Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 12:50:54 EST From: Louie Crew Subject: FYI, a copy of Voice of Integrity, Summer 93 This is an electronic reproduction of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church. All materials except those reproduced from other sources are copyrighted by Integrity, Inc. You may reproduce all original material herein if you state "Reproduced from the Summer, 1993 issue of The Voice of Integrity, the quarterly publication of Integrity, Inc., the lesbian and gay justice ministry of the Episcopal Church." Material may not appear exactly as published since some changes were made after the document was transferred to desk top publishing format. We encourage you to join Integrity. We encourage non-Episcopalians and non-lesgay persons to join. If you are a lesbian or gay Episcopalian and don't belong to Integrity, you're benefitting from all our work and we hope you'll strongly consider helping us by joining. Individual annual membership $25, Couple's annual membership $40, Low income/student/sr. citizen $10. Please mail check or money order to Integrity, Inc., P.O. Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036-0561. ********** Summer 1993 *The Voice of Integrity* Volume 3, Number 3 Published by Integrity, Inc. P.O. Box 19561 Washington, D.C. 20036-0561 Telephone 718-720-3054 Bruce Garner, President Edgar Kim Byham, Publisher R. Scott Helsel, Editor Contributing Editors: Claudia Windal, Louie Crew, Paul Wooodrum Blair McFadden, Layout Dorothy Gunn, Production Editorial Office: 201-868-2485 PO Box 5202; NYC, NY 10185 Member Episcopal Communicators Associate Member Gay & Lesbian Press Association Copyright 1993 ******************** *TABLE OF CONTENTS* *March on Washington* Pilgrim Lutibelle's Report An Abiding Place Religious Leaders Support March Journey Folk All Things New The Wedding Celebrating Life EURRR's Cannons Flaming Again Former Integrity Chaplain Elected First Female Diocesan Judge Dismisses $4 Million Lawsuit in Virginia I Was in Prison and You Came to Me *Book Reviews* Nothing New: "New Millennium, New Church" New Prayers For Old Occasions: "Daring to Speak Love's Name" Chapter Updates Disciples' Candidate Supportive Claudia's Column Joshua's Baptism Pushes the Boundaries of the Family of God *Lesgays in the Military* The Beat Goes On A Retired Chaplain on Gays in the Military The Presiding Bishop Supports an End to the Military Ban UCC Leader Testifies for End of Military Ban PB Writes to Armed Forces Chaplains An Exchange of Pleasantries East Tennessee Symposium to Explore Search for Structural Reform of the Episcopal Church Much Fuss Down Under: First "Openly" Gay Ordinand in Australian Church Quits Topeka Parish Gay Bashed Commission on AIDS/HIV Surveying Church's Ministries EURRR Opposes Minnesota Bishop-Elect New Dallas Bishop Says He's Open, We'll See Suffragan Bishop-Elect in Virginia Accused of Sexual Misconduct A Not Very Pastoral Letter British Bishop Admits Charges, Resigns Homophobia Doesn't Just Hurt Gay People - Part II: Straight Integrity Member Fired for Supporting Equality Bishop Plummer Charged With Sexual Misconduct: The Church and the Media React God's Vulnerability in Our Sexual Choices Songs for One of Our Unsung Heroes, Helping Ohio Sing a New Song Should Integrity Change How it Addresses the Clergy? Integrity Plays A Major role in Colorado Losing 1997 General Convention Lesbian Prof Dismissed by General Seminary President's Column Should We Support the ESA? ******************** *EPISCOPAL COMMUNICATORS* This Publication Honored by Episcopal Communicators At its annual convention, held in New Orleans June 9-12, 1993, "The Voice of Integrity" received Polly Bond Awards and honorable mention recognition for several articles in 1992. Integrity's entries compete in the Magazine division, Agency Level, a group which includes "The Witness" and "The Living Church." Reader Response: Award of Excellence "Comments on the Bishops' 'Issues in Human Sexuality'" .LM 16 Authors: Louie Crew, Guy R. Foster, John M. Gessell, Larkette Lein, David Lochman, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, Peter C. Moore, Tim Vivian, David White .LM 11 Summer 1992 issue Headline: Award of Merit "Art Imitates Episcopal Life" Author: Kim Byham Fall 1992 issue Editorial: Honorable Mention "PB Hopelessly Heterosexist" Author: L. Paul Woodrum Fall 1992 issue News Story: Honorable Mention "`France's Troy Perry' Murdered, Police Implicated" Author: Kim Byham Spring 1992 issue Theological Reflection: Honorable Mention "Some Instructive Parallels" Author: Warner Traynham Winter 1992 issue Devotional/Inspirational: Honorable Mention "Kicking, Screaming, Limping: Being the Church in the World" Author: Louie Crew Spring 1992 issue ******************** MEMBERSHIP FORM *INTEGRITY, INC.* P.O. Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036 I want to share in Integrity's work for justice for lesbians and gay men. Please enter my membership as checked below and begin my subscription to "The Voice of Integrity." [ ] Individual annual membership $25 [ ] Couple annual membership $40 [ ] Low income/student/sr. citizen $10 Mr./Ms/Miss Mrs./Rev./Dr. __________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________ City _________________________ State ___________________ Phone ________________________ Zip _____________________ Please mail with your check or money order to: INTEGRITY, INC., PO Box 19561, Washington, DC 20036-0561. All contributions tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. ******************** *MARCH ON WASHINGTON* Pilgrim Lutibelle's Report by Louie Crew We were early enough Friday evening to park in St. Thomas's small lot, since David Allen White, our host, needed to arrive to multiply the loaves and fishes. Ernest and I walked to Dupont Circle, where I had come so many weekends, 1962-65, for long meditations and droolings that led me to flee to England and embrace my identity. I always remember Dupont Circle as at least four times larger than it actually is, rather the way I remember neighborhood gullies that I learned to jump when 8 or 9. "I feel like I'm back in Hong Kong," Ernest said, responding to the thickness of the crowd. It swelled even more as we walked up Mass. Ave., towards Lambda Rising and the March Office. Police limited the crowds allowed in Lambda Rising, and 5 or 6 separate lines of people, each a block long, waited to enter the book store. What revolution has ever been this much about the right to read!? A small crowd had already gathered outside St. Thomas's when we returned. A much larger crowd had grown inside. I gave up waiting in line to sign the guest book, lest I not get a seat in the service. Ushers brought in more and more chairs. The small Washington chapter wore itself to a frazzle feasting and libating all the pilgrims afterwards. At 10:30 on Saturday morning we rushed by cab to Mt. St. Alban. Ernest explored the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul for his first time. I slipped into the small chapel in the Bishops House, where four of us kept simultaneous vigil with similar small groups in cathedrals all over the United States protesting with prayers the consecration of Bishop Iker occurring at the same time in Fort Worth. Every chapel window depicted female Christians from all times. As part of my own meditation, I reMEMBERed every woman who had shaped me in my childhood, writing down long lists of names to make them members of me again, including my blood family, my surrogate black family, my teachers, the women in the neighborhood, Dorothy Potter whom I played dolls with, Emily Cater whom I played "naked" with, until her mother, Irene, came like God into the garden, and we covered ourselves with draperies as we stood in the bay windows, and I was spanked severely and forbidden to go to the puppet show.... "Justice, Justice, Shalt Thou Pursue" was the theme of the Interfaith Service at the Church of the Epiphany on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Several hundred pilgrims packed in to hear Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Episcopal priest Ted Karpf preach poignantly to this theme. [See Father Karpf's sermon on page 7.] Ted subtly reversed the Sodom story to address the question of our numbers. No one at this service -- designed months ago by all the lesbigay religious groups in our capital for all MOW pilgrims -- was able to attend a competing service, beginning at 4, long before this service was over, at the National Cathedral. Contrary to all its public announcements, the service at the National Cathedral was explicitly gay. The dean of the cathedral did greet the crowd with specific reference to lesbigay pilgrims. By all accounts of those there, the service was absolutely splendid and in the best traditions we all expect of our national cathedral. But why did the National Cathedral organize and publicize an event in direct competition with an ecumenical service of all lesbigay religious groups? Why did it make not one bit of effort to contact any of those religious groups to invite them to attend? Why did it get specific about its gay connection only when the audience arrived? On Sunday, I had been standing with Integrity in the thick crowd on the mall near the Washington monument for about four hours waiting for a space to clear for our group to enter the narrow stream of marchers going down Pennsylvania Avenue. The crowds were so large that at our position we could see no movement until long after the first marchers had reached the end of Pennsylvania Avenue and re-entered the mall at the other end. I was weary. My legs were swelling. I decided to risk lying down. While there was space enough, I was not sure that anyone moving about would see me, nor that I could get back up, given where Mr. K. Knee Stone had kicked me in the back. I lay there for half an hour or so, vaguely listening to the loud speakers of the performers and speakers on the platform two of three blocks away. The march, I realized, was not about getting somewhere, but about presence, about being there, about being present together. We marched but followed no one. In fact, we might just as well not have "marched," given the difficulty of movement, but might more expeditiously have just sat on the mall all day long. We had arrived en mass in our Capital. Any other movement was mere choreography. Celebrities dropped in and out occasionally, but never controlled us. No one completely rapt the throngs. (T-shirts might dispute that claim!) Jesse Jackson preached at one point, and some of us responded to his litany, "Keep hope alive" and "I'm somebody." I was glad that he was there, glad that he and other national leaders were not deaf to the pain and suffering of those whom our institutions defined as the least of these their sisters and brothers; but for much of even Jackson's speech, my attention rambled, as did that of many others present. Earlier Phil Donohue got more response to his litany, "Get over it!" How ironic that a talk show host has won major moral authority in our time, but why should I be surprised: the House of Bishop has dialogued itself into irrelevance; Churches can't even decide whether to be churches; arts consumers can't even decide whether the massive death of artists should even be noticed. Why should I be surprised if God uses the very stones to cry out? At one point I fetched Bishop Otis Charles (formerly Bishop of Utah, now Dean of Episcopal Divinity School) from the EDS/Harvard Divinity contingent and brought him like a prize to the Integrity area. Predictably, his episcopal shirt set up a murmur of "Who's that bishop?" and some eased over to meet him. For a brief moment when we did begin to move, Bishop Jane Dixon appeared, almost like an apparition, shook about 10 sets of palms, and disappeared. Mainly we pilgrims seemed a leaderless crowd, and that seemed good. So many hundreds of thousands of persons together, with folks vying to lead us, or merely to get our attention. It seemed to me we did quite well without a leader. Perhaps someone needed to be on a platform to feed the media, but for the most part, people about me seemed to feed on our massive presence itself, in all our glorious diversity. Several Episcopal Bishops showed up the 1963 March on Washington. Only two showed up for our much larger march in 1993. That's part of the problem! Thank God for Bishop Jane and for Bishop Otis Charles! I wish Bishop Ron could have been there with his gay son, whom he affirms, but Mary, his wife, is still trying to get the young man "regenerated" as straight. Pray for them. For me, the main moment of the weekend was a personal one. While I lay on the grass I realized that my spouse had sat down next to me. I was on my back with my eyes closed, my knees elevated to improve circulation. He rested himself by leaning on my right leg, for a very long time. I began to be uncomfortable with the pressure of his weight, and realized I was crying, but I struggled to give no indication whatever of my discomfort, lest he stop resting on my knee, because I realized for for the first time in two decades of married life we were in a space where such simple public affection called no attention to itself, in a space where no one needed to monitor or take note of our simply touching, and quite beyond the discomfort, I wanted the joy of this simple touch to last forever and to be available to everyone in the whole wide world. ******************** *AN ABIDING PLACE* A Sermon by the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon, Suffragan Bishop of Washington, at the Integrity/Washington Eucharist, April 23, 1993 It is a privilege for me to be here with you this night. When Michael Hopkins called me some months ago and invited me to be the celebrant at this Eucharist, I had to do what we do when we think about what is the thing we should do. I'm in a new position, as you well know, with all my fine garb. Statements that I make and places that I go and pictures that are taken are seen in a different way, and there's a part of that that I hate. I hate it that I had to think about whether I would come here tonight. I have celebrated for Integrity before, in this very nave, and I thought, what a state to which I have been elevated! But I work for a wonderful man -- a man whom I admire more than I can ever tell you, or I would never have let my name be put forward last year when we elected a suffragan. And I went into him and I said, "Bishop, do you have any problems with my going to celebrate for Integrity the weekend of the Great March?" He said, "It's a celebration for Integrity, isn't it?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do you celebrate there?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Then, what's the question?" I want you to know that, because there are times that he and I will make you angry and you will feel left out. Whatever you think about me, I want you to think the best of him because he's a brave and courageous man. I also was a little stunned when I read the lessons that are appointed for human dignity and rights that had been chosen for tonight's lessons. When I saw that when Michael sent me the service of liturgy, I thought, well, we're really going to get into justice big-time tonight! And there was that astonishing letter where John begins with "God is love" and then in Matthew's gospel where those two commandments on which all the law and the prophets rest, and there are only two that our Lord, Jesus Christ says, that we love God and that we love our neighbors as ourselves. And so we gather here tonight to talk about what it means to love when we don't feel very loved in this world. It was exciting driving down here tonight. The streets are full of people! And a rather extraordinary experience took place just before I got here. I was invited to tea at the Rector's home, the Rectory. As we were sitting there we thought, was this a new beginning for the church of God? There we sat in Jim's Holmes' rectory -- a woman bishop and an openly gay priest -- thank God! And his loving partner was with us and I have to tell you as we walked back to the church and we heard the music over at Dupont Circle, Tim and I were a little tempted to make a stop over there. But Jim said we had to be here so we came over. I want to talk about loving tonight. Because you and I can go out of this place and we can be so filled with bitterness and so filled with feeling oppressed that we will not do what God would have us to do. For there are goings-on in the church down in Texas this weekend that break my heart as well. And I had to struggle as to whether I would be there or not, and I have let women down by not being there. So I ask you to pray for those in that diocese, and for the men and women who are part of that world, and for the oppression that they feel, and for those who are even more oppressed who will not ordain women. You and I are called to tell the world about another way of being and it's very appropriate that this Great March is taking place in Eastertide, because you and I are Easter people. We always believe that God is doing a new thing and that no matter what humankind can do, God can always overcome it. In the epistle for tonight there is a word John uses frequently. It is the word "abide" and that word comes from the Hebrew word which means "to tabernacle together." And so as you've gathered here tonight and you have given me the privilege of gathering with you, we've come to make that safe place, that tent of meeting, that place of abiding, where we can come to be refreshed and restored and healed and sent out into the world. We need gatherings like this because sometimes the world seems overwhelming and it's very appropriate that people have come into this town this weekend to say to the world, there are many of us who care, straight and gay, for the dignity and worth of every human being. But it is important that we find those places, those abiding places where we can come for strength and solace and courage. Because the message, of course, is about loving, it is about loving those that we do not want to love. For if we go out of here tonight only thinking about ourselves and the things that have been inflicted upon us, we will not be doing what God has commanded us to do. God has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourself. And we know, when the lawyer asked Jesus who our neighbor was, we got the story of the Samaritan. But the neighbor for me is that one I really don't want to love, and there are lots of those out there. But if I hear these words and understand them, as I know God has intended for me to understand, it means that I am to love those who are the least lovable, those who say things to me that are hurtful, because God has called me to show the world another way. And I need that abiding place, that tabernacling together with people where I feel safe and I feel loved so that I can go into a world that often I feel does not love me. I am grateful that these are the lessons for tonight for it would be very easy for us to be here talking about our sorrows and the oppression that you have felt in ways that I will never know. And there are those among you who are people of color who have felt oppression in ways that those of us who are white will never know. And it is also important that this Holocaust new museum has been opened here in Washington this week to remind us what hatred can do. People who are oppressed are not free from hatred. And so that is a great reminder to me that hatred withers my soul and makes me bitter and stingy and mean, and we know what happens to people when we become that way. So I challenge you tonight as I challenge myself, as we hear the words that were read to us in the lessons from Holy Scripture, to love God and know that God loves you and me. It is because God loves us and deems us worthy that you and I are to go out in the world and love others. The passage from Isaiah tells us what we are to be -- a light to enlighten the nations. And so we have a responsibility, we have a duty as Jim was saying to me before we came tonight. We have a duty -- we have a duty to show the world another way. I pray for you as you are here this weekend, that you connect with those that maybe you've not seen for a long time, and that that abiding place which is begun here will go with you out into the world, and you will feel that kind of love of God and neighbor that will give you the courage to do the things that you were called upon to do, for the struggle is just beginning. Being here with you tonight gives me courage. I have been in a really bad mood all week. I have felt oppressed. Excuse me, gentlemen, I have had men put me down the last three days, and I've had to smile and be nice and keep on going. And I'm sorta sick of it. But I needed to hear those lessons. I needed to hear that God loves me no matter what I do. And because God loves me, then it is my privilege to serve my God and to love those who seem most unlovable to me. God bless you all. Thank you once again for the privilege of being the president of this Eucharist, and God be with you as you go out into this world to make a difference in the quality of life for all human beings. In the name of God who creates us, liberates us, and who sanctifies us. Amen. ******************** *RELIGIOUS LEADERS SUPPORT MARCH* Representatives of several national religious communities announced their support for the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation. Endorsement were announced at a March 17 press conference organized by the United Church of Christ, which ended the Interfaith IMPACT Annual Legislative Briefing, a national gathering of people of faith for justice and peace held in Washington, DC. The Episcopal Church did not endorse the march. Rabbi Lynne F. Landsberg of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations discussed the need for religious people everywhere to fight discrimination against lesbians and gays. "We are here today to say, loudly and clearly, that the real traditional values of American life -- if not always of American history -- are those of freedom, liberty and equality." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joined in these statements of support, with Kay Dowhower saying, "The ELCA has committed itself to participate in God's mission by 'advocating dignity and justice for all people' ... which commits the church to the civil rights of homosexuals ... The ELCA continues its support of the Civil Rights Amendments Act for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights. We urge swift passage of this legislation. We look upon the upcoming March on Washington as one way in which those supportive of the civil rights for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, can join together to support one another in that effort." Robert F. Glover of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) agreed, saying, "The church stands firm today in its support for civil rights and in its solidarity with those who have too long endured the burden of fear, ignorance, hatred and violence ... We strongly support the April 25th March on Washington ... in the hope that the day will soon come when all Americans will enjoy equally the rights of their citizenship." Robert A. Alpern, director of the Washington office of the Unitarian Universalist Association, spoke of the long history of many religious groups in support of gay and lesbian rights, saying, "After passage of the anti-civil rights initiative in Colorado, the Unitarian Universalist's General Assembly Planning Committee withdrew its reservation for the $3 million 1997 General Assembly in Colorado. And our Beacon Press mailed copies of a newly published book "Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price" to 150 public libraries in Colorado. So it is in this spirit ... that we have for months urged Unitarian Universalists from across the continent to come to Washington and join this historic manifestation to reverse the cruel discrimination practiced against 25 million or more of our relatives, friends and others we do not know." ******************** *JOURNEY FOLK* by Donald Snyder Ubi sunt gaudia, In any place but there? There are angels singing Nova cantica, And there the bells are ringing, in Regis curia, O that we were there! This stanza from "In Dulci Jubio," especially the line, 'O that we were there!' kept flowing through my mind as the various events surrounding the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation began to unfold. I knew the special importance of this event, as did everyone in the gay and lesbian community. Even so, it soon became apparent that others saw the event's importance as well. The mainstream media, such as The New York Times, NBC, and National Public Radio, did a number of stories on gay and lesbian issues and used the march as a way to introduce them. I couldn't help but feel some support from these articles and stories, as the momentum in my own mind began to build. The significance of the march was in evidence as Allen Lowe, my close friend and traveling companion, and I began our journey toward Washington on Friday morning. As we drove on I-95 we came upon two women from New Hampshire with the hand-made sign, "Honk If You're Queer," in their back window and four men in a rental car from New York with a large lavender triangle in the rear window. No guessing was needed as to their destination. Even the four people from New Jersey with the Rand-McNally Street Map for Washington in their side window subtly stated their weekend location. At a well reviewed restaurant in Philadelphia, our sense of anticipation continued. Our server shared stories about people she knew who were going, and the bartender told of his plans to leave on Saturday. Upon arrival in the Dupont Circle area, I had the impression that the nation's capital had been transformed into a gay and lesbian small town. People walking to their destinations and visiting with strangers proved that given half a chance, we don't have to maintain the icy veneer that is often present in gay and lesbian bars. There was a family reunion feeling as Integrity members and friends began to gather at St. Thomas Church. As the service began and we sang the hymns, the standing-room-only congregation exuded more spirit and verve than the acoustics and architecture of the church could contain. It was so inspiring to hear the epistle reader for the evening share her heartfelt thoughts about having been alienated by the Southern Baptist Church several years earlier, and how she had found a special sense of reconnection with organized religion through Washington's Integrity chapter. As a musician, I found a special warmth in hearing "Es flog ein kleine Waldvogelsin," "Noel nouvelet," and "Land of Rest," three of my favorite hymn tunes. Jane Holmes Dixon, Washington's new Suffragan Bishop, spoke so thoughtfully of the ease with which she happily accepted the invitation to be our preacher and celebrant. The Washingtonians outdid themselves, providing a sumptuous buffet for all in attendance. Talk about feeding the five thousand! As we dined, we had more of an opportunity to greet old friends and make new ones. Dupont Circle was presenting its own spring flower show as the last of the cherry blossoms and tulips as large as my cupped hand were in great evidence. The Circle proved to be an impromptu "meet and greet" for many people, including me. It was hard to believe that I would have to go to Washington to see friends and associates who were fellow New Yorkers. My sense of anticipation was as bright as the early sun as Sunday morning arrived. Even though an estimated one million of us were in the District of Columbia area, Washington was quiet at the 7 o'clock hour as I drove from the home of our host family in suburban Maryland to downtown for the Integrity gathering at St. John's, Lafayette Square. Several of us, bleary-eyed, met for the 8:00 Eucharist. Even though our contingent swelled the number in attendance to nearly one hundred from its usual half dozen or so, no mention of the march or our presence was made during the intercessions or announcements. Only the slightest, if veiled, referenced could be detected during the brief homily. My firm disappointment was tempered with a sense of satisfaction in knowing that we, subtly but assuredly, made our presence known. It seems like a bit of a coup, knowing that we had accomplished this in the "Church of Presidents," and done so in a very positive way. Music helped redeem the service, as the organist played Vaughan Williams' "Variations on 'Rhosymedre,'" another one of my favorites. As I moved the car and rode the Metro back to the Mall, I thought of others who weren't going to be in our number that day. There was a renewed sense of loss and grief for those who had died of AIDS or as a result of anti-gay hate and violence. There was dismay and even some anger for those who wouldn't have considered coming, since being homosexual is not a real issue or even "discussed in polite company." I knew, however, I could take a sense of pride in representing those who, because of distance, finances, career, or other legitimate reasons, couldn't be there. A sea of humanity was making its way toward the Mall by late morning. T-shirts seemed to be the uniform of choice for most marchers. The official march shirts proliferated. Of the others, my favorite was the one which said, "One Percent is a Fairy Tale." Those of us in the Integrity contingent began to gather at the appointed place with the other religious groups. The only weather worry was that of sunburn. There seemed to be a sense of relief more than anything else, when we were finally led to the street to join the march. We had a good number of chapters represented in our gathering by them, as Bishop Dixon came to greet us at the edge of the Mall. We had visible support from those in the straight community as well. Together the one million of us in attendance had the opportunity, even the duty, to sign our names to the petitions provided by the march organizers. This way we could prove the National Park Service wrong with its woeful under count. It was gratifying to be in the majority as we passed in front of the Treasury Building and were confronted by those from the so called "religious right." Their attempts at swaying opinions were easily rebuffed by our refrain, "We're here! We're queer! We're Anglican! Get used to it!" Militant as it sounded, those statements seemed to sum up the sentiment for all of us. With another passenger in the car we departed Washington, spending time recounting various aspects of our weekend as we drove north. I counted no less than twenty-six autos with fellow "journey folk" on their respective homeward treks. As I reflected upon the impact of the march and its related events, I found that the words 'O that we were there!' were transformed into the affirmation, 'Oh, yes, we *were* there!' ******************** *ALL THINGS NEW* A sermon preached by the Rev. Ted Karpf on April 24, 1993 at the Church of the Epiphany for the service organized by the Washington Area Gay and Lesbian Interfaith Alliance in observance of the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation. We're here! We're gathered to witness to the hope and fear, the joy and trauma of being lesbian and gay, transgender and bisexual in America. By these days in the nation's capital we are challenged to take our vision back to our communities to begin or continue and invigorate our movement for equal rights across America. As people of faith, we hold the conviction that no change happens apart from the presence of God. The very content of justice is based on a holy vision of God's ultimate victory over all that reduces and destroys life. Such a vision informs us in the words of Isaiah: Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. The Prophet continues, Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. This vision is dramatic. For it suggests a new order built out of the old -- a renewal, if you will, of what has been transformed to what can be. We gather here with no less dramatic and compelling determination. And what are some of our visions? They include tragedy and trauma, outrage and revolution, and hope and wholeness. At the heart of this visioning of what we have endured, what we are demonstrating, and of that for which we yearn is the Shalom -- peace -- envisaged by Isaiah when the whole of creation comes to terms with itself in peace. This hope is as old as humanity. But for bisexual and transgender, gay and lesbian people our peace is found in obtaining basic equal rights that we may join in the struggle for meaning and value with all other human beings. Gandhi is reputed to have said, "It would be a sin if God were to appear before a hungry man in any other form but a loaf of bread." For our community -- for we who have settled too often for the half a loaf that wasn't always better than none -- for God to come before us in any form but the full -- and fulfilling -- loaf of equal rights to enter the struggle for wholeness is a sin. For us to be at peace requires not only faith, which enables to us to rise above the terror, but the basic human rights to participate in the struggle toward meaning with all humanity. This expectation -- no, this demand -- of ours is consistent with God's promise that creation will be at peace with itself. We have reached a time where our critical mass in society is being felt. We have reached a time when the powers and principalities of this age can no longer ignore our presence, try though they may. There are simply too many of us, though some surveys say we are not enough. To that I say, if there are ten of us and we are deprived of our rights to give and be given in relationships and to enjoy the blessing of children, then there are too many of us to deny. If there are only five of us, and we are told that we cannot enter the struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then there are too many of us to ignore. And if there is just one of us, and even this one cannot be allowed to just be, then there are too many of us who are oppressed. And for just this one, we -- all of us -- must engage in the struggle for human rights. There is an old Sufi legend told by Shams of Tabriz about himself. It talks about the meaning of being different, which is at the core of our struggle: how others can live with the differences which our lives present in the arena of the human struggle. The story goes like this: I have been considered a misfit since my childhood. No one seemed to understand me. My own father once said to me, "You are not mad enough to be put into a madhouse, and not withdrawn enough to be put in a monastery. I don't know what to do with you." I replied, "A duck's egg was once put under a hen. When the egg was hatched the duckling walked about with the mother hen until they came to a pond. The duckling went straight into the water. The hen stayed clucking anxiously on land. Now, dear father, I have walked into the ocean and find in it my home. You can hardly blame me if you choose to stay on the shore." How many of us have lived through this story? All of us in some way or other, I expect. This is our reason to celebrate: we have entered the ocean and have not drowned! We celebrate the fact that we are here today together. And what of the times in which we live? What have they taught us to celebrate? We are celebrating the triumph of making the break and entering the ocean. We are celebrating the triumph of passion become compassion as lesbian sisters and gay brothers demonstrate unremitting love in caring for those of us dying with AIDS. We are celebrating the witness of our community in making itself felt and heard in politics of the nation. We are celebrating the commitment in love of bisexual and transgender, lesbian and gay parents who have managed to keep and raise their children and grandchildren in the face of overwhelming and painful opposition. Thus, we are celebrating our determination not to drown, but to swim. Some wi}l say that we are celebrating the limitations of those who stay on the shore, but that is not true; would that the whole world be ducks! But what gift can we ducks give to the world as we celebrate this weekend? What can endure? We come to live as different. To a large extent as a community we shy from our calling to be different. Years ago, Don Clark, in "Loving Someone Gay," said, If you're going to be gay, you might as well be different! Even in the late seventies, ten years after Stonewall, many gay commentators were beginning to identify an emerging conformity to behavior, style, language, attitudes, and beliefs. But everything in the gay/lesbian, bi and transgender subculture says no matter how hard we try to look like everybody, we don't. We can't pass and we shouldn't try. Remember: *If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck then no matter how it looks, it must be a duck.* Or so the story goes. I see a dangerous desire on the part of many us to be like everyone else. But if we who exist in the reality of exile must become like our oppressors to get along -- to "pass" -- then we dare not try to be anyone but who we were created to be. For the God-given gift is that equal rights include the right to be different. Isaiah gives us a clue in describing the New Creation: The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. It is not just a matter of differences existing side by side: it is the promise that the predatory nature of creation -- the enmity and the need to consume each other -- will be removed from the order. What this vision says is that we shall exist side by side with all people. Color will be real, but not divisive. Sexual orientation will be real, but not fear inducing. Differences will be celebrated not abhorred. For central to the spirit of gaiety is the spirit of difference -- of constantly being made new and different. How then shall we live? In this week of the dedication of the Holocaust Museum there is a message for us in the screams, the whispers, the cries of the captives. Several years ago I was given the horrific gift of visiting two of the concentration camps of the holocaust -- Dachau and Terezin. Dachau, you may recall, was the place in Germany were those residing in the town -- just outside the camp walls -- denied any knowledge of the thousands upon thousand who were killed and cremated inside the walls. Orderly, systematic and carefully planned, Dachau was the prototype for the Final Solution. Strangely, because conformity was demanded and enforced, there was no record of resistance in this systematized, planned, hygienic industrial setting. Thousands died and thousands more denied. And in that place there is a prevailing sense of hopelessness and despair. Dachau is a monument to death and destruction and human cruelty -- systematized, planned, conformist, in every way. And then there is Terezin. There is the medieval fortress and prison, and the village. This was the village where the children were sent and from which we have the record of their art and letters about the camps. The prison and concentration camp are eerie in that the original bunks, signs, window covering, bowls and spoons remain on the tables where they were on the day of liberation. The wind blows softly through the camp, which feels as if its inhabitants had just left. This camp -- which saw the execution of 35,000 through disease, overwork, and firing squads -- is a monument to the constant resistance of humanity to conform. For in this camp, uprisings and escapes occurred regularly and often. The Nazis could not control the prisoners, so prisoners were regularly executed before all of the camp's inmates to reinforce fear and create order. It failed. So it had to be repeated often. As I stood touching the bullet holes in the wall where these executions took place, I surprisingly felt hope. The unconquerable will of the human spirit to survive pulsed through me. Even in a world of limited choices and few options, we still can choose to be different ... to not submit to those who would break us, and beat us, and even kill us. I have had the same experience again and again when ministering at the bedside of those dying with AIDS; in the life-giving, death-defying pangs of childbirth of lesbian mothers; in counseling adolescents struggling mightily with questions about their sexuality; and at the altar of the church where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have come to offer again their lives to God -- and to each other -- as people of faith. How do we live? We live by faith that the vision of Isaiah will come to pass and that we are part of that vision. We live by celebrating the differences and embracing the vast array of our choices. We live by drawing strength from the witness of our compassion, and by the power of our passion. We live by respecting the dignity -- and the differences -- of every human being. We live by coming together in peace, to seek peace and wholeness in a world which doesn't really know what that looks like. We live by trust, by faith, by courage, and by hope. That's how we live. May the God of each of us, of our calling, be with us and upon us all-ways in our search for a new heaven and a new earth. Amen. ******************** *THE WEDDING* by Kim Byham Scott had a good excuse for not attending "The Wedding" on Saturday morning. He had arrived on a red-eye train from New York at 8:00 am and was at our motel asleep when several thousand people gathered in front of the IRS building. We had had the Rev. Troy Perry, founder and moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches and chief officiant at the event, for dinner at our home only a couple of weeks before. We had discussed the ceremony and I decided to let my journalistic curiosity overcome my Anglican disdain. It was marvelous. Despite the name, it made no pretense of being a wedding service or even a blessing of union. It was, instead, a wonderful rally in support of couple-rights. That's why it was held in front of the IRS building -- where better to protest the inequality of lesgay and straight couples. The highlight was the introduction of America's most famous lesbian couple: Karen Thompson and Sharon Kowalski. Thompson announced that she was that month taking Kowalski home from the nursing facility where she has been for many years following the car accident that left her paralyzed. Thompson's successful custody battle with Kowalski's parents is a landmark in lesgay couple rights. Introduced as the oldest lesbian couple were a delightful, though anachronistic couple from Florida. Bobby Smith, 69, and her life partner of 33 years, Kay Thompson, also 69, dressed in "masculine" and "feminine" garb, respectively. The longest-term gay couple had been together 46 years. Jim Busby and Dusty Keyes of Arlington, VA had been brought together by a federal government roommate service. A number of religious "dignitaries" were briefly introduced. They included the Rev. Karen Murphy, Assistant Rector at Grace Church, Madison, NJ, "representing that part of the Episcopal Church that affirms lesbian and gay unions." After a brief exchange of expressions of love and the statement, "We proclaim together our rights as couples," Perry said, "Couples, you may kiss." At that point, the Wedding March was played and rice filled the air. The schmaltzy ending did not detract from a significant event, the symbolism of which was largely lost on the straight media. ******************** *CELEBRATING LIFE* by Bruce Garner Well, by now, we have all learned that the National Park Service can't count. (They give the rest of us federal employees a bad name - if they worked for me, they would either be in a math class or looking for a job!) Empowered is the word I think best describes being in Washington along with over a million of us homosexual types. There is nothing that can ever compare with being among your own people, knowing that it is your time to be, and to be who you were created to be, without shame, without hesitation, without fear. It was indeed our time, and I hope it was the beginning of the end to our oppression. (I ain't that naive, children - but I *can* hope, can't I?!) The Eucharist on Friday night was incredible. St. Thomas was filled to capacity. The responses of the congregation shook the building. The singing almost overpowered the organ. Bishop Dixon inspired us with a homily about love and with her obvious love and compassion for us. And as usual, our DC chapter put on an impressive spread during the reception. It was a welcomed reunion for so many of us, seeing folks we hadn't seen in quite a while. Sunday morning at St. John's Lafayette Square was special too. It was appropriate that we begin the day in the house of God, fed from God's table. I doubt the 8:00 am service had seen quite so many folks in many a day. We were acknowledged, though safely and subtly. A bit of reality was reintroduced to us in the realization that, even in that place, on that particular Sunday, some of us still cannot live our lives as they were created to be lived. We all must remember that reality. The rainbow of our family was quite impressive. We looked just like who we are: ordinary, average looking, American citizens. Our folks included the same variations in color, appearance, dress, and attitude that we find in the American public at large, despite how much so many would like to deny that truth. We really are not all that different - at least in appearance. I visited back and forth between our Integrity contingent with the religious organizations and the extremely large (rumor had it to be the third largest) Georgia delegation. (We had to make up for producing the likes of Sam Nunn!) If we really are only 1%, there weren't many queers anywhere else but DC that weekend. One of the most moving and empowering moments for me was looking up and seeing Integrity's banners with their cross-topped standards, some wrapped in palm branches, processing forward with the movement of the march. In front of us were other religious symbols such as the orthodox processional crosses. I saw it all again in a picture and realized how powerful that sight really was. God was there. God was marching with us. The symbols of God's demonstration of love for us all led the way. While this was a indeed a civil rights demonstration, it was also a glorious celebration of life. We celebrated who we are and did so in the bright light of day - no hiding in the darkness, no cowering in corners - but out in sight of God and everybody. And there we were. All over the Mall (and we weren't shopping - well maybe we were at that!). There was the Quilt - a powerful reminder still of what homophobia can produce when disease is linked to prejudice. There were the entertainers and speech makers. There were folks so angry that they made no sense. There were others who spoke from a peace that comes from making progress, however slowly, and understanding that the road is still rocky and steep, but we must plod along if we are to reach our destination. There were those who touched us with humor - the one salve we have for the pain that sometimes results from our being who we are. It was good. I hope someday we can go to DC for the sole purpose of celebrating who we are, no political agenda's, no need for demonstrations to get our rights, just to celebrate. Until then, we must continue to struggle to obtain our birthright. With the help and grace of God, I believe we will finally take our place at the table. I pray I am alive to see it. ******************** *EURRR's Cannons Flaming Again* The sexuality dialogues in most parishes are now complete. The process was extremely biased, and many participants felt that the conclusions were preordained. Although less than 1% of our Church's membership participated in the dialogues, their opinions will be proclaimed as representative of the entire Church. Now the homosexual lobby is preparing yet another attack. Please, read this letter carefully ... April 22, 1993 Dear Friend, The homosexual lobby is on the march against the Episcopal Church ... and the next stop may be a courtroom where "homosexual rights" replace biblical teaching on morality. The defendants: your parish priest and your vestry. How can this be happening? Here's how. The homosexual lobby in our Church is copying a strategy that's being used successfully on the national political level. Their agenda for the 1994 General Convention calls for: 1. Passage of a non-discrimination cannon [sic]. 2. Access to ordination without regard for sexual orientation. 3. An authorized liturgy for the blessing of same-sex unions. The path leading to approval of the homosexual agenda has been carefully plotted by both the homosexual lobby, which ironically calls itself "Integrity," and by many within our own Church leadership. *We need your help now to counter their efforts.* We can only stop them if we act now ... and that's why I'm asking for your help today. *No matter how painful, we must face the truth. Our Church is feeling the impact of the gay agenda.* Bishops and priests violate the expressed position of the Church by performing ordinations of practicing homosexuals and blessing homosexual "unions." HOW CAN WE BE SILENT? This is a battle for the very soul of the Episcopal Church. If we remain quiet we will lose. We must speak out! We must stand together now! *The ministry of Episcopalians United has never been more vital*. Homosexual activists within the Church are encouraged ... and with good reason ... They have influenced key leaders within our Church. On February 5, the Rt. Rev. Edmond L. Browning, our Presiding Bishop, wrote to President Clinton, commending him on his efforts to end the military's ban on homosexuals in the armed forces and expressing his belief that "gay rights" is a justice issue. And sadly, there are a large number of lay people within our Church who will be swayed by the arguments of leaders like Bishop Browning ... even though he's dead wrong! Within the Church, the ordination of practicing homosexuals to our clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions are not civil rights issues ... and they are *not* justice issues. They are theological issues, and they must be addressed on sound theological grounds. To bless the experience of homosexuality, we are being asked to assent to a process which rewrites Scripture ... nullifies the Word of God ... and disavows 2000 years of Christian moral teaching. Approval of the homosexual agenda will so warp the doctrine, discipline and worship of our church that within a generation the Episcopal Church will no longer be recognizably Christian. And that's why we cannot give in. We must prepare for battle and we must fight. We must prepare sound, convincing Scriptural arguments. We must mobilize every concerned Episcopalian in every parish ... and we must equip them with the information and understanding they need in order to make a difference. We cannot afford to lose. *Our families, our country ... and the very soul of our Church ... these are all at stake*. Some 450 years ago, Martin Luther wrote: "If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God, except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. *Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."* Please stand with us today. If you don't take a stand with us, where will you stand? If you won't stand now, then when? We are fighting for the right to teach our children and grandchildren the truth of Scripture when it comes to sexual morality ... and to give them at least one place in our society where they can learn from positive role models. *We are fighting to save our Church and country from judgment*. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He will judge America too. Remember, the Scriptures says, "It is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God" (1 Peter 4:17). We must throw aside our lethargy. For years we thought America's values where [sic] secure -- protected by our President, our Congress and the Supreme Court. We also believed that the Church would protect our values -- and it should -- but we were wrong. Many of the leaders of the Church are unwilling to defend our values. *Each one of us must take a stand for what we believe, and we must unite with others who share our convictions. It is our only hope*. We can have an impact on the issues of our day, but only if we have courage enough to stand ... and only if we're wise enough to stand together. That's why Episcopalians United was founded. It's the reason we continue to work for reform and renewal in the Episcopal Church. Our job is to empower you to save the Church we love. We're committed to giving you the weapons to fight the battle ... to fight it well. Episcopalians United helps you promote a correct view of sexuality issues ... one that's faithful to Holy Scripture and the long-held tradition of the Church. We share successful strategies about how to influence decisions ... not just at your local level, but also at the diocesan and national levels. So I urge you to become involved today, while there's still time. The sexuality debate will be a key part of the 1994 General Convention. *Those who believe in the ordination of homosexuals to the Episcopal clergy and seek the Church's blessing for same-sex unions will be there in force*. We must begin our preparations today! We must match their efforts delegate-for-delegate, argument-for- argument, dollar-for-dollar. No effort can be spared in this critical battle. *This is not time for passivity. If you're not willing to stand now, then our Church is in deep trouble*. Perhaps you're tired of fighting -- so am I. Frankly, I'm so sick of this issue that I just want it to go away. During the past 5 years, the trauma of the debate, dialogue and confrontation we've been though has occasionally led me to despair. But despair and discouragement are not from the Lord ... and 2 Timothy 1:7 has been a wonderful encouragement: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." That's why Episcopalians United will keep fighting. God is our true source of strength ... and as long as we remain faithful we will see His provision. *I invite you to be part of that provision*. Help us redouble our efforts during this critical year for our Church. Please search your heart today ... ask God to show you the role He wants you to have ... then send the most generous gift you can. Your support will make a critical difference as Episcopalians United continues the fight with you to preserve the soul of our Church ... you will be helping to save our godly heritage, not just for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren. And please, don't just send a gift -- as vitally important as that is. Humble yourself before God in a prayer of repentance for our Church's many sins. Plead for His mercy and grace. Ask for His divine intervention. Commit yourself to help fight the battle today! Together, we can make a difference. If we persevere, we will see God triumph. Yours by His grace, The Rev. Todd H. Wetzel P.S. May God bless you for your concern for the Episcopal Church. Please be encouraged. There are already over 18,000 people who stand with you in support of our ministry. Many more are with us in their hearts. But remember, winning this battle will be expensive! That's why I need to hear from you today. [Editor's Note: Enclosed with this fund raiser was a copy of page 9 of the Spring, 1993 issue of The Voice of Integrity, which was the ad encouraging participation in the March on Washington. We hope they enjoyed reprinting our material as much as we enjoy reprinting theirs.] ******************** *FORMER INTEGRITY CHAPLAIN ELECTED FIRST FEMALE DIOCESAN* based on a release from the Episcopal News Service After three short ballots, the clergy and lay delegates to a special June 5, 1993 convention of the Diocese of Vermont elected the Rev. Mary Adelia McLeod of West Virginia to be the first woman to serve as a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church. McLeod, rector of St. John's Church in Charleston, West Virginia, was co-chaplain, together with her husband, the Rev. Henry M. (Mack) McLeod, of Integrity/Charleston until it disbanded in 1986. She is strongly supportive of equal rights for lesbians and gay men in the Church. In an interview with the press, McLeod said that the election of women to the episcopate is important. She added, however, that the diocese "in great prayer and consideration and thought were led by the Holy Spirit to elect me" and the fact that "I just happen to be a woman is incidental." When she is consecrated in October, pending consents from a majority of standing committees and bishops in the church, McLeod would become the third woman bishop in the Episcopal Church. Bishop Barbara Harris was elected suffragan bishop of Massachusetts in September of 1988 -- and the first woman bishop in the history of the Anglican Communion -- and Bishop Jane Dixon was elected suffragan bishop of Washington (DC) in May of 1992. Bishop Penelope Jamieson of New Zealand was consecrated in June 1990 as the first woman in the Anglican Communion to head a diocese. Women have been candidates in a number of recent elections in the Episcopal Church. McLeod was among the first women considered for the episcopate and Vermont was the fifth time she had been a final candidate. Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning offered his prayers for the new bishop and said that "this new chapter in her ministry is a new chapter in the life of our church as well." Contending that the ministry of the church "is enriched by the gifts of both women and men," the Presiding Bishop added, "We can rejoice as another step is taken toward our episcopal ministry better reflecting this blessing." McLeod was born and grew up in Alabama and, after a number of years as a mother (she and her husband have five grown children) and homemaker, she took her seminary degree at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. As archdeacon for the western region of West Virginia, she has helped shape an innovative cluster ministry and has been active in supporting rural deans, clergy deployment and she has served on Diocesan Council, president of the Standing Committee and a deputy to General Convention in 1988 and 1991. Ironically, the current bishop of West Virginia, the Rt. Rev. John H. Smith, who has strongly opposed full inclusion of lesgay persons in the Episcopal Church, was a priest in Vermont at the time of his election in West Virginia. ******************** *JUDGE DISMISSES $4 MILLION LAWSUIT IN VIRGINIA* based on a release from the Episcopal News Service During a preliminary June 2 hearing in Arlington Circuit Court, Judge Benjamin Kedrick dismissed a $4 million lawsuit against the Rev. Bruce Newell, accused of sexual misconduct, the parish where he served, its rector and the bishop of Virginia. The suit was filed by a woman who said that Newell had sexually abused her for 11 months when he was serving Falls Church. And it charged that the diocese, Bishop Peter James Lee, the church and its rector shared responsibility for the injury. The judge said that the complaint exceeded the two- year statute of limitations on personal injury case and would have required the court to delve into theological issues in violation of the separation of church and state. It would have required "a secular court of law to establish standards of conduct for members of the clergy, which would undermine the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," according to a statement from Bishop Lee. The bishop said that, after a presentment and an investigation by a church- appointed board, the diocese had decided to proceed with an ecclesiastical trial of Newell. ******************** *I WAS IN PRISON AND YOU CAME TO ME* by (the Rev.) Barry L. Stopfel When I was a young boy growing up in the farm country of Pennsylvania, I spent most of my own time roaming the corn fields, meadows and woods. Each year I would bargain with my parents to lengthen my tether, and they would reluctantly allow me to explore a little farther. By the time I was 12, I could be gone for the day lost in the seasons of the earth. When I was eight years old, my father took me to an invitation-only open house for the new county prison. I was enthusiastic and a little afraid about being on the inside of such a place. More than thirty years later I can close my eyes and hear the sounds, sense the smells, and picture the colors of the floors and cinder block walls, and the pattern of steel, cement and wire. During the tour I stuck to my father like glue. I figured they would let me leave with him -- unless of course someone told them that I had stolen some corn out of Mr. Schaeffer's corn crib to throw against people's houses on Halloween. One of the guards asked me if I wanted to into a cell. My curiosity overcame my anxiety and into the terrifying unknown I went. I walked only a few steps when the cell door crashed shut behind me. It was an isolation cell with no windows and a solid steel door. I panicked. Trapped! Doomed! Someone knew of my corn caper! I'm dead, I thought -- an eternity of captivity is a terrible price to pay for a few ears of corn the pigs would never miss in their trough. I started kicking everywhere, hollering as loud as I could. I vowed that I would never commit even the tiniest infraction of the law because I would die if I ended up in a prison. In my young boy's way I knew that the source of my life was my freedom to roam. The childhood memory made a return visit in technicolor and SenseSurround the night I walked into the Bureau of Correction's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center to participate in a Bible study group with gay sex offenders. I saw the building and the guards through the eyes of a familiar eight-year-old who seemed to have taken over my senses. And the faint sketches of Jesus' words filtered through my awareness, "I was in prison and you came to me ... as you did it to one of the least of these you did it to me." I often say that proclaiming the Gospel and living by the way of Jesus is risky business with a cost attached. In the first moments at Avenel the cost for me was walking through those sense memories that created fear and dread in me, for I still need to roam the seasons of the woods to stay lodged in my faith and close to my God. The thought of imprisonment by walls, by ideas, by fear, or by any tyranny strikes fear in my heart. I learned very quickly the cost of caring about the spiritual journeys of the men in the Bible study group. I had been invited into the ministry by my good friend Louie Crew and so we arrived together. As would be expected the security procedures to enter the prison are rigorous. One of the corrections officers on duty had heard that a guest had been invited to lead the Bible study. It was soon obvious that the officer would abuse his ultimate authority through his immunity to the demands of human kindness. He seemed all too happy to dish out an abusive and deliberately insulting security process on my behalf. In the face of the hatred of this prison guard's demeaning the humanity of a stranger priest, the little boy and I joined hands waiting for the sound of the slamming door. I imagine there must be a similar chilling sound when the doors on our lives slam shut when we give words or actions to bigotry and hate. The following week we filed a complaint. A member of the Bible group wrote later, "you will be pleased to know that the officer has been removed from contact with civilians. The bad news is that he'll have more contract with us inmates. I think he learned his lesson. And besides, we're used to him. Perhaps it's just as well that he works here. It keeps him off the streets for eight hours a day. I feel better knowing that the public is safe one shift a day." In his letter there was no rancor, no malice, just graceful human wisdom destroying the power of human hate. As I read the letter, the line between who should be on the inside and who should be on the outside of the prison walls grew suddenly thin. Each month in the prison, I encounter a group of men who have been willing to suffer shame and abuse in order to hear a gospel of hope, healing, acceptance and forgiveness proclaimed to them. In their world there is little evidence of a regard for religious experience of the human spirit. These men are searching for the goodness of God in themselves and in each other amidst the wreckage of their own lives. Before I was an authorized volunteer at the prison I submitted to regular humiliation so that they could hear a Gospel of hope, a Gospel that reflected back to them their goodness as a creature of God. After my visits they willingly endured the personal degradation of strip searches for I might be smuggling drugs in my Bible. I heard the echoes of the soldiers voices as they stripped Jesus and cast lots for his garments when I heard the guard enter the room and bark the command, "clothes off" while he slipped on his latex gloves to do the rectal exams. It felt hard bearing the burden of the one whose presence forced these brothers in Christ to undergo a humiliating procedure. Even so, one of the men with profound and redeeming humor wrote later, "It was always wonderful to have Barry with the group. Tell him none of us minded taking our clothes off for him." His comment may startle all of us with its many layers of human sexual innuendo. But the truth of his comment is that within this particular context of physical violation and certainly within the context of the community of gay men, innuendo and humor are covers for lifetimes of hurt. Such humor is a life-giving balm to those who suffer personal and verbal abuse at the hands of other human beings who have the social and institutional power to do so. The men were grateful for my being there. And they were powerfully enlivened by the Gospel. They proved, in their very spiritual survival, the power of the Word and its healing spirit to overcome the power of death in systems of violence. These men are not the demons that we somehow need them to be when we debate crime and punishment. Like each of us they are formed by God in their Mother's womb. But the sacred fabric of their selves has been torn by a complex weaving of circumstances early in their lives that was largely beyond their control. In nearly every instance they have been sexually abused. They know too well the degradation born by both the abused and the abuser. They understand instinctively the human nature of those who abused Jesus, and they know the suffering that results from such abuse. Jesus understood the suffering of the abused and the rage of the abuser and was willing to offer forgiveness to both. I have come to know that when I hear the doors slam, sense the cold steel and barbed wire, climb the concrete steps to the prison room, I walk the steps that Jesus walked. When I sit down and open the Bible amidst the brokenness of these men's lives and the broken places of my own, I know that Jesus is there. I am on sacred ground with gay men who know, like Harvey Milk, that the important thing is not that we can live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living without it. Yes, some of my brothers have made damaging choices for which they have come to freely accept responsibility. Daily in their therapy and study, they take responsibility for their actions and work hard on themselves to grab a measure of psychological and spiritual health. In their search for healing I see the Christ embracing their need and pain. I am touched by their willingness to express their thirst for living water. With these men I have seen grace and hope emerge over and over, and my faith is fed. All of us in that small prison Bible study room become free to roam the endless banks and swim the ever-flowing rivers of our God-given human spirits. There is more than death inside those walls after all. By the grace of God and the hope of the men in our group, the fear in the little boy within me who shows up each month is both calmed and liberated. The prisoners have set me free. ----- Barry L. Stopfel was installed on June 19, 1993 as rector of St. George's, Maplewood, New Jersey. He was ordained as an openly gay man in September, 1991. This article appeared in the May, 1993 issue of "The Voice," the publication of the Diocese of Newark, and was part of their "Journey of the Spirit Series." It is reprinted with permission. ******************** *CELEBRATING A SEASON OF PRIDE!!* The National AIDS Memorial Established in 1985 Located in The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 112th & Amsterdam Ave NYC The National AIDS Memorial "honors the dead" through the AIDS Memorial Shrine and the Book of Remembrance in which the names of those who have died of HIV/AIDS related conditions are inscribed. We "serve the living" through the provision of small (primarily start-up or special project) grants to organizations who serve those with HIV. Over $80,000.00 in grants have been made since 1985, drawn from the contributions which have been sent in with names. Our Board is all volunteer, and only 5% of donations to the memorial goes for maintenance. 85% of contributions to the Memorial are returned to the community in grants and 10% is reserved for the establishment of a permanent memorial to all who have died in this epidemic. Contributions are always welcome, but not required for the submission of names for the book. We have a "master list" of names, and will check for duplications. To submit names or for more information please fill out the coupon and mail to: The National AIDS Memorial, P.O. Box 5202, NYC, NY 10185-0043 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Your name:__________________________________________________ Address:________________________________ Apt./Box # ________ City(Boro)____________________State:________Zip:____________ Please send me additional information ___about the memorial ___about the grant process ___about making a bequest I have enclosed the following donation $______ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please inscribe the following names in the Book of Remembrance: (Use additional paper if needed) Note: We do have a Master List of the Names already in the Book, and will check for duplications before entering names that are submitted. Name Dates (if known) Comments 1)__________________________________________________________ 2)__________________________________________________________ 3)__________________________________________________________ 4)__________________________________________________________ 5)__________________________________________________________ ******************** *BOOK REVIEWS* NOTHING NEW "New Millennium, New Church: trends shaping the Episcopal Church for the 21st Century" Kew, Richard and Roger J. White. "New Millennium, New Church: trends shaping the Episcopal Church for the 21st Century." Boston, MA: Cowley Publications, 1992. $12.95. Review by (the Rev.) W. Keith McCoy Easily the most talked about book in the Episcopal Church in the past few months, "New Millennium, New Church" is offered as a "compass for the 1990s," which will guide local parishes, as well as the national church, away from self-wounding controversy and towards a more Anglican (read: polite and quiet) existence. While chock-full of ideas and opinions, it is not so much a compass as a conservative wish book for the near future. Another book would be needed to comment on the authors' many thoughts, too many of which I found unfinished, but let me tackle a few that may be of interest to readers of this forum. One theme that runs under the entire text is that the Episcopal Church is essentially conservative, but good-hearted, but it has been the captive in recent years of a small band of liberal experimenters and social activists. Somehow, this minority always manages to elect sheep-like delegates to General Convention, and then lead them into temptation with strange resolutions and canons. Kew and White suggest that the time has come when right-thinking people will start attending these conventions and begin making decisions that will not upset the real majority anymore. As an observer of and participant in diocesan politics for almost twenty years, my opinion is that the clergy and laity sent to General Convention are generally among the most caring, thoughtful, and religious people of our church. As such, they have voted to allow women into the priesthood, revise the BCP, and recommend the tithe because, having weighed all the arguments, they made what they felt was a Christian decision. It so happens that the liberals have made all of the arguments in favor of those actions. The conservatives, on the other hand, have been against everything, and never for anything. They say, "Whatever justice (hymnal, program ...) we have today is fine -- I'm satisfied, and so should be the rest of the Episcopal Church." Faced with a choice of thoughtful progress or mere stand-patism, General Convention has rightly opted for progress. The authors stumble over this right at the beginning of their book. While lamenting our decline in numbers from the boom years of the 1950s, they ignore their own quote from Vance Packard that many people joined our denomination at that time because it was the social thing to do. Many then chose to leave when issues of faith vs. the world were raised, beginning with the Vietnam War. The church population has stabilized because almost everyone left believes that we are a religious organization, not a club. When they get into their chapter on single-issue organizations, Kew and White again suggest that good people have been chased away by irresponsible actions. I can respect the decision of a person who leaves because their theology no longer meshes with that of the parish or the wider Episcopal Church. I wonder, however, at how great a loss it is when someone flounces out over the "imagined 'unbelief' of their rector, an ill-considered pronouncement or action by a bishop, or an objection to the policies of the national church." (p. 124) Parishioners who leave over imagined issues or statements from regional and national headquarters are more interested in feeling cosseted than in grappling with matters of faith. Moreover, if we express regret because someone leaves over, say, the ordination of women as priests, aren't we also regretting taking that step and those priests? Integrity is only mentioned once specifically, but the reader gets the sense that it is a part of that cabal which has hijacked the true faith. While credited with media savvy and a sound knowledge of the political process, we are, in the authors' words, "speak[ing] for a relatively small group of activists." p. 126) This contrasts with Episcopalians United, with 20,000 "members" and a big budget. Kew and White feel this is evidence of something; might I suggest the hollowness of EU's arguments? Using a Gallup survey, a few publications from other denominations, and their own impressions, most of what Kew and White provide as planning fodder for the future of our denomination is only speculation. They have adopted every progressive action in the Episcopal Church over the last thirty years as their own, and then decry the possibility of further change. They have decided what they want the church to look like in ten years, and then found the material to back up their concept. This book has nothing new. It is just the lament of those people who would never be moved to change one iota of their current existence, but, once moved, find that change acceptable. Now they ask the church not to make them move forward again. Come 2000 AD, we will probably find Kew and White again celebrating the current state of the Episcopal Church, and still warning against some further progress. NEW PRAYERS FOR OLD OCCASIONS "Daring to Speak Love's Name, A Gay and Lesbian Prayer Book." Stuart, Elizabeth, Editor. "Daring to Speak Love's Name, A Gay and Lesbian Prayer Book." London: Hamish Hamilton, 1992. Review by (The Rev.) Paul Woodrum  Editor Elizabeth Stuart's "Daring to Speak Love's Name, A Gay and Lesbian Prayer Book," fulfills three functions. First, it provides a lot of apologia for gay people liturgically celebrating life's transitions. Second, it's a resource for gay/lesbian specific public rites. Third, it provides prayers and readings for private meditation. It's not quite clear to whom most of the apologia is directed, especially the extensive justification given for celebrating lesbian and gay relationships." Most of it is pretty familiar stuff to lesbians and gay men who have experienced any sort of consciousness raising what so ever. All the right people are quoted from John Boswell to John McNeill to Carter Heyward. It is a helpful summary of the polemics, useful perhaps, for a quick refresher course before trotting off to a meeting of the diocesan commission on human sexuality. A straight audience who might benefit most from this part of the book is probably the least likely to read it. Much of the apologia may be in response to the rather strange publication history of the volume. Initially, it was to be published by the SPCK which, not untypically, developed a case of the jitters about dealing with subjects gay and lesbian. Unable to get its own auditors to condemn the publication, it finally resorted to an unprecedented appeal to Archbishop of Canterbury and SPCK President George Carey for an opinion. He disapproved. The SPCK backed away from publication. The C of E breathed a sigh of relief at once again being able to avoid sex. If the apologia isn't directly in response to all this heterosexist nonsense, the extensive Preface, Foreword and Introduction certainly are. The Preface and Forward are worth reading for the insights they provide into the fragility and fears of heterosexuals. The Introduction by Dr. Stuart counters with a splendid discussion of Blessed Aelred of Rievaulx's theology of Christian friendship and relates his 12th century thought to 20th century feminist and gay and lesbian thought, especially as applied to liturgical understanding and expression, naming and claiming the validity of the lesgay experience of the holy. Stuart provides extensive and varied resources for liturgies celebrating relationships, housewarmings, coming out, partings, illness (particularly HIV & AIDS), and death. Considering the contributions of gay people to liturgy for which they seem to have had a special affinity over the centuries - at least 60% of the official revisers of the American BCP and Hymnal were gay or lesbian - it may seem somewhat ironic that anything more is needed. Stuart, by the way, is Roman Catholic but, being British, just sounds Anglican and her views are certainly not those in much favor with the Vatican. Stuart's contribution is not in replacing the standard, general and common devotions of the church, but in augmenting them with expressions growing from and applicable to the lesbian and gay life of prayer, public and private. Her audience is ecumenical. Her resources are diverse. Her coverage including rites and prayers for coming out, for partings, and for HIV/AIDS is comprehensive. One would be hardpressed not to find something helpful for either planning public worship or for private devotion. "Daring to Speak Love's Name" is not the final word, nor even the penultimate, but it is a valuable addition to a growing body of resources which openly incorporate and informs the lesbian/gay experience of the common prayer of God's holy people. ******************** *Chapter Updates* Changes in Integrity Chapters since the Winter 1993 issue: New: .LM 16 Integrity/Boston-Metro Christ Church, Episcopal 12 Quincy Ave. Quincy, MA 02169 Integrity/East Tennessee P.O. Box 4956 Chattanooga, TN 37405 Integrity/Maine P.O. Box 25 Waldoboro, ME 04572 Integrity/Toledo 2272 Collingwood Blvd. Toledo, OH 43620 Integrity/Twin Cities c/o University Episcopal Center 317 17th Ave. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55414 Integrity/Melbourne St. Stephen's Anglican Church 3 Docker St. Richmond, VIC 3121 AUSTRALIA .LM 11 New Name and New Address: .LM 16 Integrity/Los Angeles 7985 Santa Monica Blvd. #109-113 West Hollywood, CA 90046 .LM 11 New Addresses: .LM 16 Integrity/Central Florida P.O. Box 530031 Orlando, FL 32853-0031 Dignity-Integrity/Charlottesville P.O. Box 3670 Charlottesville, VA 22903 .LM 11 No longer meeting: .LM 16 Integrity/Central Indiana Integrity/Colorado Integrity/San Antonio .LM 11 ******************** *The University of South Dakota Press* Announces Publication of *Don't Hang Up...* an anthology of poems about AIDS edited by Andrew Miller This unique volume of poetry is a collection of works by both professional and amateur writers from across the country, all of whom have lost loved ones to AIDS. The works are expressions of their pain and confusion, their fears and hopes. Their voices, too often drowned out by those who would pass judgment, represent the humanness of the suffering caused by this ongoing tragedy. Their cries of loss transcend the cultural, political and religious barriers that divide us, to reveal the universality of their experience. The book's title is taken from a poem by Dr. Louie Crew, Integrity's founder. "Don't Hang Up" has also been made into a short-subject film. It is the hope of the editor and the University of South Dakota Press that this volume can bring comfort to those who are still suffering and can bring new understanding and compassion to those who are still trapped by fear and prejudice. All profits from the volume will be donated to an AIDS research or education program. The book sells for *$8.95 postpaid* * For more information, contact USD Press at either (605) 677-5401 or (605) 624-8258. To order, send your check, money order, or credit card information to: The University of South Dakota Press, 301 East Hall, USD, 414 East Clark, Vermillion, SD 57069. ISBN 0-929925-20-3 * South Dakota residents please add 5% sales tax. ******************** *DISCIPLES' CANDIDATE SUPPORTIVE* Based on an Episcopal News Service Release Members of the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) endorsed the Rev. Richard Hamm, a 45-year-old Tennessee church executive, for general minister and president of the denomination. Hamm told members of the board that decisions on the ordination of homosexuals should be left up to local regions and congregations. "After working through my homophobia, Bible study and much prayer, I came to believe that homosexuality in and ofitself should not be a bar to ordination," he said. Hamm added that he has no intention, however, of forcing his views upon the denomination. He said he would speak the truth as one Disciple, while encouraging others whose views are different to speak. In 1991 the Rev. Michael Kinnamon was not elected president of the denomination because of his support of lesbian and gay Disciples in the ordained ministry. The election of a new president will take place in the meeting of the church's General Assembly in July. ******************** *CLAUDIA'S COLUMN* "Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power so that (the church) cannot elude our demands. We must develop, from strength, a situation where (the church) finds it wise and prudent to collaborate with us. It would be the height of naivete to wait passively until (the church) had somehow been infused with such blessings of good will that it implored us for our programs. The first course is grounded in mature realism; the other, in childish fantasy." (I have replaced "government" with "the church") -- *The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.*, p. 45 Several weeks ago the people of the Diocese of Minnesota gathered to meet the three clergypeople who had been chosen as candidates for bishop. One question, especially, surfaced for each of the candidates, "In this decade of evangelism, how do you see church growth occurring?" The questioner then proceeded to explain that parishes are interested in techniques to attract new members and that they expect help from the bishop in this area. Each of the candidates responded similarly in that they emphasized introspection before outreach. That is, they would encourage individual congregations to ask what it is that they have to offer their members and what is preventing the active participation of those who are on the fringes of parish communities; those who rarely attend service or participate in parish functions yet do just enough to keep their names on the parish register. The question of increasing chapter membership surfaces often for those of us involved with Integrity and local chapters. What, we want to know, can we do to enlarge our membership; to increase growth. In response to that question, I turn to the reply of the bishop candidates. We must first look inward asking ourselves what we have to offer our present members and what is preventing active participation of those who continue on our membership rosters while participating only on the fringes. Despite the objections of some African- Americans, I see many parallels between the civil rights struggles of their community and those of our lesbigay community. Although racism continues to exist in our church, progress towards its obliteration has been made. In search of answers to what we can learn from our African-American sisters and brothers I have turned in part to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of Dr. King's most powerful attributes is the immediacy of a well defined and confidently voiced vision and understanding of mission as well as a strategy for its fulfillment. I believe that it is a vision and strategy that is of utmost importance to members of Integrity chapters yet is often either lacking or poorly presented. If we cannot articulate who we are, what we expect of the church, and how we intend to accomplish our goals, what exactly is it that appeals to our membership? What do we have to offer them? I often wonder how many of our members would be able to articulate the vision of their individual chapters. It seems to me that not only does the vision vary from chapter to chapter, but in many cases it varies dramatically from chapter member to chapter member. "Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power ..." We will not attain that power, my sisters and brothers, until we define common goals and strategies and I believe that the hope of a compelling power "so that the church cannot elude our demands" is the greatest gift that we have to offer our members and that lack of cohesiveness, vision, and strategy is what keeps many members on the fringes. Had members of the civil rights movement been asked to define their goals, and had the responses varied from goals of socializing with other African-Americans to working for the inclusion of all African-Americans in every aspect of American life and society, I believe there would have been no civil rights movement, no strength organized into compelling power to move white America to welcome our African-American sisters and brothers. In the same vein, my friends, I believe that if our goals are as divergently defined as providing a safe social environment for Episcopalian lesbigay persons, to working for the inclusion of all lesbigay persons in every aspect of the life and ministry of our church, I fear that there will be no strength to organize into a compelling power to move our church to welcome us to full inclusion. It's not uncommon for us to question whether lesbigay persons are included in "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You" signs. How willing and able are we to say, "This Integrity Chapter Welcomes You"; persons of color, women, feminists, users of inclusive language, differently abled persons, conservative, and bi-sexual persons? Until we practice the inclusion that we demand from our church, there will be no strength in our chapters and our goals might as well be to provide a safe place to socialize, or for lesbigay persons to meet prospective partners, or to catch up on local gossip. In each of these activities we can talk about the wish for inclusion for each of us into the full life and ministry of our church, but "it would be the height of naivete to wait passively until the church had somehow been infused with such blessings of good will ..." There would be no church, my friends, if the early disciples had no common goal; where some saw their mission to proclaim the Christ, and others, to band together solely for strength against the Roman government, and others yet, to set themselves up as better than the Jews who still practiced the old law. Their strength was their common goal to proclaim Jesus Christ which became the compelling power that brought those to whom they witnessed to Christ and the new law. Advertising in local lesbigay papers and diocesan newsletters might attract a few new members and increase your chapter size, my friends. Your strength, however, lies in the power of a unified goal: the inclusion of lesbigay persons in the full life and ministry of the Episcopal Church. When that goal is identified and articulated and when all those who count themselves members of your chapters feel their inclusion in the life of the chapter, the strategies can be defined and others will want to add their commitments and strengthen your power in the church. "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity ... over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written with the pathetic words: 'Too late' ... This may well be our last chance to choose between chaos and community." -- *The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.*, p. 90 We can't wait until next June to articulate our goals, define our strategies, and muster our strength just in time for the General Convention. "Tomorrow is today." Let us welcome all who have chosen to affiliate with our chapters to discuss and define our goals and to develop strategies so that those goals can and will be met. When that has been accomplished, we will witness a renewed strength, an inviting organization, chapters so powerful that, in joining forces with all other chapters, the church will no longer be able to exclude us from full life and ministry within her. ******************** *JOSHUA'S BAPTISM PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FAMILY OF GOD* by Lily DeYoung In the early church, the celebration of Easter was preceded by an all-night vigil. When dawn broke, neophytes were baptized into the Christian family, and the Easter festival began. But the baptism of three-month old Joshua Kilian Meneghin on February 14 at the Church of the Redeemer, Morristown, was preceded by a five-year vigil kept by Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Kilian, his parents. Cindy and Maureen are a lesbian couple who have been together since 1974, shortly after they met in high school. Although both were raised as Catholics, they never felt personal anxiety about their sexuality. From the beginning, they have lived openly as a couple hoping that family and church would accept them as other couples were accepted and celebrated. When acceptance and celebration did not come, they began the long, slow process of helping people to understand. "We have always been 'out' and open so that we could be a role model to other lesbians and gays, and for their families ... especially for families because they often fear that being gay means being unhappy," said Cindy. "As people got to know us, they began to understand that we were a couple, in love and very happy." She said, "It took many years of struggle to help our parents and siblings to see that a 'couple' was not necessarily a man and a woman, that we were just as much a couple as they were with their spouses." One meaningful sign of their acceptance as a couple came when Maureen's parents included a picture of Maureen and Cindy on the wall with the pictures of her six siblings and their spouses, and when the family began sending anniversary cards to them each August 28. Like many other couples, they wanted a child. "We started talking about having a baby five years ago," said Cindy. "But we knew that 'our world' wasn't quite ready yet." So again, they started the slow process of helping people to understand. They told family, friends and co-workers about their desire to start a family. At first people were surprised. Gradually, as their notions of "family" grew, friends told the couple, "You'd be good parents!" Cindy and Maureen wanted church to be a part of their child's life too. But unlike the family and friends who had openly accepted them, their church did not. After years of committed service as parish lectors, eucharistic and youth ministers, Cindy and Maureen were told that they could not participate in couples' programs or start a gay group, and if they had a child, he or she could 'probably' be baptized, but in private. To Cindy and Maureen it seemed that the Catholic Church was the only place where their child and his family would not be welcome. To forego church was not an option. Said Maureen, "We need organized religion. We want community. And we decided we would either find it or make it!" Their search brought them to a visit one Sunday to Redeemer. There, they were impressed by the diversity of the congregation and the inclusive liturgical language. But they wanted to find a church closer to home. Redeemer was eighteen miles away, and they were used to a neighborhood church. They visited many Episcopal churches, and deeply appreciated the welcome they found. They decided to return to Redeemer when they learned that its inclusiveness was not the personal initiative of a few but rather a parish-wide commitment officially undertaken by the vestry. Vestry member Ann Johnson assured them that homophobia was not acceptable at Redeemer and that if anyone felt uncomfortable with that, it would be their problem, not Cindy's or Maureen's ... and not Joshua's. Said Cindy, "That was a complete reversal for us. For once, we wouldn't have to struggle with others' exclusionary concepts of family and fears about gay relationships." "And we knew," said Maureen, "that Redeemer was not a gay parish either. That wasn't what we wanted. We have always wanted to belong to a community that includes people of different races, ages, ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations. It's what we want for Joshua: to experience the real world within his church community." Preaching at Joshua's baptism, rector Philip Wilson said that if teaching today, in place of 'the Kingdom' Jesus might use the image of 'the Family of God.' "If we accept 'the Family of God' as the definition of Jesus' vision," Wilson said, "then the action of God is to ever enlarge the family, ever to push the circle wider." That day, the Redeemer community enthusiastically embraced Josh and his family. After their vigilant five years of preparation, his parents are happy and confident: Joshua is a member of the family just as much as anyone else. ----- Lily DeYoung is a member of Church of the Redeemer, Morristown. This article first appeared in the April, 1993 issue of "The Voice", the publication of the Diocese of Newark, and is reprinted with permission. ******************** *Special Section:* *LESGAYS IN THE MILITARY * The Beat Goes On by Jim Lewis As some people waved Bibles over their heads and shouted "amen," one questioner denounced what he said was a lessening of moral standards in American Society. "Is being old a sin?' asked the citizen, who did not identify himself. "No!" the crowd yelled back. "Is being handicapped a sin?" the man asked. "No!" the crowd screamed, louder this time. "Is being homosexual a sin?" he came back. "Yes!" roared the crowd, loudest of all. March 25 - "New York Times" article describing a forum held in Jacksonville, N.C. The subject was gays in the military. The matter of lifting the ban on gays in the military is heating up. Just how hot this struggle really is was driven home to me after reading copies of the "Marine Corps Gazette" (MCG), the professional journal of the U.S. Marine Corps. William Lind, Director of the Center for Cultural Conservation of the Free Congress Foundation, writes in the March issue of the MCG: "Allowing homosexuals to serve in the military is part of a larger, hidden agenda, one that is dangerous to the whole of American society and culture." The "hidden agenda" for Lind is "the destruction of traditional Western, Judeo-Christian culture, morals, and values." In a November 1992 MCG article, Lind identifies feminism as "an element in the coalition" of forces out to destroy Western, Judeo-Christian culture. And just how will Marines react to this battle? "Marines will opt," he says, "for massive passive resistance -- resistance that makes the open homosexual an 'unperson' (the homosexual who remains 'in the closet' is not an issue since nobody knows he is one). The more organized the passive resistance, the more likely it will include too many people to overcome. There is strength in numbers: No administration can maintain a policy when the vast majority of those affected by it reject it. The fact that "passive resistance," on the part of the military, is but one bullet in the chamber of this gun being used to kill Clinton's proposed plan to lift the ban on gays is best seen in the frontal attack being used by the military. Marine Corps commandant, General Carl Mundy Jr., has been circulating a 20-minute videotape, "The Gay Agenda" to Marine bases throughout the country to be shown to all the troops. Produced by a fundamentalist church in California, Antelope Valley Springs of Life Ministries, it features nudity, and assertions that homosexuality is unnatural, a sickness and not worthy of legal protection. This California church, by the way, uses armed security guards who patrol the aisles during services, along with electronically locked doors. In the January issue of the MCG, Major Arthur J. Corbett likens the gay effort to the vandal who took a hammer to the Pieta a few years ago. His message is simple: The Marine Corps should disband rather than admit gays. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear the mood and terms of this struggle are pretty clear. @ There is a concerted campaign to defeat an effort to left the ban on gays in the military. It is a crusade based in fear, appealing to every stereotype and distorted image associated with gays. @ This struggle over the military is the most visible place to observe all the issues surrounding gay liberation in our society. Gay military folk have come front and center to articulate and personify the issue. Hollywood, despite the liberal image, isn't doing it. The test: How many openly gay actors can you identify. As for the church, supposedly engaging the issue: Not one bishop in the Episcopal Church has come out of the closet, and very few gay priests and lay people are willing to be out and open. @ When all is said and done, these fearful, angry military voices are on to something -- something radically different is going on here. Keeping in mind that the word radical is defined as "going to the root of the origin," this struggle is one among many that address racial, class, sexual and power issues. An old way of life is dying and a new way of life is being born and the generals and scout leaders of the world, not to mention some politicians and church people, understand this movement only too well. @ The military opposition centers around "the military's ability to fulfill its mission of fighting and winning wars." In other words, can men and women who love their comrades enough to lay down their lives for one another maintain that intimacy given the possibility of romantic love and sexual attraction? This is a huge issue and takes all of us to the key matter of spirituality and eroticism, the likes of which good church folks need to discuss and understand as well. @ Trying to closet and silence people, gays or anyone else feeling the boot on their neck, just plain won't work. Stuffing people and issues into boxes just postpones justice. From a faith perspective, self knowledge and revelation of self is at the heart of God's revelation in and through human beings. For a person to turn his or her back on their sexual orientation is to block a deeply spiritual connection. It is to hide God's very basic gift to us -- our sexual orientation -- under a basket -- in a closet, if you will. * Recently I heard Kathleen Carlin, a feminist (sorry boys), speak to this matter. She said, "Oppression relies for its continuation upon the silencing of the oppressed. Silencing works this way. Part of the dominant's self-identity is *not to hear* the subordinate's reality. ln other words, part of what it means to be male, or white or heterosexual, is to be able to exclude from dominant reality the experience of those who are oppressed by the social construction of male and white and straight and have that be *right*. Once again, from a faith perspective, listening to God, who is present in the lives of those who have been subordinated by the dominant political and cultural interests of a society, is the very posture of faith. The most important moments for Jesus were those in which he paid attention to people who had been shoved to the fringe of society and beaten down to the bottom of society. Justice/love became known in those encounters. The military, along with a host of other institutions in our society, including the Church and the Boy Scouts, is out of step with justice and it's time to get squared away. ----- The Rev. Jim Lewis has been Director for Christian Social Ministries of the Diocese of North Carolina since 1987. He served as assistant lacrosse coach at the U.S. Naval Academy while serving as curate at St. Anne's, Anapolis. This appeared in Jim's April 4, 1993 newsletter: "Notes from under the Fig Tree." *LETTERS TO PRESIDENT CLINTON* A RETIRED CHAPLAIN ON GAYS IN THE MILITARY The Rev. Charles Dunlap Brown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma April 20, 1993 President Bill Clinton The White House Dear President Clinton: I am writing in support of ending the ban against lesbian and gay people in the military of the United States. We are one of only three countries in the Western Alliance who ban homosexuals. The current policy of discrimination denies able bodied men and women the opportunity to serve our country and costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. I agree that the cause of discipline and discharge from military-service should be conduct and job performance and not status which judges a person because of what they "might" do. I retired from the United States Army Reserve March 31, 1990 after serving almost 42 years in the Army National Guard, the Army Reserve and extended active duty. At the time of my retirement I was the senior Colonel in the Army Reserve and was the Staff Chaplain for the 77th USARCOM at Ft. Totten, New York which is the largest Reserve Command in the United States. I was responsible for the recruitment, professional education and assignment of 43 unit chaplains in the State of New York and northern New Jersey. I was advisor to the Commanding General of the 77th ARCOM in matters of morale, morals and religion. During the Korean conflict I was mobilized with the 45th Infantry Division, Oklahoma Army National Guard. I earned the Combat Medic Badge and Bronze Star for meritorious service and was offered a battlefield commission. I was a Platoon Sergeant responsible for 75 Medical Corpsmen with an Infantry Battalion. It was this experience which influenced my going to Seminary instead of Medical School upon being released from active duty. In all my years as an enlisted man, medical service corps officer and chaplain, I knew and counselled many gay and lesbian soldiers as well a