41 20 2500 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/47410652da27bff1139d8dafc5065e19.png 3288e6a33db120a86b62779a43ae7909 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin Biographies Description An account of the resource <a href="https://www.lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/profiles/del-martin-phyllis-lyon">LGBT Religious Archives Network Pioneer Profile</a>. Photo by permission of Kay Tobin Lahusen; in Lyon-Martin home, 1971. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/b15d2fd4cdc73d5bdca6546dfb81e181.pdf 19510d57569ca98bd50f64bbef18f9e8 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Page 1: "Memoir of My Intern Year (1966-1967) as the Minister of Young Adults at theGlide Memorial Methodist Church by Dr. Larry Mamiya, Professor of Religion and Africana Studies at Vassar College I first learned of the Glide Fellows Program in 1965 from Neale Secor, a former lawyer who was studying for his Bachelor of Divinity degree (later changed to a Master of Divinity) at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where I was also a student. Neale was the first Glide Fellow and did his intern year as the first Minister to Young Adults at the Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco. He told me that Glide was composed of three institutional entities—the Glide Memorial Methodist Church, the Glide Urban Center, and the Glide Foundation. His work with young adults, both gay and straight, involved holding an open house during week nights in his family’s apartment, where both gay and straight young adults from the church could gather and socialize. He was married with two children. He also helped out with the work of all three Glide entities in the Tenderloin area surrounding the church. In 1964 Glide had become the first Christian church to establish the Council on Religion and the Homosexual. The Rev. Ted McIIvenna of Glide helped to establish the Council. By doing so, Glide had become a maverick in the United Methodist Church and Christian circles since the Methodists and most Christian denominations still do not approve of homosexuality nor gay marriages. Glide was able to maintain its independent stance and cutting edge, progressive urban ministries largely due to the financial independence the church had from its endowment in the Glide Foundation. Lizzie Glide, whose family’s fortune derived from California oil and cattle, was also a devout Methodist. She saw that the downtown area of the Tenderloin had no church, so she established her own and endowed it with funds coming from the profits of the Californian Hotel nearby. A team of Methodist clergy established in the early 1960’s both the Urban Center and the Foundation as appendages to the church. The Civil Rights movement had triggered a host of bold experimental ministries and Glide saw itself at the forefront of this movement. I was in my second year at Union and was trained as a community organizer, doing rent strikes, welfare mediation, and general problem solving, from the base of a black church in upper East Harlem called the Triangle. Instead of teaching Sunday school which most seminarians do for their field work, two black women from the church and I were trained to run a problem solving clinic. A former Marine captain, lawyer, and associate minister George Fuller taught me how to organize using the methods and principles of Saul Alinksy, which focused on using nonviolent protest and conflict to bring about social change. This background of working as a community organizer in Harlem worked to my advantage when I applied and was accepted to become one of three Glide Fellows. Rich, a Union classmate, was placed in a suburban arts church, Barry from Canada went to Mendocino to work with Caesar Chavez and the farm workers, while I became the Minister to Young Adults at Glide itself. However, before going to Glide, I spent the months from May to July of 1966 as a civil rights organizer in the rural areas, sponsored by the Student Interracial Ministry and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, in the Southwest Georgia Project headed by the Rev. Charles Sherrod (see my memoir (“SIM, SNCC and the Southwest Georgia Project”) in the online Civil Rights Movement Veterans archives: www.crmvets.org)." Page 2: "That summer in Southwest Georgia was an extremely violent one since I saw more blood spilled at that time than for the rest of my life. I left Southwest Georgia into participate in my sister’s wedding in Hawaii. After spending a week in Hawaii, I headed for San Francisco. A Union classmate David Mann introduced me to the Rev. Fred Bird and his wife Ann. Fred, a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, pastored a church in Chinatown and I stayed in their apartment for a week until I found a place of my own. I also bought a used car from David, a British made Sunbeam sports convertible, for $600. As the new Minister to Young Adults at Glide, I asked around about where many young adults were living and hanging out in the city. The answer was an area where two streets crossed, Haight and Ashbury. So I found an apartment on Parnassus Street below the U.C. Medical Center and on the outskirts of the Haight-Ashbury district. Little did I know that that little community would explode in 1967 with over a million young people coming through and become the center of a burgeoning youth counterculture. As a community organizer, I knew that I had to hang out a while to find out what’s going on and what the important needs were in the neighborhood. In the beginning I did that in the Tenderloin district surrounding Glide church with members of Vanguard who were meeting at the church. I spent three to four nights a week from 10 p.m. to about 3 or 4 a.m. talking to the young street hustlers (male and female prostitutes, transvestites, and transsexuals) on the street corners or in coffee shops. Vanguard was the first group of largely gay young people in the nation organized by Adrian Ravarour (later the Rev. Dr. Ravarour). He would always be introduced at Vanguard events as the “founder.” At that time, I did not know about the background of Adrian’s founding philosophy, which included Mohandas Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among others. But it certainly was in harmony with my own views about the role of nonviolence in social change movements. In retrospect, Vanguard can be seen as the spearhead of a nonviolent social change movement of young gay people, the first in the nation dedicated to bringing about social justice and equal rights. Vanguard was established three years before the famous Stonewall incident in New York City, which is often viewed as the beginning of the gay rights movement. By watching the police harass the young people on the streets or in the coffee shops I quickly discovered that there was a great need for a “safe space,” where they could be themselves, have fun, enjoy music and dancing, and be safe from the cops. So I arranged for members of Vanguard to use the large basement area of Glide as social hall for dances on Friday and Saturday evenings from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The dances were a great success with anywhere from 100 to 300 people attending. It also made Glide the first church in the country to sponsor gay dances. Many of the members were great dancers and I enjoyed watching them. But most of my time during the dances was spent at the front admissions desk with several Vanguard members because there were always nosy cops or fire marshals coming around wanting to inspect the place. I also knew that their main motive was to shut down the dances if they could. So I always carried a snap on clerical collar in the pocket of my sports jacket. From my experience on the streets, I knew that many of the police and firemen were Irish-Catholics and they had a certain respect for a collar. Whenever I met them with my collar on, they always addressed me as “Father.” That respect helped me to succeed in never letting them in. As an organizer, one uses whatever leverage you have with the authorities. Since Glide church had no youth group of its own, I sort of viewed Vanguard as the church’s youth group. The age range of Vanguard members were from 11 to 35 years old with the majority in their late teens and early twenties. Most of them had run away from or left their homes because of abuse, parental neglect, or not getting along with their parents. Many had been living on the streets, selling their bodies. Drug use was also prevalent. The harsh realities of the lives of Vanguard members shouldn’t be romanticized. These young people were among the most neglected sectors in American society." Page 3: "However, the Vanguard organization did exist to make life better for everyone. Besides the dances, whichwent on successfully from mid-September until the end of December, I also got an office space for Vanguard to use since the office next to mine was unoccupied. J.P. Maurat, the President of Vanguard and some other Vanguard officers and members used the office everyday. The Glide Urban Center was instrumental in getting the Tenderloin declared as one of the poverty areas of the city. Each poverty area had to develop an umbrella community organization, made up of local organizations in the area. This was Alinsky’s “organization of organizations” model of community organizing. Each local organization sent two representatives to the poverty council meetings. Mark Forrester, who was gay, was the community organizer for the Tenderloin. He prevailed upon Vanguard to send two representatives and they did. One of the goals of obtaining the War on Poverty funds was to establish a hospitality center, a safe space, for the youth of the Tenderloin. This goal was why the Vanguard organization as representatives of these youth was critical to obtaining the funds. I gave my home phone number to members of Vanguard and said if you need help, call me. I was called several times between 3 to 4 a.m. and the person said I got arrested, please come and bail me out. My reply was to hang on until 9 a.m. and I will see the bail bondsman. The bail was usually set at $500 so I used the $600 bill of sale for my Sunbeam convertible as the collateral for the bail. I was extremely fortunate that the young people I bailed out showed up at their court dates. Otherwise I would have lost my wheels needed to get around the hills of San Francisco. I trusted the members of Vanguard and they trusted me. In November and December of 1966, a dispute arose between J.P. Maurat and the clergy of the Glide Church, Urban Center and Foundation. Since J.P. was using an office space at Glide and showed up every weekday, he felt that the church should put him on its staff and pay him a salary. However, it was not the church’s policy to pay salaries to officers of affiliated organizations. Glide had many affiliations and Vanguard was only one of them. Apparently, the situation became quite ugly. The clergy who ranked above me were directly involved in the meetings: the Rev. Cecil Williams, the new preaching minister and Pastor, the Rev. Vaughn Smith, Associate Pastor, and the Rev. Louis Durham, head of the Glide Foundation. J.P. Maurat decided that Vanguard should cut its ties to Glide and they left in early January 1967. Mark Forrester, the poverty council organizer, also said that the group could not use the name Vanguard because that name had been used in government contracts for funds that would be directed to the youth of the Tenderloin. If the Vanguard representatives to the council quit, then other young people would be appointed in their place. Thus, J.P.’s dispute with Glide led to the loss of an office space for Vanguard, the social dances on Friday and Saturday nights, the loss of representation on the poverty council and the loss of their own safe space in the Hospitality Center that was created a year later. One person’s ego led to a lot of losses for Vanguard. Racial Rebellions Racial rebellions (called “race riot” by the media) in the 1960’s began with the Harlem rebellion in the summer of 1964. It was followed by the rebellion in Watts in 1965 and many others after that. The really large rebellions were in Detroit and Newark in 1967. My background as a community organizer and as a civil rights worker led the Rev. Cecil Williams to have me accompany him whenever he was called to intervene in the racial rebellions in the Bayview-Hunter’s Point, Oakland, and the Fillmore district of San Francisco. On September 27, 1966 a police officer shot and killed 16 year old Matthew Johnson and three days of black rage erupted. While Cecil dealt with the police, I went with those who were rebelling on the streets. It was at Hunter’s Point that I learned how to" Page 4: "survive in street rebellions. The lesson was to never stand in the front row of protestors because if the police shoot with deadly force then it is the front row that is injured or killed. I learned to stay on the side of the crowd but to move whenever the crowd moves. Not being white also helped. One black protestor looked at me and said, “Are you white?” I said, “No, do I look white?” And we moved on. (other sections will include The Artists Liberation Front and the Invisible Circus, a 72 Happening at Glide, the funeral of Chocolate George of the Hells Angels, Glide’s involvement in the Haight-Ashbury Hippie Community: the establishment of the Black People’s Free Store, the Diggers Thursday night dinners at Glide, and the establishment of the Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic, Huckleberry’s for Runaways, crash pads, and free concerts in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park. )" Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Memoir of My Intern Year (1966-1967), by Dr. Larry Mamiya Description An account of the resource Memoir of My Intern Year (1966-1967) as the Minister of Young Adults at the Glide Memorial Methodist Church, by Dr. Larry Mamiya, Professor of Religion and Africana Studies at Vassar College https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/2cac46ae6abc50506337893c0e6665d4.pdf 31f1ae945c9d67ad24767b7544c59211 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Page 1: "INNER CITY METHODIST CHURCHES Calendar of the Week SUNDAY, JANUARY 17 Glide Memorial Methodist Church 9:30 a.m. Church School with classes for all ages Nursery and Adult Classes - Street Floor Kindergarten through Junior Hi - 2nd Floor Choir Rehearsal in the Game Room 11;00 a.m. Morning Worship 12:00 a.m. Coffee Fellowship in the Fellowship Hall 7:30 p.m. Vesper Service in the Sanctuary First Methodist Church 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship Nursery, Kindergarten and Primary Study 10:45 a.m. Coffee Fellowship 11:00 a.m. Junior through Adults Study Classes Choir Rehearsal MONDAY, JANUARY 18 8:30 a.m. Morning Worship at Glide TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 12:00 a.m. Harris Circles will meet in Asbury Room. Bring sandwiches, Maud Bessy is the Hostess WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20 10:00 a.m. Bible Study & Prayer Group - Jr. Rm. Glide 10:00 a.m. W.S.C.S. Quilting Group - First Church 12:00 Noon Inter-City Methodist Men's Lunch Rev. John V. Moore, speaker THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 10:30 a.m. Senior Citizens meet. Dr. Noronhaspeaking. Lunch at 12:00 - Lrogram to follow - Glide 7:30 p.m. Membership Class - Clide SATURDAY, JANUARY 22 12:15 - Organ Recital Sanctuary at Glide 9:30 a.m. Choir Rehearsal at First Church ABOUT THE COVER: With the exception of the cross, the fish is credited with being the oldest symbol in Christendom. The Greek word for fish is IXOUS (pronounced ikthus). The early Christians turned it into an acrostic that worked out as follows: I - IHSUS (Pronounced Yasoos) Jesus X - XPISTOS ( Kristos) Christ 0 - OEOS ( Thee-os) God('s) U - UIOS ( Wee-os) Son S - SOTR ( So-tare) Savior This was used as a code to identify Christians during the time of the Roman persecutions. However, instead of saying the Greek word, they usually drew a simple fish. Today it reminds us always of the words of Christ, "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." CPH - LITHO IN U.S.A DESIGNED BY SACRED DESIGN ASSOCIATES NO. 84-105" Page 2: "FIRST METHODiST CHURCH Clay and Larkin GUDE MEMORIAL METHODIST CHURCH Taylor and Ellis January 17, 1965 THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP Second Sunday After Epiphany 11:00 A.M. "We gather today to worship God. Enter quietly for others are In prayer. Speak first to God silently, and later in unison. Listen and meditate. Following the service speak to those who are near you. Prelude O World of Transgressions *Processional Hymn "Sing Praise To God" *Collect (Unison) Haney No. 355 Father of lights and giver of all good, we praise thee that thou cal lest us to share as thine own sons and daughters the life of freedom, truth and love. Grant, we pray thee, that in purity of heart we may receive and manifest the blessings of thy light and life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. *Choral Introit * * * * * Prayer Of Confession (Unison) Forgive us that so little of thy love hath reached others through us, and that we have borne so seldom wrongs and sufferings that were  not our own. Forgive us wherein we have made it hard for them to live with us, and wherein we have been thoughtless in our judgements, hasty in condemnation, grudging in forgiveness. Amen. Prayer For Pardon The Lord's Prayer The Epistle The Gospel The Anthem * * * * * * * * * * Love Divine (Welsh) Welcome and Registration Romans 4: 13-25 Matthew 28: 16-20 Prichard Prayer Hymn "Prayer Is Sincere Desi re" No, 303 Prayer Of Intercession Invitation To Share Offertory * * * * * *Hymn of Dedication (Unison) All things come of Thee, O Lord And of Thine own have we given Thee. Amen. Sermon "Church, Community And Homosexuality'' John V. Moore Invitation To Discipleship *Recessional Hymn Benedict ion Postlude ''O Brother Man 11 Transcription ('Miles' Lane') No. 466 Whitney **The Congregation will please stand. ****Ushers wiII seat those who have been detained A nursery is provided during the service. Ushers will direct you. WELCOME AND COFFEE HOUR We welcome you as you join us in worshiping God . We invite you to talk with others after the close of the service. Stop for coffee and conversation in the Fellowship Hall downstairs. DISCUSSION All who would like to discuss the subject of the sermon are invited to come to the front of the church following the Postlude. NEXT SUNDAY Mr. Moore will preach the last sermon in this series. He will be dealing with the ethics of sex . EVENING WORSHIP Laird Sutton will be preaching at the 7:30 evening service. ''God's Unifying Activity" ADVENTURES IN CHRISTIAN GROWTH There is still room for additional adults in Art In Action, and The Church And The New Nations, and for children in the Creative Gestures and Sound groups. Come for supper at 5:00 o'clock, the groups at 6:00 p .. m., and worship at 7:30 p.m. The flowers at the Altar this morning are from Ruth Norton in memory of her husband, John Norton. STAFF OF INNER-CITY METHODIST CHURCHES Donald H. Tippett, Bishop Richard Judd, Organist-Director D. Clifford Crummey, District Supt. Elsie McNee, Secretary John V. Moore Pastor Dorothy Smith, Assistant Everett Swedenburg, Associate Pastor Winslow Wheeler, Lay Leader Laird Sutton, Associate Pastor Neale Secor, Young Adult Director Perry Glover, Custodian" Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Glide Worship Program for First Sermon in Homosexuality Series by Rev. John Moore Description An account of the resource Worship bulletin of Glide Memorial Methodist Church, January 18, 1965. Donald S. Lucas Papers. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://www.glbthistory.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GLBT Historical Society</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/dffc518ce12266f3fe6f2485be5ea62b.pdf 88221073b648695343c6cb510f6168be Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document A Spirited Seminar on Homosexual Integration PAGE 3 Monday, Jan. 18, 1965 San Francisco Chronicle By Donovan Bess A prominent Methodist pastor, the Rev. John V. More, made an appeal to heterosexual men and women yesterday to devote some of their spare time to "a dialogue" with overt homosexuals and lesbians. The appeal was made during a spirited seminar in the Glide Memorial Church following a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Moore on the need to integrate homosexuals into the community. Nearly 150 men and women remained after the service and spent an hour wrestling with such questions as (1) What is normal in bed? and (2) When is a seduction antisocial? The pioneering pastor won an ovation from the group—many of whom are homosexuals. Furor One woman created a furor when she declared: "I'm heterosexual, but I have many homosexual friends. Why do they defend an act that is not considered normal?" Evander Smith, an attorney, leapt to his feet and told the woman he was going to buy her a copy of "A Quaker View on Sex." "This will be an education," he told her. "...You will find that homosexuality exists in every form of animal life. It just so happens that whales have the highest form of homosexual conduct of any." Chided The Rev. Mr. Moore was chided by some men present for depicting homosexual seduction as a special danger because some young persons "might go one way or the other"—and could be railroaded out of heterosexuality. "Sometimes," said one man, "the younger person does the seducing." Smith said "gay" people were particularly averse to child-molesting of any kind. The pastor received another ovation for his initiative in opening his church to such discussions. He expressed hopes that those present would participate in the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, which was established recently by ministers of four Protestant denominations. Homosexuals, he said, "have got to fight to be a human being," in the same way women fought for the vote, and Negroes now seek equal opportunity. "I want to encourage you," he declared, "to move into larger community matters where you will be absorbed by issues other than 'the homosexual in society.'" To help carry this out, he proposed projects that would involve heterosexual "laymen who are comfortable enough in their own sexuality to do this." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of Second Sermon in Series by Rev. John Moore Description An account of the resource San Francisco Chronicle, January 19, 1965, page 3. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://sfpl.org/librarylocations/sfhistory/sfhistory.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco Public Library</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/a0f6a94a12a676f558fccf6a3d555e86.pdf 1e6b1e98ceaa2d1b95293c1b610eb1e7 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document When Sex Becomes Impersonal By Donovan Bess The Rev. John V. Moore used his downtown Methodist pulpit yesterday to make a case against "the automation of sex" in America. He charged that sexual union frequently amounts to "IBM computers passing in the dark"—and is "as superficial as buying a sandwich at an automat." "The teachings of Jesus", he told his crowded church, "are against any such misuse of sexuality." The Rev. Mr. Moore's outspoken sermon was the first in a series of three he will give at the Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin. "The greatest sexual problem of our day," he said, "is the alienation of sex from See Page 14. Col 3" Page 2: "Sermon: The Worst Sex Danger From Page 1 persons" — as evidenced in talk about "having sex." Those two words, the pastor declared, imply that "the persons involved are so unimportant as to be not worth mentioning." "Men can 'have sex' in the dilapidated ward of a mental hospital, or with a beast. Incest is 'having sex'." He said the populat way of viewing sexuality today is in terms of the Kinsey studies, which tabulated and analyzed "sexual outlets." Personal He said there was evidence that sex in America is becoming less and less personal. "It is possible to intimate, while at the same time being almost wholly impersonal," he said. "For example, partners in some sexual acts never even see each other." "I'm not being entirely facetious when I suggest that it may not be long before prostitution is automated." The Rev. Mr. Moore challenged statements by Simone de Beauvoir, a French intellectual, that Lesbianism is a rejection by women of their being used as sexual objects by men. Marriage In marriage, he said, "I cannot agree that this must invariably be the relationship. "Furthermore, I'm sure that in every man-woman relationship, the man is sometimes the object; nor are Lesbians free from the danger of relating to other Lesbians as though they were objects." In citing misuses of sexuality, he said, "the boy or man who is most promiscuous very likely is driven by the fear that he is not really a man" and "must prove his masculinity to himself." Lives In conclusion, the clergyman declared: "Jesus said that He came that we might live rich, full lives. Denial of our sexuality, alienation of our sexuality, repression of our sexuality all stand in the way of the full life. "We will experience the kind of life which Jesus helped man find only when our sexuality, as every dimension of our lives, is fused with love — the kind of love we see in His life.... "Persons, societies and atoms depend for their existence upon power greater than the forces which would pull them apart. Love, being loved and loving is the power which binds persons together, making them and their relationships whole." Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of First Sermon of 3-Part Series by Rev. John Moore Description An account of the resource San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 1965, pages 1 & 14. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://sfpl.org/librarylocations/sfhistory/sfhistory.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco Public Library</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/ef9c902640630d2fa2172f7908021240.pdf 1175759423d6ef834fb8dd14fa978c87 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Page 1: "Glide" Page 2: "GLIDE IS A TRUST AGREEMENT. Farsighted Lizzie Glide established Glide Foundation in 1929 to serve the people of San Francisco - especially in the Tenderloin. The trust agreement provides for "an evangelistic center at the corner of Taylor and Ellis" the name of which would include "Glide Memorial" and "Church." Prior to 1962, Glide Memorial Methodist Church fulfilled this trust requirement. That year Glide Urban Center was established as the second part of the Glide Foundation program. Soon thereafter new organizations related to Glide Urban Center joined the Methodist congregation in operating out of the Glide building at Taylor and Ellis. New groups which gather at Glide include Citizens Alert which deals with police harassment and brutality, Intersection which is a meeting of artists and churchmen, and The Council on Religion and the Homosexual. Glide's trust agreement also requires Glide "to train Christian workers." One of Glide's most effective training enterprises is its intern program. Each year from five to ten laymen and seminarians train for innovative ministries. Another purpose of Glide, as stated in the trust, is "to forward Protestant Christianity in the city." While the income from the Glide trust provides the basic income for Glide's budget, contributions from members and friends provide Glide with the financial latitude needed to free a staff for service to urban people and for new forms of ministries to new "congregations." Contributions by Glide's members also support the worldwide mission program of The Methodist Church." Page 3: A photograph of a person in small heeled shin high boots walking past the corner of a building with the text, "Glide Memorial Evangelistic Center - A House of Prayer For All People - AD 1930" inscribed in a slab of the stone. Page 4: "GLIDE IS A STAFF-AND A SMALL ARMY. Glide's trustees have chosen to employ a staff to formulate and administer program. The staff, headed by Lewis Durham, includes Donald Kuhn, Ted McIlvenna, Ed Peet, Lloyd Wake and Cecil Williams. Each has unusual educational credits and diverse experiences. Members of Glide's staff have succeeded in identifying themselves with all sorts of minority groups and grass-roots urban populations - and from time to time have succeeded in helping overlooked people to participate in determining the directions the city will move. As a result, many people - including both church-goers and non-church-goers-identify with Glide, ask for help, offer to help, and become an integral part of the mysterious entity everyone finds easy to call simply, "Glide." Consequently the Glide staff regularly hears about people who have "represented Glide" in ways not specifically preferred by either Glide's trustees or staff. Everywhere a person turns in San Francisco, there is someone present from Glide. The small army sometimes openly says it belongs to Glide. But often, without mentioning Glide, it quietly works to attain justice, freedom and reconciliation in one of the most bureaucratically entangled cities in the Western World. While Glide Memorial Methodist Church has only 300 members, Glide has thousands of important supporters-the unnamed people who make San Francisco a great place to live-because they live here." Page 5: A photograph of four individuals talking to one another at a long table. Two men facing the viewer are wearing suits. Two other individuals have their backs facing the viewer and have short cropped hair. Page 6: "GLIDE IS A MYSTIQUE. Ask anyone from Glide to explain what Glide is and he or she will smile in silence before trying. Glide is many things to many people. In the middle of the San Francisco race riots of 1966, Glide was inside the riot area working with rioters and outside the riot helping news media know where to obtain the latest news and also interpreting the action to "the city fathers." In the puzzling Haight-Ashbury scene, Glide championed the "love generation" with police, park and health departments;" To the right of the above text is a photograph that features a small group of people outside by a mid-sized wall surrounding a large pot of spaghetti. Page 7: "Ted Mcllvenna dishes food with the Haight-Ashbury Diggers for anyone who wants lunch in front of San Francisco's City Hall." [Description for photo on page 6] "opened its facilities for multi-media happenings and for free dinners on Thursday nights. Everywhere you turn Glide seems to be there, identifying with creative change. Its strategies and tactics vary from situation to situation but it is there. Also Glide seems always beyond comprehension because it changes so often and so much. Glide's trustees and staff members read their newspapers each morning with eager anticipation to find out what Glide has done. Each knows that behind at least one headline Glide is at work. For instance, Glide intern Ed Hansen and his associates broke into headlines to announce a large number of pill-heads and prostitutes - male and female - who gathered in the Tenderloin. This entire new sub-culture came as a surprise to many connected with Glide. Before long Glide was sponsoring Sunday evening meetings at Chuckers, an infamous hang-out nearby, and was providing a room for dances for the youth. All of this is accepted now. The Chuckers meetings have ended and the dances are no longer housed at Glide. Hundreds of similar stories of newsworthy breakthroughs could be listed." Page 8: "GLIDE IS A STATEMENT OF FAITH. In a thousand ways, Glide says the city belongs to God-and all who dwell therein. God is at work in the events of the city - and God speaks to the city's people through those events. Glide is the church of Jesus Christ. The identification is clear. The work of Glide is to claim the city for Christ-in the many languages of the city. Glide, firmly rooted on the Bible and church history, continues the ministries of the church; struggles with the meaning of the church-congregation and membership; offers the sacraments; and works in most of the processes of city life- public education, the arts, economic development, housing, the poverty program, and mental health. Worshippers from the many Glide related congregations as well as international visitors gather each Sunday for worship which is a mixture of the contemporary and the traditional. Memorable Sundays have featured community organizer Saul Alinsky as preacher, the John Handy jazz ensemble, a local folk-rock group, and local dance troops. Usually the preacher is Glide's own A. Cecil Williams." Page 9: A photograph of a Black man in a suit and glasses being interviewed by two white men in suits in front of a camera in the foreground and a crowd of people in the background. Page 10: The Wall Street Journal. Monday, March 13, 1967 Vol. LXXVI. No. 49 Tenderloin Ministry: A 'Secularized' Church Pursues Its Mission In Unorthodox Causes: San Francisco Homosexuals Helped by Glide Methodist; Some Members Unhappy - Is Big City God's Creation? By: Howard Merry, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal "SAN FRANCISCO — The church holds "soul jigs''-rock 'n' roll concerts-in its sanctuary. It sponsors a retreat for clergymen and homosexuals, a dance for male prostitutes. It hands out $1,000 to hire Negro gang leaders as "peace monitors" to help quell a race riot. "We have to come to grips with the world the way it is," says the Rev. Cecil Williams, one of the church's ministers. Another, the Rev. Lewis Durham, adds: "If we hide, deny, or refuse to engage and be reborn into this new kind of world, then in fact we refuse I to participate in God's work." The church is San Francisco's Glide Memorial Methodist. Once it was a bulwark of conservative, Southern-based Protestantism. Now it is in the vanguard of an often controversial movement to bridge the wide gap between respectable, church-going society and the rootless, sometimes angry folks who popu-late rundown big-city neighborhoods. Those include the destitute aged and wayward young-sters, hipsters and homosexuals, drug addicts and resentful minority groups. The "Secularizatlon" Trend This movement is part of a wider trend called "secularization," and few religious denominations have escaped its influence entirely. Even in well-to-do suburbs, ministers open basement expresso coffee houses to attract young people who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead in church. The clergy is a major source of recruits for the civil rights movement, and some of the most outspoken criticism of the Vietnam war comes from the pulpit. At Glide, secularization has developed to an extraordinary extent. Few other churches have so wholly committed themselves to invo1vement with the secular world, and few have so deeply focused on the specific ills of urban life. But Glide is especially suited to take on the job it has set out for itself. Glide has a generous endowment from its now dead benefactor, the widow of a rich businessman and owns a profitable San Francisco hotel. It has a broad charter that gives its trustees and ministers sweeping freedom of action. Its membership numbers only a few middle-class families (partly because of its controversial activities). On an average Sunday, three-quarters of the congregation consists of out-of-town guests from nearby San Francisco hotels. In the Tenderloin Finally, its pink Spanish-style building is strategically situated at the edge of San Francisco's Tenderloin. district, a neighborhood notorious for prostitution, drunkenness, drug addiction, and violent misbehavior. The Tenderloin's 20-odd blocks, glutted with dowdy hotels and apartments, musty stores, "gay" bars, sailors hangouts and cheap diners, offer an ample supply of human misery for Glide to deal with. Not everyone connected with Glide has been happy with the direction the church has taken. Mr. Williams figures that between 20% and 40% of the members it had three years ago, when it started its programs, have departed. A former parishioner complains, "It has gotten into things the church has no business being involved with; it negates the religious experience you expect from your church.'' If spurned by some laymen, Glide's activities seem to have met with at least tacit approval from the Methodist hierarchy. The bishop of California is one of Glide's trustees. Glide's "mission" isn't easily labeled. Partly, the ministers say, it is "catalytic"; when they discover what they believe is an unfilled need, they try to interest and organize others in meeting it. Essentially, they" Page 11: Article from page 10 continued. "say, their job is to apply Christian ideals of charity to urban problems. "In the cities today, the1se is a tremendous need to get people working together again," says Mr. Durham. "All the factions - unions, businesses, political parties, civil rights groups and those who resist them-have learned how to stand each other off, so we're at a standstill." A Hand in Politics Sometimes, Glide involves itself in politics. Last summer, along with other churches, it used what influence it could muster to help secure the appointments of two members of the San Francisco Board of Education. The two, Laurel Glass and Alan Nichols, were given Glide's support because they were committed to "quality and equality" in public education, says the Rev. Donald L. Kuhn, Glide's director of communications. Glide's ministers are especially concerned about homosexuality. It is widespread in San Francisco. Police estimate that 80,000 to 90,000 San Franciscans, or more than 10% of the city's 790,000 people, are homosexuals. Glide permitted the Vanguards, a group of young male prostitutes, to have a dance in the church. Glide also has made office space available to the Vanguards, helped them secure a clubroom, and bought them furniture. "We were the only ones who would respond to the needs of these people," says Mr. Williams. "If you make yourself available to people, there's got to be a complete commitment. A commitment just to help those it's easy to help is hypocritical." Glide ministers haven't tried to "reform" the homosexuals. But Mr. Durham says some have responded to the sympathetic treatment they have received. "One fellow who was really struggling with his sexual identity has gotten married and found a job," he says. "Two or three have joined the church. Some who have gotten away from the kind of life they were leading have even come back to help those still caught up in it.'' Skeptics suggest that the homosexuals are taking advantage of Glide, an assertion that Mr. Durham concedes is a "very real possibility." He adds, however: "We have to put ourselves in a vulnerable position so that we can be used to meet people's needs." Whatever else may result from the aid to the Vanguards, it already has opened some communication between homosexuals and the police department. A policeman has been assigned to counsel the group. Oddly, among those unhappy with the Glide-Vanguard relationship were leaders of several other homosexual organizations. "We thought the publicity (about dances and prostitution) would tend to perpetuate in the public mind a stereotype of the homosexual as irresponsible and sexually permissive," one says. Glide also has worked with those organizations,whose ranks include reputable lawyer, doctors, teachers, and entertainers. Ted McIlvenna, a Glide minister, organized a retreat for clergymen and homosexuals to discuss the problem. A group called the Council of Religion and the Homosexual grew out of the retreat. Its members have appeared on radio and television and have conferred with police and state liquor control officials to acquaint them with the homosexuals' efforts to avoid "persecution." ''No Longer Silent" "At least we have reached out and are dealing with our situation in the broader community," says the head of one homosexual organization. "We no longer feel that we have to remain silent." Glide has served as the catalyst for groups formed for widely different reason. In a retreat with members of the Young Men's Christian Association, it was decided that San Francisco badly needed a "clearinghouse" for newcomers to the city to give them tips about jobs, social activities, and low-cost housing. Gateway, a downtown storefront information center. was established. Originally financed by Glide, it is now supported by a Ford Foundation grant. Misunderstandings between police officers and Tender loin residents, and charges of police brutality, led Glide to sponsor a meeting of concerned San Franciscans. They later started Citizens Alert, a group that maintains a 24-hour answering service to help people arrested by police. ''Police Brutality" An important function of Citizens Alert is investigating and screening complaints of police brutality. If the group considers evidence of unnecessary force to be strong enough, it files a complaint with police officials. Police insist not a single complaint has been justified, and some officers resent Citizens Alert's readiness to accept such complaints. One police official, however, says the group's efforts have made patrolmen more conscious of their duty to use only necessary force in making arrests. He adds: "We're getting a lot fewer complaints now than we used to.'' Glide's five ministers (four are white, and one, Mr. Williams, is a Negro) were quick to act when Negroes in San Francisco's Hunters Point district rioted last September. Glide gave $1,000 to Youth for Service, an organization of former ghetto gang leaders. Youth for Service used the money to hire, at $15 a day, youthful gang leaders who served as "peace monitors" to help cool the tempers of rioters. The police department said hiring the monitors definitely helped to hold down violence." Page 12: On the left side of the page is the remainder of the article text from pages 10-11: "But Mr. Durham doesn't even try to justify the payout on religious grounds. "It was done on a functional, practical basis," he says. "We needed to stop the riot." Abortion and Alinsky Predictably, Glide's church services are unconventional by most standards. A recent sermon entitled The Therapeutic Abortion Controversy was given by an abortion defender—Dr. Edmund W. Overstreet, a medical school professor and chief of obstetrical and gynecological services at San Francisco General Hospital. Yesterday, Saul Alinsky, a radical organizer of the poor, gave the sermon. During one recent communion service, the minister in charge asked whether anyone in the congregation wanted to talk. Six churchgoers rose to offer their thoughts on current issues. If Glide's activities appear unorthodox, its ministers say, it is largely because of a strong "anti-urban" strain in American Protestant thinking. While most denominations have willingly, even eagerly, dispatched missionaries to primitive and sometimes savage foreign lands, many religious leaders have shied away from work In the domestic "jungles." Heretofore. says Mr. Durham. "The role of the church in the city was somehow to save people from the evils of the city and to remind them of the sanctity of their rural heritage." But no matter how "atheistic, Godless, immoral, demonic'' modern city life may seem to be, Mr. Durham says, God created it and loves it. Glide's activities have intrigued many clergymen and religious laymen around the country. Two writers for a Methodist magazine recently spent some time at Glide doing a series of articles. "We have seen the growing edge of Christianity," they jubilantly reported back to their editor." On the right side of the page in a dark brown section is the text: "BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE GLIDE FOUNDATION Dr. Frank Webber, President R. A. Young, Jr., Vice-President Maurice H. Sumner, Secretary Dr. D. Clifford Crummey Dr. Joyce Wesley Farr The Honorable Joseph G. Kennedy Abel P. Machado Dr. Laurel Glass W. E. Morris The Reverend Robert D. Hill The Reverend Joseph H. Pritchard Bishop Donald H. Tippett Wilbur A. Jacoby—Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, and Business Manager" Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Glide Story Description An account of the resource Booklet published by Glide Foundation, circa 1967-68. Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin Papers. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://www.glbthistory.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GLBT Historical Society</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/1d64c54d46c2834ee0ab0eee7e68a752.pdf f212f0231ab3956063ca300537095d67 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document San Francisco Area The Methodist Church P.O. Box 467, San Francisco California 94101 Donald Harvey Tippett, Bishop, October 12, 1966 Mrs. Dorothy L. Martin 651 Duncan Street San Francisco, California 94131 Dear Mrs. Martin I very greatly appreciate your gracious letter of October 10, and your kindness in sending me a copy of your letter to the editor of the San Francisco Examiner. The newspapers have had a tendency to give a sensational cast to most of what they have written about GIide and have failed to recognize its underlying purpose and mission. I am very happy to have your interpretation and intelligent appraisal of what GIide is trying to do. You will understand, of course, that I have been under tremendous fire because of what is happening at GIide Church and so to receive a letter of commendation such as yours is a heart-warming experience. Please accept my hearty thanks. Faithfully yours, Donald Harvey Tippett OFFICE AT 330 ELLIS ST .. SAN FRANCISCO. CALIFORNIA 94102 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter to Del Martin from Methodist Bishop Donald Tippett Description An account of the resource Dated October 12, 1966. Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin Papers. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://www.glbthistory.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GLBT Historical Society</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/65f4491095eff27fe3522177d42f369f.jpg 8c8e66d611a7b6281b707c725626b576 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Glide Memorial Methodist Church in 1964 Description An account of the resource Photo by Alan J. Canterbury. Reprinted by permission of San Francisco Public Library. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Repository: <a href="http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/1c4c3cd1e5a6f1124faab7812f84e962.jpg fdb717098ad6ba7b943101d59b50331c https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/f98ca8615cbaa38792123a02682e48db.png c17c9d4c948716cfca35b35d9f5d6fca Book An external reference to a published book. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Changing Lives, Making History Book Cover https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/3d456749a810b90899fba37de17145fe.jpg 8b7b791a9517f1ea63ee6a8c69b64010 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Carl Bennett carrying the Torah on Hoshanah Rabbah, 1975 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/58b10e7a3c7b11c641b4b1634a2c7db4.jpg 89b17a5da7035cde032f15b95f24980c Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Members gathered for a Rosh Hashanah dinner, mid 1970s https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/9ebb46c961f1f5841b23f3a999765f59.pdf e251edf01a6f886bd4c11297c72da8b8 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Text Any textual data included in the document Women A Women's Outreach Committee has been formed and has received a mandate from the Bd. of Trustees. Its purpose is to reach out into the lesbian community of New York, to inform sisters of the activities of the synagogue, and to encourage them to join in our celebration of our Jewish heritage and identity. The committee invites all members of the synagogue to contribute their ideas and efforts toward these ends. Committee members have already begun to spread the word at meetings and social gatherings of gay women's groups. A flyer has been prepared to be distributed at these times; copies will be posted on the bulletin board. Sisters in the community are being informed of the unique, full participation of women in religious services, classes, and social events at our shul, despite the problems that women have often faced in other synagogues. This participation will be even further developed as more women find out about our shul, lend us their talents, and share in our Jewish re-education. All synagogue members are invited to attend meetings of the committee, held at member's homes. Chairperson Nancy Lowe will be glad to give you details. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Women’s Outreach Committee https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/28930d1e10f9fe61dd69521ad900a731.jpg 4b03802578999fcbb751c51fe1c0ac3e Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ramp to CBST’s 57 Bethune Street sanctuary https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/c2edd010ba0580d6a0e6ac6c8574e42a.jpg 24ea6919778a992bdbe57f0716535515 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CBST’s first 400 folding chairs for the move into Westbeth https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/a9285c2f580e74769c35f6a7f48a7dd5.jpg 9ed634622fb21e9c8804d9698b922d0c Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The rainbow entrance to CBST’s first home in Westbeth, 1975 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/ba376307c50ec7a0d67b6a5628abd1e2.pdf e41c7b6653bb4155570e1c26b63b8a64 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Text Any textual data included in the document LOFT WANTED After months of steady growth, our congregation is expanding beyond the narrow confines of our room. If we could find larger, permanent quarters of our own, we could accomodate the larger Friday night attendance, and even begin Saturday morning services, with our Sefer Torah resting in a permanent ark. All holiday services, parties and classes could be held in one place. Anyone with information about suitable, rentable space should speak to any board member. Lyn Knieter and her committee are working on some exciting ideas for raising the money we would need. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ad in the inaugural issue of Gay Synagogue News, November 1974 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/eb257a7828bdd615ccf0de937c0bbfd8.pdf 20560c74f7c8939021b962469871a90f Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Text Any textual data included in the document 7. The names of the persons elected as trustees, and the terms of office for which they were respectively elected are as follows: Jerome Cunningham, Jacob Gubbay, Nancy Lowe, Arnold Mandelbaum, Henry Mendelson, Paul, Saul Mizrahi, Elliot Terr, and Fred Weber, all of whom to hold office until the first annual election of trustees, at which time one third of the trustees shall be elected to hold office until the first annual election thereafter, one third to hold office until the second annual election thereafter, and one third to hold office until the third annual election thereafter. 8. The principal place of worship of said congregation is located in the City of New York, County of New York and State of New York. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have executed and acknowledged this certificate this 30th day of November, 1973 Murray Lichtenstein Jerome Cunningham Jacob Gubbay Nancy Lowe Henry Mendelson Saul Mizrahi Elliot Terr Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CBST’s certificate of incorporation, dated December 5, 1973 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0072ef28c2e603863096eb8d0713dede.pdf 40d1bf6396154238e53f024d6166b45f Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Text Any textual data included in the document Through a Glass Darkly ... New York's Gay Synagogue Homosexuals are the pariahs of all Western religions . . . nome more so than Judaism. Yet, the Jewish homosexual is a Jew, after all, and on New York's lower West Side he has found a place....in a Protestant Church-to express his faith without los- ing bis identity. Story and Photographs By Carl Glassman Candles flicker in a darkened room of the Episcopal church. About 75 men sit motionless in folding chairs, listening to slow, plaintive cantonal strains from a tape recorder in front of the room. Beside the recorder a tall, bearded "spiritual leader" sways slightly to the music, mouthing the Hebrew words being sung. Many in the room, here for the first time, watch with curiosity as the mood is set for a Sabbath evening service. None is witnessing a service quite like he remembers from his Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Jewish background. But it is the congregation more than the ritual that makes this service different. Everyone in the room is homosexual. It is known simply as the Gay Synagogue. Its name is Beth Simchat Torah. This congregation and another in Los Angeles comprise the only two gay synagogues in the U.S. Every Friday night since February 1973 homosexual Jews have gathered in an annex ot the Church of the Holy Apostle on the lower west side of Manhattan. A few minutes before 8 each Friday night visitors appear at the door, wonder if this is the right place and are greeted by some of the 40 or so regular congregants with a smile and a handshake. In a turnout of 80, often half will be newcomers and many of them will never come back. Others will reappear sporadically. Curiosity Most of the visitors come out of curiosity. Theey become part of a service that has, as one congregant put it, "married all the different Jewish tradltions." Everyone wears a THE TIMES OF ISRAEL 43 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Church of the Holy Apostles on Ninth Avenue and 28th Street, 1975 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/edcf47d471b94425f68412b0c6020fce.pdf fd2c376757faccef1ac5c66ae530adeb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Second Stone Description An account of the resource Issues of the Second Stone publication. Issue An issue of a recurring publication. Volume Number The volume number of the issue 13 Issue Number The number of the issue (within a volume) 1990 Publication Year The year the issue was published Nov/Dec 1990 Text Any textual data included in the document lEVEl ONE THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER FOR GAY AND LESBIAN CHRISTIANS _...._ $2.25 ,-rv.,w .. ,1 ... , '• New Age Has Firm, Foothold In Gay/Lesbian Community Contributing Writer There are dozens of times that the word "new" is used in the Bible. Paul uses the word frequently: we are a "new creation,• we are to, put on the "new self," and we are _given a "new life" FAMILIES: Revelation: Dad through what Peter called a "new birth." "New" Testament and "New" Covenant are other examples as is Jesus' "new commandment• that we love one another. The frequency of the appearance of the word "new" reveals its importance jn biblical terms. For a lot of Christians, of course, the life in Christ is not now new, with perhaps many years passing since they first gained know• ledge of Christ. That familiarity, as well as SEE. COVER STORY, Page 9 ESSAY: We Are War II Finalylhierslood IE Veterans, Of Sorts By Rev. Sylvia Pennington By Chris Glaser --,-, \dduate Theological Union Anti-Gay "Big Brothers" Amendment Killed WASHINGTON, D.C. - An anti-gay amendment offered by Sen. William Armstrong (R-CO) that would have allowed organimtions in the District of Columbia to bar Gays and Lesbians from being "Big Brothers," coaches or role models was killed last month in a U.S. House and Senate conference committee. The amendment had been originally passed on September 12 as part of the 1991 D.C. Appropriations Bill. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has tracked and lobbied against the Big Brothers rider both in this and the previous appropria ti(\ns bills. Before the conference committee action, the House rejected an attempt by Congressman William Dannemeyer (R-CA) to "instruct" House conferees to retain the Armstrong Big Brothers language. Both Dannemeyer and Annstrong perennially advocate antigay language in Congressional appropriations bills. On October 11, the House vo.ted 255 to 156 to accept a motion from Rep. Dean Gallo (R-NJ) to instruct conferees to accept language that retained funds earmarked for the University of D.C. By doing so the House "shut out" Dannemeyer and prevented him from offering his own motion. "For the time being we have struck down these attempts in Congress to reinforce the horrible stereotypes that gay people are prone to recruit and molest children and therefore should not be Big . Brothers or work with kids," said Peri Jude Radecic, NGLTF legislative director. Rep. Dannemeyer, infuriated at the successful SEE BIG BROTHERS, Page 18 -- - --··--- Lutheran Synod Postpones Action On Proposal To Welcome Gays/Lesbians Delegates to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Southeastern Texas-Southern Louisiana Synod Assembly in Galveston, Texas voted on October 21 to "postpone indefinitely" action on a proposal which called for public affirmation and welcome of Gays and Lesbians into congregational life. Although a Synod Commission had recommended adoption, a delegate to the assembly who had spoken in opposition to the resolution called for a vote to postpone any action indefinitely before arguments in favor of the resolution could be heard. Only four other synods in the ELCA have adopted such a resolution. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! ONE YEAR ONLY S12.60! BOX 8340 • NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182 8UlX PATE U.S. POSTAGE PAID NEW ORI.EANS, LA PERMIT No. 511 Disciples Of Christ Group Gathers "Lift As We Climb" - a motto borrowed from the turn of the centuty group, the National Association of Colored Women - was the theme for the 1990 Kansas City GLAD Event held in October. Participants in the special weekend were members of the laity and clergy of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. The group, known as the Gay, Lesbian, and Affirming Disciples Atuance, provides a network of support and advocacy for members across the United States and Canada. Keynote speaker Rev. Jan Griesinger, who serves as campus minister at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and is National Coordinator for the United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns, challenged those gathered to boldy claim their place in the church. Griesinger encouraged gay and lesbian persons to tap into the spiritual power inherent in a healthy acceptance of one's sexuality. Referring to the theme, she led the community to explore images of lifting and being lifted and called participants to climb out of the homophobia which threatens to entangle them, both from within and. from society at large. Worship became an integral part of the retreat for many attending since local congregations of ten fail to be inclusive of gay and lesbian concerns. A service for healing and prayer for the HIV/ AIDS crisis drew members together early in the event and several who were present shared openly regarding their being HIV infected of having AIDS. This provided a grounding which was Letters Albuquerque. New Mexico Reaction To Pro-Life Letter Emotional And One-Sided Dear Second Stone, Michael Blankenship's reaction to my letter in the July/ August issue was predictably one-sided and emotional. I would like to · see more openmindedness and logic. I continue to work for the rights of all people. I, too, am a Christian, and sensitive to the needs of a truly oppressed minority: unborn babies. Is their "choice" protected? If we adopt the stance of sharing in the struggles for human rights of all people, logic demands that we include unborn B transfonned into sense of celebration present at other services during the weekend. Judy Wray, ordained minister and Ph.D. candidate at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, preach~ an invitation for listeners to discover in themselves the pearl of great price for which God and Jesus Christ has given all. An "affirming" participant remarked later how empowering the worship services were for her. "Sexuality is something that my local church just doesn't talk about. .. it's so refreshing to hear these things spoken out loud!" The retr~at was held at a Disciples-owned and operated retreat center near Kansas City. Representatives who attended came from states in the heartland of the denomination such as Indiana, Kentucky, and Texas as well as from the California and New York coasts. Several family members of lesbian and gay persons were present ~ well as were several officials cit the broader church structure. 1be selection of Kansas Oty as the site of this year's Event is significant. In 1977 the General Assembly of the Christian Church, the denomination's biennial oonvention, meeting in Kansas Oty, became embroiled in conflict over the church's position on homosexuality and the consideration of ordination of lesbian and gay clergy. Now one of the strongest local chapters in the GLAD Alliance, Kansas City proved thirteen years later to be the perfect setting for nurture and the building of community for lesbian and gay Christians. Workshops and strategy sessions on Sunday afternoon elicited great energy and enthusiasm. The Alliance □. babies in our agenda, alongside their mothers. The Gospel of Jesus requires more than sentimental thinking about the real problems facing us and taking emotional pot-shots at those with whom we disagree. is expected to meet organized oppoir ition at the denomination's .membly next year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kansas Oty Event participants were confident about the strategies set forth and are preparing to continue with plans for sev~ral major assembly activities. Rev. Johnson retired from parish ministry and came out of the closet as a gay man. In October of 1987 he placed an ad in the Kansas Oty gay and lesbian press and began to fonn a group, later to become the Kansas Oty chapter of GLAD Alliance. The tribute said in part, ''We thank God for O. 0. and for his courage ... to break the silence in the Greater Kansas Oty Region and to name the reality that Lesbians, gay men, and those who affinn them in the church are here." Alongside such serious planning were placed opportunites for fun and laughter. Spontaneous gatherings for volleyball and singing around the guitar were a welcome relief from the busy schedule. An evening out on the town took the entire group to a Meditteranean Restaurant and to the For more information about the historic Country Club Plaza district GLAD Alliance and its future of Kansas City. programming, write to P. O. Box Special recognition was given to the 19223, Indianapolis, IN 46219-0223. Rev. O. 0. Johnson of Kansas City. - In This Issue FEATURES COVER STORY COLUMNS COMMENTARY FAMILIES CLOSER LOOK 1RAVEL PARTING 1HOUGHT DEPART1\1ENTS -LrnE--R--S-----NEWSBRIEFS □ · Page9 Page3 Page 10 Pa2e 14 Page 19 Page20 Page2 PageS Page8 Sincerely in Christ, Rev. N. F. Thompson, n-c-:l-,f-------t· CHURCH & ORGANIZATION NEWS Page 11 Page 12 We welcome you to share your views, opinions, feelings and experiences with our readen. Send letters to: LETrERS, The Second Stone, P. 0. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182. All letters must be original and signed by the writer. Clearly indicate if your name ls to be withheld. We reserve the right to edit. CALENDAR ESSAY BOOKS CLASSIFIEDS THE SECOND STONE Page 13 Page 16 Page20 Commentary □ Queer Nation Antagonizing For Gay/Lesbian Rights, Pride And Visibility DyJimRarbc Contributing Writer At the former Vatican exhibit in Flushing Meadows, New York, where during the 1964 World's Fair Michelangelo's Pieta was exhibited, it's like being on the set of Pee Wee's Playhouse. Absurd. Make believe. The set is cheaper than Pee Wec's, more bizarre, because it's real life, and there's no Jane Pauley here to explain it to us. It's here that local "seer" Veronica Leuken has her public devotions, where she tells her faithful followers from everywhere that the Virgin Mary speaks directly to her and has let her know that, "until homosexuals change their ways and repent ... AIDS will never be cured." She claims to have visions and, during a recent heart attack, to have ventured to heU and returned. She and her followers have made homosexuals a special interest, through condemnations, curing of Gays and Lesbians, and confrontations with gay groups during parades and ISSN No. 1047-3971 THE SECOND STONE Newspaper is published every other monlh by Bailey Communications, P. 0. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182. Copyright 1990 by The Second St.one, a registered trademark. SUBSCRIPTIONS, U.S.A. $12.60 per year, six issues. Foreign subscribers add $8.<IO for posta8e. All paymenll U. S. currency only. ADVERTISING, Display advertising one time ntes: PuU Page, $595.00; Half Page, $304.00; Quarter Page, $155.00; Eighth Page, $81.00; Sixteenth Page, $42.00. Send inquiries to: Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182. Classified advertising is 35 cents per word. EDITORIAL. send letters, calendar announcements, and church/organization news to (Department title) The Sec:ond Srone, P. 0 . Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182. Manuscripts to be returned should be accompanied by a stamped. self addressed envelope. THE SECOND STONE, an ecumenical Christian newspaper committed to informing the gay and lesbian community. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Tun Bailey MARKETING DIRECTOR: Eric Hess CONTRIBUTORS: Rev Bruce Roller, Rev Sylvia Pennington, Cynthia Marquard, Danni Munson. Dr. Martin Fowler, David Rickey, Robert McKnight, Jim Roche, Michael Blankenship. Dan Grippo, Dr. Louie Crew, John-Michael Olexy, Dr. Buddy Truluck. Chris Glaser. Rev. Gail A. Van Buren marches. She speaks these words of hatred against Gays and Lesbians on the very spot that housed the most famous representation of her patron, the Virgin Mary, Michelangelo's Pieta. Michelangelo, who today is himseU considered a gay icon. The incongruity doesn't faze her but it has come to the attention of another group of New Yorkers. Veronica's group, who set up a complete church with nearly life-size plaster statues, banners, lawn chairs, candles, loud speakers, numbered offering envelopes and devotional boxes, uses this public park without a permit and against city, state and federal laws every week. There's also a large box just for- miracle requests. That's the largest box to be seen. Together they recite the rosary and pray for miracles, including the curing of homosexuals. By eight o'clock over 350 have arrived by foot, subway, chartered bus and car. Every year Veronica and her "Baysiders," as they're called, send an aggressive contingent to harass and jeer at marchers in New York's gay and lesbian pride day parade. They carry placards, scream and holler death wishes and more at the gay and lesbian marchers. They claim AIDS is God's revenge on homosexuals. But this time, the tables are going to be turned. Veronica and her rosary crew aren't alone in the park. Queer Nation, a group of New Yorkers devoted to fighting homophobia and working for gay and lesbian visibility are holding what they've chosen to call their "Rosary Zap." Some associated with the group and many others outside Queer Nation, fear that this action, or any action against a religious service, will only draw negative publicity as the ACT-UP protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral did last year where, without ACT-UP approval, a small group disrupted the Mass and a communion Host was desecrated. Through spokespersons, ACT-UP as a group was quick to disassociate itself from that action, but many within ACT-UP felt the church deserved it. "What about the sacrilege against women and Gays that the church supports," they ask. Those in the gay and lesbian community who continue to be concerned, worry that the apparent SEE COMMENTARY, Page 4 f Subscribe Today. And You'll Never Be Without _A Friend For Your Journey. I • Jom thousands of lesbians and gay men who've embarked on an inward journey. Through the pages of The Second Stone, an ecumenical Christian newsmagazine, you'll be challenged, inspired, angered and encouraged. Meet brave men and women who are confronting social injustice and religious bigotry. Explore family and relationship issues. Enjoy our engaging features and columns, newsbriefs and book reviews. Our national calendar puts you in touch with life-changing retreats, community- building conferences, and the nicest people you'll ever meet! The Second Stone will inspire you, keep you informed, and put you in touch. ... y Es , ..... N~;,;,: ·.~.:.:..:.:.~:.:.:.~.~.~.:.~..: : .:.:.:.:.:.:.~.~.:.:.::.:.:.:.~ ~ SE~o'f.!l:~~ f~r ~c1nm ............ : ................................................... . ( )Oneyear(8--)for~ City,Stat.e&Zip ............................................... . [ ]Two,-n(lJtt..)fcJr... ~_'!_:' ',".".. ,.,,_.__ .. ___ ., _ ,_ . ..... ._.._I ....I .-,• - .,... ..._ Mail To: THE SECOND STONE, Box 8340, New Orleans,LA '10182 THANK YOU for your subscription! November/December 1990 • Reconciling Congregations Program Announces Major Evangelism Campaign ,, The Board of Directors of the Reconciling Congregation Program, a network of United Methodist local churches that publicly welcome the full participation of all persons including Lesbians and gay men, has announced a campaign which would double the number of Reconciling Congregations by the end of 1992. There are currently 46 congregations in the program. "We are launching a major evangelism campaign," said Rev. Kim Alice Smith, chair of the board COMMENTARY, FromPage3 anti-Catholic or anti.-church slant of this 1.ap will be all that is picked up by the media, and that the call for justice and gay and lesbian visibility will get lost in the ensuing antagonisms. Some conservative publications such as The Advocate and writers like Dave Walters have condemned such actions as counterproductive and divisive. Queer Nation gives them a lot to work with if that's the way they want to report the story. As Queer Nation arrives they break into chants and cat calls every time the prayer group says, "Blessed are the fruits." "We're here, we're queer, and pastor of Bethany UMC in San Francisco. "We think it is critical that other congregations hear the stories of new life and revitalization in Reconciling Congregations a11d that these congregations be invited to join our growing movement." The "92 in 92" campaign builds on what is currently happening in the program, according to Mark Bowman, RCP coordinator and staffperson. "Current Reconcjling Congregations are already talldng with other UMC we're fabuJous, get used to us," and "Veronica is the anti-Christ - go back to hell where you came from." Queer Nation members run around outside the service which is encircled by park department barriers, breaking down the perimeter, eludidg the police who seem unprepared. They tum over the barricades, throw leaflets at the crowd, fly them as paper airplanes into the service and scream "shame, shame, shame." Just as the police are preparing to make arrests, they simply wave goodbye and leave. Some in more conservative gay and lesbian groups ask, "ls this acceptable? Aren't we hurting ourseJves by alienating more people?" This isn't GAY AND CHRISTIAN ACCEPTED AS LIVING MEMBERS Announcln1 • conference for g■J men, lesbians ■nd bisexual people and those who sup(IOl't them. Sponsotcd by the Episcopal D1ocae of Nonh Carolin■ led by MALCOLM BOYD Ikttmbrr 11-16, 1990 Conlcrrncr Center Browaa Summit, North Carolin■ " ••. to give life to the claim of homosexual persons upon the love, ■a:q)tllntt ■nd put(>t•I care and conurn ol 11,e Church." Raol.rion l>ioctse o/ Nard. Qarolina Con11en1ion, 1976 We Invite YoU to Join us for thla week-aid of ah■ring and he■lina, WORKSHOPS -Healing lflef ■nd •n~r toward the Oiur~h -Relationships -lmAges of Ood -Spirituality and 1e11u1ll1y -The Bible and homosexu■llty -Where do PY and labl■n pmrons Rt In the church. t.hil ;~~ to: Regimtr, St. l'hllip'1 Eplscop11l Ch .... ch, Poat Oftb Bo. 218, Durham, North C.rollna 27700 NAME _________________ _ ADDRESS ________________ _ CITY,5fA'JE ____________ Zfp __ _ PHONE: HOME _______ WORK ______ _ AMOUNTENa.OSEO:$ ___________ _ C-ost: $135-165 per~ Includes registration, room, and mals. Sc:bolanhlpa available. A depoalt of $50. per iier- will - a ■pace. Rooma ■re twin bedded. lampedna fur the dmf avalliible upoct requat. congregations in their cities about becoming 'reconciling.' I have received inquires from 15 new congregations in the past two months alone." Related to recent denominational sanctions against two Reconciling Congregations, Dumbarton UMC (Washington, D.C.) and University UMC (Madison, Wisconsin) for their policies on blessing the commitment of same-sex couples, the RCP Board called upon the larger church to the first time a minority group has been questioned, or questioned itself, about its tactics. Anti-gay and lesbian bias related attacks are on the upswing, and to many it's because groups like ACT-UP and Queer Nation have brought visibility to the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. Even within the community itself there is a backJash. The Advocate continues to push their agenda of assimilation based on monetary standing - let's buy our way into acceptablity. Dave Walters has even called for gay and lesbian groups to stop opp(>Sing ROTC programs since ROTC, he says, gives closeted Gays and Lesbians a way to serve their country. The• Advocate and similar gay papers continually complain about the use of the words fag, homo and queer which this new breed of activist uses to describe itself. In his recent confrontation with ACT-UP the editor of Washington's Blade called ACT-UP a "bunch of brown shirts." Others, like New York's Outweek take the opposite position, always willing to use the words fag, queer and homo is their writing, declaring the community's identity will be determined by the community itself. Just as black is beautiful, we are proud to be gay, proud to be queer (the name Queer Nation was chosen by the group because it was thought to be less gender specific than gay.) Gays and Lesbians are finally starting to control the language that describes them, the first step in developing self-identity. In cities like New York, where a call went out to boycott the gay New York Native and in Washington where ACT-UP occupied the offices of The Washington Blade, or San Francisco where The Sentinel is under similar pressure, the gay and lesbian press is under attack from activist groups who want to make dear-that there is no going back. Assimulationist views aren't wel- • THE SECOND STONE remember the long-standing tradition of local churches developing liturgies which meet the needs of their committees. In other action the board encouraged all Reconciling Congregations to celebrate "RCP Sunday" during the season of Epiphany in January; supported the development of "reconciling" conferences, seminaries, campus ministries, and other groups; and began making plans for the 1992 United Methodist General Conference. • come any more. Many have grown tired of ACT-UP's unwiUingness to self-identify as a gay or lesbian group. Queer Nation's call is "We're here, we're queer, we're fabulous, get used to it." Their tee-shirts, advertised on their answering machine, have left behind the maybe gay-maybe not slogans of ACT·UP like "SiJence=Death" and demand visibility with words that leave very little to be imagined or questioned. They scream out queer, fag, a map of America with the words "queer nation" written across it. There's a gay Bart and one warning that from now on "queers bash back." Further evidence of this attitude can be seen in New York's Greenwich Village where a new organi1.ation called "Pink Panthers" has formed to protect Gays from the ever-increasing bias attacks. Criticism that gay AIDS organizations, who have co-opted themselves by giving up board control to homophobic minorities and corporate representatives in the name of coalition building, is being heard more frequently throughout the country and ACT-UP and AIDS activism is no longer the only concern for Gays and Lesbians interested in making significant changes. Queer Nation has started to catch on, As with the previous flourishing of AIDS related groups we can expect lo see the growth of these direct action, pro•gay and lesbian identified politicaJ groups. There are now Queer Nation groups in Boston, Washington, San Francisco, Rhode Island, lthica, Philadelphia, Montreal and England. Queer Nation Philadelphia has even called for a Queer Nation Constitutional Convention to be held there next year. But a lot of Gays and Lesbians who don't live in large metropolitan areas, who live in less liberal areas where being openly gay or lesbian can SEE COMMENTARY, Page S Newsbriefs Left Unused: House For Catholic Clergy PWAs Closes The nation's first home created to care for Catholic clergy with AIDS, closed because it had no patients, may reopen to the general public. The facility, located in Oakland, Calif., was dosed after going five months without one priest asking for. aroom. •we found that they are so afraid to· come forward," said Jim Mansmann, the director of the special residence. Mansmann, a former Maryknolt brother, said that even though priests would call and inquire, "they'd only give us their first name. They would say that no one knows except their doctors." The ti~y, red-tiled roof, white frame house, caned Bethany House, was created by a group of religious organizations. Including the Missionary Brothers pf Charity, the Franciscan Fathers of California, and the Redemptorists. After it opened, brochures were sent out to Catholic COMMENTARY, From Page4 cost you your job or your life, are scared. Afraid that there will be a backlash from middle Amercia. The fear is that actions and zaps like Queer Nation is doing now ultimately get fence-sitting liberals to take sides, but it will be the wrong .side. Even more, that those homophobes who have been quiet because we mind our own business wilJ finany speak out and strike out. Some think its already happening. Queer Nation, some hold, is only going to alienate our straight supporters (like the infamous "I Hate Straights• leaflet handed out during the Gay and Lesbian Pride Day march in New York that caused some hetero members of ACT-UP to cry foul!) Queer Nation has more in store. So far they_ have visited New Jersey malls for "the Queer Shopping Network," welcomed Greg Louganis to Macy'f and almost weekly invade some local New York straight bar to hold a kiss-in. • They've crashed hetero McSorley's Saloon, The White Horse Tavern, Flutie's and even the notorious New York skin head bar Alcatraz. Queer Nation has decided whether middle America likes it or not, it's time to stand up and be counted. These actions aren't as absurd and new, innovative or original as some would have us believe. They reflect the same techniques used by blacks who refused to move to the back of churches throughout the U.S., but they elicited almost no response. Rev. William Macchi of the Oakland Diocese said the church decided to open the residence for clergy after hearing of the need. Fletcher. The book, Clergy Under Stress: A Study of Homosexual and Heterosexual Clergy, is the result of two years of research. Fletcher believes the gay priests "suffer ... very high, even abnormal, levels of stress and disilJusionment with the Church." -Baltimore Alternatiue □ Christian ideal of celibacy, despite occasional "missteps" or "serious reversals." Twenty percent were found to be engaged in heterosexual rela~ns; another 20 percent are gay, half of whom are sexually active; and six percent are involved sexually with minors. -Religion Watch I . -We had heard stories that there were some priests around the country who had AJDS who were not welJ accepted .. .and reaUy needed a place to go,• Maccht said. Study: Twenty Gay Activists, Fundamentalists Collide Several AIDS facilities around the p Of C country have accepted priests, but ercent atholic none have exclusively sought Priests Are Gay Catholic clergy. Two priests with An extensive study of celibacy in the AIDS lived at Bonaventure House in American Catholic priesthood Chicago, dyi~g about three months reports that half of U.S. priests have after they amv~. been sexually ACJive at least one time Bethany House 15 expected to open - during their priesthood, according to SAN FRANOSCO - Two members of Queer Nation and a Christian activist were arrested during an afternoon skirmish at the edge of Civic Center Plaza. The confrontation occurred during a prayer rally sponsored by Save Our Souls, a fundamentaJist reJigious coalition that conducts a Bay Area street ministry directed toward Gays and Lesbians. ~r the C:tublic in January. the National Catholic &porter. The ay controversial study (which was One In Seven .Anglican Priests Gay, Book Says One in seven Anglican priests is gay, according to a new book by Hatfield Polytechnic professor Dr. Ben the bus, marched into small restaurants and ordered coffee when the sign said whites only and drank from fountains that were restricted to whites only. They are meant to antagonize. They are meant to put gay and lesbian rights, pride and visibility first. Over and above. coalitions, assimilation or satisfying those in power. The theme of the Rosary Zap was simple - Queer Nation wasn't there to change minds, they weren't there to negotiate. As one member said, "we aren't here to change minds but to give a warning." Their signs and lea1Jets, cheers and jeers said it simply, •vou spoil our party and we'll spoil yours!" lbat night on the local news, this time at least, that one theme did get across in the broadcast. We have to defend ourselves. Stand up for ourselves. Fight back, bash back, kick, hoJler and scream. We have to let the bigots know that if they want to be a bigot that have to do it publicly, in the open and to expect a. fight. Queer Nation's warning is an American warning, it says "don't tread on me." They aren't wilJing to negotiate or wait, and don't care what you think. They don't intend to change minds, they only intend to change behaviors. As one protester said, "All we want to do is hold our lover's hand in public." Queer Nation wants to see just that' become possible. rejected by American bishops) presented by researcher A. W. Richard Sipe during a national convenJion of the American Psychological Association, bases its findings on interviews and reports ~nducted from 1965 to 1985 with 1000 priests and 500 people who were "lovers, sexual partners,• or otherwise Fifty Queer Nation activists antagonized the reJigious group with pro-gay chants and engaged in heated debate with some of the missionaries. involved in such situations. Among his findings, Sipe says that around eight to ten percent of vowed celibate clergy have approached the -Bay Area Reporter The International Gay Travel Magazine Month by month, we invite you to explore the exciting world of travel available to gay men and lesbians. Each month we help you to discover the multitude of interesting hotels, inns and resorts that welcome the gay traveler. Enjoy articles . and color photos of a romantic hotel in Spain, a secluded retreat in Hawaii, a manor house in the English countryside, a qreelc pension overlooking the sea, a rustic resort in Colorado, and more~ catering to our lifestyle! . Plus, every month, regular departments provide you with valuable information on gay: events and festivals, travel updates and tips, interviews, and the latest gay trips and tours-sail the Caribbean on a private yacht, join an expedition to Nepal, cruise the Mediterranean on a luxury liner or fly to Sydney for the Gay Mardi Gras. i.....--------l Whatever you're looking · for, let OUR WORLD be your ticket to adventure. 1 year (12 colorful ismes) only $ 44 (in the USA) - US$ 52 (Worldwide). First issue mails in 4-6 weeks in plain sealed envelope._ Sample copy US$ 5. Mail To: Our World Publishing 1104 North Nova Road, Suite 251 Daytona Beach, Florida 32117 USA TEL: (904) 441-5367 November/December 1990 ii • '\ Newsbriefs Gay Credit Card Angers Christians The "Pride Card; a new Mastercard that helps benefit the Seattle--btsed Prid~ Foundation, which finances programs to assist Gays and Lesbians, has come under fire by conservative organizations and fundamentalist Christian groups. James Galbraith, a Washington politician, said he advised the 2500 members of the political action group he founded to switch banks. "I don't want to do business with people who cater to a lifestyle we disapprove of," Galbraith said. Rev. Ed Nelson, an Assembly of God pastor told his congregation that the card is an "endorsement of a moral position taken by the gay movement." Betty Lattie, a spokesperson for Seafirst ·Bank, provider of the Pride Card, said "Banks don't endorse lifestyles. Banks are here to serve the credit needs of the CQmmunity and to provide banking services. -Cruise Lutherans Plan Sexuality Study A 17-member task force preparing a ' social statement on sexuality for the ... E ~ ii a journal dw claaves ou, 111ppon for die original and cttative work it does m the in1erat of ttutb iUld justice. .+ Rn, Malcolm Boyd, author of 23 boob incl~Ar, y,,,, Riuming with Mt,Jmul, Tut 0/f thr M,uh, aqd C., Prit,, E tnpm,y pro.ides a much-nttd,-d and •dcormd communication link for penons involved in education about homophobia. At it, best it will keep UII informed and in touch, supporud 111d challenged, eacitcd and proucl. If> Brian Mc Naught, lcrnittr and author of 0,, Btmg G41: Tbo.ghu on F.,,,ily, F.ith, .,,,J Low ■ Evangelical Lutheran Church in America plans to have a study of the topic ready for congregational use by fall 1991. The studies are to help ELCA members discuss issues of sexuality before a 1993 Churchwide Assembly considers a statement on the subject. -The Lutheran Methodist Bookseller Won't Carry Gay Titles .. A bookseller affiliated with the Methodist Church is continuing a policy of not featuring gay and lesbian Christian books and authors in its catalog, although local Cokesbury bookstores may stock some titles. An article in the October, 1990, issue of More UghrUpdate, a national publication of Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns hinted at a possible boyoott of the bookseDer. Tutu Urges Church To Welcome Gay Clergy LONDON, Ont. - Discrimination against homosexuals was recently denounced by South Africa's Anglican f,mpathy <...An Interdisciplinary journal for Persons Working to End Oppression on the Basis of Sexual Identity PUBU5KID nna ". Y1!.U, l!NPATHY INCLUDES SCHOI.ULY USo\YS, l'IOSf. AND POSTU, PltACTIT1ONU .umau, ANIICDOTAL IISIAYS, AND USMactl lllOtln AS WEU. AS ANNOrATI!.D 811UOCRAPKl!S POii usouaca MATUIAU, uaNT USlldCII AND IOOl<S. llll JOuaNAL S!&VU PEOPU! WOUJNC IN BDUCAflON, COUNS£1.ING, HZAl.nl C,\U, SOCIAL 'WO.U, COMMUNITY ACl'IVISII, AND TIIB loONIS'l'1IT NATIONALLY AND INTEIIN.\T10NAU.Y. Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he spoke to the national legislative body to the United Church of Canada. "For myself, I would say that it W-Ould be a gross injustice to exclude • people from becoming ordained ministers on the grounds of sexual orientation," Tutu said. The United Church of Canada has been struggling with the controversial issue ever since a statement, passed two years ago at the last General Council meeting, said all members of the church, regardless of sexual orientation, can apply to be considered as ministers. .:Equlll Time/Record □ Bart Eijrond of the Dutch AIDS commission called the new guidelines •completely unnecessary," according to De Gay Krllnt. -Outlines Task Force Backs Marlboro/Miller Boycott W ASHINGlON, D.C. - The Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has voted to endorse the nation-wide boycott of Marlboro cigarettes and Miller beer, two highly visible products of the Philip Morris Corporation, which is one of the largest corporate donors to Ex-Gay Leader - - the re-election campaign of anti-gay Senator Jesse Helms and also the Doug Houck largest corporate donor to the Jesse Helms museum in Monroe, North "Relapses" earouna. Doug Houck, former director of- "Jesse Helms, more than any other Metanoia Ministries, was fired from individual, has worlced to destroy our his position in Metanoia for being community and our Hves," said John involved in homosexual activity. D'Emilio, NGL1F board of directors Metanoia Ministries is a co-chair. •Companies must recogni7.e Seattle-based chapter of Exodus they cannot take money from lesbian International, an umbrella group of so and gay consumers and, at the same called "ex-gay" ministries. Houck time, support those who attack us in founded the Metanoia Ministries in Congress. This boycott is forcing a 1979 and has directed the major American corporation to take organization since that time. the lesbian and gay community A former client of Metanoia, who seriously and hear our message: wished to remain unidentified, told corporate-sponsored gay bashing will Stllttle Gay News reporter Tom Flint not be tolerated.■ that Houck has "relapsed into NGLTF, the nation's preeminent homosexual activity several times lesbian and gay lobbying organduring his tenure as director." In ization, is encouraging its 17,000 explaining his motivation for members to stop buying Marlboro exposing the issue to the public, the cigarettes and Miller beer. The Task former client said, "I grew up in a Force has also encouraged members to church and took my Christian faiQ\ write Philip Morris to voice seriously as an adolescent and now as opposition to the corporation's an adult. Like many others I assumed support of Jesse Helms. (Hamish as a young teen that my homosexual Maxwell, CEO, Philip Morris, 120 orientation signified my having been Park Ave., New York, NY 10017, abandoned by God. The repeated FAX: (212)878-2167. testimonies of charasmatic ex-gay Christians like Doug Houck only inlreased my des~ir because God was not delivering me as he had others. As a result I was seriously suicidal for a number of years." -Seattle Gay Nt'U!s Congregation Fears -Catching AIDS From Communion Arsonist Torches MCC/Knoxville After months of harassing and threatening phone calls, the Metmpnlitan Community Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, was set ablaze in what pastor Bob Galloway called "a dumb act of homophobia." The building that housed the MCC also housed aids Response Knoxville (aJK). One yar (2 issues) individml subscription $10 (SIS institutional) ---a1-.1.u two Protestant churches in the city of Hardenberg, the Netherlands, worshippers-afraid of AIDS may now bring their own communion cups. The policy was passed at the Hervormde and Gereformeerde churches after parishioners threatened to boycott church for fear of catching AIDS. Dr. Mau checks payabk to Gay and Lesbiaa...Ad!1>c: acy Rcscarcb Project (GLARP) arid mail to: · Emp,uby, PO Bo• 508s. Columbia, SC 292so. Investigators have confirmed that the fire was the result of arson. According to the Tennessee gay /lesbian paper Dare, Galloway said his church had received a series of harassing telephone calls, beginning around the end of March. -Sou,t,h,. ern Voice THE SECOND STONE Newsbriefs Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission Hears Dignity Case A discrimination complaint filed by a chapter of Dignity against the Catholic archdiocese in Minneapolis is moving ; through the city Commission on Civil Rights. Dignity members say Archbishop John Roach discriminated against them based on their affectionaJ preferences, in violation of city law, when, in 1987, he forbade the University of Minnesota Newman Center to renew the group's lease unless Dignity officers signed a statement affirming Catholic teaching on homosexuality. -Philadelphia Gay News ABC Won't Rerun thirtysomething Gay Episode ABC's summer rerun schedule did not incJude the controversial thirtysomething episode that showed two men in bed together because the nelwork lost more than $1 million in cancelled advertising the first time the episode aired. Under pressure from the American Family Association, 50 percent of advertisers pulled their ads from the original broadcast. Pie In The Face Of Bigotry Edwards Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia, has been donating offices, desks, meeting rooms, phones and free pies lo the anti-gay Family Concerns Ministries and Citizens for Public Awareness. The group was quoted as saying they "oppose the homosexual destructive lifestyle that is condemned by God and is a threat to the family ... " BLK, the national magazine for gay and lesbian people of color has suggested its readers not buy Edwards Bakery products. Theatre Group Moves From Church Building In Dispute Over Gay Play The Upstairs Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, Penn., has moved from its South Side home rather than submit to a censorship clause in its lease, which incJuded a "no homosexual content" condition. The theatre group had performed for the past six months at the United Methodist □ Church. "The Upstairs Theatre was renting from the United Methodist Church, but then the church dissolved," said Ted Hoover, the actor starring as Arnold in the company's production of '' • Torch Song Trilogy. "Then they had to rent directly from the Western Pennsylvania Regional Methodist Church, which put a clause in its lease stating the tenant had to agree it wouldn'I stage any events inappropriate to a church setting, take the Lord's name in vain or show homosexual conduct or sexual perversion." Great 1 . Resppnse! -Pittsburgh's Out Anti-Gay Staffer Fired By White House WASHINGTON, D.C. - The White House has fired the most vocal critic of the administration's inviting gay men and Lesbians lo the White House to witness two bill signing ceremonies. Doug Wead had been the administration's liaison to religious groups for 19 months. Rev. Richard Land", director of the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention reportedly wrote President Bush a letter demanding a meeting over Wead's termination. Guilt By Association IRVINE, Cal. - A 10-year faculty member at Christ College has been fired for "public association" with the Los Angeles Gay Men's Chorus. A college report said Wayne Bisbee was dismissed because the chorus "publicJy condones ... homosexual behavior" and because Bisbee's membership in the chorus could be "construed as conduct unbecoming a Christian and as giving offense to the weak, especially the students." -Baltimore Alternative Where Are The Women The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center N~tional Museum of Lesbian and Gay History is presenting an exhibition of work by women artists entitled Where Are The Women. Working in painting, photography, and mixed media, the artists included in the show are Sandra Desando, Ana Ferrer, Cheryl Gross, Diane Henderson, Marin Henkels, Usa Jacobson, Amy Kool, Sherry Lane, China Marks, Angela Muriel, Aida Pavlovich and Pamela Ryan. The show will run through November 30. November /December 1990 '' '!bat's what a Second Stotie advertiser told us recently. And we hear that mere aid more tbcse days. That's because The Second Stone reaches rcaden where many other gay and lesbian publications can'L Like public and univmity libraries. We don't cany advertising or editorial content lhat would put us behind the COIDlttl'. We're up front - in plain sight! For busi:oesses'lfferinlproducta andaerv• ices to the natioDaJ gay andlesbien ,-om, munity, we're an emtin, new marbtinar approacbl Reach new customers in every Slate 8CJO&'l die USA. The Seoond Stone offers a variety of hH:olumn ad sizes with frequency discounts. We offer spot and full color. We'll lay out your ad at no charge and we'll get it right - we11 send you a proof to mate sure. The Second S10ae will also insert your brochure, flier or C8la1og_ in our mailing. It doesn't cost as much as JOU think You can reach a paid amt to COlm readership fm- about what you'd pay to advertise in ooe local free disbl'bution gay newspaper. And. •• to mail your insert in The Second Stone costs less lhan mailing it yourselfl You won't know till JOU try it.. The potential sales you lose while you're thinking about adVC2'tising cannot be recaptmed. If you're thinking you've paid too much for advertising that lmn't worted ••• you're probably right! But you haven't tried The Second Stone. SECOND STONE You'll be p1eased wi1h 1he re.suits. Call 1-504-949-5625 fm- advertising assistance. People □ Massachusetts Woman Recognized For Selfless Commitment To Others Dr. Margo McMahon Honored By Quota International A Massachusetts woman and member of the Western Massachusetts Chapter of Integrity, Inc., has received the International Outstanding Deaf Woman of the Year award from Quota International. Dr. Margo E. McMahon, an Amherst, Mass., resident was recently honored by Quota Clubs from all over the world, at their 69th Annual Quota International Convention in Seattle, Washington. Quota International is a non-profit service organization. The award is given annually to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of deaf persons. Dr. McMahon was nominated for the award by the Springfield, Mass., Quota Club in recognition of her community service and professional achievements. A panel of internationally known professionals served as judges for the award. On hand to witness the award presentation was Mel Matteson, an Ecumenical Officer for the Northwest Harvest and member of the Standing Commission on Human Affairs for the Episcopal Church. Active in Integrity /Western Mass., Dr. McMahon coordinates an Emergency Food and Clothing Project for the chapter's service project with Digni1ife, a local organization serving individuals and families affected by AIDS. She also serves as an acolyte for the Integrity worship services. In addition to her Integrity activities, Dr. McMahon is active in her local parish and diocese. In January, 1990, she was elected to the Grace Church Vestry. More recently, Bishop Andrew Wisseman has invited her to serve on the Diocesan Dr. Margo E. McMahon Committee on Disability Concerns. This committee was formed as a result of Integrity/Western Mass.' resolution at Diocesan Convention calling on the church to make its parishes and programs accessible to Black Leaders Meet To Discuss Lesbian/Gay Issues ATLANTA, GA - A group of black leaders from around the country met at The King Center in September to discuss placing black lesbian/ gay concerns on the agendas of mapr black institutions. · Representatives from The King Center, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the National Conference of Black Mayors met with the heads of black lesbian and gay organizations, including the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays and the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum. Discussion centered on lesbian/ gay rights, historical contributions of black Lesbians and Gays to black ■ history and the black liberation struggle, and the resources black Lesbians and gay men can bring to currentooncems of black oommunities. The devastating affect of AIDS, anti-gay/lesbian violence and sexism were also discussed by the group. The group of black leaders agreed that recognition and utilization of the talents and expertise of black Lesbians and gay men by traditional black institutions needs to be a priority. "It's difficult to believe anyone would tum down the opportunity to increase their resources by ten percent," said Dr. Ma,;>rie Hill, Director of the Office for the Lesbian and Gay Community for the Mayor of New York City. Dr. Hill's remark refers to research indicating at least ten percent of any population is gay. "The black community is not is a position where it can afford to tum down that kind of increase of human and financial resources," she said. "Most black Lesbians and Gays believe traditional black institutions such as the (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) are dosed to them,· said Sabrina Sojourner, one of the meeting's conveners. "Part of the purpose of this meeting was to explore the extent to which this THE SECOND STONE persons with disabilities. Dr. McMahon holds a Doctorate Degree in Counseling and Special Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a Masters Degree in Education of the Deaf from Smith College, Northampton, Mass., and a Bachelors Degree from Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York. She has served as a community advocate and volunteer within a number of agencies and programs to increase accessibility to services and employment by persons with physical, emotional, mental and/ or perceptual handicaps. In 1985, she was appointed by Governor Michael · Dukakis as a member of the Board of Trustees at Belchertown State School, a position she served in until May, 1990. She has published several papers and lectured at numerous educational facilities. Congenitally hearing-impaired, Dr. McMahon has a profound/total hearing loss. She also has a congential absence of her left forearm and a traumatic spinal cord injury from an accident in 1974, for which she uses an electric wheelchair. The emphasis of Dr. McMahon's activities has consistently been a selfless commitment to improving the lives of others despite her own disabiliites. Quota International is a non-profit organization of professionals, business persons, and executives, dedicated to service for persons with speech and hearing problems. Organized in 11 countries, Quota International includes 437 clubs and 12,000 members. might be true and to begin a dialogue to bring about inclusion." Ms. Sojourner commented she found acceptance as well as resistance to the idea of inclusion of black Lesbians and Gays from the organizations contacted. Though unable to attend in person, Dr. Joseph .Lowery, president of the SCLC, sent a representative with a statement expressing SCLC's dedication "to the-ettminatior of bias and discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex and sexual orientation." flit groaywtD spend the next few SEE BLACK LEADERS, Page 18 Cover Story Petition Calls For Statement From Rev. Troy Perry Too Much New Age In MCC? By Jim Bailef Editor Has the New Age movement crept too far into Metropolitan Community Churches? One congregation thinks so. A petition calling for a position statement on New Age teaching is now circulating among MCC congregations. The petition says that the "Fellowship is being systematically and methodically infiltrated by these exotic cults/ideas, all masquerading as 'Christian Liberation,' yet rejecting much of the Christian faith in the process" and calls for · UFMCC Moderator Rev. Elder Troy Perry to "reaffirm the ancient creeds of the church" and to "publicly reaffirm this FelJowship as a Christian Church, which should preach the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, not some 'goddess.'" The petition continues, "Let the Christians remain on their chosen path, let the goddess worshipers, the New Agers, the cults, wiccans, etc., choose their own ways in peace." Sources say that Rev. Perry disagreed with the content of the petition but that he had no objection to it being circulated. The petition originated from the Divine Redeemer MCC in Glendale, California, and was signed by Rev. Stan Harris, pastor of Divine Redeemer, Rev. David Kromer, and Rev Willie Smith, who was said to have assisted Perry in the establishment of the UFMCC. Edited portions of the petition follow: When many of us joined the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches we were pleased to find that basic Christian teaching, (albeit making room for both Catholics and Protestants) was the norm. In the last ten years or so, some of us have begun to view with increasing alarm the gradual, sometimes aggressive attempts by some feminists, (also some clergy, laity,. those in leadership positions), to either water down our faith, or to render ii almost unrecognizable as part of the Christian religion. "The tiine is sure to come when, far from being content with sound conferences, workshops, Samaritan College classes, pulpits, etc., which seem to be presenting a "new" religion, based upon some very oldyet modernized "heresies• which Christians rejected so long ago, but have risen up once more, breeding chaos and confusion. Some examples of what is being taught in some places: THE CREEDS: Both Nicene and Apostles Creeds can be ignored; they were compiled by a patriarchal male-dominated oppressive society, hence have no value or credibility, nor are their doctrines to be taken seriously. THE BIBLE: Like the Creeds, the Bible is another patriarchal, oppressive and primitive work and can be disregarded at will, denying most if not all 'supernatural' events listed. fiOD: is not really Cod, there is a "goddess" the "Great Mother" of all. teaching, people will be avid for the latest novelty and collect a whole series of 'teachers' according to , "She" is the only one to be adored. their own tastes; and then, instead of listening to the truth, they will turn to myths." -2 Tim. 4:1-5 New Age/Theosophical cult interpretations of Scripture, Cod, Jesus, etc. seem to be more prevalent, and traditional Christians in UFMCC are perhaps feeling pushed out, even estranged, by what we hear and/ or observe, either at certain "She" is called Ishtar/ Ashteroth, Diana, Sarah, Isis, etc., as in Wicca/Witchcraft. Only sexists call God "Father." As part of women's (wommyn's/wimmins?) spirituality, Wicca-type rites are encouraged at women's retreats. JESUS CHRIST: "Jesus" and "The Christ" are two separate entities/ persons (A New Age rewrite of Theosophy, also Gnosticism.) The risen Christ (or the ascended Christ) is not the same as Jesus, but a spirit - so is sexless, and can be called "she." Jesus is not divine as taught by the □ early church, but rather is "divine," as we all are. Jesus is not unique in creation. He is not Cod Incarnate. " ... and let me warn you that if anyone preaches a version of the good news different from the one we have already preached to you, whether it be ourselves or an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned .. :' • -Gal. 1:8 BLOOD ATONEMENT/SIN: Sin doesn't exist. We are a product of our environment, so we are not personally responsible for our thoughts, words and deeds. So we have nothing to be sorry for or "saved" from. Jesus' crucifixion was political only, and has no spiritual merit. The idea of sacrificing His life for sin is primitive, superstitious and ignorant, smacking of "human sacrifice" ideology, and must be rejected as such by truly enlightened 20th century folk. All "blood" hymns, etc., to be discarded, replaced by the word "love." BAPTISM: totally unnecessary. Unbaptized are given church membership, without commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, without explanation, or preparation offered in some churches. COVER STORY, FromPagel mistakes made by the Christian community, have a part in some Christians exploring involvements that may be quite appealing but are clearly outside the realm of Christianity. Generally such movements promise some "new" truth. remove most, it not all, prejudice against gay and lesbian lifestyles. In .addition, it also appears to be quite compatible with Christian teachings so that relatively uninformed Christians may think that they can easily follow both paths. But such is not the case. New Age is not a supplement to Christianity; it's seeping into the Christian community is a confusing problem with no easy answers. can also be distorted and now many Americans hold the attitude, referred to as relativism, that anything is as good as anything else: there are no absolutes and if you believe so there is something wrong with you. You are the object of disdain if you believe in a God who says "no• to certain ways. You are told you're "intolerant, closedminded." But it is clear that God does say "no" to some things. The challenge facing Christians in the New Age is how to proclaim our beliefs amidst the surging tide of beliefs we see as false. We are not to condemn others, but much of the power of the early church rode on its proclamation of good versus evil and the separation of believers from the way of wrong doing. either personal or impersonal, not both: he is either moral or amoral, not both; people are nondivine or divine, not both; there is resurrection or reincarnation, not both; ethics are absolute or relative, not both. You cannot serve both God and the New Age. Even if it is considered impolite in a pluralistic culture to dispute the truth of another's beliefs, the Christian must speak the truth in love, saying, 'No! I cannot agree with pantheism, monism, relativism, spiritism, and the rest. I will have no part.'" New Age promises a better sense of self and a greater power over one's life. It is easily seen how such a promise is attractive to everyone, especially to men and women in the gay community, who have often felt powerless and disenfranchised. Its very lack of a central ethical base (it is very subjective in its philosophical roots) Relative to other times in history, we live in a tolerant time. Attidudes of openness and acceptance have benefitted the gay community in its struggle for affirmation in church and society. But any good November /December 1990 So it is today: we have to proclaim these things but such proclamations must stem from introspection and study, not from reaction. Christians are called apart, informed by gospel that we are in this world but not of it. That is difficult, but central to the gospel message. Douglas Croothuis, writing in Christianity Today, January 13, 1989, writes: "The separation theme is crucial for confronting the New Age. The New Age world view is antithetical to Christianity: the two cannot mingle. God is There are other places where Christian faith and SEE COVER STORY, Page 18 Families But Inspiration Comes From Revelation Even A Fool Can Be Educated DJ Rey, Sywja Pcnninpm Contributing Writer I guess we all have a picture of what certain types of people stereotypically look like. I remember meeting a man whose father worked the land in Brittany, where the land was full of rocks, granite and hard places. Soon those who worked the land bore the mark of the land that they worked. Not that they were hard men, but just that they became one with the land and had a hard, rough look. I have a picture of Southern red•necked farmers. They work a hard land too. They're tall and thin and sinewy, brown as berries. The skin on their neck and face is wrinkled because of the hours of hot sun under which they labor. They're tough looking. They work hard and on Sunday they go to church. They rule their land, their wives and their children. They want their sons to be tough and sinewy, just as they are. Recently I met a man like that. His name was Parker and he fit my stereotypical picture to a "T" except for one thing - he had the softest, kindest blue eyes I'd ever seen. I heard of him a year earlier when he piqued my curiousity by ordering 20 copies of my first book, But Lord, They're Gay. I wondered why this southern farmer was ordering 20 copies of my book. He enclosed a note that if I was ever in his state to please let him know for he would like to talk to me, even if I only had about ten minutes to spare. About a year later, I called him. We arranged to meet and he said he would be bringing his wife and ~ EvangeHcals Ii. V lbgether-. MUS1UIWGIIOWS IOCUtS • IOflllSNOPS. llrnlE.VI Hlf/AIDSIU'P'Ollt~ ,.._. ca a ccusa• FOR Gay & Lesbian Christians ii Southem Cabrit....silt> 1979 Sult• 10fl-Bo,c 1fl 711/1~ B•nta Monica BoultwMd W.•r Hollywood, CA r1004fl 213/656-B570 adopted son. He didn't mind the distance they'd have to travel to have a brief talk. We met in a restaurant. As we talked Parker spoke of his son, his only child who had never quite measured up to his image of what a strong son should look like or act like. His son had one thing going for him - he was a Christian and he loved the Lord. Parker couldn't deny that. Tony was a kind boy - but not tough. One day Tony told his parents that he was gay and he had someone Parker was outraged with a combination of disbelief that his one child could be a pervert and that, in his righteous N azerene certainty, Tony was doomed to hell unless he ' repented. in his life he loved very much - another man. Parker was outraged with a combination of disbelief that his one child could be a pervert and that, in his righteous Nazerene certainty, Tony was doomed to hell unless he repented. Parker spent the next year and a half harrassing Tony despite his son constantly telling him that he was still a Christian and he still loved the Lord. Parker refused to meet his son's mate, certain that the relationship had to be from the devil. Then came the day that I Bubleaor PIIIOIIIL TIJaSemnclSlone C:nr1lflecl Ad □ BY ANDREA NATALIE (9' 71/JTI/FKS IICA1Nsr P~VNK P1JVEfS!.' - 1 /'' ·. NOT L£SIMN MOTi/£~$ AGtf/NST ! I ( r-- . I ~::: -,,,..,. ,/, / rOr-~,.V_,N...k,. ,.. ________ _ , (J •\ . , , I guess every family of a gay man fears most will happen. Tony told his father that he had AIDS. Despite Parker's broken heart he doubled up on his efforts to have Tony repent and get right with God and secure anew his eternal life. His angry pleas fell on deaf ears as Tony constantly maintained his Christianity. Parker worked harder than ever to "save" his son from a Godless eternity in hell as Tony grew weaker each day. Parker's eyes filled with tears as he told me of a day in the hospital room, when even while he argued with his son, hooked up to oxygen and breathing machines, something began to happen in the room • something that Parker recognized - that his life and love of the Lord had prepared him for as the room filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The presence of Cod was intense and the reality of Christ's presence was undeniable. Suddenly Tony sat up, took off his oxygen and said, "Dad, do you feel him here?" Parker said, "Yes, but put your oxygen on Tony." Tony weakly answered "But there's no need to, Dad, Jesus has come for me," and he closed his eyes and died. As Parker sat there telling me about it his tears flowed freely down his hard, weather beaten face. "Jesus came to take my boy home and nothing can ever again convince me that my Tony did not belong to Him. Why don't they understand that, Sylvia?" Too choked up to· talk, we just held hands for a few moments. The young man with whom Tony had fallen in love, Joseph, had grown up in an orphanage and never had a family. Parker and his wife, Maria, took him home after Tony's death and for the first time in his life Joseph has the family he had always longed for. Parker said he's just going to keep sending books out to every minister in his county so that, hopefully, one day the world and the church would understand as he finally did. I thank God for a brief stop in a small farm community in Oklahoma and an opportunity to meet some people - Parker, Maria, and Joseph - my "family" now too. Need we ever doubt that we serve a Risen Savior? 11D THE SECOND STONE Church & Organization News Attempt Underway To Revive Dignity/ Baton Rouge "Modest but persistent" efforts are underway to revive the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, chapter of Dignily, according to acting president Joe McCarty. "We are undaunted in our belief that Gays and Lesbians can come together and pray, and find sustenance for their journey from the Bible," McCarty said. "Because of the stance of the Catholic hierarchy we presently are unable to have Dignity Eucharistic liturgies. We are unshaken in the hope that the present impasse can be turned around in time." For more information on Dignity/Baton Rouge contact P.O. Box 4181, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 or can (504 )383-601 o. King Of Peace MCC To Purchase New Church Building The congregation of King of Peace MCC, St. Petersburg, Florida, voted in late August to purchase property for church expansion. The church board is currently negotiating with architects for contracts for extensive renovations to the building, a former movie theater. The new facility will feature a sanctuary with seating for 450, a social area with seating for 300, library, bookstore, and office areas and a guest suite. The congregation hopes to move into the 23,000 square foot building by spring or summer. AIDS Project Receives Dignity Donation Dignity /Seattle has donated $825.00 to the Multifaith AIDS Project of Seattle. MAPS will use the money, which Dignity raised at its second annual Pride Week breakfast, to manage two homes for people with AIDS, both located in Seattle. Conrad To Pastor Good Shepherd Good Shepherd MCC, Chicago, has installed the Rev. Ralph Conrad as its new pastor. Conrad, formerly a Catholic priest, was previously affiliated· with MCC/Las Vegas. Church spokesperson Bradley Mickelson told the Chicago Outlines that Conrad "is particularly well known ... for his preaching talent ... and his ability lo motivate his congregation to be an important, viable and active part of the lesbian and gay community." Mickelson said Good Shepherd was very active in the Chicago community in the late 70s and early 80s "and would like to return to that role again." Morning Star MCC Pastor Dies Rev. Emmett J. Watkins, Jr., pastor of Morning Star MCC, Worcester, Mass., passed away on August 25. He was praised by his congregation as an excellent teacher. "}le taught not only with words but also by his shining example," said Glenda Caron, editor of the church's newsletter. "Never has a man of God been loved and respected to the extent that our Pastor was," she said. Pastor Watkins was born in Houston and raised in San Francisco. He spent two years serving his country during the Viet Nam era in Anchorage, Alaska. Upon discharge from the military he lived for a short time in Seattle and then moved to Los Angeles where he joined the MCC of Los Angeles and became interested in ministry. He attended the College of New Rochelle New York Theological Seminary, receiving a degree and working to fulfill the requirements to become a minister in the UFMCC. Under his leadership, Morning Star grew from eight members to over eighty members and friends. Survivors include the Reverend and Mrs. E. J. Watkins, Sr., the Reverend and Mrs. E. H. Watkins, Mrs. Denise. MacKinon, Mrs Patrisse Dawson, Mrs. Elisicia Wright, Mr. Eric V. Watkins and several nieces and nephews. Reconciliation MCC Takes To The Tube An hour-long weekly telecast of worship services from Reconciliation MCC was scheduled to debut in October on three public access stations serving the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. The program, Reconciliation, is produced by Bradmack Productions and features Sunday sermons taped during the church's worship services. The telecast is part of Reconciliation MCCs five year plan. Bradmack plaMed to add another five stations before November; three more by March 1991; and stations in the three largest cities in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana by September 1991, giving the ministry the opportunity to be seen on 25 public access stations covering a large part of the Great Lakes area by September 1991. Rochester Group Celebrates 15th Anniversary Dignity•lntegrity /Rochester, New York, has begun its 15th year of service to the gay and lesbian community. The ecumenical religious, educational and social organization began as a small group of gay Catholics and gay Episcopalians who met on Easter Sunday, 1975, to worship together for the first time at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Shortly after, the groups were chartered as the first combined chapter of the Dignity and Integrity national organizations. MCj::/Baton Rouge Reslructures A "major restructuring" including the adoption of a new name is underway for the Metropolitan Community Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Severe financial problems forced the loss of the group's building and pastor. The church has been renamed Joie de Vivre (Joy of Life) to reflect the French heritage of the area and is holding meetings at 333 East Chimes. For more information, call (504 )665-9645. Lesbian To Pastor New Hope UCC The 200-member New Hope United Church of Christ, located in a low-income area of Milwaukee's south side, has hired an openly lesbian pastor. Church officials said Rev. Margarita Suarez's ministry will broaden the church's resolve to be open to all people, regardless of sexual orientation. There are 10 openly gay UCC ministers nationwide. New Editor Picked For WAVES Dorothy J. Many of Middletown, Connecticut, has been selected as the new editor of WAVES, the newsletter of the United Church Coalition for Lesbian/Gay Concerns. Many is an active member of the UCCL/GC Connecticut Chapter and of the Connecticut Conference Department of Church Life and Leadership Committee on Homosexuality. She is a graphic artist and visual media November/December 1990 □ designer for the Connecticut State Library in Hartford. Many is also editor of the Magny Families Association Newsletter and the owner of Frankfort Publishing Co., which she established. Vision of Hope MCC Celebrates Anniversary Vision of Hope MCC in Lancaster, Penni, was scheduled to kick off a major building fund drive during the celebration of its tenth aMiversary in early November. Rev. Elder Troy Perry was scheduled to speak. For more information, call the church at (717)392-27294 Cincinatti Group Seeks Pastor All Saints Chapel, a non-denominational fel!owship that provides worship in the Protestant tradition for Lesbians, gay men, their friends and supporters is seeking a qualified person to serve as part-time pastor for the group. For more information contact Pastoral Search Committee, c/o All Saints Chapel, P.O. Box 19096, Cincinatti, OH 45219, Attn: Mark Steffen. Ex-Gays? There Are None Lambda Christian Fellowship is pleased ID anoourr:e a new book by Rev. S_yMa Pennington -an examination of ex.gay ministries - what they do • what they don't do. You'B meet people who, Ollly throuah God's grace, have survivea and stopped trying to be ex-gays, because, in truth, them is no such lhilg as an ex-gay ,-sot Now Available From Lambda Christian Fellowship P. 0. Box 1967 Hawthorne. CA 90250 $15.00 plus $1.50 for postage and handling. califomia residents add 6% sales tax. Try a Second Slone CmifiedAd iii Calendar The following announcements have been submitted by sponsoring or affiliated groups. Third Annual 'Creating Change' Gathering NOVEMBER 9-12, Lesbian and gay activists from around the nation will meet in Minneapolis for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's third annual Creating Change conference. The Holiday Inn Metrodome is the setting. The conference will feature leading activists from the national and grassroots gay and lesbian scene, prominent and provocative speakers, PATLAR IICICEOF-GAY~ MONTHLY NEWSMAGAZINE FREE AT OUR DISTRISUTION POINTS SUBSCRIPTIONS 1f ANNUALLY SAMPL,}t4&,y~ OiJT~~t USA $4 FOR INFO ON ADVERTISING . CALL (9181391-9756 OR 452-0769 PO BOX 22-402 SACRAMENTO CA 95822 42 skills-building workshops, social events, organizing sessions and more. Plenary speakers will be Barbara Smith, black lesbian feminist writer and activist, Dr. C. T. Vivian, civil rights activist and Center for Democratic Renewal chairman and Kate Ointon, popular feminist humorist. Early registration is $120.00. The Chicago Resource Center has provided a grant to help fund a scholarship program for people of color and people with disabilities. Contact NGLTF, 1517USt.NW, Washington, DC 20009 or can (202)332-6483. Creative Approaches To Grief NOVEMBER 17, a mini-retreat led by Rev. Louis F. Kavar and sponsored by Emmaus House of Prayer. For information write to P.O. Box 70434, S.W., Washington, DC 20024. Women's Thanksgiving Cruise NOVEMBER 17•24,. Robin Tyler . ;J ristmas." January: "Thinking Of You." March: "You're Special." May: "Love You." July: "I Care." September: "You're In My Heart." A Christmas gift subscription to THE SECOND STONE lets someone brow how much you care •. .and it's a gift that keeps on giving ... all year long. What a nice way to say so much to someone you love! Please send a gift subscription and greeting card to: Nane,_ ____ _ Adlt8sa.·---·-···-·-······ .. ··---- Cily, S1ale & lip....... ...................... __ _ Name.---·-·- - ··--··- ··---··-·-- Adliess. ......•..., ___. •_ . ..., . .......... City, S1al8 & Zip. ............................................... .. Nilne .. _________ ........................... . Adliess..--··-·················-··········---· .............. .. City, - & Zip ................................................. . l J One gift-$12.60 YOUR NAME .... ----····-- ----·-··-·--- --·-- . ( J 'two gifts - $23.00 ( J Three gifts ~2.00 ADORESS ..........•...................... ---·······--········'"· .......... . CITY.STATE & ZIP .................................................................... . All gift sul,scriplion, t11t mailed i11 a plinn artldope. AM $8.00 aKII . _s116scri6irr. U.S. t Productions presents a seven night women's Thanksgiving cruise to the Mexican Riviera on the SS Bermuda Star, a magnificent luxury vessel that has all the spaciousness and ambiance of the classic era cruise ships. Join over 800 other women from all over the world on the high seas on a cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. For furthur information, write to Robin Tyler Productions, 15842 Chase St., Sepulveda, CA 91343 or call l-818-893-4075. Robin Tyler is now producing two of the major women's music and comedy festivals (7th Annual Southern and 11th Annual West Coast) as well as this cruise, thereby producing the highest number of national women's events. The Book And Beyond ... Chris Glaser NOVEMBER 18-19, Stony Point Center, Stony Point, New Xork, presents The Book and Beyond with Chris Glaser; the author and readers in conversation expanding upon the ideas raised in Glaser's book Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Ministry as Gay and Lesbian Christians. Cost is $70.00 for registration, room and meals. For information contact Stony Point Center, Crickettown Road, Stony Point, NY 10980 or calJ (914) 786-5674. Casa De La. Paloma Three Day Revival NOVEMBER »DECEMBER 2, Casa De La Paloma Apostolic Cl\urch in Tucson, Arizona hosts a three day revival. Featured guests include the Rev. Sheri Hayes of NashvilJe, Tenn., and the Rev. William H. Carey of Schenectady, New York, Presbyter of the National Gay Pentecostal Alliance. Rev. Carey will present a workshop entitled Hcmrosaw,lity and the Bible using Hebrew and Greek scriptures to determine what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality. Special music and singing is also being planned. For information, contact the church at P.O. Box 14003, Tucson, AZ 85732-4003 or call (602)323-6855. Casa De La Paloma Apostolic Cl\un:h is pastored by the Rev. Sandy Lewis, • THE-SECOND STONB □ Elder of the West Central District of the National Gay Pentecostal Alliance. God 'Comes Out' At Advent DECEMBER 7~, an advent workshop for Lesbians, gay men, their families and friends at Land's End, Saranac Lake, New York. Led by Chris Glaser, author of Uncommon Calling and Come Home. Registration, room and meals (based on double occupancy) is $125.00. For information write to Dr. Michael J. Craven, Land's End, Star Route, Box 5, Saranac Lake, NY 12983 or call (518)891-4034. ~ Gay And Christian Accepted As Living Members DECEMBER 1~16, the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina sponsors a conference for gay men, Lesbians and bisexual people and those who support them. Facilitator is Malcolm Boyd. Workshops include: Healing Grief and Anger Toward the Church, Relationships, Images of God, Spirituality and Sexuality, The Bible and Homosexuality and Where Do Gay and Lesbian Persons Fit in the Cl\urch. To be held at the Conference Center, Browns Summit, North Carolina. Cost is $135-165 including registration, room and meals. Contact the Registrar, St. Philip's Episcopal Cl\urch, P.O. Box 218, Durham, NC 277C11. Just Say Yes: A Call To Thrive FEBRUARY 15-17, a conference to bring together gay, lesbian and bisexual seminarians and divinity school students. The Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass., is the setting. Cost is $30.00. Keynote speakers scheduled: Carter Heyward, Chris Glaser, Irene Monroe and (tentatively) John Boswell. In addition to the several workshops scheduled, there will be a session on developing strategies for change in seminaries, the church and beyond. For information, contact Michael Musolf, 99 Brattle St., Box 30, Cambridge, MA 02138 or call (617)547-7629. SEND EVENT NOTICES TO: CALENDAR, THE SECOND STONE, P .0. BOX 8340, • NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182 1 --- --- - --- --- --- -- Essay . ! □ War Veterans By Chris Glaser Columnist I cried through much of the film Born on the Fourth of /uly. It is the story of Ron Kovic, who initially believed and fought in the Vietnam war, returned in a wheelchair to a nation questioning its in~olvement there, and was himself transformed into a peace activist and a leader of Vietnam Vets Against the War. I cried because I was there too - not in Vietnam, thank God • but initially in favor and then adamantly in opposition to our military involvement in Vietnam. I demonstrated, boycotted, went on strike, spoke, and wrote against the war. I was accused of being unpatriotic, a Communist, a traitor. But never by my friends in Vietnam, with whom I corresponded and exchanged audiotapes. Some were drafted; others volunteered. On furloughs they told me about buddies blown up, drugs, anxiety, terror, grief, and boredom. I cried because a lot of us around at that time - American or Vietnamese - are Vietnam vets whether we served as soldiers or not. By saying this, I do not intend to underrate the severe emotional, physical, and spiritual trauma of those who actualJy fought in the war or those whose home of Vietnam was the battlefield. But I do believe that most Americ_a~lost something if not someone in th'at war; an of us were wounded by i( And the wounds have never been fully recognized, let alone healed. And this is true of all wars. CoincidentaUy, the same day I saw the film based on Ron Kovic's autobiographical book, I finished watching a videotape of the old film The Best Years of Ou, Lives. It depicts the awkward, painful, and dispiriting return of veterans from World War II. Given their emotional, physical, and spiritual wounds, as well as those of all the nations involved, it's small wonder that fifty years after its end we are still bombarded by books and films about WWII. . Uke Ron Kovic, Leonard Matlovich was also a Vietnam veteran. In 1975, he contested the U.S. Air Force's expulsion of him as a gay m.a n.. I happened to meet him the week after his picture appeared on the cover of --Time magazine as part of a story on being homosexual in America. He pointed out the irony that the military could give him a medal for killing two men in Vietnam, and yet oust him for loving one. As a result, Matlovich became a veteran in a new war, the one for gay acceptance. And he later became a casualty in our battle with AIDS. We were born into this war and never knew anything different. Like children of alcoholics and children . abused by parents, we guessed at what "normal" meant. I believe that all lesbian women and gay men have been involved in a war. We have fought battles to be who we are personally. We have fought battles to protect our rights publicly. We have fought battles to secure our freedom of thought and expression. We have fought battles to defend our homes; as couples, as parents. We have fought battles to maintain our employment and pursue careers. We have fought battles to defend our right to exercise our religion. We are veterans who have been wounded emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Our wounds are barely recognized, let alone healed. Like other war veterans, many of us know something's wrong, but can't put our finger on it. We may feel anxious and uneasy. We may lash out at one another. At the least we may find it difficult to develop intimacy - because our wounds might get rubbed the wrong way. Intimacy may be too painful. We are veterans with generational differences. When I began minis• tering within the gay community, I soon noticed a generation gap between pre-Stonewall Gays and those of us in the Stonewa11 generation. More ,ecent years have revealed yet another gap between my generation and younger Gays and Lesbians. F.ach generation's approaches to the same war have been different. Older "homophiles" applauded the liberation of "Gays and Lesbians,• while at the same time envying us and questioning whether we were asking too much. The younger g~eration admittedly benefits from the openness achieved by us, but often takes it for granted and (a little too self-righteously) questions our excesses. Of course my generation too smugly condemned closets and double lives in our otherwise just call to "Come out!" But whatever our differences, we must not forget .that we are veterans of the same war. Many of us do not grasp that we have suffered shell shock, battle fatigue, and disabling wounds. We were born into this war and .never knew anything different. Like children of alcoholics and children abused by parents, we guessed at what "i,formal" meant. A friend who is very involved in AA has told me that he believes almost every lesbian and gay man was reared in dysfunctional families because there was something that could not be discussed: sexuality, particularly homosexuality. No matter how loving our parents were, the societal milieu in which most of us grew up screwed us up in some way. He pointed out the irony that the military could give him a medal for killing two men in Vietnam, and yet oust him for loving one. I sec this in my own life. With full acceptance withheld by the church and the society, I hunger for love. Yet when I reach out in love or for love, my war wounds get in the way. I can identify with the apostle Paul who found himself doing the very things he did not want to do and failing to do the things he intended (Romans 7:15•25). I hurt myself and I hurt others even though I believe my true God-given nature to be loving and good. AIDS complicates the war. It is not uncommon for wars to be complicated by disease. In the U.S. Civil War, for example, perhaps as many died of dysentery and disease as died in battle. But in these other wars, those November/December 1990 who were sick were ca~ for behind the lines. In the case of AIDS, gay PWA's and HIV+'s are often forced to the front lines: closets no longer afford protection, political action must be taken to secure health care and civil rights, and society's experience of our community is filtered through media reports on AIDS. To send the sick and vulnerable to the front lines is not humane. That's why, I believe, those who are healthy and uninfected might consider volunteering for front line duty. I know that in some circles it is unpopular to use~he language of war. But, as we learned in Korea and again in Vietnam, calling a war by any other name does a disservice to its veterans, who have forever been wounded by the horror and terror of war. As I cried for those who fought the Vietnam War - whether on the battlefields or on the campuses - in the film Born on the Fourth of /uly, I realized I was also crying for all of us who have fought the battles for liberation and justice for Lesbians and gay men. We are walking wounded who need understanding, forgiveness, and tender loving care. Chris Glaser is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and the author of two books: Uncommon Callini - A Gay Man's Struttfe to Serve the Church, and Come Home! - Reclaimint Spirituality and Community as Gay Men and Lesbians, both from Harper & Row. LlftD to HI BDl'IOlt: I All DIIPLY DISTRB888D IT YOOR IIAGAIIRI, Tlllll IIASll'T BIIR A PUBLICAflOII IIB081 'nlOLOGICAL TRJIATI818 1 1ft HIN 80 O,,SIUIBD BY, IIB061 CAIIDll> ACCOOIP.l'8 OP IIClllllllG AJl0IIG CIIOJtCII GROUPS l 1VI HIM 80 IWJUlA88D 111', IIB081 IWlGIIIG Jlll'IIRDDB OP ftl RIID8 OP TIii IIORLD AIU) CBDJICB J 'VI HD !IA.DI TO PUL SO GIJILff IT BIICI -- DLL, 8lllCI flll 111W '1'118'1'Alllll'l' I II .. Closer Look Stop Letting People Despise You! lJ Rev, Bwcc Roller Contributing Writer Another Biblical personality who certainly has a word to speak, albeit second-ban~, to gay and lesbian Christians is Paul's close companion and dear lriend (sometimes referred to as Paul's "beloved and faithful child in the Lord"), Timothy. Though homosexual orientation was not identified scientifically until fairly recent times, and there is little evidence that occasional homosexual behavior was used to discredit people in the early church, something about Timothy was definitely used lo make him appear "less than" other leaders of the early church. The Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, refer to this as his "youth," "youthfulness," or "boyishness" though by this time Timothy would certainly have been 38-40 years old, according to Marvin Vincent, Kenneth Wuest and others. Obviously the Apostle Paul considered Timothy a worthy colleague, referring to him in 1 'Ibessalonians 3:2, as God's servant in the gospel of Christ, and by implication even ranks him among the apostles (2:6). Paul took it as his personal responsibility to circumcise Timothy so that this man of presumably mixed Jewish-Gentile heritage would be more acceptable to the Jewish Christians who then were the primary leaders of the church (Acts 16:3). The Pastoral Epistles emphasize Timothy's gift and speak of his having been set aside by prophetic utterance for the work to which he was called. In 1 Corinthians 16:10-11, however, Paul feels it necessary to come to Timothy's defense, urging the Corinthian Christians to put Timothy at ease when he comes to them as Paul's emissary so that Timothy will have no need to feel . timid among. them. Paul assures the Corinthians that Timothy really is doing the Lord's work, just as Paul is. "So," Paul writes, "see to it that no one despises Ti!]lothy, or treats him as if he were of no account or slights hift. But send him off (cordiaJly), in peace ... " Also in Wuest's Word Studies in the Greek . New Testllment the expanded translation of 1 Timothy 4:12 reads, "Stop allowing anyone to contemptu011Sly push you aside because of your youth, but keep on becoming an example to the believers, in word, tn behavior, in love, in faith, in A Presbyterian Promise "We will work to increase the acceptance and participation in the church of all persons reganiless of racial-ethnic origins, sex, class, age, disability, marital status or sexual orientation" -195th General Assembly (1983), Atlanta, Georgia If this is your promise, too, we inl'ite you to join Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns Write to Elder James D. Anderson PLGC, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038,201/846-1510 purity." The word for "despise" above is kataphroneo. It speaks of that contempt felt in the mind which is displayed in injurious action. As Moulton and Milligan say of the word: "The word does not denote a mere feeling of contemp • it is active." The verb is present imperative in a prohibition, forbidding the continuance of an action already going on. Timothy was being despised. Paul says, "Stop a11owing anyone to despise you." Whatever the "something" about Timothy that made him different and "less ~ than" the other early church leaders - such as Paul and Silas, among whom he was classed - we derive a word of instruction in dealing with the modem church members who feel for lesbian and gay Christians a feeling of contempt that is displayed in injurious action: "Stop letting them treat you that way!" Perhaps by now you can see why I have honored Timothy by writing of him is a series of articles that address ways in which Biblical personalities speak to gay and lesbian Christians today. Whatever the "something" about Timothy that made him different and "less than" the other early church leaders - such as Paul and Silas, among whom he was classed - we derive a word of instruction in dealing with the modem church members who feel for lesbian and gay Christians a feeling of contempt that is displayed in injurious action: "Stop letting them treat you that way!" First, Paul wrote to Timothy, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity - of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear ... (2 Timothy 1:7)." I believe we as lesbian and gay Christians must identify that our fearfulness to assert who we are in Christ - even to ourselves - is not the gift of God, but is from oppressive and restrictive powers that have held us captive from expressing our true gifts •of power and of Jove and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline II THE SECOND STONE □ and godly self-control, (1:7b)." Once we have come to this conclusion for ourselves through prayer and meditation in the Word and Spirit of God, then we can move on to Paul's next admonition to Timothy, "Stop letting them contemptuously push you around." In the book The Penguin Principles, David Belasic and Paul Schmidt describe "The Tweaking Principle." The essence of the principle is "They'll only do it to you if you let 'em." Too many people have sacrificed too much for us to allow ourselves to be treated abusively by the church. The Rev. Elder Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Churches, tells of hanging up the phone on a reporter who in a radio interview ca11ed him "Mr. Perry," explaining .. ."I just can't bring myself to call you Reverend." The Reverend Perry remarks, "I've come too far to need that kind of abuse anymore!" Praise God! I urge gay and lesbian Christians to hear the voice of God from Paul and Timothy, from Rev. Perry, and a host of other voices crying in the wilderness, "Stop allowing people to despise you!" Finally Paul gave Timothy a long-term, sure-fire method for stop- ' ping such contemptuous treatment, "continue being an example to them." As we dare to "come out," as we dare to Jive lives that are godly, loving, sensitive, forgiving examples, slowly - ever so slowly • the "ignorance of foolish people is silenced" (1 Peter 2:15), and we are finally stopping people from treating us and our spiritual gifts to the church with active contempt. Whether Timothy was young, gay, physically or emotionally challenged - whatever the stigma - the message is the same, "Stop allowing people to despise you!" The Reverend Bruce Roller is ptiStor of Reconciliation MCC in Grand Rllpids, Ml. He hlls prepllred 11 workbook on 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that is availllble for $3.50 plus 25% handling llnd shipping. This book llllows the student to drllw conclusions themseloes from the Word of God, llnd has helped many people ooer their fear of condemnlltion from this pasSllge of Scripture. The wolkbook is twailable from Faithful Publications, P.O. Box 3701, Grand Rltpids, Ml 49501. Episcopal Bishop Admo=nished By House Of Bishops WASHINGTON, O.C. • The But it's reaHy a water pistol: ' Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, Although the resolution actually meeting here on September 18, voted said little - and the document being by a slender margin to •disassociate" endorsed included the phrase. -We itself from the December, 1989, do not disassociate ourselves from the ordination of an openly gay priest by . many members of our church who are Bishop John Spong of Newark. lesbian and gay,• the leader of the By a vote of 80 to 76, a revised traditionalist Episc~pal Synod, "officiaJ- count of a previously Clarence Pope, Bishop of Fort Worth, reported vote of 78 to 14, the bishops said, "If we don't adopt this "affirm[ed) and support[ed)" the resolution, we go a long way to February 20 statement by the changing our religion. Much of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church's teaching will be altered if Church and his Council of Advice, we don't take steps." (Omprlsed of bishops representing Other negative bishops more each of the nine provinces of the candidly stated that they were church, which in tum quoted a 1919 bothered by the publicity and what resolution that it is "inappropriate" their clergy and people had said to to ordain "practicing" homosexuals. them about the ordination. Retired ''The way the church treats its gay and lesbian members so deeply violates my conscience that it strains the very fabric of my life by tearing it between my loyalty to Jesus Christ, who made a habit of embracing outcasts, and my loyalty to a church that historically has rejected Blacks, women, and Gays.11 -Bishop John Spong In · the wake of the highly publicized ordination and subsequent controversial remarks by the newly ordained priest, Bishop Spong was severely criticized for defying the collegiality of the House of Bishops. Earlier this year, many Bishops had spoken in favor of censure. Efforts by extreme conservatives to bring a presentment, which might have lead to a churcJt trial, were dismissed by Presiding Bishop Bdmond Browning several m~nths ~go. The resolution wa~ initiated by William Wantland, bishop of the tiny (2000 communicants) diocese of Eau Oaire, Wisconsin and a member of the Advisory Board of the vehemently anti-gay American Family Association. He described the proposal as a "strong admonition." Another ultra-conservative bishop, William Frey, notorious for having perfotmed an unsuccessful exorcism of a gay priest and now dean of a new right-wing seminary near Pittsburgh, disagreed, saying, " Some have said that this is a gun pointed at the head of Spong. Bishop. Gordon Charlton said that "the Church will be watching" and that the "integrity of the House [of Bishops] is at stake. That's a word (integrity) I want to reclaim," he said. Most of those speaking opposed the resolution, including three of the authors of the document being endorsed who said that it had value when written, but restating it now would serve no purpose and that they would remove their names as authors if the resolution passed. When the final vote came, only one of the seven members present who had served on the Council of Advice and drafted the February statement voted to endorse it. The Presiding Bishop, long a supporter of lesbian/ gay ordination also voted against the resolution. In a defiant half-hour response to the vote, Bishop Spong admonished the House for what he called its hypocrisy, especially contrasting its gentle treatment of conservative bishops who refuse to ordain women. Spong argued that, unlike the traditionalists who are his harshest critics, he followed the canonical process when he went ahead with the ordination. "I wonder if this House can embrace the fact that other bishops besides Episcopal Synod bishops have a conscience that cannot be compromised?" Spong asked. "The way the church treats its gay and lesbian members so deeply violates my conscience that it strains the very fabric of my life by tearing it between my loyalty to Jesus Christ, who made a habit ot embracing. the outcast, and my loyalty to a church that historically has rejected Blacks, women and Gays. It is not the bishop of Newark who is violated by this process but the gay and lesbian members of this church," he added. He reminded the bishops that the 1919 resolution opposing lesbian/gay ordmation was a recommendation and therJ!fore not binding. Repeating an argument he had made · earlier in defense of the December ordination, Spong said that the church has been quietly ordaining practicing homosexuals for years. Non-celibate homosexuals are found at all levels of church life - not only in parishes but also the House of Bishops, seminary faculties and student bodies. He said that the charge that he violated the collegiality of the House is 7a sign of fear, even of homophobia." Similar charges have never been leveled against members of the Episcopal Synod or others who hold views contrary to General Convention resolutions. Bishop Spong's speech ~ived a standing ovation from several bishops and most of the visitors. Following the vote, there was universal agreement that the church is closelr, divided on the issue of . ordaining Lesbians and Gays. Several observers suggested that if the vote had been repeated after Spong's speech, the result would have been different. . On the final day of the meeting, September 20, the bishops again returned to the issue of Lesbians and Gays in the Church. A statement adopted on that day renewed a call made in 1988 to discuss the issue in every diocese and parish, a call that has been widely ignored in the November/December 1990 church. "To call for dialogue in a puzzling and complex area is not to abdicate our leadersh~p/ - it is/ precisely to give it in a way. consistent with our Anglican heritage: to call God's people to stand faithfully in the midst of life, seeking the mind and heart of God,• it said. "Obviously, we do not expect easy answers. Dialogue is not going to produc;e consensus. It may not even provide grounds for a compromise presently beyond our ken,• the unanimously approved statement said. "We recognize that it would not be faithful to the Gospel to ignore the anguished cries ol homosexual men and women who feel hurt, rejected, and angry by what they see about them. At the same time, we recogna.e that it would not be faithful to the Gospel to ignore or simply label as homophobic the anguished cries of men and women who feel hurt, rejected and angry that what they see as sin is not being reaffinned as such.• The statement was primarily authored by the Bishop of New York, Richard Grein, a moderate who has been supportive of the many lesbian and gay clergy in his new diocese. · Integrity and the Episcopal Women's Caucus were the only organizations fonnally represented at the meeting. Books □ A Lyrical Work By A Gifted New Writer Matthew Stadler's 'Landscape: Memory~ • Matthew Stadler, author; Charles Scribnu's Sons, New York. $19.95. ISBN: o-684-19185-7. Landsc11pe: Memory, Matthew Stadler's first novel, is the beautifully realized story of young Max Kosegarten, a sensitive 16 year old whose entries written daily in his memory book bring n!lders a rerord of his own and the collective attempts of the culture he lives in to remember. The time is the summer of 1914. San Francisco is preparing for the World's Fair, the triumphant expression- of the city's recovery from the devastation of the 1906 earthquake. Max and his young friend, Dunc,ln, visit the fair, share the mysteries of this Jewel City. They are not sure -.yhat to make of it. "What was here two years ago? What was here a thousand years ago?" Max finds his STONY POINT CENTER presents 11,t Book and Blyond ... Novnblr18-19, 1990 Chris Glaser COMEHOMEI RtlclalmitV Spi1ualty Bid &fnistty as Gay and Lesbian Clwlstians Chris Gl•er and his readers In convel'll.lion ~ .,n fll ldm raised by cctlE HCJIEI Registrdon, Room and Meals: $70 Commutats: $15 (S&ntay Ony); $30 {Stnlay and Monday) Crk:baown P.oad • Slony Pon. NY 10980 (914) 786-5674 "s-."!"J ... ~ ... s.,,..,,_.mr... .... f , ....._ .,,w..... .... , ... ....... _ OI Ollllllmpclnlfy ~ .,,,. T-,~ abnt.ar -1n .... .,.o1 fP/ . cplriMlf._, - a filllnd ..... ol.loNdl Canipbel. ~ .. deliiii!U, gripping, rcnmilc ..r., l,,i appllel llls__,1.tldam togoy~&.hwiwtda- herolna paruble about~ & hanelly--wlil-to~t. . MlillslhaStaryofCr.onion OI you always wanted ii IDld. ... a •-I ol S")' _!Plrituol -~ in a pagHming plol )'111(1 lall in t-wilh ............ '-,.. i-.t .. ..Jo..-,-~ capliffllllc...L· .... -....-. .. -- d~--Olbrmal1Mnlbtly .... 101"N.._,~1ll7'103. S.,cUIO+tlS>_(I_ adllft Or on . ClllllOOD 1219. I am-with You -Feat Not! (A Corrective Look at the Lesbian and Gav Clobber Passages) Professionally prodicad Vul,o-tal)e Awlil>-tape (!/ Workbook A new book l?, the Rt11. Bna Roller ' Pastor of Rmmdliacion MCC OTtUid Rapid.s, Ml C/-',uum]/~ ~ ... v AEC031CCUA'll0N VHS VldlD (9Q n'in.l $24.95 AUIID Tape $5.00 • wt:11oboG11 $5.00 ~0.....$6.95 kid rnr ~ & ;a; Faithful Publicatioru P.O. Box 3701 Grand Rapids, MI 49501 f answers in his memory book, where he can sort and sift the nature of his experiences. He paints, too, a landscape, which is seen throughout the book in each of its stages. In time, readers come to see Max evolving, his gifts developing and his mind giving structure to the world about him. There is startling poignancy in the love that develops between Max and Duncan as they explore the woods, the ruins left behind by the earthquake, the marvels of the fair, and the dark forbidding of the ocean - and the shock of sudden tragedy. Matthew Stadler was born in 1959 in Seattle, Washington, where he grew up and now lives. His previous occupations have included lobbying for the Quakers in Washington, D. C., scraping boats in France, teaching philosophy and political theory at an international school in Manhattan, and volcano watching in Seattle. He is currently in the Netherlands working on a novel set in the 17th century in ~t country. Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and , Community as Gay Men and Lesbians Chrla Glasa, author; Harper & Row, San Frandsc:o. $10.95 Chris Glaser's new book, Come·' Home!, is written for persons outside and within the church, as well as the many standing on the church's threshold. He writes, "It is written for Gays and Lesbians, as well as others seeking to benefit from gay spirituality and ministry. It is an invitation to come home to Christian tradition and community. Like any homecoming, risk and vulnerability will accompany the joy and hospitality we experience. But the spiritual wealth of God's love and home and peace awaiting us far · exceeds the temporary and occasional poverty we may endure as we seek a new Christian reformation." Through the medium of the story, and reflections on both the ordinary experiences of daily life and the lesbian and gay experience, Glaser invites us to look beyond feelings of anger, alienation and loneliness to the hope and promise of Jesus Christ. He calls us back to the basic fact of our Christian calling, that we are indeed loved and cared for by a God who desires our love in return. Chris Glaser offers a unique testimony to our Christian faith, breaking through denominational differences and traditions of worship that sometimes set us in opposition to one another. He is a gifted storyteller and a talented writer. His style is ~traightforward and honest His work makes for easy reading, but with a message and perspective that is both provocative and challenging. His insightful reflection on biblical connections to the ord,inary human experiences we some much needed encouragement, since we too often become weighed down and angry with the narrowness of present-day church and civic leadership, ~ith the tragedy of AIDS, and with the disillusionment of broken promises and failed friendships. . Come Home! is divided into five "spiritual" movements: 1.) accepting God's way of welcoming us, 2.)receiving our spiritual inheritance, 3.) discerning what God calls us to do with it, 4.) making our witness to the church and to the lesbian and gay community, and 5.) "coming home" to ourselves, to our community and to our church, reborn and renewed in spirit, truth and love. -From CommuniClltions Newsletter, a ministry to gay and lesbian Catholic clergy and religious, P.O. Box 60125, Chicago, IL 60660-0125. II THE SECOND STONE ,- ....... ., Books Panels Of Love By MicltaeJ BlanktNhip Contributing Writer Some people, when they are diagnosed with AIDS or one of its forerunners, tum in μpon themselves, ceasing to oommune with life around them. Bitterness is their only companion, and existing in this spiritless desert they soon wither and pass away. Others, knowing their days may be numbered, reach outward, seeking new inspiration and new ways of communicating their love of life. Instead of a desert, they create and share a colorful landscape of ideas, and words, and pictures. They often surprise those who know them best by bringing forth a new understanding of faith, and a fresh appreciation of the beauties of nature. They know God in a new way, and it flows to those around them. Timothy Walters Grummon is most definitely the latter sort of person. His recently published book, Panels of l.Dve, describes his experience and displays the marvelous creative energy he now possesses. A great analogy can be drawn between Grummon's painted panels and the panels of the Names Project Quilt. In both cases a great deal of love went into their creation, both are byproducts of the AIDS crisis, and both are dramatically beautiful because of their diversity and individuality. The main difference · is that the Quilt was made by hands honoring those who have suffered. In Grummon's case the sufferer is also the creator, using his hands to honor those who have made living with the disease a bit easier. In 1985 Grummon's doctors determined that he had ARC ( AIDS Related Complex), and his life quickly became, in his words, "a swirling vortex of negativity." At the age of 33 he seemed shattered and confused, his health declined as he concentrated on this death sentence. It was at this point that he somewhat reluctantly joined an art therapy group in San Diego. His art teacher, author Barbara Peabody, recalls that his first paintings filled her with dread. They were drawings of arcs, a double entendre for his sickness. She foresaw only deterioration and a quick death for him. But she was wrong! Grummon felt a "rekindling of the life force within" as he threw himself into his art, and as his artistic abilities improved, amazingly, so did his health. He simply allowed himself to be overwhelmed by this compelling, inventive energy and this new focus added greater meaning and strength to this life. Grummon felt a "rekindling of the life force within" as he threw himself into his art, and as his artistic abilities improved, amazingly, so did his health. He simply allowed himself to be overwhelmed by this compelling, inventive energy and this new focus added greater meaning and strength to this life. Two years later he was inspired to begin work on a major project, relying on his friends and family to infuse this work with their own particular influences. He asked these twelve people to give him Bible verses which he, in tum, interpreted by painting individual panels. The theme of love runs throughout the artworks, and he used the color gold in all of the panels to symbolize the precious quality of love. All of the works are highly symbolic, really requiring a reading of the book to understand their full meaning. But the ideas and the art work together beautifully. Grummon's works have an almost art deco quality, a wonderful geometry combined with vibrant colors to form a most appealing expression of his concepts of faith and love. The panels also have delicate textures, adding an interesting dimension of depth to the paintings. The book and the paintings combine the spiritual and the creative and you come away knowing how closely they are related. The book contains 16 large glossy colorplates of the Panels of Love. They vividly show the expertise and talent involved in their creation. In a similar way the written passages reveal Grummon's imagination and sense of the divine. My favorite porti~ reminds me of l Corinthians 13, he writes: "Love transcends without effort, penetrating those barriers humanity erects. Love in intangible, yet causes profound impact. It consoles, comforts and □ heals. Love is all color, surrounding and moving through us. It is form, without confines and boundary. Love respects without qualification and enables a vision of dignity beyond our limited perception. Love maintains balance and harmony; it is pure in spirituality, fluid in tolerance, and endless in compassion. Love is calm amid chaos and devastation; its nature is infinite in understanding and forgiveness. Love inspires. To strive for love is to reach for the very essence of perfection.• Those who read this book will find inspiration, not only from Timothy Grummon's artistic abilities, but also from his courage. He unashamedly proclaims, "I am gay, I am a Christian, and I have AIDS!" As fellow gay Christians, we can only admire the way he is facing the challenges of his life. He is combating death and prejudice with beauty and love, a role model we can all use. T'S THE BEST Men's magazine ... - the one that deals most honestly with how men relate to each other, to women, and to kids; the one that's gay-affirmative and opposes sex•role stereotypes, ... the one that movingly explores men's hurts and joys . . . Ml I Order a no obHgatlon. If you change your mind. 1us write u I We'll refund the subscription price! : Name ___________ Enclosed: $16 I I Addrea -----------.-------r I City ___________ State . . I I Mall to: ""'··-- Men 306 N Brooks 305A Mod I ------------------ November/December 1990 ■ ,. Gay Reformation Hymn Tune: Ein'fnte lnn-g Two thousand years wt feared our lwe, condmrntd "umu,hln,l sinners." Ncno stepping forth from ht4'0ffl 11bove Christ makts grzys sptdal winners. This world is filltd with hate. It sums almost too late for Gad to interfere again to bring low here, but that's what God is doing. No more can foes God's plan decide, nor obfuscate God's choosing. God's 1ovt for grzys they cannot hide, their puppetry is losing. The God of hetroen and mrth affirms gays' priceltsS WQrlh. Our ransom has b«n paid: · joint heirs with Christ we're madt let homophobes take notice! The Church once askt4 to have us killtd: our blood has writ this witness. All ignorant minds must now be filltd with stXUlll truth and fitness. The pressuTt!S still art! strong to work on gays much wrong. We're adltd to pmeve,t, endure our holy fear, for Christ commands our anny. Our strength is not is guns or lllws. Our wtapan is but Meekness. We can forgive our fots their flaws: Gay Might is just such "wmkntss." More frieruls will join this fight because the u,rd is right. Gay bodies house God's Spirit, but only through Christ's merit. God's 1ovt will triumph. through us. Louie Crew COVER STORY, FromPage9 New Age diverge. Some New Age followers are into trance or spirit-channeling, but the Bible clearly condemns consultation with mediums (Deut. 18:9-14), communication with the dead and other "detestable practices." The New Age teaches that there is II healing through cystals and other objects. The Bible teaches that healing comes only through Cod's hand (Acts 3:16) and that healing is related to the renewing of one's heartfelt relationship with God, and often, with the forgiveness of sins. f BLACK LEADERS,FromPage8 months encouraging other black civil rights organizations to issue anti-discrimination policies and statements which include sexual orientation. The group also agreed to: develop organizational specific programs to sensitize staff, board and oonstituency to lesbian/ gay issues; review existing programs and public agendas to include lesbian/gay concerns; actively recruit openly lesbian/ gay individuals for membership, staff and board positions; encourage increased visibility of current staff, board and constituency members who are openly gay or lesbian; and include lesbian/ gay concerns in organizational conference and meetings.· • ''These changes are not going to happen overnight," said Maurice Franklin, representing SCLC, "but they can happen and I know Dr. Lowery will do what he can to help facilitate these changes." Kelvin Lynn Cothren, representing The King Center and Fulton County Commissioner Martin Luther King Ill, concurred and assured the group of Mrs. King and Commissioner King's support. The meeting was the result of a decision made by the Leadership Roundtable at the Third Annual National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference in Atlanta earlier this year. Phill Wilson, co-chair of the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, sponsor of the conference, stated that the meeting was the first of several in preparation of a major conference between traditional black institutions and black Lesbians and Gays. The date for that meeting will be announced at the Fourth Annual National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles next February. Among those attending the meeting: Maurice Franklin, representing • Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Joan Gamer, Co-chair African American Lesbian/Gay Alliance and Senior Advisory Liaison to the City of Atlanta's Mayor's Office for Lesbian/Gay Concerns; Keith Hinch, representing National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc.; Anthony Home, Chair, Black Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Dignity, Memphis; Charles Nelson, Co-chair African American Lesbian/Gay Alliance; Dennis Odums, Board member and past Co-chair Gay and Lesbian Community Service Center, Los Angeles; Sabrina Sojourner, Board Member, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; John Teamer, Co-chair, National Association of Black and White Men Together /Men of All Colors Together; and Phill Wilson, Co-chair, Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum and convener of the Fourth Annual National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference. BIG BROTHERS, From Page 1 move to block his measure, fired off a "Dear Colleague" letter to all members of the House. The letter discussed the "predatory tactics" of gay people and said "groups such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force forever explain to the public that the 'homosexual molester' of children is a myth and that heterosexuals are much more likely to sexually molest kids." NGLTF, working with data from national child abuse agendes, has fought to dispel homophobic stereotypes that prevent gay people from providing positive role models for children. At the heart of the New Age belief is a concept that is simply. unacceptable to Christians, namely the claim that "we are God." That is the original rebellion against God and the prime heresy. It is the violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. Instead, our power and joy as Christians must come in the knowledge that we are "created," not creator. test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." THE SECOND STONE St. Paul's admonition in Romans 12:2 comes to mind: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to Nick Warner is a psychologist and Methodist minister. He is a contributor to The EC Cable, newsletter of Evangelicals Concerned, Western Region. Travel Riding The Rails • By Cynthia Marquard andQamdMvmm Contributing Writers One of the most popular interests among a large group of gay people is trains and railroads, both antique and modem. There is even a loosely organiz.ed group of gay /lesbian train buffs called The ·Phoebe Snow Society, named after a famous train. A number of exciting train trips are available that offer exotic travel opportunities, from the adventurous Copper Canyon train trip in Mexico to the elegant Orient Express in Europe and even our own US. version of the Orient Express between Chicago and Washington, D.C. But even a plain vanilla Amtrak trip can be something out of the ordinary, not just for rail hobbyists, but for the rest of us. Were you just the least bit bored sitting six across on your last flight? Does the idea of being able to get up and walk around while you're enroute sound interesting? Would you like to experience more of Colorado than clouds at 35,000 feet? Then the next time you plan your vacation, consider the train. On an Amtrak train, you can relax in a coach seat that's nearly as big as a first-class airline seat. For an overnight trip, you can choose from a variety of sleeping accommodations, ranging from an economy Slumbercoach room to a deluxe bedroom complete with private bath. Dining is no problem either. All Amtrak trains outside the BostonWashington rail corridor offer food service. Depending on the train you take, there's a wide choice, from buffet service featuring sandwiches and drinks to dining cars with fullmeal service, for which you make a reservation with the conductor. Entertainment While You Ride The lounge car is a popular place on trains. There you can relax and chat with other passengers over a drink. Some trains also show movies in the lounge car. The Montrealer (most Amtrak trains have names), running between Washington, D.C., and Montreal and serving the Vermont ski resorts, even has live entertainment. Trains between Chicago and the West Coast--The Empire Builder, for example-have double-deck lounge cars with glass roofs so that passengers can have a maximum view of the scenery. Just being able to move about and meet other passengers provides a great relief from the tedium of travel. You aren't strapped into your seat, so if the urge hits you, you can get up, stroll down the aisle, and strike up a conversation with that interesting person who caught your eye. Costs and Other Considerations For any trip you take on Amtrak, there is a basic coach fare. Basic coach has open seating, that is, the seats are not reserved. Certain trains to St. Louis and Detroit and in the Boston-Washington corridor offer Custom Class service, which is a fancier version of coach that includes a reserved seat, complimentary coffee and juice, and a newspaper. Sleeping car accommodations are priced as an add-on to the coach fare and vary in cost depending on the type of sleeping accommodation you choose. Prices for sleeping car space are quite a bit higher than the basic coach rate but, except for the Slumbercoach rooms, all include meals. Deluxe sleeping accommodations offer the feel of old-time travel luxury. A complimentary bottle of wine and snack pack will be awaiting you in your room when you board the train. There are a variety of reduced fares available, including the "All Aboard America" fare. This allows you to make a round trip with stop-over points in one of three regions: between the East Coast and Chicago; between Chicago and Denver; and between Denver and the West Coast. You can combine travel in two or three regions, if you like. Your International Gay Travel Association agent can help you figure out which fare is the most economical for your journey. Some Famous U.S. Trains Chicago is the hub of the national east-west Amtrak network. All overnight trains to the East Coast and all trains to the West Coast leave Chicago in the afternoon or early evening. Here are some favorite Amtrak trips: • The Lake Shore Limited, Chicago to New York City via Oeveland and Buffalo. This train carries you · through •he Mohawk Valley of upstate fl.l~w York, then down the Hudson River valley and arrives in the Big Apple in the afternoon. If you think all of America's scenery is in the west, you haven't seen the Hudson Valley. There is also a section of the The Lake Shore Limited train that splits off at Albany, N.Y., and runs through the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts to Boston. • The Capitol Limited, Chicago to Washington via Pittsburgh. This train is the only one in the East to carry a glass-domed lounge car. East of Pittsburgh, head for a seat in the observation level of the dome and watch the train climb up through the Allegheny Mountains, then drop into the Potomac Valley. • The Cardinal, · Chicago to Wash4'gton via Cincinnati. You'll get to see parts of the country that are relatively inaccessible. Deep in West Virginia it travels through the wild New River Gorge, then passes through the Blue Ridge Mountains. • The California Zephyr, Chicago to Denver, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco.The Zephyr climbs up the Front Range of the Rockies west of Denver, one of the most spectacular rail lines ever built. Then it diven through the seven-miles-long Moffat Tunnel. After crossing the Nevada Desert at night, it passes through Reno and heads over the Sierra Nevada mountains through Donner · Pass, named after the tragic Donner Party of pioneers. (Trapped by a blizzard, they ate each other; an interesting piece of history.) The train leaves you off in Oakland, a short bus, cab, or BART ride from San Francisco across the bay. • The Coast Starlight, Los Angeles to Oakland, Portland, and Seattle. You get the Pacific from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo, Calif. You get the Coast Range between San Luis Obispo and Salinas and the Cascade Range between Redding and Eugene, Ore. This is the rolling vacation that has it all. This trip can be divided into two segments-L. A. to Oakland and Oakland to Seattle. A stopover will give you time to recuperate--or whatever-in the City by the Bay. • The Boston-Washington Corridor trains travel here via New York City and Philadelphia-not one train, but a whole fleet of them. The Corridor is the closest you can come to European-style, high-frequency train service. Between Washington and November/ December 1990 □ New York Oty on weekdays train service runs an average of every 30 minutes. The New York-Boston segment has less frequent service, but there are still enough trains to plan on convenient day trips. Trains serving Florida also begin and end their runs in New York City and serve major cities in the Corridor. Less Frequent Service One work of caution: Outside the Boston-Washington Corridor and the Los Angeles-San Diego route, Amtrak doesn't run more than a few trains a day. Trains ·oR various runs from Chicago operate once a day. Despite-or perhaps because of-this relatively minor limitation, Amtrak offers the individual, couple, or group a dimension in travel that nearly disappeared in the United States, but may be slowly coming back into favor. Cynthia A. Marquard is the owner/mtlnAger of Envoy Travel, Inc., in Chicago ,md vice-president of the InternationAl Gay Trtlf1el Assn. Danni Munson is the publisher of TM Lesbian antl Gay Alma,uu: anti Er,ents of 1990. A Gay Co1111tl'J 11111 ... OIi IOObcalllifll..,.willl ~r.::.if.t.•-nrm NeWllllllir,vm, ,..,., wriloor call ro,. bmcll- P. 0. Box Ill SL Bethlehem, NH 03514 (603) 869-3971 Ila, "otlwr" /IIM• """' ,,,. , ..... .••.Y.8l.o.-.lt •....-.-,.,,MP.a..bl c- 0., --~ ., _..._.... ... _ Write or c:all for brochure. 120 E. AIOI St., P. 0. Box 2326 South Padre Island. Texas 78597 (512)761-LYLB Air eonneetlou wla Amerlcu Contlaental Southwest Ii Parting Thought The View From The Trapeze By JCevin G. Richams Contributing Writer Last week when the computers at work crashed everyone laughed. Then we began to worry, because we knew there would be a town full of angry people if dew•covered newspapers were not sitting on their doorsteps in the morning. After 10 minutes I began to hope I could go home instead of working until midnight. But within a few minutes the lights popped on, and the newsroom was filled with the electronic chirps of computers waking up. Of course, every business has contingency plans, and we had ours. But in personal affairs people are often inept in dealing with a crisis. I can think of friends who went beserk when a re1ationship ended, ARE YOU MOVING? The Post Office will not forward The Second Stone. You rrust notify us for uninterrupted service if you move. Please notify us lour weeks in advance lor unintenupled delivety. Send both old and new addresses. II possible allach mailing label in Space provided. PAINT NEW ADORES$ when they flunked a class or lost a job. I did this recently when I wrecked my car. The process of growth, Miller said, always occurs when we let go of one security, rethink our lives, take the risk, dive in. But a book I read for an otherwise forgettable college class presented a challenging way to view catas- NGLTF To Release "Report Cards" On Members Of 101st Congre~s WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will once again release "Report Cards" on all members of Congress. The report cards will grade members and their voting records on lesbian and gay issues during the current, 101st Congress. NGL TF last released report cards in October, 1988, following adjournment of the 100th Co~ Local activists are encouraged by the Task Force to write or call for kits: NGL TF, attention: report cards, 1517 U St., NW, Washington, DC 20009, (202)332-6483. trophcs. The book, The Becomers by Miller (first name also forgotten), compared life to a flying trapeze where you can swing along and enjoy the view. Once in a while some crisis or big decision breaks our grip. We flail around for a handhold, and for a few eternal moments we fear a violent landing. But then we touch another trapeze, grasp it, look down. The process of growth, Miller said, always occurs when we let go of one security, rethink our lives, take the risk, dive in. Classifieds Books&N,lcaikn "HEARTILY RECOMMENDED," "Excellent,• "At last! A dialogue ol rationality .. ." Reviewers applaud CHRISTIAN'NEW AGE QUARTERLY. Wonder why? Great articles and tively columns make this bridge ol dialogue between New Agers and Christians as entertaining as it is substantive. Subscribe for only $9.50. Or sample us for $2.50. Prices increase on Jan. 1st, so order now and save! CHRISTIAN'NEW AGE QUARTERLY, PO Box 276, Clillon, NJ 07011-0276. TF EMERGE! A heafing journal ol EMtRGENCE International: Christian Scientists Supporting Lesbians and Gay Men. For infOnnation and subscriptions write P.O. Box 581, Kentfield, CA 94914, or call (415)485-1881. 2/91 UNIQUE STUDY PACKET: Thinking It Through: United Methodists Look al the Church and Homosexuality. Useful tor all denominations. 120 pages covering homopho· bia, theology, AIDS ministries, further resources. $10.00 postpaid trom the Methodist Federation for Social Action, 76 Clnton Ave., Staten Island, NY 10301. 12/90 □ Naturally, the newspaper has not invested in a new computer system .. But the friend of mine who lost her job (and her husband) got a fabulous offer in the North and found a better man. And one person who nearly flunked a class (me, accounting) changed majors. Kevin Richards is the editor of the SDA Kinship Connection, Box 3840, Los Angeles, CA 90078. □ Organizations HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT JOINING A MONASTERY? Have you ever thought ol becoming a religious? Do you have strong religious convictions? Have· you ever felt that because of your life style religious lite would not be agreeable to you? If you have answered YES to any ol the above questions, we would like to hear from you. Let us know how you would feel about living in a religious community life. A group ol gay religious Brothers living and working together in the world, with strong religious ideals helping and caring for one another. Please write to: Ecumenical Order or: The Brothers of The Mercy ol God, Suite 212/341 East Center Slreet, Manchester, CT 06040. 2/91 Real Estate Key West women's bar/deli priced at $299,000. C>.Nner negotiable - land, building, and business. BENDER-TANIS ERA REAL ESTATE. (305)296-6200. 12/90. Trya Sec:ond Stone Classified Ad se 9 ~ z .!! :; !~ ! Classified Order Form Please place my ad in these issues: [ J Jan/Feb [ ) Mar/Apr [ 1 May/Jun [ ] JuVAug [] Sept/Oct [) Nov/Dec r n .8.. Send completed form lo: THE SECOND STONE Box8340 NewOrltans, LA 70182 (,/) C 1;I l 2. a. I ~ ~ a. i J FOR ONLY 35 CENTS PER WORD, your ad can appear in the next edition of THE SECOND STONE. Take advantage of our low cost (but high profile) classified section by placing your advertising order today! Mail To: 1BE SECOND STONE P.O.Bm8840 New Orleans,LA ?0182 Name ______ _ ___ :,. Address ________ _ City/StJZip _______ _ AD COPY _______ _ -------------·------ __ words X .35= $ ..;.' __ _ 20 word minimum. All classffu;&• m.ust be pre-paid. Deadline o~rmallth prior to cover date. We will mail you a copy of the edition(s) in which your ad appears November/ December 1990 • CIMSIFICATIONS [ ] Books & Publications [ ] Business Opportunities [ ] Employment [ l Friends/Relationships [] General Interest [ l Mail Order [ ].Merchandise [ ) Organizations [ ] Professional Services [ ] Real Estate [ )Retreats [ ) Roommates [ ]Travel Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Second Stone #13 - Nov/Dec 1990 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/eaf8e7b84dc5c2e237a3cdacc3173819.jpg 25f1fe84ffafd5860777a0fc7ff4935e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Second Stone Description An account of the resource Issues of the Second Stone publication. Issue An issue of a recurring publication. Issue Number The number of the issue (within a volume) #59 Publication Year The year the issue was published 1998 Publication Date The date the issue was published July/Ausut 1998 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front and Last Page of Second Stone Description An account of the resource The front and last page of the final issue of Second Stone.