Mattachine Society of Washington Committee on Religious Concerns Statement of Purpose

Mattachine Society of Washington Committee on Religious Concerns Statement of Purpose

Organization Collection, Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.

Repository: National Archive of LGBT History

The Mattachine Society of Washington
Committee on Religious Concerns
Statement of Purpose

I. It is the purpose of this committee to approach the clergy, the leaders, and the laity of all religious groups in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C., in orders:
A. To effect the integration of the individual homosexual into the religious life of the community:
1. By discussing with clergymen, religious leaders, and laity, singly and in groups, a clarification of the place and the role of the homosexual, as such, in the various religious congregations, leading to elimination of the rejection encountered by most homosexuals in most religious bodies.
2. By establishing a referral service composed of knowledgeable clergymen, so that homosexuals, their parents, and their families, who desire assistance in regard to spiritual and religious problems involving homosexuality may be referred to an appropriate counselor.
3. By acting as liaison, as may be needed, between the religious community and the homosexual community of the greater Washington area.
B. To enlist the moral support and the active assistance of religious groups in metropolitan Washington, in the homosexuals' struggle for civil liberties and for human and social rights, acting with the assurance that religion seeks to promote basic freedoms for every individual, as irrespective of sexual orientation as of religion and race.
C. To inform the clergy, the leaders, and the laity of all religious groups about homosexuals and homosexuality:
1. By aiding religious groups and religious leaders in the obtaining of accurate information (traditionally difficult to secure) about homosexuals and homosexuality, and suggesting informative publications and recommending or furnishing qualified lecturers on the subject of homosexuality.
2. By encouraging inter-religious discussion of homosexuality, and providing clergymen and religious leaders who believe that society should no longer ignore a social problem of vast dimensions, with legitimate opportunities for inter-group exchanges of opinion.
II. It is not a purpose of this committee to promulgate any spiritual or theological doctines, but instead to ask each religious body constructively to approach, in its own way, the social, spiritual, and religious problems which arise as a result of present discriminatory attitudes toward homosexuals and homosexuality.