostile mail. -- Bill Johnson, Minister for LGBT Concerns United Church of Christ Now, No Condemnation The Rights of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Persons in Society and their Membership and Ministry in the Church: A Pastoral Letter to the United Church of Christ by the Rev. Paul H. Sherry, President, United Church of Christ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8.1) In recent months we have witnessed the continuance of hate crimes against gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons, while in the church discussion about their civil rights and the appropriateness of their membership and ministry in the life of the church has intensified. Several denominations in the United States, as well as some churches and bishops around the world, have adopted or reaffirmed policies that exclude gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons from sharing fully in the ministry of the church. Other Christian leaders have harshly suggested that gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons have no place at all in the life of the church and that their human rights do not deserve the full measure of legal protection. In addition, some political leaders, usually claiming religious support, have vigorously opposed efforts to secure these very rights. Sometimes these anti-gay positions have been justified by flawed scientific understandings of the nature of homosexuality. Underlying many of these convictions is the assumption, frequently untested, that the Bible in general, and Christianity in particular, teach that homosexuality is a sin. In my role as pastor to the United Church of Christ, and in this season of theological reflection on "The Inclusive Church," I offer this Pastoral Letter to remind all of us that the church is to be a place where all are welcomed, where the gifts of all are recognized and received, and where the rights of all are defended and promoted. When so many in our society would reject and exclude, it is critical that we of the United Church of Christ bear witness to the conviction that it is possible to be deeply faithful to the Bible, profoundly respectful of the historic faith of the church and of its sacraments, and at the same time support the full inclusion and participation of all God's children in the membership and ministry of the church. Likewise, there can be no compromise that all persons in this society must enjoy equal protection under the law. I write in deep gratitude for the journey of discernment and action that the United Church of Christ has taken over the past several decades. For all our difficulties and challenges, I believe the United Church of Christ is uniquely equipped to take on this complex but crucial vocation both in the public arena and among our ecumenical partners. Informed by the actions of several General Synods, by Biblical and theological reflection, and above all by countless pastoral encounters with members of our church, I am convinced that there must be and will be no turning back from our commitment, especially in the face of the current prejudice and misunderstanding prevalent in both the church and the society. Contrary to what some assume or allege, the conviction of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, along with the witness of many conferences, associations, and local churches, is not a superficial response to changing cultural norms or an easy reaction to certain social opinions. At their best, our commitments have grown out of a profound reflection on the meaning of our baptism and our participation in the sacrament of holy communion. Our commitments have grown as we have responded pastorally to the needs of many of our members and their families who have been the victims of prejudice or who have experienced rejection in the church. We have been confronted and gifted by the presence in our church of gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians who have been baptized in our sanctuaries, confirmed before our altars, and ordained by our associations. We have been confronted and gifted by men and women faithfully attentive to the Word, diligent in their sacramental life, forthright in their Christian witness and compassionate in their service. We have been confronted and gifted by parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, faithful members of our church, whose embrace by a loving God has enabled them to accept a gay, lesbian, or bisexual family member, and who yearn for that same loving embrace to be extended by the church to their child, their grandchild, their brother or sister, their parent. We have been confronted and gifted by faithful, mature, and able members who have experienced God's call to the ordained ministry of Word and Sacrament, who have sought and received the recognition and authorization of the church. We have been confronted and gifted by ordained men and women who have served faithfully and well for many years and who now wish to minister among us with renewed vitality openly affirming their same gender orientation. We have been confronted and gifted by gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons who have found love in the physical, emotional, and spiritual embrace of another, and are living in committed covenantal relationships of fidelity and trust which they yearn for the church to bless and the society to respect and protect. And we have been confronted and gifted by members of our church and those of other churches who have known the pain of rejection, the anguish of exclusion, and the fear of abuse, yet who remain faithful to their baptismal vows, seek to be fed at Christ's Table, and desire to be engaged in the mission of Christ's reconciling love in the world. Confronted and gifted by these baptized persons, members of the United Church of Christ have been challenged to read the Bible again with new eyes and listen to the Holy Spirit with new ears. We have had to re-examine long held assumptions about those few passages of Scripture that appear to speak about homosexuality in the light of transforming interpretations from widely respected Bible scholars and teachers, and we have begun to recognize how our fears of those who are different, and our society's deeply entrenched bias against homosexual persons has often distorted and nearly silenced the Bible's liberating and inclusive voice. At the same time, encounters with hurting and excluded sisters and brothers have caused us to look to the whole of Scripture which speaks of a God who continually reaches out for those who are cast out for any reason, those who live at the margins of our lives. We have been reminded of our identity as disciples of the One who often ate with those rejected by the religious norms of the day, the One who sets before us all the Table of God's inclusive love, mercy, and grace. In these encounters, we have remembered our own history, recalling ways we have been led to expand the church's welcome to others who have been excluded. We remembered the Amistad and the story of our forebears, both enslaved and free, who rejected Biblical interpretations that supported slavery and whose new appreciation for the Gospel's mandate led them to fight for freedom for all. We remembered Japanese Americans driven from their homes during the Second World War, and those of our churches who spoke out for their rights. We remembered many women who refused to submit to a misuse of the Bible that denied them places of leadership or that conspired in their abuse, and who found affirmation and encouragement in our churches, our colleges, and our seminaries. We remembered ancestors of our Hungarian sisters and brothers whose witness to the Reformed faith led to their persecution as galley slaves and martyrs, as well as those who fled oppression in 1956 to find safe haven among our churches. More recently we remembered our church's call for self-determination for Puerto Rican people, the championing of the rights of Chicano farm workers, the call for respect for the dignity of Native American people demeaned by caricature and stereotype, the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Hawaiians deprived of their land and culture, and solidarity with those who declared that the apartheid system erected and supported by other Bible reading Christians was idolatry, a denial of the very integrity of the church's confession. All of this has helped us discover that our church's concern for the rights and dignity of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people is not a break from our past, or a departure from Scripture, but is informed by our moments of greatest fidelity to the prophetic voice of the Bible and the Gospel's embrace for those who, with Christ, have been despised. The encounters in our own church with each other over the subject of sexual orientation have not been easy and, for some, remain profoundly disturbing. We have experienced conflict; the covenants that bind us together have been tested. At times we have felt isolated from and misunderstood by some in the ecumenical community. But we have also experienced marvelous surprises: - the growth and vitality of many local churches that have declared themselves open to and affirming of the gifts of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons; - the gracious perseverance of The United Church Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns which, for twenty-six years, has been a prophetic presence in our church, clarifying concerns, challenging stereotypes, providing leaders for every setting of the church's life, gently and persistently changing hearts and minds, providing a refuge for those who have suffered wounds of prejudice and exclusion in church and society; - the gratitude and encouragement of Christians in other churches who have found in our church's journey to new understandings a sign of hope amid discouragement; - the growing self-esteem of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth in our church who are able to worship in congregations that respect their full humanity, as well as the heterosexual youth in our churches who have found themselves called to confront the anti- gay prejudice so prevalent in their schools; - the renewal that springs forth as we discover, again, that we are not trapped by the past but are part of a living tradition that is "reformed, yet always reforming," a people whose only comfort in life and in death is that they belong to Christ. In these days we dare not be arrogant. The story of our pilgrimage with our gay, lesbian, and bisexual members at times has been marked by hesitation, fear, and frequent failures of nerve. At times prophetic voices, whether heard from inside or from outside the church, have been resisted. We have not always been properly respectful, or sought to understand with sincerity, those sisters and brothers among us who do not share our understanding or conviction or witness. At the same time, we have sometimes failed to recognize how the Bible has been used by some to perpetuate prejudice and to justify violence against homosexual persons. But in these days we dare not be silent, either. I believe our voice among the churches and within our society is urgently needed, bearing witness to the belief that God cherishes all and dignifies all, and to our experience of gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons as gifts of God, called with us by their baptism into the fullest participation in God's mission of reconciliation in the world. I am convinced this voice will have power insofar as it is a voice shaped by the language of faith and the experience of worship, a voice in which the liberating truth of the Bible can be heard, and the courageous spirit of the saints will be echoed. By that voice, I believe, our churches will be renewed. More importantly, in that voice, I believe, the lonely will be called to companionship, the frightened will find comfort, the abused will know safety, and those sisters and brothers in Christ who have lost hope will rediscover the blessing of their baptism: Child of God, disciple of Christ, member of Christ's Church. -- The Rev. Paul Sherry, President, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44120, 216-736-2121. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The World Council of Churches: Lesbian & Gay Highlights culled from the daily journal of Louie Crew Louie Crew represented the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) at the recent World Council of Churches assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe. We present excerpts from his daily journal. Louie is also my colleague at Rutgers University, where on the one hand he is president of the University Senate, and on the other, he is one of five faculty members, including me, who for six years have been suing Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey for equity in partner benefits for lesbian and gay university employees. I thank my dear colleague Louie for his many gifts to the cause of justice in the church, academia, and society, and for his WCC journal! -- JDA The Assembly began officially this afternoon with a powerful service in many different languages. The most powerful moment for me was when several thousands of us prayed the Lord's Prayer each in her own language. It was like getting to use God's ear for a holy moment. Last night almost 40 persons showed up to "Crew's Crew," the code name we used to alert lesbigays and our friends of our meeting. The most powerful testimony was from the group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, who chronicled the ways that they have been abused by local Christian groups. We also heard of strong lesbian testimony at the women's program that met for several days in advance of this assembly. We expect many more to attend tonight, although some persons have torn down our signs. Joy! Lutibelle/Louie Friday, December 4th The Assembly began officially yesterday. Women had already raised the lesbigay issue quite powerfully in a meeting ahead of ours, protesting the exclusion of lesbian voices. Debate there centered on wording about "human sexuality in all of its diversity." Orthodox women and others asked that the phrase be struck, but it was not. Thirty-five to forty attended our lesbigay organizing session on Wednesday night, and slightly more than that attended last night, about half of those not present the first night. The secret police were conspicuously present and taking notes, although they denied they were police when I asked. Members of GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe) assured us that they were police. Richard Kirker, here for *Gay News* in Britain, reported that 4 of the 12 questions at yesterday's press briefing related to lesbigay issues. A press person from a Presbyterian group in Ulster, Northern Ireland, asked WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser why WCC was giving any time or space to something so ungodly as lesbigay issues. Richard himself asked what plans the WCC has, if any, to respond should President Robert Mugabe use his appearance to make additional inflammatory statements regarding lesbigays. Richard said that Konrad Raiser gave a rather fuzzy answer. The campus is blanketed with security guards, not just the approximately 50 usually employed here, but also an additional 150 brought in just for the Assembly, according to one of the recently employed security persons with whom I spoke at length. He, like most of the others, is otherwise a member of the 50% unemployed in the country. The campus itself was rocked with riots as recently as two weeks before the conference began, students protesting the huge increase in food and dormitory costs. The campus has been closed during eight of the most recent months. The official daily newspaper of the Conference reports today that Mugabe has been in London shopping for Christmas. The local Harare paper reported two days ago that on the trip Mugabe had dropped off in Rome (he is Catholic) to ask the Pope to help him with the problems of homosexuality in Zimbabwe. The security guard with whom I talked yesterday asked many questions about the worship activities of the conference and noted that he was distressed by various groups in Zimbabwe that mask the devil's agenda with the appearance of offering god's power. He spoke of a particular satanist group that publishes testimonies of persons who joined and then got jobs. He complained that the group lures persons with false claims. How would you test the validity of the claims of one religion over another, I asked. What changes in the person who joined would impress you? He would not turn to wicked ways, the young man replied. Such as? I asked. Homosexuality, he replied. Do you have much homosexuality in Zimbabwe, I asked. Very much, he replied. Just recently a false prophet by the name of Bonface Muponda, who claimed to be a healer and was raising money to build a clinic, was arrested for homosexuality, he said. Do you know any homosexuals? I asked. Yes, one went to school with me. Was he evil? I asked. He was homosexual, he said. Was he mean? Did he abuse people? Did he beat up people? Was he a bully? No, he was rather sweet and gentle actually, he said, seeming puzzled by his own answer. But Jesus said that homosexuality is wrong. Jesus said nothing about homosexuality, I noted .... There is a homosexual professor here on campus, but he is a foreigner. All the other security guards know who he is. He has no female friends. Only males ever visit him, and he lives in a very large house. ... When I told my friend that I work in a ministry with lesbigay persons, he seemed fascinated. Love, Lutibelle/Louie Saturday, December 5th Today GALZ (Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe) will host a party for interested persons from the WCC. I have been very impressed with all of the members whom we have met. They are not primarily a secular group, as they have been portrayed by the press. Most of them are involved in faith communities. All but one of their major leaders are black. One woman is a Baptist minister. Her straight sister is a member of GALZ in support of her, and at great risk, since she is employed as a secretary to the Secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), an organization which has been particularly perfidious in its treatment of GALZ. The parents of the sisters were murdered when they had political differences with the government. Given the obsessive hostility towards homosexuality in this country, the WCC was hesitant in accepting the ZCC's invitation to have us meet here. To woo the Council, ZCC made overtures to GALZ to meet with them and to educate themselves regarding lesbians and gays. In good faith, and with some surprise at the welcome, GALZ members at great risk came to meet with them and to share details of their lives. Many ZCC members expressed surprise that GALZ members were Christians and on a faith journey. ZCC also engaged the considerable talents of GALZ members to help in the drafting of statements to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, which is concurrent with the 50th anniversary of the WCC, and shaped by many of the same persons, including John Foster Dulles, a Calvinist layman active at the first WCC meeting and Mrs. Roosevelt's close ally in the UN's Declaration (and later US Secretary of State under Eisenhower). All of ZCC's "good will" was but ZCC's charade -- efficacious from ZCC's point of view. Once the WCC accepted the invitation, ZCC immediately treated GALZ as anathema. Contact with them was dramatically reduced, and hostile statements regarding homosexuality poured forth from ZCC, especially from the Anglican Bishop of Zimbabwe, echoing the rabid statements of the country's president Dr. Robert Mugabe (known locally as "Rambo Rob"), who repeatedly calls homosexuals "lower than pigs or dogs." Mugabe is a major disappointment. When he was elected Prime Minister upon independence in 1980, he was the most promising leader elected in any African country. He held two doctorates and had a strong record in struggle for human rights. His wife had worked for the WCC in Switzerland. Mugabe is now 72 and must retire in 2002. Had he resigned in 1990 after a decade, he would still have been held in the highest esteem by most parties in the country, though some misconduct in his earlier years is now being noted as precursors of the dictator that he has become. He now has one of the worst human rights records possible. It is no accident that many who know better would echo his rabidity. Many who disagree with him simply disappear. Mugabe has spent only seven days in Zimbabwe in 1998. Most of the other time he has spent globe trotting, and he is known as one of the world's more conspicuous big spenders. Meanwhile, during this same year, the Zimbabwe dollar has fallen 70 percent against the US dollar. *Jubilee*, no. 1, the daily paper for the WCC Assembly, took on Mugabe in a very strong expose when it appeared yesterday. *The Herald*, the local newspaper, was also full of much of the difficulty which Rambo Rob faces. Canaan Banana, whom Mugabe made the country's first president (mainly a ceremonial role), is now in flight following his conviction in absentia last week on multiple charges of sodomy -- in the form of consensual sexuality with members of his staff over a period of years. Yesterday's *Herald* reported the Banana (a Methodist minister) had met privately with President Nelson Mandela in South Africa. A government official in South Africa said that they had no plans to arrest Banana, since consensual homosexuality is protected by the South African constitution. He noted also that Zimbabwe had not filed for extradition. Zimbabwe police said that they will file for extradition only after they determine where Banana actually is and they are using their contacts with police in South Africa to determine whether Banana is still in that country. Mugabe is expected to spend another day in Zimbabwe next week so that he can accept the invitation to address the WCC. No one here will predict whether Mugabe will use this occasion to issue more vitriol against homosexuals. Although much more sophisticated, Mugabe can be described as the Fred Phelps of the lesbigay movement for the WCC. He makes it impossible to avoid lesbigays in aversion: he dramatizes the human rights violations that aversion effects in our lives. The secret service stalked a few of us in the WCC Lesbigay Coalition as we moved across the campus yesterday. I assume that they will be at the Coalition meeting we have scheduled just after noon today, so that interested deputies may meet with the Coalition. I attended yesterday's press conference, and will attend all others. The lecture hall was packed, with 150 or so journalists and many other auditors. Questions regarding lesbigays took up at least one fourth of the time, and not one of them was hostile. Richard Kirker, representing *Gay News* (London) asked the press officer of WCC to find out whether the WCC had authorized the secret police to attend and monitor our Coalition meeting on the night before, and the press officer promised before all those assembled that he would attempt to find out. There is little likelihood that we can in any way inhibit the surveillance, but it is good for the journalists present to understand the constraints under which we operate. Signs for our meeting tomorrow were still up when I went for dinner last night, and I shall discover at breakfast whether they survived the night. Hundreds saw them, as the queues for dindin were extremely slow when the caterers were late with the food last night, brought in by the local Sheraton to the campus dining halls. I saw a full array of responses when I observed people in the queues at several different times. A few seemed to glare at the signs with disapproval, but more seemed to move into what appeared to be adolescent giggles. Lutibelle/Louie Gigglefare of the WCC Child of God Sunday, December 6th The Human Rights Declaration. One of the struggles now in progress is the shaping of the WCC resolution on Human Rights, as a part of the 50th Anniversary of the Council and the 50th Anniversary of the United Nation's Declaration on Human Rights. For five days now the Assembly in Harare has rightly touted its bold stands for human rights issues over the half century, often costing it the financial and moral support of its member organizations who preferred silence in the face of oppression. Negotiations for the new statement are profoundly embarrassing in the light of this history, for so far it remains silent in the face of horrendous abuses against the political and civil rights of lesbians and gays, such as those here in Zimbabwe, the host country of the Assembly, and in many other parts of the world, where the homosexuals are routinely fired, cut off from all benefits, jailed, and otherwise persecuted. President Mugabe routinely refers to us as "lower than pigs and dogs." The Human Rights document to be voted on later this week is still in committee, but we do have in hand a preliminary draft. I have learned that the Committee in preparing the preliminary draft before coming to Harare, refused to allow even the phrase "and other excluded persons" to appear in the WCC anniversary human rights statement, for fear that lesbigays might claim to be included. Other exclusions from the current proposal are equally disturbing. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of hetero happiness" are not enough if restricted only to political rights: we must also affirm the human right of people to gainful employment, to a decent environment, to clothing and shelter. We lesbigays at WCC are in solidarity with Zimbabweans who complain that white people who are 2 percent of the population hold over 90 percent of the land. Debts which many African countries have paid many times over are still in arrears because of the ways that the terms of interest were written. As one speaker noted, suddenly we have very good ways of accounting for the debts incurred by Africans against the white nations, but we have no accounting of the exploitation of Africa by the white nations. The Queens Party. After an Anglican gathering I made my way to the building in the Harare suburbs where Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) serve the community. About 150-200 were there in the course of the hour or so that I was there, and many more were there before and after. I met only one Caucasian from Zimbabwe; the only other Caucasians were some of the WCC guests -- ourselves a marvelous mixture of God's creatures. It was a festive occasion with much dancing and good humor. They billed it as a "Queens Night" and some of my lesbian friends at the Assembly were glad that they had not been put off by that. Many GALZ lesbians were there, including the current president (a Baptist minister) and the past president. The parents of the past president had her raped to prove that she could have sex with men. In a recent interview she was quoted as saying that in many ways that it would seem appealing to go back into the closet and live in the close support system she had with her family in this culture, but she rejoiced that she has love and affirmation from her life partner. Two young gay men who welcomed me on arrival told me proudly that they were lovers and have been together for six years. "It is very hard for us to sustain a relationship here," the one who is a teacher noted. Neither set of parents now has anything to do with them. There are no support systems for couples except the ones they are making. "We have been together for the longest of anyone we know," the other one said. They asked me whether I had a lover, and were astounded when I showed him his picture (Louie's lover Ernest is African American -- JDA). They want an invitation to our renewal of vows on our 25th anniversary on Feb. 2nd, and will travel to be with us in spirit. Watching the Watchers. The CIO (Central Intelligence Organization) continued to stalk us yesterday, but there was an interesting sideline. A friend who works for the WCC cautioned me an hour ago, "You should be more careful with the material that you leave in the xerox machine. He pulled out a copy of the "Padares of interest to lesbigays." It turned out that his copy was not the version that I had circulated, but rather a copy of an earlier version of which I had chucked 175 copies into a trash can. Someone at WCC had spotted it and presumed the police had prepared the flier as a way to alert vice-squad members of which of our sessions to attend. They were all in a dither thinking that the police were even more organized than they are on their own. What a hoot! I hope the police do come to the meetings: they might learn that they too can be beautiful, as I used to say when I found the FBI was tapping my phone in rural Georgia when Ernest and I were accused on the front page of the local paper of causing a tornado when we first married in rural Georgia back in 1974. I hope that I can find a proper feather boa just to humanize the intrigue of the Zimbabwe CIO. Monday, December 7th The first day of Padares. A "padare" is a meeting place for common deliberation in the Shona tradition of Zimbabwe. These are WCC opportunities to explore our differences. They encourage us to challenge each other, not avoiding confrontation, in order to discern what to do and where to go. They should not harass, persecute or oppress anyone. Both padares on lesbigay issues today were well attended, with at least 40 at the first and close to 100 at the second. Both attracted a fair number of straight folks from all over the world, none of them openly hostile. The first one was sponsored by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) and was quite powerful. "Jesus came to take away your sins, not your sexuality" -- MCC flier. It focused on *Koinonia* as the experience lesbigays have in the MCC. The Rev. Nancy Wilson moderated the session, and speakers included The Rev. Hong Tan (London MCC), Dr. Gwynne Guibord (a psychologist and an MCC pastor from Los Angles), The Rev. Margarita Sanchez De Leon (from Puerto Rico), and Bernie Barbour, a layman from Denver. "So many people are leaving the church and finding god." -- Lenny Bruce, quoted by Hong. Each gave dramatic personal testimony about how God has worked in her or his life through the MCC. "Loneliness and being unwanted are the worst form of poverty" -- Mother Theresa, quoted by Hong. Questions focused primarily on the polity of MCC and on its experience in accommodating a rich range of liturgical and theological perspectives rather much as the WCC tries to do, but in individual parishes. There was applause when one straight male noted that the church does a pretty miserable job with sexuality for its straight youngsters as well: he feels that much of the energy of dumping on lesbians and gays is a by-product of the heterosexual's frustration about their own sexual miseducation. While Dr. Guibord, to whom he addressed the point, acknowledged the pain of heterosexual youth, she was careful to point out that straight youth enjoy enormous privileges by comparison, such as the expectation that they will have crushes, will date, will fall in love. Some might be taught that they should not "do anything," but they are not taught that they are wrong even for their desires. The second session, "Lesbian Lives in Church and Society," featured one woman each from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Fiji, the Philippines, and Germany. Each spoke of her growing up in isolation. Tina from Harare spoke of her family's struggles with her sexuality, and their various attempts to cure her. All emphasized the strong welcome they felt from Jesus, who associates with outcasts, contrasted with the rejection that most felt from the Church. Between each presentation we were led in singing: You can't forbid me anything, you can't forbid me to think. You can't forbid my tears to flow, and you can't stop my voice when I sing. [The melody is quite powerful and I expect it to be a part of many of our other gatherings in this place.] "Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable" -- A proverb cited by Hong. Many lesbigays who were present at the sessions were connecting with those of us in the coalition for the first time, and will be at nightly meetings. In the news I understand that the local *Herald* featured an article today by or about the journalist whom I mentioned earlier from Ulster, continuing to complain that the WCC is giving too much attention and space to lesbigay issues. *Jubilee*, the official WCC daily, featured an attack on GALZ by Konrad Raiser, the General Secretary of the WCC: Gays' Criticism about WCC Integrity Rejected WCC general secretary Dr. Konrad Raiser has rejected criticism about the council's integrity from the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) contained in a statement distributed around the campus during the assembly. GALZ criticised the council for having signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the Zimbabwean government and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches on the issue of gay men and women attending the 8th assembly. It accused the WCC of having obtained protection only for gays and lesbians taking part in the assembly and only while they are on campus of the University of Zimbabwe. This might "pose a threat to the integrity" of the council. "It will obviously not affect the rights, or lack of rights, pertaining to ordinary Zimbabwean citizens," GALZ said. Any sexual act between men is classified as an "unnatural offence" and contravenes the laws of Zimbabwe, regardless of whether it takes place between consenting adults in a private place. The statement spoke of people deprived of their human rights, on account of their sexual orientation, "under the very noses of member churches gathered in Harare to celebrate 50 years of WCC general assemblies and 50 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Defending the WCC, Raiser said the Memorandum of Understanding with the Zimbabwean government and the local council of churches had been signed to make sure all participants could be guaranteed the conditions necessary for a world assembly, for them to have the freedom to witness. "The integrity of the WCC could be under threat only if the Memorandum of Understanding were taken as a formulation of an official WCC position on homosexuality. "This is not the case, and GALZ knows no such position exists and that this issue is not part of the official agenda of the WCC's assembly," Raiser said. GALZ had not handed the statement directly to the WCC leadership. As I write, GALZ is preparing a response. On the surface of the report, Raiser seems to miss GALZ's original point, which was to call attention to the lack of integrity of pretending to support human rights while doing so only for us foreigners present here, all with some form of official reason for being here, such as serving as delegates, or serving as a member of the official guest lists supplied by the various member organizations. (I am here officially as an ECUSA guest in my role as a member of the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns.) The Freedom to Witness? Dr. Raiser's claim that the Memorandum would effect "the freedom to witness" met some tests today. While the GALZ volunteers distributed the fliers, two women protested. One actually told them to stop. When he told me and pointed to her, I moved over and asked her why she had told us not to distribute them. She looked alarmed and said that she had not spoken to me but to the young man. "Who are you to tell him not to give out the leaflet?" "Who are you to ask?" she replied. "I am the convener of the coalition," I replied. "Well, I am on the WCC staff," she said as if playing her trump. "Here is my card," I replied, "and what is your name so that I may use it when I write about this?" I asked. She quickly turned her card round when I had discerned only her quite distinctive first name. "You won't tell me your name, yet you act to censor on behalf of the WCC? Has the WCC authorized you to interfere with our witness in this way?" "I did not censor you," she screamed, "but you will destroy the credibility of this Council by this action. Is that the way that you operate? Is that all that you really care about? Don't you see, I am really on your side ...!" The GALZ members who gave out the fliers were harassed by a few other Zimbabweans, including some who said for them to hear, "We ought to drive such people away from here." But most people received the fliers graciously and with thanks. What's in a name? Since the coalition's signs continued to be torn down and since, I presumed, most now know our schedule, I suggested at our last meeting that we might not need to continue to put up the signs. However, the group easily persuaded me that particularly with their being torn down it is an important opportunity to bear witness in this place. Accordingly, rather than write them up by hand, I printed up several copies and posted them early this morning: The WCC Lesbian and Gay Christian Coalition will meet from Monday-Thursday, 10 p.m. in the Visitors Tent. All our friends are welcome. The rainbow is God's promise that no one will be excluded from the arc. Wear one to experience the Church of the Catacombs with us. It was never our intention to offend anyone with this flier, only to invite persons to our events, as hundreds of other padare participants are doing to theirs. In fact, looking at the flier yet again, it is hard to find the item that proved a sore point. Tomorrow Dr. Raiser will issue a statement saying: "In many cases it will be obvious that the opinions expressed in these materials [handouts] are not those of the World Council of Churches. Regrettably, some confusion about this may have been caused by a brochure distributed on Monday which claimed the endorsement of 'The WCC Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Concerns.' It should be noted that there is no organization of such a name within the World Council of Churches; and the WCC has not authorized the use of its name by any such group." We in the coalition chose in our meeting tonight to change our name to "The Lesbian and Gay Christian Participants at the Eighth Assembly." Konrad Raiser has done much to support human rights, as has the WCC. We had no intent to misrepresent ourselves and hope that our new name will take some of the heat off him from those who wish we would disappear. "You cannot shake a hand with a clenched fist" -- Indira Gandhi, quoted by Hong. Tuesday, December 8 Malcharist (as opposed to Eucharist! "Eu" means "good" -- JDA) "What do local Christians feel about President Mugabe? Is he popular, or do they object to him as do some I talked to from South Africa?" I was speaking to a 27-year-old Anglican priest who sat next to me at a meal after President Mugabe spoke today. We had already introduced ourselves and he knew that I am the founder of a lesbigay ministry. "Those South Africans were responding to the President's policies on homosexuals. He has spoken clearly about the objections we all have to that kind of behavior. We like his record on human rights. They are merely objecting to us because of a difference of opinion." "But I watched a young woman arrested in downtown Harare yesterday," responded a woman from Uruguay, "just because she was wearing a miniskirt." "That is not unusual," the priest replied. "We have had several such episodes on this campus, when students have tried to defy our culture. We are a very private and modest culture. If the police don't arrest such persons, the people themselves will attack those who violate our culture." "But as I understand freedom of speech," I replied, "it is not best tested by those who want to defend the majority culture, but rather by those at the fringes of it. It is easy to affirm the right of those to speak who say what we want to hear. The test of our commitment to freedom of speech is our willingness to protect speech that offends us." "But our country is a Christian country and we have Christian standards to uphold," the priest noted. "I thought I just stated a Christian principle," I said, "rather than one that I got from the secular world. It was Jesus himself who said that we will be judged not by how we treat those like ourselves but by how we treat 'the least' among us. I did not make that up, and I find it as hard a challenge as anyone else. But it is our challenge. "Your president has referred to lesbians and gays as 'lower than pigs or dogs.' Were he to say instead, 'I find lesbians and gays unChristian and I disapprove of who they are and what they do,' I could respect that as a clear statement of opinion. But when he uses the weight of his office to stir up hatred, to incite people to treat Zimbabwe lesbians and gays worse than they would treat their pigs or their dogs,' is that not a violation of human rights?" "I must be going," the priest replied The mass had ended. Mugabe's appearance at the WCC. Mugabe's speech was impressive -- a dynamic and articulate review of the Church's presence in Zimbabwe, its midwifery to colonialism, its long defense of oppression, and its counter voices which from the very beginning spoke better news. He praised the WCC for its early resistance to colonial abuses, for its risk to stand against the colonial church in what was then Rhodesia. Graciously he included President Canaan Banana as one of those voices, and credited him at least three different times in his speech. Banana is now in flight from an order for his arrest on multiple charges of sodomy with employees who alleged that he used the powers of his office as President of the country to command their sexual favors over many years. Banana is an ordained Methodist minister and has had past connections with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches as well as the WCC. Lesbigay South African observers told me that Mugabe's generosity in mentioning Banana and even in quoting favorably from Banana's published history of the Church and colonialism, suggests that Mugabe himself might be cooperating with Banana. It may be better to have Banana on the run as a fugitive than to have him here, given other secrets that might become public were Banana here to testify in a trial. All of this is mere speculation, however. At the daily meeting of ECUSA folks here with our delegation, our delegates noted that while Mugabe spoke in the Great Hall, many folks sat on their hands to make it clear that they were not part of those who applauded. Apparently most of the delegates from Germany sat on their hands, and a German Lutheran was quoted afterwards, in *Jubilee*: "He was right in what he said about the colonial past. But he's a dictator. I couldn't stand for him. I stood for the national anthem of Zimbabwe, but not for Mugabe the man." Mugabe never dealt directly with the lesbigay issue in his speech. The closest he came was near the end, when in no more than 3 or 4 sentences of an extremely long speech he stressed that the church should provide moral leadership to protect the family. He specified "drugs and sexual permissiveness" as threats to the family. After the meeting broke up, Mugabe told a reporter that the WCC is the proper body to "purge homosexuals." I expect further questions about that comment to surface at Wednesday's press conference, possibly asked by the GALZ reporter who just received his accreditation in the press corps. Quick takes Dr. Pam Chinnis told ECUSA folks that Dr. Raiser mentioned in the Central Business Committee that he had received the apology lesbians and gays sent him regarding the confusion generated by our flier (see December 7th) and was clear that we have never intended to represent ourselves as an official body of the WCC. Amnesty International is present and has made it clear to WCC, ZCC (Zimbabwe Council of Churches), and the Mugabe government that it is monitoring closely any actions that may be taken against GALZ. Attendance at Lesbigay Padares continues to grow. At one yesterday, over 3 dozen had to be turned away when the room was too packed to receive them. Yet Padares on many major topics are finding that no one or only two people show up. Clearly those attending the WCC want to address this issue in spite of ways that it has been 'managed' never to show up on the official agenda. It is not clear yet whether the Human Rights Statement will address the issue explicitly. There is much movement to try to get the WCC to call for a study of "Human Sexuality" for the next 7 years. No one wants to push for a divisive vote, but many feel that the WCC would be willing at least to discuss, lest it appear to be as irrelevant as it has already been to this vital struggle in our time. Wednesday, December 9 Antigay forces muster under evangelical banner in Harare. The Rev. Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel, Co-Ordinator of the Observer Team of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Theologians today issued "to Accredited Media" an invitation to a special press conference on December 10th. In the Wednesday issue of *Jubiliee* the group was reported under the headline "Evangelicals liken WCC to a polygamist husband," in which they complained of initiatives to broaden participation in the WCC. Along with the invitation, press persons received a 2-page document called "A Mid-Point Response to Harare -- December 9th 1998," plus 6 pamphlets on "Understanding Homosexuality and the Reality of Change" which the group had circulated at Lambeth, and a copy of Cristl Ruth Vonholdt's collection *Striving for Gender Identity: Homosexuality and Christian Counseling: A workbook for the church.* Clearly the conservative voices are organizing against gay persons with these initiatives. I learned tonight that this afternoon some evangelicals had also sponsored a padare on healing homosexuals. Today's press conference At today's press conference a Mr. Oden, writer for *Christianity Today* from Drew University, asked African theologian Mercy Oduyoye whether as an African she is prepared to say 'no, not African' to specific items from the western culture, including feminism, homosexuality, abortion .... Ms. Oduyoye replied that she definitely says 'no, not African' to western individualism more concerned with self than with the community, but "feminism is not a western issue .... Homophobia is not a western issue .... Abortion is not a western issue." She indicated that all Africans are or should be concerned for gender justice, for an open discussion of the moral choices regarding all issues of sexuality. Later Mr. Oden and I had lunch together and nattered over New Jersey matters. A UCC Padare The United Church of Christ sponsored a padare on "Church Experiences with Educational Programs in Sexual Orientation," which I found quite successful. Persons LGB and straight spoke from perspectives in Canada, South Africa, Britain, and the USA, and the huge audience engaged the panelists in a lively way. A straight minister from Canada recalled his journey from hostility to support, concluding with instruction from a former client whom he had not adequately served: "We gays don't need condemnation from the church. The world out here is harsh and difficult and the church needs to give us support for living responsible lives." A person of color from South Africa explained the stereotypes by which straights often try to manipulate black gays -- notably by telling them that that homosexuality is not African. Two presenters from Spirit of the Lakes, a predominately lesbigay and affirming UCC congregation in Minneapolis, shared their own journeys: Rebecca Voekel-Haugen, pastor of the congregation, and Bentley deBardelaben, a seminarian in St. Louis. Rebecca intentionally talked from the perspective of a white lesbian and Bentley from his perspective as a black gay male. Douglas, an Anglican priest from South Africa, reviewed the history of lesbigay issues in the Province of Cape Town over the last twenty years, noting that Catch-22 of issuing position papers and trying to let them stand as calls for dialog. This evening GALZ hosted a cocktail party for lesbigays at the Assembly, a lovely event at their site in a residential area of Harare. Dozens attended and we were royally treated. Tomorrow there will be a Human Rights March in downtown Harare, and GALZ will be one of many organizations participating. The police have indicated that they cannot guarantee protection for GALZ persons, so the organization has hired several police persons to guard them and those of us who will be marching with them. A few hours ago I turned 62. I thank God for life, for my loving parents, and for my beloved husband thousands of miles away as I write here in Harare. Lutibelle/Louie Thursday, December 10 The Evangelicals' Press Conference Despite a huge blitz at the official WCC press meeting yesterday, only 17 showed up at the Evangelicals' press conference today, plus their eight panelists. (On December 11th, 46 showed up at the GALZ press conference, at a much more inconvenient location downtown since they did not have access to WCC facilities on campus. Also there was much less publicity for the GALZ press conference). Cristl Ruth Vonholdt stressed that her movement to heal homosexuals is a growing movement, but largely a silent movement. She asserted that: All of us have to find out how to deal with our feelings and have to evaluate them in the light of what God says. All of us must put away old patterns which we find inappropriate and find new ones. All of us have to do that. The homosexual is in a double struggle: 1. to understand their feelings. 2. to deal with the world, the culture. We believe that homosexuality distorts and violates the human family, and we need to support them. Dr. Vonholdt is the editor of the book *Striving for Gender Identity*, of which ACR (Association for Church Renewal) brought hundreds of copies to distribute. Most of them remained on the table at yesterday's press conference. Dr. Vonholdt complained that the American Psychiatric Association in 1974 took homosexuality off its list of diseases, and she insisted that theirs was a political not a professional decision. She is in the awkward position of making her living out of "curing" people of an "illness" which for nearly a quarter of a century her professional peers have said does not exist. Reporter Simon Barrow complained that the ACR cannot have it both ways. On the one hand the ACR carps that WCC is polygamist in seeking to open itself to yet more participation with "forums" as a new category of participation, and yet it complains that the WCC is recalcitrant if it won't open up. What unites? Tom Oden, writer for *Christianity Today* from Drew University in New Jersey, acknowledged the diversity of evangelicals on many issues, but not, he stressed on abortion and homosexuality. That acknowledgment goes a long way to explain the enormous amount of energy which ACR and many others give in promoting an anti-gay agenda, given the small incidence of homosexuality in the world at large and in their own communities. Homosexuals are a relatively safe target because they are a stigmatized small minority, and strong attacks on them have the advantage of unifying their attackers, who might otherwise have to deal with their many other divisions. Homosexuals are convenient as scapegoats. Panelist Diane Knippers, associate at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, emphasized that ACR supports religious liberty and human rights for everyone. "Even for lesbians and gays?" I asked. "'Yes' to freedom of speech, freedom to assemble ..., but 'no' to special rights," she replied. Dr. Vonholdt stressed there is no such category as lesbian and gays. We are only males and females. Other categories are merely political. She also challenged whether there really is any persecution of lesbians and gays. I asked whether ACR would support police protection for GALZ in it participation in the Human Rights March later today, since the police in Zimbabwe had refused to provide this protection. One of the panelists stressed that this body has no one voice on this matter and that it does not speak solely for the evangelical church in North America. (He seemed to be trying to distance himself from some of the North American stridency in its anti-gay agenda.) He acknowledged that young people in evangelical churches are beginning to question their parent hard and fast views regarding some of their gay and lesbian friends. Richard Kirker, reporter for *Gay News*, London, challenged Knippers' term "special rights" as unjustified. He noted that Archbishop Tutu recently said that he would like to devote most of his retirement to trying to end the unjust discrimination against lesbians and gays, and asked the panelists whether Tutu was just stupid to feel that there was discrimination. An African panelist responded that everyone should belong to the church, that there should be no discrimination. She compared it to the issue of polygamy. In Africa polygamists are welcome to join the church, but it does not mean that we cannot take a stand against polygamy. Another African panelists defended the outrage against GALZ noting that Zimbabwean lesbians and gays are running against their culture. "Homosexuality is not African." Mab Segrest, an African American lesbian in the audience, said that the panel reminded her of the way that missionaries used the Bible to colonize Africa. An Indian panelist responded adamantly that he has seen very little evidence that the gospel has been oppressive. "The gospel has always been liberating." For him the missionaries never did anything wrong, were never the agents of the state. An African panelist echoed the same view, noting that without the missionaries, their language would never have been codified and their culture would never have been made available to the rest of the world. An Asian panelist wondered to what extent the arguments regarding homosexuality have been shaped by Western secular culture. He noted that four or five youth volunteers from Kenya attended the meeting on the Decade in Solidarity with Women but flew back home rather than stay to work as stewards for the Assembly, so shocked were they by some of the support that they had heard for homosexuality. As the exchanges became more and more specific, the unanimity of the panelists began to disappear. At the end, Diane Knippers asked to speak again to make it very clear that for her personally absolutely any persecution of anyone, including lesbians and gays, is wrong. I was very proud of her. I look forward to the day when all of her colleagues can speak as clearly and with one voice on that point. Both the moderator and Tom Oden told me afterwards that they were impressed with the quality of the questions that the lesbigays had asked. One of the Asian panelists felt quite differently and stressed that the press conference showed the very real struggle they are all up against; that they had wanted to talk about a host of issues, but that the WCC had influenced their effort so that the meeting was taken over by the gay issue. He did not notice that they had promoted the meeting by giving away copies of their book on healing gays and that they had included to Vonholdt on the panel, whose focus is exclusively on that issue. Nor did the WCC have any official relation to those of us asking the questions. The Human Rights March About 75 persons marched the mile or so at noon in downtown Harare to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those of us in the GALZ contingent were clearly the center of the public attention. The march was peaceful and without incident, even without any visible police escorts. Approximately 380 were present for the speeches and the rally in the park where the march ended, the greater numbers likely reflecting something of the fear of danger that possibly kept about 300 who participated in the event from participating in the march itself. GALZ participants were elated, and radiated as if they had sprouted nimbuses. This was the first march that had ever included lesbigays in the history of this county. GALZ participants were notable for their absence in the panel of speakers at the rally in the park. Most conspicuous there were members of the bar, many of them dressed with the 18th-century frills but without their wigs. We gave out rainbows with more success there than at the WCC Assembly. Some asked, "How much do they cost?" "The rainbow is always free and always for everybody," I replied. "It is God's promise that no one will be excluded from the arc, that human rights are for absolutely everybody." The local press scarcely noticed the event. Padare on The Churches: Their Lesbian and Gay Members This was a repeat of the one that I reported on Tuesday and I almost took a break. I am glad that I did not, as many other lesbigays took a break and many more straights came, open to learning about our issues. As before, the presenters took only 15 minutes and broke us into discussion groups for the remaining hour and 15 minutes. As we introduced ourselves, each talked about knowing little about the issue and wanting to know more. I was the only gay member of the subgroup, so they asked me to answer their questions. I stressed that I was not there to change their minds but to speak to their hearts. It was clear that God already had their hearts, and any conversion was the business of the Holy Spirit. My task was only to bear witness to God's presence in my spiritual journey and in the lesbigay community. I explained that if they wanted to know much about my sex life, they would be disappointed, since at 62, when I go to bed, I mainly go there to sleep. I pointed out that sexual orientation is about much more than sexual behavior, as is a marriage. A woman from Swaziland asked me how I felt about healed homosexuals. "Would you want your daughter to marry a 'healed homosexual?'" I asked, eyes twinkling. She twinkled back: "You're not a mother so you need to understand that I'm not likely to give my approval easily to anyone my daughter might choose to marry! However, I can say one thing with certainty, if a healed homosexual were to seek to marry her, I hope very much that he would be honest with her about that before the marriage." I noted how important it is to demystify sexuality and to create a safe space for such candor: right now the stigmas against homosexuals make such candor a rare commodity indeed. Yesterday I had been in a bit of a funk but this morning had awakened "Surprised by joy!" -- that wonderful phrase from Wordsworth's sonnet, which C. S. Lewis had used as the title of his autobiography, a joy quite unaccountable, but clearly connected to my being gay. I realized what a blessing that being gay had been for me, though initially I experienced it as a curse. "If I had not been gay, today I would most likely be the close-minded racist Baptist preacher that I was raised to be." I recalled how I had been spanked as a child for referring to the household servant, then dearer to me than my own mother, as "Mrs. Jackson" as she had taught me to mention her to strangers. Mother spanked me saying, before her giggling friends, "You mean 'Eula.' Black folks are not called Mr. or Mrs." My parents loved me, and my mother dearly loved Eula. But they were caught in an evil and unjust system that they accepted uncritically. God gave me a great gift in making me gay: I had no choice but to critique the system to see how much else it might have been wrong about. Gus Neihbur, religion writer for *The New York Times* was in the group and when we compared notes later, we both concluded that the participants were open, gentle and kind. He had interviewed some afterwards and noted, "They were clear about the need for compassion and love: they were opposed to marriage." Padare on Church and Human Rights Issues of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals This was a strong review of the violations of the human rights of lesbians and gays. Unfortunately I was too ill to take notes. Lois Wilson, member of the United Church in Canada, and a past president of the WCC, moderated the session. Presenters included Mark Carlson (Spirit of the Lakes congregation in Minneapolis), and persons from other parts of the world. Stumbling back to the dormitory afterwards, I heard two young men in their 20s comment on the same session, one of them a blond American, the other an African: "The church has been refusing to listen to this for too long." "Yes, and now we have no choice. God has put lesbians and gays on our plate." Short Takes One of the men in my breakout session for the "Padare on The Churches: Their Lesbian and Gay Members" came up afterwards to say, "I have a confession to make to you. The other day I was in the phone tent when you were at the next booth and the partitions are very thin. I had just finished my call when I heard you say, 'Hello, husband, did I wake you?' and I could not resist listening to your whole conversation (which he reviewed in great detail!) "For me it was my first candid evidence of a real gay relationship not on view for me to see. And I was deeply impressed by the love, the kindness, and the ordinariness. Please forgive me for intruding on your privacy, and please accept my appreciation for your witness in this place." Marginalization: I reported last Saturday that for several hours in a meeting of all the Anglicans here people complained about how marginalized we are, about how no one respects the fact that we are the bridge between the Protestant and the Orthodox positions that get such an unfair amount of the attention. This morning for over an hour I heard the evangelicals complain about how marginalized they are, about how irrelevant the WCC is as an ecumenical movement if they are not given more attention. Daily *Jubiliee* has reported how marginalized the Orthodox feel. Might the WCC in fact be doing something right? The moment any one group moves from the margins to control the agenda of others, the WCC is no longer the ecumenical gathering it is supposed to be. Friday, December 11 The MCC worship service What a treat! About 85 of us gathered for this celebration of Holy Eucharist. Hong Tan, pastor of MCC in North London, was a superb preacher. He recalled the taunts that he had received as an 8-year-old Chinese immigrant from Singapore to London. He and his sister and brother were mocked and spat upon. "We have come thus far, and there is still so far to go ...," he repeated as a refrain as he linked that personal struggle to the struggle that all lesbians and gays have for acceptance. He masterfully quoted spiritual insights from many cultures to link us one and all in our journeys. How ironic that a "lesbigay church" excluded by others offers communion open to all! The Vigil At noon about 45 of us gathered for a vigil "Shelter from Hate" outside the main dining area. We sang "We are a gentle angry people," "You can't forbid me anything," and some other songs, interspersed with our naming of various victims of hate, including James Byrd, battered wives of clergy, Matthew Shepard, gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe: victims of Mugabe's rhetoric that we are "lower than pigs and dogs," .... *Jubiliee* did announce the vigil, as it announced the special new padare on healing homosexuals for the same date. Dr. Vonholdt's Padare on Healing Homosexuals I was too ill to attend this session. Those who did reported that about 40 were present, and about one-fourth of those were lesbigay. Dr. Vonholdt spoke without interruption for over an hour. "There will be no break-out discussion groups," the moderator proclaimed. "You have had your sessions and this is ours." A lesbian from Fiji became quite distressed and led a walk-out, but apparently the lesbigays returned. There was much contention. Some felt they had played right into the trap the conservatives had laid for them by losing their cool. "But would they feel we should sit without comment through an hour of someone talking about how nice black people are if they would just remain segregated in their place?!" said one lesbian in anguish. "They bore steady and unrelenting false witness against us," said Brenda Harrison, leader in the European Lesbigay Forum. The GALZ press conference Those on the panel included: 1. The Rev. Paul Germond, Anglican Priest, South Africa; 2. Moziuko Jara, National Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Equality, South Africa; 3. The Rev. Richard Kirker, Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), UK; 4. The Rev. Nancy Wilson, MCC, USA; 5. Keith Goddard, Director of GALZ; 6. Louie Crew; 7. Casey Kelso, Amnesty International; 8. Scott Long, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. In my opening statement, I pointed out that the Diocese of Newark has about two dozen lesbigay priests living with their partners in rectories of our 125 parishes. A local reporter asked me to explain how my diocese could reconcile the Bible with our openness to lesbigay priests. I responded that we take the Bible seriously, but do not go just for the six Bible bullets to address lesbigay issues. As Anglicans we are not limited to *sola scriptura* and take seriously the first and forgotten commandment, to love God with our minds. Over 60 percent of Episcopalians are adult converts, and many join precisely because they do not have to hang up their minds at the door. Most denominations have now come to the conclusion that Jesus's strict prohibitions about divorce do not speak God's truth to our time. All denominations have moved beyond the Bible's approval of slavery. We affirm the Gospel proclamation that "whosoever believes (not "whosoever is heterosexual") shall have everlasting life." We are persuaded "that neither height nor depth, nor principalities nor powers nor any thing on earth nor under the earth can separate lesbians and gays from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." Richard Kirker indicated his great disappointment that the WCC has been unfair to GALZ. Amnesty International reported its presence at the Assembly to support the human rights of GALZ, including a response from Konrad Raiser Several Germans present noted how embarrassed they were that Dr. Vonholdt, a member of their own church, has received such extensive attention and outside funding to bring her views to the Assembly. The GALZ unofficial Padare Banned from official participation in its own right at the Assembly, and spurned by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, who had courted it initially to get WCC to bring the Assembly to Zimbabwe, GALZ held its own Padare at the local Quality International Hotel. About 100 attended. The keynote speaker was The Rev. Paul Germond, South African Priest and joint editor of the book *Aliens in the Household of God* published by David Phillips Publishers (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa, with an introduction by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Paul Germond stressed how important it is to learn to read exclusive texts inclusively. This was Jesus's persistent hermeneutic with regard to the narrow and exclusive theology of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus dared to touch the untouchables. St. Peter learned not to call unclean anything that God had made. The struggle for the inclusion of lesbigays is in this same rich biblical tradition. The theologians of Jesus's day stressed that sin comes to you as an invasion from outside, by what you touch that is unclean. Jesus by contrast emphasized that it is what comes from within that can defile (see Mark 7:5). Germond was the only Caucasian among the five panelists. The others all gave moving personal accounts of growing up gay and lesbian in Southern Africa, in fierce isolation from support systems, gradually forced to come to terms with who they were and with their profound religious experiences. One of the nicest moments in the personal testimonies was when a young man from Namibia told of telling his family at a family gathering that he was gay and the response was ho-hum going on immediately to some another topic of conversation, namely that his cousin was pregnant. "This was my moment, my debut, my claiming of my own identity, and they were ignoring it as if I had said nothing of any consequence. So I tried again. 'And I have something else to share with you: I am gay and pregnant!'" It worked. They dealt with his sexual identity for the rest of the evening. He noted, "I am one of the few lucky ones. They were immensely supportive. They knew that they had not raised a stupid or a worthless person. And my mother takes great pride in being mum to many, many other lesbians and gays whose own mothers reject them. Short Takes The Assembly seems to me to have been a great success as a means for lesbigays to educate the church universal, and the lesbigays here have responded to that challenge with great dedication and care. Never again will the subject be silenced. More and more churches will come to the ninth assembly in 2005 eager to learn about their lesbigay neighbors, and many more straights will come to report of their faith journeys with their lesbigays. The WCC's moral timidity is embarrassing in regard to lesbigay issues. WCC abused GALZ by not standing up to the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and assuring GALZ official space at the Assembly. Konrad Raiser abused GALZ by attacking the group in *Jubiliee* and not allowing GALZ the freedom of response, as I noted earlier. The resolution on Human Rights, due to come before the Assembly tomorrow, names numerous categories of persons whose rights are under attack, but never mentions lesbigays, the persons most conspicuously and unambiguously attacked in the host country for the Assembly. We will be judged by how we respond to those whom we deem the least among us. Saturday, December 12 Short Takes *Jubiliee* today featured Janice Shaw Crouse's half-page article on "Evangelicals work the stream at WCC." Although the Evangelicals devoted over half of their press conference to issues of homosexuality, Crouse does not touch the subject. In fact, nothing in her article suggests that she even attended the press conference. She does report their continuing to complain that they are ignored in WCC and even in their own mainline churches. She quotes Diane Knippers: "The vast majority of the members of the US Protestant churches in fact hold to a biblical Christian faith that is closer to Orthodox and two-thirds world evangelicals than our liberal denominational delegation here in Harare. (Ms. Knippers is a member of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia.) Because these ecumenical gate-keepers do not represent us, we are being systematically denied access to the WCC's great ecumenical project .... The WCC seems to be captive to Western liberal Protestantism -- a small, shrinking minority of Christ's church and to its emphases on individual autonomy and moral relativity." Be sure to read "Polygamy No Problem" for African Churches, also in the December 12th issue of *Jubiliee*. Contrast the compassion which the Zimbabwe Council of Churches brings to its polygamists with the scorn which it heaps on its lesbigay members. The theme of this 8th WCC Assembly is "Return to God: Rejoice in Hope." Yesterday a padare sponsored by the church in India amended this to "Turn to the people: Rejoice in God!" That's the same theological dynamic Jesus characteristically used: Want to be forgiven of your sins? Get off your knees and forgive your neighbor. Addendum to the account of yesterday's padare on healing: today Dr. Melinda Medew of Fiji showed me a nasty bruise on her arm and explained how she got it. "After 45 minutes of Dr. Vonholdt's hate speech, I asked whether we would be allowed to respond to the false witness against us. We were told we could not reply, and some of the young African gays stormed out. I saw two of them crying. I wanted to stay in the padare rather than to give the presenters license to continue to harass us in our absence, but I also wanted to be available to my African brothers. As I stood in the doorway, one of Dr. Vonholdt's compatriot's shoved the door to make me leave." Dr. Medew observed that WCC stresses that the padare's are to be safe places where we can disagree but no individuals will be attacked, yet for forty-five minutes all gays had been characterized as unstable and emotionally immature, our parents had been demonized, and our faith commitments had been trivialized as merely political. Sunday, December 13 The Way Forward: GALZ's hosts an open discussion to evaluate the impact of he Eighth Assembly We constituted ourselves as The International Lesbian and Gay Christian Network (ILGCN). We will communicate by email. Contact: Louie Crew, lcrew@newark.rutgers.edu for the details. We committed ourselves to sponsor "Shelter from Hate" Sunday on October 3, 1999, an idea shared with us by Mark Carlson and the people at Spirit of the Lakes UCC in Minneapolis. Our own vigil here at Harare on Friday was a "Shelter from Hate." We did an elaborate review of the positive and negative parts of our experience at the Assembly, and I will share notes of the session with the ILGCN mailing list. Many GALZ members shared their pain and their anger at the Friday padare on healing homosexuals. They experienced it as a violation of the safe space essential to padares. Nelson Mandela's Visit to the WCC President Mandela gave stirring thanks to WCC for its risk- taking witness in substantive action to end apartheid. He also thanked the missionaries who made possible his education at a time when the state showed no concern whatsoever to educate black or colored persons. Two lesbigay items still likely on the agenda. 1. The human rights resolution: The draft human rights resolution specifies various categories of persons whose rights are currently in jeopardy. The resolution ignores us even though twenty-two (about 4% or all padares) brought our jeopardy to the attention of several thousand participants at the WCC. A strong protest will be lodged and circulated as a document for support of lesbigays much as the pastoral [letter] supporting lesbigays was circulated at the end of Lambeth. 2. The WCC agenda for the next seven years: There is the possibility that "human sexuality" will be specified for the Council's attention during the next 7 years before the next Assembly (likely to be held in Korea, but the site will not be determined for certain for a few more years). The discussion here was more educational and irenic, albeit in a setting of great potential for volatility. Mugabe was both a hindrance and a help. There is no question that the WCC was put into the hot seat in trying to negotiate with him regarding the Memorandum of Agreement regarding lesbigays that might be at the WCC. His strong hostility brought attention, albeit negative, to African lesbians and gays. In attacking us, he showed that we exist and that we are also African. The flight of the country's first president, Canaan Banana, during the Assembly itself, on charges of consensual adult homosexuality over a period of several years, was all the more poignant because of repeated tributes to him in the Assembly's review of the Church in Zimbabwe, including multiple tributes to him in the speech of President Mugabe himself. The major way that lesbigays were present here was in the padares and in various forums arranged locally by GALZ. All of these were attended by large crowds, much larger than the average attendance of other padares, and much larger indeed than the couple of parades led by those who promote healing of homosexuals. Attendance by Africans and Asian straights was strong from the beginning and grew throughout the week. By all reports, responses to our padares was positive. Many who came later in the Assembly said that they came because friends had praised their experiences. We engaged them in conversations and did not just talk to them. We represented as wide a spectrum of race, churches, cultures, as did those here for the Assembly. Lesbigay Christians were also ubiquitous in padares on other subjects, in the Assembly worship, at tables in the dining rooms, and in the myriads of other ways that Assembly participants connect. For many straights, these were their first experiences to converse knowingly with a lesbian or gay person, much less with a lesbigay Christian. Occasionally we were aware that a lesbian or gay person came to a padare to experience her or his own first encounter with other lesbigays, so fiercely repressed are some folks in more hostile parts of Christendom. Lesbigay Christians leave here with a far more comprehensive network than we had when we came. Monday, December 14 The WCC today approved the draft Human Rights document which failed to specify lesbigays as in need of protection. However, during the discussion before the vote, Paul Sherry, President of the United Church of Christ USA, made the following impassioned plea: Moderator, my name is Paul H. Sherry. I speak in support of the proposed Policy Statement on Human Rights. It is a statement rooted in the Gospel we all proclaim. It calls us all to renewed personal commitment and to help shape social structures protective of the basic human rights of all people. I am very grateful for this fine call to Gospel conscience and to social responsibility. However, I am saddened that the statement does not more sharply specify those whose basic human rights are severely threatened, particularly gay and lesbian people. Therefore, though I do not intend to offer an amendment to the Draft Document, it is my urgent hope that we as the World Council of Churches, despite our differences in understanding regarding sexual orientation, will increasingly commit ourselves to protect the basic human rights of gay and lesbian people. I understand and respect the differing theological postures on the appropriateness of homosexual orientation. But that is not the issue here. Rather, the issue is the protection of basic human rights for all God's children, without exception. Otherwise, I fear our stated commitments will increasingly ring hollow. Every day gay and lesbian people face verbal abuse, physical harm, and even death. A year ago, Amnesty International documented scores of instances in countries all over the globe in which individuals are being targeted for imprisonment, torture and murder simply on the grounds of their sexual orientation. In my own country, but a few weeks ago, a young college student was brutally beaten and hung on a fence to die, simply because he was gay. The silence, in the midst of this ugliness, is deafening. I urge us all to break the silence. I urge the World Council of Churches and our member churches to work with Amnesty International, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, United Nations and regional inter- governmental bodies to end this violation of body and soul. I urge us all to speak and act on behalf of God's children of pain so that justice may be pursued, wholeness restored, and the integrity of the Gospel preserved. Sherry received sustained applause after which a representative from the Congo said, "Since lesbians and gays got three seconds of applause, may we have at least four seconds of applause to call attention to the plight of people because of the war in the Congo?" He too got a sustained applause. The WCC also just passed the program proposed for the next seven years, including this section: Human Sexuality: In plenary sessions, Padare streams and the Hearing the issue of human sexuality has emerged as an important issue which faces the churches. It is clear that issues surrounding the understanding of human sexuality have divided and continue to divide some churches. An ecumenical approach to issues of human sexuality would need to take into account Christian anthropology, a hermeneutic which would [provide] all sufficient space for Christian women and men to explore the issues while creating and deepening mutual trust. WCC study of and dialogue on theological, social and cultural aspects of human sexuality will benefit from work done since the Canberra assembly on ecclesiology and ethics, and could be framed within the perspectives unfolded in the Joint Working Group document "The Ecumenical Dialogue on Moral Issues: Potential Sources of Common Witness or Divisions" (1996). Council resisted a Russian's plea to drop this section altogether. It did strike a sentence that had appeared at the end of the first paragraph: "It is seen as a cause of disunity on the one hand and as a cause of discrimination and injustice on the other." It also originally had "should be" where it now has "could be" in the final paragraph. I will leave for the USA in three hours. This concludes my diary entries for the Assembly. -- Lutibelle/Louie * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ON THE FRONT LINES Controversial College Women's Group Will Survive Despite Denunciations by Jerry L. Van Marter Louisville, KY -- The beleaguered National Network of Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW) will be commended to the General Assembly for continued funding despite withering criticism from its denominational foes -- including a charge by Rev. Parker Williamson, the editor of *The Presbyterian Layman*, that "the last vestige of Marxism ... will be found clinging to the skirts of this Network." Conservative critics, focusing on the network's primary resource, a 1993 packet of issues papers called "Young Women Speak," have charged that the NNPCW's publications and activities fall outside the biblical and constitutional boundaries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In testimony before a seven-member Task Force to Review the NNPCW, leaders and members of the network said it merely provides a "safe place" for young women to explore issues of faith. Although it concluded that "some (network) materials violated policies of the PC(USA), were inconsistent with our confessions and were lacking in biblical and theological foundation," the task force voted to recommend that the NNPCW be affirmed and that its current leadership be commended. It also recommended that funds be provided to employ a permanent full-time staff person for the network. (Since its founding in 1992, the NNPCW has been staffed primarily by interns.) The task force also will recommend that the network's mission and values statements be rewritten to ensure that they "are faithful" to denominational standards,and that an editorial board be appointed to help the network develop new "discussion resources" to replace "Young Women Speak," which has been out of print for several months. It said this board should include a Reformed theologian, a Biblical scholar and a specialist in curriculum development. "We affirm the importance of the NNPCW," the group said in its report. "The network ... has provided a powerful witness for the church." The task force also criticized the National Ministries Division for providing inadequate supervision of the NNPCW. "While we affirm the importance of empowering college women to develop and to lead the work of NNPCW," it said, "the lack of consistent staffing failed to provide sufficient oversight to this ministry. "That, in turn, led to situations where materials were produced without proper editing or review, philosophical decisions about ministry were made that were not fully developed, and students were given responsibilities for which they were not prepared or qualified." Criticism of the network spilled onto the floor of the General Assembly last June in Charlotte, N.C., where commissioners responded by voting to withdraw the denomination's sponsorship and funding. After an 11th-hour demonstration by network supporters and an appeal from Rev. James Mead, the vice- moderator, the Assembly reversed itself, approving funding for one year and creating the task force to evaluate "the resources, publications and programs of the NNPCW ... to ensure that [they] are consistent with the Scripture and the Constitution of the PC(USA)." The task force heard testimony from more than two dozen witnesses and a dozen groups -- including the three groups most critical of the NNPCW (The Presbyterian Coalition, Voices of Orthodox Women and *The Presbyterian Layman*) -- on Jan. 11, and formulated its recommendations to the 1999 General Assembly the next day. Terry Schlossberg, the executive director of Presbyterians Pro- Life, appeared on behalf of Voices of Orthodox Women. She argued that "the NNPCW does not further the witness and mission of our Church." Hammering away at "Young Women Speak" -- which was written by members of NNPCW and edited by an intern -- she criticized its approaches to sexuality, theology and evangelism. "There is an absence of Scriptural and confessional teaching on sexual relationships or on marriage in the NNPCW material, and all forms of sexual expression outside marriage are affirmed," Schlossberg charged. Furthermore, she said, the document's sections on Feminist/Womanist Theologies and Inclusive Language "differ dramatically from those expressed in the Scripture and the historic confessions of the church." Gusti Newquist, NNPCW's current intern, who joined the network while a student at Marshall University in West Virginia, defended "Young Women Speak" as a resource that was developed to address a desperate need. "There is no other resource like this," she told the task force. "These women, not professional theologians, said, 'We need this,' and went out and created it." Although he questioned parts of it, Mead, a task force member, commented that "much of 'Young Women Speak' is first-rate." In a presentation illustrated by 28 slides, Williamson excoriated a half-dozen feminist theologians -- most of whom took part in the infamous 1993 Re-Imagining Conference -- whose works were recommended in "Young Women Speak." He said the network's recommendation of the work of Phyllis Trible, a professor of sacred literature at Union Theological Seminary in New York, "pours in a measure of Marxism." The slide he showed to support the Marxism charge offered a single quote from Trible's book, *God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality*: "A Marxist view of Jesus gives the Gospels afresh both to Christians and to atheists, and so provides each group with new insights of itself and the other." Williamson also charged that the network's now-defunct Web site was "an Internet gateway to hard-core homosexual pornography." The site was shut down last July, about the time Williamson published the pornography charges on a Web site maintained by *The Presbyterian Layman*. The task force said in its report, "We are confident that links to pornography were unknown, unintended and unwanted by NNPCW leaders." Emily Meyer of Seattle, Wash., a member of the NNPCW Coordinating Council (CoCo), who was responsible for maintaining the Web site when Williamson made his charges, said she was never aware of any links to pornography. The task force also pleaded for "a new comprehensive church-wide strategy for campus ministry, of which NNPCW will be a part." "NNPCW is a bandage on a gaping wound where the Presbyterian Church has abandoned college students," said Rev. Jeff Bridgeman, a General Assembly Council and task force member from Solvang, Calif. "Any bandage feels good, but NNPCW can't ... cover the whole wound." Rebecca Barnes, a student at the College of Wooster in Ohio and a co-moderator of CoCo, told the task force that the NNPCW offers college women an opportunity to "connect faith and issues." Barnes, an elder at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Ky., said her involvement in the network has made her "proud to be a Christian." "NNPCW is about . . . giving women a voice," she said. Task force member Miriam Pride, the president of Blackburn College in Carlinville, Ill., concluded: "We have heard, on both sides of the argument, strong statements about the role of young women in our church, and the need for support of young women. We all agree that college women's ministry is a powerful resource to our church -- although we also disagree about how to do it." -- Presbyterian News Service, 19 January 1999. A footnote on Presbyterian Porn I read with interest the article in The Presbyterian Layman which discussed the web site for the National Network of Presbyterian College Women. Calling the site a "gateway to pornography," the claim was made that links on the site gave access, by just clicking a mouse, to sites "endorsing homosexual behavior." I was curious. Knowing what I do about "the web," I wondered how it would be possible to limit the accesses available through the countless, interconnected links available. So I decided to check out the links which The Layman offers at its web site. I signed on to their home page and looked at the available links. Imagine my surprise when, just four mouse-clicks later, I found my self on a page offering me access to gay, lesbian, and bisexual chat rooms, or rooms organized around such topics as "Clubs/Nightlife," "Coming Out," and "Lifestyles." I was also invited to create my own "FREE Gay and Lesbian page." And a banner across the top of the page, displaying the words "Click HERE for the Hottest Men On-Line" and the flashing photographs of nude male torsos embracing one another, urged me to sign up for a free trial of Gay.net. Perhaps the editors of The Layman have forgotten the old adage giving instructions to those living in glass houses? -- Chip Blankinship Marxism: who has the real last vestige? Volume 2 Issue 1 of the Presbyterian Gayman is out. You may find it on the web at: http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Stonewall/ 9969/gayman.html The issue includes: Marxism: who has the real last vestige? Where is God on the Right? Pastor Sonny Declares: "I'm cuckoo for COCU Puffs"; Two By Two Update: Former heterosexual shares his story; Spring Fashion Advice; Arts corner: Super-legal Moralistic Expiation-itis. The Presbyterian Gayman is produced by the Presbyterian Gay Committee. The Presbyterian Gay Committee is not an official organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or any other Presbyterian denomination, and it is not affiliated with any Presbyterian organization. The Presbyterian Gay Committee was founded in 1998 by a group of Presbyterians who seek to raise the standard for humor and satire in the lives of all PCUSA members and friends. Any apparent similarity between real persons and the fictional persons described herein is purely unintended and coincidental. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Presbytery Supports Congregation's Dissent on Ordination Requirements That's the headline in *The Presbyterian Outlook.* *The Presbyterian Layman* called it "Presbytery allows congregation to defy constitution." Here's what the Presbytery of Northern New England actually did: Report of actions taken December 5, 1998 in the Northern New England Presbytery's meeting regarding an eighteen-month series of actions directed against Christ Church, Burlington: The Presbytery of Northern New England took up today [Dec. 5, 1998] the four alternative actions for the Presbytery to consider in response to Christ Church, Presbyterian's Resolution of Dissent (to G-6.0106b), dated June of 1997. After long and arduous debate, the Presbytery voted Alternative #1 by a vote of 46 to 32. Under Alternative #1, the Presbytery: a) acknowledges that Christ Church carries on a valid and sacred ministry in Burlington. b) acknowledges that the alleged inconsistencies in the Book of Order do exist; and c) the Presbytery rescinds its action instructing the session of Christ Church to be in compliance with G-6.0106b. During the course of the debate, Alternatives 3, 4 and 2 were each offered as substitute motions (in that order), and each was defeated in turn. At the conclusion of the action, a vigorous protest was lodged with the Stated Clerk by conservatives, complaining that the action was irregular and in violation of the Church's Constitution. The next, and final item of business on today's VERY long docket was Christ Church's overture in support of Milwaukee's overture, to the effect that G-6.0106b be deleted from the Book of Order. The vote was 40-27 in favor of our overture. Source: PresbyCall, the website recording all PCUSA ordination cases: http://members.aol.com/PresbyCall/Cases/1PC.html The alternatives were: - That the presbytery again instruct Christ church to be in compliance and establish a subcommittee to monitor the congregation's compliance. - That the presbytery elect an administrative commission to work with the session of Christ Church and, if the session continues to disregard G-6.0106b, to recommend that the presbytery assume original jurisdiction over the session in all matters relating to the election, preparation, examination, ordination and installation of elders and deacons. - That the presbytery formally request from the General Assembly's Stated Clerk an authoritative interpretation of G- 6.0106b in light of the various *Book of Order* provisions calling for inclusiveness. Source: The Presbyterian Outlook, Dec. 21-28, 1998, p. 5. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Empty Seat One of our chapters reports a development that is worthy of being copied in Presbyterian congregations which are not quite ready yet to take the step of ordaining some of their qualified GLBT members as elders and deacons. For the second year in a row a congregation in the deep south has voted to approve its nominating committee's recommendation to leave one seat vacant on its session -- perhaps deacons as well -- "out of respect for our members held back by Amendment B." It is an idea that could well catch on churchwide. This could be a way to go for those congregations wanting to demonstrate their support for repealing the exclusionary policies of our denomination. There is no question about its legality. Say your by-laws call for a session of twelve and a deacons' board of nine. For next year's nominating slate for a class of three, just present two names and declare in the minutes of the congregational meeting that one seat is being left vacant until it can be filled by a qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender church member clearly called by God to serve. Make that same notation wherever the roster of the session or deacons is published within the congregation's life. Sure it might mean more work for those elected, having to be one person short all year in the session's work. Yet that very experience would placard the pain and emptiness that occur wherever there are qualified members forbidden to serve. The empty seat could be a strong witness for the movement toward full inclusion in the PCUSA. Think about it! -- Gene Huff, MLP chapter liaison * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Presbyterian Pluralism: a Book Review Presbyterian Pluralism: Competition in a Protestant House, by William J. Weston. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997. xiv, 192 p. ISBN 0-87049-982-3. Reviewed by Gene Huff. Liberals and conservatives always battle each another for control of the church. Such is a conventional assumption among those who observe modern church history. Not really so, claims William J. Weston, who teaches at Centre College, challenging that notion in this recently published study. It is a proposition with fascinating implications for the current struggles in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Weston's sorting through various episodes in the church's life from the 1890's to the mid 1930's leads to a very helpful insight. What really takes place during church controversies he argues, is that the liberals and conservatives compete for the support of the much larger middle of the church, a group he calls as the loyalists. The real importance of his thesis is his insistence that such competition is the only effective kind of pluralism for a church body because it helps it avoid both institutional paralysis and schism. As a church today we are of course very much immersed in the waters of pluralism. And while our awareness of that is inescapable, we sometimes think it a rather new phenomenon. Weston's review of the famous Briggs and Machen cases in the 1890's and the 1920's and 30's reveals our long engagement in battles for control while struggling to live together in a pluralistic environment. From his Introduction: "The world is diverse; we can accept diversity or reject it. Accept it, and you get endless dialogue which convinces neither side and leads nowhere. Reject it, and you get endless conflict which eliminates neither side or leads to oblivion. On the one hand, the dangling conversation; on the other, culture wars. There is an alternative: competition. Competition is the kind of pluralism that we actually find and that actually works. When we start looking for competition, we find that many customary polarities turn out to involve not two parties going head-to-head, but three: the two public opponents -- call them 'liberals' and 'conservatives' -- and the vast mass whom they are trying to win over." The book provides a record of how that competitiveness was played out in the period seventy-five to a hundred years ago in what was then also named the Presbyterian Church in the USA, the so called northern branch. At first the liberals, represented by Charles Briggs, a Union Seminary (New York) professor tried to make the whole church liberal and they lost. But then they turned their campaign from classical liberalism to tolerance as a main theme and eventually they won over the loyalists. Following that the conservatives, represented by J. Gresham Machen, originally a Princeton Seminary professor, pressed their position so exclusively that they lost; indeed Machen was forced out of the church, just as Briggs had been a generation before. But the upshot of the story as Weston demonstrates very capably is that "The triumph of constitutional tolerance made competitive pluralism the policy of the Presbyterian Church." This is really is quite a useful book for contemporary Presbyterians to study. The stories are told with colorful vignettes of the principal cast of characters. There is an intellectually challenging chapter on the theory of competitive pluralism. The bibliography and notes are almost overwhelming with their thoroughness. And a brief postscript dares to offer some implications for our own struggles over control here a hundred years after the trial of Charles Briggs. There should be no question where More Light Presbyterians fit into the pattern woven by Weston. Their fix on things is that inclusivity should be recognized as a distinctive attribute of our Presbyterian culture. It is also plain where the Presbyterian Coalition fits in. Many conservatives actually believe that pluralism in the denomination is responsible for the declining membership of the church. Where today's loyalists finally come down on today's chief tolerance issue -- the just treatment of the church's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members -- may well depend on how competitive pluralism under our constitution plays itself out as a viable solution to the problem of diversity. William Weston has provided an extremely valuable resource for the journey. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [THIS STORY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRINT VERSION. -- JDA] Religious Leaders on AIDS: Complacency in the Crisis? by Chris Glaser Atlanta, GA -- Religious leaders in the AIDS crisis warn that Americans are enjoying a false sense of complacency regarding HIV and AIDS, a complacency engendered by promising new treatments heralded in the media. This was the message of the AIDS and Religion in America gathering at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, Nov. 8- 11. Sponsored principally by the AIDS National Interfaith Network and funded largely by corporations and foundations, the conference brought together a wide spectrum of religious leaders working in AIDS ministries and care organizations and representatives of the religious and secular media. Exciting reports of a "drug cocktail" for AIDS belie the difficult regimen required to administer the new medicines effectively, as well as the enormous expense of the drugs that make them generally inaccessible to the poor in this country and only a dream for developing nations. Not only that, conference participants were reminded, but protease inhibitors, the last line of defense for PWAs (persons with AIDS), prove ineffective in as many as a third of those who try them. The media frenzy of optimistic reports is a likely reason that many American cities experienced a drop in contributions in fund- raising events such as AIDS Walks, this year a primary means of raising money for AIDS service organizations. Worse, it is feared that prevention efforts might wane -- from the individual who mistakenly believes there is a "cure" to organizations that might relax their educational efforts. This is what brought Mary Stephan to the conference from Clearwater, Fla. A Presbyterian layperson, she became active in AIDS-care organizations when her son Fred was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1988. She wanted to be prepared to care for him when needed. After his death in 1993, she continued to work in AIDS ministries, calling it "My memorial to my son." At the time she made a covenant with God "to get the church involved" in the AIDS pandemic. She now works with AIDS Partnership, an all-volunteer organization offering services to PWAs. Organizers of the conference feared religious and governmental institutions might get a false signal that financial and volunteer support are less needed in the AIDS pandemic now, when in fact they are becoming more necessary as more PWAs live longer and the virus that causes AIDS follows the path of least resistance among the poor, the uneducated, the uninformed and the vulnerable. This includes racial minorities, developing nations, women, newborn infants, youth and the homeless. That's why Mary Stephan has shifted her focus to reaching out to African-American churches in her community through the Balm in Gilead program, headquartered in New York City. A Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS is being organized for the week of March 7-13, 1999. The purpose is to encourage African- American pastors and congregations to discuss openly the issue of AIDS, too long a silent killer in their communities. During the opening dinner of the conference, those who attended a similar gathering at the Carter Center ten years earlier were invited to stand. As I stood with a minority of others, I felt no pride, but rather a profound sadness that here we were, still struggling with AIDS after all these years. At that time, I had been sent by Pacific Presbytery in the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, a presbytery that was soon to launch an ambitious AIDS ministry jointly with West Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Earl E. Shelp and Ronald H. Sunderland spoke briefly at the dinner, just arrived from a White House ceremony honoring contributors to the nation's welfare. The two authors of "AIDS and the Church" pioneered the concept of Care Teams, which have brought many in the religious community into service with PWAs. The opening community-wide Interfaith Service of Hope and Healing, sponsored by the Atlanta Interfaith AIDS Network and led by its executive director, the Rev. Jeff Peterson-Davis, a Presbyterian, included Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim traditions. Set in the Carter Center's Cecil B. Day Chapel, the service also reflected the cultural diversity of both Atlanta and the conference itself: racially diverse, male and female, gay and straight. The backdrop of the worship area was panels of the AIDS Quilt that, especially in the light of day, served as stained-glass windows commemorating the fallen in the struggle with AIDS. The gathering was dedicated to the memory of Jonathan Mann and Mary Lou Clements-Mann, pioneers in AIDS research who were killed in the recent Swissair crash. The next morning the sobering statistics of AIDS were presented by three medical scientists from the offices of epidemiology of the Centers for Disease Control, the Health Resources and Services Administration and Yale University: 50 million people infected worldwide, with a potential of 100 million infected by the year 2005; 40 million children anticipated orphaned by AIDS in Africa alone, where 25-30 percent of the adult population will die of AIDS; rates of infection found highest in countries with the lowest gross national products; China, India and Russia now just seeing the tip of the iceberg of destruction headed their way. In this country, the vast majority of new HIV infections are found among racial minorities, women, and youth. The research community is at least 15 years away from a vaccine. The good news? Condoms work at limiting exposure to HIV. Abstinence also works. Sex education among youth works, but those programs that only teach abstinence fail to prevent HIV infection, experts say. Indeed, studies reveal that youth only taught abstinence without safer sex precautions were as likely to have sexual relations as their counterparts and more likely to engage in unsafe sex. Youths given sex education tend to delay becoming sexually active longer than those who do not receive such information, are no more sexually active and incur less HIV infection. Education by peers of those in a given category works. Twenty-two studies conclude that needle-exchange programs also work in reducing HIV infection and do not increase intravenous drug abuse. The squeamishness in the U.S. around drug abuse has prevented such programs from receiving federal funding, leading to HIV infections and AIDS deaths not only among IV drug users, but among their spouses, children and sexual partners. Countries that have used needle-exchange programs -- Australia, for example -- report greater success at keeping new infections at bay. For people of faith, however, the best news of the conference was that religious communities still have a vital role to play in the ultimate "healing" of PWAs when there is no medical cure. Religious institutions may provide education about HIV/AIDS, especially reducing the stigma still associated with those affected by the disease. Congregations may play a role in HIV prevention, especially among youth and the poor. They could encourage people to get tested and treated and continue under medical supervision. Most important, people of faith may offer social and spiritual care for PWAs and their loved ones, and such care -- good in and of itself -- has an impact on the health not only of the receiver, but of the provider as well. New studies reveal there are not just mental and emotional influences on immunity, but that prayer itself has an objective effect on the rapidity of recovery, even among patients unaware they were the subjects of prayer. In addition, a review of the "placebo effect" used widely in 1950s medicine has indicated that people may experience the health they anticipate or expect to receive, whether it be from medicine or faith. Theologian Mary Hunt, asked to offer theological reflections each morning of the conference, spoke of "being struck ... by the fact that while I had been relying on science to solve the HIV/AIDS problem, science was now relying on me, and on you, the people whose work it is to define problems and shape attitudes. ... Society shapers like religious leaders ... will be just as important to its eradication as the scientists." She added, "When I thought about [the fact] that we are still at the early stage of the pandemic in many parts of the world, I began to compare the magnitude of the problem with the theological output to date. I realized that we are also ... in the very earliest stages of theological reflection on HIV/AIDS too." Much of the rest of the conference was devoted to theological reflection. Hunt quoted Catholic ethicist Daniel C. Maguire in reminding participants that beyond religion offering spiritual comfort and healing, was also the "renewable moral energy of religions." That is, according to Hunt, faith offered "deep values that cannot be bought on the world market." Theological reflection on AIDS largely has been done on the margins of society and religious institutions because those most deeply affected are frequently found on those margins -- modern - - day outcasts. Christians know that the most vibrant theology arises among the disfranchised -- witness, as examples, that our own Bible and church traditions offer theological perspectives often formulated by the outsiders and the oppressed and, in the case of Jesus and his followers, "those who turned the world upside down" (Acts 17). Mary Stephan finds herself on the margins these days, confessing, "I'm not sure I'm Presbyterian anymore." She dropped off her presbytery's AIDS Committee when the denomination changed the "Book of Order" to exclude unrepentant homosexuals from ordained service. "You see, my son was gay," she told me. His partner-in- life had preceded him in death by one year. Part of her covenant with God at the time of his death was not only to get the church involved, but to get therapeutic touch, a technique Mary learned to soothe her son in his pain, to persons with AIDS. Central to the message of the conference was a challenge to the church, as the Body of Christ, to offer a healing touch to those on the margins as Jesus did, without judgment, sharing his belief that the faith of the outcast will make all of us whole. The AIDS National Interfaith Network has produced a book entitled "Faith & AIDS," which is available, along with papers from the conference (if desired), from their office at 1400 I Street, NW #1220, Washington, DC 20005. The Presbyterian AIDS Network may be contacted c/o the Rev. Phil Jamison, 105 Monitor Ave. #1, Pittsburgh, PA 15202. -- Presbyterian News Service, 24 November 1998 (Chris Glaser is the author of the just-released "Coming Out as Sacrament" (Westminster John Knox Press) and the editor of "Open Hands," a quarterly journal for inclusive congregations in seven denominations.) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hate Crimes: Everybody's Responsibility by MLP Liaisons Peg and Doug Atkins, St. Louis area, Missouri The AIDS Task Force presented a workshop at a recent meeting of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy titled "Hate Crimes: Everybody's Responsibility." We have just reorganized our meetings to include, instead of endless reports, workshops which function sort of like General Assembly committees, in that information is offered, participants are invited to discuss, bring items to the floor, etc. There were four others at the same time as ours: Feasibility of a Presbytery Financial Campaign, Ministry in the Community, Web Site Design, etc. We had more than our share of participants from the total attending the meeting. It was only 55 minutes long. A lot of youth came -- everyone seemed interested, and in agreement with us. We did 15 minutes on some things that contribute to the climate of fear that leads to violence and hate crimes (second class citizenship in secular and religious world, rhetoric, ex-gay movement, etc.). Then we spoke of the fall-out from that climate: Matthew Shepard, youth suicide, a few stories, etc. We had some good news: our local PFLAG and GLSTN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Teachers Network) are presenting wonderful workshops all over the area to schools, counselors assn., NEA, etc., and Lynne Reade's Westminster Hills Presbyterian Church in Hayward, CA gave a workshop on "Teasing, Taunting and Torment" for church school teachers. An attorney then explained the inequality of civil rights, and why hate crimes laws are needed, plus info. on legislation pending. He had good handouts. One of the pastors really picked up on the ex-gay thing and expanded far beyond the info we gave, and that was nice. Another handout was excerpts from GA minutes, and from correspondence in support of civil rights from Stated Clerks Jim Andrews and Cliff Kirkpatrick. We concluded by saying we intend to bring to the Presbytery at its January meeting, an overture addressing the issues. Here's hoping we get it together nicely, and that it passes and goes to the GA. I will send the handouts, outline, etc. for the workshop if anyone wants them (see state liaisons list). Our GLSTN/PFLAG group workshop -- Creating an Environment Where All Students Can Learn will soon be on tape. The exciting thing for Doug and me and our little Kirkwood group that is working for inclusion of sexual orientation in our city employment, housing, etc. statues is that GLSTN/PFLAG did their thing for Kirkwood High School faculty and staff and the principal has issued a thundering edict that his school will be safe for women students (after expelling 7 boys for harassing women) and he brought in Matthew Shepard, and said GLBT are going to be safe and respected in his school, too. Our Kirkwood civil rights group is steadily gaining the support of clergy and their ruling bodies -- and we figure they'll be even more eager to stand up with us when they realize the principal needs the support of the religious community. The City Council can't hold out against all that, do you think? Two of the six are members of our church, and they are all scared witless. They keep saying that the city has a philosophy of following the state's lead in statutes! Of all wacky things. We don't try to sink to the state's level on any other measures! The principal is known far and wide as being a model of good principalship -- he's 6 ft. 5 in. tall with long white beard (looks like Isaiah probably looked), gives a five minute lecture on the PA every morning that the kids love, knows every one of the 1800 by name. I called him to make sure it was okay to relate what had gone on there and he immediately faxed us his speech and a column written for the school paper by some courageous kid, and said "Tell everyone," including the local newspaper. Life is exciting and good, especially in this little old midwest suburb where we are a little more conservative than some places. I wish Dean Hay were around to hear this. He was so quick to cheer and encourage. We were settling on a date in early December for him to be with us and see some of St. Louis while Tom Hanks is in town for Christmas. He was interested in Other Sheep, and we were excited about getting to know him, and were hoping we would be working together. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians Gets New Director Dallas, TX. -- Margaret E. Gurecky, the mother of a gay son, was recently named Director of Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians, Inc. (PPGL). PPGL was formed in 1994 as a pastoral care ministry within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to provide support for mothers and fathers who are struggling to understand and affirm their homosexual children. PPGL held its first parent support group meeting in Dallas in May, 1994. Gurecky and her husband, who were participants in that first support group, had learned just eight months earlier that their only child was homosexual. "It has always meant so much to me," says Gurecky, "that within our own Presbyterian denomination, there exists this parent-to-parent ministry where we can share with one another our journey of faith and where we can affirm our sons and daughters." Gurecky, a lifelong Presbyterian, was previously Vice-President of PPGL's Board of Directors. She has held numerous leadership roles in church and civic organizations, including serving as a Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School teacher and youth leader. Gurecky, who has been employed in education for 26 years, has served on the boards of several organizations, including United Way. She is a member of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) and the Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA). She and her husband of 29 years, Milton R. Gurecky, a Presbyterian elder, are members of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Flower Mound, Texas. PPGL was founded by Jane C. Loflin, of Dallas, who is also the mother of a gay son. Loflin, who had known that her son was homosexual for some time, envisioned a ministry for parents, who like herself, were devoted to both their church and their homosexual children. At that time, Loflin was the administrator of Grace Presbytery, the regional office of the Presbyterian Church. Prior to that position, Loflin was employed with the Greater Dallas Community of Churches and First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. When she retired from Grace Presbytery, Loflin sought the guidance and support of several prominent Presbyterian pastors, elders and church leaders in organizing PPGL. Loflin served as PPGL Director until her retirement this past December. In 1997 she was honored by *Presbyterians Today*, the denomination's national magazine, as one of ten "Presbyterians Making a Difference." Today, PPGL groups are being established on a nationwide basis. A web site and support telephone line offer help to parents and direction to those interested in organizing a PPGL support group in their specific locale. Identities of parent participants are closely guarded and meeting locations are not publicized. This nonprofit ministry welcomes and now includes parents, grandparents and siblings of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds. There are no dues or membership fees. PPGL is not involved in: political or social activism; professional guidance, counseling or therapy services; HIV/AIDS caregiving ministries; or efforts or ministries to elicit changes in sexual orientation. For more information, interested parents may call PPGL's support line at 972-219-6063, or contact Margaret E. Gurecky, Director, P.O. Box 600882, Dallas, TX 75360-0882, 972-436-5237; Board President: The Rev. Dr. Roger T. Quillin, 214-827-5521. -- PPGL press release, Jan. 1, 1999. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [NOTE: THIS STORY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRINT VERSION. -- JDA] Gay Groups Call For Churches to Put Pressure on "Homophobic" Zimbabwe by Edmund Doogue Ecumenical News International [Compare this news brief with Louie Crew's journal about these events, elsewhere in this *Update*!] Harare, Zimbabwe. -- Leading representatives of international and local homosexual organizations Dec.11 called for the international community -- in particular churches -- to campaign for the rights of gays and lesbians of Zimbabwe to be respected. Keith Goddard, program manager of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), which has more than 300 members -- most of them black Zimbabweans -- told a press conference in Harare that Zimbabwe was "one of the most vocally homophobic countries in the world. Our president [Robert Mugabe] is world famous for his [verbal] gay-bashing." Goddard said that he had recently visited a small village in Austria where people had said to him: "We don't know much about Zimbabwe, but don't you have a president who hates homosexuals?" Goddard said that although homosexuals in Zimbabwe did not face the dangers experienced by their counterparts in some Islamic countries, there was an "hysterical climate" about the issue in Zimbabwe, which he said was whipped up by the government and the state-owned press. "When parents discover that one or more of their children is homosexual, they panic," Goddard said. "They think they must be harbouring a criminal or a child-molester, or that their child is engaging in satanic practices." People had tried to take advantage of the hysteria by blackmailing homosexuals. "Some poverty-stricken people here are looking for quick money," he said. These people, he added, told homosexuals that unless they paid a large sum of money, the blackmailer would claim he had been raped. If such accusations were made, the police would often arrest the accused person, and the accusations would be published on the front page of Harare newspapers. Representatives of Amnesty International, of the Metropolitan Community Church, which was founded by a homosexual pastor in the US and now has congregations in many countries, of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, based in New York, of the European Forum of Lesbian and Gay Christians, and of other groups attended the press conference. Most of them are in Harare to attend -- as visitors rather than as official delegates -- the World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly. Richard Kirker, an Anglican priest representing the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in the United Kingdom and the European Forum of Lesbian and Gay Christians, told the press conference that he and others had come to Zimbabwe to help GALZ "negotiate its way through what has proved to be a minefield dealing with the WCC." He said that GALZ had been "effectively excluded" from the assembly's Padare, a forum of 550 events held during the assembly. (Although GALZ was not permitted to hold a workshop at the Padare, it was allowed to participate with other Zimbabwean groups under the sponsorship of a local human rights organization. About a dozen events about homosexuality - sponsored by churches from other countries -- were included in the Padare, which ended, Dec. 11.) According to Goddard, the WCC had asked GALZ to get sponsorship from a local church if it wanted to participate fully in the Padare. He said that as all local churches opposed GALZ, the requirement imposed by the WCC was like asking a black church under apartheid to get sponsorship from a pro-apartheid white church. "Where is the church -- it is supposed to support the marginalised?" Goddard said. "We have made every effort to put our case to the churches [in Zimbabwe], but we have been steadfastly refused. The [local] churches support the stereotypes that we are child molesters and criminals. "We are bitterly disappointed by the reaction of the WCC," he said. In response to a question from a gay Christian from Zimbabwe at the press conference, Nancy Wilson, vice-moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches, said MCC was trying, through its church in South Africa, to find ways to set up a church in Zimbabwe. "In this country, even just saying `we are gay Christians' is a powerful statement," she said. Scott Long, of the Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which is linked to more than 1000 gay rights groups around the world, told ENI after the press conference: "The WCC should open its eyes and look at what's happening in this country." He said the WCC assembly was "segregated" from the life of Zimbabweans because the event was taking place on a university campus several kilometers from the center of town. "It's cut off from real engagement with Zimbabwe." Members of South Africa's National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality protested outside Zimbabwe's consulate in Cape Town on Dec. 10. The demonstrators called on the Harare government to open dialogue with Zimbabwe's gay and lesbian citizens, and pointed out that South Africa's constitution protected the country's gays and lesbians from discrimination. One protester held a placard declaring: "Vorster [South African prime minister from 1966 to 78] said blacks had no rights; Mugabe says gays have no rights." -- via Presbyterian News Service, 16 December 1998. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP OFFICERS AND CONTACTS MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, http://www.mlp.org CO-MODERATORS: Scott D. Anderson (1999), 5805 20th Ave., Sacramento, CA 95820-3107, 916-456-7225 h., 442-5447 w., email: Scott_Anderson.parti@ecunet.org; Mitzi Henderson (1999), 16 Sunset Lane, Menlo Park, CA 94025-6732, 650-854-2598, fax -4177, email: MHenderson@pcusa.org; Laurene Lafontaine (1999), 1260 York St. #106, Denver, CO 80206, 303-388-0628, PNet: Laurene Lafontaine; email: Lafden@aol.com; Dick Lundy (1999), 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 612-470-0093 h., email: dick_lundy@pcusa.org COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY: Donna Michelle Riley (1999), 271 Varsity Ave. #6, Princeton, NJ 08540, 609-720-0954, dmriley@alumni.princeton.edu RECORDING SECRETARY: Rob Cummings (1999), P.O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133-0394, 724-475-3285, email: robcum@toolcity.net TREASURER: Joanne Sizoo (1999), 5901 Cleves Warsaw Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH 45233, 513-922-8764 h., email: joanne_sizoo@pcusa.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP Board of Directors Officers listed above are also MLP Board Members James D. Anderson (1999), P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932- 6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu Cathy Blaser (1999), 350 West 85th St., New York, NY 10024, 212-595-8976 h. Ralph Carter (1999), 111 Milburn St., Rochester, NY 14607- 2918, 716-271-7649, email: rcarter@rpa.net Tony De La Rosa (1999), 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 90042, 213-256-2787, PNet: Tony De La Rosa; email: tony_de_la_rosa.parti@ecunet.org or tonydlr@ix.netcom.com Tricia Dykers Koenig (1999), 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44121, 216-381-0156, PNet: Tricia Dykers Koenig, email: tricia_dykers_koenig.parti@ecunet.org Gene Huff (1999), 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415- 668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked.net, or Eugene_Huff.parti @ecunet.org; PNet: Eugene Huff Lisa Larges (1999), 565 Mountain View #2, Daly City, CA 94014, 650-994-1815, email: LLL@igc.org Susan Leo (1999), 3401 SE 36th Ave., Portland, OR 97202-1817, 503-235-6986, email: sleoclu@aol.com Tammy Lindahl (1999), 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-2191 h., PNet: Tammy Lindahl, email: tammy_lindahl.parti@ecunet.org Chuck McLain (1999), 932 E. 28th St., Oakland, CA 94610, 510- 261-4696 h., 451-8639 fax, email: mcpresby@aol.com William H. Moss (Bill, 2000), 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, email: WHMoss@aol.com Harold G. Porter (1999), 4160 Paddock Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45229, 513-861-5996, email: hgporter@hotmail.com Mike Smith (1999), 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236- 7955, PNet: Michael D Smith; email: Michael_D_Smith.parti@ecunet.org Richard Sprott (1999), 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610, 510-268-8603 h., email: richard.sprott@pcusa.org Howard Warren, Jr. (1999), 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632-0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. Ken Wolvington (1999), 118 Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401-2658, 802-862-6605 h., email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP National Liaisons MORE LIGHT UPDATE, James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu CHAPTERS: Gene Huff -- see Directors. SEMINARY GROUPS: Johanna Bos, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1044 Alta Visa Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-1798, email: jbos@lpts.edu RESOURCES: Dick Lundy -- see Officers: Co-Moderators. ISSUES: Mike Smith -- see Directors. JUDICIAL ISSUES: Tony De La Rosa -- see Directors; Peter Oddleifson, c/o Harris, Beach and Wilcox, 130 E. Main St., Rochester, NY 14604, 716-232-4440 w., 716-232-1573 fax. BISEXUAL CONCERNS: The Rev. Kathleen Buckley, 2532 Rosendale Rd., Schenectady, NY 12309-1312, 518-382-5342; Skidmore College chaplain 518-584-5000 ext 2271, email kbuckley@skidmore.edu; Union College protestant chaplain, 518-388-6618, buckleyk@gar.union.edu TRANSGENDER CONCERNS: Carla T. Pridgen, M.Div, M.Ed., 5 Delano Rd., Asheville, NC 28805, 704-285-9752, CarlaP@worldnet.att.net STOLES PROJECT: Martha G. Juillerat, Director, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-8792, PNet: Martha Juillerat, email: stoleproj@aol.com; Martha_Juillerat.parti@ecunet.org PRESBYNET: Dorothy Fillmore, 7113 Dexter, Richmond, VA 23226, 804-285-9040 h., 804-828-8420 w., 804-274-0874 voice mail, email: dfillmore.parti@ecunet.org, dfillmor@atlas.vcu.edu, PNet: dfillmore WEBSITE: Jim Tiefenthal, 370 Barrington St., Rochester, NY 14607, 716-271-2885, Jim@Tiefenthal.com ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330, 541-753-6277, hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu THAT ALL MAY FREELY SERVE: Chuck Lundeen, Session of Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 N Fitzhugh St., Rochester NY 14614, 716- 325-4000, PRISON MINISTRIES: Jud van Gorder, 915 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060-3440, 831-423-3829. PRESBYTERIAN AIDS NETWORK (PAN): John M. Trompen, 48 Lakeview Dr., Morris Plains, NJ 07950-1950, 201-538-1655 PRESBYTERIAN ACT-UP: Susan Leo -- see Directors; Lisa Bove, 1037 N. Ogden, #10, West Hollywood, CA 90046, 323-650-2425; Howard Warren, Jr., 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632- 0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. EUROPE: Jack Huizenga, Voice of America, 76 Shoe Lane, London EC4A 3JB, U.K., email: jwhuizen@dircon.co.uk, tel: (171) 410- 0960, preceded by 011-44 if calling from the U.S. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP Chapters Just as our predecessor organization, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, had benefited from having local and regional chapters around the church and the country, More Light Presbyterians is continuing that practice. Chapters provide an opportunity for local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians and their straight allies to come together regularly to carry out a variety of functions and tasks which are seen to be important and appropriate for a particular area. Some are large; others are small. Most meet monthly, some less often but are always on call for taking on strategic tasks. All are able to provide strong personal support for their members for the individual journeys they travel at this point in their lives and in the life of the Presbyterian Church. Chapters themselves decide what specific tasks and roles they wish to take on, based on the stated mission of MLP. For information about organizing a chapter, please refer to our brief statement called "Tips for Organizing a MLP Chapter." It is found on our web page (http://www.mlp.org) or can be secured along with other advice from our current Chapter Liaison, Gene Huff, 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415-668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked,net. Corrections and other changes in the chapter information listings should be sent to Gene. Chapter List Persons listed are moderators or contact persons for each chapter. See also our state-by-state list of MLP liaisons! BOSTON AND NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St. Montpelier, VT 05602; 802-229- 5438; email: garyire2@aol.com; Ken Wolvington Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401, 802-862-6605, email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Jack Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. NEW JERSEY: James D. Anderson, P. O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu GENESEE VALLEY: Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-6632; Ralph Carter, 111 Millburn St., Rochester, NY 14607-2918, 716-271-7649, email: ralph.carter@pcusa.org PITTSBURGH: Verna Robinson, 131 Saylong Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15235, 412- 371-2904. LAKE ERIE: Evon Marie McJunkin, 5440 Washington Ave., Erie, PA 16509, 814-864-1920. BALTIMORE: Joan Campbell, 3401 White Ave, Baltimore MD 21214- 2348, 410-254-5908, email: ThomCAM96@aol.com DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Dana vanBever, 3500 Russell Road, Alexandria, VA 22305, 703-683-2644, email: jdvangreen@aol.com; Jeanne MacKenzie, 725 3rd St., SW, Washington, DC 202-554-8281, email: jmackenzie@execware.com EASTERN VIRGINIA: Carol Bayma, 4937 Olive Grove Ln. Virginia Beach, VA 23455-5218, 757-497-6584, email: AliceAndCarol@prodigy.com ATLANTA: Victor Floyd, 2480 Briarcliff Rd., NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, 404-633-6530, RUVic@aol.com NORTHERN OHIO: George Smith, 13349 Spruce Run Dr., Apt. 103, North Royalton, OH 44133, 440-230-1301, email: GeoEMSmith@aol.com; Carole R. Minor, 339 St. Leger Ave. Akron, OH 44305. CENTRAL INDIANA: Howard Warren, Jr. 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-253-2377. DETROIT / SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid, 269 McKinley Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms,MI, 48236, 313-885-9047, email: pointetox@copmpuserve.com MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Dick Myers, 549 West Manor Circle, Bayside, WI 53217- 1735; 414-228-7466, email: dmyers@execpc.com; John Gregg, 1018 South 28th St., Milwaykee, WI 53215-1612, email: jgregg@aero.net McCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENT CHAPTER: Jon Bassinger, 5555 South Woodlawn, Chcicago, IL 60637, email: JBassinger@aol.com CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, HEYWARD/BOSWELL SOCIETY: Marilyn Nash, 5757 South University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, email: mnash100@aol.com LOUISVILLE PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENT CHAPTER: Johanna Bos, 1044 Alta Vista Dr., Louisville, KY 40205, 502-8985- 3411, email: jbos@lpts.edu CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR, 72205, 501-224-4724, email: sgadams@Aristotle.net LOUISIANA: Ellen Morgan, 2285 Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 504-344-3930. OKLAHOMA: John McNeese, P. O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, OK 73154- 1606, 405-848-2819, email: john33@ix.netcom.com GREATER HOUSTON: Lynn Johnson, 1625 Harold, Houston, TX 77006, 713-523-5222, tilj1@aol.com; Sara Jean Jackson, 4383 Fiest Lane, Houston, TX 77004, 713-748-4025, sjackson@netropolis.net; Pat and Gail Rickey, 13114 Houston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 281-440- 0353, patrickey@aol.com GRACE PRESBYTERY (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX): Don Grainger, 4606 Cedar Springs, #1227, Dallas, TX 75219, 214-528-6278, email: harcourtbrace.com; Jean Martin, 1220 Brookside Dr., Hurst,TX 76053, 817-282-7449 OREGON: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330-3904, 541-753-6277, email: hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP State Liaisons This listing is intended for the use of persons wishing to be in touch with local MLP churches, chapters and friends. The persons named for each state stand ready to answer questions about what is going on in their areas and to assist those who wish to join MLP's campaign for a truly inclusive Presbyterian Church by working in their local communities. See also our geographical listing of chapters. ALABAMA: Marianne Forbes, 617 Briarwood Dr., Auburn, AL 36830, 334-502-0650, email: RevM4bz@aol.com; James M. Wilson, 100 Kelly Creek Dr., Odenville, AL 35120, 205-640-1763, email: jmrjmw@mindspring.com ARIZONA: Rosemarie Wallace, 710 W. Los Lagos Vista Ave., Mesa, AZ 85210, 602-892-5255. ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR, 72205, 501- 224-4724, email: sgadams@Aristotle.net CALIFORNIA: Richard A. Sprott, 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610-1908, 510-268-8603, email: sprott @cogsci.berkeley.edu; Tony DeLa Rosa, 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 900402, 213-256-27878, email: tonydlr@ixcom.com; Lisa Larges, 565 Mountain View, #2, Daly City, CA 94014, 650-994-1814, email: LLL@igc.org; Bill Moss, 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, email: WHMoss@aol.com COLORADO: Laurene Lafontaine, 1260 York St. Apt. 106, Denver, CO 80206, 303-388-0628, email: lafden@aol.com CONNECTICUT: John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. DELAWARE: Patrick Evans, 101 West 18th St., Wilmington, DE 19802, email: pevans@UDel.edu; Jeff Krehbiel, 500 W. 8th St., Wilmington, DE, 19801, 302- 656-8362, email:Jeff_Krehbiel.parti@pcusa.org DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Dana vanBever, 3500 Russell Road,Alexandria, VA 22305, 703-683-2644, email: jdvangreen@aol.com FLORIDA: Laurie Kraus, 5275 Sunset Dr., Miami, FL 33143, 305-666- 8586, email: madam@gate.net GEORGIA: Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404- 633-6530 h., email: RuVic@aol.com IDAHO: Jean Mixner, 524 Almond St., Nampa, ID 83686, 208-467- 1326, email: Jmixner@aol.com ILLINOIS: Mark Palermo, 6171 N. Sheridan Rd. #2701, Chicago IL 60660-5839, 773-338-0452; Charles Sweitzer, 809 S. 5th, Champaign, IL 61820, 217-344-0297; Chicago Area: John Hobbs, 2970 N. Lake Shore Dr. #18B, Chicago, IL 60657, john@icnetco.com; Judith Foster, 32B Marento Ave., Forest Park, IL 60130, email: jfoster@kodak.com INDIANA: Howard Warren, Jr. 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46249, 317-253-2377. IOWA: Robin and Rick Chambers, 907 Fifth Ave, Iowa City, IA 52240, 319-254-2765; email: RChamb2912@aol.com; Mike Smith, 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236-7955, email: Michael_D_Smith@ecunet.org KENTUCKY: Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct., Apt. 2, Louisville, KY 40208, 502-637-4734, email: michael_purintun@pcusa.org LOUISIANNA: Ellen Morgan, 2285; Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 504-344-3930. MAINE: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802- 229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com MARYLAND: Joan Campbell, 3401 White Ave, Baltimore MD 21214-2348, 410-254-5908, email: ThomCAM96@aol.com MASSACHUSETTS: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802-229-5438; John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. MICHIGAN: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid, 269 McKinley Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms,MI, 48236, 313-885-9047, email: pointetox@copmpuserve. com MINNESOTA: Tammy Lindahl, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-2191, email: tammy_lindahl@ecunet.org; Dick Lundy & Lucille Goodwyne, 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 612- 470-0093, email: dick_lundy@pcusa.org MISSOURI: Jeff Light, 4433 Campbell, Kansas City, MO 64110, 816- 561-0555, JeffLight@aol.com; Peg & Doug Atkins, 747 N. Taylor, Kirkwood, MO 63122, 314-822-3296, email: peganddoug_atkins@pcusa.org NEBRASKA: Cleve Evans, 3810 S. 13th St., #22, Omaha, NE 68107- 2260, 402-733-1360, email: cevans@scholars.bellevue.edu NEW HAMPSHIRE: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802-229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com NEW JERSEY: Jim Anderson, P. O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ, 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu NEW MEXICO: Linda Manwarren, 7720 Browning Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-5303, 505-858-0249. NEW YORK: Charlie Mitchell, 56 Perry St., #3-R, New York, NY 10014, 212-691-7118; Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-6632. NORTH CAROLINA: Brent Bissette, 11 Colton Ct., Durham, NC 27713- 8885, 919-544-9932. OHIO: Tricia Dykers Koenig, 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Hts. OH 44121, 216-381-0156, email: tricia_dykers_koenig@ecunet.org; Hal Porter, 4160 Paddock Rd.,Cincinnati, OH 45229, 513-861-5996, email: hgporter@hotmail.com OKLAHOMA: John P. McNeese, P.O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, 73120- 1404, 405-848-2819, email: mcneese@theshop.net OREGON: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330-3904, 541-753-6277, email: hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu PENNSYLVANIA: Rob Cummings, P. O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 15133-0394, 724-475-3285, email: robcum@toolcity.net; Eleanor Green (Pittsburgh Area), P.O. Box 6296, Lancaster, PA 17603, 717- 397-9068; David Huting, (Philadelphia Area) 215-735-4139, email:David_Huting@vanguard.com RHODE ISLAND: John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. TENNESSEE: Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217-2152, 615-361-9228, PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: glyndon.morris@vanderbilt.edu TEXAS: Jay Kleine, 1108 Toyath St., Austin, TX 78703-3921, 512- 477-7418; Gail Rickey, 13114 Holston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 713-440-0353, email: patrickey@aol.com; Don Grainger, 4606 Cedar Springs, #1227, Dallas, TX 75219, 214-528-6278, email: harcourtbrace.com VERMONT: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802- 229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com; Ken Wolvington Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401, 802-862-6605, email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org VIRGINIA: Marco Antonio Grimaldo, 2848 Fairhaven Ave., Alexandria, VA 22303, 703-960-0432, email: mgrimaldo@juno.com WASHINGTON: Lindsay Thompson, P.O. Box 2631, Seattle, WA 98111- 2631, 206-285-4610, email: LThomp6394@aol.com; Richard Gibson, 4700 228th St., SW, Mount Lake Terrace, WA 98043, 206-778-7227, email: RKGibson@juno.com WASHINGTON, DC: See District of Columiba. WISCONSIN: Richard Winslow, 111 E. Water St., #100, Appleton, WI 54911-5791, 414-731-0892. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PRESBYTERIAN ALLY ORGANIZATIONS This is a list of other organizations working for a truly inclusive Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Please send me additions and corrections. -- Thanks! Jim Anderson. Covenant Network of Presbyterians CNP is a network of Presbyterians who care about our church and its witness, considering what it means to be faithful Presbyterians in a time of challenging controversy. How can we and our congregations live with the new ordination standard, G- 6.0106b, in our Book of Order and still be faithful to our own understanding of the Gospel. Pam Byers, Exec. Director. Administrative Office: c/o Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2515 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-351-2196, fax 415-351- 2198, www.covenantnetwork.org Hesed (Hebrew: The Covenant of Steadfast Love) Hesed is an informal coalition of PC(USA) ordained and lay church leaders dedicated to the affirmation -- in obedience to Scripture and within the Reformed Tradition and Presbyterian polity -- of the inclusiveness of God's Grace and of the love of Jesus Church for all his followers. Virginia L. Lewis, Moderator/Webmistress, 600-B Hedgewood Dr., Georgetown, TX 78628, 512-863-1802, 512-863-1846 fax, email: lewisv@southwestern.edu, website: http://www.southwestern.edu/lewisv/Hesed/Hesed.html The Lazarus Project "A Ministry of Reconciliation," The Rev. Donn Crail, Director, West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, 7350 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90046. Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) PAN is one of 10 networks of the Presbyterian Health Education & Welfare Association (PHEWA). PHEWA is a related ministry of the National Ministries Division, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). PHEWA provides resources to individuals, congregations, and middle governing bodies in the fields of social welfare and justice ministries. PHEWA also works to make the church more responsive to the needs of the excluded and suffering. Alice Davis and Phil Jamison, co-moderators; Bob Gillespie, treasurer; Marge Marsh, secretary; Daniel Kendrick, at large member to the Executive Committee and PHEWA board; James Hicks, Annie Long, Dora Carrera, Marco Grimaldo, Lorna Jean Miller, Howard Warren, leadership team members. Address: c/o PHEWA, Room 3041, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians Caring for Each Other: A support group for parents. PPGL groups are being established on a nationwide basis. A web site and support telephone line offer help to parents and direction to those interested in organizing a PPGL support group in their specific locale. Identities of parent participants are closely guarded and meeting locations are not publicized. This nonprofit ministry welcomes and now includes parents, grandparents and siblings of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds. There are no dues or membership fees. PPGL is not involved in: political or social activism; professional guidance, counseling or therapy services; HIV/AIDS caregiving ministries; or efforts or ministries to elicit changes in sexual orientation. For more information, interested parents may call PPGL's support line at 972-219-6063, or contact Margaret E. Gurecky, Director, PPGL, Inc., P.O. Box 600882, Dallas, TX 75360-0882, 972-436-5237; Board President: The Rev. Dr. Roger T. Quillin, 214-827-5521. -- PPGL press release, Jan. 1, 1999. Presbyterian Partnership of Conscience (P.P.C.) P.P.C., a partnership project of PLGC, the MLCN, That All May Freely Serve, the Witherspoon Society, Semper Reformanda, Voices of Sophia, the Stole Project, and friends, helps coordinate faithful action and statements of conscience and supports *pro bono* legal counsel in defense of individuals, congregations, and governing bodies targeted for judicial action in the courts of the church. Contact Bear Ride Scott, Coordinator, c/o United University Church, 817 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007, 213- 748-0209 ext. 13, PNet: Bear Scott Presbyterian Welcome "Inclusive Churches Working Together," Cliff Frasier, Coordinator, Jan Hus Church, 351 E. 74th St., New York, NY 10021, 212-288-6743. Semper Reformanda Semper Reformanda (Always Being Reformed) is a network of groups and individuals within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) formed to share information and develop support on current issues of liberation, justice, and the integrity of creation. We are called by God's spirit to renewed commitment to, understanding of, and witnessing for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, open to new expressions of our faith. We welcome those who are committed to compassion, mutual respect, and continuing reformation, moving toward shalom. Kenneth R. Smith, Moderator, 16240 N. Park Dr., #102, Southfield, MI 48075, 248-569-1223; June Ramage Rogers, Vice Moderator, P.O. Box 23, Hanover, IN 47243-0023, 812-866- 3334; John N. Gregg, Secretary/Communicator, 1018 S. 28th St., Milwaukee, WI 53215-1612, 414-385-0311, PNet: John Gregg; Mae Gautier, Treasurer, 4242 Elmwood Rd., Cleveland, OH 44121, 216- 691-9558. That All May Freely Serve (T.A.M.F.S.) T.A.M.F.S. focuses on a national effort to give voice to those disenfranchised by the Church's policies toward ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and to educate others regarding biblical and theological connections supporting full inclusion. Contact the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Lesbian Evangelist, P.O. Box 3707, San Rafael, CA 94912-3707, 415-457- 8004, 454-2564 fax, website: http://www.tamfs.org Send Contributions to: Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614, 716-325-4000, -6023 fax. That All May Freely Serve, Baltimore We are churches and individuals in Baltimore who envision a just and inclusive church in which *all* may freely serve. Our mission is to develop a program of education, reconciliation and advocacy that honors diversity and strives to gain full membership for all Presbyterians regardless of sexual orientation. In 1998/99, we plan to hire a minister of outreach and evangelism to work full time proclaiming our vision and working toward our goals in Baltimore. -- That All May Free Serve: Baltimore, 5828 York Rd., Baltimore, MD, 21212. Voices of Sophia Voices of Sophia is a community of women and men in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that affirms feminist / womanist / mujerista theologies and seeks to be faithful to God's Spirit in our lives. We call the church to reclaim the fullness of God's image, embrace the diversity of the world, work for justice and inclusiveness in church and society, and celebrate the voices and gifts of women. Voices of Sophia sponsors national and regional gatherings, as well as an annual breakfast at General Assembly. Ecumenical partners are invited to join. Membership is $20/year and includes the newsletter *Illuminations*. Contact Voices of Sophia, 223 Choctaw Rd., Louisville, KY 40207. The Witherspoon Society The Witherspoon Society is a society of justice-seeking Presbyterians ... advocating for peace, justice, the integrity of creation, and the full inclusion of all God's people in church and society. The Rev. Dr. Eugene TeSelle, president, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, 615-297-2629 h., 322- 2773 w., PNet: Eugene TeSelle, email: Eugene_TeSelle.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Robb Gwaltney, vice president, 5303 Indian Woods Dr., Louisville, KY 40207-2079, 502-895-2079, PNet: Robb Gwaltney, email: Robb_Gwaltney.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Jean Rodenbough, secretary/communicator, 313 S. Market St., Madison, NC 27025, 910-548-6158 h., PNet: Jean Rodenbough, email: Jean_Rodenbough.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Hank Bremer, treasurer, 4355 Kenyon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066, 310-397-6916 h., 435-1804 w., 495-2223 fax, email: 72066.543@compuserve.com The Rev. Chris Iosso, issues analyst, 191 Revolutionary Rd., Scarborough, NY 10510, 914-944-8070 h., 941-1142 w., PNet: Christian Iosso, email: Christian_Iosso.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Tom Heger, membership coordinator, P.O. Box 1359, Manchaca, TX 78652, 512-282-7586 h., -6200 w., PNet: Tom Heger, email: Tom_Heger.parti@ecunet.org Ray and Betty Kersting, membership secretaries, 305 Loma Arisco, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 505-982-4548, PNet: Ray and Betty Kersting, email: Ray_and_Betty_Kersting.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Doug King, newsletter editor, 7833 Somerset Cir., Woodbury, MN 55125-2334, 612-731-4885 h., PNet: Doug King, email: Don_King.parti@ecunet.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MASTHEAD (Publication Information) MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 19, Number 4, March-April 1999. ISSN 0889-3985. Published bimonthly by More Light Presbyterians (Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns), an organization of Ministers, Elders, Deacons, Members, Congregations and other Governing Bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Elder James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University), fax 732- 932-6916 (Rutgers University), Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu), DeWitt House 206, 185 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Editorial Associate: Lindsay Thompson; Printer: Ken Barta, Brunswick Typographic Inc.; Production Associate: Caridad de las Mercedes Catala. Electronic version available via email. Email Discussion List: mlp-list@scils.rutgers.edu (To join, send email to: Majordomo@scils.rutgers.edu; in body of message put: subscribe mlp-list; to leave list, put: unsubscribe mlp-list. MLP home page: http://www.mlp.org Send materials marked "For publication" to the editor. PUBLICATION DEADLINES: 6 weeks prior to issue months. 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 MLP: $50.00. Annual subscription (included in membership) to MORE LIGHT UPDATE: $18.00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * corrected version 3-7-99