55 20 2479 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/774b646dbace5c336d3c62db734cc9f2.jpg 68da785284c1e3c491cb44ad1605c5a7 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong works with 36 congregations in the Pacific Western Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) as Congregational Life Staff. He also serves as a Program Leader for the UU College of Social Justice.  Born and raised in the Philippines (but of Chinese descent), most of Jonipher's adult life was spent in California and Hawai'i. He served several congregations during his over decade-long ministry including: First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (where former President Barack Obama attended Sunday School), Sepulveda UU Society, Temecula Valley UU Community, 'Ohana Metropolitan Community Church in Honolulu and Resurrection Beach MCC in Orange County, CA. His non-profit leadership included serving as Executive Director of the Counseling & Spiritual Care Center of Hawai‘i and API Equality-LA. Raised in an ecumenical background, Dr. Kwong values his pluralistic upbringing – from Evangelical to United Methodist, Episcopalian to Calvary Chapel.  He was christened at a Gospel church and baptized as a Chinese Mennonite. In Hawai‘i, Jonipher was a member of the Honolulu Mindfulness Community, a sangha influenced by Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn.  Dr. Kwong obtained his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Claremont School of Theology.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Prior to getting “the call,” Jonipher worked in the film industry for three years, followed by two years as a Graphics Specialist at McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles. Jonipher and his husband Chris Nelson were the first legally-married same-sex couple in Hawai‘i, minutes after it became law there at midnight on December 2, 2013. The ceremony was officiated by a Jewish Rabbi and affirmed by 19 clergypeople from diverse faith traditions. The former Governor of Hawai‘i was also present during the wedding as well as two of the most influential House of Representative members who championed the bill to legalize marriage equality during the special session. This event was the culmination of Jonipher’s advocacy for LGBTIQ rights since becoming ordained as an activist minister in 2004. During the battle for Proposition 8, Jonipher was an Interfaith Organizer with California Faith for Equality and advocated for equality in faith communities, including moderate and even conservative congregations. He eventually became the Founding Director of API Equality-LA, educating the Asian Pacific Islander community on the importance of LGBTIQ inclusion. Some of Jonipher’s published work includes meditation pieces on Voices from the Margins: An Anthology of Meditations and his experiences as a queer immigrant can be found in Queering Migrations Towards, From, and Beyond Asia. (This biographical statement provided by Jonipher Kwong.) Biographical Text The Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong works with 36 congregations in the Pacific Western Region of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) as Congregational Life Staff. He also serves as a Program Leader for the UU College of Social Justice.  Born and raised in the Philippines (but of Chinese descent), most of Jonipher's adult life was spent in California and Hawai'i. He served several congregations during his over decade-long ministry including: First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (where former President Barack Obama attended Sunday School), Sepulveda UU Society, Temecula Valley UU Community, 'Ohana Metropolitan Community Church in Honolulu and Resurrection Beach MCC in Orange County, CA. His non-profit leadership included serving as Executive Director of the Counseling & Spiritual Care Center of Hawai‘i and API Equality-LA. Raised in an ecumenical background, Dr. Kwong values his pluralistic upbringing – from Evangelical to United Methodist, Episcopalian to Calvary Chapel.  He was christened at a Gospel church and baptized as a Chinese Mennonite. In Hawai‘i, Jonipher was a member of the Honolulu Mindfulness Community, a sangha influenced by Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn.  Dr. Kwong obtained his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Claremont School of Theology.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Prior to getting “the call,” Jonipher worked in the film industry for three years, followed by two years as a Graphics Specialist at McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles. Jonipher and his husband Chris Nelson were the first legally-married same-sex couple in Hawai‘i, minutes after it became law there at midnight on December 2, 2013. The ceremony was officiated by a Jewish Rabbi and affirmed by 19 clergypeople from diverse faith traditions. The former Governor of Hawai‘i was also present during the wedding as well as two of the most influential House of Representative members who championed the bill to legalize marriage equality during the special session. This event was the culmination of Jonipher’s advocacy for LGBTIQ rights since becoming ordained as an activist minister in 2004. During the battle for Proposition 8, Jonipher was an Interfaith Organizer with California Faith for Equality and advocated for equality in faith communities, including moderate and even conservative congregations. He eventually became the Founding Director of API Equality-LA, educating the Asian Pacific Islander community on the importance of LGBTIQ inclusion. Some of Jonipher’s published work includes meditation pieces on Voices from the Margins: An Anthology of Meditations and his experiences as a queer immigrant can be found in Queering Migrations Towards, From, and Beyond Asia. (This biographical statement provided by Jonipher Kwong.) 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 Jonipher Kwong Jonipher Kwong Unitarian Unitarian Universalist Unitarian-Universalist Association https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/5d83e195136314df0064472784698242.jpg 29b71e364b3fd0578cfb06fd79be4cf3 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Jonathon Thunderword is a theologian, a scholar, and a free thinker. He is an omni-faith, multi-spiritual practitioner who is a part of Mata Amritanandamayi Center. He is an ordained minister, founder of Finding Another Right Road Authentically and Holistically (FARRAH) and founder of By the Way Ministry in Virginia. He is also affiliated with National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Faith Network, Pacific School of Religion (alumnus), Lehrhaus Judaica (Hebrew student), Black Trans Men International, and Brothers Rising (Oakland, CA). (This biographical statement provided by Jonathon Thunderword.) Biographical Text Jonathon Thunderword is a theologian, a scholar, and a free thinker. He is an omni-faith, multi-spiritual practitioner who is a part of Mata Amritanandamayi Center. He is an ordained minister, founder of Finding Another Right Road Authentically and Holistically (FARRAH) and founder of By the Way Ministry in Virginia. He is also affiliated with National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Faith Network, Pacific School of Religion (alumnus), Lehrhaus Judaica (Hebrew student), Black Trans Men International, and Brothers Rising (Oakland, CA). (This biographical statement provided by Jonathon Thunderword.) 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 Jonathon Thunderword By the Way Ministry FARRAH Finding Another Right Road Authentically and Holistically Jonathon Thunderword https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/2e6366563bd3a472acd07ab2d67b94bd.jpg 84e685d83b2bd350829b7e416a48a3f4 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Jimmy Creech, a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, was an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1999.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity from The Divinity School of Duke University.  During the summers of 1965 and 1967, he studied with The Institute for Mediterranean Studies at Hebrew University and Hebrew Union Theological Seminary in Jerusalem, Israel, and at museums and archaeological sites in Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.  He served as a pastor in churches of The North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1990. While at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, (1987-1990) he helped create and was the chairperson of the Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality, an ecumenical group whose purpose was to publicly counter antigay religious rhetoric with a faithful message of God’s love for and inclusion of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.  Jimmy served as the Program Associate with the North Carolina Council of Churches from 1991 to 1996. He was the Council’s Legislative Liaison with the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the Council on a broad range of issues including gun control, criminal justice, abolition of the death penalty, health care, AIDS/HIV funding, campaign finance reform, farm workers, children, and the repeal of the Crimes Against Nature (Sodomy) Law.  He helped to create and was the first chairperson of The Covenant with North Carolina’s Children, a coalition of nonprofit agencies providing services to children.  The Covenant represented the interests of children at the North Carolina General Assembly.  He also helped to create People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.  While he was with the North Carolina Council of Churches, the Council voted approval of the membership application of the Gulf Coast District of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, the first state Council of Churches in the United States to do so. In July of 1996, Jimmy was appointed Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska.  In March of 1998, he was acquitted in a church trial of a charge of violating the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church when he celebrated a covenant ceremony for two women in September of 1997. When the Nebraska bishop would not allow him to continue as the Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, Omaha, Jimmy took a leave of absence from pastoral ministry within The United Methodist Church and returned to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June of 1998. In April of 1999, Jimmy celebrated the holy union of two men in Chapel Hill, NC.  Charges were brought against him and a church trial was held in Grand Island, Nebraska, on November 17, 1999.  The jury declared him guilty of “disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church” and withdrew his credentials of ordination. Since the summer of 1998, Jimmy has traveled around the country preaching in churches and speaking on college and university campuses, as well as to various community and national organizations about human and civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  From 2000 to 2005, he was chairperson of the Board of Directors of Soulforce, Inc. (<a href="http://www.soulforce.org/">www.soulforce.org</a>), an inter-religious movement using the principles of nonviolent resistance, taught and practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to confront the spiritual violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons by religious institutions. In 2005 Jimmy worked with Mitchell Gold to create Faith In America, Inc. (<a href="http://www.faithinamerica.com/">www.faithinamerica.com</a>), an organization dedicated to ending bigotry disguised as religious truth and, in so doing, achieving full and equal civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in America.  Jimmy served as its executive director from 2005-2007. In May of 2009, Jimmy was one of twenty-four thinkers, activists and donors who gathered in Dallas, Texas, to discuss the immediate need for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States.  Collectively they authored The Dallas Principles, a set of eight principles and a call to action intended to guide the civil rights movement for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens.See <a href="http://www.thedallasprinciples.org/">www.thedallasprinciples.org</a>; and, <a href="http://www.actonprinciples.org/">www.actonprinciples.org</a>. Jimmy is the author of Rise Above the Law: The Appeal to the Jury, The United Methodist Church’s Trial of Jimmy Creech (The Swing Bridge Press, 2000); and Adam’s Gift: Memoir of a Pastor's Calling to Defy the Church's Persecution of Lesbians and Gays, (Duke University Press, 2011). Currently Jimmy is retired and living in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jimmy has been active in the following organizations: The Human Relations Commission, City of Raleigh (2008 to 2010); Friends of Residents of Long Term Care, Board of Directors (2008 to 2010); Raleigh HIV/AIDS Support Group (co-leader, 1990-96 and 1998 to present); The Methodist Federation for Social Action, NC Chapter; The Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality (a founder and convener, 1988-1990); AIDS Service Agency for Wake County (NC) (former vice-chairperson and chairperson of the board, 1989-1990); The North Carolina Pride Political Action Committee, now called Equality NC; (charter board member) The Reconciling Congregation Program, a program related to United Methodist Church that works with local churches to help them become open to and accepting of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual persons, now called The Reconciling Ministries Network(former national board member); North CaroliniansAgainst the Death Penalty (former chairperson and board member); People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (NC) (a founder, former chairperson and board member); North CarolinaLow Income Housing Coalition (former board member); The Covenant with North Carolinas Children (a founder, former board member and chairperson; a coalition of organizations advocating for the interest of children in the North Carolina General Assembly); The Omaha Faith Committee of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty (former board member); North CarolinaReligious Coalition for Marriage Equality (founding member); Soulforce, Inc.(former chairperson of the board), an inter-religious movement using the principles of nonviolent resistance, taught and practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to confront the spiritual violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons by religious institutions; Faith In America, Inc. (former executive director and board member), an organization dedicated to ending bigotry disguised as religious truth and, in so doing, achieving full and equal civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in America; and, North Carolina Social Justice Project, Inc.(founding member; former chair, board of directors). Jimmy has received the following awards and recognition: The 1990 Lee and Mae Ball Award presented by The Methodist Federation for Social Action for outstanding Christian social witness; The 1990 North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence Award for outstanding leadership in the struggle against hate activity in North Carolina; The 1997 Paul Green Award presented by the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union for his work to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina; The Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild Award (1997) for advocacy on behalf of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender persons; The Heart of Freedom Award (1998) presented by ANGLE/Omaha (Achieving New Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender Endeavors); Jimmy Creech Profile of Justice College Scholarship Award, established in Jimmy’s name in Nebraska in 1998; The 1998 North Carolina Pride Inc. Award; 1998 Saint Award presented by Metropolitan Community Church, San Francisco; Selected as one of OUT Magazine’s 100 in 1998 and in 1999, recognizing individuals making significant contributions toward the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; The Human Rights Campaign Equality Award, 1999; The American People Award (1999) presented by People for the American Way “for challenging bigotry and promoting tolerance within the church”; 1999 Dignity Award presented by the Council of Churches, Santa Clara County, California; 1999 Pride Interfaith Coalition Award, Boston, Massachusetts; The Year 2000 Flagbearer Award presented by PFLAG National; Triangle Community Service Award 2000:  Straight Ally of the Year presented by the Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild; “A Leading Voice” for Commitment to the Struggle of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People for Honor and Dignity, presented by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry and Pacific School for Religionon April 19, 2001; The  W.W. Finlator Award, 2007, presented by the ACLU of Wake County in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the advancements of civil liberties; The 2008 Distinguished Service Award, North Carolina Council of Churches. The 2010 Frank Porter Graham Award, presented by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina given to honor a lifetime of distinguished service in defense of civil liberties; The first annualJimmy Creech Prophetic Award for Taking Risks for Conscience’s Sake (2010), presented by the Methodist Federation for Social Action, North Carolina Conference Chapter; The Leading Voices Award from The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (2011), co-recipient with Chris Weedy; The California-Nevada MFSA 2011 Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly Peace and Justice Award; The California-Nevada Conference Committee on Reconciliation 2011 Turtle Award (for sticking out your neck); The LGBT Center of Raleigh’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award; and, The Peggy Campolo Carrier Pigeon Award, 2012, (For Giving Love, Support & a Voice to the Misunderstood Children of God), by the Open Door Community Church, Sherwood, Arkansas.  (This biographical statement provided by Jimmy Creech.) Biographical Text Jimmy Creech, a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, was an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1999.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity from The Divinity School of Duke University.  During the summers of 1965 and 1967, he studied with The Institute for Mediterranean Studies at Hebrew University and Hebrew Union Theological Seminary in Jerusalem, Israel, and at museums and archaeological sites in Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.  He served as a pastor in churches of The North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church from 1970 to 1990. While at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, (1987-1990) he helped create and was the chairperson of the Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality, an ecumenical group whose purpose was to publicly counter antigay religious rhetoric with a faithful message of God’s love for and inclusion of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.  Jimmy served as the Program Associate with the North Carolina Council of Churches from 1991 to 1996. He was the Council’s Legislative Liaison with the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the Council on a broad range of issues including gun control, criminal justice, abolition of the death penalty, health care, AIDS/HIV funding, campaign finance reform, farm workers, children, and the repeal of the Crimes Against Nature (Sodomy) Law.  He helped to create and was the first chairperson of The Covenant with North Carolina’s Children, a coalition of nonprofit agencies providing services to children.  The Covenant represented the interests of children at the North Carolina General Assembly.  He also helped to create People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.  While he was with the North Carolina Council of Churches, the Council voted approval of the membership application of the Gulf Coast District of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, the first state Council of Churches in the United States to do so. In July of 1996, Jimmy was appointed Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska.  In March of 1998, he was acquitted in a church trial of a charge of violating the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church when he celebrated a covenant ceremony for two women in September of 1997. When the Nebraska bishop would not allow him to continue as the Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, Omaha, Jimmy took a leave of absence from pastoral ministry within The United Methodist Church and returned to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June of 1998. In April of 1999, Jimmy celebrated the holy union of two men in Chapel Hill, NC.  Charges were brought against him and a church trial was held in Grand Island, Nebraska, on November 17, 1999.  The jury declared him guilty of “disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church” and withdrew his credentials of ordination. Since the summer of 1998, Jimmy has traveled around the country preaching in churches and speaking on college and university campuses, as well as to various community and national organizations about human and civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  From 2000 to 2005, he was chairperson of the Board of Directors of Soulforce, Inc. (<a href="http://www.soulforce.org/">www.soulforce.org</a>), an inter-religious movement using the principles of nonviolent resistance, taught and practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to confront the spiritual violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons by religious institutions. In 2005 Jimmy worked with Mitchell Gold to create Faith In America, Inc. (<a href="http://www.faithinamerica.com/">www.faithinamerica.com</a>), an organization dedicated to ending bigotry disguised as religious truth and, in so doing, achieving full and equal civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in America.  Jimmy served as its executive director from 2005-2007. In May of 2009, Jimmy was one of twenty-four thinkers, activists and donors who gathered in Dallas, Texas, to discuss the immediate need for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States.  Collectively they authored The Dallas Principles, a set of eight principles and a call to action intended to guide the civil rights movement for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens.See <a href="http://www.thedallasprinciples.org/">www.thedallasprinciples.org</a>; and, <a href="http://www.actonprinciples.org/">www.actonprinciples.org</a>. Jimmy is the author of Rise Above the Law: The Appeal to the Jury, The United Methodist Church’s Trial of Jimmy Creech (The Swing Bridge Press, 2000); and Adam’s Gift: Memoir of a Pastor's Calling to Defy the Church's Persecution of Lesbians and Gays, (Duke University Press, 2011). Currently Jimmy is retired and living in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jimmy has been active in the following organizations: The Human Relations Commission, City of Raleigh (2008 to 2010); Friends of Residents of Long Term Care, Board of Directors (2008 to 2010); Raleigh HIV/AIDS Support Group (co-leader, 1990-96 and 1998 to present); The Methodist Federation for Social Action, NC Chapter; The Raleigh Religious Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality (a founder and convener, 1988-1990); AIDS Service Agency for Wake County (NC) (former vice-chairperson and chairperson of the board, 1989-1990); The North Carolina Pride Political Action Committee, now called Equality NC; (charter board member) The Reconciling Congregation Program, a program related to United Methodist Church that works with local churches to help them become open to and accepting of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual persons, now called The Reconciling Ministries Network(former national board member); North CaroliniansAgainst the Death Penalty (former chairperson and board member); People of Faith Against the Death Penalty (NC) (a founder, former chairperson and board member); North CarolinaLow Income Housing Coalition (former board member); The Covenant with North Carolinas Children (a founder, former board member and chairperson; a coalition of organizations advocating for the interest of children in the North Carolina General Assembly); The Omaha Faith Committee of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty (former board member); North CarolinaReligious Coalition for Marriage Equality (founding member); Soulforce, Inc.(former chairperson of the board), an inter-religious movement using the principles of nonviolent resistance, taught and practiced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to confront the spiritual violence perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons by religious institutions; Faith In America, Inc. (former executive director and board member), an organization dedicated to ending bigotry disguised as religious truth and, in so doing, achieving full and equal civil rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in America; and, North Carolina Social Justice Project, Inc.(founding member; former chair, board of directors). Jimmy has received the following awards and recognition: The 1990 Lee and Mae Ball Award presented by The Methodist Federation for Social Action for outstanding Christian social witness; The 1990 North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence Award for outstanding leadership in the struggle against hate activity in North Carolina; The 1997 Paul Green Award presented by the North Carolina American Civil Liberties Union for his work to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina; The Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild Award (1997) for advocacy on behalf of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender persons; The Heart of Freedom Award (1998) presented by ANGLE/Omaha (Achieving New Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender Endeavors); Jimmy Creech Profile of Justice College Scholarship Award, established in Jimmy’s name in Nebraska in 1998; The 1998 North Carolina Pride Inc. Award; 1998 Saint Award presented by Metropolitan Community Church, San Francisco; Selected as one of OUT Magazine’s 100 in 1998 and in 1999, recognizing individuals making significant contributions toward the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; The Human Rights Campaign Equality Award, 1999; The American People Award (1999) presented by People for the American Way “for challenging bigotry and promoting tolerance within the church”; 1999 Dignity Award presented by the Council of Churches, Santa Clara County, California; 1999 Pride Interfaith Coalition Award, Boston, Massachusetts; The Year 2000 Flagbearer Award presented by PFLAG National; Triangle Community Service Award 2000:  Straight Ally of the Year presented by the Triangle (NC) Business and Professional Guild; “A Leading Voice” for Commitment to the Struggle of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People for Honor and Dignity, presented by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry and Pacific School for Religionon April 19, 2001; The  W.W. Finlator Award, 2007, presented by the ACLU of Wake County in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the advancements of civil liberties; The 2008 Distinguished Service Award, North Carolina Council of Churches. The 2010 Frank Porter Graham Award, presented by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina given to honor a lifetime of distinguished service in defense of civil liberties; The first annualJimmy Creech Prophetic Award for Taking Risks for Conscience’s Sake (2010), presented by the Methodist Federation for Social Action, North Carolina Conference Chapter; The Leading Voices Award from The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (2011), co-recipient with Chris Weedy; The California-Nevada MFSA 2011 Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly Peace and Justice Award; The California-Nevada Conference Committee on Reconciliation 2011 Turtle Award (for sticking out your neck); The LGBT Center of Raleigh’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award; and, The Peggy Campolo Carrier Pigeon Award, 2012, (For Giving Love, Support & a Voice to the Misunderstood Children of God), by the Open Door Community Church, Sherwood, Arkansas.  (This biographical statement provided by Jimmy Creech.) 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 Jimmy Creech Faith in America Inc. Jimmy Creech Reconciling Ministries Network (formerly Reconciling Congregation Program) RMN Soulforce UMC United Methodist Church https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/905609133b5f682831621b59b157f275.jpg 066eed1d1749a85be04791f1390eb86b Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Jeff R. Johnson was ordained in 1990, and is the fourth pastor to serve University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, the Lutheran community of faith “at work in the world” at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Board of Directors for both SHARE El Salvador and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries; on the Steering Committee for the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy; a member of the East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition; and serves on the Spiritual Care Team at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.  Prior to his ministry at the Chapel, Pr. Jeff was pastor of First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco's Richmond District.   He was married in 2014, and lives with his husband in Oakland in a 1920’s stucco bungalow. He enjoys working around the house, watching movies, tracing his family history, cooking, visiting family, studying Spanish, playing piano, salsa dancing, and visiting other places and cultures. Jeff is a graduate of California Lutheran University (1984 BA in German and History) and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley (1988 MDIV). Upon graduation, he founded Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministry  with Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart and in January 1990 was one of three openly lesbian and gay Lutherans to be ordained extra ordinem (contrary to official church policy) at St. Paulus Lutheran Church, San Francisco. Both First United (expelled) and the Chapel (censured) have been disciplined by the ELCA for having called as pastor Pr. Jeff who was in violation of the ELCA's denominational policy of discrimination requiring life-long celibacy of lgbtq pastors.  Along with almost forty others on the irregular roster of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project, Jeff was received onto the ELCA’s roster of clergy in 2010 following a change at the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in official denominational policy. (This biographical statement provided by Jeff Johnson.) Biographical Text Jeff R. Johnson was ordained in 1990, and is the fourth pastor to serve University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, the Lutheran community of faith “at work in the world” at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the Board of Directors for both SHARE El Salvador and Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries; on the Steering Committee for the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy; a member of the East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition; and serves on the Spiritual Care Team at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.  Prior to his ministry at the Chapel, Pr. Jeff was pastor of First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco's Richmond District.   He was married in 2014, and lives with his husband in Oakland in a 1920’s stucco bungalow. He enjoys working around the house, watching movies, tracing his family history, cooking, visiting family, studying Spanish, playing piano, salsa dancing, and visiting other places and cultures. Jeff is a graduate of California Lutheran University (1984 BA in German and History) and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley (1988 MDIV). Upon graduation, he founded Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministry  with Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart and in January 1990 was one of three openly lesbian and gay Lutherans to be ordained extra ordinem (contrary to official church policy) at St. Paulus Lutheran Church, San Francisco. Both First United (expelled) and the Chapel (censured) have been disciplined by the ELCA for having called as pastor Pr. Jeff who was in violation of the ELCA's denominational policy of discrimination requiring life-long celibacy of lgbtq pastors.  Along with almost forty others on the irregular roster of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project, Jeff was received onto the ELCA’s roster of clergy in 2010 following a change at the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in official denominational policy. (This biographical statement provided by Jeff Johnson.) 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 Jeff Johnson ELCA Jeff Johnson Lutheran https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/190015744c4fc8649dcb88af05c3cc74.jpg 54adf3d34c6627f334ad5f18051191ec Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Jeannine Gramick, a Roman Catholic nun, was born in 1942 and educated in Catholic grade and high schools in Philadelphia. She moved to Baltimore in 1960 to join the School Sisters of Notre Dame, until her transfer to the Sisters of Loretto in 2001. Sister Gramick taught in junior and senior high schools in Baltimore. In 1971, while engaged in graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Jeannine Gramick became involved in a pastoral outreach to the lesbian/gay community. She continued this pastoral ministry as a co-founder and chaplain of the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. chapters of Dignity, a national organization for Catholic lesbian and gay people, while teaching mathematics at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. In 1977, along with Fr. Robert Nugent, she co-founded New Ways Ministry, a national, Catholic social justice center working for the reconciliation of lesbian/gay people and the church. She engaged in writing, research, lectures, retreats, and consultation on lesbian/gay issues and Catholicism. She traveled throughout the United States and abroad to educate Church personnel and other interested persons. For approximately 20 years, the School Sisters of Notre Dame assigned her to this church ministry. She has written and edited numerous articles and books, including "Homosexuality and the Catholic Church," "Homosexuality in the Priesthood and Religious Life," and "The Vatican and Homosexuality." Her two books, Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church and Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Lesbian/Gay Issues, were the subject of a Vatican investigation. Building Bridges was translated into Italian and published as Anime Gay: Gli omosessuali e la Chiesa cattolica (Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2003). In 1999, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith permanently prohibited her from any pastoral work with lesbian or gay persons. In 2000, the School Sisters of Notre Dame ordered her to cease speaking about the Vatican investigation and about homosexuality in general. In conscience, she chose not to collaborate in her own oppression and continues to engage in lesbian/gay ministry. In 2001, she transferred to the Sisters of Loretto. Sister Gramick has been recognized for her work in this pioneer ministry by many Catholic Church groups, including the National Coalition of American Nuns, the Loretto Community, the Paulist Community in Boston, Call to Action; and GLBT groups such as Dignity USA and various Dignity chapters, the Gay and Lesbian Alumni of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College, Pridefest America, Washington P-FLAG, and Division 44 of the American Psychological Association. She is the subject of a documentary film, In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith. Sister Gramick holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Pennsylvania (1975) and an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame (1969). She was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, the University of Maryland and the University of California at Los Angeles. She is vitally interested in religious life and in promoting the recognition of women's ministries. She served on the national boards of the National Assembly of Women Religious, the Religious Network of Equality for Women, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Women's Ordination Conference. She co-chaired the board of the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) from 1995 to 2000 and is currently a member of the NCAN Executive Committee. She is strongly committed to a justice agenda. (This biographical statement provided by Jeannine Gramick.) Biographical Text Jeannine Gramick, a Roman Catholic nun, was born in 1942 and educated in Catholic grade and high schools in Philadelphia. She moved to Baltimore in 1960 to join the School Sisters of Notre Dame, until her transfer to the Sisters of Loretto in 2001. Sister Gramick taught in junior and senior high schools in Baltimore. In 1971, while engaged in graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Jeannine Gramick became involved in a pastoral outreach to the lesbian/gay community. She continued this pastoral ministry as a co-founder and chaplain of the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. chapters of Dignity, a national organization for Catholic lesbian and gay people, while teaching mathematics at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. In 1977, along with Fr. Robert Nugent, she co-founded New Ways Ministry, a national, Catholic social justice center working for the reconciliation of lesbian/gay people and the church. She engaged in writing, research, lectures, retreats, and consultation on lesbian/gay issues and Catholicism. She traveled throughout the United States and abroad to educate Church personnel and other interested persons. For approximately 20 years, the School Sisters of Notre Dame assigned her to this church ministry. She has written and edited numerous articles and books, including "Homosexuality and the Catholic Church," "Homosexuality in the Priesthood and Religious Life," and "The Vatican and Homosexuality." Her two books, Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church and Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Lesbian/Gay Issues, were the subject of a Vatican investigation. Building Bridges was translated into Italian and published as Anime Gay: Gli omosessuali e la Chiesa cattolica (Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2003). In 1999, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith permanently prohibited her from any pastoral work with lesbian or gay persons. In 2000, the School Sisters of Notre Dame ordered her to cease speaking about the Vatican investigation and about homosexuality in general. In conscience, she chose not to collaborate in her own oppression and continues to engage in lesbian/gay ministry. In 2001, she transferred to the Sisters of Loretto. Sister Gramick has been recognized for her work in this pioneer ministry by many Catholic Church groups, including the National Coalition of American Nuns, the Loretto Community, the Paulist Community in Boston, Call to Action; and GLBT groups such as Dignity USA and various Dignity chapters, the Gay and Lesbian Alumni of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College, Pridefest America, Washington P-FLAG, and Division 44 of the American Psychological Association. She is the subject of a documentary film, In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith. Sister Gramick holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from the University of Pennsylvania (1975) and an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame (1969). She was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, the University of Maryland and the University of California at Los Angeles. She is vitally interested in religious life and in promoting the recognition of women's ministries. She served on the national boards of the National Assembly of Women Religious, the Religious Network of Equality for Women, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Women's Ordination Conference. She co-chaired the board of the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) from 1995 to 2000 and is currently a member of the NCAN Executive Committee. She is strongly committed to a justice agenda. (This biographical statement provided by Jeannine Gramick.) 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 Jeannine Gramick Catholic Dignity DignityUSA Jeannine Gramick New Ways Ministry Roman Catholic https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/bbe5d95ac9b521bd79bf888fb51f9f25.jpg 69f02f6abdc85a4d221876e99975944b Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Janie, as she prefers to be called, describes herself as a lesbian, feminist, Presbyterian minister committed to justice issues for the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community, pursuing connections for wholeness with other oppressed communities claiming their freedom. Janie was ordained a Presbyterian Minister in December 1974 to the Hazelwood Presbyterian ministry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, serving with mentor and friend, Wanda Graham Harris. She served 1975-1979 as Assistant Pastor of First Presbyterian in San Rafael, California. In 1979-1980, Janie became Executive Director of Oakland Council of Presbyterian Churches in Oakland where she was encouraged to resign because of being lesbian. Janie began her "out" liberation work with and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as the Minister of Pastoral Care in the Castro area of Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco from 1980-1982 when her own Presbyterian denomination did not know what to do with this "lesbyterian". In November of 1982 Janie, along with many friends, founded the Ministry of Light which became the Spectrum Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns. She served as their Executive Director for over 10 years. From youth groups, parent groups, PFLAG, support groups, family camps, AIDS Ministry, speakers bureau, this ministry has become the L/G/B/T center in Marin County, California, where it continues to flourish. Janie completed her work there on February 28, 1993. In November of 1991 Janie was called to serve as one of four Co-Pastors at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. She was denied that call by the denomination's highest court in November 1992. In March of 1993 The Downtown United Presbyterian Church invited Janie to become their evangelist to spread the good news by "personing the issue" and challenging exclusive church policies. Janie has traveled throughout the country, educating and informing Presbyterians and others working on behalf of greater inclusiveness for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. During the past eight years Janie has devoted much of her efforts to developing official regions to educate and advocate for a just and inclusive church, resulting in the creation of eight such regions. In 2002 these eight regional partnerships included five "out" Evangelists: Rev. Cliff Frasier, Presbyterian Welcome (NY); Rev. Don Stroud, TAMFS-Baltimore; Rev. Annie Petker, TAMFS-NCal; Tom Hickock, TAMFS-Chicago, now Eily Marlow and LaDonna Sanders, Field Interns; Mardee Rightmyer, TAMFS-South; and Regional Partnership Coordinator, Lisa Larges. This outreach educational and advocacy ministry is called That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) sponsored by DUPC in Rochester and partnered with Westminister Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California. Janie was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1942, sharing her mother's womb with her wonderful twin sister, Joanie. They are the daughters of parents, Chet and Susanna Adams. Janie is the "wife emerita" of Jim Spahr and proud mother of sons, Jim and Chet. She is the "sister-in-love" of Bill Fenton (Joanie's partner) and Jackie Spahr (Jim's partner). (This biographical statement provided by Janie Spahr.) Biographical Text The Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Janie, as she prefers to be called, describes herself as a lesbian, feminist, Presbyterian minister committed to justice issues for the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community, pursuing connections for wholeness with other oppressed communities claiming their freedom. Janie was ordained a Presbyterian Minister in December 1974 to the Hazelwood Presbyterian ministry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, serving with mentor and friend, Wanda Graham Harris. She served 1975-1979 as Assistant Pastor of First Presbyterian in San Rafael, California. In 1979-1980, Janie became Executive Director of Oakland Council of Presbyterian Churches in Oakland where she was encouraged to resign because of being lesbian. Janie began her "out" liberation work with and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as the Minister of Pastoral Care in the Castro area of Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco from 1980-1982 when her own Presbyterian denomination did not know what to do with this "lesbyterian". In November of 1982 Janie, along with many friends, founded the Ministry of Light which became the Spectrum Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns. She served as their Executive Director for over 10 years. From youth groups, parent groups, PFLAG, support groups, family camps, AIDS Ministry, speakers bureau, this ministry has become the L/G/B/T center in Marin County, California, where it continues to flourish. Janie completed her work there on February 28, 1993. In November of 1991 Janie was called to serve as one of four Co-Pastors at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. She was denied that call by the denomination's highest court in November 1992. In March of 1993 The Downtown United Presbyterian Church invited Janie to become their evangelist to spread the good news by "personing the issue" and challenging exclusive church policies. Janie has traveled throughout the country, educating and informing Presbyterians and others working on behalf of greater inclusiveness for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. During the past eight years Janie has devoted much of her efforts to developing official regions to educate and advocate for a just and inclusive church, resulting in the creation of eight such regions. In 2002 these eight regional partnerships included five "out" Evangelists: Rev. Cliff Frasier, Presbyterian Welcome (NY); Rev. Don Stroud, TAMFS-Baltimore; Rev. Annie Petker, TAMFS-NCal; Tom Hickock, TAMFS-Chicago, now Eily Marlow and LaDonna Sanders, Field Interns; Mardee Rightmyer, TAMFS-South; and Regional Partnership Coordinator, Lisa Larges. This outreach educational and advocacy ministry is called That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) sponsored by DUPC in Rochester and partnered with Westminister Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California. Janie was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1942, sharing her mother's womb with her wonderful twin sister, Joanie. They are the daughters of parents, Chet and Susanna Adams. Janie is the "wife emerita" of Jim Spahr and proud mother of sons, Jim and Chet. She is the "sister-in-love" of Bill Fenton (Joanie's partner) and Jackie Spahr (Jim's partner). (This biographical statement provided by Janie Spahr.) 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 Janie Spahr Jane Spahr Janie Spahr MCC Metropolitan Community Church Presbyterian TAMFS That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/2c34323a5fa4b1fa60d2e46f9563ee11.jpg f1215f6eef3cc8275c524794b260d586 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Rev. Jan Griesinger was ordained in the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1970. She has worked in the field of campus ministry since that time, first for the World Student Christian Federation and then as the Director of United Campus Ministry at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Griesinger came out in 1977 and has worked as an out lesbian pastor since that time. In 1977, she participated in the UCC Gay Caucus at the UCC General Synod and has continued her leadership in that organization, now the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns. She served on the first Coalition Council in the late 70's and early 80's and was Moderator of the Council. Griesinger was elected the National Coordinator of The Coalition in 1984 and served in that position until 1997. She maintained The Coalition national office, co-published the newsletter, arranged for annual National Gatherings, and served as a spokesperson for The Coalition in national UCC settings. In 1990, she was a co-founder of Christian Lesbians OUT (CLOUT), a national, ecumenical organization of proudly progressive, actively anti-racist, creatively spiritual, milagro bound out Christian lesbians. She served as the first CLOUT treasurer and has served since 1998 as the CLOUT National Coordinator. Griesinger served on the first Steering Committee for the National Religious Leadership Roundtable organized by the National Lesbian & Gay Task Force. She has been the National Co-Director for Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) for lesbians aged 60 and over since 2004 and previously served on the steering committee for the group. She is also a co-founder of the Susan B.Anthony Memorial UnRest Home Women's Land Trust near Athens, Ohio. Filmmaker Ann Alter produced a film, No Need to Repent, in 1990 about the ministry, life and politics of Jan Griesinger. This film is distributed by Women Make Movies, 225 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. (This biographical statement provided by Jan Griesinger.) Biographical Text The Rev. Jan Griesinger was ordained in the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1970. She has worked in the field of campus ministry since that time, first for the World Student Christian Federation and then as the Director of United Campus Ministry at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Griesinger came out in 1977 and has worked as an out lesbian pastor since that time. In 1977, she participated in the UCC Gay Caucus at the UCC General Synod and has continued her leadership in that organization, now the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns. She served on the first Coalition Council in the late 70's and early 80's and was Moderator of the Council. Griesinger was elected the National Coordinator of The Coalition in 1984 and served in that position until 1997. She maintained The Coalition national office, co-published the newsletter, arranged for annual National Gatherings, and served as a spokesperson for The Coalition in national UCC settings. In 1990, she was a co-founder of Christian Lesbians OUT (CLOUT), a national, ecumenical organization of proudly progressive, actively anti-racist, creatively spiritual, milagro bound out Christian lesbians. She served as the first CLOUT treasurer and has served since 1998 as the CLOUT National Coordinator. Griesinger served on the first Steering Committee for the National Religious Leadership Roundtable organized by the National Lesbian & Gay Task Force. She has been the National Co-Director for Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) for lesbians aged 60 and over since 2004 and previously served on the steering committee for the group. She is also a co-founder of the Susan B.Anthony Memorial UnRest Home Women's Land Trust near Athens, Ohio. Filmmaker Ann Alter produced a film, No Need to Repent, in 1990 about the ministry, life and politics of Jan Griesinger. This film is distributed by Women Make Movies, 225 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. (This biographical statement provided by Jan Griesinger.) 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 Jan Griesinger CLOUT (Christian Lesbians OUT Together) Jan Griesinger UCC United Church of Christ https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/43892dca8a232fda3de5d6b7d8e84f7b.jpg fa1c73aeaa3c4d40ea4c3b55d8db4e4e Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Jamie Manson is a columnist and the books editor at the National Catholic Reporter. To her knowledge, she is the only out queer woman in the global Catholic media. Jamie received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied theology, spirituality, and sexual ethics. She served as research assistant to Margaret Farley, work that she continues to do to this day. In 2015, she edited the book Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley (Orbis Books). Jamie began her career as Director of Publications at Yale Divinity School where she created an entirely new publications program and re-launched the School’s magazine, Reflections, serving as its editor in chief for five years. Her calling to be an activist ignited in 2005, when she was hired as Pastoral Associate and Director of Faith Formation at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Manhattan, a parish dedicated to lifting up the poor, homeless, and LGBTQ people. In 2008, she was hired as Director of Social Justice Ministries at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City, where she ministered full time to the needs of Manhattan’s poor and homeless population. In 2008 she also began writing her National Catholic Reporter column, “Grace on the Margins,” which has won dozens of awards from the Catholic Press Association and the Religion Newswriters Association. She also won the 2015 Wilbur Award for Best Online Religion News Story for the story “Feminism in Faith,” written for Buzzfeed. Her activism on behalf of women and LGBTQ people earned her the Theresa Kane Award for Women of Vision and Courage from Women’s Ordination Worldwide in 2015. A native of New York, Jamie lives on the south shore of Long Island, and travels around the country as a speaker, retreat leader and media commentator on issues related to women and LGBTQ Catholics, young adult Catholics, and the future of the church. (This biographical statement provided by Jamie Manson.) Biographical Text Jamie Manson is a columnist and the books editor at the National Catholic Reporter. To her knowledge, she is the only out queer woman in the global Catholic media. Jamie received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied theology, spirituality, and sexual ethics. She served as research assistant to Margaret Farley, work that she continues to do to this day. In 2015, she edited the book Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, a collection of writings by Margaret Farley (Orbis Books). Jamie began her career as Director of Publications at Yale Divinity School where she created an entirely new publications program and re-launched the School’s magazine, Reflections, serving as its editor in chief for five years. Her calling to be an activist ignited in 2005, when she was hired as Pastoral Associate and Director of Faith Formation at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Manhattan, a parish dedicated to lifting up the poor, homeless, and LGBTQ people. In 2008, she was hired as Director of Social Justice Ministries at Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City, where she ministered full time to the needs of Manhattan’s poor and homeless population. In 2008 she also began writing her National Catholic Reporter column, “Grace on the Margins,” which has won dozens of awards from the Catholic Press Association and the Religion Newswriters Association. She also won the 2015 Wilbur Award for Best Online Religion News Story for the story “Feminism in Faith,” written for Buzzfeed. Her activism on behalf of women and LGBTQ people earned her the Theresa Kane Award for Women of Vision and Courage from Women’s Ordination Worldwide in 2015. A native of New York, Jamie lives on the south shore of Long Island, and travels around the country as a speaker, retreat leader and media commentator on issues related to women and LGBTQ Catholics, young adult Catholics, and the future of the church. (This biographical statement provided by Jamie Manson.) 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 Jamie Manson Catholic Jamie Manson Roman Catholic https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d25cbd5306fea01b8e19432fff8a0cf1.jpg 7ad9a2f142252a9a34de5d96bfbbde0a Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Dr. Imani Woody is the founding director and CEO of Mary’s House for Older Adults, Inc. She has a Ph.D. in Human Services, specializing in non-profit management. Her thesis was "Lift Every Voice: A Qualitative Exploration of Ageism and Heterosexism as Experienced by Older African American Lesbian Women and Gay Males when Addressing Social Services Needs." She holds a Master of Human Services degree from Lincoln University and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Paralegal program. Dr. Imani Woody has been an advocate of women, people of color and LGBT/SGL issues for more than 20 years. She is currently working as a diversity and inclusion consultant in the field of health, aging and issues affecting the LGBTQ/SGL and people color communities. Dr. Woody is a member of the National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, and presented on LGBT housing issues at the White House. As a licensed Standards of Excellence Consultant, Dr. Woody’s specialty is to work with nonprofit organizations to develop stronger Boards of Directors and more engaged staff. She is adept at structuring and facilitating strategic planning processes, including changes in organizational focus, identification of objectives and implementation of long and short-term goals. Dr. Woody is a mayoral appointee to the DC LGBTQ Advisory Council, and is the Program Officer for the Older Adults Advisory Council for the Metropolitan Community Churches. Dr. Woody also serves as the Chair and Program Executive for Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) Metro DC (an organization serving LGBT elders), and a Board member of the LGBT Technology Partnership and has served many boards including the Mautner Project and the Women in the Life Association. Formerly a training specialist for the AARP’s Foundation, Dr. Woody developed curriculum and delivery of on-site and web-based trainings. She trained substantive experts to become trainers through the Train-the Trainer program and provided on-going technical assistance to field trainers. Dr. Woody has been a life coach for more than 10 years and is the founder and principal of Living Life Like It’s Golden, a six-part program that empowers people to live their lives more fully through visioning. She lives with her wife of sixteen years in Brookland, Washington, D.C. (This biographical statement provided by Dr. Imani Woody.) Biographical Text Dr. Imani Woody is the founding director and CEO of Mary’s House for Older Adults, Inc. She has a Ph.D. in Human Services, specializing in non-profit management. Her thesis was "Lift Every Voice: A Qualitative Exploration of Ageism and Heterosexism as Experienced by Older African American Lesbian Women and Gay Males when Addressing Social Services Needs." She holds a Master of Human Services degree from Lincoln University and is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Paralegal program. Dr. Imani Woody has been an advocate of women, people of color and LGBT/SGL issues for more than 20 years. She is currently working as a diversity and inclusion consultant in the field of health, aging and issues affecting the LGBTQ/SGL and people color communities. Dr. Woody is a member of the National LGBT Elder Housing Initiative, and presented on LGBT housing issues at the White House. As a licensed Standards of Excellence Consultant, Dr. Woody’s specialty is to work with nonprofit organizations to develop stronger Boards of Directors and more engaged staff. She is adept at structuring and facilitating strategic planning processes, including changes in organizational focus, identification of objectives and implementation of long and short-term goals. Dr. Woody is a mayoral appointee to the DC LGBTQ Advisory Council, and is the Program Officer for the Older Adults Advisory Council for the Metropolitan Community Churches. Dr. Woody also serves as the Chair and Program Executive for Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) Metro DC (an organization serving LGBT elders), and a Board member of the LGBT Technology Partnership and has served many boards including the Mautner Project and the Women in the Life Association. Formerly a training specialist for the AARP’s Foundation, Dr. Woody developed curriculum and delivery of on-site and web-based trainings. She trained substantive experts to become trainers through the Train-the Trainer program and provided on-going technical assistance to field trainers. Dr. Woody has been a life coach for more than 10 years and is the founder and principal of Living Life Like It’s Golden, a six-part program that empowers people to live their lives more fully through visioning. She lives with her wife of sixteen years in Brookland, Washington, D.C. (This biographical statement provided by Dr. Imani Woody.) 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 Imani Woody Imani Woody https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d6d68ae5fcb935b038423acc83a80681.jpg dd322425a0b8baffcb98eac5b429fc8a Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Haven Herrin is a queer, trans* white Southerner from Texas. They are in love with the organizing of Soulforce because it deeply connects the spiritual, the personal, and the political in the work of challenging Christian Supremacy. Haven started with Soulforce in 2005 as an Equality Ride Co-Director, a recurring tour of the campuses of the Religious Right. From that work unfurled an understanding of the Religious Right as a centuries long project premised upon colonization, white supremacy, and patriarchy and the stake that LGBTQI people have in ending that order. Haven loves nothing more than creating the space for everyday activists to locate and embrace their power and wholeness. They approach organizing as an artist and designer, and dance keeps their spirit alive in these challenging times. (This biographical statement provided by Haven Herrin.) Biographical Text Haven Herrin is a queer, trans* white Southerner from Texas. They are in love with the organizing of Soulforce because it deeply connects the spiritual, the personal, and the political in the work of challenging Christian Supremacy. Haven started with Soulforce in 2005 as an Equality Ride Co-Director, a recurring tour of the campuses of the Religious Right. From that work unfurled an understanding of the Religious Right as a centuries long project premised upon colonization, white supremacy, and patriarchy and the stake that LGBTQI people have in ending that order. Haven loves nothing more than creating the space for everyday activists to locate and embrace their power and wholeness. They approach organizing as an artist and designer, and dance keeps their spirit alive in these challenging times. (This biographical statement provided by Haven Herrin.) 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 Haven Herrin Haven Herrin https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/6641f523542fe7e607d1829de1ec465a.jpg 758ed61f7b236bbaf02b562884759924 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Reverend Gwen Fry is an ordained Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Arkansas and has 25 years of experience in a wide range of parish settings. Her experience coming out as a trans woman of faith makes her keenly aware of the necessity for the equality of all God’s children. Experiencing the effects of discrimination first hand, she has been actively involved in the work of justice in the transgender community both in Arkansas and across the Episcopal Church. Gwen is the Vice President of National Affairs for Integrity USA, an LGBT organization within the Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the Central Arkansas Integrity chapter. She is a board member of Pridecorps, an LGBTQ youth center in Little Rock, Arkansas. An active member of TransEpiscopal, Gwen, also serves on its steering committee. She is an advocate and activist for the transgender community and has provided a wide variety of trainings for faculty and staff in schools, churches, and community organizations. Her speaking schedule includes events both in Arkansas and nationally. (This biographical statement provided by Gwen Fry.) Biographical Text The Reverend Gwen Fry is an ordained Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Arkansas and has 25 years of experience in a wide range of parish settings. Her experience coming out as a trans woman of faith makes her keenly aware of the necessity for the equality of all God’s children. Experiencing the effects of discrimination first hand, she has been actively involved in the work of justice in the transgender community both in Arkansas and across the Episcopal Church. Gwen is the Vice President of National Affairs for Integrity USA, an LGBT organization within the Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the Central Arkansas Integrity chapter. She is a board member of Pridecorps, an LGBTQ youth center in Little Rock, Arkansas. An active member of TransEpiscopal, Gwen, also serves on its steering committee. She is an advocate and activist for the transgender community and has provided a wide variety of trainings for faculty and staff in schools, churches, and community organizations. Her speaking schedule includes events both in Arkansas and nationally. (This biographical statement provided by Gwen Fry.) 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 Gwen Fry Episcopal Episcopalian Gwen Fry Integrity USA TransEpiscopal https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/17105cc8a417d84c78c091123871d1b2.jpg ed81a0d315f702d12c0e28598381f818 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Freda Smith was born Mary Alfreda Smith on November 22, 1935, to Alfred and Mary Smith in Pocatello, Idaho. Alfred and Mary had married while at college in Enid Oklahoma, and moved to Idaho shortly before was born. (Alfred was 21 years old and Mary was 20 years old). This was during the depths of the Depression and Alfred found work as a mechanic at the Union Pacific Railroad. Later he would be employed as a language teacher (German, Spanish, French, Italian) and Mary would fulfill her early aptitude and education in math and science working for the U.S. Navy.   <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicGrandmother.jpg" />Baby picture with great-grandmother,  a Nazarene preacher However, the early years were difficult. Three children--Freda, Lydia and Alfred, Jr.--were born in the first four years of marriage. The small family moved to a remote rural area south of Pocatello. They were accompanied by Alfred's grandmother, Nazarene preacher Lydia Harriet Smith, who had rescued Alfred from a Denver orphanage and raised him in the small churches where she served. The Nazarene Church and its ministry was the focus of Freda's early life.  Rural southeastern Idaho, in the late thirties and through the war years, was largely a LDS (Mormon) settlement. The Smith family was the only "Gentile" family "south of town." However all families--both Mormon and Nazarene--were church-goers whose religion dictated the customs of life.   <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicStartingSchool.jpg" />Just before starting elementary  school, Pocatello, Idaho  As Nazarenes, the Smith family (shepherded by Freda's great- grandmother) avoided liquor, smoking, cards, dancing, profanity, and any  "near occasion of sin."  Mormons danced, while to Nazarenes dancing was a sin. Nazarenes drank coffee, which to Mormons violated the "Word of Wisdom."  Aside from these and other surface differences in religious practices and beliefs, the rural southern Idaho community members were united against sin in any form and for chastity, holiness, and a strong work ethic. They had no apparent knowledge or understanding of alternate lifestyles. Freda attended church Sunday mornings and nights and the Wednesday evening mid-week services, as well as weekly home prayer meetings and a home atmosphere of hymns, Bible study,  and prayers. The Nazarene theology embraced salvation and sanctification (the second work of grace), eschewed worldliness (i.e. movies, etc.), yet presented a joyful, optimistic faith and an abundance of musical celebration. Altar calls were regular Sunday night occasions where kneelers struggled against temptation and despair, wept, and were blessed by rapturous renewals of faith and a sense of the undeniable presence of God. These themes of great spiritual striving, the poetical thrust of Biblical drama presented in word and song, and the sense of a divine providence became a sacred "calling" very early in Freda's life. She determined that she would either be a preacher or a poet.  Freda entered the first grade in 1941, shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  The war years had a profound effect on her as they had on so many that experienced the heroism, and sacrifice of the times.   <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicAdvocate.jpg" />Photo from The Advocate, May 7, 1975.  Lobbying for California's  "Consenting Adults Law"  L–R: California State Senator George Moscone  (later Mayor of San Francisco, murdered with Harvey Milk by Dan White  in 1978), George Raya, Rev. James Sandmire, Rev.  Freda Smith,  Gary Hess, Assemblyman Willie Brown (author of  AB-489 which  decriminalized gay and lesbian relationships in the State of California) Following the war years and the death of Freda's great- grandmother, the family began to drift from the Nazarene Church and she independently left to become a member of the Salvation Army. The fire and passion of the Salvation Army, preaching "with heart to God and hand to [man] humanity," coupled with the familiar hymns and the salvation/sanctification struggle for souls and a compassion for the lost, the least, and the forgotten, stirred her early "call" and she began the process of becoming an officer. It was also at this time that Freda realized her lesbianism. True to her early training and upbringing she entered into spiritual battle, seeking to overcome her nature and to find a state of sanctification where all of these feelings of love would be taken from her. During this struggle she left Idaho to live with her aunt and uncle in Texas. While there, she read every book in the library she could find on the subjects of homosexuality, lesbianism, inversion, sodomy, and other names given to the "disorder." Each book seemed more condemning and frightening than the one before. There was no account of a sane, healthy gay or lesbian person; all were criminal, insane, perverted degenerates. Homosexuality during the early 1950s  was universally condemned as criminal and  sinful, as well as a  mental illness.  Freda spent long evenings on her knees at home and at the altar in the Salvation Army Citadel where she worshiped. Nothing changed her heart.  <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicPastor.jpg" />Pastor of Sacramento, California MCC  (1972–2005) Freda now looks back and sees that God was in the prayer-answering business.  However,  God did not want to change her heart. God wanted to use Freda's passion – along with the passion of others who were similarly struggling – to change the church and the world. Leaving Texas, Freda returned briefly to Pocatello for a term at Idaho State College (now ISU) majoring in speech/journalism.  She was still praying for a "cure" and was a passionate speaker and a part of the debate team as she had been in high school. She had a strong calling to preach and like Jeremiah there was a fire in her bones: "Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of [him]God , nor speak any more in [his] God's name. But [his] God's word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.’” (Jeremiah 20:9 KJV)  However, the fire in her bones ultimately gave over to a realization that she could no more change her orientation than she could change her height, eye color, or humanity. Following the biggest gay witch hunt in U.S. history in Boise (1955-56), she determined to leave Idaho and find "others like her."  In California, Freda found the gay community and became a closet Christian. As she once hid her lesbian identity from the church , now she hid her sense of God's calling upon her life from her friends in the gay community. Freda Smith entered California State University in Sacramento, majoring first in language arts (English, speech, journalism) and ultimately graduating with a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She was licensed by the State of California as a Marriage and Family Therapist. P<img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicSpeakingMOW.jpg" />Speaking at March on Washingtonassionate about human rights and activism, Freda was active in Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign and, after his assassination, decided to "come out" publicly as a lesbian as well as a feminist and to work to change laws in California. This was "before Stonewall," and very few members of the gay community were open about their orientation. Homosexuality was a criminal offense in California, as well as condemned by the church and diagnosed as a mental disease. Freda became co-chair of the California Committee for Sexual Law Reform and worked for the passage of Assemblyman Willie Brown's consenting adult law. It was during this lobbying effort that she wrote her narrative poem Dear Dora/Dangerous Derek Diesel Dyke  which she read to a group of legislators which included Lt. Merv Dymally who voted to break  the Senate deadlock to pass the legislation. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicTeaching.jpg" />Teaching at Samaritan Theological  Institute (UFMCC)Early in the law reform lobbying effort, Freda learned of the Metropolitan Community Church which had been founded by the Rev. Troy Perry in 1968. Realizing that she could fulfill the calling to preach and to minister which had never left her spirit, Freda became active in MCC. Troy and Freda were featured speakers at the capital building in Sacramento in 1971 when Willie Brown introduced his consenting adults bill. Freda was the feminist speaker and Troy was the religious leader who had just led a march from Oakland to publicize the event. The bill was introduced repeatedly until it passed in 1975.  When Freda entered MCC the leadership was overwhelmingly male and as a feminist Freda went to work to encourage women to become active and to change the church by-laws to include women. MCC eventually became a leader in Christian social action, championing the ordination of women, inclusive language, and a theology of inclusion for all people.  Freda taught Christian Feminism at Samaritan Theological Institute, a religious institution established to provide instruction to MCC ministers and lay people before seminary doors were open to open LGBTI people.  <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/elder-freda-smith/PicPartnered.jpg" />With partner of 33 years, Kathleen MeadowsIn 1973, Freda was elected to the Governing Board of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (Board of Elders) where she served as World Church Extension Elder and Vice-Moderator for the next 20 years. During that time Freda was pastor of MCC Sacramento – from 1972 until she retired in 2005 to become an Evangelist for the denomination and an activist to preserve the early history of the LGBTI Christian Church.   Freda and her life partner, Kathleen Meadows have been together since 1974. Freda calls the MCC movement the most exciting church since the book of Acts. In an address to the 2007 UFMCC International Conference in Scottsdale she spoke of the relationship between the church in the book of Acts and the history of the LGBTI Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches: [The] achievement of the church in the book of Acts was accompanied by passionate, theological clashes over scripture, over custom, over all of the isms: racism, sexism, classism, over intense personal disagreements and rash actions; certainly often biting off more than they possibly could chew, facing opposition and persecution from "powers and principalities and the forces of evil in high places." All the while rushing headlong into history. We can know this because the Book of Acts was written down... We can write our history. How like the early church in the Book of Acts we were joined together in our many differences by the Holy Spirit  to become a church reaching  out to a fragmented, disenfranchised, closeted community. While we still have the voices to tell; let us tell of working, marching, fasting, praying, blending our spirituality with activism in order to change unjust  laws,  struggling to turn our isms into wasms (sexism, racism, elitism), to be inclusive, not only in language, but in every sense of the word, striving to educate our clergy when so many seminary doors were closed to them straining to reach our people where ever they were...  Struggling to balance all of our theological understandings to become ecumenical in our worship. As Troy Perry was wont to say: "We're going to treat you in so many different ways you're bound to like some of them" (and dislike, too.)  We can tell our personal stories of those early, tempestuous years... Freda is dedicated to telling that story. (This biographical statement was written by the Rev. Freda Smith to accompany an oral history interview that was conducted by Dr. Melissa Wilcox in 2007.)  Biographical Text Freda Smith was born Mary Alfreda Smith on November 22, 1935, to Alfred and Mary Smith in Pocatello, Idaho. Alfred and Mary had married while at college in Enid Oklahoma, and moved to Idaho shortly before was born. (Alfred was 21 years old and Mary was 20 years old). This was during the depths of the Depression and Alfred found work as a mechanic at the Union Pacific Railroad. Later he would be employed as a language teacher (German, Spanish, French, Italian) and Mary would fulfill her early aptitude and education in math and science working for the U.S. Navy.   However, the early years were difficult. Three children--Freda, Lydia and Alfred, Jr.--were born in the first four years of marriage. The small family moved to a remote rural area south of Pocatello. They were accompanied by Alfred's grandmother, Nazarene preacher Lydia Harriet Smith, who had rescued Alfred from a Denver orphanage and raised him in the small churches where she served. The Nazarene Church and its ministry was the focus of Freda's early life.  Rural southeastern Idaho, in the late thirties and through the war years, was largely a LDS (Mormon) settlement. The Smith family was the only "Gentile" family "south of town." However all families--both Mormon and Nazarene--were church-goers whose religion dictated the customs of life.   As Nazarenes, the Smith family (shepherded by Freda's great- grandmother) avoided liquor, smoking, cards, dancing, profanity, and any  "near occasion of sin."  Mormons danced, while to Nazarenes dancing was a sin. Nazarenes drank coffee, which to Mormons violated the "Word of Wisdom."  Aside from these and other surface differences in religious practices and beliefs, the rural southern Idaho community members were united against sin in any form and for chastity, holiness, and a strong work ethic. They had no apparent knowledge or understanding of alternate lifestyles. Freda attended church Sunday mornings and nights and the Wednesday evening mid-week services, as well as weekly home prayer meetings and a home atmosphere of hymns, Bible study,  and prayers. The Nazarene theology embraced salvation and sanctification (the second work of grace), eschewed worldliness (i.e. movies, etc.), yet presented a joyful, optimistic faith and an abundance of musical celebration. Altar calls were regular Sunday night occasions where kneelers struggled against temptation and despair, wept, and were blessed by rapturous renewals of faith and a sense of the undeniable presence of God. These themes of great spiritual striving, the poetical thrust of Biblical drama presented in word and song, and the sense of a divine providence became a sacred "calling" very early in Freda's life. She determined that she would either be a preacher or a poet.  Freda entered the first grade in 1941, shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  The war years had a profound effect on her as they had on so many that experienced the heroism, and sacrifice of the times.   Following the war years and the death of Freda's great- grandmother, the family began to drift from the Nazarene Church and she independently left to become a member of the Salvation Army. The fire and passion of the Salvation Army, preaching "with heart to God and hand to [man] humanity," coupled with the familiar hymns and the salvation/sanctification struggle for souls and a compassion for the lost, the least, and the forgotten, stirred her early "call" and she began the process of becoming an officer. It was also at this time that Freda realized her lesbianism. True to her early training and upbringing she entered into spiritual battle, seeking to overcome her nature and to find a state of sanctification where all of these feelings of love would be taken from her. During this struggle she left Idaho to live with her aunt and uncle in Texas. While there, she read every book in the library she could find on the subjects of homosexuality, lesbianism, inversion, sodomy, and other names given to the "disorder." Each book seemed more condemning and frightening than the one before. There was no account of a sane, healthy gay or lesbian person; all were criminal, insane, perverted degenerates. Homosexuality during the early 1950s  was universally condemned as criminal and  sinful, as well as a  mental illness.  Freda spent long evenings on her knees at home and at the altar in the Salvation Army Citadel where she worshiped. Nothing changed her heart.  Freda now looks back and sees that God was in the prayer-answering business.  However,  God did not want to change her heart. God wanted to use Freda's passion – along with the passion of others who were similarly struggling – to change the church and the world. Leaving Texas, Freda returned briefly to Pocatello for a term at Idaho State College (now ISU) majoring in speech/journalism.  She was still praying for a "cure" and was a passionate speaker and a part of the debate team as she had been in high school. She had a strong calling to preach and like Jeremiah there was a fire in her bones: "Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of [him]God , nor speak any more in [his] God's name. But [his] God's word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.’” (Jeremiah 20:9 KJV)  However, the fire in her bones ultimately gave over to a realization that she could no more change her orientation than she could change her height, eye color, or humanity. Following the biggest gay witch hunt in U.S. history in Boise (1955-56), she determined to leave Idaho and find "others like her."  In California, Freda found the gay community and became a closet Christian. As she once hid her lesbian identity from the church , now she hid her sense of God's calling upon her life from her friends in the gay community. Freda Smith entered California State University in Sacramento, majoring first in language arts (English, speech, journalism) and ultimately graduating with a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She was licensed by the State of California as a Marriage and Family Therapist. Passionate about human rights and activism, Freda was active in Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign and, after his assassination, decided to "come out" publicly as a lesbian as well as a feminist and to work to change laws in California. This was "before Stonewall," and very few members of the gay community were open about their orientation. Homosexuality was a criminal offense in California, as well as condemned by the church and diagnosed as a mental disease. Freda became co-chair of the California Committee for Sexual Law Reform and worked for the passage of Assemblyman Willie Brown's consenting adult law. It was during this lobbying effort that she wrote her narrative poem Dear Dora/Dangerous Derek Diesel Dyke  which she read to a group of legislators which included Lt. Merv Dymally who voted to break  the Senate deadlock to pass the legislation. Early in the law reform lobbying effort, Freda learned of the Metropolitan Community Church which had been founded by the Rev. Troy Perry in 1968. Realizing that she could fulfill the calling to preach and to minister which had never left her spirit, Freda became active in MCC. Troy and Freda were featured speakers at the capital building in Sacramento in 1971 when Willie Brown introduced his consenting adults bill. Freda was the feminist speaker and Troy was the religious leader who had just led a march from Oakland to publicize the event. The bill was introduced repeatedly until it passed in 1975.  When Freda entered MCC the leadership was overwhelmingly male and as a feminist Freda went to work to encourage women to become active and to change the church by-laws to include women. MCC eventually became a leader in Christian social action, championing the ordination of women, inclusive language, and a theology of inclusion for all people.  Freda taught Christian Feminism at Samaritan Theological Institute, a religious institution established to provide instruction to MCC ministers and lay people before seminary doors were open to open LGBTI people.  In 1973, Freda was elected to the Governing Board of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (Board of Elders) where she served as World Church Extension Elder and Vice-Moderator for the next 20 years. During that time Freda was pastor of MCC Sacramento – from 1972 until she retired in 2005 to become an Evangelist for the denomination and an activist to preserve the early history of the LGBTI Christian Church.   Freda and her life partner, Kathleen Meadows have been together since 1974. Freda calls the MCC movement the most exciting church since the book of Acts. In an address to the 2007 UFMCC International Conference in Scottsdale she spoke of the relationship between the church in the book of Acts and the history of the LGBTI Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches: [The] achievement of the church in the book of Acts was accompanied by passionate, theological clashes over scripture, over custom, over all of the isms: racism, sexism, classism, over intense personal disagreements and rash actions; certainly often biting off more than they possibly could chew, facing opposition and persecution from "powers and principalities and the forces of evil in high places." All the while rushing headlong into history. We can know this because the Book of Acts was written down... We can write our history. How like the early church in the Book of Acts we were joined together in our many differences by the Holy Spirit  to become a church reaching  out to a fragmented, disenfranchised, closeted community. While we still have the voices to tell; let us tell of working, marching, fasting, praying, blending our spirituality with activism in order to change unjust  laws,  struggling to turn our isms into wasms (sexism, racism, elitism), to be inclusive, not only in language, but in every sense of the word, striving to educate our clergy when so many seminary doors were closed to them straining to reach our people where ever they were...  Struggling to balance all of our theological understandings to become ecumenical in our worship. As Troy Perry was wont to say: "We're going to treat you in so many different ways you're bound to like some of them" (and dislike, too.)  We can tell our personal stories of those early, tempestuous years... Freda is dedicated to telling that story. (This biographical statement was written by the Rev. Freda Smith to accompany an oral history interview that was conducted by Dr. Melissa Wilcox in 2007.)  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 Freda Smith Freda Smith MCC Metropolitan Community Church Nazarene Church https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/4a27ef24511a9177b009d51bc66b4c75.jpg 4fb9200f7c2ec89d87e30875ca0e5f77 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Erin Swenson broke new ground within mainstream Christian Protestant faith groups on October 22, 1996, when the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, by a vote of 186 to 161, sustained her ordination as a Presbyterian minister. Erin had transitioned from male to female in 1995/96 after 23 years of ordained service, and with the Presbytery’s vote in 1996 she became the first mainstream minister to make a gender transition while remaining in ordained office. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/erin-swenson/Pic%20piano.jpg" />Young Swenson playing parents’ grand piano.Erin was born Eric Karl Swenson in Buffalo, New York, in 1947. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia with her family in 1957 and attended Sandy Springs High School before entering the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1965. She met her wife in 1967, and entered Columbia Theological Seminary in 1970, just four months after the birth of their first daughter. After graduating from Columbia with honors in 1973 and completing a clinical internship, Erin became Minister of Education at First Presbyterian Church of Dalton, Georgia. After the difficult birth of their second daughter in 1976, which left her severely disabled, the family moved back to Atlanta where Erin completed a graduate degree in Pastoral Counseling while working as a Clinical Chaplain at the Georgia Retardation Center. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/erin-swenson/Pic%20Camp%20Calvin.jpg" />Met Sigrid (pictured here), later wife, in 1967 at Camp Calvin in Atlanta. Erin joined the staff of the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic and Center for Personal Growth in 1981 as a pastoral clinical psychotherapist after completing her Th.M. in Pastoral Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary. In 1984, she became Director of the Center for Pastoral Care, a joint ministry of Peachtree Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Erin co-founded, with Karen Faulk, the Brookwood Center for Psychotherapy in 1987, where she kept her practice until her gender transition in 1995. In 1995, Erin was awarded the Distinguished Service to the State award by the Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy for her work in advancing Georgia’s professional licensing legislation. She also co-founded, and for ten years led, the Premarital Workshop, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, during which time nearly 1,000 couples were assisted in preparation for life together. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/erin-swenson/Pic%20Roy%20Barnes.jpg" />Erin with daughter Lara meeting with Georgia governor Roy Barnes about Medicaid waiting list. While studying for her doctorate she was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and completed her Ph.D. in Psychological Services at Columbia Pacific University in 1989. Erin’s gender transition was a turbulent time for her personally. Her marriage ended in 1995, at about the same time that the church challenge was beginning. Her clinical practice took a sharp nosedive because of the local publicity of her gender transition, and by the end of 1996, she was all but unemployed. She began the slow reconstruction of her counseling by specializing in gender and gender identity issues for individuals and couples. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/erin-swenson/Pic%20Susan.jpg" />Erin & Susan Craig lead sold-out  luncheon program on Bisexual & Trans Presbyterians at 2002 General Assembly.  In 1999, Erin co-founded, with Raja Qasim, the Southern Association for Gender Education, Inc. (SAGE), an interfaith educational agency devoted to providing gender education for colleges, universities, medical groups, and faith organizations. Through SAGE Erin has presented her program across the country since 1999 in settings both large and small, from Massachusetts to San Francisco. In 1998, she was elected to the Board of More Light Presbyterians, an organization devoted to the full inclusion of GLBT people in the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She served as co-moderator from 2000-2002. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/erin-swenson/Pic%20sandwich.jpg" />LGBT “sandwich”—Susan Craig, Bear Ride, Erin, Michael Adee.Erin continues to maintain warm relationships with her former spouse and their two daughters as well as her extended family. She also continues to practice as a gender specialist in her practice in downtown Atlanta. According to Erin, “My ministry is about bringing full understanding and compassion not just for people who are differently gendered, but for everyone who lives in a culture where rigid gender roles impose unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for abundant living.” (This biographical statement provided by Erin Swenson.) Biographical Text Erin Swenson broke new ground within mainstream Christian Protestant faith groups on October 22, 1996, when the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, by a vote of 186 to 161, sustained her ordination as a Presbyterian minister. Erin had transitioned from male to female in 1995/96 after 23 years of ordained service, and with the Presbytery’s vote in 1996 she became the first mainstream minister to make a gender transition while remaining in ordained office. Erin was born Eric Karl Swenson in Buffalo, New York, in 1947. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia with her family in 1957 and attended Sandy Springs High School before entering the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1965. She met her wife in 1967, and entered Columbia Theological Seminary in 1970, just four months after the birth of their first daughter. After graduating from Columbia with honors in 1973 and completing a clinical internship, Erin became Minister of Education at First Presbyterian Church of Dalton, Georgia. After the difficult birth of their second daughter in 1976, which left her severely disabled, the family moved back to Atlanta where Erin completed a graduate degree in Pastoral Counseling while working as a Clinical Chaplain at the Georgia Retardation Center. Erin joined the staff of the Atlanta Psychiatric Clinic and Center for Personal Growth in 1981 as a pastoral clinical psychotherapist after completing her Th.M. in Pastoral Counseling at Columbia Theological Seminary. In 1984, she became Director of the Center for Pastoral Care, a joint ministry of Peachtree Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Erin co-founded, with Karen Faulk, the Brookwood Center for Psychotherapy in 1987, where she kept her practice until her gender transition in 1995. In 1995, Erin was awarded the Distinguished Service to the State award by the Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy for her work in advancing Georgia’s professional licensing legislation. She also co-founded, and for ten years led, the Premarital Workshop, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, during which time nearly 1,000 couples were assisted in preparation for life together. While studying for her doctorate she was listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, and completed her Ph.D. in Psychological Services at Columbia Pacific University in 1989. Erin’s gender transition was a turbulent time for her personally. Her marriage ended in 1995, at about the same time that the church challenge was beginning. Her clinical practice took a sharp nosedive because of the local publicity of her gender transition, and by the end of 1996, she was all but unemployed. She began the slow reconstruction of her counseling by specializing in gender and gender identity issues for individuals and couples. In 1999, Erin co-founded, with Raja Qasim, the Southern Association for Gender Education, Inc. (SAGE), an interfaith educational agency devoted to providing gender education for colleges, universities, medical groups, and faith organizations. Through SAGE Erin has presented her program across the country since 1999 in settings both large and small, from Massachusetts to San Francisco. In 1998, she was elected to the Board of More Light Presbyterians, an organization devoted to the full inclusion of GLBT people in the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She served as co-moderator from 2000-2002. Erin continues to maintain warm relationships with her former spouse and their two daughters as well as her extended family. She also continues to practice as a gender specialist in her practice in downtown Atlanta. According to Erin, “My ministry is about bringing full understanding and compassion not just for people who are differently gendered, but for everyone who lives in a culture where rigid gender roles impose unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for abundant living.” (This biographical statement provided by Erin Swenson.) 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 Erin Swenson Erin Swenson Presbyterian https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/eab111965efb2a40a69a608b900bf58d.jpg 3cc8a9dab313e45a611d93760914353a Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Aside from living for a time in Idaho and Alaska, Donna is a lifelong New Englander, born in and still living near Worcester, Massachusetts. Following graduation from Becker College (Worcester),  she worked in several businesses doing bookkeeping/accounting. She also began her many years of volunteer work by serving as Treasurer for First Congregational Church (Holden, MA) and for its thrift store, “The Corner Shop.” Donna could also be found leading a local Girl Scout troop and later helping the organization as a Service Team Chair.  For about twenty years, she served as Treasurer for what is now the Open and Affirming (ONA) Coalition of the UCC and as ONA Program Assistant with her wife, Ann B. Day, who was ONA Program Coordinator for the Coalition from 1987 to 2007.  In addition, she was the Financial Secretary and Treasurer for their home church, United Congregational Church (UCC) in Worcester and Treasurer for the Worcester Area Mission Society (UCC) for twenty-three years, retiring in May 2017. In retirement, Donna intends to enjoy time in Maine, read every mystery book ever written and eat as many chicken wings as possible. (This biographical statement provided by Donna Enberg.) Biographical Text Aside from living for a time in Idaho and Alaska, Donna is a lifelong New Englander, born in and still living near Worcester, Massachusetts. Following graduation from Becker College (Worcester),  she worked in several businesses doing bookkeeping/accounting. She also began her many years of volunteer work by serving as Treasurer for First Congregational Church (Holden, MA) and for its thrift store, “The Corner Shop.” Donna could also be found leading a local Girl Scout troop and later helping the organization as a Service Team Chair.  For about twenty years, she served as Treasurer for what is now the Open and Affirming (ONA) Coalition of the UCC and as ONA Program Assistant with her wife, <a href="http://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/rolling-the-stone-away/item/1399">Ann B. Day</a>, who was ONA Program Coordinator for the Coalition from 1987 to 2007.  In addition, she was the Financial Secretary and Treasurer for their home church, United Congregational Church (UCC) in Worcester and Treasurer for the Worcester Area Mission Society (UCC) for twenty-three years, retiring in May 2017. In retirement, Donna intends to enjoy time in Maine, read every mystery book ever written and eat as many chicken wings as possible. (This biographical statement provided by Donna Enberg.) 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 Donna Enberg Donna Enberg ONA Open and Affirming in the UCC UCC United Church of Christ https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/947af76152e82c42e959f28f930a7873.jpg 53faacde3bfc718426ea7b3bb3462257 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Diann L. Neu, D.Min., MSW, LGSW, is co-founder and co-director of WATER, the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, in Silver Spring, MD. A feminist liturgist, spiritual director, and psychotherapist licensed in Washington, DC and Maryland, Diann specializes in liturgical and ritual planning, counseling and spiritual direction, retreats and conference consultation. She lectures and conducts workshops on liturgy planning, spirituality, women-church, and creating Eucharistic communities. She has published numerous books of rituals and articles on the subject of feminist approaches to liturgy, spirituality, and therapy. Diann publishes a monthly ritual on WATER’s website <a href="http://www.waterwomensalliance.org/">www.waterwomensalliance.org</a>. She is co-editor with Mary E. Hunt of New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views (Skylight Paths, 2010). Among her publications are Seasons of Compassion: Resources for Companions of Those Needing Healing (WATERworks Press, 2009); Seasons of Healing: Journaling and Resources for Women with Cancer (WATERworks Press, 2008); Seasons of Survival: Prayers and Rituals for Women with Cancer (WATERworks Press, 2007); Women’s Rites: Feminist Liturgies for Life’s Journey(Pilgrim Press, 2003) and Return Blessings: Ecofeminist Liturgies Renewing the Earth(Pilgrim Press, 2002).  (This biographical statement provided by Diann Neu.) Biographical Text Diann L. Neu, D.Min., MSW, LGSW, is co-founder and co-director of WATER, the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, in Silver Spring, MD. A feminist liturgist, spiritual director, and psychotherapist licensed in Washington, DC and Maryland, Diann specializes in liturgical and ritual planning, counseling and spiritual direction, retreats and conference consultation. She lectures and conducts workshops on liturgy planning, spirituality, women-church, and creating Eucharistic communities. She has published numerous books of rituals and articles on the subject of feminist approaches to liturgy, spirituality, and therapy. Diann publishes a monthly ritual on WATER’s website <a href="http://www.waterwomensalliance.org/">www.waterwomensalliance.org</a>. She is co-editor with Mary E. Hunt of New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views (Skylight Paths, 2010). Among her publications are Seasons of Compassion: Resources for Companions of Those Needing Healing (WATERworks Press, 2009); Seasons of Healing: Journaling and Resources for Women with Cancer (WATERworks Press, 2008); Seasons of Survival: Prayers and Rituals for Women with Cancer (WATERworks Press, 2007); Women’s Rites: Feminist Liturgies for Life’s Journey(Pilgrim Press, 2003) and Return Blessings: Ecofeminist Liturgies Renewing the Earth(Pilgrim Press, 2002).  (This biographical statement provided by Diann Neu.) 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 Diann Neu Diann Neu WATER Women's Alliance for Theology Ethics and Ritual https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/3f128eaf3a7b009859acf46336c72668.jpg 8f3bfe6fb50a7c6a7e365762671f670f Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Debra Lynn Peevey provided this first-person profile statement, "Being Me for 40 Years in the Movement for LGBTQ Inclusion." I’ve always been a seeker.  Born in Southern California in 1953, I sensed from a very young age that there was something more to life than what we could see.  I had no formal religious teaching, except for an errant VBS week in hot Arizona summers when visiting my grandparents in Yuma.  My mother remains an Atheist/scientist who rejected Christianity as a child.  She blossomed in the life of the mind and being curious about the unknown.    I was curious about God, about community and about belonging.  And in college, my deep loneliness sent me on a search to find and experience them.  As part of my registration at UC Berkeley, in the fall of 1971 I filled out a religious preference card and wrote Christian, having been baptized at First Presbyterian Church of Yuma, AZ as an infant.  My card was sent to University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and they wrote me right back!  It had been awhile since they had had a CAL student drop in their laps.  My student co-op was just down the street from the church on the North side of campus, and I went there my first Sunday in town. It was liberal, had women clergy (1971, remember), was against the peace time draft, for gun control, supported women’s reproductive choice and had a meal program and clothes closet for the poor.  It was a perfect fit for me! I reveled in this congregation and denomination for the first 5 years.  I experienced God, community and belonging there—that might well have saved my life.  But, not having grown up in the church, I had no idea that University Christian Church in Berkeley, CA was not representative of either mainline Protestant Christianity in general, nor the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in particular. And then I came out in June 1976.  Months later, I fell in love with my pastor’s daughter and a year later, followed her into seminary.  And thus began a 40 year journey into and out of the church. We were out when we arrived at Pacific School of Religion.  My coming out to myself was the closest experience I ever had to Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.  Scales fell from my eyes, an instantaneous life review through the lens of being a lesbian made my life make so much more sense; all the girl crushes and my less than enthusiastic relationships with boys and men.  I knew myself in a totally different light from that moment forward.  And I carried that enthusiasm with me into seminary, without defense against the real church, the real denomination or the real road I was setting out to travel.  In those days, there weren’t any affirming organizations, no Gay Inc. infrastructure, not a faith community on the planet that supported “self avowed practicing homosexuals” and the nascent gay rights movement was largely based on the personal courage of individual gay and lesbian people coming out.  And whatever movement existed, there was a fixed wall between homosexuals and people of faith.  To this day, many Christians’ believe you cannot be LGBTQ and Christian.  In that day, everyone believed it.  Homosexuals lived only underground and constantly in fear of detection, which could mean losing everything.  I was as clueless about this stark reality as I was about the church.  But I made up for my cluelessness with enthusiasm! My enthusiasm carried me a very long way.  It carried me through the Commission on the Ministry meetings when I came out and most of the members had never met a, “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”  And meeting quarterly for the 3 years of Seminary, they came to trust our journey and our calls. We were met with more curiosity than judgment.  They supported us, at risk to their own careers. They trusted that God was working in and through us to open hearts and minds in the church. In 1979, I attended my first General Assembly, where I had my first real experience of the denomination as whole!  In St. Louis—homosexuals and allies met offsite—for the very first time.  A small (half of a 3x5 card) message was tacked to a message board inviting folks to meet by calling a number to get more information.  The card kept being removed and it kept being resurrected.  We met secretly—from seminarians to denominational executives--to begin talking about how to be and build more support.  And at that Assembly, we also voted as a denomination on the blue ribbon panel’s finding that it was outside the will of God to ordain self-avowed practicing homosexuals.  The dozen of us who had met the night before the vote had strategized our presence on the Assembly floor for the vote.  Apparently overnight the strategy changed but I wasn’t in the loop, so I wound up standing alone at the NO microphone to speak out against the resolution.  As I stood there by myself, the loneliness that had brought me to the church, began to seep back into my bones. Shortly after returning to Berkeley, we met with the Commission on the Ministry to talk about how to move forward.  While it could have been the end, fortunately, the polity of the Disciples of Christ is so congregationally based that congregations and regions have local autonomy that can differ from a denominational stand.  Our Commission on the Ministry decided to ask our Northern California Region to vote on an alternative point of view about ordination.  The vote at our Regional Assembly was on this resolution:  We affirm that no one human condition can be an absolute barrier to ordination.  This resolution passed and subsequently opened the door to ordination for my partner and me, as well as others going forward. Seminary was hard.  It was like being tossed in a Cuisianart on chop! Not having grown up in the church, every one of my beliefs had been whispered in my ear by my grandmother.  I believed her, so I believed what she whispered in my ear!  Learning in my first class, on my very first day that King David was a rapist and a murderer did not fit into my Sunday school theology about him being beloved of God and a hero of his day.  I was shaken to my theological core for the next 3 years!  I was fighting for my right to exist.  I was fighting for the tenure of the first Black professor, Dr. Archie Smith as well as the first woman professor, Dr. Karen Lebacqz.  Studying took a back seat to politics, but I made it through at the end. In my second year of seminary, my partner and I met with the Dean of Students, Rev. Barbara Roche to ask for married student housing.  We wanted to move into campus housing to save money and married student housing meant we would share one rent, rather than each having full rent as single students in a dorm room.  Dean Roche had just returned from a General Assembly of the PCUSA where the issue of homosexuality came to such a fevered pitch, that the openly gay and lesbian Presbyterians present needed police escorts for their safety.  She was so shocked at that vitriol and hatred that she determined there and then not to participate in it.  She asked us if we would be married, if we could be married?  I replied, “Would you be willing to marry us, Rev. Roche?”  And she gave us a married student apartment that day!  Our move into the married student apartment building wasn’t without controversy, but overall we were well received. At Pacific School of Religion we worked to include gay and lesbian couples issues in our marriage counseling classes.  We lead chapel and talked about gay rights.  We invited Meg Christian to do a concert in the PSR Chapel that was standing room only.  I remember her finishing her concert, looking up at the cross hanging above the Chancel and getting a very impish look in her eye.  She just had to do one more song about her… Gym Teacher!  We were all on our feet singing along:  “She was a big strong woman, the first to come along, that taught me being female meant you still could be strong….”  Feminist theology was just on the horizon then.  Jerry Falwell had declared war on “self avowed practicing homosexuals.”  Harvey Milk and thousands of us marched in San Francisco Pride.  Shortly thereafter he was assassinated and we turned out 30,000 strong to protest and weep and determined to live out of the closet! And then the process for ordination began in earnest.  I had been the Minister in Training at Lafayette Christian Church from 1979-1980.   The first night I met with the youth group, one of their young members had committed suicide.  It created a bond that remains with some of them, to this day.  We celebrated communion with Coke and cookies—being what we had on hand—and we talked about what it meant to be a member of the Body of Christ.  I was out to the Senior Pastor, Rev. Stan Smith—but we opted not to make my being a lesbian an issue before the members of the church got to know me.  The following year, I came out when I wrote a letter to the Board asking them to support me as a candidate for ministry.  As word leaked out to the entire congregation, there was a cry for an all congregation meeting so they could confront me.  Rather than beginning that way, I was asked to meet with small groups that would be moderated by Elders in the church.  These meetings were excruciating.  Members cried and screamed at me.  They were certain I had molested their children.  They threw scripture at me like venom and brickbats.  Through it all, I did my best to be a model homosexual…polite, reflective, reassuring and reasonable.  After this series of meetings, I had one more hoop to jump.  I had to meet in person with the Board of Directors so they too could question me.  There were supporters and detractors at the meeting and I pretty much knew who was who.  The most significant moment for me was when Elder Joe Young, the only Black member of the Board, sitting across the long table looked at me and said, “Debra, I am so disappointed in you”, (I hadn’t allowed myself to cry at any of the horrible heartbreaking meetings I’d been through…but here tears fell down my face, even as I sat stone faced and listened as he continued to speak). “ I am disappointed in you, because you make me remember what it is like to sit at the head of a table and be seen only as an issue, rather than as a human being.”  His understanding cracked me wide open.  I worked hard to compose myself and thanked him.  I felt like everything I had gone through up to this moment, was worth it.  And then a woman, who had made me a cassock (to cover my impoverished student clothing) cried out at me, wanting to know why I was forcing her to leave her church.  I did my best to point out that she had hundreds of churches she could attend, while there were only a handful that would welcome me.  Her leaving caused us all a lot of pain. And finally the youth representative on the Board stood up to talk about how pivotal my ministry with them had been and how I had only ever acted with complete integrity around them.  They saw my coming out as an extension of that integrity.  When they voted, the vote was 12 in favor, 3 against.  I was beyond exhausted and I was going to be ordained. I insisted on being out in my ordination process because I couldn’t make sense of lying to become a minister; the polity of the denomination made it possible and because I never wanted anyone to be able to say that they wouldn’t have ordained me if they had known.  Everyone suggested I lie.  They knew more of what I would face if I didn’t, but that never seemed like good counsel from a seasoned minister to an aspiring one.  I wrote a paper in my Ethics class based on Adrienne Rich’s book, On Lies, Secrets and Silence.  Once my mom started speaking to me again, two years after I came out to her, she said I insisted on it because I’d never learned to keep my mouth shut!  That is a truth I also cannot deny. My ordination on May 31, 1981 was a wonderful celebration at Lafayette Christian Church, in a community in the East Bay of Northern California. The assembled people of God, the music, the focus on inclusion (even the bulletin was a rainbow!) and the spirit of what we had come through together made the laying on of hands an entire congregational affair! And then as Elder Joe Young and I stood together at the communion table and represented the possibility of love overcoming fear in the history of the church and society, we broke the bread and felt the re-membering of the Body of Christ in our presence. My partner and I had broken up before my last year in seminary.  It was a blow to us and to the seminary community.  I had moved to Seattle, to follow a new relationship and a job.  When I arrived in Seattle—the job I’d been hired for was no longer available.  The Senior Minister neglected to tell me that before I moved, but he did out my new partner to her boss.  I cobbled together two jobs at different congregations, one Disciples the other UCC.  Things in Seattle weren’t great, so I was open to other possibilities. Shortly after my graduation and ordination, I interviewed for jobs in Southern California because our General Assembly met there.  I had two congregations interested in me—which was amazing because women clergy were still relatively rare and few congregations were interested in hiring us.  The interview process in each congregation played out the same way.  At the first interview they loved me!  They had me meet with the youth, the women’s group, and the pulpit committee.  As they prepared to invite me to come back for a second interview, the committee members asked me if there was anything else they should know.  I replied happily, “Yes, I am a lesbian.”  And rather than just showing me the door, or actually remembering that they had thought I was good enough to ask back for a second interview, they screamed at me about needing to seek medical care for their children to make sure I hadn’t molested them, threw scripture at me, and couldn’t get me out the door fast enough.  At the second congregation, the first interview went just as well.  They asked me back for a second interview and when I showed up for it, I could tell something was very wrong.  One of the ministers who was a close friend of my ordaining pastor had outed me to the committee.  When I walked in to the interview room after church, instead of simply telling me that I was no longer a candidate, they asked me if the horrible news was true and when I confirmed it, they proceeded to abuse me with scripture, their fear and loathing and threatened to take me to jail if I had abused any of their children.  This took place as the Senior Pastor, a closeted gay man, sat there and let the abuse continue before asking me to leave. After these experiences of truth telling, I instituted my own don’t ask, don’t tell policy.  I would answer truthfully any interviewing body that asked me if I was a lesbian, but I wasn’t going to tell them if they didn’t ask.  So I headed back to Seattle and to my two jobs, having been shaken to the core.  And a couple of months later, the Regional Minister, the Rev. Bob Brock called and asked if I would like my name given to Findlay Street Christian Church (FSCC) in the south end of Seattle and I told him yes.  Bob also said,  “I hate to send anyone there who thinks they can do anything with that church.”  I didn’t know whether to be insulted or grateful.  Women clergy were more often than not, considered for just such congregations.  1982-1996 The good people of FSCC interviewed me on 10 separate occasions.  And finally they narrowed their search to two candidates, a young man serving in Georgia and me.  If they chose me, they didn’t have to pay moving expenses, so they invited me to preach and stay to meet with the congregation afterward for a potluck.  That same day they held the vote.  The most memorable moment of that day was when a woman asked me if I was sure I was the right man for the job.  I tucked my head and looked inside my dress and assured her that I definitely was not the right man for the job, but if she gave me a chance, I believed I could prove to her I was the right person for the job!  The issue of being a lesbian never came up and I was hired with 90% support of the congregation. I began my ministry at FSCC on July 1, 1982.  It was a small congregation, located in a working class neighborhood in the south end of Seattle, in the most integrated zip code in Washington.  In spite of this, it was a predominantly white congregation and most of the members had supported covenants keeping Jews and Blacks from moving into the nearby neighborhoods that fronted Lake Washington.  Most of the men who worked, worked at Boeing.  Most of the women were older widows.  I was 29.  Five people passed away my first year.  As they watched me sit vigil and bury their friends, they came to see that having a woman minister was going to be OK.  I was active in the community beyond the church.  I helped to organize a women clergy group meeting.  It seemed every denomination had one or two in Seattle!  I was invited to be a Founding Mother for the Women’s Funding Alliance.  We took on United Way to challenge their monopoly on the Combined Federal Campaign.  Gay and lesbian folk began hearing about a lesbian pastor at a small church in the south end and came to the church.  After 5 years of serving in the closet, I was ready to quit.  By then, I had met my partner—now spouse Candy S. Cox-- and she challenged me to stay and try telling the truth again instead of quitting.  So I put things in motion to do just that. I asked an Elder to go a visit a woman who had stopped attending the church.  I had heard from another member that Jody had quit coming because there were homosexuals at the church and she was afraid of AIDS.  So Bob took Jody to lunch and called me immediately and said we needed to meet!  We had lunch later that week and he told me why Jody wasn’t coming any more. He told me that it was my job to make sure none of “them” had leadership positions. And then he told me that the Elders had already met and they wanted to know where I stood on the issue of homosexuality.  I was shaken and I told him I’d get back to him about when I would preach on the subject.  I went home and did a lectionary study and picked the lectionary that began on the first Sunday in Lent, March 15, 1987.  Peter’s Dream in Acts 10:9-16 and the Exodus story were the cornerstone of my sermon. I began my sermon, with great thanks to Candy, talking about the various times the church had stood on the wrong side of history.  People’s lives had been ruined and even lost by the Church’s insistence that the earth was flat, that the earth was the center of the universe, that slavery was Biblically sound, that the Gospel shouldn’t be in the common vernacular, that evolution wasn’t real and that women shouldn’t be ordained.  Each of these culture wars had ended with the church having to concede they were wrong (except the argument about women’s ordination still lingers on).  And now, in 1987 the church had the opportunity to stand on the right side of history by seeing homosexuality as akin to being left handed in a right- handed culture.  When I got to that point in my sermon, people got up and walked out.  Some never returned.  Some stayed to make sure I lost my job, even though I still hadn’t come out.  And the history of FSCC changed irrevocably that day.  And we came to know the living reality of the Exodus and working together to discern how something God once called unclean, could now be known as clean. Lent became real for all of us. Those who stayed felt cast into the wilderness.  Turmoil, uncertainty, and anxiety filled the building and followed us home. The Elders met the next night and could have easily fired me, but instead processed my sermon and created a plan. As Elder after Elder shared their response, I was shocked and awed.  They said if I thought it was important then we should study the issue more.  They said they had loved all the new members up to the point of learning that some were gay and lesbian and it wouldn’t be Christian to stop loving them now.  They said they church hadn’t ever stood up for anything, and maybe this was our chance.  And then one Elder said, “I can’t believe what I am hearing!  It is as if prejudice and bigotry have gotten a bad name in this church! And if that is so, I am prepared to resign!”  The Chair of the Elders said she was ready to accept his resignation, because prejudice and bigotry had no place in the church. And thus began a 6 week long process of small group Bible study and congregational education about homophobia. Suspicions ran high among those who stayed.  Older members insisted on being in the room when the collection was counted to make sure the new members weren’t there to cheat the church.  Some of the laity came out and told their stories.  Members questioned what they had always been taught and were open to seeing the clobber texts in new ways, when viewed through the lens of other scriptures.  25% of the members never came back, but new people started coming when they heard what we were doing. And then Holy Week arrived!  Monday night of Holy Week was the regularly scheduled Board Meeting.  It was the first congregational opportunity to fire me.  I had spent the month coming out to the Elders, so when they voted on whether or not to fire me, they were fully informed.  The mood for the meeting was like a public hanging.  The man who had been my Elder, drove back and forth in front of the church telling people to vote me out.  Yet, he didn’t have the courage of his convictions to come into the building and cast his vote.  45 members attended and 30 could vote.  The one man who could have successfully led the charge against me didn’t, even as he had told me he would vote against me that night.  And because he didn’t lead the charge, my opposition petered out and wasn’t able to muster the votes to fire me.  Instead my ministry was supported, with a vote that was exactly double the vote of my ordination approval, 24-6.  And come Easter morning, we experienced the Resurrection in reality.  We made it through.  We were still standing.  We knew the elation and the fear of the empty tomb.  We wept collectively at what we had been through.  We grieved our losses.  We celebrated our new beginning.  We recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit and be began to build a new way of being church together. Candy and I had long been planning to have a Covenant Ceremony that June 27th during Pride Weekend.  So at the June Board Meeting, I officially came out to the Board.  Most people greeted the news with enthusiasm, and a few more people left.  Now while building a resurrection community, we were also ready to help build a national movement within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Working with others across the denomination, we helped to found GLAD, the Gay Lesbian and Affirming Disciples organization.  Candy served as a founding board member.  Findlay Street Christian Church became the first Open and Affirming Congregation within this new organization.  Candy announced the formation of GLAD on the floor of the General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky in October of 1987. In a room of more than 8.000, you could have heard a pin drop!  We went to the National March on Washington en route to the Assembly, where the AIDS Quilt was laid out for the first time.  It was the first and only time I ever wore a collar.  People were amazed to see a minister there.  It was so important for me to be a presence of love and grace to so many whom had been so deeply hurt by the church. Findlay Street continued to grow and flourish after we became Open and Affirming.  We doubled in size and even won prizes for evangelism.  When the National Evangelistic Association called and asked us for the secret to our success, once we told them, they mailed us the certificate rather than helping to tell our story more publicly! I continued my ministry for 5 more years at FSCC.  We were the church that many of the men dying of AIDS chose to come to.  We were the church that those who had broken relationships with the church chose to come to.  We were the church that housed the People of Color Against AIDS Network offices as well as the Community Food Bank.  We gave space to a Black social worker to be a community liaison and to provide help to church members in lieu of rent.  I preached at the first World AIDS Day service at First Baptist Church and I was on local television and in the paper as an open lesbian pastor. Having been part of the national movement within the Disciples as well as very public in Seattle, I became a target for hate mail.  Especially, every time Disciple Renewal—the most conservative group within the denomination-- told our story to point out the moral depravity and decay of the Church.  I came to call myself the Disciple Renewal poster child, as I was their best fundraiser of all time!  I was on the General Board of the denomination at the time and so also had access to denominational leaders.  So many told me I was good for my cause.  And so many supported me in private, but very rarely did as the need increasingly rose to support me in public. After fifteen years of being out, being the only open gay or lesbian minister (the second person openly ordained, the wonderful Rev. Allen Harris was ordained in 1991, ten full years after me) and being exhausted by the national and local hate that came my way, I knew it was time for me to leave.  On the first Sunday in Advent in 1990 I preached on the church being pregnant and being in a time of preparing for new birth, and I heard these words during my pastoral prayer. “You are not the midwife to bring new life to this church.”  And I knew it was true.  I resigned the next Sunday and served til the end of February 1991. I needed extended time to heal.  I left ministry feeling like I had no skin.  The pain stored in my body equaled my body weight.  Blessedly, Candy agreed that I didn’t have to work for a while.  And then she decided to sell her business and take a year off with me.  We travelled some, but mostly I quilted and gardened and worked to regain my strength. A year later, when we both needed to go back to work, Candy found me a job posting at Hospice of Seattle.  I got the job and for the first time in my life and ministry being a lesbian was a plus.  It was during the AIDS crisis and many of the men on hospice were afraid of the church and a chaplain.  But my nurses and social workers were able to tell them about me and then they were so relieved and so in need of God’s grace.  I sat with many parents who did not know their sons were gay, until they learned of their deaths by AIDS.  This was a great transition ministry for me that lasted for 4 years.  During my time at Hospice of Seattle I went back and did post graduate work in spiritual direction at Seattle University.  This was a period of deep healing as well as a time of recognition about how deep my wounds really were. 1996-2006 Candy got a new job in Washington DC, so we moved to Reston, Virginia.  I worked as a spiritual director there, lead lots of retreats for leaders of various congregations as well as women’s retreats.  I kept my foot in the door, but did not join a church and lost my standing in the Disciples.  I simply did not have the stuffing to jump through their appropriate hoops to continue my ministerial credentials.  I felt like the church had left me.  And fortunately, in my time away from parish ministry, I had learned that that wasn’t the same as God leaving me. We lived in Virginia for 10 years.  My first volunteer project there was with the AIDS Quilt.  I volunteered as a quilter and as a fundraiser.  When the entire Quilt was displayed for the last time in 1996, I helped family members and friends make panels for their loved ones and Candy and I had the honor of witnessing President and Mrs. Clinton walk silently among the panels.  He was the first president to ever acknowledge the Quilt.  During that long October weekend, when 44,000 panels were already on display, covering the entire Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capitol building, we also received over 2,500 new panels.  That was 300 more than had been on display in 1987.  I remained a volunteer and helped them develop a successful fundraising campaign. As part of my work at Seattle University, I learned about the Enneagram.  It is a psycho-social-spiritual typology that meets you at the depths you will meet it.  We read a book about it shortly before moving and were interested in learning more.  So while in VA, I participated in the teacher training for Certification in the Riso-Hudson school of the Enneagram.  It continues to be the most important approach to building a life of faithful service that I have ever found.  I use it in my spiritual direction practice as well as for my own spiritual growth and formation.  I am blessed with wonderful teachers and guides. During this deep dive into spiritual direction and leading retreats on adult spiritual formation, Candy leapt into leadership at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).  She served as Co-Chair on the Board and then worked with their media team.  Fundraising in DC is a heady mix of rubbing shoulders with movie stars and political sheroes and heroes.  Her work in advertising and with the Task Force was a very exciting and fulfilling time of life! 2006-2017 When Candy retired from the advertising business, we decided to move to Mexico.  We were hungry for an adventure and to become citizens of the world.  It was an amazing experience living in a foreign country. After 18 months we knew that living in Mexico wasn’t a long term retirement strategy for us, (though we still hold the dream of living internationally) so we moved back to the states.  We picked Arizona because we did not want to be old and cold and we love the sun!  Six months after moving back, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutional Ban against same sex marriage was illegal!  I proposed to Candy in the car as we listened to the story break on NPR.  We wanted to go to California and get married!  In 1987 when we had our covenant, our families were invited and only one of my brothers had come.  He stood with me.  In 2008, we called every member and they all wanted to be there!  In five weeks we planned everything so that 21 years and 1 day after our covenant, we were legally married in my sister’s back yard on June 28, 2008, with my same brother Neal standing at my side. On our honeymoon, we decided to volunteer full time against Prop 8.  Candy worked with the media team creating amazing videos and I worked with the field team as a field organizer for Santa Barbara County and as one of two state wide Faith Field Organizers, along with the Rev. Lindi Ramsden a UU pastor I knew from seminary.  I had hoped that having been ordained in CA and knowing lots of folks there, I would be able to leverage them and their congregations to be champions for marriage equality.  I was wrong. Working on the NO on Prop 8 campaign was the hardest thing we have ever done.  The best part was Candy and I learning how much we loved working on projects together and forming bonds with the field team that continue strong today. The worst part was losing after pouring our hearts in 17 hours a day for months as well as being reintroduced to the vitriol of Christian’s.  Each side raised $44,000.000 in that campaign, and traveling the state to talk to Christian’s about supporting us had some high notes, but mostly it was a cacophony of hatefulness.  The election of President Barack Obama that same night helped to ease some of our pain. Losing in California was a wake up call to us all!  Marriage Equality was an issue whose time came after the passage of Prop 8.  The entire country was stunned and we saw after losing 32 ballot initiatives in a row, that we needed to change our strategy. And it also signaled a change in my career.  From our work against Prop 8, we began receiving calls to help with various campaigns. In 2009, I was asked to be part of the planning team for and to preach at Believe Out Loud, a first of its kind coming together of the Task Force’s Field Team and the Welcoming Church Program Leaders member’s base.  Each Welcoming Program was tasked with identifying participants to attend and learn the basics of organizing to create public policy change.  For three days organizers and local church members worked together to instill organizing principles and tactics.  Overcoming the resistance to organizing within congregations and communities was and is a very steep climb.  My sermon sought to bridge the gap between these two communities.  Some participants really caught hold of the theory of change that says, change the church, change the world, change the church.  Clips from my sermon are available here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URAgyLlmi8Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URAgyLlmi8Q</a>. More Light Presbyterians asked me to join their calling team to have conversations with Presbyterian clergy to end the ban on ordination of LGBT candidates for ministry. Working with Toby Rogers and the Rev. Janet Edwards as well as the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, I had conversations with about 500 Presbyterian clergy that summer. We didn’t prevail in passing Amendment 08B, but we lost forward and made it clear that rescinding the ban was possible.  Only 500 votes out of thousands cast separated winning from losing.  Next the Arcus Foundation hired us to evaluate three Welcoming Church Programs.  Arcus had donated a million dollars over the previous 5 years to these three programs and wanted an independent evaluation of their efficacy.  Together we created an interview plan to evaluate Reconciling Ministries Network and their work among the United Methodist Church, Lutherans Concerned and their work in the ELCA, and finally Integrity and the Chicago Consultation and their work within the Episcopal Church.  With the full cooperation of the organizations, I conducted 80 interviews and heard first hand the impact as well as the growing edges of each organization.  In general the evaluations showed that the organizations met or exceeded their granting objectives, and each group was given suggestions for moving forward to enhance the efficacy of their work. More Light called again in 2010 after another resolution had passed the PCUSA General Assembly to rescind the ban on the ordination of LGBT candidates, meaning another national phone campaign to ratify the new Amendment 10A was necessary.  This time I was better prepared and I was able to call many of the same clergy I had two years before.  It was great to catch up!  Candy and I strategized with Tricia again and Candy created a masterful statistical chart that became the heartbeat of the MLP campaign.  I had about 1000 conversations that summer and Candy handled the statistics and the media.  It was clear that we were going to ratify Amendment 10A in early May of 2011, and I’ll never forget the night we reached ratification!  The Moderator of the PCUSA was in Minneapolis and we trusted that the Presbytery of the Twin Cities would vote to ratify.  The entire media plan was based on their voting before Pacific Presbytery did that same night.  But then a huge storm hit Minneapolis and they broke for dinner.  We created a new media plan as we waited, identifying spokespeople in Minnesota and Los Angeles.  Watching Candy at work was inspiring!  Finally the Twin Cities meeting was restarted and the vote to ratify meant the ordination ban on faithful LGBT Presbyterians had come to an end!  All the while we were hosting my mother and sister in the other room for my birthday.  One amazing moment was when Candy asked me to take over preparing dinner because the New York Times was on the phone! In 2012 I received a call from Dr. Sharon Groves, Director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Faith and Religion Program asking if I would be interested in applying for the position of Faith Director of Washington United for Marriage.  It meant moving back to Seattle for 4.5 months to be a member of the Field team.  I applied and was hired. Fortunately, I still had many faith contacts from my 10 years of ministry in Seattle.  I moved in with our dear friends Don and Ann Berrysmith and went to work building a Faith Cabinet, leaders within each denomination who could both advise me and lead work within their own constituencies/denominations to organize and engage teams within local congregations to support the work of the campaign.  Our primary objective was to engage our faith supporters to hold conversations within their congregations and over the phone with voters.  Christian faith organizations were the largest opponents to the ballot initiative and it was my job to mobilize and maximize the voices of people of faith who supported marriage equality because of their faith.  The faith team of Aubrey Thonvold, Stephen Crippen and me created teams within all the expected denominations as well as with Mormons for Marriage Equality and Catholics for Marriage Equality.  All people of faith wore the same button supporting the ballot initiative.  If you consider all the faith wars historically and now, that was a major accomplishment!  We sold out of our first 1,500 buttons and nearly our second batch as well.  Those buttons were responsible for thousands of conversations across the state.  Washington, Maryland and Maine all passed marriage equality ballot measures in one night and Minnesota revoked their Constitutional Marriage ban.  4 ballot victories in one night after 32 straight losses at the ballot box!  Every campaign had a faith director! I came home exhausted!  Right after that campaign, the Rev. Rebecca Voekel of the Institute of Welcoming Resources of the Task Force asked me if I would consider taking a job with them as their Lead Ecumenical Trainer.  The job would be to travel the country working with any/all of the welcoming church programs whenever they held a Building an Inclusive Church workshop.  I would train and be responsible to make sure every participant got connected to their correct denominational program.  We were still committed to building more welcoming congregations in order to empower the members to engage in conversations within their churches and in their communities.  I said no to this request initially because I needed to rest.  It was filled instead by my good friend Alex McNeil.  When he was hired to be the ED of More Light Presbyterians, I then took the job.  I held the post from mid 2014 to the end of 2016.  It was a blessing to work with the organizers at the Task Force (National LGBTQ Task Force by now) as well as the trainers among the denominational welcoming groups.  One of the best nights in my life as a faith organizer, was the last meal I shared with them receiving their gifts of grace and getting to share my heart with them one by one. In 2013, More Light Presbyterians came calling again.  Against my better judgment, both More Light and Covenant Network decided to forward resolutions to the General Assembly in support of removing language prohibiting marriage equality.  Tricia, Candy and I all thought it was a bad idea.  We didn’t think it had a chance of passing the Assembly and would stir up lingering animus of the previous two votes.  We were wrong!  It passed the General Assembly by one of the widest margins ever at the Assembly.  So we got to work.  This time though, because we opted not to make the calls ourselves, but instead to supervise a team of regional coordinators who would use our well honed tactics to build teams within every presbytery possible to do the outreach themselves.  This built empowered communities in each presbytery to work together to create change going forward.  Amendment 14F also passed the presbyteries by a wide margin.  Our work with More Light Presbyterians was complete. In 2014 I applied to be the Faith Director of Why Marriage Matters Arizona!  The ED, Jeremy Zegas and I had worked together on the ballot measure in Washington. My job was to secure faith leaders’ support for marriage equality.  We asked them to write letters, hold press conferences, prayer breakfasts, preach and write letters to the editor about how their faith underscored their support of marriage equality.  On October 17, 2014 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the constitutional ban on same sex marriage and Attorney General Tom Horne opted not to appeal.  Candy and I attended the press conference with the Attorney General and hit SEND on my texts to over 100 faith leaders who were ready to deploy to every courthouse in the State of Arizona.  They carried signs that said, “I Stand Ready to Marry You.”   Over 130 marriages took place that day!  Most couples had been waiting decades and were thrilled to be able to marry that day.  Here’s one article about that amazing day:  <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/17/arizona-gay-marriage-ruling/17431229/">http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/17/arizona-gay-marriage-ruling/17431229/</a>  We were ready and we celebrated that night with a huge overflow crowd at the UCC Conference Offices in Phoenix and at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson. From my work on the Why Marriage Matters Arizona campaign, in 2015 I was asked to work with the team from ONE Community, co-founded by CEO and President Angela Hughey.  Angela created OC with her spouse Sheri Owens in 2007 to reach out to the business community to build support for full LGBT inclusion within their organizations. ONE Community’s Unity Pledge is the largest LGBTQ inclusive pledge in the country.  This is her core belief: It’s time to ensure equality for all Arizona employees, residents, and consumers. It’s the right thing to do. It’s good for business. It’s good for the business of Arizona. Her business plan changed when the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill giving businesses the right to discriminate against, including refusing service to LGBT patrons so long as they cited sincerely held religious beliefs.   The bill lingered for 5 days on Gov. Jan Brewer’s desk. During those days, ONE Community, which had the best relationships with businesses across Arizona, mounted a campaign to get the governor to veto SB 1062.  Thus launched a statewide Open for Business to Everyone campaign that distributed 3500 signs statewide (in less than 72 hours) for businesses to display. The sign was downloaded over 100,000 times as well!  Faith communities had also joined in to request the veto. A senior Evangelical pastor, who was in the room told me that he and 4 other Evangelical pastors met with the governor the day she vetoed the bill and in the privacy of her office suggested she veto it too.  It was bad business all the way around for the State.  Gov. Brewer did veto SB 1062, but we have yet to have statewide protections for the LGBT community. I was brought on to build out the faith support for full statewide inclusion.  Together we built a group of 225 faith leaders, including all the mainline denominations, Jews, Muslims and Mormons.  They have written, testified, preached and hosted a powerful curriculum called The Star Activity that puts participants in the life experience shoes of LGBTQ people in a very real way!  Our small team worked with business leaders, faith leaders, public school leaders, medical workers and social service providers to train them in LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace, in the school, and in the public square.  Everyone is always surprised that in 26 states there are still no statewide protections in housing, employment and public accommodations for the LGBTQ community.  I retired as the Lead Ecumenical Trainer of the National LGBTQ Task Force and ONE Community in December 2016.  Since then I have initiated two campaigns.  The first grew organically from the Women’s March on Jan 21, 2017, when 25,000 of us marched in Phoenix and joined marchers from around the world in the largest single protest march in the world. We were all declaring our support for values of inclusion and solidarity in the wake of the election of Donald Trump.  Our local group meets every other week to discuss the issues and write post cards to our congressional representatives.  2 from our group visit the local offices each week.  I also helped to organize an online support campaign for Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly LGBTQ Bishop in the United Methodist Church.  We solicited letters from her colleagues from seminary to nationally known faith leaders to speak out in support of both her inspirational leadership, qualifications as well as to end the repression of the LGBTQ community within the United Methodist Church.  Our campaign lives on Facebook at #ToBishopKOwithLove (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ToBishopKOwithLove/?ref=bookmarks">https://www.facebook.com/ToBishopKOwithLove/?ref=bookmarks</a>). I continue to join Candy and the Rev. Janet Edwards as advisors to the Global Faith and Equality Fund of the Horizons Foundation.  This fund focuses on stemming the exportation of homophobia by faith leaders from the United States primarily to the Global South, and it supports organizations in the US who are doing this essential work.  It is an honor to be a part of this team. This year, Candy and I are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of our covenant in June 1987.  I continue my spiritual direction practice as well as my study and teaching of the Enneagram.  I also love mentoring younger activists! I dream of strategizing with other older activists to discern the importance and place of being grandparents of the movement in this time.  I will do this as time allows.  As we have many interests, frienda and family that call for our attention and our time! While I am still a seeker, I no longer consider myself a Christian.  I’m still curious about sacredness, community and belonging.  And I sit content with what I have experienced and learned and what else beckons us beyond the horizon. Biographical Text Debra Lynn Peevey provided this first-person profile statement, "Being Me for 40 Years in the Movement for LGBTQ Inclusion." I’ve always been a seeker.  Born in Southern California in 1953, I sensed from a very young age that there was something more to life than what we could see.  I had no formal religious teaching, except for an errant VBS week in hot Arizona summers when visiting my grandparents in Yuma.  My mother remains an Atheist/scientist who rejected Christianity as a child.  She blossomed in the life of the mind and being curious about the unknown.    I was curious about God, about community and about belonging.  And in college, my deep loneliness sent me on a search to find and experience them.  As part of my registration at UC Berkeley, in the fall of 1971 I filled out a religious preference card and wrote Christian, having been baptized at First Presbyterian Church of Yuma, AZ as an infant.  My card was sent to University Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and they wrote me right back!  It had been awhile since they had had a CAL student drop in their laps.  My student co-op was just down the street from the church on the North side of campus, and I went there my first Sunday in town. It was liberal, had women clergy (1971, remember), was against the peace time draft, for gun control, supported women’s reproductive choice and had a meal program and clothes closet for the poor.  It was a perfect fit for me! I reveled in this congregation and denomination for the first 5 years.  I experienced God, community and belonging there—that might well have saved my life.  But, not having grown up in the church, I had no idea that University Christian Church in Berkeley, CA was not representative of either mainline Protestant Christianity in general, nor the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in particular. And then I came out in June 1976.  Months later, I fell in love with my pastor’s daughter and a year later, followed her into seminary.  And thus began a 40 year journey into and out of the church. We were out when we arrived at Pacific School of Religion.  My coming out to myself was the closest experience I ever had to Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.  Scales fell from my eyes, an instantaneous life review through the lens of being a lesbian made my life make so much more sense; all the girl crushes and my less than enthusiastic relationships with boys and men.  I knew myself in a totally different light from that moment forward.  And I carried that enthusiasm with me into seminary, without defense against the real church, the real denomination or the real road I was setting out to travel.  In those days, there weren’t any affirming organizations, no Gay Inc. infrastructure, not a faith community on the planet that supported “self avowed practicing homosexuals” and the nascent gay rights movement was largely based on the personal courage of individual gay and lesbian people coming out.  And whatever movement existed, there was a fixed wall between homosexuals and people of faith.  To this day, many Christians’ believe you cannot be LGBTQ and Christian.  In that day, everyone believed it.  Homosexuals lived only underground and constantly in fear of detection, which could mean losing everything.  I was as clueless about this stark reality as I was about the church.  But I made up for my cluelessness with enthusiasm! My enthusiasm carried me a very long way.  It carried me through the Commission on the Ministry meetings when I came out and most of the members had never met a, “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”  And meeting quarterly for the 3 years of Seminary, they came to trust our journey and our calls. We were met with more curiosity than judgment.  They supported us, at risk to their own careers. They trusted that God was working in and through us to open hearts and minds in the church. In 1979, I attended my first General Assembly, where I had my first real experience of the denomination as whole!  In St. Louis—homosexuals and allies met offsite—for the very first time.  A small (half of a 3x5 card) message was tacked to a message board inviting folks to meet by calling a number to get more information.  The card kept being removed and it kept being resurrected.  We met secretly—from seminarians to denominational executives--to begin talking about how to be and build more support.  And at that Assembly, we also voted as a denomination on the blue ribbon panel’s finding that it was outside the will of God to ordain self-avowed practicing homosexuals.  The dozen of us who had met the night before the vote had strategized our presence on the Assembly floor for the vote.  Apparently overnight the strategy changed but I wasn’t in the loop, so I wound up standing alone at the NO microphone to speak out against the resolution.  As I stood there by myself, the loneliness that had brought me to the church, began to seep back into my bones. Shortly after returning to Berkeley, we met with the Commission on the Ministry to talk about how to move forward.  While it could have been the end, fortunately, the polity of the Disciples of Christ is so congregationally based that congregations and regions have local autonomy that can differ from a denominational stand.  Our Commission on the Ministry decided to ask our Northern California Region to vote on an alternative point of view about ordination.  The vote at our Regional Assembly was on this resolution:  We affirm that no one human condition can be an absolute barrier to ordination.  This resolution passed and subsequently opened the door to ordination for my partner and me, as well as others going forward. Seminary was hard.  It was like being tossed in a Cuisianart on chop! Not having grown up in the church, every one of my beliefs had been whispered in my ear by my grandmother.  I believed her, so I believed what she whispered in my ear!  Learning in my first class, on my very first day that King David was a rapist and a murderer did not fit into my Sunday school theology about him being beloved of God and a hero of his day.  I was shaken to my theological core for the next 3 years!  I was fighting for my right to exist.  I was fighting for the tenure of the first Black professor, Dr. Archie Smith as well as the first woman professor, Dr. Karen Lebacqz.  Studying took a back seat to politics, but I made it through at the end. In my second year of seminary, my partner and I met with the Dean of Students, Rev. Barbara Roche to ask for married student housing.  We wanted to move into campus housing to save money and married student housing meant we would share one rent, rather than each having full rent as single students in a dorm room.  Dean Roche had just returned from a General Assembly of the PCUSA where the issue of homosexuality came to such a fevered pitch, that the openly gay and lesbian Presbyterians present needed police escorts for their safety.  She was so shocked at that vitriol and hatred that she determined there and then not to participate in it.  She asked us if we would be married, if we could be married?  I replied, “Would you be willing to marry us, Rev. Roche?”  And she gave us a married student apartment that day!  Our move into the married student apartment building wasn’t without controversy, but overall we were well received. At Pacific School of Religion we worked to include gay and lesbian couples issues in our marriage counseling classes.  We lead chapel and talked about gay rights.  We invited Meg Christian to do a concert in the PSR Chapel that was standing room only.  I remember her finishing her concert, looking up at the cross hanging above the Chancel and getting a very impish look in her eye.  She just had to do one more song about her… Gym Teacher!  We were all on our feet singing along:  “She was a big strong woman, the first to come along, that taught me being female meant you still could be strong….”  Feminist theology was just on the horizon then.  Jerry Falwell had declared war on “self avowed practicing homosexuals.”  Harvey Milk and thousands of us marched in San Francisco Pride.  Shortly thereafter he was assassinated and we turned out 30,000 strong to protest and weep and determined to live out of the closet! And then the process for ordination began in earnest.  I had been the Minister in Training at Lafayette Christian Church from 1979-1980.   The first night I met with the youth group, one of their young members had committed suicide.  It created a bond that remains with some of them, to this day.  We celebrated communion with Coke and cookies—being what we had on hand—and we talked about what it meant to be a member of the Body of Christ.  I was out to the Senior Pastor, Rev. Stan Smith—but we opted not to make my being a lesbian an issue before the members of the church got to know me.  The following year, I came out when I wrote a letter to the Board asking them to support me as a candidate for ministry.  As word leaked out to the entire congregation, there was a cry for an all congregation meeting so they could confront me.  Rather than beginning that way, I was asked to meet with small groups that would be moderated by Elders in the church.  These meetings were excruciating.  Members cried and screamed at me.  They were certain I had molested their children.  They threw scripture at me like venom and brickbats.  Through it all, I did my best to be a model homosexual…polite, reflective, reassuring and reasonable.  After this series of meetings, I had one more hoop to jump.  I had to meet in person with the Board of Directors so they too could question me.  There were supporters and detractors at the meeting and I pretty much knew who was who.  The most significant moment for me was when Elder Joe Young, the only Black member of the Board, sitting across the long table looked at me and said, “Debra, I am so disappointed in you”, (I hadn’t allowed myself to cry at any of the horrible heartbreaking meetings I’d been through…but here tears fell down my face, even as I sat stone faced and listened as he continued to speak). “ I am disappointed in you, because you make me remember what it is like to sit at the head of a table and be seen only as an issue, rather than as a human being.”  His understanding cracked me wide open.  I worked hard to compose myself and thanked him.  I felt like everything I had gone through up to this moment, was worth it.  And then a woman, who had made me a cassock (to cover my impoverished student clothing) cried out at me, wanting to know why I was forcing her to leave her church.  I did my best to point out that she had hundreds of churches she could attend, while there were only a handful that would welcome me.  Her leaving caused us all a lot of pain. And finally the youth representative on the Board stood up to talk about how pivotal my ministry with them had been and how I had only ever acted with complete integrity around them.  They saw my coming out as an extension of that integrity.  When they voted, the vote was 12 in favor, 3 against.  I was beyond exhausted and I was going to be ordained. I insisted on being out in my ordination process because I couldn’t make sense of lying to become a minister; the polity of the denomination made it possible and because I never wanted anyone to be able to say that they wouldn’t have ordained me if they had known.  Everyone suggested I lie.  They knew more of what I would face if I didn’t, but that never seemed like good counsel from a seasoned minister to an aspiring one.  I wrote a paper in my Ethics class based on Adrienne Rich’s book, On Lies, Secrets and Silence.  Once my mom started speaking to me again, two years after I came out to her, she said I insisted on it because I’d never learned to keep my mouth shut!  That is a truth I also cannot deny. My ordination on May 31, 1981 was a wonderful celebration at Lafayette Christian Church, in a community in the East Bay of Northern California. The assembled people of God, the music, the focus on inclusion (even the bulletin was a rainbow!) and the spirit of what we had come through together made the laying on of hands an entire congregational affair! And then as Elder Joe Young and I stood together at the communion table and represented the possibility of love overcoming fear in the history of the church and society, we broke the bread and felt the re-membering of the Body of Christ in our presence. My partner and I had broken up before my last year in seminary.  It was a blow to us and to the seminary community.  I had moved to Seattle, to follow a new relationship and a job.  When I arrived in Seattle—the job I’d been hired for was no longer available.  The Senior Minister neglected to tell me that before I moved, but he did out my new partner to her boss.  I cobbled together two jobs at different congregations, one Disciples the other UCC.  Things in Seattle weren’t great, so I was open to other possibilities. Shortly after my graduation and ordination, I interviewed for jobs in Southern California because our General Assembly met there.  I had two congregations interested in me—which was amazing because women clergy were still relatively rare and few congregations were interested in hiring us.  The interview process in each congregation played out the same way.  At the first interview they loved me!  They had me meet with the youth, the women’s group, and the pulpit committee.  As they prepared to invite me to come back for a second interview, the committee members asked me if there was anything else they should know.  I replied happily, “Yes, I am a lesbian.”  And rather than just showing me the door, or actually remembering that they had thought I was good enough to ask back for a second interview, they screamed at me about needing to seek medical care for their children to make sure I hadn’t molested them, threw scripture at me, and couldn’t get me out the door fast enough.  At the second congregation, the first interview went just as well.  They asked me back for a second interview and when I showed up for it, I could tell something was very wrong.  One of the ministers who was a close friend of my ordaining pastor had outed me to the committee.  When I walked in to the interview room after church, instead of simply telling me that I was no longer a candidate, they asked me if the horrible news was true and when I confirmed it, they proceeded to abuse me with scripture, their fear and loathing and threatened to take me to jail if I had abused any of their children.  This took place as the Senior Pastor, a closeted gay man, sat there and let the abuse continue before asking me to leave. After these experiences of truth telling, I instituted my own don’t ask, don’t tell policy.  I would answer truthfully any interviewing body that asked me if I was a lesbian, but I wasn’t going to tell them if they didn’t ask.  So I headed back to Seattle and to my two jobs, having been shaken to the core.  And a couple of months later, the Regional Minister, the Rev. Bob Brock called and asked if I would like my name given to Findlay Street Christian Church (FSCC) in the south end of Seattle and I told him yes.  Bob also said,  “I hate to send anyone there who thinks they can do anything with that church.”  I didn’t know whether to be insulted or grateful.  Women clergy were more often than not, considered for just such congregations.  1982-1996 The good people of FSCC interviewed me on 10 separate occasions.  And finally they narrowed their search to two candidates, a young man serving in Georgia and me.  If they chose me, they didn’t have to pay moving expenses, so they invited me to preach and stay to meet with the congregation afterward for a potluck.  That same day they held the vote.  The most memorable moment of that day was when a woman asked me if I was sure I was the right man for the job.  I tucked my head and looked inside my dress and assured her that I definitely was not the right man for the job, but if she gave me a chance, I believed I could prove to her I was the right person for the job!  The issue of being a lesbian never came up and I was hired with 90% support of the congregation. I began my ministry at FSCC on July 1, 1982.  It was a small congregation, located in a working class neighborhood in the south end of Seattle, in the most integrated zip code in Washington.  In spite of this, it was a predominantly white congregation and most of the members had supported covenants keeping Jews and Blacks from moving into the nearby neighborhoods that fronted Lake Washington.  Most of the men who worked, worked at Boeing.  Most of the women were older widows.  I was 29.  Five people passed away my first year.  As they watched me sit vigil and bury their friends, they came to see that having a woman minister was going to be OK.  I was active in the community beyond the church.  I helped to organize a women clergy group meeting.  It seemed every denomination had one or two in Seattle!  I was invited to be a Founding Mother for the Women’s Funding Alliance.  We took on United Way to challenge their monopoly on the Combined Federal Campaign.  Gay and lesbian folk began hearing about a lesbian pastor at a small church in the south end and came to the church.  After 5 years of serving in the closet, I was ready to quit.  By then, I had met my partner—now spouse Candy S. Cox-- and she challenged me to stay and try telling the truth again instead of quitting.  So I put things in motion to do just that. I asked an Elder to go a visit a woman who had stopped attending the church.  I had heard from another member that Jody had quit coming because there were homosexuals at the church and she was afraid of AIDS.  So Bob took Jody to lunch and called me immediately and said we needed to meet!  We had lunch later that week and he told me why Jody wasn’t coming any more. He told me that it was my job to make sure none of “them” had leadership positions. And then he told me that the Elders had already met and they wanted to know where I stood on the issue of homosexuality.  I was shaken and I told him I’d get back to him about when I would preach on the subject.  I went home and did a lectionary study and picked the lectionary that began on the first Sunday in Lent, March 15, 1987.  Peter’s Dream in Acts 10:9-16 and the Exodus story were the cornerstone of my sermon. I began my sermon, with great thanks to Candy, talking about the various times the church had stood on the wrong side of history.  People’s lives had been ruined and even lost by the Church’s insistence that the earth was flat, that the earth was the center of the universe, that slavery was Biblically sound, that the Gospel shouldn’t be in the common vernacular, that evolution wasn’t real and that women shouldn’t be ordained.  Each of these culture wars had ended with the church having to concede they were wrong (except the argument about women’s ordination still lingers on).  And now, in 1987 the church had the opportunity to stand on the right side of history by seeing homosexuality as akin to being left handed in a right- handed culture.  When I got to that point in my sermon, people got up and walked out.  Some never returned.  Some stayed to make sure I lost my job, even though I still hadn’t come out.  And the history of FSCC changed irrevocably that day.  And we came to know the living reality of the Exodus and working together to discern how something God once called unclean, could now be known as clean. Lent became real for all of us. Those who stayed felt cast into the wilderness.  Turmoil, uncertainty, and anxiety filled the building and followed us home. The Elders met the next night and could have easily fired me, but instead processed my sermon and created a plan. As Elder after Elder shared their response, I was shocked and awed.  They said if I thought it was important then we should study the issue more.  They said they had loved all the new members up to the point of learning that some were gay and lesbian and it wouldn’t be Christian to stop loving them now.  They said they church hadn’t ever stood up for anything, and maybe this was our chance.  And then one Elder said, “I can’t believe what I am hearing!  It is as if prejudice and bigotry have gotten a bad name in this church! And if that is so, I am prepared to resign!”  The Chair of the Elders said she was ready to accept his resignation, because prejudice and bigotry had no place in the church. And thus began a 6 week long process of small group Bible study and congregational education about homophobia. Suspicions ran high among those who stayed.  Older members insisted on being in the room when the collection was counted to make sure the new members weren’t there to cheat the church.  Some of the laity came out and told their stories.  Members questioned what they had always been taught and were open to seeing the clobber texts in new ways, when viewed through the lens of other scriptures.  25% of the members never came back, but new people started coming when they heard what we were doing. And then Holy Week arrived!  Monday night of Holy Week was the regularly scheduled Board Meeting.  It was the first congregational opportunity to fire me.  I had spent the month coming out to the Elders, so when they voted on whether or not to fire me, they were fully informed.  The mood for the meeting was like a public hanging.  The man who had been my Elder, drove back and forth in front of the church telling people to vote me out.  Yet, he didn’t have the courage of his convictions to come into the building and cast his vote.  45 members attended and 30 could vote.  The one man who could have successfully led the charge against me didn’t, even as he had told me he would vote against me that night.  And because he didn’t lead the charge, my opposition petered out and wasn’t able to muster the votes to fire me.  Instead my ministry was supported, with a vote that was exactly double the vote of my ordination approval, 24-6.  And come Easter morning, we experienced the Resurrection in reality.  We made it through.  We were still standing.  We knew the elation and the fear of the empty tomb.  We wept collectively at what we had been through.  We grieved our losses.  We celebrated our new beginning.  We recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit and be began to build a new way of being church together. Candy and I had long been planning to have a Covenant Ceremony that June 27th during Pride Weekend.  So at the June Board Meeting, I officially came out to the Board.  Most people greeted the news with enthusiasm, and a few more people left.  Now while building a resurrection community, we were also ready to help build a national movement within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Working with others across the denomination, we helped to found GLAD, the Gay Lesbian and Affirming Disciples organization.  Candy served as a founding board member.  Findlay Street Christian Church became the first Open and Affirming Congregation within this new organization.  Candy announced the formation of GLAD on the floor of the General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky in October of 1987. In a room of more than 8.000, you could have heard a pin drop!  We went to the National March on Washington en route to the Assembly, where the AIDS Quilt was laid out for the first time.  It was the first and only time I ever wore a collar.  People were amazed to see a minister there.  It was so important for me to be a presence of love and grace to so many whom had been so deeply hurt by the church. Findlay Street continued to grow and flourish after we became Open and Affirming.  We doubled in size and even won prizes for evangelism.  When the National Evangelistic Association called and asked us for the secret to our success, once we told them, they mailed us the certificate rather than helping to tell our story more publicly! I continued my ministry for 5 more years at FSCC.  We were the church that many of the men dying of AIDS chose to come to.  We were the church that those who had broken relationships with the church chose to come to.  We were the church that housed the People of Color Against AIDS Network offices as well as the Community Food Bank.  We gave space to a Black social worker to be a community liaison and to provide help to church members in lieu of rent.  I preached at the first World AIDS Day service at First Baptist Church and I was on local television and in the paper as an open lesbian pastor. Having been part of the national movement within the Disciples as well as very public in Seattle, I became a target for hate mail.  Especially, every time Disciple Renewal—the most conservative group within the denomination-- told our story to point out the moral depravity and decay of the Church.  I came to call myself the Disciple Renewal poster child, as I was their best fundraiser of all time!  I was on the General Board of the denomination at the time and so also had access to denominational leaders.  So many told me I was good for my cause.  And so many supported me in private, but very rarely did as the need increasingly rose to support me in public. After fifteen years of being out, being the only open gay or lesbian minister (the second person openly ordained, the wonderful <a href="http://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/rolling-the-stone-away/item/1398">Rev. Allen Harris</a> was ordained in 1991, ten full years after me) and being exhausted by the national and local hate that came my way, I knew it was time for me to leave.  On the first Sunday in Advent in 1990 I preached on the church being pregnant and being in a time of preparing for new birth, and I heard these words during my pastoral prayer. “You are not the midwife to bring new life to this church.”  And I knew it was true.  I resigned the next Sunday and served til the end of February 1991. I needed extended time to heal.  I left ministry feeling like I had no skin.  The pain stored in my body equaled my body weight.  Blessedly, Candy agreed that I didn’t have to work for a while.  And then she decided to sell her business and take a year off with me.  We travelled some, but mostly I quilted and gardened and worked to regain my strength. A year later, when we both needed to go back to work, Candy found me a job posting at Hospice of Seattle.  I got the job and for the first time in my life and ministry being a lesbian was a plus.  It was during the AIDS crisis and many of the men on hospice were afraid of the church and a chaplain.  But my nurses and social workers were able to tell them about me and then they were so relieved and so in need of God’s grace.  I sat with many parents who did not know their sons were gay, until they learned of their deaths by AIDS.  This was a great transition ministry for me that lasted for 4 years.  During my time at Hospice of Seattle I went back and did post graduate work in spiritual direction at Seattle University.  This was a period of deep healing as well as a time of recognition about how deep my wounds really were. 1996-2006 Candy got a new job in Washington DC, so we moved to Reston, Virginia.  I worked as a spiritual director there, lead lots of retreats for leaders of various congregations as well as women’s retreats.  I kept my foot in the door, but did not join a church and lost my standing in the Disciples.  I simply did not have the stuffing to jump through their appropriate hoops to continue my ministerial credentials.  I felt like the church had left me.  And fortunately, in my time away from parish ministry, I had learned that that wasn’t the same as God leaving me. We lived in Virginia for 10 years.  My first volunteer project there was with the AIDS Quilt.  I volunteered as a quilter and as a fundraiser.  When the entire Quilt was displayed for the last time in 1996, I helped family members and friends make panels for their loved ones and Candy and I had the honor of witnessing President and Mrs. Clinton walk silently among the panels.  He was the first president to ever acknowledge the Quilt.  During that long October weekend, when 44,000 panels were already on display, covering the entire Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capitol building, we also received over 2,500 new panels.  That was 300 more than had been on display in 1987.  I remained a volunteer and helped them develop a successful fundraising campaign. As part of my work at Seattle University, I learned about the Enneagram.  It is a psycho-social-spiritual typology that meets you at the depths you will meet it.  We read a book about it shortly before moving and were interested in learning more.  So while in VA, I participated in the teacher training for Certification in the Riso-Hudson school of the Enneagram.  It continues to be the most important approach to building a life of faithful service that I have ever found.  I use it in my spiritual direction practice as well as for my own spiritual growth and formation.  I am blessed with wonderful teachers and guides. During this deep dive into spiritual direction and leading retreats on adult spiritual formation, Candy leapt into leadership at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).  She served as Co-Chair on the Board and then worked with their media team.  Fundraising in DC is a heady mix of rubbing shoulders with movie stars and political sheroes and heroes.  Her work in advertising and with the Task Force was a very exciting and fulfilling time of life! 2006-2017 When Candy retired from the advertising business, we decided to move to Mexico.  We were hungry for an adventure and to become citizens of the world.  It was an amazing experience living in a foreign country. After 18 months we knew that living in Mexico wasn’t a long term retirement strategy for us, (though we still hold the dream of living internationally) so we moved back to the states.  We picked Arizona because we did not want to be old and cold and we love the sun!  Six months after moving back, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutional Ban against same sex marriage was illegal!  I proposed to Candy in the car as we listened to the story break on NPR.  We wanted to go to California and get married!  In 1987 when we had our covenant, our families were invited and only one of my brothers had come.  He stood with me.  In 2008, we called every member and they all wanted to be there!  In five weeks we planned everything so that 21 years and 1 day after our covenant, we were legally married in my sister’s back yard on June 28, 2008, with my same brother Neal standing at my side. On our honeymoon, we decided to volunteer full time against Prop 8.  Candy worked with the media team creating amazing videos and I worked with the field team as a field organizer for Santa Barbara County and as one of two state wide Faith Field Organizers, along with the Rev. Lindi Ramsden a UU pastor I knew from seminary.  I had hoped that having been ordained in CA and knowing lots of folks there, I would be able to leverage them and their congregations to be champions for marriage equality.  I was wrong. Working on the NO on Prop 8 campaign was the hardest thing we have ever done.  The best part was Candy and I learning how much we loved working on projects together and forming bonds with the field team that continue strong today. The worst part was losing after pouring our hearts in 17 hours a day for months as well as being reintroduced to the vitriol of Christian’s.  Each side raised $44,000.000 in that campaign, and traveling the state to talk to Christian’s about supporting us had some high notes, but mostly it was a cacophony of hatefulness.  The election of President Barack Obama that same night helped to ease some of our pain. Losing in California was a wake up call to us all!  Marriage Equality was an issue whose time came after the passage of Prop 8.  The entire country was stunned and we saw after losing 32 ballot initiatives in a row, that we needed to change our strategy. And it also signaled a change in my career.  From our work against Prop 8, we began receiving calls to help with various campaigns. In 2009, I was asked to be part of the planning team for and to preach at Believe Out Loud, a first of its kind coming together of the Task Force’s Field Team and the Welcoming Church Program Leaders member’s base.  Each Welcoming Program was tasked with identifying participants to attend and learn the basics of organizing to create public policy change.  For three days organizers and local church members worked together to instill organizing principles and tactics.  Overcoming the resistance to organizing within congregations and communities was and is a very steep climb.  My sermon sought to bridge the gap between these two communities.  Some participants really caught hold of the theory of change that says, change the church, change the world, change the church.  Clips from my sermon are available here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URAgyLlmi8Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URAgyLlmi8Q</a>. More Light Presbyterians asked me to join their calling team to have conversations with Presbyterian clergy to end the ban on ordination of LGBT candidates for ministry. Working with Toby Rogers and the Rev. Janet Edwards as well as the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, I had conversations with about 500 Presbyterian clergy that summer. We didn’t prevail in passing Amendment 08B, but we lost forward and made it clear that rescinding the ban was possible.  Only 500 votes out of thousands cast separated winning from losing.  Next the Arcus Foundation hired us to evaluate three Welcoming Church Programs.  Arcus had donated a million dollars over the previous 5 years to these three programs and wanted an independent evaluation of their efficacy.  Together we created an interview plan to evaluate Reconciling Ministries Network and their work among the United Methodist Church, Lutherans Concerned and their work in the ELCA, and finally Integrity and the Chicago Consultation and their work within the Episcopal Church.  With the full cooperation of the organizations, I conducted 80 interviews and heard first hand the impact as well as the growing edges of each organization.  In general the evaluations showed that the organizations met or exceeded their granting objectives, and each group was given suggestions for moving forward to enhance the efficacy of their work. More Light called again in 2010 after another resolution had passed the PCUSA General Assembly to rescind the ban on the ordination of LGBT candidates, meaning another national phone campaign to ratify the new Amendment 10A was necessary.  This time I was better prepared and I was able to call many of the same clergy I had two years before.  It was great to catch up!  Candy and I strategized with Tricia again and Candy created a masterful statistical chart that became the heartbeat of the MLP campaign.  I had about 1000 conversations that summer and Candy handled the statistics and the media.  It was clear that we were going to ratify Amendment 10A in early May of 2011, and I’ll never forget the night we reached ratification!  The Moderator of the PCUSA was in Minneapolis and we trusted that the Presbytery of the Twin Cities would vote to ratify.  The entire media plan was based on their voting before Pacific Presbytery did that same night.  But then a huge storm hit Minneapolis and they broke for dinner.  We created a new media plan as we waited, identifying spokespeople in Minnesota and Los Angeles.  Watching Candy at work was inspiring!  Finally the Twin Cities meeting was restarted and the vote to ratify meant the ordination ban on faithful LGBT Presbyterians had come to an end!  All the while we were hosting my mother and sister in the other room for my birthday.  One amazing moment was when Candy asked me to take over preparing dinner because the New York Times was on the phone! In 2012 I received a call from Dr. Sharon Groves, Director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Faith and Religion Program asking if I would be interested in applying for the position of Faith Director of Washington United for Marriage.  It meant moving back to Seattle for 4.5 months to be a member of the Field team.  I applied and was hired. Fortunately, I still had many faith contacts from my 10 years of ministry in Seattle.  I moved in with our dear friends Don and Ann Berrysmith and went to work building a Faith Cabinet, leaders within each denomination who could both advise me and lead work within their own constituencies/denominations to organize and engage teams within local congregations to support the work of the campaign.  Our primary objective was to engage our faith supporters to hold conversations within their congregations and over the phone with voters.  Christian faith organizations were the largest opponents to the ballot initiative and it was my job to mobilize and maximize the voices of people of faith who supported marriage equality because of their faith.  The faith team of Aubrey Thonvold, Stephen Crippen and me created teams within all the expected denominations as well as with Mormons for Marriage Equality and Catholics for Marriage Equality.  All people of faith wore the same button supporting the ballot initiative.  If you consider all the faith wars historically and now, that was a major accomplishment!  We sold out of our first 1,500 buttons and nearly our second batch as well.  Those buttons were responsible for thousands of conversations across the state.  Washington, Maryland and Maine all passed marriage equality ballot measures in one night and Minnesota revoked their Constitutional Marriage ban.  4 ballot victories in one night after 32 straight losses at the ballot box!  Every campaign had a faith director! I came home exhausted!  Right after that campaign, the Rev. Rebecca Voekel of the Institute of Welcoming Resources of the Task Force asked me if I would consider taking a job with them as their Lead Ecumenical Trainer.  The job would be to travel the country working with any/all of the welcoming church programs whenever they held a Building an Inclusive Church workshop.  I would train and be responsible to make sure every participant got connected to their correct denominational program.  We were still committed to building more welcoming congregations in order to empower the members to engage in conversations within their churches and in their communities.  I said no to this request initially because I needed to rest.  It was filled instead by my good friend <a href="http://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/rolling-the-stone-away/item/1396">Alex McNeil</a>.  When he was hired to be the ED of More Light Presbyterians, I then took the job.  I held the post from mid 2014 to the end of 2016.  It was a blessing to work with the organizers at the Task Force (National LGBTQ Task Force by now) as well as the trainers among the denominational welcoming groups.  One of the best nights in my life as a faith organizer, was the last meal I shared with them receiving their gifts of grace and getting to share my heart with them one by one. In 2013, More Light Presbyterians came calling again.  Against my better judgment, both More Light and Covenant Network decided to forward resolutions to the General Assembly in support of removing language prohibiting marriage equality.  Tricia, Candy and I all thought it was a bad idea.  We didn’t think it had a chance of passing the Assembly and would stir up lingering animus of the previous two votes.  We were wrong!  It passed the General Assembly by one of the widest margins ever at the Assembly.  So we got to work.  This time though, because we opted not to make the calls ourselves, but instead to supervise a team of regional coordinators who would use our well honed tactics to build teams within every presbytery possible to do the outreach themselves.  This built empowered communities in each presbytery to work together to create change going forward.  Amendment 14F also passed the presbyteries by a wide margin.  Our work with More Light Presbyterians was complete. In 2014 I applied to be the Faith Director of Why Marriage Matters Arizona!  The ED, Jeremy Zegas and I had worked together on the ballot measure in Washington. My job was to secure faith leaders’ support for marriage equality.  We asked them to write letters, hold press conferences, prayer breakfasts, preach and write letters to the editor about how their faith underscored their support of marriage equality.  On October 17, 2014 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the constitutional ban on same sex marriage and Attorney General Tom Horne opted not to appeal.  Candy and I attended the press conference with the Attorney General and hit SEND on my texts to over 100 faith leaders who were ready to deploy to every courthouse in the State of Arizona.  They carried signs that said, “I Stand Ready to Marry You.”   Over 130 marriages took place that day!  Most couples had been waiting decades and were thrilled to be able to marry that day.  Here’s one article about that amazing day:  <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/17/arizona-gay-marriage-ruling/17431229/">http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/10/17/arizona-gay-marriage-ruling/17431229/</a>  We were ready and we celebrated that night with a huge overflow crowd at the UCC Conference Offices in Phoenix and at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson. From my work on the Why Marriage Matters Arizona campaign, in 2015 I was asked to work with the team from ONE Community, co-founded by CEO and President Angela Hughey.  Angela created OC with her spouse Sheri Owens in 2007 to reach out to the business community to build support for full LGBT inclusion within their organizations. ONE Community’s Unity Pledge is the largest LGBTQ inclusive pledge in the country.  This is her core belief: It’s time to ensure equality for all Arizona employees, residents, and consumers. It’s the right thing to do. It’s good for business. It’s good for the business of Arizona. Her business plan changed when the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill giving businesses the right to discriminate against, including refusing service to LGBT patrons so long as they cited sincerely held religious beliefs.   The bill lingered for 5 days on Gov. Jan Brewer’s desk. During those days, ONE Community, which had the best relationships with businesses across Arizona, mounted a campaign to get the governor to veto SB 1062.  Thus launched a statewide Open for Business to Everyone campaign that distributed 3500 signs statewide (in less than 72 hours) for businesses to display. The sign was downloaded over 100,000 times as well!  Faith communities had also joined in to request the veto. A senior Evangelical pastor, who was in the room told me that he and 4 other Evangelical pastors met with the governor the day she vetoed the bill and in the privacy of her office suggested she veto it too.  It was bad business all the way around for the State.  Gov. Brewer did veto SB 1062, but we have yet to have statewide protections for the LGBT community. I was brought on to build out the faith support for full statewide inclusion.  Together we built a group of 225 faith leaders, including all the mainline denominations, Jews, Muslims and Mormons.  They have written, testified, preached and hosted a powerful curriculum called The Star Activity that puts participants in the life experience shoes of LGBTQ people in a very real way!  Our small team worked with business leaders, faith leaders, public school leaders, medical workers and social service providers to train them in LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace, in the school, and in the public square.  Everyone is always surprised that in 26 states there are still no statewide protections in housing, employment and public accommodations for the LGBTQ community.  I retired as the Lead Ecumenical Trainer of the National LGBTQ Task Force and ONE Community in December 2016.  Since then I have initiated two campaigns.  The first grew organically from the Women’s March on Jan 21, 2017, when 25,000 of us marched in Phoenix and joined marchers from around the world in the largest single protest march in the world. We were all declaring our support for values of inclusion and solidarity in the wake of the election of Donald Trump.  Our local group meets every other week to discuss the issues and write post cards to our congressional representatives.  2 from our group visit the local offices each week.  I also helped to organize an online support campaign for Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly LGBTQ Bishop in the United Methodist Church.  We solicited letters from her colleagues from seminary to nationally known faith leaders to speak out in support of both her inspirational leadership, qualifications as well as to end the repression of the LGBTQ community within the United Methodist Church.  Our campaign lives on Facebook at #ToBishopKOwithLove (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ToBishopKOwithLove/?ref=bookmarks">https://www.facebook.com/ToBishopKOwithLove/?ref=bookmarks</a>). I continue to join Candy and the Rev. Janet Edwards as advisors to the Global Faith and Equality Fund of the Horizons Foundation.  This fund focuses on stemming the exportation of homophobia by faith leaders from the United States primarily to the Global South, and it supports organizations in the US who are doing this essential work.  It is an honor to be a part of this team. This year, Candy and I are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of our covenant in June 1987.  I continue my spiritual direction practice as well as my study and teaching of the Enneagram.  I also love mentoring younger activists! I dream of strategizing with other older activists to discern the importance and place of being grandparents of the movement in this time.  I will do this as time allows.  As we have many interests, frienda and family that call for our attention and our time! While I am still a seeker, I no longer consider myself a Christian.  I’m still curious about sacredness, community and belonging.  And I sit content with what I have experienced and learned and what else beckons us beyond the horizon. 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 Debra Peevey arcus Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Debra Peevey Disciples of Christ GLAD GLAD Alliance Institute of Welcoming Resources More Light Presbyterians for LGBT Concerns Presbyterian https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/4e39b9cd77c2ebc0c3495f46c407755b.jpg 544153fb15d96f09439f5567f45a8814 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Rev. Deborah L. Johnson was born in Los Angeles, California at 1956, toward the end of the “baby boom.” She came of age during the tumultuous 1960s and early ‘70s with urban riots, assassinations, burgeoning feminist and LGBT movements—a time of much seeking and searching.  Deborah sensed a dissonance within herself as a child.  Not aware of the notion of gay, she questioned if she was trans, - a boy in a girl’s body as she did not relate to “girly” things but rather wanted to be the hero who got the girl.  As early as age 11, Deborah recalls talking with her parents about her gender dilemmas.  She knew she didn’t want to be a boy or emulate masculine culture; what she sought was the power and privilege afforded to males simply for being male. She learned that she had her own inner power as a female. Deborah grew up in one of the flagship churches of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC)—Emmanuel Church under the leadership of Bishop Samuel Crouch.  Deborah was mentored there by a number of prominent and successful adults. Although he was a well-known leader in the world Pentecostal Movement, Crouch was calm and soft-spoken in his demeanor.  Deborah never experienced any condemnation from him.  However, many of the guest preachers and speakers who came through Emmanuel to preached while he was touring regularly spewed “hell, fire and brimstone” against homosexuality, amongst other “deadly sins.” Deborah’s very Pentecostal mom taught remedial math at a school for at risk girls. Her more moderate Christian father was a pharmacist. In the 10th grade, Deborah’s did her first term paper on homosexuality soon after the Stonewall Riots. As the only books on the subject at the time were reference books, Deborah had her mom to drive her around town to various libraries to research clueless that this was a big clue to her mom. This only raised the suspicion her mother already had about Deborah’s relationship with a girlfriend that was “too close.” During this period, Deborah’s mom walks in on them necking and the battle was soon on to save Deborah’s soul. The couple stayed together throughout Deborah’s high school and college years. As a 15-year old high school senior and president of the student body of her 3,200, Deborah was very politically active determined to become a civil rights lawyer. She received the call to ministry during an altar call at a Youth Convocation in NYC complete with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues which at the time Deborah disbelieved. Deborah’s mom was president of the Women’s Christian Council, a position she ultimately would hold for 45 years. Believing that God would also send her to hell for her child’s homosexuality, Deborah’s call to ministry was answered prayer and the sign that God would turn Deborah straight. Her mom’s zeal to save them both from the ravages of hell in the afterlife created a living hell on earth with her homemade conversion therapies. Deborah’s father, a pharmacist proposed a medical route. She finally consented to psychiatry with no meds or shock therapy, but eventually refused any more efforts to “cure” her. Deborah graduated from high school in 1972 at age 16 and enrolled in USC, the family tradition.  Given the three-pronged assault on homosexuality of the day—abnormal under psychiatry, a felony crime under the law, satanic in her church doctrine —there were scant resources and no positive images for coming out.  However, at the same time, there was a trinity of liberation, the release of two books and a play – The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay by Rev Troy Perry the title suggesting that God could love gay people; Lesbian Women by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, her first evidence that a long term relationship between two women was possible; and Ntozake Shange’s play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, “I found God in myself and I love herfiercely.”  This became the great awakening, the spiritual turning point for Deborah - God made her who she is, a relationship is possible, and God can be found within her as feminine not exclusively masculine….. OMG!!! This confirmed her deep-seeded belief in innate entitlement—she had the right not only to exist, but to have all that everyone else had. This began her journey to freedom. As she started college, the new gay group on campus met at a religious center, technically “off-campus,” but physically located in the center of campus.  Given her background, it seemed heretical for a gay group to meet in a church.  Ironically, in the early days of the movement, a number of gay groups found that the only place they could meet was in a church or religious center.  Initially Deborah was fearful to even pick up a flyer for one of the meetings. Believing Rev MLK Jr “God would not saddle any group with a permanent yoke of inferiority,” she maintained a fierce determination to manifest the prophecy she saw of being an equal citizen. She was prepared to change the entire would to make it so. The old-time Fanny Crosby hymn “Pass me not, O gentle Savior….do not pass me by,” became a solace for her.  Her theology and social thinking changed significantly during these college years.  However, she still lived her life in the closet. To protect her brother and cousin on campus at the same time, Deborah would going out in public with a guy who knew she was gay even though she had a girlfriend. Deborah earned a B.A. degree in economics from USC and an M.B.A. from UCLA.  In her post-college years she began quickly moved into a life of activism.  She served on the board of the Los Angeles Community Services Center beginning in 1979.  The onset of HIV/AIDS dramatically changed the political and sociological landscape.  Up to that point it was simply accepted that gays were outsiders in the Black Church. However, when the Black Church turned its back on so many men dying of AIDS, their family members began to push back on this inhospitality and injustice.  AIDS also brought men and women together in the movement in ways they had not been previously.  Every male member of the LA Center who originally served with Deborah and started the first AIDS organizations all died of the disease.  Lesbians began to emerge in more positions of leadership.  A “Blood Sisters” group was launched to donate blood.  The onslaught of AIDS led to a deeper sense of spiritual community among gay and lesbian networks as we cared for the sick and dying.  Deborah continued to provide leadership in moving both church and society to being more open and inclusive to LGBT persons. She served on the Board of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force 1991-1996, including as Co-Chair. She served as the co-plaintiff in the landmark 1984 court decision that set the precedence for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the California Civil Rights Bill.  Later in 2007 she was a the successful co-defendant with Gray Davis in defending the state’s Domestic Partnership Act. An important collaborator and mentor in Deborah’s life has been Michael Bernard Beckwith, well-known practitioner of New Global Thought and founder and leader of the Agape International Spiritual Center in southern California.  Deborah and Michael were raised in the same neighborhood and were friends from adolescence and she is a founding member of Agape. Their spiritual journeys ebbed and flowed alongside each other with Michael often serving as a spiritual guide for Deborah. After Michael went to ministerial school and founded his own religious center, Agape International, Deborah did likewise, getting a ministerial degree from the same alma mater Holmes Institute for Consciousness Studies, the Religious Science seminary. In 2014, his seminary awarded her with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. Having experienced a call to ministry at age 15, Rev. Johnson remained constant over the years in her understanding of the interweavings of the civil/secular and the religious/sacred. She continually espoused the understanding that they cannot be separated, but they must inform each other. Beginning in 1995 she discovered her own prophetic voice.  In a moment of darkness she heard the Voice of the Divine, whispering complete letters to her.  She published some of these letters in a series Letters From the Infinite, currently with two volumes, The Sacred Yes and Your Deepest Intent.  Preparing the letters for publication became an intense spiritual journey of affirmation for Deborah, having to dig deep into her own consciousness in order to become an oracle.  In January 1997, Rev. Deborah started Inner Light Ministries with twice-monthly religious services at the Veterans Hall in downtown Santa Cruz.  Inner Light Ministries is an Omnifaith outreach ministry dedicated to teaching the practical application of Universal Spiritual Principles to all of life’s circumstances.  Johnson espouses a vision of Oneness, beyond creed and doctrine, and feels particularly called to heal the sense of separation between those adhering to conservative and progressive ideologies. Johnson also founded The Motivational Institute, an organizational development consulting firm specializing in cultural diversity serving the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her clients have ranged from Fortune 500 companies to community based organizations. She is recognized as a dynamic public speaker, known for her ability to bring clarity to complex and emotionally charged issues. Rev. Deborah was inducted into the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College which honors clergy for their lifetime work in social justice. She has been a leadership development trainer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives, founded by Rabbi Michael Lerner and the Tikkun Community, Cornel West, and Sister Joan Chittister. As an advocate for continual and lifelong learning, Rev. Deborah has been a faculty member at several institutes of higher learning: UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership LGBT Diversity Training Institute; Pacific School of Religion; Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies; and the Agape University of Transformational Studies and Leadership. She has been also an Advisory Council member in the Association of Global New Thought and the Women’s Studies Department at Brandeis University. Her groundbreaking work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, radio, and television programs including Conversations with Neale (Neale Donald Walsch) radio show, Shambhala Sun magazine, Showtime TV’s Black Filmmaker Showcase production Jumpin’ the Broom, the film God and Gays: Bridging the Gap, and ABC Nightline. As a sign of God’s redemption and divine humor, Inner Light Ministries purchased and moved into a former Assemblies of God Church in Santa Cruz in 2003.  That pulpit was instrumental in the founding of Exodus International.  One of the former pastors, Rev Darlene Vogel, was a leader in the ex-gay movement.  For Rev. Deborah this transformation portrays one of the major themes in her life—to go back to the places where there has been hurt, pain and discrimination and bring an inclusive message of love.  (This biographical statement written by Mark Bowman from an interview with Deborah Johnson and from biographical materials on the Inner Light Ministries website with Deborah Johnson editing.) Biographical Text The Rev. Deborah L. Johnson was born in Los Angeles, California at 1956, toward the end of the “baby boom.” She came of age during the tumultuous 1960s and early ‘70s with urban riots, assassinations, burgeoning feminist and LGBT movements—a time of much seeking and searching.  Deborah sensed a dissonance within herself as a child.  Not aware of the notion of gay, she questioned if she was trans, - a boy in a girl’s body as she did not relate to “girly” things but rather wanted to be the hero who got the girl.  As early as age 11, Deborah recalls talking with her parents about her gender dilemmas.  She knew she didn’t want to be a boy or emulate masculine culture; what she sought was the power and privilege afforded to males simply for being male. She learned that she had her own inner power as a female. Deborah grew up in one of the flagship churches of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC)—Emmanuel Church under the leadership of Bishop Samuel Crouch.  Deborah was mentored there by a number of prominent and successful adults. Although he was a well-known leader in the world Pentecostal Movement, Crouch was calm and soft-spoken in his demeanor.  Deborah never experienced any condemnation from him.  However, many of the guest preachers and speakers who came through Emmanuel to preached while he was touring regularly spewed “hell, fire and brimstone” against homosexuality, amongst other “deadly sins.” Deborah’s very Pentecostal mom taught remedial math at a school for at risk girls. Her more moderate Christian father was a pharmacist. In the 10th grade, Deborah’s did her first term paper on homosexuality soon after the Stonewall Riots. As the only books on the subject at the time were reference books, Deborah had her mom to drive her around town to various libraries to research clueless that this was a big clue to her mom. This only raised the suspicion her mother already had about Deborah’s relationship with a girlfriend that was “too close.” During this period, Deborah’s mom walks in on them necking and the battle was soon on to save Deborah’s soul. The couple stayed together throughout Deborah’s high school and college years. As a 15-year old high school senior and president of the student body of her 3,200, Deborah was very politically active determined to become a civil rights lawyer. She received the call to ministry during an altar call at a Youth Convocation in NYC complete with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues which at the time Deborah disbelieved. Deborah’s mom was president of the Women’s Christian Council, a position she ultimately would hold for 45 years. Believing that God would also send her to hell for her child’s homosexuality, Deborah’s call to ministry was answered prayer and the sign that God would turn Deborah straight. Her mom’s zeal to save them both from the ravages of hell in the afterlife created a living hell on earth with her homemade conversion therapies. Deborah’s father, a pharmacist proposed a medical route. She finally consented to psychiatry with no meds or shock therapy, but eventually refused any more efforts to “cure” her. Deborah graduated from high school in 1972 at age 16 and enrolled in USC, the family tradition.  Given the three-pronged assault on homosexuality of the day—abnormal under psychiatry, a felony crime under the law, satanic in her church doctrine —there were scant resources and no positive images for coming out.  However, at the same time, there was a trinity of liberation, the release of two books and a play – The Lord Is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay by Rev Troy Perry the title suggesting that God could love gay people; Lesbian Women by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, her first evidence that a long term relationship between two women was possible; and Ntozake Shange’s play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, “I found God in myself and I love herfiercely.”  This became the great awakening, the spiritual turning point for Deborah - God made her who she is, a relationship is possible, and God can be found within her as feminine not exclusively masculine….. OMG!!! This confirmed her deep-seeded belief in innate entitlement—she had the right not only to exist, but to have all that everyone else had. This began her journey to freedom. As she started college, the new gay group on campus met at a religious center, technically “off-campus,” but physically located in the center of campus.  Given her background, it seemed heretical for a gay group to meet in a church.  Ironically, in the early days of the movement, a number of gay groups found that the only place they could meet was in a church or religious center.  Initially Deborah was fearful to even pick up a flyer for one of the meetings. Believing Rev MLK Jr “God would not saddle any group with a permanent yoke of inferiority,” she maintained a fierce determination to manifest the prophecy she saw of being an equal citizen. She was prepared to change the entire would to make it so. The old-time Fanny Crosby hymn “Pass me not, O gentle Savior….do not pass me by,” became a solace for her.  Her theology and social thinking changed significantly during these college years.  However, she still lived her life in the closet. To protect her brother and cousin on campus at the same time, Deborah would going out in public with a guy who knew she was gay even though she had a girlfriend. Deborah earned a B.A. degree in economics from USC and an M.B.A. from UCLA.  In her post-college years she began quickly moved into a life of activism.  She served on the board of the Los Angeles Community Services Center beginning in 1979.  The onset of HIV/AIDS dramatically changed the political and sociological landscape.  Up to that point it was simply accepted that gays were outsiders in the Black Church. However, when the Black Church turned its back on so many men dying of AIDS, their family members began to push back on this inhospitality and injustice.  AIDS also brought men and women together in the movement in ways they had not been previously.  Every male member of the LA Center who originally served with Deborah and started the first AIDS organizations all died of the disease.  Lesbians began to emerge in more positions of leadership.  A “Blood Sisters” group was launched to donate blood.  The onslaught of AIDS led to a deeper sense of spiritual community among gay and lesbian networks as we cared for the sick and dying.  Deborah continued to provide leadership in moving both church and society to being more open and inclusive to LGBT persons. She served on the Board of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force 1991-1996, including as Co-Chair. She served as the co-plaintiff in the landmark 1984 court decision that set the precedence for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the California Civil Rights Bill.  Later in 2007 she was a the successful co-defendant with Gray Davis in defending the state’s Domestic Partnership Act. An important collaborator and mentor in Deborah’s life has been Michael Bernard Beckwith, well-known practitioner of New Global Thought and founder and leader of the Agape International Spiritual Center in southern California.  Deborah and Michael were raised in the same neighborhood and were friends from adolescence and she is a founding member of Agape. Their spiritual journeys ebbed and flowed alongside each other with Michael often serving as a spiritual guide for Deborah. After Michael went to ministerial school and founded his own religious center, Agape International, Deborah did likewise, getting a ministerial degree from the same alma mater Holmes Institute for Consciousness Studies, the Religious Science seminary. In 2014, his seminary awarded her with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. Having experienced a call to ministry at age 15, Rev. Johnson remained constant over the years in her understanding of the interweavings of the civil/secular and the religious/sacred. She continually espoused the understanding that they cannot be separated, but they must inform each other. Beginning in 1995 she discovered her own prophetic voice.  In a moment of darkness she heard the Voice of the Divine, whispering complete letters to her.  She published some of these letters in a series Letters From the Infinite, currently with two volumes, The Sacred Yes and Your Deepest Intent.  Preparing the letters for publication became an intense spiritual journey of affirmation for Deborah, having to dig deep into her own consciousness in order to become an oracle.  In January 1997, Rev. Deborah started Inner Light Ministries with twice-monthly religious services at the Veterans Hall in downtown Santa Cruz.  Inner Light Ministries is an Omnifaith outreach ministry dedicated to teaching the practical application of Universal Spiritual Principles to all of life’s circumstances.  Johnson espouses a vision of Oneness, beyond creed and doctrine, and feels particularly called to heal the sense of separation between those adhering to conservative and progressive ideologies. Johnson also founded The Motivational Institute, an organizational development consulting firm specializing in cultural diversity serving the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her clients have ranged from Fortune 500 companies to community based organizations. She is recognized as a dynamic public speaker, known for her ability to bring clarity to complex and emotionally charged issues. Rev. Deborah was inducted into the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College which honors clergy for their lifetime work in social justice. She has been a leadership development trainer for the Network of Spiritual Progressives, founded by Rabbi Michael Lerner and the Tikkun Community, Cornel West, and Sister Joan Chittister. As an advocate for continual and lifelong learning, Rev. Deborah has been a faculty member at several institutes of higher learning: UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership LGBT Diversity Training Institute; Pacific School of Religion; Holmes Institute of Consciousness Studies; and the Agape University of Transformational Studies and Leadership. She has been also an Advisory Council member in the Association of Global New Thought and the Women’s Studies Department at Brandeis University. Her groundbreaking work has been featured in numerous books, magazines, radio, and television programs including Conversations with Neale (Neale Donald Walsch) radio show, Shambhala Sun magazine, Showtime TV’s Black Filmmaker Showcase production Jumpin’ the Broom, the film God and Gays: Bridging the Gap, and ABC Nightline. As a sign of God’s redemption and divine humor, Inner Light Ministries purchased and moved into a former Assemblies of God Church in Santa Cruz in 2003.  That pulpit was instrumental in the founding of Exodus International.  One of the former pastors, Rev Darlene Vogel, was a leader in the ex-gay movement.  For Rev. Deborah this transformation portrays one of the major themes in her life—to go back to the places where there has been hurt, pain and discrimination and bring an inclusive message of love.  (This biographical statement written by Mark Bowman from an interview with Deborah Johnson and from biographical materials on the Inner Light Ministries website with Deborah Johnson editing.) 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 Deborah Johnson Church of God Deborah Johnson https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/c9c2c19e567bf532b3690682bd93e3ae.jpg 1a40b313999df51c803b278df72da53e Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document The Rev. D. Darnell Fennell was born the youngest son of three children on December 7, 1987 to the proud parentage of Jeannie and Russell Fennell. He received his early education in his native hometown of Houston, Texas, and was graduated from Elsik High School in 2006. Darnell then attended the University of Houston, receiving a B.S. degree in Psychology with a minor in Religious Studies. While at the University of Houston he had a theological crisis of faith with his Baptist tradition and his queer identity. Post undergrad he would journey to Berkeley, California as a Fund for Theological Education Fellow to explore a progressive theological education. He earned a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Pacific School of Religion in 2014 and the Paul Wesley Preaching award. In August 2014, he was ordained as a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with standing in the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and The United Church of Christ. Rev. Fennell is a new church planter in Houston Texas. He returned to Houston in 2014 to start Just Love, a Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ new church plant. Just Love is a faith community created by those who have been marginalized by church and society, working together for wholeness for all people rooted in a theological ethic of living out Just Love. Just Love is the only Open and Affirming Disciples of Christ congregation in the Houston area. In 2017, in addition to pastoring Just Love, he has become the transitional pastor of University Christian Church, a historically black church in Houston. His calling made him the first openly gay pastor to serve this congregation. Darnell also serves on the Disciples Alliance leadership council. The Alliance is the movement within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) working to set a place at the table for persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations. (This biographical statement provided by Darnell Fennell.) Biographical Text The Rev. D. Darnell Fennell was born the youngest son of three children on December 7, 1987 to the proud parentage of Jeannie and Russell Fennell. He received his early education in his native hometown of Houston, Texas, and was graduated from Elsik High School in 2006. Darnell then attended the University of Houston, receiving a B.S. degree in Psychology with a minor in Religious Studies. While at the University of Houston he had a theological crisis of faith with his Baptist tradition and his queer identity. Post undergrad he would journey to Berkeley, California as a Fund for Theological Education Fellow to explore a progressive theological education. He earned a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Pacific School of Religion in 2014 and the Paul Wesley Preaching award. In August 2014, he was ordained as a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with standing in the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and The United Church of Christ. Rev. Fennell is a new church planter in Houston Texas. He returned to Houston in 2014 to start Just Love, a Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ new church plant. Just Love is a faith community created by those who have been marginalized by church and society, working together for wholeness for all people rooted in a theological ethic of living out Just Love. Just Love is the only Open and Affirming Disciples of Christ congregation in the Houston area. In 2017, in addition to pastoring Just Love, he has become the transitional pastor of University Christian Church, a historically black church in Houston. His calling made him the first openly gay pastor to serve this congregation. Darnell also serves on the Disciples Alliance leadership council. The Alliance is the movement within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) working to set a place at the table for persons of all gender expressions and sexual orientations. (This biographical statement provided by Darnell Fennell.) 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 Darnell Fennell Baptist Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Darnell Fennell Disciples LGBTQ Alliance Disciples of Christ Just Love United Church of Christ https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/e1dc30e3b904e4ad5646ad62a2a5a7a8.jpg 5c4a3dc452e839bfc940c9bef62d1d5e Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Darlene Garner is a lesbian Christian woman of African, Cherokee, and Irish descent with a National Baptist and Episcopal spiritual heritage. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, she was the oldest of five children. Darlene attended public schools, was an active Girl Scout and participated in the All-State Orchestra. As a teenager, one of her early role models was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she met at a dinner at her friend’s house. She was baptized at the age of 7 at the Union Grove Baptist Church although she joined the Episcopal Church as a young adult.  She came out as a lesbian in 1973 and joined Metropolitan Community Churches in 1976.  As a lay person, she served as a Church Treasurer, Lay Delegate, and Assistant District Coordinator.  She was ordained in the Metropolitan Community Church in 1988 and has served as Associate Pastor of MCC in Philadelphia; Pastor of MCC in Baltimore; Senior Pastor of MCC of Northern Virginia in Fairfax, Virginia; and Interim Pastor of Good Hope MCC in Cape Town, South Africa.  Since 1998, she has been the convener of the MCC Conference for People of African Descent, Our Friends, and Allies. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/darlene-garner/Garner2.jpg" />Darlene at age 7.  On the MCC Council of Elders beginning in 1993, Darlene Garner served as Clerk of the denomination for ten years and Vice-Moderator for three years. She was the Liaison Elder for MCC in Western Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Europe, and various parts of the United States. Elder Garner then moved to Cape Town, South Africa for two years to serve as the resource person for Africa. Then she moved to Mexico, where she lived for five years in support of MCC’s ministry in Latin America. She was also the Director of the Office of Emerging Ministries, which provides oversight of and support for new church starts, aligned organizations, diversity, and special projects. Before entering the professional ministry, Garner served as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Sexual Minorities.  In that position, she functioned as the liaison between the government of the sixth largest city in the United States and its LGBT community. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/darlene-garner/Garner3.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-fir" />Garner’s volunteer community involvement has included being a founding co-chair of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays; being part of the historical first meeting between the U.S. White House and gay and lesbian people of color; chairing the first International Conference for Gay and Lesbian People of Color; co-chairing the first International Conference for Gay and Lesbian People of Color; serving as chaplain for The Burning Bush, an AIDS hospice; serving on the board of directors of the Chase-Brexton Health Clinic; and serving as President of the Board of Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry.  She has also served as a member of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (hearing complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender, and national origin); the West Hollywood Business License Commission; the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Religion and Faith Council and the HRC Diversity and Inclusivity Council.  Garner has received numerous awards and citations for her service to the community. <img src="http://rollingthestoneaway.org/media/profile/darlene-garner/Garner4.jpg" />Darlene Garner and Candy Holmes Darlene Garner has attended Ohio State University, Samaritan College, and Lancaster Theological Seminary.  She is the mother of four adult children, has seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Garner and Rev. Candy Holmes were married in March 2010 and live with their canine son Joey in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.    (This biographical statement provided by Darlene Garner.) Biographical Text Darlene Garner is a lesbian Christian woman of African, Cherokee, and Irish descent with a National Baptist and Episcopal spiritual heritage. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, she was the oldest of five children. Darlene attended public schools, was an active Girl Scout and participated in the All-State Orchestra. As a teenager, one of her early role models was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she met at a dinner at her friend’s house. She was baptized at the age of 7 at the Union Grove Baptist Church although she joined the Episcopal Church as a young adult.  She came out as a lesbian in 1973 and joined Metropolitan Community Churches in 1976.  As a lay person, she served as a Church Treasurer, Lay Delegate, and Assistant District Coordinator.  She was ordained in the Metropolitan Community Church in 1988 and has served as Associate Pastor of MCC in Philadelphia; Pastor of MCC in Baltimore; Senior Pastor of MCC of Northern Virginia in Fairfax, Virginia; and Interim Pastor of Good Hope MCC in Cape Town, South Africa.  Since 1998, she has been the convener of the MCC Conference for People of African Descent, Our Friends, and Allies. On the MCC Council of Elders beginning in 1993, Darlene Garner served as Clerk of the denomination for ten years and Vice-Moderator for three years. She was the Liaison Elder for MCC in Western Canada, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Europe, and various parts of the United States. Elder Garner then moved to Cape Town, South Africa for two years to serve as the resource person for Africa. Then she moved to Mexico, where she lived for five years in support of MCC’s ministry in Latin America. She was also the Director of the Office of Emerging Ministries, which provides oversight of and support for new church starts, aligned organizations, diversity, and special projects. Before entering the professional ministry, Garner served as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Sexual Minorities.  In that position, she functioned as the liaison between the government of the sixth largest city in the United States and its LGBT community. Garner’s volunteer community involvement has included being a founding co-chair of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays; being part of the historical first meeting between the U.S. White House and gay and lesbian people of color; chairing the first International Conference for Gay and Lesbian People of Color; co-chairing the first International Conference for Gay and Lesbian People of Color; serving as chaplain for The Burning Bush, an AIDS hospice; serving on the board of directors of the Chase-Brexton Health Clinic; and serving as President of the Board of Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry.  She has also served as a member of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (hearing complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender, and national origin); the West Hollywood Business License Commission; the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Religion and Faith Council and the HRC Diversity and Inclusivity Council.  Garner has received numerous awards and citations for her service to the community. Darlene Garner has attended Ohio State University, Samaritan College, and Lancaster Theological Seminary.  She is the mother of four adult children, has seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Garner and <a href="http://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/rolling-the-stone-away/item/1405">Rev. Candy Holmes</a> were married in March 2010 and live with their canine son Joey in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.    (This biographical statement provided by Darlene Garner.) 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 Darlene Garner Baptist Darlene Garner Episcopal Episcopalian MCC Metropolitan Community Church https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/9dc34da70c9f7902690cc49819c69143.jpg 9a01be7ae6802562d0f50af63ef21bd7 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document Colleen Darraugh was born and raised in Canada, around Toronto. She was the first female trombone major at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto where she obtained her Bachelor of Music degree. She was labeled a feminist even before she really understood what that meant! Colleen obtained her M.Div. at Emmanuel College, part of the Toronto School of Theology, an ecumenical consortium affiliated with the University of Toronto. She attended seminary as an out lesbian and member of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). This was prior to any of the Canadian denominations officially welcoming or accepting LGBT people. Due to her ministry with LGBT closeted students (in addition to her local congregational work), Colleen dates her pastoral ministry from her first year of seminary (1982). While a seminary student, as an MCC’er and an out lesbian, Colleen was involved with the Canadian Council of Churches, the Ecumenical Forum of Canada, and the World Council of Churches, thanks to her mentor, the Right Reverend Dr. Lois Wilson. From roots in the Salvation Army to MCC and through her ecumenical involvements, Colleen has always had a deep love for worship, music and ecumenical diversity. Her ecumenical work included: <ul> <li>Co-facilitator of the Theological Students Conference at The World Council of Churches, Vancouver, Canada 1983</li> <li>Christian Movement for Peace – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – staff member 1984-85</li> <li>One of two Canadian delegates to attend conference and peaceful demonstration against the US Cruise Missile base in Sicily, Italy</li> <li>Delegate to the World Council of Churches Consultation on Worship and Music, 1985</li> <li>Delegate to the World Council of Churches Consultation on Mission and Evangelism, 1989</li> <li>Speaker and delegate at the World Council of Churches, Consultation to the General Secretary on Human Sexuality, held at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, in Bossey, Switzerland in 2000 – appointed by MCC, National Ecumenical Ministry Officer</li> <li>MCC appointed representative to the Inclusiveness and Justice sub-committee of Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA 2000-2002</li> <li>Authorized Field Education/Internship Mentor Pastor by Brite Divinity School and Southern Methodist University’s, Perkins School of Theology as well as being a certified MCC Supervising Pastor</li> </ul> Rev. Colleen Darraugh came to MCC in 1980. As a lay person, she was the Music Director at MCC Toronto. After seminary and co-pastoring in London, Ontario, Canada, she became the part-time solo pastor of MCC Kingston, Ontario. While in London, Colleen became involved with HIV/AIDS education and prevention, a work she continued in Kingston with the Kingston AIDS Project. In 1988, she was hired by MCC Dallas (later known as Cathedral of Hope) to serve as their second staff pastor responsible for Worship, Music and HIV Ministries. In 1990, she became the Senior Pastor of Harvest MCC, in Denton, Texas where she served for 10 years, leading them through growth and two property purchases. The last property purchase required Rev. Darraugh to live on the property to maintain the grand-parented residential zoning while the church dealt with the city, neighbors and accompanying hate crimes. The church was awarded the required permits!  In February 2000, she began serving as a worship consultant to MCC’s and other churches through her company Worship Wisdom. In 2003, Rev. Darraugh became an intentional interim Pastor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to which she commuted from Dallas! The fall of 2004 brought her full circle back to Dallas and the congregation of MCC of Greater Dallas. For 5 months she served both part-time positions in Sioux Falls and Dallas. In January of 2005 she became the full-time Lead Pastor of MCC of Greater Dallas where she continues to serve. Colleen was Chair of the Dallas/Fort Worth area coalition for the “What Would Jesus Do?” Campaign (2008-2010). Rev. Darraugh served as Liturgist for four MCC General Conferences - 1999 (Los Angeles), 1997 (Sydney, Australia), 1995 (Atlanta) and 1993 (Phoenix). Rev. Darraugh was instrumental in including music and worship resources from different cultures and languages in those General Conferences. She was the Worship Coordinator for the MCC Region 8 Conference in 2004 (Denver). Some of Rev. Darraugh’s original worship resources have been published in Equal Rites (edited by Kittredge Cherry), two collected works of worship resources edited by Geoffrey Duncan and her self-published work “From the Gathered Community”. She has been completing a book of devotions: Musings from the Garden: Rural Meditations for Urban Dwellers. Colleen’s pastoral ministry also included community involvement. Under her leadership, Harvest MCC, Denton, Texas obtained Ryan White Title funding to establish the first HIV/AIDS Food Pantry and Day Center in Denton County. The church also provided space and support for the establishment of a Buddy Program and a new branch of AIDS Interfaith Network. Rev. Darraugh served as an Advisory Board Member for Ryan White Title 6 Fund Distribution for North Texas. During the decade she pastored in Denton, Colleen was frequently a Campus speaker in Social Work, Psychology, Counseling and Feminist Study divisions at the University of North Texas and Texas Women’s University. Colleen was also a member of the Denton chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute and frequent trainer. From that work, Rev. Darraugh served as a community liaison for the establishment of the Safe Zone and Allies Program at UNT. She continues to partner with the Pride Alliance, Office of Spiritual Life and Office of Equity and Diversity at the University of North Texas. Beyond the church, her life is always filled with music. She was one of the founding members of The Women’s Chorus of Dallas, led a small vocal ensemble - Soundscape, and sang in the first several years of the mixed chorus Resounding Harmony (Dallas). She performed with them at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, England.  More recently, Colleen taught herself to play the electric bass so she could play with the Praise Team at MCC of Greater Dallas! Rev. Colleen Darraugh lives with her spouse, Shelly Torres-West (an accomplished jazz singer) in Aubrey, Texas on 3 acres of land with their dogs, outside cats and chickens. Colleen loves to spend time in her large vegetable garden. They also love to RV travel with their 84 year old friend and neighbor for whom they care. Shelly and Colleen were legally married in Canada in 2005 and are parents of a grown son. (This biographical statement provided by Colleen Darraugh.) Biographical Text Colleen Darraugh was born and raised in Canada, around Toronto. She was the first female trombone major at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto where she obtained her Bachelor of Music degree. She was labeled a feminist even before she really understood what that meant! Colleen obtained her M.Div. at Emmanuel College, part of the Toronto School of Theology, an ecumenical consortium affiliated with the University of Toronto. She attended seminary as an out lesbian and member of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). This was prior to any of the Canadian denominations officially welcoming or accepting LGBT people. Due to her ministry with LGBT closeted students (in addition to her local congregational work), Colleen dates her pastoral ministry from her first year of seminary (1982). While a seminary student, as an MCC’er and an out lesbian, Colleen was involved with the Canadian Council of Churches, the Ecumenical Forum of Canada, and the World Council of Churches, thanks to her mentor, the Right Reverend Dr. Lois Wilson. From roots in the Salvation Army to MCC and through her ecumenical involvements, Colleen has always had a deep love for worship, music and ecumenical diversity. Her ecumenical work included: <ul> <li>Co-facilitator of the Theological Students Conference at The World Council of Churches, Vancouver, Canada 1983</li> <li>Christian Movement for Peace – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – staff member 1984-85</li> <li>One of two Canadian delegates to attend conference and peaceful demonstration against the US Cruise Missile base in Sicily, Italy</li> <li>Delegate to the World Council of Churches Consultation on Worship and Music, 1985</li> <li>Delegate to the World Council of Churches Consultation on Mission and Evangelism, 1989</li> <li>Speaker and delegate at the World Council of Churches, Consultation to the General Secretary on Human Sexuality, held at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, in Bossey, Switzerland in 2000 – appointed by MCC, National Ecumenical Ministry Officer</li> <li>MCC appointed representative to the Inclusiveness and Justice sub-committee of Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA 2000-2002</li> <li>Authorized Field Education/Internship Mentor Pastor by Brite Divinity School and Southern Methodist University’s, Perkins School of Theology as well as being a certified MCC Supervising Pastor</li> </ul> Rev. Colleen Darraugh came to MCC in 1980. As a lay person, she was the Music Director at MCC Toronto. After seminary and co-pastoring in London, Ontario, Canada, she became the part-time solo pastor of MCC Kingston, Ontario. While in London, Colleen became involved with HIV/AIDS education and prevention, a work she continued in Kingston with the Kingston AIDS Project. In 1988, she was hired by MCC Dallas (later known as Cathedral of Hope) to serve as their second staff pastor responsible for Worship, Music and HIV Ministries. In 1990, she became the Senior Pastor of Harvest MCC, in Denton, Texas where she served for 10 years, leading them through growth and two property purchases. The last property purchase required Rev. Darraugh to live on the property to maintain the grand-parented residential zoning while the church dealt with the city, neighbors and accompanying hate crimes. The church was awarded the required permits!  In February 2000, she began serving as a worship consultant to MCC’s and other churches through her company Worship Wisdom. In 2003, Rev. Darraugh became an intentional interim Pastor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to which she commuted from Dallas! The fall of 2004 brought her full circle back to Dallas and the congregation of MCC of Greater Dallas. For 5 months she served both part-time positions in Sioux Falls and Dallas. In January of 2005 she became the full-time Lead Pastor of MCC of Greater Dallas where she continues to serve. Colleen was Chair of the Dallas/Fort Worth area coalition for the “What Would Jesus Do?” Campaign (2008-2010). Rev. Darraugh served as Liturgist for four MCC General Conferences - 1999 (Los Angeles), 1997 (Sydney, Australia), 1995 (Atlanta) and 1993 (Phoenix). Rev. Darraugh was instrumental in including music and worship resources from different cultures and languages in those General Conferences. She was the Worship Coordinator for the MCC Region 8 Conference in 2004 (Denver). Some of Rev. Darraugh’s original worship resources have been published in Equal Rites (edited by Kittredge Cherry), two collected works of worship resources edited by Geoffrey Duncan and her self-published work “From the Gathered Community”. She has been completing a book of devotions: Musings from the Garden: Rural Meditations for Urban Dwellers. Colleen’s pastoral ministry also included community involvement. Under her leadership, Harvest MCC, Denton, Texas obtained Ryan White Title funding to establish the first HIV/AIDS Food Pantry and Day Center in Denton County. The church also provided space and support for the establishment of a Buddy Program and a new branch of AIDS Interfaith Network. Rev. Darraugh served as an Advisory Board Member for Ryan White Title 6 Fund Distribution for North Texas. During the decade she pastored in Denton, Colleen was frequently a Campus speaker in Social Work, Psychology, Counseling and Feminist Study divisions at the University of North Texas and Texas Women’s University. Colleen was also a member of the Denton chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute and frequent trainer. From that work, Rev. Darraugh served as a community liaison for the establishment of the Safe Zone and Allies Program at UNT. She continues to partner with the Pride Alliance, Office of Spiritual Life and Office of Equity and Diversity at the University of North Texas. Beyond the church, her life is always filled with music. She was one of the founding members of The Women’s Chorus of Dallas, led a small vocal ensemble - Soundscape, and sang in the first several years of the mixed chorus Resounding Harmony (Dallas). She performed with them at Carnegie Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, England.  More recently, Colleen taught herself to play the electric bass so she could play with the Praise Team at MCC of Greater Dallas! Rev. Colleen Darraugh lives with her spouse, Shelly Torres-West (an accomplished jazz singer) in Aubrey, Texas on 3 acres of land with their dogs, outside cats and chickens. Colleen loves to spend time in her large vegetable garden. They also love to RV travel with their 84 year old friend and neighbor for whom they care. Shelly and Colleen were legally married in Canada in 2005 and are parents of a grown son. (This biographical statement provided by Colleen Darraugh.) 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 Colleen Darraugh Colleen Darraugh MCC Metropolitan Community Church