Daughters of John and Ginny Kruse

From John and Ginny Kruse

Parents of two daughters who are lesbian and in healthy and supportive Holy Unions.  Since the recent Judicial Council decisions we feel we can no longer participate in a United Methodist congregation.  John maintains his membership in the Annual Conference and will officiate for Holy Union services.

John and Ginny Kruse donated this stole to honor their two lesbian daughters.  Even though John is an ordained United Methodist Pastor, the UMC has lost the active participation of this entire family because of its discriminatory practices.  However, John and Ginny continue to provide strong support to the Reconciling Ministries Network, a national organization working to create a United Methodist Church that is welcoming of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

This is one of two stoles donated by John and Ginny Kruse in advance of the 2000 General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH.  (See stole #505)  In 1999, the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) inquired about the possibility of having a display of the Shower of Stoles at the General Conference the following April.  At the time, there were only around twenty United Methodist stoles in the collection.  We decided to introduce the Shower of Stoles to the Reconciling community by bringing the twenty UM stoles and about a hundred others to RMN’s Convocation in Denton, TX over the Labor Day weekend.  Stoles started to trickle in during the fall, and by February they began coming in droves.  In all, we received 220 United Methodist stoles – the vast majority of them arriving within eight weeks of the Conference.  Thanks to a monumental effort by a number of volunteers who pitched in to help record, inventory, sew labels and make last-minute repairs, all of the new stoles were present in Cleveland.  Twenty more people brought stoles directly to Cleveland, bringing the total number on display to 240.

Towards the end of the General Conference, twenty eight lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender United Methodists and allies stood on the Conference floor in silent protest over the Conference’s failure to overturn the ban on LGBT ordination – a profound witness and act of defiance for which they were later arrested.  As these twenty eight moved to the front of the room, another 200 supporters stood up around the balcony railing, each wearing one of the new United Methodist stoles.  Hundreds more stood in solidarity as well, in the balcony and on the plenary floor, wearing symbolic “stoles” made from colorful bands of cloth.  A group of young people from Minneapolis, members of a Communicant’s Class, had purchased bolts of cloth the preceding evening and stayed up all night cutting out close to a thousand of these “stoles”.  In less than eight months, a handful of stoles had grown to become a powerful, visible witness to the steadfast faith of LGBT United Methodists nationwide.

Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006