Second Stone #43 - Nov/Dec 1995

Second Stone #43 - Nov/Dec 1995

43

1995

Nov/Dec 1995

THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER FOR GAY/LESBIAN/BISEXUAL CHRISTIANS 2.95
Members of Dignity/USA and others participate in a procession and prayer
vigil on the eve of the pope's visit to New York. About 100 people turned
out for the event. Photo: Genevieve Hafner
Living a lie: [lliJ Burden Of A
Gays in Secret: Former
opposite-sex 15 Southern Sapmarriage
. tis! leader tells
· his story
ISSUE #43 I
THE POPE'S. VISIT Add1t1onal stories pages 4 & 5
Gay Catholics march in peaceful
opposition to pope's views
GAY AND LESBIAN Catholics were
visible in protests in New York and
Baltimore during Pope John ~au! H's
visit to those cities.
About 100 gay and lesbian Catholics
turned out for a prayer vigil and
a candlelight procession through
Greenwich Village on the eve of the
pope's visit to the metropolitan area.
The march was organized by
Dignity /USA. Brendan Fay , who
helped organize the event, said its
purpose was to provide solidarity to
participants, who feel shunned by the
church.
_ But it was the gay rights .group
ACT-UP who staged the most dramatic
protest during the pope's visit
to New York.
Two men emerged onto a ledge on
the sixth floor of Saks Fifth Avenue,
across from St. Patrick 's Cathedral,
and unfurled a three-story-high banner
that read: "Condoms Save Lives."
A crowd that had gathered as the
pope recited the rosary at the
cathedral booed. A child said "What's
that, Dad?" and the man responded,
'Those are bad people."
Police officers came out, dragged
the protesters inside and pulled the
banner up to cheers from the crowd.
Four others also were arrested . All
were charged with criminal trespass
and reckless endangerm ent.
About .SOD gay <!nd ab.ortion rights
supporters marched from 42nd Street
to 59th .Street at Columbus Circle to
hear Gloria Steinem, the editor of Ms.
SEE MARCH, Page 4
Heresy trial of retired Episcopal
bishop set for January
FORMER IOWA EPISCOPAL Bishop
Walter Righter, charged with heresy
for ordaining a gay man, faces a
church trial early next year.
The trial is set for Jan. 3-5, 1996, at
the Diocese of Chicago office, according
to Bishop Edward Jones of
Indianapolis. Jones is president of the
nine-bishop Court for the Trial of a
Bishop.
In January, 10 conservative bishops
. charged Righter with violating a
canon law by "teaching a doctrine
contrary · to that held by the church."
The charge was put to a vote by the
nation's bishops, and it received the
25 percent backing needed to press a
trial.
Righter, 71, was Iowa's bishop from
1972-88. After he retired, he moved to
New Jersey, where he served as an
assistant to Newark Bishop John
Spong. In 1990, Righter ordained
Barry Stopfel, a gay man, as a
deacon.
Spong later ordained Stopfel to the
priesthood . Stopfel now serves as
senior pastor of a parish in the diocese
of Newark. He lives with his partner -
a United Church of Christ minister -
in church housing. ,
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'The church has been ordaining
homosexual people for hundreds of
years secretly," Righter, who now
lives in Alstead, N .H., has said.
"What we've done in the last 25 years
is getting around to doing it openly,
and that aggravates a lot of people ."
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If the church court finds against
Righter, sanctions range from a scolding
to banishment from the priesthood.
If convicted, two-thirds of the
entire House of Bishops must agree
with the decision to bring punishment
.
Calendar w . ....... ...............
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Christian organizations. To have an event listed, send a PUE~ to
Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, IA 70182, FAX to (504)891-7555
or e-mail to secstone@aol.com.
Ghost Ranch gathering
NOVEMBER 2-5, Led by Lisa Bove, former HIV/AIDS minister at West
Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and Chris Glaser, author of The Word Is Out:
The Bible Reclaimed for Lesbians and Gay Men. Registration, $100, room and
board, $120. For information, contact Ghost Ranch, HC 77, Box 11, Abiquiu ,
NM 87510-9601, (505)685-4333, FAX (505)685-4519.
Call to Action National Conference
NOVEMBER 8-10, The Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago is the setting for
Call to Action's national event. "We Are The Church: What If We Meant What
We Said?" is the theme. Cosponsors include Dignity/USA, New Ways
Ministry, Catholics Speak Out, Women's Ordination Conference, and others.
The CTA annual conference is evolving into a national congress of persons,
communities and organizations workin9 to "reinvent the church." For infomation
on this conference contact Call to Action, 4419 N. Kedzie: Chicago, IL 60625,
(312)604-0400, FAX (312)6044719.
Christian Responses to Homosexuality
NOVEMBER 10-12, Three days of dialogue with people from across the
philosophical and theological spectrum, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain
Conference of the United Methodist Church. The cost of this conference, which
will be held in Denver, is $125. For information contact Elizabeth Pruett, Box
2922, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602-0292, (970)945-7293
London's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement retreat
NOVEMBER 10-12, Rev. Janet-Webber, URC minister, South Wales, and
Rev. Bruce Kinsey, chaplain, Downing College, Cambrid~e, will facilitate a
retreat at the Royal Foundation of St. Katherine in London. 'God Knows Who I
Am: Reflection on Psalm 139" is the theme. For information contact the Lesbian
and Gay Christian Movement, Oxford House, Derbyshire St., London E2
6HG, 0171-739-1249. .
St. Camillus AIDS Ministry retreats
NOVEMBER 10-12, "Deeper Into The Mystery: Living and Dying With Hope", .
a retreat offered to people who have participated in a previous "Embracing
the Mystery" retreat. DECEMBER29-31, "Embracing the Mystery: AIDS and
the Spiritual Life", a retreat experience that has been designed to help
participants reframe negative experiences of livin!j with HIV. Guided
meditation, re-framing of emotional resistance, group sharing, trance journeying,
body work, music and ritual are woven into holistic exploration of tools for
healing which participants can integrate into their daily lives. fllo fee, but
enrollment is limited. For information call (414)481-3696.
Jewish Community Center avoids
conflict with gay group
DENVER (AP) - Orthodox Jews
agreed to allow a gay group to participate
in a major festival in mid-September,
narrowly avoiding a boycott
of the event.
After three days of negotiation,
Tikvat Shalom, formerly a congregation
whose name means "Hope of
Peace," was allowed to participate in
the Jewish Community Festival.
The festival was part of the events
surrounding the rededication of the
newly remodeled Jewish Community
Center in Denver .
Many involved in the negotiations
would not comment, including Rabbi
Steven Foster of Temple Emanuel. He
is a longtime supporter of gay rights.
Rabbi Stanley Wagner, a Traditional/
Orthodox rabbi, said: 'The
Jewish community is always unhappy
about issues that divide us. I am
delighted we found a way to be
inclusive rather than exclusive."
He said if his congregation had
staged a boycott, it would have been
only over the event and not a
SECOND STONE
Tikvat Shalom has been at the
center of other controversies in recent
years.
Th e Intermountain fewish News
never listed Tikvat Shalom's r eligious
services with those of other con-gregations
.
Disputes have erupted for the past
three years over wheth er Tikvat
Shalom could be listed as a participant
in the annual Holocaust A w areness
Week events.
And last year, three Orthodox
rabbis left the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical
Society over several issues,
including the support of gay rights .
Tikvat Shalom never was allowed to
belong to the association.
"We're a political pawn in this
thing ," said a member of Tikvat, who
didn't want his name used. "Many in
the traditional community would be
thrilled if we didn't exist, but we're
not running away. I wouldn't want
them to think they won. " -
THE NATIONAL ECUMENICAL CHRISTIAN
NEWSJOURNAL FOR LESBIANS, GAYS AND BISEXUALS
Contents
jj-ri CALENDAR w Opportunities for connectedness
[]-] Inspired by Righter trial, Episcopal priest
emerges from closet 3_ Seventh-day Adventists ordain first female clergy
[-
Pope's meeting with Robertson
angers gay Catholics _li_J Dignity/USA celebrates 25th anniversary
[]
7 6 J Baptists dump gay-affirming church
_ Be more open about AIDS, says Baptist minister
187 "Odd couple" forms friendship
through HIV program
AIDS still considerl3d taboo subject
L_ -·-- i.n black community 110 I Na~ional AIDS Memorial marks 10th anniversary
Dying woman wants to be remembered
L:' __ J for her poetry
i1-=t7 Discrimination in Zimbabwe - site of 1998 l!!J World Council of Churches assembly ·
' 12
1
, Episcopal bishop explains why he supports L heresy trial; Nation's second female
_ ~ bishop elected
r------i . .
I 13 ! LIVING A LIE: Outlook painfu l, for Gays in ! 11 I opposite-sex marriage; Mormon bishop's marriage l.. __ ~ was doomed from the start
1
11--5;] ~u~~No~ a Secret: Baptist leader finds God's
suffering in AIDS victiims
l1a7 UFMCC elder writes about Our Tribe; reviewed L!!!_J by Dr. Robert Goss
[-17] NOTEWORTHY
:-18--I COMMENTARY
j Refuse to lose: gay and lesbian Christians team up!
l 19 I LETTERS/FROM THE EDITOR
[2_0] CLASSIFIEDS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 19 9 5
News ........................................................................
Inspired by bishop, Episcopal priest emerges from closet
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) - To show her
solidarity with other Gays and Lesbians
in the Episcopal Church, the
rector of an inner-city Episcopalian
congregation in Paterson has an.
nounced to her parishioners that she
is gay .
The Rev. Tracey Lind, rector of St.
1990 when· he knowingly appointed
the Rev. Barry L. Stopfel, now rector
of St. George's Episcopal Church in
Maplewood. Bishop Righter and
Stopfel are friends of the Rev. Lind.
The 12-member vestry of the
church supported Lind's decision. She
said it would not be a surprise for
most people in the congregation,
which she has led since 1989.
"We shouldn't have to talk -about
our sexuality, but church and society
in general are forcing our hand," she
said.
"It's employers firing you when
they find out you're gay, landlords
evicting you because you're gay,
churches _saying they don't want you
as a mm1ster .. There are· real people
behind these issues. We are not
stereotypes and statistics."
"If they're going to pick us off, one
by one, then I'm going to stand up for
myself," she said.
The Rt. Rev. -John S. Spong, the
Bishop of Newark, a proponent of gay
rights whose diocese includes
Paterson, said he backs Lind's action.
SEE CLOSET, Page.19
Paul's Episcopal -Church, made the
announcement in a letter mailed
to her 450-member congregation,
the North Jersey Herald & News
reported .
"I've never want ed to talk about my
sexuality from the pulpit," she wrote.
"I am doing this because I cannot
watch anybody be made into a scapegoat
because they are gay or lesbfan."
Group calls for ouster of lesbian
Her decision to go public, she said,
was prompted by the upcoming ecclesiastical
trial of the former assistant
bishop of the Newark Diocese, who
was charged by 76 retired and active
bishops with heresy, for knowingly
ordaining a practicing homosexual.
The action against the Rt. Rev.
Walter C. Righter, retired assistant
bishop of the Newark Diocese, is
apparently the second heresy trial in
the Episcopal church's history. The
first was in Arkansas in 1924 against
a retired bishop who preached communism.
The bishops have accused Righter
of violating his ordination vows in
THE BOARD OF directors of Good
News, an evangelical group within
the United Methodist Church, has
.called for the ouster of a clergy woman
who recently revealed publicly
that she is a lesbian.
A statement in the September/
October issue of Good News magazine
declared that the Rev. Jeanne Audrey
Powers, an executive with the United
Methodist Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns, is
"using her position to advocate the
acceptance of homosexuality," in
violation of the denomination's Book of
Discipline.
The Good News advisory board
called upon the "supervisory personnel"
of the commission to reprimand
or remove Powers. It also said that
the Minnesota Annual Conference,
Seventh-day Adventist church
ordains first .female clergy
A SEVENTH-DAY Adventist Church
in Takoma Park, Maryland, has
ordained the first female clergy in the
history of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church. The ordination of three women
took place Sept. 23, in the Sligo
Seventh-day Adventist Church, the
second largest Seventh-day Adventist
congregation in the United States.
The senior pastor of the Sligo Seventh-
day Adventist Church officiated,
along with the president of Columbia
Union College, other ordained members
of the pastoral staff, and ordained
Seventh-day Adventist ministers
from across the United States.
The women who were ordained are
Kendra Haloviak, an assistant professor
of religion at Columbia Union
College, Norma Osborn, an associate
pastor of Sligo Church, and Penny
Shell, the director of pastoral services
at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.
The ordination service was well
attended and there was a "good feeling"
among participants, according to
Marianne Scriven of the Sligo Church.
"Many people said it was the high
point of their spiritual experience and
the best worship service they had
ever attended," said Scriven. "We
stepped out in faith and did what we
SECOND S T O N E
believe was the right thing." Church
leaders probably won't consider the
ordinations official, Scriven said
The Sligo Church and visiting
ordained ministers who participated
in the ordination service were hoping
that regional jurisdictions of the Seventh-
day Adventist denomination
would subsequently issue the ordinands
the same credentials issued to
men who are ordained to the gospel
ministry but at press time that had
not taken place.
Researcher seeks
stories on summer
camp harassment
Bob Brower, a retired school administrator,
is researching the current and
past experiences of children or adults
who have been employed in or who
have attended a summer camp and
have been harassed, teas ed or
discriminated against because of
sexual orientation issues. Brower
hopes that his research will provide
new information about homophobic
prejudice in camps to members of the
camping profession . Bro,;ver may be
contacted by writing to 98 W. Hintz
Rd., Wheeling, IL 60090 . •
where Powers is a member, has a "supervisory
responsiblity" to respond .
"If the Rev. Powers' public 'act of
resistance to false teachings' goes
without appropriate, albeit compassionate,
accountability, it will cause
more and more United Methodists to
wonder whether their church has the
will to enforce its own disciplinary
standards," the board stated.
lh a written response to the Good
News board of directors, Bishop
William Boyd Grove, commission
president, and the Rev. Bruce Robbins,
general secretary, commended
Powers for her courage.
'This disclosure by her, a respected
ecumenist whose love for Christ and
the church is evident to so many,
should help us to remember that our
discussions about this church-dividing
issue are always about human
beings, our sisters and brothers, our
daughters and sons," they said.
Grove and Robbins disagreed that
the commission is in violation of the
discipline which prohibits the use of
United Methodist funds to promote
acceptance of homosexuality. Her
personal statement does not represent
the commission, they explained, and
as a church employee she is not required
to "forfeit her right to disagree
with church teaching." -Cruise
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News ...... .... e • e e e • e • e e e e e • e e • e C Q
Poll: Most American Catholics
disagree with pope's doctrine
N EW YORK (AP) - Most Rom an
Catholics in the United States approve
of the way Pope John Paul II is leading
the church but strongly disagr ee
with many of his key t eachings,
according to thr ee polls released Sept
30.
The polls are the latest to measur e
how sharply U .S. Catholics split with
papal doctrine on issu es such as
divorce, abortion and contraception.
They were reported by U.S. News
& World Report, Time mag azi ne and
CNN, and CBS and The New York
Times prior to th e pope's five-day visit
to the United Stales.
The Time-CNN poll found that 83
percent of American Catholics are satisfied
with the pope's leadership, but
only 15 percent believe they should
always obey his tea chings on such
moral issues as birth control and
abortion. Seventy-nine percent b e-
MARCH,
From Pa&e 1
magazine, and others speak.
In Baltimore, Dignity /USA president
Marianne Duddy was one of
about 60 people who gathered on the
eve of the pope 's visit to peacefully
oppo se some of the church 's most
controversial stances. Duddy, 34, was
once head of her college's Catholic
organization but was thrown out of
the group when a campus priest
learned s he was a lesbian.
"We'd like to talk with the pop e,"
Ms. Duddy said, as activists congregated
at du sk across from th e
Basilica of the Assumption. "We'd say
we have great beli e f in the
fundamental things the church stands
for and we 'd like to work to make it a
reality."
The pope's stand against homosexuality,
abortion , divorce, women
in the church and married priests
have cause .d pain and feelings of
isolation for many Catholics, Ms.
Duddy said.
"I still hear stories about people
being denied communion because
they 're gay or someone struggling
with homosexuality being told in
confession that he's committed a sin
worse than murder," Ms. Duddy said.
The group held a brief service,
praying for acceptance of Gays and
the end of gay-bashing.
They then formed a procession and
walked silently for several blocks,
past papal banners, balloons and
orange plastic barricades lining
downtown for the pontiffs · parad e.
They carried flickering candles and
ended their march with mor e
prayers.
Fred Ruof, a former priest, was one
lieve Catholics can make up their
own minds.
U.S. News & World Report found a
similar split, w ith two-thirds of Catholics
say ing abor tion is not mor ally
wrong in every case and three ou I of
fou r saying the same about divorce
and contraception.
In the CBS-Times poll, 73 percent
said knowing that th e pope had taken
a position on a social or moral issue
wo uld mak e no difference to them.
Seventy-six percent said they think
someone who does no t believe in the
authority of the pope can still be a
good Catholic , while respondents
were split over wheth er the church is
in touch with the needs of Catholics,
the CBS-Times poll said.
Catholics are also split on homosexuality,
with 50 percent agre eing
SEE DOCTRINE, Next Page
of the march ers. Still a devout Cath olic,
he left the priesthood in 1966
after six years to marry.
He attend ed the march to support
th e gay and lesbian community and
join the chorus of voices asking the
Catholic church to improve dialogue
with its members.
'The church is involved with a
titanic battle right now between tens
of millions who want a centralized,
authoritarian church, and hundreds of
millions . who want a more open,
Democratic church," Ruof said.
Ruof said that the Catholic church -
with its fast dwindling population of
pr iests - needs to be more open to
change for the sake of preserving the
church.
To Jim Caskey , president of
Dignity's Baltimore chapter, the
pope's visit was nothing more than a
reminder of what he believes is the
d1Urch's haughtiness.
'To me it's sorrowful that a man
with such great intelligence and
demonstrated personal holiness is not
more open to the spirit and relating lo
members of the church," Caskey said.
Part of the protest mission was
outreach, according to Caskey. "We're
trying to reach out to the individuals
in the pews who are having tremendous
guilt feelings in relating to
their long term Catholic upbringing
and the realities of their own lives,"
he said . "While there is little hope of
changing the teaching s of John Paul
and the other current bishops, our
witness can help remind their
successors of the need for change."
Contributors to this story: Samuel
Maull; Associated Press writer, Mary
Boyle, Associated Press writer, James R.
Moody, The Baltimore Alternative
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
News ••••• 0 • •• • ••• • • • • • •••• • ••• • • • •• ••• •• • • • •• •••• •• ••• • ••••• •• •• • •• • ••••••••
Gay Catholics irate
Pope meets with Pat Robertson, other non-Catholics
DURING HIS VISIT to New York,
Pope John Paul II brought together
officials of the nation's Christian right
and left and met with Muslim
leaders. ·
Gay Catholics were "outraged" at
the pope meeting with fundamentalist
preacher and former presidential
candidate Pat Robertson, according to
Marianne Duddy, president of
Dignity /USA. Robertson also heads
the Christian Coalition, a right-wing
group active in grassroots politics.
Dignity members were angered that
the Pope, who they say purports to
speak for all Roman Catholics
throughout the world, would meet
with a top representative of a
movement committed to limiting the
rights of gay and lesbian people, and
which often uses a particularly vile
form of anti-gay rhetoric in fundraising
appeals.
"For 25 years, gay people who
Louganis says
Catholic school
policy is wrong
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -
Former Olympic diver Greg
Louganis has criticized Notre
Dame for the university's refusal
to recognize a campus gay
and lesbian group.
Earlier this year, the Catholic
university's administration refused
to recognize the group,
touching off a campus controversy.
In an interview with the
South Bend Tribune before a
campus speech Sept. 19,
Louganis said the Notre Dame
policy was wrong.
'Tm not political, but (Notre
Dame's policy) is a very n;irrow-
minded view," Louganis
said. He was a double-gold
medalist in the 1984 and 1988
Olympics and announced in
February he has AIDS. "It's as if
they're saying we don't exist.
They may not agree or understand,
but we exist."
Notre Dame officials would
not comment.
Officials at the scbbol have
repeatedly refused ~o recognize
the group. In January, the
university barred a gay and
lesbian student group from
meeting on campus.
A Notre Dame spokesman
said at the time that if the university
worked with the group,
it would appear it was sanctioning
a lifestyle the church
opposes.
SECOND STONE
believe strongly in the fundamental
teachings of the Catholic Ch'urch have
sought dialogue with Church officials
at all levels, from local bishops to the
Pope himself," said Duddy. "Most of
these efforts have been summarily
rebuffed. For the Pope to instead
meet with the founder of the Christian
Coalition is a real slap in the face'.'
The Rev. Joan Campbell, secretary
general of the National Council of
Churches, said it was the first time
that she'd met Pat Robertson, head of
the Christian Broadcasting Network,
even though the two often disagree
vehemently in print.
'"Now that rve met you, I'll have
more trouble saying those things,"
Campbell quoted Robertson as saying
to her.
Cardinal John O'Connor arranged
the evening meeting, which included
five Muslim leaders and 27 representatives
of Episcopal, Eastern Orthodox
and Protestant churches. The group
spent hours together during the
pope's public services, then had a
half-hour with John Paul at
O'Connor's residence. The pope spoke
with each of them individually for a
minute or two.
He later held a separate meeting
with Jewish leaders.
Campbell said the pope told her the
mingling of the faiths was "intention-
! " a.
In a telephone interview with The
Associat ed Press, Robertson said he
told the pope: "l thought the
American people loved him, which is
an understatement."
He added: "He's got great humility
and spirituality; that's what people
admire about him."'
Several of the older members of the
clergy marveled at how communication
between the Roman Catholic
Church and other faiths had increased
in recent years.
'There's been a transformation of
DOCTRINE,
Froin Previous Page
with the church's position that it's
morally wrong and 49 percent disagreeing,
U.S. News & World Report
said .
The magazine's poll also found
overwhelming support among Catholics
for the ordination of women and
allowing priests to marry, both contrary
.to church policy.
Still, more than four in five
Catholics in all three polls gave high
leadership ratings to the pope, as well
relationships," Methodist Bishop
James Mathews said. In the old days,
he said, "we were more or less not
supposed to like Roman Catholics and
they weren't supposed to like us
either."
Campbell, the only woman at the
meeting, said she did "'yearn for the
day" when women would play a
larger role in the Roman Catholic
Church. But she said she felt the pope
respected her, and that the Vatican
had begun to expand - albeit slightly
- the roles women may play in the
church.
-Associated Press and other reports
as to their bishops and parish priests.
For U.S. News, Market Facts polled
1,000 people, including 493 Catholics,
on Sept. 23-24. Results have a margin
of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5
percentage points.
For Time and CNN, Yankelovich
Partners surveyed 500 Catholics on
Sept. 27-28. Sampling error is plus or
minus 4.4 percentage points.
CBS and the Times polled 1,536
people Sept. 18-22, including 423
Catholics, for whom the sampling
error is plus or minus 5 percentage
points.
Dignity/USA celebrates 25th anniversary
DIGNITY I USA, the nation's largest
group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered Catholics, celebrated
its 25th anniversary at its recent
biennial convention in Los Angeles.
The organization has recently took
several major steps intended to further
its goal of promoting equality for
all individuals, regardless of sexual
orientation, within both the Catholic
Church and society. In addition to
calling for a "Solidarity Sunday" in
October and the filing of a friend-ofthe-
court brief with the U.S. Supreme
Court in regard to Colorado's Amendment
2 case, Dignity/USA expressed
its support of the "'Marriage Resolution"
that has been developed by the
Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund in response to the pending
same-sex marriage cases in Hawaii.
Dignity/USA secretary Ben Boerkoel
said t.hat Dignity was one of the first
groups approached by Lambda for
support of the marriage resolution,
because Dignity is perceived to have
a greal deal of influence within the
broader gay and lesbian community.
In other convention highlights,
Dignity addressed the issue of women's
ordination, and set up a task
force to examine the role of ministry -
by both ordained clergy and lay
people within Dignity . The organization
reaffirmed its support for the
ordination of women by the Roman
Catholic Church, and called for a
renewal of priestly ministry throughout
the Church. A resolution passed
by delegates to the convention "finds
that the denial of priestly ministry to
women has no compelling moral and
theological justification, and therefore
is a grave injustice to both men and
women." Furthermore, the resolution
"finds that the present Church structure
for selecting, educating and
administering the priesthood of the
Church often fails to serve the needs
of the people of God, or the needs of
those who dedicate themselves to
lives of service to the people of God."
J" ''., :·, ~
Polish premiere of "Priest" prompts:,nvestlgstiori
\'V~SAW, ~ol~d (APk Witn cm.eJl:la Kul~11)ndp~y~d :to 'proheavy
secunty and praymg.• -' test as theJtlm -was &emirscreened.
protesters outside, the British film . · They said the inovie_propagates ·
"Prie_st" ab?ut a ga)'. clei;gy~_an pornography andJ-iurts ~!l feelliigs •'
had ' its Polish premJere10 mJd- of<;athC>lics, who .compnse morll · , .
September. . . · · · · than 90 percent of Poland's pop.ula-
Th!l Warsawprosecutor's office tion . .-. . : . • .
op~ned an investigation after ·· . The movie by llie British director
complaints by thousands of Catho- ·Antonia Bird tells,of a Catholic gay
lies . · . . priest c,orifrpnted'with moral ·ru1em- .
Expert& will view the movie and ' mas in a poorLiverpool p_arish.
determine whether the complaints The film is to be shown in nine
that ii insults religion are justified. major cities in Poland.
If yes, the prosecutor may confiscate Though it iru.pired critical discusthe
prints and ban the movie. sion in many European countries, it
Some 200 people, mostly elderly was screened without scanda)s, even
women with crucifixes and rosaries, in Catholic Italy.
picketed in front of the downtown
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
News
Gay-affirming Baptist church disfellowshipped
THE BOARD OF the American Baptist
Churches of Ohio has made Ohio
the first region in the history of the
denomination to disfellowship a local
church. This they did because the
First Baptist Church of Granville, a
charter member of ABC Ohio, and
his torically one of its leading
churches, extends its ministries tolesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgendered
people without requiring them
to become straight.
At its regular meeting on September
21, the Board of Regional Ministries
"acknowledged" the action,
taken in June by the Columbus Baptist
Association, to disfellowship the
Granville Church .
'Today the Baptists of Ohio added
their supreme insult to the general
oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered . people everywhere,"
said Dr. George Williamson,
Senior Pastor of First Baptist,
Granville. "The insult was compounded
by the fact that Ohio Baptist
leadership violated the biblical
mandate to justice and the most
sacred principles of Baptist tradition
in order to do it."
Requests by the church that their
representatives be allowed to attend
the Regional Ministries meeting were
denied by the Executive Committee.
The First Baptist Board therefore
submitted in writing its request that
the CBA action be overturned. This
they supported with eight reasons.
Their reasons, according to Sandy
Ellinger and Karen Huff, lay leaders
of the church and signatories to the
document, are "consistent with the
national, regional and association constitutions,
with Baptist traditions, and
with scripture."
ABC Ohio . leaders were asked if
any lesbian or gay Baptists, the ones
specifically being condemned in the
discussion, were invited to be present
to speak for themselves. None were.
The documents submitted by the
church quoted Baptist theologian E.Y.
Mullins, who wrote, 'The right of
private judgement in religion is a
right at the heart of Christian truth.
A Baptist should be the last person in
the world to question the right of
others to the full and free exercise of
their private judgement in religion."
Dr. William Keucher, former moderator
at Granville and past president
of ABCUSA, criticized the action
because "it seeks a demand for
theological conformity on one specific
Recent finding by top biblical scholars
offer a radical new view on
the Bible and homosexuali ty.
WhUaitble the lJ
Really Says
A.bout
Homosexuality
. A \-le\miniak, pt,.O.
oan1el .
Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D.,
respected theologian and
Roman Catholic priest,
explains in a clear fashion
fascinating new insights.
11
••• will help any reasonably open and
attentive reader see that the Bible says
something quite different on this sub~
ject from what is often claimed ."
.L, William Countryman,
Author of Dirt, Greed and Sex
.. the most thoughtful, lucid and accessible
summary I know of current biblical
scholarship relating to homose xual
issues .. eminently useful... 11
-James B. Nelson,
Author and Theology Professor
Order now from Second Stone Press
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SECOND STONE -
theological issue which was not part
of the original charter's membership
requirements." Dr. Keucher, who has
written several books on Baptist
traditions, argued "it was the dissenting
views of Baptists against
religious majorities which ultimately
led to our nation's guarantees for
religious diversity and freedom."
According to Ellinger and Huff the
church, which has grown in attendance
and membership since being
disfellowshipped by the CBA, has a
176 year history of just this sort of
dissenting action. In the 1830's the
church started in its building the first
Ohio Baptist College and a decade
later the first college for women at a
time when most Baptists thought
"such things to be of the devil." The
church, in violation of federal law and
local mores, was a station on the
Underground Railroad. The church
has sent out over 300 missionaries,
more than any other Ohio and nearly
any American church, and began
doing so when most Baptists believed
that "Christians had no place in
'heathen' lands." The church's current
active ministry to the rights and
spirituality of women , always controversial
among Baptists, began in
the 1860's.
"This church has consistently
worked for justice and against war,
always against the tide of denominational
and public opinion. In the
past 15 years the church ordained
more people than any church in Ohio
and more women than any in the
denomination," according to Dr. Lyn
Robertson of Denison University.
"Obviously," insisted Rev. Gail
Adams, Associate Pastor, "the church
will continue to be a place where the
gay /lesbian community will have a
home."
"Our ministries are not remarkable,"
Dr. Williamson said. 'They
are certainly not heroic. For followers
of Jesus Christ, they are simply the
obvious thing to do." He added, 'The
Christian spirit which persecutes the
gay /lesbian community is the same
as that which perpetrated the crusades
on the Arab world, which outlawed
Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon and
Darwin, which justified the enslavement
and segregation of African
Americans, which kept silence during
the Holocaust and silenced women as
spokespeople for God. As it always
was, this cruel spirit is still in error."
Williamson insisted, "If they disfellowship
us from the region, from the
national denomination, from the
ecumenical community, and from the
world Christian family, we are not
disfellowshipped from God."
Baptist minister : Church needs
more open attitude toward Al DS
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - the Bible, a number of Christians feel
Many Christians are neglecting their no obligation to be compassionate
rel igion by turning a deaf ear to because if you lay down with dogs,
AIDS patients, a Baptist minister told you get up with fleas," Pierce said.
a conference audience here. 'The issue facing our churches is:
The Rev. Juliette Pierce, whose AIDS is here, and there are people in
minister husband died of the disease, need. Are you going to help or not?"
said fear and misunderstandings are The two-day conference was
tying the hands of the church. sponsored by Faith, Hope and Love
"Fear has a serious impact on the Community Services, a local, nonprofchurch;
it paralyzes people and keeps it nurse-managed outpatient program
the church from being what God for people with HIV, the virus that
created it to be - a place of uncon- causes AIDS. The conference for naditional
love. Fear binds the hands , tional church and.lay leaders explores
feet and hearts," Pierce told about 40 how churches can overcome fears and
pa rticipants at the second annual lend a hand.
Christian Conference on AIDS. Locally, at least 10 churches have
Pierce recalled how a hospital had members who are HIV infected,
work er asked her husband, Ralph, and at least two pastors' families have
how he contracted AIDS. Her hus- been affected by AIDS since 1986,
band replied: "Is the treatment any said Christie Hinds, who founded
different? Is the dosage of AZ!' less if Faith, Hope and Love.
I got it one way or another?" Jerry Price, a graphic artist at Focus
Many people, including Christians, on the Family, said he will use the
continue to base their compassion for seminar information to help his
AIDS patients on how the disease was church establish an AIDS policy and
contracted, Pierce said. speak to youth groups around the city
And because AIDS initially was about AIDS prevention.
dubbed "the gay disease," churches "When the church in America
tended to ignore, condemn or ostra- should have been reaching out to
cize AIDS patients and their families. those sick with AIDS, regardless of
"If a person got AIDS through a sin, they haven't," Price said "But
behavior someone doesn't approve of there's hope, and we as Christians
or doesn't feel is in accordance with need· to keep trying."
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
News-~ ............................. .. • ........................................ .
Coroner's condemnation of Gays sparks recall movement
SPOKANE, Wash. - Coroner Dexter
Amend stirred up a hornet's nest this
summer when he used the slaying of
a 9-year-old girl as an opportunity to
disparage gay people.
Amend categorized Gays as
orgasmic maniacs, and stated that all
Gays should be "put down." When
asked what he meant by "put down"
he reluctantly admiUed he should
have said "condemned."
His public rantings about "sodomites"
spurred the formation of a recall
movement. The governor's office has
asked the state licensing board to
determine whether Amend's conduct
was unprofessional.
And several bereaved families
have come forward with complaints
about the coroner's insensitivity, suggesting
Spokane County can be a
lousy place to lose a loved one.
"I think the man's insane. I think he
ought to be committed for psychiatric
evaluation," said the Rev. Charles
Wood, an Episcopal priest and a
member of Parents and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays.
"Dexter Amend makes it very
embarrassing to live here."
Amend, 76, a retired urologist,
declined to be interviewed . He did
not return telephone calls to his office
and his home.
The controversy centers on
Amend's remarks about the June
slaying of Rachel Carver. Her uncle,
Jason Wickenhagen, has pleaded
innocent to aggravated first-degree
murder in her death.
In August interviews with
KXLY-TV and The Spokesman-Review,
Amend said the child had been
anally vi.olated for years before her
death.
He blamed homosexuals for ruining
the girl's life.
Polish church
invades politics
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH has
become closely involved in
Poland's new consititution,
reported The New York Times.
In the latest developments, the
church demanded protections
for fetuses and a ban on gay
teachers.
The general secretary of the
Bishops Conference, Tadeusz
Pieronek, has objected to draft
wording that would prohibit
discrimination against Gays.
''Does it mean we will legalize
gay and lesbian marriages
and th en have to allow them to
take important posts and bring
up children?" he asked.
-Seattle Gay News
SECOND STON~
"She'd been sodomized over and
over, and sodomy is a homosexual
act," Amend said. 'To have everybody
thinking homosexuality is OK is
a bunch of baloney."
The Spokane Human Rights Commission
said Amend had confused
homosexuality with pedophilia, an
abnormal sexual desire for children.
Statistics show that 98 percent of child
sex-abuse cases involve heterosexual
men, the human rights commission
said.
"I wonder how his comments would
have resonated with the community if
he had made remarks attacking
women or African-Americans or
Jews?" asked Craig Peterson, a gay
member of the commission.
The panel called for Amend's
resignation .
There have been several complaints
about Amend since he took office in
January - his second stint at the post,
which he held for one term in the
mid-1980s.
In June, a divorced woman whose
brother had died said that when
Amend learned she couldn't afford to
cremate the body, he told her she
need ed to go to church and find a
husband .
A couple whose ·3-year-old son had
cerebral palsy and choked to death
said they were shocked by Amend's
demeanor at their home. He tripped
over the boy's body and gave them a
long, too-graphic lecture on organ
donation, they said.
A former employee, who worked
for Amend during his first stint as
coroner, recalled a sobbing couple
who came to the office to pick up the
belongings of their son, dead from a
drug overdose.
"I don·t know what's bothering you.
After all, he lived on the fring e -
what did you expect?" the employee
recalled Amend saying.
"'He's really crude. He has no social
skills," the employee said in an
interview with The Spokesman-Review,
which did not publish the work er's
name.
In addition to problems related to
Amend's per s onal style, there are
concerns about the professional
standards for his office.
Spokane County, with a population
of nearly 400,000 people, needs a
qualified medical examiner - someone
trained in death investigations , said
Spokane forensic pathologist George
Lindholm, who performs many ofthe
autopsies in Eastern Washington and
northern Idaho.
··we·ve had a concern about the
professionality of the office over the
long term," Lindholm said.
He was reluctant to criticize Amend
p erso nally. But in an earlier interview
with Tlze Spokesman-Review he
said he had strong reason to believe
that there were problems with death
certificates coming out of the coroner's
office.
"'In my opinion, they're not just
judgment calls. They're misrepresentation,"
he said.
.For example, Lindholm said,
Amend would sometimes jump the
gun and assign a cause of death
rather than wait for lab work to
return. And the cause of death can be
critical in criminal investigations or in
determining public-health crises, such
as an outbreak of mening itis or
tainted over-the-counter medications,
SEE CORONER, Page 17
Catholic bishops neutral on anti-gay initiatives
SEATTLE (AP) - Roman Catholic
Archbishop Thomas Murphy and two
bishops are not taking sides on two
anti-gay-rights initiatives after opposing
two comparable propositions last
year. ·
A four-page paper by the church's
three prelates in \o\lashington state
criticizes Initiatives 166 and 167 as
"inadequately crafted," and they
have barred signature-gathering for
the measures on church grounds, said
John McCoy, an archdiocese spokesman
"Discrimination and violence
towards individuals because of sexual
orientation are wrong," said the
paper, signed by Murphy of Seattle,
Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane
and Bishop Francis George of
Yakima .
At the same time, they did not call
the initiatives "morally wrong," as
they did with Initiatives 608 and 610
last year.
"Initiative 166 ... is similar to an
initiative we opposed last year, but
the debate that ensued caused confusion
and misunderstanding about
our teaching and the reason for our
position ," the bishops wrote.
'The catechism of the Catholic
Church goes on to state: '(Homosexual
persons) must be accepted with respect,
compassion and se nsitivity .
Every sign of unjust discrimination in
their r egard should be avoided,"' the
bishops said.
They also wrote, 'The church d oes
not approve of homos exual genital
acts ...
"Schools should not present homosexual
behavior as acceptable, nor
should they condemn homosexual
persons for who they are."
Initiative 166 campaign chairman
John Vasko would not comment on
the bishops' paper.
Initiatives 166 and 167 closely resemble
Initiatives 608 and 610, which
failed to attract enough signatures to
make the ballot last year.
Initiative 166 would ban the
extension of anti-discrimination laws
to cover Gays and Lesbians and
prohibit public schools from teaching
that homosexuality is an acceptable
lifestyle.
Initiative 167 would prevent Gays
and Lesbians from adopting children,
becoming foster parents or getting
child custody in divorce cases.
The new versions are to the
Legislature rather than to the people.
That gives backers more time -
until Dec. 29 - to get the required
181,667 valid signatures of registered
voters and sends the measures to the
Legislature if that requirement is met.
The Legislature then could enact
the initiatives into law, reject them
and send them to the ballot or adopt
alternatives to go alongside the originals
on the balfot. In the latter event,
voters could adopt either version or .
reject both.
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
"Odd couple" forms friendship through HIV program
EUGENE, Ore. - Ruth Norris and
Christopher Smith agree they make
an unconventional pair.
The 72-year-old grandmother and
the 28-year-old man say they have
found gold in the rubble of destruction
caused by his HIV-positive diagnosis.
It's a friendship neither would have
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SECOND STONE
predicted six months ago, when
Norris became a companion volunteer
with Eugene's HIV Alliance.
The nonprofit organization each
year trains a small corps of volunteers
to provide one-on-one emotional and
social support for people whose lives
have been turned upside down by
HIV.
Norris, a retired surgical assistant
from San Jose who now lives in
Cheshire, heard about the companion
program at church at a time when she
was looking for meaningful volunteer
work.
'Tm not the type to 'Sit at home and
wonder if the pictures on the walls
are really straight and what's going to
be on 'Oprah Winfrey' today, or go
shopping and get my hair dyed
blue," said Norris .
AIDS outreach appealed to Norris
because she knew from her hospital
Smith revealed
how self-doubt had
so often ruled his
life, how his family
responded badly
to his homosexuality,
how his
mother once told
him she considered
it a birth defect.
experience how fiercely isolating the
AIDS virus can be.
Smith sought help through the ·
companion program during a jarring
transition in his life. He was recovering
from pneumonia and had just left
his circle of friends in Portland. He
moved to Eugene in December after
declining health forced him to quit
his job as a department store manager.
Before th eir first meeting, both
were nervous .
"Mostly, it was feelings of
inadequacy, that this was too big a
thing I was taking on," Norris said .
Before the meeting, she . told Smith
over the phone, "If we don't like each
other, we'll just break it off right now,
OK?"
But before the date was over, they
ended up spilling out their life
stories.
Norris described her marriage at
age 19 and how it came to an abrupt
end after 49 years when her husband
died four years ago, plunging her life
into chaos.
Smith revealed how self-doubt had
so often ruled his life, how his family
responded badly . to his homosexu-
0
ality, how his mother once told him
she considered it a birth defect.
The two friends now meet at least
once a week, visiting museums and
gardens, scrounging for cheap treasure
in secondhand stores, but mostly
just talking.
Smith says Norris filled a void in
his life that family; close friends, even
his long-term partner couldn't.
"She accepts me for who I am,
period," said Smith. "I think I have
more in common with her than any of
my friends my age.
"We both love gardening and
people. We share a spiritual bent. We
both have faced adversity in our
lives."
Al DS considered taboo subject
in many black communities
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - AIDS is a taboo
subject in Nebraska's black community,
some AIDS educators, victims and
service providers said.
An AIDS educator in the Nebraska
Department of Health, who is black,
said the situation is a crisis in the
making.
"Not only are the people in our
community not finding out what their
HN status is, they're not protecting
themselves," Steve Jackson, a community
health educator with the department's
HN / AIDS program, told the
Omaha World-Herald. 'They're not
being diagnosed, and they're not
being treated."
Blacks represented about 4 percent
of the Nebraska population in the
1990 census and made up 16 percent
of all AIDS cases reported from Jan. 1,
1983, through June 29, 1995. Of the
639 cases of AIDS reported in
Nebraska in that period, 101 involved
blacks.
The figures do not include unreported
cases, cases in Nebraska that
were diagnosed elsewhere or people
carrying the HIV virus who do not
have full-blown AIDS.
Many black people infected with
the virus are not seeking medical
attention or revealing their status to
their friends and relatives for fear of
rejection, those who work with AIDS
victims said.
Others said local agencies are not
doing enough to reach out to that
segment of the population.
Tehira Ali, a drug and substa nce
abuse counselor at the Greater
Omaha Community Action Addiction
Center, said many of her black clients
consider AIDS a gay disease . She said
variety of social services, suppo rt
group~ and opportunities for socializing.
One man at a recent Harambee
meeting at a north Omaha bowling
alley told the newspaper that AIDS
drives its victims social life because
they try to hide it from friends. He
spoke on the condition that he not be
identified because he fears
the stigma attached to AIDS.
"We as blacks, the only thing we
ever dealt with is drug abuse and
alcohol," he said. "We don't deal with
sexually transmitted diseases too
well."
A woman in the Harambee program
said she had been a member of
a Nebraska AIDS Project support
group but did not have much in
common with people in those sessions.
Many black people
infected with the
virus are not seeking
medical attention
or revealing
their status · to
their friends and
relatives for fear
of rejection ...
they fear being tested and treated
because they fear being labeled as "J was an IV drug user, and they
homosexual. were gay men," she said. 'There
"What I find with African-American wasn't a woman there who could
people is primarily, 'If I got it, I really identify with what I was going
don't want to know,"' she told the through .... And no blacks ever came
World-Herald. "We tend to have so to meetings at NAP."
many problems and, being on the The woman spoke to the newspaper
lower end of the econqmic scale, this on the condition that her name not be
disease is just one more problem. used because her family did not ·want
People think, 'If I don't know, I can it known that she has AIDS.
just get on with the rest of the things I The Nebraska AIDS Project does not
need, like food and shelter."' have any minority case workers, said
The Charles Drew Health Center Gary George, the project's former
and Nebraska AIDS Project .began a executive director. The project has miprogram
last fall to provide mental nority volunteers. Volunteer coordinahealth
services to blacks affected by tor Rich Santee said 15 volunteers
AIDS. The program called Harambee speak Spanish and 24 are black.
serves 26 people. It provides a wide "But we could use more," he said.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995
Part of a $2.5 million gift endowment
Vanderbilt Divinity School to study gender, sexuality issues
By Ray Waddle
The Tennessean
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AF) - Sex and religion.
Strange bedfellows.
Throw them together and they
threaten to tear up denominations,
many of which are in turmoil over
homosexuality, the ordination of
women, the place of divorce, abortion,
clergy misconduct, and what to
call God (He? She?).
Into this climate steps Vanderbilt
Divinity School, which has decided to
go where no religion school has
dared .
With a recent gift, the school is
putting $1 million into the touchy
issues of gender and_ sexuality. As far
as they know, no seminary has committed
such a sum to such a controversy.
School officials say
they want to break
through the fog of
religious anxiety
and divisiveness
over sex-andreligion
issues and
help churches think
them through with
a more solid basis
in Scripture and
social sciences;
'This whole issue of sexuality so
vexes the churches that it's difficult
even to get a conversation going,"
said Joseph Hough, dean of the Divinity
School.
School officials say they want to
break through the fog of religious
anxiety and divisiveness over sexand-
religion issues and help churches
think them through with a more solid
basis in Scripture and social sciences.
They believe a lot of Christians get
confusing signals about sex from pulpit
and Bible. Is the sex act good or
evil? Is homos exuality wrong? Should
women be leaders in church?
SECOND STONE
The $1. million - part of a $2.S million
gift endowment - will fund
public conferences, publications and
other resources.
The gift comes from the E. Rhodes
and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation,
which was started by Richmond, Va.,
businessman Rhodes Carpenter .
The remaining $1.5 million of the
gift will go to endowing a new senior
faculty appointment. ·
The Rev. Ann Day, Carpenter
Foundation president, Leona Carpenter's
daughter and a 1978 graduate of
Vanderbilt Divinity, said the gift will
go a long way toward "stimulating
discussion among individuals in faith
communities about these difficult,
often controversial, but extremely
vital issues."
The gift makes the Carpenter
Foundation the Divinity School's single
largest donor. The foundation has
given the school some $4 million.
Not everyone is -happy that sexuality
will be the subject of academic
scrutiny by Vanderbilt ministers-intraining.
The president of a conservative
caucus of the United Methodist
Church - Methodists make up about
30 percent of Vanderbilt Divinity's
student body - doubts the new program
will bear much fruit.
'True, gender and sexuality ha ve
the potential to split the mainline
churches," said James Heidinger ,
president of Good News, a caucus
based in Wilmore, Ky.
"But there are folks who want to put
Scripture aside on so many issues and
leave Christianity at the mercy of
everyone's own personal judgment.
"And that's a recipe for chaos. I
believe there's more consensus, settled
by the dear word of Scripture,
than some would have us think.
There's a very well-organized vocal
minority determined to keep this on
the front burner."
A look at denominational debates
suggests that sexuality is the reason
for the most emotional church reactions
in a generation:
Recently, the nation's largest
Lutheran denomination decided to
scrap a churchwide statement on
sexuality. An earlier draft argued that
the Bible supports gay relationships,
but it set off a national wave of
indignation and protest. After seven
years of trying, the Evangelical
Lutherans have failed to reach
consensus on either the ordination of
Gays and Lesbians or the blessing of
same-sex unions.
A group of bishops in the Episcopal
Church voted to place a colleague
before a formal church trial on
charges he violated church law by
ordaining a gay deacon. It's the latest -
in a wearying debate over gay rights
that has preoccupied the Episcopal
Church for a decade.
United Methodists and Presbyterians
continue to debate the merits
of the "Re-Imagining" Conference of
1993, where some female leaders
invoked the name of "Sophia" for God
during a worship setting. Traditionalists
said ii was a perfect example
of feminist heresy. Defenders said
church conservatives want to smear
"Sophia" in hopes of shutting women
out of power .
What vexes many churchgoers is
that the debates are usually about two
competing values: Scriptural authority
vs. the responsibility to &how compassion
for weak or powerless minorities
.
Is it more faithful to the Bible and
Christian faith, for example, to uphold
condemnations of homosexuality,
or to push the church to open its
doors and power to oppressed
groups?
"In the past, Scripture was used to
justify slavery, and people were able
to move beyond that," said Sallie
McFague, a Vanderbilt theologian .
"Yet a lot of people now don't seem
able to come to a 20th-century posilion
on the role of women, gender
justice or homosexuality."
Hough said church discomfort about
sexuality is nothing new. It's as old as
the foundations of the faith.
"For instance, there's a long
ambivalence about the sex act. The _
church has encouraged large families
yet has condemned sex except for
procreation ."
Hough said he envisions a wide
range of conferences that give a
hearing to various views supported
by respectable scholarship. Examples
include sexual ethics, biblical views of
women's ·ordination, or the effects of
divorce on children.
But he said the new program will
not be a propaganda mill for any one
particular party line. Vanderbilt is
known as a liberal divinity school
that affirms women's ordination and
the rights of gay students and faculty.
"Why in the world would we do
this now? Because part of the role of
the Divinity School is to help bring
clarity to issues important to the life of
churches," Hough said.
"Being a Christian in the world is
about living with integrity and believing
your Christian faith informs
everything you do."
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N O VE M B E RIDE CE MB ER l 9 9 5
National AIDS
Memorial marks
10th anniversary
NEW YORK - Despite the thousands
who have visited it every year for the
last decade at the Cathedral of St.
John the Divine in northern Manhattan,
the National AIDS Memorial
sometimes seems to be one of the
most well-kept secrets of our time.
It is the only permanent memorial
in the country honoring those who
have died as a result of the HIV/ AIDS
pandemic.
The memorial was the idea of Sister
(and now Deacon) Brooke Bushong, a
member of the Episcopal Church
Army, an evangelical religious order,
and at the time, president of Integrity/
New York, the local branch of the
lesbian and gay justice ministry of the
Episcopal Church. She had attended
funeral s of several friends who had
died of AIDS. She saw the need for a
focal point - one hallowed spot -
where those who have lost loved ones
could come to mourn and find hope
and consolation.
When she approached the Rt. Rev.
Paul Moore, Jr., then Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of New York, he
was enthusiastic. He, too, had · felt the
need . The Bay of St. Luke, patron
saint of physicians, on the south side
of the Cathedral's nave, was mad e
available as the site of the memorial.
Bishop Moore dedicated it on November
9, 1985. The first anniversary of
the dedication of the memorial was
attended by over 2000 people and the
following year the anniversary
became a nationwide event when the
Most Rev. Edmond L. Browning,
Presiding Bishop, declared it to be the
Episcopal Church's National Day of
Prayer for those affected by HIV/
AIDS. The date has since been moved
to October.
Since 1985 the memorial has become
a symbol of strength in the face
of the AIDS epidemic. Over 5000
names have now been inscribed in
the Book of Remembrance, and the
number grows week by week .
initially a joint ministry of the
Cathedral and Integrity, the National
AIDS Memorial was incorporated as a
non-profit corporation in 1992.
'To honor the dead, to serve the
living" is the core of the National
AIDS Memorial's mission statement.
The living are se rved not only
through prayer, but by gifts which go
to a variety of AIDS service organizations.
Although unsolicited, contributions
arrived with the first names to be
inscribed in the Book of Remembrance.
It was immediately c!ecided
that only 15 percent of such contributions
should be used to maintain
the memorial, including inscribing
the names, while 85 percent would go
to start-up AIDS ministries.
NAM makes a real effort to s eek out
.and fund small, start-up groups that
are filling unmet needs in the AIDS
community and to existing AIDS
organizations moving into new areas
of service.
Over $100,000 in grants has been
distributed, ranging from $250 to
$3,000.
NAM funding is nationwide : from
the Chattanooga Council on AIDS to
Bronx AIDS Servic es. NAM fund s
both secular and religious organizations:
from the People With AIDS
Now in it's tenth year, the National
AIDS Memorial at the Cathedral of
St. John the Divine in New York City
is visited by thousands each year. It
is the only permanent memorial in
the country honoring all who have
died as a result of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
Coalition of New Jersey to Interfaith
AIDS Ministry of Greater Danbury,
Connecticut.
As NAM appoaches the end of tis
first decade, with no cure for AIDS
yet in sight, HIV/ AIDS is affecting
ever more people, of varied backgrounds,
and there remains a need to
establish new and specialized programs
to deal with that reality.
NAM gave Sub-Sahara AIDS
Rescue, which serves the immigrant
African communities in Staten Island
and Brooklyn, their first grant from
any source in 1993. In 1994, a second
grant for computer equipment
allowed them to obtain funding from
governmental and foundation
sources . These gifts were like the
loaves and fishes, enabling the
organizations to multiply them many
fold.
There is no paid staff at the
National AIDS Memorial. Those who
volunteer on the board raise the
money, keep the records, investigate
and decide which of the many
requests for funding can be honored.
A Requiem Eucharist is held at the
memorial at 1:00 p.m . the fourth
Saturday of every month .
As the name implies, the memorial
is not limited to New Yorkers, or to
Episcopalians. It includes names from
all over the world. No contribution is
required to have a name inscribed.
Anyone wishing to provide the name
of a deceased individual for the Book
of Remembrance, contribute to the
fund, or apply for a grant may write
to the National AIDS Memorial,
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, P.O.
Box 1036, New York, NY 10011.
Poetry sustains woman dying of AIDS
By Jill Burcum
Rochester Post-Bulletin
~e voic e is gravelly and
:;JI definitely that of a New York
native. Coffee is "cawffee" and car is
"cah."
It emanates from somewhere within
a thick haze of cigarette .smoke. The
morning sun streaming in the ancient
windows illuminates the smoke
cloud, creating a wispy halo around a
thin, blond woman's head. "I don't
usually smoke this much, but ... you
know," says Dara Corey Thaler.
'Tm a master poet, ya know," she
says to no one in particular. She stares
off to a place far beyond the walls of
the second-floor apartment where she
lives . In it are Thaler's sole possessions
. A battered rocker. A small
television. A rickety stand on which a
typewriter rests .
Dara Corey Thaler has come to
Rochester, Minnesota to die . Arid to
live.
At 38, Thaler has AIDS, lymphoma
and systemic tuberculosis. All three
are terminal, with the last two perhaps
triggered by the first, a disease
SECOND STONE
she was diagnosed with in 1987.
Her condition is the culmination of
a life lived in the fast lane · on the
streets of New York, Chicago and
Rochester. Thaler is clean and sober
now, a true believer in 12-step recovery
programs. But for much of her life
and in each of those cities, Thaler was
.J drug addict and a prostitute.
In the l.Jte 1980s, Thaler moved to
Rochester for reasons that ar e now
unclear. In 1988, she was convicted of
solicitation for prostitution. The arrest
made news around the state . Thaler
had AIDS at the time . She was given
three years of probation and moved
back to Chicago shortly there.Jfter.
She returned to Rocl,ester this year
for love and the Mayo Clinic. In
August, she married .a Rochester
man. He sustains her spiritually, she
says; Mayo Clinic maintains her
body.
She is unequivocal about how she
wants to be remembered. Throughout
her life, Thaler has written poetry. To
her, it is not a hobby . It is not fun. It
is•simply something she must do, like
breathing.
Volumes of poems now fill a large
bag. During the years of drugs and
prostitution, the poems are angry,
shocking and taunting. Now, they are
reflective, tinged with gentle humor
and regret that the voice of the poet
herself will soon be stilled.
"If I can reach one person and let
them know no matter how bad things
are, things C.Jn change, then I have
made a differenc e. My life will have
meaning, " she said.
Some days, Thaler jumps out of
bed . On other days, she is too weak
and must crawl to the bathroom .
Still, her reasons to live grow more
numerous .
Her beloved poetry has not left her .
Even through the pain medication,
the poems come. Sometimes it's a
mental image that arrives first. Sometimes
it's just an urge to sit at her
typewriter.
AIDS has done what her parents,
police a ' ublic awareness campaigns
did n , said . It woke her
from the drug-induced haze and
changed her, the kind of change that
comes from deep within.
"I've had the fortune of a queen
(the jewelry in my eyes)
the whish of winds blow through
my hair - ·
the branches clatter noise
God composed a symphony
surrounded with applause
Still weakness comes
in midst of dance
Sometimes instead I crawl."
The poem ends, but Thaler's pleasure
does not. She smiles and looks
up . But her hands are already reaching
for the papers spread out on the
bed . "One more," she says as the
cigarette burns slowly toward the
filter. Once more she begins. And
once more, Thaler falls under language's
spell .
The poem ends, its lulling rhythms
ebbing into the soft ticks of a clock
resting on the window ledge. This
time, Thaler is comfortable with the
silence.
"I have been given a capacity to
give and to care," she says. "I want to
touch someone that might not have
been touched."
The voice wavers .
"And I don't want to be forgotten."
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995
BiJ .•• ■i■fB-•BfllMIJli=ii
Zimbabwe's churches support gay ban
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's
churches have condemned homosexuality
following an international controversy
caused by President Robert
Mugabe's bitter campaign against
Gays and Lesbians.
Many church leaders have agreed
with President Mugabe's views,
though some said the president's
"witch-hunt" against Gays and Lesbians
was regrettable but understandable.
Several church officials also
said that it was unfortunate that the
issue was getting so much attention
when Zimbabwe faced much more
serious problems.
Government action against homosexuals
in Zimbabwe and speeches
by President Mugabe on the subject
have drawn international press coverage
in recent months.
Homosexuality has Jong been
.repressed in Zimbabwe, but the present
campaign by the government
began just over a month ·ago when an
association called Gays and Lesbians
of Zimbabwe (GALZ) was making
preparations to set up a stall at the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair,
the theme of which was human
rights .
A government official, Bornwell
Chakaodza, who holds the post of
State Director of Information, wrote a
letter to the book fair trustees stating
the govern,ment'~ strong objection to
the presence of GALZ.
"Zimbabwean society and government
do not accept the public display
of homosexual literature, " the government's
Jetter said. The book fair
trustees were forced to cancel GALZ's
permit to set up a stall. Four of the 18
book fair trustees quit their posts
in protest at the government's actions.
On the opening day of the book
· fair, President Mugabe · made a
speech describing Gays and Lesbians
as social perverts who should not
have a place in Zimbabwean society.
"I find it extremely outrageous and
repugnant to my human conscience
that such immoral and revulsive
organizations like those of homosexuals
who offend both against the
Jaw of nature and the morals and
religious beliefs espoused by our
socie.ty should have any advocates in
our midst and even elsewhere in the
world," President Mugabe said.
"If we accept homosexuality as a
right, as is being argued by the
association of sodomists and sexual
perverts, what moral fibre shall our
society ever have to deny organised
drug addicts, or even those given to
bestiality, the rights they might claim
and allege they possess under the
rubrics of individual freedom and
human rights?" said the president.
He said that homosexuality was an
"abhorrent" Western import.
President Mugabe's views have
drawn strong support from the local
press, some sections of which have
condemned the West as "moral midgets".
An editorial in the Chronicle,
the newspaper with the second
Zimbabwe questioned as site
of 1998 wee Assembly
GENEVA - World Council of
Churches (WCC) Central Committee
members are seeking assurances that
recent anti-gay statements by Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe will
not create problems for the WCC
when it holds its Eighth Assembly in
Harare in 1998.
Mugabe was widely quoted over
the summer as saying he believes
"homosexuals don't have any rights at
all and if they come here, we will
throw them in jail."
Responding to questions from
Central Committee members during
a Sept. 18 plenary session, WCC general
secretary Konrad Raiser recalled
that similar concerns about holding
the 1998 Assembly in Zimbabwe
were raised at the January 1994 Central
Committee meetings after widespread
reports of police harassment of
Gays and Lesbians in Zimbabwe.
Raiser said that at that time he
sought and received assurances from
the Zimbabwean interior minister
that all Assembly participants will be
allowed to enter Zimbabwe and that
the Assembly will be free to set its
own agenda.
SECOND STONE
But after an exhibit by a Zimbabwean
gay organization was shut
down at a July book fair in Harare,
the country's capital, Raiser said he
received numerous letters from WCC
member churches questioning whether
the Assembly should be held in
Zimbabwe. He said that the WCC
and the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches are developing a detailed
list of "essential requirements" for
holding the Assembly in Zimbabwe .
Raiser said he had "no reason to
believe that such an understanding
cannot be reached with the Zimbabwe
authorities ."
Kristine Thompson, one of two
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) representatives
on the Central Commit.tee,
said she hoped any agreement wou]<;I
ensure the right of Assembly partici.
pants to express public solidarity
"with those in Zimbabwe who are
being repressed for homosexuality ."
She .i.cknowledged that while WCC
member churches have varying attitudes
toward homosexuality, "we can
agree that no one should be persecuted
for it."
-Presbyterian Church (USA) News and
World Council of Churches News
biggest circulation in Zimbabwe,
stated that to Africans ih general and
Zimbabweans in particular, homosexuality
would always be an outrage
and an abomination of the most
debasing order.
Homosexuality is strictly taboo in
Zimbabwe where it is often condemned
in the strongest possible
terms. However, many people see it
as an issue which concerns only a few.
'individuals .
Zimbabwe's Constitution forbids
discrimination of any kind, but it
does not specify who should not be
discriminated against.
As the president's views began to
draw attention, he confirmed his
rigorous opposition to homosexuality,
pointing out that Zimbabwe had a
"formidable" set of morals -and taboos
which it could not abandon unless
society as a whole decided they were
no longer needed.
"We do not believe they [homosexuals)
have any rights at all,"
President Mugabe told journalists.
The president seemed unconcerned a't
news of protests held outside Zimbabwean
embassies in other parts of
the world because of his remarks.
'They can demonstrate, but if they
come here, we will throw them
[homosexuals] in jail," the president
said .
The international press - particularly
Western newspapers of liberal
views - have given extensive coverage
to President Mugabe's
statements. According to the Guardian
newspaper, published in London, the
anti-gay crusade is seen 'by members ·
of Zimbabwe's fledgling civil society,
including women's groups, human
rights groups and the Gays and
Lesbians of Zimbabwe, as a political
ploy to distract popular attention from
burgeoning corruption scandals,
economic mismanagement and
drought". In a front-page article on
August 16, Le Monde newspaper in
Paris quoted President Mugabe's
speeches and pointed out that the
multi-ethnic membership of GALZ
proved that homosexuality was not,
as the president had claimed, a
"shameful" Western import.
Within Zimbabwe itself churches
have expressed various degrees of
agreement with President Mugabe.
The Sunday Mail newspaper in
Harare has reported that some Chris.
tian leaders have called on their
followers to take part in a march
against Gays and Lesbians in Harare.
A group of 12 women - all members
of the Mother's Union in the
Anglican diocese of Central Zimbabwe
- visited government offices
recently to give President Mugabe a
message of solidarity.
"Homosexuals violate our understanding
of the nature of marriage life
... we pledge to you and to this
country our continued support for
those home and family values and
morals that make for an upright
society," part of the message said.
President Mugabe told the women
that there was no way that Zimbabweans
could accept homosexuality as
this was 'borrowed culture".
Church leaders in Zimbabwe, all
expressed strong opposition to homosexuality.
They said that homosexuality
was incompatible with the
biblical values of Christianity and
with African culture .
-ENI and other reports
Zimbabwe church council
condemns homosexuality
HQMOSEXUALITY IS "totally new
and out of step with the Zimbabwean
tradition and culture" according to a
statement issued by the Zimbabwe
Council of Churches (ZCC), which has
20 protestant churches as members,
following an increasingly strident
campaign directed against Gays and
Lesbians by Zimbabwe . President
Robert Mugabe.
The ZCC's President, Bishop
Jonathan Siyachitema, and the organization's
General Secretary,
Murombedzi Chikanga Kuchera, said
that Zimbabweans "should not be
coerced into a practice [homosexuality]
which is totally alien to them" .
President Mugabe's campaign has
aroused concern in international
church circles because the next
assembly of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) is to take place in
1998 in the Zimbabwean capital of
Harare, at the invitation of the ZCC.
The issue of homosexuality is a
delicate one for the churches. The
WCC's General Secretary, Konrad
Raiser, has said that there are "deep
divisions" between the WCC's 324
member churches on the "theological
and ethical issues of human sexuality
and sexual orientation".
According to the ZCC leaders, "the
Church of God finds no basis to support
intimate relationships between
persons of the same sex."
Shortly after the WCC's central
committee agreed in January last year
to hold the assembly in Harare, the
international press reported allegations
of harassment of homosexuals
by Zimbabwe police.
Dr Raiser said that he would seek
assurances from the Zimbabwe Government
"regarding the entry and
safety of all bona fide participants of
the assembly" and the "freedom of
the assembly in setting its agenda
and in expressing its mind".
President Mugabe has been quoted
as saying: "Let the Gays be Gays in
United States and Europe, but they
shall be sad people here."
-ENI
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
Ep-iscopal bishops sharpry cUvided over sex·uality issues
By Martha Irvine
Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - It's the most
divisive issue facing bishops in the
Episcopal Church, but don't expect
them to talk about it.
The matter of ordaining non-celibate
gay priests has been mentioned
only in passing as about 200 bishops
met during the last week of September.
The bishops spent the better part of
one session early in the week talking
about how to avoid what many are
calling an air of mean-spiritedness
among church leadership.
"If we can't deal with honest disagreement
as a house of bishops, who
in the world can?" asked Bishop John
MacNaughton, of San Antonio, Texas.
But beneath the apparent camaraderie
lies the frustration of a church
leadership that many say is bitterly
divided . .
"I can see it becoming a bloody
brawl," said Walter Righter, a retired
bishop of Iowa who says he'd rather
be enjoying a life of quiet at his home
in Alstead, N.H .
Instead, the white-haired 71-yearold
is facing heresy charges for ordaining
a non-celibate gay priest in
1990.
Presiding Bishop Edmond
Browning, of New York, has told the
bishops that church attorneys have
advised them not to discuss the
Righter matter at the conference. He
said that, if they were to talk about
sexuality issues at this conference, 18
of the bishops who may sit in
judgment of their peer would have to
leave the room.
But conversations in private were
brutally candid.
. Righter said the 10 bishops who
brought him up on charges are using
him as a scapegoat to boost their own
political power.
'These birds are caught between
the past and the future .-They'd like to
drag everybody kicking and screaming
into the past," said Righter, who
claims that ordaining openly gay
priests is merely dealing with reality.
He said there are about 35 bishops
who have ordained non-celibate gay.
priests.
Ironically, some of the bishops who
brought the charge against Righter
say the conference was - for the most
Episcopal bishop explains his decision
to support heresy trial
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - Episcopal
Bi'shop Russell Jacobus of Fond
du Lac said lifestyle preference was
not the issue when he joined - other
clergy in censuring a bishop for ordaining
a homosexual as a deacon,
The complaint involves church
authority and compliance with its
policies, he said.
'The general convention (of the
Episcopal Church) said ... it is not
appropriate at this time to ordain
practicing homosexuals, or ordain
heterosexuals in (sexual) relationships
outside the marriage bond," Jacobus
said.
'Therefore, the bishop who decides
on his own that he is not going to
abide by resolutions of the general
convention ... is not being accountable
to the church at large."
Jacobus, of the Episcopal Cathedral
of St. Paul, said he was one of 76
bishops nationwide who voted for
charges that retired Bishop Walter
Righter violated . church law for
ordaining Barry Stopfel as a deacon in
1990,
Righter was then assistant bishop
.. of Newark, N.J. He retired in 1988 as
bishop of Iowa and · now lives in the
small town of Alstead on the New
Hampshire-Vermont border.
Righter's case will go before a Court
for the Trial of a Bishop, consisting of
nine other bishops who will act on a
majority vote.
Possible penalties include admonishing
Righter. No sentence could be
imposed unless the findings were
approved by a two-thirds vote of all
SECOND STONE
the church's bishops.
Ten bishops brought the charge
against Righter in January, saying he
was "teaching a doctrine contrary to
that held by this church."
A 1979 resolution states it is
inappropriate for "practicing homosexuals"
to be ordained, said Bishop
James Stanton of Dallas, a spokesman
for Righter's accusers.
Righter says the Episcopal colleagues
who charged him with
heresy for ordaining an openly gay
Righter say s the Episcopal
colleagues who
charged him with
heresy .. . threaten to
"push the church back
in to the 19th century ."
man threaten to "push the church
back into the 19th century."
Righter says putting him before a
jury of his peers a defining moment
in church history.
'The Episcopal Church's whole life
is at stake," Righter, 71, said. "Are we
going to be an inclusive church like
the presiding bishop wants us to be
or an exclusive church?"
But Stanton said conservative
bishops are alarmed also.
"Many of us fear it will divide the
church," Stanton said. "What we are
trying to do is bring the house back
to order."
part - a waste of time and money
because sexuality was not discussed.
'There is a general frustration in
the house .of bishops that we're dealing
with unimportant issues to avoid
dealing with critical issues," said
Bishop William Wantland, of Eau
Claire, Wis., one of the bishops who
filed the heresy charge.
He believes the presiding bishop
and others have looked the other way
as gay priests have continued to be
ordained. And that, he said, has left
he and his conservative colleagues
little choice.
"I don't want Walter to go through a
trial," Wantland said. ''I don't know
any other way to reach the issue."
Some say the bishops are so
divided that the only resolution may
be to split the church in two.
"Is there a danger of it? Yes, a very
clear danger," Wantland said . 'The
underlying issue is a problem of authority
and order."
The lack of open discussion is disappointing
to many.
"I ache at the polarity that goes on,"
said the Rev. Al Miller, a priest in
Hermiston.
Miller said he came to the bishops'
meeting to see first hand if they
would resolve some of the tougher
issues facing the Episcopal Church.
'The question is, 'How can we
move on together, regardless of
sexual orientation, gender and race?'"
Miller said. 'Tm not sure they can."
There are other problems in the
church - a troubled pension fund and
embezzlement scandal.
Some traditional Episcopalians are
calling for presiding bishop Browning
to step down.
And the bishops are trying to
decide how to deal with four of their
own who refuse to ordain women
priests even though the church has
allowed such action for nearly 20
years .
Still, Browning denies that his
church is falling apart. He said it is
the Episcopal Church's tradition to
face tough issues head on.
"Out of that grows tension. But
even in that tension there's _ a pride
that I have that we're willing to hang
in and deal with those issues,"
Browning said. 'Th e church, as a
whole, is very brave."
Five-ballot vote elects nation's second
female Episcopal bishop
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A five-ballot
vote made the Rev. Geralyn Wolf
the second woman chosen tp head an
American Episcopal diocese.
Wolf, dean of Christ Cathedral in
Louisville, Ky., for the last seven
years, was elected Sept. 30 after the
apparent front-runner, the Rev.
Robert Anthony of Christ Church in
Westerly, withdrew.
Wolf, 48, spoke to lay and clergy
delegates before returning to Kentucky
to spend Sunday with her congregation
.
'1 want to say a word of truth. This
was not a unanimous decision and I
honor that," she said. "We don't have
to agree on everything. But we have
to agree on one thing: that Jesus
Christ is the center of our Jives."
A native of New York who at one
time lived in an Anglican convent,
Wolf was one of four candidates from
outside Rhode Island picked by a .
search committee to succeed retired
Bishop George Hunt. She was praised
even by delegates who voted against
her as a woman of great spiritual
commitment and, before coming to
Rhode Island for the vote, spent
Wednesday night and Thursday
praying with the . Sisters of St.
Margaret in a Roxbury, Mass., Anglican
convent.
"My ministries haven't been perfect
or easy, but I hope that everyone will
say that I have been faithful," Wolf
told delegates .
The first female Episcopal bishop in
.the United States was chosen in
Vermont. Women have been selected
as assistant bishops in Massachusetts,
the District of Columbia, and New
York.
A total of nine candidates were in
the running to head the Rhode Island
diocese - the four picked by the
search committee and five from within
the state.
Anthony, who is popular among
Rhode Island clergy, surprised his
supporters by announcing his withdrawal
before balloting began, saying
he had mixed feelings about
being bishop.
Anthony later went to Wolf and
told her he hoped she would be
elected bishop.
· Wolf's vote totals built steadily as
the balloting went on and candidates
dropped out and she surpassed the
required totals of lay and clergy votes
on the fifth ballot.
Some of the state's conservative
clergy said while they liked Wolf as a
person and found her views acceptable,
they were opposed in principle
to the idea of a female bishop.
But she also won the support of
some priests formerly against the
ordination of women. One, the Rev.
James Frink of Trinity Church in
Scituate, delivered Wolf's nominating
speech .
Wolf said she would be glad to
meet with clergy members opposed .
to a woman bishop.
."I very much want to talk with
them and to be with them," she said.
"I do not want to work against them."
Wolf's election must be approved
by a majority of Episcopal standing
committees nationally before she can
be installed. That process should take
several months.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER l 9 9 5 ·
Living a lie:
Outlook painful for Gays
· in opposite-sex marriage
By Deb Richardson-Moore
The Greenville News
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) . - One
Christmas Eve, Deirdre's children
were scouring the house for mittens
and woolen caps before running outside
to check on Santa's progress.
Trying to help, Deirdre tugged .a
cardboard box from a shelf high in
her bedroom closet. She peered inside
- and saw the end of her 18-year marriage.
There in the box was a stack of gay
.pornography. She was disbelieving
and confused, but deep inside things
began to fall dizzyingly into place:
professional counselor.
In many cases, the marriage that's
ending is one of long standing, one
that included true affection and
friendship between the partners.
'The 20- to 25-year mark,'' said
facilitator Pate, "seems to be a real
watershed for men who can't hide it
anymore."
In many ways, the issues provoked
in a gay-straight marriage crisis are
the same as when one marital partner
has a heterosexual affair . The
wronged partner feels the same
"devastation and the low self-esteem,"
allows Molly, 30, a Greenvillian who
ended her three-year marriage after
learning that her husband was having
affairs with men.
"But the thing that they don't feel
that I feel," she said, "is that they are
gay . You question your own sexual
identity. You ask yourself, 'Why
would I attract a person like this?
Why did he choose me?"'
Molly's discovery made her skittish
around men, suspicious that if she'd
been fooled once, it could happen
again .
Of course, while any extramarital
affair carries the risk of HIV/ AIDS
these days, the odds increase with
homosexual encounters. Molly was so
paralyzed by fear the she waited nine
months before undergoing tests -
which turned out negative . The issue
of how to tell children also becomes
more complicated. Deirdre told her
adolescent children only after they
had sneaked a look at her diary. Her
daughter, now in her early teens, is
having trouble accepting it.
Molly hasn't yet told her 6-year-old
son, and won't until he asks.
Emily, a senior citizen who remained
in her marriage after her
husband told her he was gay decades
ago, told her grown children only
years later.
Recently, Emily's anger has replaced
her earlier embarrassment:
anger at her husband for using her as
camouflage; anger at her family for
en£ouraging her to keep quiet; anger
at herself for not having the courage
to leave; anger at society for putting
so much pressure on Gays to live a
lie.
And therein, say the straight
spouses, lies much of the problem. If
being gay were more socially acceptable,
Gays wouldn't try so hard to fit
into a conventional marriage.
The time early in her marriage when
he was buying Playboys; his low sex
drive; his expression of a general unhappiness
just months before.
"At the time, I didn't know what he
was getting at," Deirdre recalled. "I
had never suspected anything. But as
I looked back, there were pieces of
the puzzle that began to come together."
Mormon bishop's marriage was
doomed from the start
She did, however, think they had a
warm and loving marriage.
He thought so, too. Once she confronted
him \Vith her Christmas Eve
discovery, he readily agreed to go
into counseling. Just months into joint
therapy, he admitted to himself and
to Deirdre that he was gay. He now
lives with a male companion.
Deirdre, meanwhile, is shaken to
the core.
An attractive professional in her
early 40s, Deirdre continued to function
on the outside. But inside, she
felt foolish, sexually unattractive, distrustful
of men; in a word, she said,
she felt like a "freak."
She wasn't. And Carole Lender, for
one, knew it.
Mrs. Lender is a co-founder of
Greenville's PFLAG (Parents, Families
and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays). In her three years of pulling
the organization together, she has
seen the human fallout.
'The majority of gay and lesbian
people that I've met have fought so
hard: They don't want to be gay," she
said . 'They don't want to lose .the
respect and the love of their family
members. They don't want to lose
their churches and everything else.
"And, so they figure, 'Well, if I get
married, maybe it'll kick in,' and
they do, and children come out of it.
And then they can't do it anymore,
and all these innocent people get
hurt."
It's those "innocent people," the
bewildered straight spouses of Gays
who are the target of Family Secrets,
a new support group in Greenville
facilitated by Fran Pate, a licensed
SECOND STONE
By Hillary Groutage
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - For most, it
started when people they trusted told
them to get married, that being with
an opposite-sex partner would help
their "problem ."
Without exception, the experience
ended in heartbreak .
Now, they say, opposite-sex marriage
and homosexuality - like oil and
water - don't mix for long.
At a session of the annual Sunstone
Symposium on August 11, a panel of
gay men shared their experiences
chronicled in Decisions of the Soul: The
Issues And Diverse Responses To Homosexuality
In Heterosexual Marriage.
The book was published in April
by the Family Fellow ship, a support
group for families with gay and
lesbian members. The book is a
collection of 17 stories of gay people
in het erosexual marriages.
Steve and Allison Dunn of Logan
were the only couple to share their
story. They are divorcing, but have
undertaken a crusade of sorts to let
people know that marriage doesn't
cure - or even help homosexuality.
But they say it isn't for a lack of
trying .
They were busy in the early years
of their marriage. He was a Mormon
bishop, she was president of the
primary.
"If devotion and effort, if fasting
and prayer, if dedicating time and
paying tithing could have altered our
lives, it would have happened," she
wrote in the book.
But nothing helped.
Allison continually blamed herself
for his lack of physical attention and
was sure he found her repulsive.
Steve thought he was evil.
She discover ed he was gay after she
found a book, Loving Someone Gay
that a friend had given him . They got
counseling and kept the news from
their families for a time.
'The problem is, you can't even
talk about the problem," she said.
"You live with this person. You know
what kind of toothpaste he likes, you
know everything about him . You
have this friend you adore and it's
like you have to cut off your right
arm because you can't have him
anymore."
During the presentation, the couple
He tells of
suicidal thoughts,
confessions to
Mormon bishops
and years he felt
trapped in a
painful marriage.
He knew he was
gay fron1 the
tears.
"I just left my sons and I don't get to
see them that often," he said.
His entry, "No Longer Afraid" tells
of suicidal thoughts, confessions to
Mormon bishops and years he felt
trapped in a painful marriage. He
knew he was gay from the time he
was 12-years-old, but it came crashing
home to him while listening to a talk
at church.
"I didn't understand what the
Bishop was talking about. This masturbation
thing . He said that horrible
thing led people to homosexuality. I
knew he was talking about me," he
said. "But I hadn't even done it so
how could I be homosexual?"
Killian, like the others on the panel,
was ctiligent in his church work,
served a mission and was counseled
to marry. But at one point, he "spied"
on gay men in Washington, D.C.
because he wanted to know what on e
looked like.
He eventually fell in love with a
man and confessed his feelings to his
bishop in the 1970s.
"I was promised in a blessing that if
I married a daughter of God in the
temple, I would be cured,'' he said.
Killian approached his marriag e
like a business decision.
tin1e he was 12 ... "Did I fall in love with her? I was
fascinated with her, I am proud of
stood side-by-side and detailed their her, I admire her and miss h e r," he
20 years of marriage and struggle. 1 said.
He calls her his "personal savior" A 1992 handbook published by the
and he remains her best friend. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
"I know there are thousands of Saints says "Marriage should not be
other couples in various stages like viewed as a way to resolve homomy
wife and I," he said. sexual problems. The lives of others
After more than two years, they should not be damaged by entering a
feel stronger. They are divorcing, but marriage where such concerns exist."
are determined to be effective parents Killian said his wife has a difficult
to their four children, ages 13-19. time understanding his homosexu-
Rob Killian, a physician from ality and did not attend the presenta-
Rochester, N.Y., faced the audience in tion .
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER l 9 9 5
Friends believe bishop's "long illness" was- AIDS
NEW YORK-On the pope's first trip to
New York, he honored America's
only black monsignor with a visit.
Sixteen years later, John Paul II was
back, but Bishop Emerson Moore was
dead - a victim, so me say, of the
pressures on a black bishop in a
mostly white church.
Moore was 57 when he died Sept. 14
of what his church described only as
"natural causes of unknown origin"
after a long illness. But The New Yurk
Times reported that Moore had been
an alcohol and cocaine abuser, and
that many of his friends and colleagues
believe he died of AIDS. At
least one priest said he had directly
confronted the Bishop about whether
he had AIDS, and that he had denied
it.
Church officials said they wou ld not
discuss that conclusion, but they
wo uld not dispute it, either. Moore
was one of two New York area
bishops reportedly suffering from
AIDS.
The pope visited St. Charles
Borromeo Church on Oct 2, 1979
during his hectic, two-day visit to
New York. Ecclesiastical careers are
often advanced by papal visits, and
in 1982 Moore was named auxiliary
bishop - the first in the archdiocese of
New York.
Moore headed committees,
traveled to Africa on relief missions,
got arrested for protesting against
apartheid in South Africa. In 1990, he
was the only bishop in the country to
sign a full-page newspaper advertisement
calling for major changes in the
Catholic Church. Those changes
included ordaining women, pursuing
the idea of married priests and rethinking
the church teaching on
sex uality . Clearly, then, however
much Bishop Moore felt the strain of
expectations, he also often felt at odds
philosophically with · the more conservative
Cardinal O'Connor.
Asked if he feared repercussions for
· signing the 1990 ad, Bishop Moore
told a religious news service, "Christ
didn't promise us an easy life."
Around the same time, friends say,
Moore began to miss appointments, to
run short of money, lo disappear for
long periods whi le he sought
treatment for addiction. In 1994, the
Times reported, Moore entered the
Hazelden clinic in Minnesota. He
later moved to a halfway house in
Minneapolis, and died at a hospice
there.
Cardinal O'Connor said: "I am
sympathetic to what he endured. If he
did anything he shouldn't have, a lot
of people might not be sympathetic.
We all have to be accountable. But I
know he tried his best to lead a
responsible life, and I know the
church made every effort to help him
lead that life. I'm sure his conscience
is clear. I feel mine is."
-Associated Press, New York Times tind
other reports
Mormon leaders articulate opposition to same-sex unions·
By Vern Anderson
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Mormon
Church leaders are bringing discussion
of homosexuality out of the closet,
seeking to explain to distraught
parents of Gays and to the general
membership why same -sex unions
are anathema .
In an unprecedented airing of the
issue in the October edition of the
faith's Ensign magazine, ·a church
apostle writes that gender is a premortal
characteristic and that Satan is
out to "confuse what ii means to be
male or female."
'The struggles -of those who are
troubled by same-sex attraction are
not unique. There are many kinds of
temptations, sexual and otherwise.
The duty to resist sin applies to all of
them," Elder Dallin H. Oaks says in
the eight-page article.
Until recently, leaders of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints have publicly discussed homo-
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SECOND STONE
sexuality mostly in general condemnations
of immorality. But in 1994 the
church began a vigorous campaign
against efforts in Hawaii and elsewhere
to legalize same-sex marriages.
In the month of September, they
have thrice proclaimed their opposition
in high-profile forums. And
Oaks' article, while disap!'ointing to
many Mormon Gays and their
parents, is significant for its acknowledgment
of scientific research that
tends lo show homosexuality has biological
underpinnings.
Oaks stressed that the subject of
sexual orientation is "highly complex"
and scientific knowledge about it in
its infancy . Firm conclusions to
"nature" versus "nurture" arguments
over sexuality "must await many
additional scientific studies."
Nevertheless, he wrote, Mormons
should refrain from using the words
"homosexual, lesbian and gay" as
nouns because to do so would run
counter to church doctrine.
"It is wrong to use these words to
denote a condition, because this
implies that a person is consigned by
birth to a circumstance in which he or
she has nq choice in respect to the
critically important matter of sexual
behavior," Oaks wrote.
He also condemned · those who
engage in "gay-bashing" and urged
church memb.ers to show compassion
toward those infected with the HIVvirus
or afflicted with AIDS, "who
may or may not have acquired their
condition from sexual relations."
On other points, the article by the
former Utah Su.preme Court justice
elaborated on statements made in a
Sept. 23 "proclamation" by the
church's governing First Presidency
and Council of the Twelve Apostles:
That only heterosexual relations
within marriage are acceptable to
God and that men and women since
Adam and Eve have been commanded
fo "multiply and replenish
the earth."
discipline can be given for encouraging
sin by others."
While many other Christian faiths
condemn homosexuality, Mormons
have unique reasons for doing so. It is
a basic tenet of the faith that only
men and women married for eternity
in a Mormon temple can dwell with
God, and their families, after death,
. and eventually attain godhood themselves.
Oaks' address appears in partial
response lo a growing number of
Mormon Gays and their parents
wounded by their treatment within a
church that continues to insist homosexuality
is treatable and even
preventable.
In a letter to President Gordon B.
Hinckley on Aug. 27, 40 such parents
asked, "How long must we endure
the marginalization and vilification of
our children?"
They took exception to the monthly
"First Presidency Message" in the
September issue of the Ensign written
_by Hinckley's counselor, James E.
Faust, who declared the scien tific
theory of . an inborn homosexual
orientation a "false belief."
'The fruits of mounting scientific
evidence, our own experience and
our own children tell us otherwise,"
the parents wrote.
They also decried the continued
insistence by LDS Social Services on
placing a large share of the blame for
homosexuality on poor parenting,
such an absent or weak father and a
dominant mother. The church agency
provides sexual re-orientation therapy
to Mormon Gays.
"If this theory had any vaJ.iqily, we
would expect to see an .epidemic of
homosexuality in the ghettos where
absent fathers are the rule rather than
the exception," the parents told
Hinckley.
A 1995 set of guidelines from LDS
Social Services to Mormon counselors
and psychotherapists says an "important
goal in working with the
parents of feminine boys and mascu- Mormons who engage in homo"
sexual behavior can expect · to be
excommunicated, Oaks said, "And SEE MORMONS, Page 19
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER l 9 9 5
In Print ....................................................... ..................
Baptist leader finds God's suffering in AIDS victims
Burden of a Secret
it with us." By David Briggs
Associated Press Religion Writer
c)ffhe Rev. Jimmy Allen's friends
:;;J' considered him a modern -day
Job, the biblical figure who endured
tragedy after tragedy as a test of faith.
The book, Burden of a Secret, is
published by Moorings, in Nashville,
, Tenn.
The world of the former Southern
Baptist president came crashing down
a decade ago, when he found out his
daughter -in-law and two grandsons
had .been infected with the AIDS
virus during a blood transfusion she
received in her first pregnancy. Lydia
and her second child, Bryan, have
died, and her other son, Matthew, is
in the final stages of the disease.
In th.e midst of all the suffering, one
of Allen's sons told him he was gay
and also had AIDS.
Similar to the biblical account of
Job, Allen's family found most rejection
coming from within the church,
with congregation after congregation
turning . away his son's family when
they discovered some members had
AIDS.
But unlike Job, Allen has never
gotten angry at God.
In a new book describing his
experience, what Allen says he discovered
in his personal journey
through Gethsemane - the place Jesus
spent the night before his crucifixion -
was that God was suffering along
with him.
"I've been angry at sin and suffering.
I've not been angry at God,"
Allen said in an interview. "God is in
Allen said that when he first found
out that AIDS had come to his family,
he was filled with "why?" questions.
'They come at night, when I am at
the edge of consciousness, trying to
sleep," Allen writes. "Or in an unguarded
moment as I hear a laughing
child, the why questions leap across
my path to challenge me. Why could
it not be Bryan laughing, or Matt, or
Lydia? Why did they have to die so
young?"
As he struggled through the pain of
watching his grandson die, the
"whys" became irrelevant.
And he found God hurting along
with him.
'The experience has deepened my\
awareness of the suffering in the
heart of God," Allen said in an
interview. "God is much bigger than
I thought."
Grief comes not to destroy people,
Allen said, but to draw them closer to
God.
"Perhaps rather than asking 'why
us?' we should ask, 'why not us?'
Allen says. "Is not God's strength
adequate to carry us through the
same trials our fellow human beings
encounter? What good is a Gospel
that works only when the sun shines
and life is easy?"
Real faith, Allen said, is loving God
Rev. Jimmy Allen, author of
"Burden of a Secret," and
former Southern Baptist
Convention president
not .for his solutions to personal struggle,
but for himself.
"Faith that can take it when God
says 'no' adds steel to resolve, peace
to the soul, sensitivity to the suffering
of a hurting world, and absolute
confidence that God will ultimately
make things right, " Allen said.
If God had healed his family
members of AIDS, Allen said .he
would have been ecstatic.
Guide makes "going to the chapel" easier But that didn't happen, and Allen
now must live with the mystery.
What gives him strength is the
mystery that God enters into his
suffering with .him, Allen said.
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The central component of the
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A resource guide is included which
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The Complete Gay Union Planner sells
for .$49.97 and is available from
Rainbow Marketing, 7501 Creekridge
Rd., #107, Charlotte, NC 28212,
(704)568-2673, rnbwmrkt@aol.com.
"I become most like God when I
love and suffer because God is a
loving, suffering God," he said.
In going public with his family's
experience, Allen · hopes to help
churcl1es become more responsive to
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the AIDS crisis.
"For my family, the issue is no
longer 'why us?' It is, 'how can we
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SECOND STONE NOVEMBER/D E CEMBER l 9 9 5
InP rint • • •••• • ••••••••••••• • ••••••••••••• Q •••••••••••••••• • ••••••••••••••••••••
UFMCC elder writes about "Our Tribe"
By Dr. Robert E. Goss
Contributing Writer
Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus,
and the Bible. Rev Nancy Wilson,
author. HarperSanFrancisco, 1995.
REV. NANCY WILSON, an
elder in the Universal Fellowship
of Metropolitan Community
Churches, has contributed a
major work in lesbian and gay Christian
theology . The UFMCC has
every reason to be proud of her latest
achievement. Our Tribe takes no back
seat to any denominational Christian
theology but pioneers liberation theology
into the next century. Nancy
Wilson witnesses to an alternative
vision to the postchristian option ·of
many gay and lesbian theologians.
The strength of the book is its
practical focus on the lived experience
of lesbian/ gay Christians. Wilson's
many anecdotes bring her theology
alive and gives us a personal glimpse
into a lesbian Christian who genuinely
cares about justice and love.
There are three major contributions,
I believe, that Our Tribe makes to
queer theology: 1.) a history of the
UFMCC's relationship to the National
Council of Churches, 2.) outing the
Bible, 3.) and a sexual theology.
Nancy Wilson narrates how the
UFMCC met the National Council of
Churches' requirements of membership
and the NCC's continued denial
of admission because of ecclesial
homophobia. She details the behind
the scenes world of ecumenical
politics that did not make public
press: Though the UFMCC met all
the membership requirements of the
National Council of Churches, there
was strong pressure for the UFMCC
to withdraw its application to that
body. The NCc; refused to acknowledge
the genuine spiritual awakening
in the gay /lesbian Christian
community. Wilson uses the wonderful
metaphor of a loose thread on a
coat to explain the threat posed to the
NCC by the UFMCC. When you pull
the thread, it begins to unravel. In
the same fashion, the NCC's inability
to deal with homosexuality indicates
the impoverishment of its theology of
sexuality. When confronted with
homosexuality, its whole homophobic/
heterosexist theologies of sexuality
come unravelled. Many of the
Recommended Reading For Everyone ...
PASTOR, I AM GAY
by The Reverend H. Howard Bess
An extraordinary book. PASTOR, I AM GAY ... is a
prophetic witness to the church. It is compelling in
its intensity, compassionate in its identifications, and
courageous in its call to sharing humanity without
ualifications. A reader will not be able to put it
own. James B. Ashbrook, Professor Emeritus and
Senior Scholar in Religion and Personality
Garrett Evangelical Tneological Seminary
Northwestern University
PASTOR, I AM GAY is a superb entry into the difficult and painful
subject of homosexuality that faces us in the church and sodety today.
Both pastor and lay person will find this book readable and informative
as we seek more insight into the lives of homosexual friends inside and
outside the church. Donald Parsons, BishopA, laska Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
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SECOND STONE U!J
members of the NCC were not
prepared to deal with the challenge to
their theologies of sexuality .
UFMCC's sexual theology highlights
the shortcomings of the theologies of
sexuality of the membership of the
NCC.
Gay and
xual
Jready ln
hurch
Wilson outs Gays, Lesbians, and
bisexuals from their ancient biblical
closets. She sets out to uncover the
existence of men and women attracted
to the same sex within the Bible
beyond Jonathan and David, Ruth
and Naomi. Her discussion of the
biblical notion of eunuchs and barren
women is innovative. Ancients un- ~
derstood, Wilson claims, eunuchs and
barren women as gay, lesbian and
bisexual antecedents. They were
men and women classified because
they chose not to have children. She
uses Jesus' own categorization of
eunuchs for the reign of God to define
Wilson outs Gays,
Lesbians and bisexuals
from their
ancient biblical
closets. She sets
out to uncover the
existence of men
and women
attracted to the
same sex within
the Bible beyond
Jonathan and
David, Ruth and
Naomi.
Rev. Nancy Wilson, second from
right, author of Our Tribe, in a
protest at a National Council of
Churches general board meeting.
him and others as eunuchs. Wilson
outs the Magi, Mary and Martha,
Lazar us, the Roman . Centurion, the
missionary woman couples
Tryphaema and Tryphosa, Euodia
and Syntyche, Paul and Silas, and
angelic messengers. Wilson imaginatively
,rereads the story about the
destruction of Sodom and Gommorrah
as the attempted violent rape of two
male angels (who also fall within the
biblical definition of eunuch). The
true Sodomite is the violent murder of
Alan Schindler, ethnic cleansing in
Bosnia, and the Tailhook incident.
Finally, Nancy Wilson develops a
queer sexual theology based on the
biblical notions of hospitality and the
Sabbath, For Wilson, to share sexually
with someone is literally to make
room for them in our body. Our
bod_y is home, and sexuality is an
mv1tat10n of bodily hospitality.
Wilson's notion of bodily hospitality
provides a basis for the development
of a sexual ethic. Coerciv.e sex violates
a sense of bodily hospitality. A
second point in Wilson's sexual
theology is her correlation of human
sexuality with a Sabbath theology.
fake the Sabbath, human sexuality
was intended for our mutual joy and
pleasure. Sexuality is about being
made in'the image of God who loves
fun, joy and pleasure. Wilson boldly
paraphrases Jesus Sabbath saying,
"Sexuality was made for humanity,
not humanity for sexuality." For
Wilson, God is a God of sexual
pleasure and sexual justice. Imagine
what the National Council of
Churches could learn from Wilson's
sexual theology and how it could
transform its fearful theologies to
encompass a creation theology of
s~xual theology as an original blessmg
rather than an origianl sin. I
cannot recommend Our Tribe enough
to gay and lesbian Christians for their
reading, prayer, and practice.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 9 9 5
...... . .... .. . ..
City of Refuge joins UCC
t.CITY OF REFUGE Community
Church in San Francisco has joined
the United Church of Christ. The
church occupies a 28,000 sq. ft. former
television station at Van Ness and
Greenwich streets. One of the fastest
growing churches in the Bay Area,
the primarily African-Americanchurch
was tounded just four y ears ago by
the Rev. Yvette Flunder and 14 original
members and has already grown
to embrace almost 600 members.
Flunder is a third generation pastor,
raised in the African-American Pentecostal
tradition.
Fort Worth church
celebrates new name
t.A MISSION CHURCH started in
Fort Worth, Texas and originally
named Whit e Rock West after its
founding church has taken a big step
in creating its own identity . The
newly renamed Celebration Community
Church was started in 1993
by Jerry Cook, pastor of White Rock
Church in Dallas. Al the time, Cook
would commute 35 miles from Dallas
to Tarrant County to conduct a 5 p.m.
service and then quickly return to
Dallas to preach a 7 p.m. service. In
November of 1994 the church called
it's first pastor, Rev. Bill Prickett, who
had been working as coordinator of
Evangelicals . Concerned / Laguna
CORONER,
From Page 7
he said.
On Sept. 14, Gov. Mike Lowry
wrote to Amend about his postmortem
comments in the Carver case.
"I am concerned that your
statements following her death have
been misleading and inaccurate. The
murder of Rachel was not committed
by a gay person, yet you have used
her death to indict the entire gay
community," Lowry wrote.
"While the abuse or murd .er of a
young child is unforgivable, it is simply
unfair and unwarranted to single
out the gay community following
Rachel's death ."
The governor's legal counsel, Kent
Caputo, asked the state Medical
Quality Assurance Commission to
investigate Amend. The 19-member
panel has the authority to revoke a
physician's license, but it is not often
used, Director Keith Shafer said.
"You are requested to take any and
all appropriate action to ensure that
the health and well-being of the
people of the state are protected from
such unprofessional and devastating
conduct," Caputo said in a Jetter to
Shafer.
While the commission could strip
Amend of his physician's license, it
does not have the power to remove
him from the coroner's office.
The papers for a recall movement
SECOND STONE
Noteworthy
• • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • e • • • • • • • • • • • • • ·• • • • • • • • •
Beach, in California. "It was a tedious
process finding a name," Prickett
said. "We had many people working
hard on the transition . Most everyone
in the church wanted a new
name. It was just a matter of finding
one that fit. I like the new name. It
communicates a .strong message. We
are about celebrating. We celebrate
all that God has done in Christ. We
celebrate God's acceptance. And ~e
celebrate who we are, as God's gay
and lesbian Children." Average
church attendance has doubled - to
about 60 - since the name change. For
information on Celebration Community
Church, call (817)245-0433.
Lutheran ministry produces
posters aimed at gay youth
t.A LUTHERAN LESBIAN and Gay
Ministries partnership grant supporting
Wingspan Ministry's Youth and
Family Poster Project has made it
possible for the organization to print
two new posters this year bringing
the number of gay-positive posters
available to four. Wingspan is a ministry
of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran
Church in St. Paul, Minn. The posters
are designed for use in school districts,
health clinics, AIDS service
organizations and youth service
organizations . For information on the
posters call (612)224-3371 or write to
are inching their way through the
legal process, but the earliest
organizers would be able to get the
issue on the ballot would be next
year. The next regular election for
coroner is 1998.
. Says Rev. Wood, "A recall effort
will be costly, even with contributed
legal efforts. Furthermore there is a
noisy and probably deep-pocketed,
fundamentalist support group for Dr.
Amend who are planning to fight the
recall effort all the way."
Amend is not without his
supporters.
About 250 people turned out at an
• after-church rally for him in late
August. He delivered a rambling
speech detailing the particulars of
anal sex for the crowd, which included
many children.
"Sodomy is what I am rejecting,"
Amend said. "It is inhuman."
Michelle Lowell, an anti-gay rights
activist who organized the rally,
called Amend's remarks courageous
and urged his audience to work to
restore laws that make sodomy a
crime.
It is estimated that the recall effort
will need $25,000 to cover the costs
involved. Donations may be sent to
the Recall Amend Committee, 6123
N . Fleming, Spokane, WA 99205.
-Associated Press and other reports
CD
the church at 100 N. Oxford, St. Paul,
MN 55104-6540.
"Cool, your parents are gay! Why
didn't you tell me?'' One of the new
posters available from Wingspan.
King's House celebrates
first anniversary
t.THE ,KING'S HOUSE Praise and
Worship Center, Campbell, Calif.,
celebrated its first anniversary with a
festival weekend Sept. 8-10. Evangelist
Naomi Harvey was the guest
speaker. This active ministry for gay
and lesbian Christians is located at
1550 S. Winchester Ave., Suite 109 in
Campbell, phone (408)288-8584.
David Harvey serves as pastor.
Integrity/Chicago celebrates
21st anniversary
t.lNTEGRITY /CHICAGO was scheduled
to celebrate its 21st anniversary
on November 4 with a Eucharist in
the Cathedral of St. James followed by
a banquet featuring an address by
Louie Crew, founder of the national
organization. All eleven people who
first gathered in December of 1974
were invited to return for the
celebration. At presstime, the group
was hoping to have Bishop Primo as
principal celebrant, since he presided
at the first Integrity convention
Eucharist in November of 1975.
l:3aptist Honesty group
forms in Dallas
iiSOUTHERN BAPTISTS, the largest
Protestant denomit\ation in Texas,
have long been associated with
hostility and indifference towards
members of the gay community. A
light in this denomination sparked on
Monday, October 2, with the creation
of a supportive association of gay and
lesbian Baptists called "Honesty/
Texas ." The group has no official
connection to the' Southern Baptist
Convention and therefore considers
itself an autonomous, independent
voice within the denomination. Unable
to find a local Baptist church
host, the 20 charter members convened
their inaugural meeting at the
Northaven United Methodist Church
in Dallas. Those who gathered found
openness and encouragement to be a
positive voice uniting their gay and
Baptist identities. Although the
group is primarily Baptist, any gay or
lesbian Christian without a support
system is invited to attend. Honesty/
Texas has two preliminary goals:
provide support for gay and lesbian
Baptists as they seek to know and
follow God's will for their lives, and
to educate individuals, local congregations,
and the denomination about
the complex issues surrounding
homosexuality. For information on
Honesty, write to P. 0. Box 190869,
Dallas, TX 75219 or call (214)521-5342,
ext. 233.
AIDS ministry gets award
t.BRO. STEPHEN E. BRADDOCK,
0.5.C., founder and executive director
of AIDS Ministry for the Order of
St . Camillus, was honored by the
Mid-West Hispanic AIDS Coalition
with the 1995 "Ltiz Y -Vida" (Light
and Life) Award for outstanding contributions
made to the Hispanic Community
of Wisconsin. The award was
presented August 25th at Milwaukee's
United Community . Center.
MHAC is a non-profit membership
organization of Hispanics and nonHispanics
addressing the problem of
HIV/ AIDS among Hispanics in Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio and Wisconsin.
:w,
Brother Stephen Braddock, right, is
presented with the 1995 "Lux Y Vida"
award by Jose Avila.
Luke "Sissyfag" joins ex-gays
FORMER MEMBER OF ACT UP
Seattle Luke "Sissyfag" Montgomery
has joined the fundamentalist antigay
movement. He promotes antigay
initiatives and refers to himself as
a former homosexual activist.
This past summer he appeared on
religious radio stations across the
country and in an interview with
Focus on the Family leader James
Dobson, he approved the attacks
against the gay community.
'The gay community is . devoid of
any moral character ... and it's a
totally shallow, disgusting lifestyle,"
he said. ·
Montgomery (he's changed his
name back) is in Los Angeles, where
he 's attempting to become a "shockjock"
anti-gay radio talk show host.
- Seattle Gay News
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER l , 9 9 5
' . . Comment . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. - .................. .
Refuse to lose
By butchwalks@aol.com
Guest Comment
r'"'f1his morning all over the papers l ~nd within the sports media is
the story of the Mariners and their
chance at the championship. ·
One title caught my eye and made
me reflect upon my own spiritual
challenges. The sportswriter said
everywhere you look .in the Seattle
area you can see the "Refuse to Lose"
theme boosting the enthusiam and
spirit for our home team.
God's spirit reflected this theme to
my own journey. Here is what I.
meditated on, perhaps you can get
something out of it as well.
1. The "Refuse to Lose" attitude. If
these athletes compete with body,
soul, and all of their strength to
obtain an earthly crown and recompense
for their efforts, how much
more should we - the children of God
- put our entirety into God's working
in our lives?
Too often we have a defeatist complex
. I have great news my friends,
we are winners in Christ! That's not
just an attitude, but a reality. "We are
more than conquerers through Christ
who loved us ... " Halluliah!
2. The news broadcaster also
boasted about the attendance. 57,000
plus spectators. If you saw the
Mariners last playoff game against
New York, you saw the stadium come
to life as that winning hit was made.
The crowd rose to their feet, shouts
were heard for miles around the
Kingdome, the fans at home watching
via television, the people at work and
listening to th(! radio were all in
unparalleled rejoicing over their
team's achievements.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I
have · good news. There is more than
any 57,000 plus in our spectators
arena. The Scripture tells us that there
is a '.'great cloud of witnesses" that
Will address areas wh_ere consensus exists
watch us in our race upon this earth.
Think about that for a second .
When we are faced in a two strike,
two out inning and it is all upon us
and what we do at bat...there are
angelic hosts in heaven shouting and
praying aloud for us to overcome the
obstacles of Satan's temptations.
Thank God for our heavenly support.
3. The paper this morning listed an
entire page of the Mariners' stats in
comparison with the Indians. Amazingly,
God records our stats too.
Think of our stats like this. Blessed
are the peacemakers ... Blessed are the
pure in heart...Blessed are the
merciful...Blessed are you when
people shall persecute you and say all
kinds of evil things about you ...
So how are our stats? There is a
song that says how many are the lost
that I have lifted? How many are the
chained I've helped to free? I wonder
have I done my best for Jesus, when
Christ has done so much for me.
4. Then there was the heros of the
team ... Ken Griffey, Jr ... Manny
Ramirex, Edgar Martinex, Randy
Johnson ... AII of these talented and
hardworking athletes deserve their
due applause and honor. Our team
all-star is better than any of these
guys. Our team all-star has never
struck out, never dropped a catch,
never hit a bad pitch. Our team
all-star is none other than Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Many times as gay /lesbian/ transgendered
/bi Christians we would
rather sit on the bench and wear the
team uniform and attend practice
... but we don't like to get out there
in the spotlight where we can be seen
participating on the team. When all of
God's team players play wholeheartedly
as the Seattle Mariners then
we, the Church of Jesus Christ will
also be the victorious, overcoming,
and "refusing to lose."
Lutherans to produce "message" on human sexuality
CHICAGO - The Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America will produce a
"message" on human sexuality before
it considers another possible "social
statement" on the subject.
The ELCA Division for Church
in Society (DCS) will "draft a 'message'
for consideration by the church
council in fall 1996 on those areas for
which· there appears to be consensus
within this church," according to the
council's executive committee.
The council may adopt the message
or it may distribute the text for
comment in the church prior to transmitting
it to the 1997 Churchwide
Assembly, the executive committee
action said. The DCS board received
the committee's action at its Sept.
28-30 meeting here. Any prospect of
developing a social statement on
human sexuality will be reviewed following
that assembly, the executive
committee said.
The assembly could consider the
message if the council feels it is
setting new policy . It would also
"help keep the momentum going in
terms of our discussion of the subject,"
said the Rev. Charles S. Miller, DCS
executive director.
The division develops social
'statements for action by the church
council and the biennial Churchwide
Assembly, and it develops messages
on social issues for action by the
37-member church council. Social
statements usually define church
policy, while messages are "persuasive,
non-policy communications on
timely, urgent social issues."
;•we may have to push the
margin a bit," Miller said. A
SECOND STONE
message on human sexuality may go
beyond current definitions "only
because some of the material ... is not
treated in predecessor church social
statements, and the understanding of
a message is that it does not ordinarily
break new ground in terms of
policy for the church."-
The message will probably not
create new policy, said Miller. 'There
are just some places we are going to
have to admit this is taking us into
territory where the predecessor
churches have not been," he said.
The ELCA has been studying the
topic of human sexuality since 1989
with the hopes of developing a social
statement on the subject. Two drafts
of a possible statement were met with
great interest and largely negative
response, but portions of the drafts
were praised for clearly stating the
church's opposition to abuses of
r._« Pontius' Puddle
HOW COME'.. T~~ $E:A~c~
COMt-\\TTEE l'ORNE:t>
C>OWN "TI-U:. APPL\C~NT
FOR -n-\E. PASTO~A.il: °?
human sexuality.
Miller said the message may "on
the one hand deal with practices that
violate our sexuality and then on the
other hand deal with our witness in
public policy regarding matters of
sexuality. Those two areas would be
the ones most naturally lifted up in
the message, because we found in the
responses to the first and the second
draft relatively little disagreement
with that material," he said.
The church council's executive
committee asked the division to begin
work on "a multi-authored volume on
how Lutherans do ethics, with a
companion document to be prepared
for congregational use."
DCS will work with Lutheran
ethicists, to develop the multiauthored
piece probably dealing with
more topics than human sexuality.
The executive committee also
Tl4.AT1S OOTRAGEOU$!
WI-IA1 QOIRK or \,IRTI-\
CO<JLD POSS\5L\J CAUS'c.
TI-\E CI-\ORC.1-l TO OVERLOOI(
T"'E INNER GIFTS ONE
IS ASKEO "TO 8RIN&--
TO ,l-\E. MIN\STR\J '?
directed DCS staff to undertake
"appropriate efforts related to issues of
hospitality and justice" with gay and
lesbian Lutherans.
The possibility of the ELCA ever
producing a social statement on
human sexuality is unclear. "We'll
have to wait until after the 1997
Churchwide Assembly __ to see
whether, in light of what w e've
produced, the church through the
assembly still believes we should
continue work on a social statement,"
said Miller.
In other action, the board
officially brought "closure to the work
of the original task force on human
sexuality" assembled in 1989. A
letter of appreciation will include
recognition of the personal attacks
task force members suffered in the
course of their work on this
controversial topic .
-BEINC:r
80RN
rEMAL.E.
I HOP£
YOU WE.NT
RO<.>C::rl-\ ON
μER
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER l 9 9 5
YourTurn ............................................ ·• .......................... .
Louisville, Kentucky
Lutheran assembly
"best ever" for
Gays, Lesbians
Dear Second Stone,
I felt the September/ October issue of
Second Stone had a very negative tone
about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
This is unjustified and incorrect.
Our new bishop, George Anderson,
is much more supportive and will do
a lot to push the church to move
forward than your article suggested.
. This assembly was the best ever for
lesbian/gay people and we are very
pleased. Instead of a backlash, which
some had · predicted following the
sexuality debate going on, we were
·welcomed and our place at the table
in this denomination was assured.
Sure, we didn't get everything we
hoped for ... ordination is still not
CLOSET,
From Page 3
"I think Tracey Lind is one of the ·
finest priests I've ever known," he
told the Herald & News. 'The fact that
Tracey is a lesbian who lives in a
committed relationship is of little
interest to me."
Robert . Briggs, who serves on St.
Paul's vestry and runs a homeless
shelter for the parish, credited Lind
with helping him transform his life. "I
was living on the street for two years,
MORMONS,
From Page 14
line girls is to improve the marital
relationship - schisms between the
parents are apparent in almost all
cases.
"Gender confusion is less likely
when love and harmony are present
in the parents' marriage. Treatment
for the parents is aimed at overcoming
their distance from each
other."
Many Mormon Gays and their
parents hold out hope that a
preponderance of scientific evidence
eventually will cause the church
affirmed (although as a result of the
discussions in the church at large,
more and more bishops are ordaining
candidates they know to be gay/
lesbian, and encouraging those dergy
who come out to stay in the ministry),
but significant progress was achieved.
I value Second Stone and continue to
encourage people to subscribe.
Sincerely,
Jim Oxyer
Lutherans Concerned/Louisville
Longview, Texas
A Christian
before anything else
Dear Second Stone,
I am a Christian and that is first in
my life. To be gay is only a secondary
thing. Being gay or straight,
male or female; white or of color
should be secondary in every Christian's
life. Yet many Christians still
living in cars, in abandoned
buildings," he said.
There are inany openly gay priests
in the Episcopal Church, several
dozen of them in New Jersey. Unlike
bishops, who are answerable to the
national church leadership, priests
can be disciplined only by the bishop
for whom they work.
St. Paul's, founded in 1812 by
Paterson's silk gentry; is one of the
more diverse churches in New Jersey.
It is 45 percent black, 35 percent
white and 10 percent Hispanic .
leaders they revere as prophets to
look less sternly on same-sex marriages.
"As tlw understanding of homosexuality
evolves, is the status · quo
the best we can hope for?" the parents
asked Hinckley, the church's "prophet,
seer and revelator."
"Is it possible that additional
revelation may be forthcoming that
might bring some peace and un<;lerstanding
to our families? How long
must we and the church remain in
conflict with ourselves?"
SECOND STONE Newsjournal, ISSN No. 1047-3971, is published every other
month by Bailey Communications, P. 0 : Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
Copyright 1995 by Second Stone, a registered trademark .
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SECOND STONE, a national ecumenical Christian social justice newsjoumal
with a specific outreach to sexual orientation minorities.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Jim Bailey
SECOND STONE G)
see some of these parts of themselves
as first in their life.
In the Bible when people became
changed for the better for God they
had a name change. Maybe God is
calling .on us as a group of Christians
to separate ourselves from the gay
world. To change our name, to take a
higher calling. In the Bible the
higher calling for the word gay is joy.
To be gay is of the world, to be joy is
of God. To be for Christ is joy .
Nehemiah 8:9-10 says non-Christians
are under law. We as Christians are '
under grace. Gay people weep and
mourn under the change of laws. But
we as Christians know, "the joy of the ·
Lord is our strength .
The wake-up call is today . Does
anyone hear the gentle voice of God
in Christ calling us to a life of joy?
Will anyone take the high road from
gay to joy?
May joy be yours today and for
eternity,
Paul Ennis
W From the Editor W • -, • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • e
"Their" organizations offer more than "ours"
By Jim Bailey
- ...
CONTRARY TO WHAT many of us may feel by now, Dr. James Dobson's
Focus on the , Family organization was not created to crusade against gay rights
and wo~en s nghts. Those were not the issues that expanded Dobson'&
orgaru~t10 _n ~rom a small two-roo~ operation into the giant Colorado Springs
enterpnse 1t 1s today. Through his earlier therapy practice Dobson began to
understand that, yes, the American family was indeed in trouble. About half o/
all married couples were s~litting up and m~ny who were staying together
w~re havmg trouble mamta1m1;1-g thetr commitment. In many families where
children . were prese,nt, parentmg s~ills were seen as lacking. So Dobson
crea_t:d an orgaruzahon to help marned couples stay together and raise their
farruhes. T~e need was certainly there, and with Focus on the Family doing a
. fairly good JOb of meeting those needs, the organization grew ·exponentially .
Focus on the Family is basically a resource center offering books, video tapes ,
ne_"'.sletters , and . media program~in~ t~~t suppo~s families in trouble.
Mismformah~>n about gay and lesbian md1V1dual, family and parenting issues
notw1thstandmg, Focus on the Family has made material available that without
doubt has been helpful to many, many families . Those appreciative families
and many other supportive families are now members of Focus on the Family.
When Dr. Dobson inco~ectly id~ntified gay rights as a threat to the family, the
vast membership of his orgamzalton gave him a powerful voice to speak
against gay and lesbian people.
The gay community responded to Focus on the Family and other such
organizations by forming political organizations. (True to our weakness of not
?eing able to agree much of time, we formed several splintered organizations
mstead of _one powerful one.) We are asked to send money to join. We do.
Then we fmd that most of our contact with this group will be in the form of
more solicitations and possibly a newsletter or ballot of endorsements . We are
asked to do much of the lobbying work ourselves . And send more money.
Who gets more out of the ir membership - a member of Focus on the Family -
or a member of one of our political groups? Is there any wonder that we just
can't match their numbers? ·
The )argest i:;ay and lesbian "focus" group in America doesn't exist yet. It will
come mto bemg when, hke Dr. Dobson, someone provides a balm for the
difficul~ies and struggles we face in our lives and our relationships. We will
know, hke members of Focus on the Family, that we are affiliated with a group
that understands the pain we have felt - and offers solutions, answers and
support.
Every now and then I see a spark of hope that such a group may come out of
one of our gay and lesbian Christian organizations. Then again, maybe not.
We continue to let petty differences divide us. In the larger religious commuruty,
even evangelicals and Roman Catholics are coming together to work
toward common goals.
We continue to miss the big harvest because, with help only from People Like
Us, we toil the tiny field of familiarity and minor comfort.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 199 5
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