LC/NA’S Rainbow Scarf Project

LC/NA’S RAINBOW SCARF PROJECT<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Evangelical LutheranChurch in America Churchwide Assembly 2007

Chicago, IL

Lutherans Concerned/North America wanted to have a way to identify their volunteers at the upcoming ELCA Churchwide Assembly. So members of the Unitarian Church of Evanston, IL volunteered to make 500 rainbow scarves. Word of their efforts quickly spread across the country, and others wanted to participate.

One church group told their knitters that they had to understand and accept the reasons for the project, so they held a two-hour Bible study and discussion about lgbt people in the ELCA. All the knitters chose to participate. A retired lesbian pastor said that making this scarf was the first thing she had ever done to stand up for her own sexuality. A grand-mother made a scarf for her gay grandson, and told her knitting group for the first time about him being gay. Many congregations blessed the scarves before shipping them. Some people wore the scarves in Gay Pride parades before sending them in.

In the end, LC/NA received about 2,000 scarves! Despite temperatures in the 90’s, they were worn by volunteers and anyone else who wanted to show their support for changing ordination policy in the ELCA, which currently bars partnered gays and lesbians from ministry.

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The picture of people wearing the scarves appeared in the New York Times on Friday, August 17th, 2007.

I was in Chicago for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, coordinating the first exhibit of the entire collection of stoles in four years. This is the scarf that I wore.

David Lohman
Faith Work Coordinator
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Institute for Welcoming Resources
Home of the Shower of Stoles Project
2007