Second Stone #20 - Jan/Feb 1992

Second Stone #20 - Jan/Feb 1992

20

1992

Jan/Feb 1992

AMERICA'S GAV & LESBIAN CHRISTIAN NEWSJOURNAL $2.25
creation in art
Serigraphs depict
teacher's vision
of Genesis
erigraphy is an age-old printing process of Chin. ese
and Japanese origin in which a semi-liquid pigment is
pressed with a squeegee through a fine-mesh "silk"
(polyester) screen to form a given design upon any desired
surface by means of a stencil, using one stencil for each-color.
This ancient process so intrigued a gay Christian artist that he
to.ok a sabbatical from his duties as a pro.fessor at a
Midwestern university to explore serigraphy. The artist, Chet
A., S(:iid he fe lt somewhat detached from early themes he
rendered, complaining that the thought-feeling process lacked
profundity, spontaneity and depth.
"I finally hit upon the idea of interpreting a stage of the world as
SEE SERIGRAPHS, Page 10
The Four Seasons: Summer
While the earth remaineth, seed time and ha'r.est,
and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease. To everything there is a season,
and a ffme tor every purpose under the heaven.
Genesis 8:22 & Ecclesia stes 3:1
-::FtoIIltheEditor .......... ... -• ............... .. .
Visibility must be positive
to create p~>.si,ive. change
. By Jim Bailey
I he non-gay ~odd doe,s not
. ponder · .g!lY· . an~ , lesbian
issues ·much. · : : .Mayj,e
they 've spent :a . few hours
wat ng a talk show _on: the subject;
1ust ~ffl hours ~orripare~ to . years:
;that:Gays and Lesbians spend coming
·fo understand, to adjust, to: cope and .
to heal. The gap is wide .. -The,l.μ-gest
. part of our America has i)o co"rycept of
the struggle that Gays and; Lesbians
face with . very basic . human: rights
issues like discriminiition in. housing,
employment, · the chut'ch,:.• Their
simple solution reveals the d'epth of
their understanding: "I guess maybe
they shouldn't be gay.'' They don't
think about it as much as we do.
Yet these are the people tci whom
we tum when we seek votes .to get a
gay and lesbian rights ·ordinance
approved or to get a resolution passed
to assure equality in the ordination of
gay and lesbian clergy. An understanding
beyond a Donahue-show's.
worth is critical. Justice and equality
· will come only with an ·attitude
enlightened by new understanding -
and even then will come only by the
hardest. Ask those whose visible
struggle predates ours.
The vehicle to. increase such
understanding arrives at our doorstep
each morning. It sits in the corner of
_the living room . But as the com
·mentary in this issue points out,
. media attention often comes at the
'expense of projecting ourselves as
violent and disruptive. Did television
images . of angry activists
· shattering glass doors of government
: buildings in response to California
: Gov ernor Pete Wilson's vetoing a
: gay/ lesbian rights bill win or lose
support for our' community? Did the
· widely reported disruption of mass at ·
: St. Patrick's Cathedral in New. York ·
: enlighten the 90.percent .crowd? Was
. there a change in the attitude or
· policy of the church as a result of the
· disruption? There . is ~- difference
· between venting rage and creating
: change. Venting rage may not create
: the change we want.
T.he struggle oLAtlanta's Qu e er
Nation :group against the employment
discrimination practic es of
Cracker Barrel restaurant has been
presented in a positive way in the
media, without accompanying images
of violence or destruction. ABC's
·newsprogram 20/20 presented a story
of good .workers being dismissed for
no other reason than their sexual
. orientation. During these days when
so. many are burdened by uncertainty
. an<;! job insecurity, did that story of an
e_mployer's blatant unfairness
• enlighten viewers and create the kind
of change in attitude that would lead
them to support legislation to forbid
such discrimination?
Gay and lesbian Christian activists
would do well to remember what
Bishop Barbara Harris told members
.· of Integrity during last summer's
Episcopal General Convention. The
church will change only when there's
a change in society. The real battle,
she said, is not in the church, but in
the streets. The church is not a leader
of society; it is a follower.
Perhaps AIDS and the necessity of
quickly responding to our government's
apathy about it put us in front
of the media before we knew how to
handle being there. Leaders of
activist groups must keep in mind
whether or not the activities pf their
groups wiU produce the desired
effects when the story hits the
doorstep tomorrow morning .
The only thing worse than
mishandling our growing visibility is
any feeling of contentment with
continuing our invisibility.
m Second Sione • J1U1~/February 1992
LC.:-,
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..............
[2_] From The Editor
How do we look on TV? w Your Turn
Letters from our readers
[I] Comment
Does civil disobedience work?
Guest opinion by Kate Moore
[[] News Lines
[IO_] Feature:
In the beginning . ..
Teacher uses sabbatical to paint creation story
ml Common Threads of Racism, Sexism,
Classism and Heterosexism
-~
by Titus Bender
[i]] Book Review
Peculiar People
reviewed by Johnny Townsend
[ru Calendar
[Iz] Noteworthy
News about people, churches and groups
[j]J Resource Guide
Connectedness
[ID] Just Out
New books, !TlUSic, and other neat stuff
120 I Classifieds
.....T... ......Y.. o...u...r..T....u..Tm.... . .
In all
things love ...
Midland, Texas
Dear Second. Stone,
Holy Trinity Community Churches,
Midland and Dallas, Texas, both
belong to the International Council of
Community Churches, which is a
postdenorninational group of member
churches which range from traditional
Christian churches to Catholic and
metaphysical Christians. !CCC
belongs to the National Council of
Churches, the World Council of
Churches, and the Consultation on
Church Union. The Council motto is
"In essentials unity, in nonessentials
diversity, in all things love." At least
two other gay /lesbian oriented
churches ate or have been members
of the council. There are 500,000
members in ICCC churches. Other
independent churches are welcome to
become members.
I'm sorry that you are receiving
some negative feedback from some
brothers and sisters who feel that you
are "unbiblical." No matter what you
printed you would be making
ISSN No. 1047-3971
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CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS ISSUE:
Titus Bender
Johnny Townsend
Kate Moore
someone unhappy.
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Rev. Glenn·£. Hammet,
Pastor
For information on the !CCC, write to
Pastor Hammet at 1607 S. Main,
Midland, TX 79701.
One issue
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North Plymouth, Massachusetts
Dear Second Stone,
Boy ... where have you been all my
life! Much enjoyed my first issue and
hungry for more. Please put down
your cup of coffee and rush me some
back issues.
God's grace and peace to you,
DL
Format
changes are
great
Clifton, New Jersey
Dear Second Stone,
Just want to let you know that I
think the changes you've made in
format and design are great. Second
Stone has always been aesthetically
pleasing, but now even more so!
Good work!
Best wishes,
Catherine Gtoves
Disagrees
with
'unbibllcal'
charges
Bridgewater, Virginia
Dear Second Stone,
Thank you for a much needed
publication! You have an excellent
sense of literary balance. There is
much to think about in each issue -
longer and thoughtful philosophical
articles - and short news items.
Yes, very Biblical.
Sincerely,
sow
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T Comment ............ .............................................................
Making noise
Does civil disobedience work?
By Kate Moore
The faces looking through
the plexiglass riot helmets
were filled with hatred and
fear as the officers tried to
regain order . Angry activists
demanded arid chanted, threw
rocks and bottles and the officers
snapped und er pressure ;
No, this was not the latest
demonstration for gay rights at the
California State Capitol, this was May
4, 1970 at Kent State University -
where 13 people were shot and four
people were murdered.
The images of the confrontation are
startlingly similar to those of present
day gay rights demonstrations . Windows
broken; buildings burned;
officers angry, afraid, and on the
edge of losing it. ·
Different typ es of civil disobedience
have been used in efforts to end an
unjust war, to attain civil rights, to
acquire decent work conditions, and
to increase the funding for the
treatment of people with AIDS. The
success of civil disobedience actions
depends upon the type of disob
edience and its m e thod of
execution.
Civil disobedience is generally
targeted against an unresponsive
government. To create change in the
arena of American politics, activists
feel that they must target the policy
makers - people who control the
money, public opinion and the
political process.
The labor movement used the
non-violent forms of civil disobedience
to achieve decent work conditions.
Through picketing, stri~ing,
"Sadly, the
national news
media won't
send a reporter
or a camera
unless violence
or other disruption
is expected."
·and work slow-downs, workers
· achieved their goals. A collective,
working for a clear and common goal.
During the civil rights movement,
the Congress for Rada! Equality, led
by Rev. Martin Luthec King Jr.,
[1J S~nd Stone• January/February 1992
adopted and advocated a policy of
non-violent resistance. The Montgomery
bus boycott of 1955 was a
protest against segregation. One year
later, segregation on busses was
prohibited by a court order:
In the early sixties, The March on
Washington for civil rights was
greeted by a compassionate, caring
"Being arrested
for throwing
'blood' on the
Capitol is worth
it if one person
realizes it's
homophobia
that's killed
over 125,000
people."
young pr esi dent. John F. Kennedy
met with the leaders of the March and
congratulated them on their dignity
and fervor of demonstration, and he
promised to battle for sweeping civil
rights legislation . ·
The March on Washing ton for
Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987
brought over 600,000 people to the
nation 's capitol, but the leaders were
not greeted by a receptive president.
The second largest civil rights
demonstration in the history of this
country was seriously, conspicuously
abs ent from the front pages of the
majority of the nation's newspapers.
To arouse the consciousness of the
American public, both gay rights and
AIDS activists must understand how
to manipulate the media. According
to Richard Clutterbuck, author of TT1e
Media and Political Violence, "Sadly,
the national news media won't send a
reporter or a camera unless violence
or other disruption is expected."
Unfortunately, by creating a
volatile atmosphere, the media is sure
to attend, but the likelihood of injury
or even death through · violent
confrontation increases.
"Without the media no one will
hear our demands for the release of
AIDS drugs," said Robert James of
ACT-UP San Francisco. "People are
left to die because they don't see we
are human and worth caring about .
Being arrested for throw!"g 'blood' on
the Capitol is worth it if one person
realizes it's homophobia that's killed
over 125,000 people," James says.
The methods used by AIDS activists
to demand more funding for research,
drugs and education have included
the approved non-violent marches
and rallies, but activists have also
employed civil disobedience techniques
such as chaining themselves to
the doors of the Center for Dis.ease
Control.
The chalk outlines of bodies with
the names of people who have died
from AIDS were etched on the cement
walkways of California's Capitol
building . The "die-in" served as an
attempt to show the policy makers of
the state a visual reminder of how
many people have died. They were
forced to walk over the dead to get to
work .
The gay rights movement has
employed boycotts to motivate
change in society . The financial
strength of the subculture is well
represented in figures that state Gays
and Lesbians earn nearly three times
the income per household than
non-gays. The most recent success of
sroNEWALL Rtors
this type of civil disobedience is
shown in the resolution of the 1990-91
Miller/Marlboro boycott.
The Phillip-Morris Corporation had
been donating to the political campaign
of overtly anti-gay legislator
Jesse Helms '(R-NC). In retaliation
Gays and Lesbians across the country
boycotted its products and brought
the multi-national corporation to its
knees. Phillip Morris is now
committed . to donating over two
million dollars to AIDS agencies and
gay and lesbian grass roots
organizations in 1991 alone.
Civil disobedience can be a tool
when used in a truly democratic
country. The right to assemble, to
draw attention to grievanee, and to
demand change is the fundamental
right of all. Americans.
The options when participating in
civil disobedience are predictable and
clear. The predicted reactions of those
in power are not.
Kate Moore is the editor of The Latest
Issue, Sacramento, California.
BY ANDREA NATALIE
l :i r=jry ; . ~-
. - I: -"~..,;:'; ;,. r . ~ . ~·· · ... ·-:,.,
-:i,-,.-_ ~ . ,,.
-~
News Lines T- • ........................................................................ .
Gay ordination
issue causes
Episcopal parish
to turn Catholic
ARLINGTON, TX - St. Mary the
Virgin Episcopal Church has decided
to abandon the Episcopal Church in
favor of Catholicism. Rev. Allan
Hawkins, pa stor of the conservative
church, said that the approximately
100 members of the .parish voted
"almost unanimously" for the change.
Speaking of the Episcopal Church's
failure to settle the gay ordination
controversy Hawkins said, "'We were
concerned about the Church's inablity
to affirm traditionally Christian
morality, particularly as it pertains to
ordaining homosexual priests."'
· The Vatican has final approval of the
switch.
-Sto·newa/1 Union Reports
Milwaukee suffers
new wave of
homophobia
MILWAUKEE, WI - The gay and
lesbian community here continues to
ree l from th e wave of homophobia
unleashed by the Jeffrey Dahmer
serial murder case.
. On November 13, up to a thousand
fundamentalist s, quoting Scripture
and citing Dal1mer's murd er spree as
"the logical result of the homosexual
lifestyle,"' packed two Milwaukee
School Board meetings to oppose a
proposal for ser vices for gay and
lesbian teens.
Hundreds of hymn-singing fundamentalists,
who responded to appeals
broadcast over Christian radio and
television stations owned by Rev. Vic
Eliason, testified a·gainst the proposal.
Dozens of speakers quoted the Bible
and warned that Milwaukee was
sinking into a "moral quagmire ."'
Proponents were few in number and
were frequently heckled by the
audience of right-wing Christians .
At the same time the School Board
controversy raP,ed, WISN-TV 12 ran a
four-part series on its evening
newscast called "Flirting With
Danger," an investigation into gay
bars and cruising areas in the
aftermath of the Dahmer murders.
Dahmer goes on trial in late
January, and gay and lesbian leaders
are already .plotti~g methods of
"'damage control and bracing for
further backlash .
-Sou tltern Voice
Once a Scout,
always a Scout
Forgotton Scouts is a collective effort
to help the leadership of the Boy
Scouts of America recognize that gay
and bisexual men have always been
involved in scouting, and that
individual deeds and actions of gay
scouts demonstrate that they can be
exceptional role models .
Forgotton Scouts believes , in fact,
that by relying on prejudice, the hard
line leadership of th e Scouts is
damaging the organi z ation the U.S.
Congress envisioned when it said "no
boy shall be denied admission ."
To help with the effort or get more
information, contact Forgotten Scouts,
1072 Folsom St., St e. 383, San
Francis~o, CA 94103, (415)904-6120.
Fundamentalists
target lesbian
sponsored a boycott of the largest
pizza delivery company in the
country because of owner Thomas S.
Monaghan's stance on abortion rights.
Monaghan has donated thousands · of .
dollars to anti-abortion groups, and
the Ann Arbor chapter of Operation .
Rescue is headquartered in a
building he owns.
The 53-year old Monaghan, who
also owns the Detroit Tigers baseball
team, stepped down as presid ent of
the company in 1989. He heads a
group of Catholic executives called
"Legatus," which is devoted to
encouraging Christian ethics in the
corporate world. Monaghan still
owns 97 percent of Domino's.
legislator AFA launches
Oregon's only gay legislator has been t t
targeted by fundamentalist Christ- program . 0 ge .
ians. Democrat Rep . Gail Shibley Gays off TV
came out of the closet January 16,
1990, just hours after she was The American Family Association has
appointed to fill a South Portland seat launched a "Project to Stop TV From
vacated by the newly elected Promoting Homosexuality." In _ a
secretary of state. mass mailing to its members, the
Her second sentenc e at the pres s group sent pre-printed, pre-addressed
conference following her swearing in · post cards for mailing to sponsors
was, ''To my sisters and brothers in . with track records buying
Orgeon's gay and lesbian com- commercials on shows that regularly
munity, I, as a lesbian, would like to feature gay and lesbian characters.
say, 'It's nice to be here."'
Atlanta Episcopal
church :-leaves
den.o_m i 11atio11
A TtAN'r A-~-A ,conservative Episcopal
congregation has broken ties with the
denomination over its stand on such
issues as homosexuality and abortion.
The 760-member Church of the
Apostles, which meets on a priv;:ite
school campus in north Atlanta, severed
its ties with th e national
denomination and - the Diocese' of
Atlanti'l following ~ unanimous vote
of its governiIJg board Oct. 13.
""It's a matter of doing what we
believe God has . led us to do," said
Senior Warden A. Anthony Mclellan.
-Atlanta Episcopal Bishop Frank ~Allan,
spiritual leader of the 45,000
Episcopalians in north Georgia, said
the congregation's decision is unfortunate.
"'It is my feeling that the
inclusiveness and acceptance of such a
wide diversity of people and viewpoints
in our church made it
impossible for the Church of the
Apostles to continue to walk w_ith us,"'
he said.
-Associated Press
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund,
a national organization that fund s
openly gay and lesbian candidates, is
assisting Shibley in her attack by the
vehemently anti-gay Oregon Citizen s
Alliance. The OCA is collecting
signatures to place a referendum on
the November, 1992 ballot that would
amend the state constitution to declare
homosexuality "abnormal and
perverse" and ban all public funding
of anything gay related. To assist
Shibley and other politicians und er
attack by the right wing, contact
GLVF, 1012 14th St., NW, #707,
Washington, DC 20005, (202)842-8679.
-T/1e Alternative
dignit,,usa
Domino's Pizza
the next
Cracker Barrel?
ATLANTA - Two Lesbians are
preparing a lawsuit against Domino's
Pizza, Inc., charging the Ann Arbor,
Michigan-based pizza delivery company
with harrassing them because of
their sexual orientation, .reported
Southern Voice in a copywritten story.
Eleanor Wiley, 27, and her partn er
Joanna Camper, 31, say that their
area supervisor, Mike .. Measells,
began the harassment when he
learned that the two were lovers.
With over 5,000 establishments
nationwid e, Domino 's has been the
target of protests before, most notably
from the National Organization for
Women. Since 1989 NOW has
an organization for gay ana 06ian Catfwlics,
tkir fami[i,s ana friuuf.s.
..t L. Dignity /USA has ministered to gay and lesbian Catholics,
their families and friends for over 20 years.
- .... We have over 4,000 members ., r in 80 chapters across the country.
,·, . . .
If you'd like to support our ministry, please join Dignity/USA'.t"odtiy by corilpleting the form' :
below and enclosing your $40.00 check payable to D~iiy, Inc.?oa: • · ·.: : · ·: . . . , :
Dignity/USA, 1500 Massachusetts Avenue,N ,W;; $μite _ 11,
Washington, DC 20005. Telephone : 1,800:87.7-8797
. . ..
0 YES. I would like to support the work of d<JltTl,USO:. •.
Enclosed is my $40.00 check for membership .· · .. -
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Address . .
City ____ State ZIP _ __ _
Second Stone• January/Febrnary 1992 : ~ . . L'!..J
News Lines ........................................................
Resolution urges
end to an_ti-gay
military policy
WASHINGTON - A congressional
resolution calling for an end to the
policy barring gay, lesbian and bisexual
Americans from military service
was introduced in the House of
Representatives Nov. 6 by Rep.
Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The resolution
is the first of its kind regarding gay
people in the military and is the first
such Congressional initiative to use
the words "gay, lesbian and bisexual"
in its text.
The resolution, H. Res. 271, urges
President Bush to rescind "Department
of Defense Directive 1332.14
section H.l so that all Americans,
regardle ss of sexual orientation, currently
serving their country in the
Armed Forces, and those who want to
serve, will not be prevented from, or
punished for doing so." A resolution
is being used because Bush canrescind
the policy without specific
legislation being passed by Congress.
The resolution is the result of
months of behind-the-scenes work by
the National Gay & Lesbian Task
Force and the Military Freedom
Project, a coalition of groups working
to end the discriminatory .policy.
Joining Boxer in presenting the
resolution was Rep. Ted Weiss from
New York, who explained, "It
acknowledges what the Pentagon
already knows - that gay men and
Lesbians do not pose a security threat
to the United States; that these men
and women have served our nation ,
in peace arid at war, with the same
dedication and professionalism as
heterosexual service personnel."
Secretary of Defense Richard B.
Cheney recently called the DOD
policy "somewhat of an old chestnut"
that he "inherited."
The Task Force urges activists to
pressure their Congressional Representatives
to sign onto the resolution.
Atlanta Episcopal
diocese votes to
boycott Cracker
Barrel restaurant
The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
approved a resolution in November
that calls on member parishes to join
the boycott of Cracker Barrel Old
Country Stores. The vote took place
at the 85th Council of the Diocese in
Gainesville, Georgia.
The resolution said that the Diocese
"deplores employment discrimination
"Churches are NOT hospitable places
for lesbians and gay men - RIGHT'?"
WRONG!
is a quarterly magazine for and about
churches that welcome lesbians and gay men.
Each issue of Open Hands explores a particular concern of lesbians
and gay men in the church and includes feature articles by clergy
and laypersons, resource listings, worship/devotional Ideas. and
news from the lesbiart/ gay Christian movement
Published since 1985 by the Reconciling Congregation Program, a
national network of United Methodist churches that welcome
lesbians and gay men. ·
_ Enclosed Is $16 for my annual
subscription (four Issues) of Open
Hands ($20 outside the U.S.A.).
_ Please bill me $16 for iny annual
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_ Also send me a list of back Issues
available.
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riri Second Stone• Jan~/February 1992
~ J
based on race, gender or sexual
orientation," and urged members to
boycott companies, "sud1 as Cracker
Barrel," that practice such discrimination
.
Laura Bryant, assistant rector at the
Church of the Epiphany, Decatur,
said that one of the parishioners there .
had written the resolution .
-Southern Voice ·
Judge upholds
Navy expulsion
of · Steffan
On December 9, Federal District
Court Judge Oliver Gasch (D.C.
District) upheld the current Defense
Department policy banning openly
gay, lesb ian and bisex ual servicemembers
from military service,
thereby denying relief to former
Naval Midshipman Joseph Steffan.
Gasch's opinion was unprecedented
because it upheld the -OOD policy on
the grounds that it was a legitimate
tool to prevent the spread of AIDS
within the armed forces.
Steffan was forced to resign from
the U.S. Naval Academy in May,
1987, a few weeks shy of graduation,
after he disclosed his homosexuality
to an academy chaplain.
New Orleans
City Council adds
sexual orientation
to Civil Rights Law
NEW ORLEANS. LA - The City
Council here adopted by a vote of
five to two a city ordinance amending
a 20-year-old law prohibiting discrimination
in employment, housing and
public places to include sexual orientation.
Some religious organizations,
including the Catholic Archdiocese of
New Orleans, opposed the ordinance.
The Archdiocese was .successful in
getting similar ordinances rejected in
1986 and 1984. A spokesperson for
Metairie representative David Duke
said that Duke was "in full
agreement" with the two council
members who voted against the
ordinance.
-The New Voice
St. Paul voters
say no repeal
of gay rights
Gay and human rights activists in St.
Paul, Minnesota, celebrated a decisive
win in November's election to
keep protection for the city's gay and
lesbian citizens in the civil rights
ordinance.
Voters affirmed the civil rights of
sexual minorities in the areas of
education, employment, and housing
by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin
as they defeated a referendum which
sought to repeal the sections of the
civil rights ordinance pertaining to
sexual minorities.
The referendum question had been
placed on the ballot by Citizens Alert,
a grassroots political organization
with ties to fundamentalist Christian
churches.
- Equal Time
Falwell: Gays
tried to kill me
The Rev . Jerry Falwell says in a
fund-raising letter that Gays were out
to kill him during a demonstration in
Los Angeles. "It is truly a miracle that
I am alive today," Falwell said . "I
sincerely believe that certain persons
fully intended to take my life."
Hollywood police officer Frank
Guarino said Falwell was out of the
hotel before the activists entered.
-Cruise
Statewide
domestic partner
benefits possible
BOSTON - Massachusetts r:overnor
William F. Weld is consi,iering an
executive order granting Gays statewide
bereavem ent leave and other
benefits traditionally available to
wives and husbands.
The Governor's Advisory Council
for Women's Issues recommended the
plan to Weld, a ·strong advocate for
gay and lesbian rights.
-Associated Press
School Board
approves condom
distribution
The Seattle school board voted 6-1 in
favor of making condoms· available to
studen ts. At a public hearing before
the vote, hundreds of people attended
and gave testimony. Two weeks
prior to the vote, ACT UP further
forced the issue by distributing safe
sex kits and graphic educational
material at area high schools. The
explici t language in the brochure
further inflamed public debate about
safe sex material, spec ifically in the
schoo ls, and the dangers facing
teenagers.
Many fundamentalist churches
organized to oppose the condom distribution
program . One murm called
for a "crusade" against safe sex. The
Catholic Archbishop of Seattle,
Thomas Murphy, sent a Jetter to the
school board opposing the plan,
although the plan has no affect on
Catholic schools in the area.
-Seattle Gay News
.... NewLsin es , .................................................................. .
Hate crimes
ordinance passed
in Kentucky
Before an overflow crowd of over 200
supporters, the Louisville, Kentucky
Board of Aldermen approved a
revised hate crimes ordinance that
would protect minorities, including
Gays, from crimes of violence or
intimidation. The law represents the
first time that gay men and Lesbians,
as a class, have received civil
protection of any kind in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky.
-Cruise
Neo-Nazi leader
dies of AIDS
Michael Kuhnen, 35, leader of
Germany's neo-Nazi movement died
of complications from AIDS in Kassel.
Kdmen had been the moving force
in the outlawed National Socialists
Action Front since 1983.
-Our World
Minnesota Hitler
fan forms white
student union
Claiming Hitler as his representative
of the white culture he seeks to
preserve, University of Minnesota
student Tom David and a handful of
his white student union followers
listened to 500 students chant "No
Nazis, no KKK, no fascist USA," at the
University.
"I live for what white culture means
to me," David said as he stood aside
from protest speakers. His followers
also vowed violence against Gays.·
"When the dust settles, the faggots
and the freaks will be dead in the
streets," said supporter Mike Nelson.
-Equal Time
David Duke
opposes
11 gay lifestyle 11
Former KKK Grand Wizard and
presidential candidate David Duke is
officially on record opposing the "gay
lifestyle." During a press conference
where he announced plans to oppose
George Bush in the Republican
presidential primary, Duke said,
"Frankly I don't endorse the gay
lifestyle. I don't think that's good for
the country. I don't think that's good
for my children and I resent it
presented as a normal lifestyle for my
people in the national media and to
my children in the national medii1.."
Duke went on to say that Gays and
Lesbians should not be allowed to
serve in the nation's armed services.
cSouthern Voice
Anti-gay circular
a hate crime, say
CSUN police
LOS ANGELES - Authorities are
seeking the creator of a circular
announcing the "first annual gay
bashing and clubbing night" al
California State University's Northridge
campus. ·
The production and distribution of
the circular was likely a hate crime,
say university police.
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley
offered the services of the Human
Rights Commission and is urging
criminal prosecution.
-Outlines
Church begins
Sunday HIV
testing program
SAN FRANCISCO - The Glide
Memorial Methodist Church became
what is believed to be the first
mainstream church in the United
States to begin handing out safer-sex
kits, which include condoms, and
offering its parishioners anonymous
HIV testing through a Sunday afternoon
testing clinic.
Leaders at Glide, which serves an
ethically and racially mixed inner-city
congregation, said they moved ahead
with the church HIV clinic testing
program after Los Angeles Lakers
star Magic Johnson announced earlier
in November that he had tested
positive for the virus. ·
-Alabama Forum
Canadian airwaves
ban homophobia
The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications
Commission has
announced that it plans to ban
homophobic talk from their airwaves
in response to escalating anti-gay
content on the Toronto-based Vision
TV cable program "100 Huntley
Street." Coupled with this, several
provincial legislatures are considering
gay rights and/ or anti-discrimination
bills.
-Our World
Readef's Digest
publishes
homophobic
article
Reader's Digest, which sells 28 million
copies monthly, may be the most
anti-gay general circulation maga2ine
in America, according to the Gay and
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
In the September edition, "That's
Outrageous," a column purporting to
"spotlight absurdities in our society"
with the aim of "eliminating them"
featured an item condemning the
Centers for Disease Control for
funding safe sex education programs
sponsored by "a homosexual group
called the National Association of
Black and White Men Together."
Author Cal Thomas said, "This
bolsters homosexual efforts to give
their sexual behavior the same kind
of legal approval that minority
groups have .. "
Pink Panthers
patrol must
change name
The Pink Panthers, a gay street patrol
group which protects Gays and
Lesbians in Green,wich Village, has
been ordered to change its name
because it infringes on the trademark
of the cartoon character "the Pink
Panther."
U.S. District Judge Pierre N. Leval
ruled that the patrol's name could
give the impression that MGM
Studios, owner of the Pink Panther
trad_emark, supported the gay patrol.
The Pink Panthers group was
formed in 1990, in response to a rise
in gay-bashing in New York City. Its
200 members have become a visible
deterrent to gay bashing in the
E mpatby is a journal that deserves our
.s:upporfto r the originala nd creativew ork it
docs 1n the interest of truth and justice.
• -f.. Rev. Malcolm Boyd, author o( 23 books
in~ludingAreY oHR Hnningw ith Me,]esus?,
Take Off rhe Masks, and Gay Priest
E mpathy provides a much~neeJl'.Ja nd
welcomed communic,nion link for persons
involved in ~ducation about homoph()bia. At its
best it will keep us informed and in touch, ·
supported and challenged, excited and proud.
if. Brian McNaught; lecturer and aurhor of On
Being Gay: Thoughts on Family, Faith, ftnd Lot:e
Greenw.ich Village area, and the
group received an Organizational
Achievement award from the Empire
State Pride Agenda in 1991.
-Associated Press
Task Force
. presents Creating
Change awards
The National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force honored one individual and
four organizations during itsl 991
Creating Change Conference held in
Alexandria, Va., Nov. 9-11. Praised
for extraordinary accomplishment and
commitment to the gay and lesbian
community were: Marlon Riggs, for
"breakthrough work... on the film
Tongues Untied; Irish Lesbian and
Gay Organization, for "bravely
forging a new tradition of a gay and
lesbian contingent in New York City's
St. Patrick"s Day Parade;" Connecticut
Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil
Rights, for its "successful campaign to
pass Connecticut's gay and lesbian
rights bill;" the Los Angeles Gay and
Lesbian Community Services Center,
for "20 years of service, support and
strength;" and Queer Nation/ Atlanta,
for the ongoing ''boycott against the
anti-gay discriminatory policies of
Cracker Barrel Restaurants."
L/fn
Interdisciplinary
Journal
for Persons
Working to
End Oppression
on the Basis of
Sexual Identity
l'UBI.ISHEO TWICE A YEAR, EMPATHY INCLUDES
SCHOLARLY ESSAYS, .PROSE AND POETRY, PRACTITIONER
ARTICLES, ANECD:OTAL ESSAYS, AND J.ES£ARCH REPORTS
AS WELL AS ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES FOR
RESOURCE MATERlALS. RECENT RESEARCHA ND BOOKS.
THE JOURNAL SERVES PEOPLE WORJCING IN EDUCATION,
COUNSEUNG, HEALTH CAR£, SOCIAL WORK,
COMMUNTIT ACTMSM, ANO THE MINISTRY
NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY.
Oney.ear (2 issues) individual subscription
$IO (JfS institutional)
Make checks payable to Gay and Lesbian Advocacy
ResearchP roject( ~LA.RP) ari.dm ail to:
Empat~y, PO Box 5085, Columbia, SC 29250.
Secmid Stone• January/February 1992 f17
....................................N....e..wL...si.n. ..e..s.. .......T... .........
Pittsburgh
diocese cuts
funds ov,er
gay priests
The Episcopal Diocese has announced
·that it will permit parishes to
withhold funds from the Episcopal
Church of the United States because
of the national ch_urch's rejection last
summer of punishment of bishops
who have ordained openly gay
priests. The Pittsburgh Diocese is the
first to take such an action.
Protestors
interrupt
Family Concerns
Conference
ATLANTA- Members of ACT UP/
Atlanta, Queer Nation/ Atlanta,
Refuse & Resist, the National Organization
for Women and others demonstrated
at the Family Concerns Conference
held in November at the
Peachtree Street First Baptist Church.
Vice President Dan Quayle, scheduled
to appear at the conference, did
not show up. Ten protestors managed
to get into the conference and
interrupted Family Concerns founder
Nancy · Schaeffer. Demonstrators
passed out condoms to stunned conference
attendees before being
forceably thrown out by First Baptist
Church security officers.
During Schaeffer's opening remarks
as the conference started, protestor
David Lowe interrupted and told the
audience of several hundred that
their organization was responsible for
the deaths of people with AIDS
because they oppose the use of condoms.
"Watching a hate-filled, bigoted,
murderous woman sit in stunned
silence as she faced her accuser was a
truly powerful moment," said Lowe
-Southern Voice
Clinton would
end military ban
Presidential candidate and Arkansas
Governor Bill Clinton said if he were
elected president he would sign an
executiv .e order banning discrimination
against Gays and Lesbians in
the military.
Clinton made the statement when
asked the question during a forum at
Harvard University .
"A strong message
of hope."
In (jods
Image
-The Advocate
In (joa's Image
Christian Witness to the Need
for Gay/Lesbian Equality
in the Eyes of the Church
by Robert Warren Cromey
Rector,T rinityE piscopaCl hurch
San Francisco
"A stirring manifesto and sincere
guide to clearer understanding. This
is a nurturing, healing book and a· call
to action. Read it!"
-Malcolm Boyd, Author of Are You
Running with Me, Jesus & Gay Priest
$9. 9 5/paperback
Send a check today; we cover postage.
ALAMO SQUARE PRESS
P.O. Box 14543, Dept. S,'San Francisco, CA 94114
[SJ Secord Stone• January/February 1992
'The best time to have done it
[change the policy] would have been
just in the afterglow of victory" in the
Persian Gulf war, Clinton said,
according to the Arkansas DemocratGazette.
He said Gays have been "in every
war we ever fought, which everybody
knows, and every other army
always has."
-Cruise
Gay student
group gets
approval
CLEMSON, SC - A gay student group
has been officially recognized by the
Clemson Student' Senate despite
vehement opposition from the · College
Republicans.
The senate cast 36 votes for and 15
votes against in a roll call vote,
granting recognition to the Lambda
Society. Five senators abstained.
Marci Fuentes, who voted in favor
of the group, said that objections
raised by College Republicans made
her sick. 'To those of you who are
arguing the legalities let me tell you
this: in this state, premarital sex is
against the law, ~ral sex is against the
law, sex with the lights on or sex in
any position besides the missionary
position is against the law.
"How many of you have broken the
law?" Fuentes asked.
Christian right
got her fired,
reporter says
Julie Brienza, a reporter fired in
April, 1990, by UPI because she was
freelancing for a lesbian/ gay newspaper,
has charged that right-wing
religious broadcasters orchestrated a
"smear campaign" that led to her
firing. Brienza has filed a $12.5
million lawsuit in U.S. District Court
claiming that religious broadcasters
Paul Cameron, Vic Eliason and others
made a ·series of reports about her,
calling her a "mole" and referring to
her work at UPI as "a case of lesbian
penetration ." Cameron and Eliason
later claimed credit for Brienza's
firing and congratulated their audiences
for their efforts toward that end.
-Southern Voice
Lesbian, partner
recognized as
family
In a landmark · legal ruling, an
employer has been ordered to graht
sick leave to a lesbian employee to
take care of her life partner .
A hearing officer of the Career
Service Authority of Denver, Colo.,
ruled that Denver General Hospital
violated Department of Health and
Hospital regulations when it refused
to allow a lesbian employee to take
three days sick leave to care for her
injured companion. The decision recognizes
lesbian and gay relationships
as families.
Hearing officer Margot Jones held
that the agency violated the rights of
social worker Mary Ross by refusing
to give her sick leave to care for her
"permanent life partner," Jeannie
DiClementi, who had fractured her
skull. Jones said that Ross had
demonstrated that she and
DiC!ementi are a family, and that the
agency's action was "discriminatory
on the basis of appellant's sexual
orientation."
William B. Rubenstein, the Director
of the ACLU's national Lesbian and
Gay Rights Project, said the decision
was an important step toward greater
recognition of lesbian and gay
relationships. "Little by little, courts
and administrative tribunals are
giving legal recognition and tangible
rights to relationships that are, by
any definition, families," he said.
-Empty Closet
UCC president
responds to
conservatives
In letters to conservative United
Church of Christ members, UCC
President Paul Sherry responded to
accusations that leaders of the 1.6
million member denomination are
· "apostates" ( defectors from the faith).
Charges that UCC leaders have
abandoned the gospel are contained
in the "Dayton Declaration," produced
at a meeting of 149 UCC
conservatives. It accuses UCC leaders
of "advocating adultery, fornication
and homosexuality and supporting
ancient practices of abortion, infanticide
and euthanasia." Sherry called
the allegations eqoneous, "divisive
and irresponsibl 1 ' and asked that
they be withdraw .
-The Lutheran
Anti-gay riest
arrested or
soliciting sex
A Tampa priest w o actively opposed
that city's gay ri hts ordinance was
arrested in Octob r for soliciting oral
sex from a police officer. Monsignor
Norman Baltha,ar said that he "had
too much to rink and was not in
control of senses." The monsignor
urged his arishioners at Christ the
King C urch to sign petitions to
influe ce local officials to reject
Tam~a-'s ordinance, which banned
disc imination based on sexual
ori tation.
-Southern Voice
..................
Not 'queer'
say England's
Humanists
The Gay and Lesbian Humanist
Association of England has voted
, overwhelmingly to reject the use of
the word "queer," calling it a
"repulsive and wholly negative
word ."
GALHA secretary George
Broadhead said, "After lesbian and
gay rights organizations have
expended so much effort towards
ending th e use of such words as
'queer' in the media, it seems the
'height of irony and absurdity that
Lesbians and Gays themselves should
adopt the same terminology."
-Cruise
Finally ... Victory in
Sharon Kowalski ·
case
ST. PAUL, MN - For seven years,
Karen Thompson has fought for the
right to care for her lesbian lover, left
a quadriplegic by an auto accident.
Her lover's parents and a judge
refused but, after a long legal battle,
a state appeals court said yes.
'There aren't words to express the
hell the system l).as put us through,"
Thompson said after the Minnesota
Court of Appeals ruled she was the
. most qualified person to act as Sharon
Kowalski's guardian.
M. Sue Wilson, Thompson 's attorney,
called the ruling a victory for the
disabled as well as "a significant
affirmation that moves Gays and
Lesbians and the way the Jaw treats
th em in , this state into the 20th
century! ' · ·
-Associated Press
Auburn gay/lesbian
association
denied charter
The Auburn Gay and Lesbian Association
was denied a charter in a
meeting of the Auburn University
Student Senate. The Senate voted
23-7 against the charter in a secret
session on November 25.
Student Senator Scott Johnson told
the Senate he had received a petition'
with 440 signatures from students
who didn't believe the association
should be an official university
organization.
According t'o William Rubenstein,
director of the American Civil
Liberties Union's National Lesbian
and Gay Rights Project, the action
could make the school vulnerable to a
lawsuit and the ACLU is prepared to
sue the university to protect the
group's first amendment right of
association.
-Alabama Forum
News Lines . .................... .
P-FLAG
establishes AIDS
volunteer network
Parent s and Friends of Lesbians and
Gays has announced the formation of
the Family AIDS Support Project, the
only national program designed to
support families and caregivers
affected by HIV disease. The
program will assist families wherever
they are in the nation through a
toll-free number.
A volunteer network of 70 Family
AIDS Partners will coordinate activities
in every · county in the nation.
From Partners, callers will be able to
obtain medical, l ega l, social, religious,
and emotional support and
resources. The Federation office will
have a staff of two professionals to-manage
the program.
To volunteer support or donate
funds to this program write to
Direct or, AIDS Program, P-FLAG,
1012 14th St., NW, 11700 Washington,
DC20005.
Senate nixes
sex surveys
WASHINGTON - The Sen ate
defunded two planned federal surveys
of .teen and adult .sexual
behavior and diverted the money to a
federal program that counsels youth
to abstain from sex before marriage .
"I am sick and tired of pandering to
the homosexuals in this country," said
Sen. Jesse Helms, R-NC, who spon°
sored the measure. 'They may have
their rights as citizens, but that
does n't cover up the fact that they're
perverted ."
Helms called the surveys tools of
the "free-sex crowd" to "legitimize"
their lifestyle.
-Outlines
Ann Arbor
council approves
partnership
ordinance
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, City
Council has approved an ordinance
that will allow unmarried couples,
heterosexual and homosexual , to
register their relationship with the
city clerk. ·
The ordinance was passed
unanimously November 6 at th e end
of the longest public hearing in eight
years for the city 's legislative body.
More than one hundred people spoke
on the issue at the public hearing.
Several speakers read from the Bible
and invoked "the word of God" to
support their opposition to the
ordinance.
Ann Marie Coleman, a member of
the Ann Arbor City Council and
sponsor · of the ordinance, -said she .
would introduce a resolution to study
the cost of extending health insurance
and other benefits to domestic partners
of city employees.
Ann Arbor is the first Michigan
community to pass such an ordinance.
Eighteen other communities across
the country have enacted some form
of domestic partnership policy to date .
-Cruise
Lesbian union
causes -loss of
job offer
The Georgia attorney general is
being sued for having withdrawn a
job offer to a lesbian lawyer after
learning that she planned a union
ceremony with her lover.
The American Civil Liberties Union
filed suit on October 3 in U.S. Dis trict
Court, on the grounds that Attorney
General Michael Bowers violated
Robin Joy Shahar's right to religious
freedom, freedom of association, and
equal protection under the Constitution.
·
Shahar and her iover of nearly five
years participated in a Jewish
marriage ceremony on July 28.
-Associated Press
Queer Nation
co.nfronts
fundamentalist
Christians
LOS ANGELES - In an effort to
counteract aggressive anti-gay
proselytizing on the streets of West
Hollywood 's ''Boys Town," activists
from Queer Nation and other groups
demonstrated at the Calvary Church
in Santa Ana.
About 100 protestors, some wearing
T-shirts or carrying placards promoting
gay visibility, as well as a
radical fairie contingent in drag,
targeted 1000 parishioners during two
Sunday services. One man reportedly
tried to ram protesters with his
electric wheelchair and one woman
gave demonstrators "the finger."
Six activists who protested inside
the church were arrested for trespass_
ing and disturbing a religious
service.
Parents and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays and United Lesbians of
African Heritage joined in the action.
-Outlines
Senator Helms
has cancer
RALEIGH, NC - Republican Senator
Jesse Helms, the Senate's leading
opponent of Gays and PW As, is
uhdergoing radiation treatment for
prostate cancer. He has no plans to
curtail his political activities.
"Anybody who wants to start
picking my successor better wait for
about 11 years," he said.
Although prostate cancer is the
second deadliest cancer to strikl? men,
it is usually treatable when detected
early- Helms is also being treated for
Paget's disease, a condition that
weakens and deforms bones.
-Outlines
Tollfree hotline
for gay and
lesbian youth
A group in Indiana has initiated a
national gay /lesbian youth hotline,
with assistance from the U.S. ·
Conference of_ Mayors. The purpose
of the Indiana Youth Group hotline is
to provide healthy choices for gay
and lesbian youth under 21,
including peer counseling, in order to
help reduce the feelings of. isolation
and rejection and to increase self
esteem which reduces high risk
activity and tb.e spread of HIV/ AIDS.
The hotline, 1-800-347-TEEN, is
operational Thursday through
Sunday nights from 7 - 11:45 p.m.,
Central Time .
lJNITED METHODISTS:
we're _here for you -Affirmation: United Methodists for
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns welcomes you.
P.O. Box 1021 Evanston, IL 60204
(415)221-1612
Second Stone• January/February 1992 [[]
recorded in the book of Genesis,,. Chet said. "I wa~ surprised
by the many mental pictures that came to me as I read God's
sequential plan in creating the world."
After completion of his sabbatical, Chet created 17 prints
depicting stages of the theme of creation, with some stages
-having more than one version. Each print displays five to ten
color overlays. After completing the themes, the artist said he
also wanted to reveal God's rhythmic, predictable, and
anticipated handiwork as evidenced in the four seasons,
revealing how seasonal changes affect God's creation. "To do
this," Chet said, "I chose the tree of life as my theme, and set it
in a consistent landscape, revealing different color, texture, and
_ landscape contrasts according to seasonal changes."
[ID] Second Stone• January/Febn~y 1992
Creation of the Fowls
of the Firmament
(above)
And God said, let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creatures that
hath life ...
and fowl that fly above the earth in the
open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1 :20
Creation of the Whales and Fish
(left)
Creation of the Stars
And God made two. great lights; the
greater light to rule the day ..
And the lesser light to rule the night; he
made the stars also. And God set them
in the firmament of the heaven to give .
light upon thct earth.
Genesis 1.:16
Creation of the Suri
(below)
· Creation of Man and Woman:
The River of Life
(left)
... And God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air.
Genesis 1:26,27
Second Stone• January /February 1992 {ii] ·
T
. he tone for ·one of the
themes of the civil rights
struggle was set by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr .
during his speech following
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat
on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama,
bus. His passionate words
echo and · re-echo, 'There comes a
tim e when people get tired ... tired of
b eing segregated and humiliated;
tired of being kicked around by the
brutal feet of oppression ." People of
color, women, the poor, and same-sex
orient ed persons have felt ''the feet of
oppression" and have "become tired"
of the common oppression that they
face.
There has been an evolution ·in
North American societies' awareness
of- the dehumanizing effects of the
four kinds of oppression mentioned
above . Slavery was questioned by
some from its advent in America, and
the refusal to see women and the poor
as equals in our common life was a
burning issue just below the surface.
True, it was not until the 1%0s that
the seriousness of racism and sexism
(and to some extent, classism) was
faced head on . Today there is widespread
recognition of historical
oppression toward ethnic minoriti es
and women. Admittedly, this recognition
has been under attack during
.the past two decades, and our society
inqeasingly blames the victims of
poverty for most of their problems .
At the same time, awareness of
oppression related to these three
groups has solid historical roots .
More recent has been a growing
recognition of the seriousness of
oppression of those with same-sex
orientation. Increasingly, many of us
believe that making gender - rather
than depth of commitment - the
criteria for meaningful heterosexual
and homosexual relationships is
oppression on a par with these other
forms of oppression.
What are some of the common
thr eads binding together these four
groups of oppressed people? First, all
four groups have had their auth enticity
attacked. Nothing is more
frightening in relationships with
oth er persons than being rejected as
less than fully human. Tragedies
occur when victims accept other s '
limiting stereotypes of themselves. I
r emember several Choctaw Native
American children watching a War
Danc e at the Neshoba County Fair
near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Dan-
BY TITUS -BENDER
cers had been imported from
Oklahoma for the occasion. While
watching the War Dance O!Je child
· said to the others, "Look. Those are
real Indians." What have we done
when Native American children do
not feel real? When friends feel guilt
for their desires to reach out with
their whole being to another of the .
same sex, I ask, "What have we
done?" In the words of Dr. King,
'There comes a time when people get
tired" of having their authenticity
denied.
Second, all four of these categories
of oppression shut people out of each
other's lives. One of the biblical
images of pain is that of 'being lost"
(shut out, alone, speaking and not
being heard). This is closely related
to the issue of power. Research has
documented the human struggle to
be taken seriously; when the struggle
fails, we tend to succumb to experiencing
ourselves as "mere things."
Gang members desperately seek
identity; if welfare recipients are
treated as objects rather than subjects,
dignity is attacked; when some
nursing homes discourage elder
assertiveness, self-worth is threatened.
To shut out others is probably
more cruel and damaging than to
curse them. 'There comes a time
when people get tired" of being shut
out. ·
Third, all four groups have been
used as scapegoats by our society in
order to avoid responsiblity for our
collective failures. Daniel P.
Moynihan's controversial analysis put
more blame on the black population
for the breakdown of the American .
family . Same-sex oriented people,
Research has documented
the human struggle to be
taken seriously; when the
struggle fails, we tend to
succumb to experiencing
ourselves as "mere things."
[12] Second Stone• January/February 1992
\
women who "get out of their role,"
and the poor have been similarly
blamed by some for dilemmas faced
by families. It might be more appropriate
to ·blame the consumer society
to which most of us have fallen prey
for a national atmosphere that considers
getting ahead of our neighbors
more important than relationships
among people. 'There comes a time
when people get tired" of being
scapegoated to "let others off the
hook."
Fourth, the freedom and
personhood of all the oppres sed is
intertwined with the freedom and
personhood of us all. One of my
greatest disappointments during our
family's eleven years in Mississippi in
the 1950s and 1960s was the success of
the state power structure 1n keeping
the poor white and the black populations
from joining hands ip search of
freedom. The personhood of all
people, whether oppressor;
oppressed, or bystander, is int ertwined.
As Dr. King etched into .our
consciousness, finally we will all be
free and whole or none of us will be
free and whole.
There is one major difference
between . oppression . of same- sex
oriented people and the other three
categories of oppressed people we
have considered here. Persons of an
ethnic minority, women, and the poor
can seldom "successfully" hide their
identity from the public. But people
can pretend to be heterosexual . This
can be one of the most cruel consequences
of non-acceptance of same-sex
orientation, especially in the church,
because it forces people to hide and
be isolated from each other .
As the human family, all of our
destinies are intertwined ; None of us
can afford to be separated from our
· sisters and brothers who are of a
different ethnic heritage, gender,
economic background, or sexual
orientation. And we must meet as
equals if there is fo be authentic
dialogue.
Titus Bender and his wife, Ann, live in
Harrisvnbur8, Virginia,_ where they are
members of the Lindale Mennonite
Church. He is a Professor of Social Work
at Eastern Mennonite College and is
involved as a volunteer in the areas of
corrections and homelessness. He and
his family spent 11 years in Meridian,
Mississippi, doins church and civil
rights work. 11ns article originally
appeared in Dialogue .
In Print ........................ .................................................
Peculiarly good Peculiar People
By Johnny Townsend
Contributing Writer
T here has been a wealth of
well-writt .en books on
religion and homosexuality,
so why do we need yet
another one? Well, until Gays and
Lesbians are accepted by religion, we
hav e to do two things: try to find a
way to reach almost . unreachable
leaders, and to comfort and inform
gay and lesbian members of these
religions and also thir families and
friends. Peculiar People: Mormons and
Same-Sex Orientation (edited by Ron
Schow, Wayne Schow, and Marybeth
Raynes, and published by Signature
Another chapter
includes an account
by a young man who
came out to his
mother by leaving a
note on the
refrigerator door,
"Hi, Mom. I'm a
homosexual. I'll be
home at 7. Love,
John."
Books in Sal.t Lake City) .accomplishes
at leas t the second half of that
mission.
A certain elitism is ingrained into
Mormon minds from birth. Theirs is
the one true church on the earth . The
others may contain parts of the truth,
but only. Mormons have all of the .
truth, and th ey are the only church
led by a tru e prophet of God, a man
who receives revelation, not just
inspiration . Whatever we may think
of this attitude, it does create a certain
problem for gay Mormons. Books on
religion and homosexuality written
by Catholic s, Baptists, Jews,
fundamentalists, historians, or anyone
else simply have almost no validity
Marybeth Raynes is a licensed clinical
social worker· and marriage and family
therapist in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well
as an adjunct assistant professor in the
Graduate School of Social Work at the
University of Utah. She h!15 _long been
aware through her professional and
clinial experiences of the challenges
facing gay and lesbian Mormons.
for the Mormon reader . "Of course
they can be tolerant. They don't know
like we do." That is why Peculiar
People does fill an important. gap in
gay religious literature. With over 8
million Latter-day Saints throughout
the world, roughly 800,000 gay and
lesbian Mormons and their families
now have a source other than the
church to tum to.
The book is designed to be the first
book read on homosexuality. It
contains a list of resources, found
mostly in Utah, an annotated bibliography
to guide people to further
useful reading, and a list of
statements regarding homosexuality
by 12 different denominations . And
though Mormons can easiJy ignor e
the work of "worldly" scientists ( all
non-Mormons, even Jews, and
Gentiles to Latter-day Saints), the
book includes several chapters of
scientific and psychological views, just
in case a reader can open up enough
to let any of that in.
This is, in fact, one ofthe book's
strengths - that the editors choose a
.balanced approach . There are
, chapters by doctors and psychologist s
. (some of them LOS), and also chapters
by bishops and other church leaders .
There are chapters by pro-gay voices,
and there are several homophobic
chapters as well, some written not
only by LDS leaders but by gay and
lesbi an homophobes ·themselves; just
enough self-hatred in the book to
give a glimpse of the incredible
oppression within the Church.
The book begins with chapters by
four lesbian and three gay Mormons.
This is followed by seven chapt ers
about being married to Gays or
Lesbians . Next' comes a section
Wayne Schow is Professor of English
and chairs the Department of English
and Philosophy at Idaho State University.
Having confronted homosexuality
through the experiences of his oldest son,
he has seen directly the alienation and
ostracism experienced by Mormon Gays
and Lesbians and their families.
written by three men and two women
called 'Voices of Family Members
and Friends." And finally is the
section on "Professional and Christian
Perspectives" mentioned earlier.
Some of the chapter titles in the
book include, "Finding People Who
Care: A Mother'.s Experience," "Developmental
Tasks of Gay Youth,"
"Suicidal Behavior in Gay and
Lesbian Mormons, " 'The Case For
Celibacy," and "With All Thy
Getting, Get Understanding ." The
lesbian wife of a bishop speaks out in
one chapter . Another chapter includes
an account by a young man who
came out to his mother by leaving a
note on the refrigerator door, "Hi,
Mom. I'm a homosexual: I'll be home
at 7. Love, John."
A gay LOS father of four tells his
story, and his rather ~itter wife gives
her side in another chapter. The
father of a gay son who died of AIDS,
a lesbian discharged from the Air
Force, and a man who recounts
1990 Lambda Literary Award
for Science 11:iction
Secret· Matter
Toby Johnson's novels tell gay-positive,
life-affirming stories with ha:fc endings
that will leave readers touch and glad
to be alive. They're romantic, sexy,
spiritual, occasionally profound-and just
all around good enjoyable reading.
Getting _LHe in
Perspective
A spiritual romance novel
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Ron Schow is Professor of Audiology in
the College of Health-Related Professions
at Idaho State University in Pocatello.
He draws on his training and interests
in zoology, genetics, psychology, and
counseling in attempting to reconcile
various professional and religious perspectives
on homosexuality.
spending almost $100,000 in shock
and aversion therapy at Brigham
Young University (the Church's main
university) make up still mor e
chapters. The wife of a healt hy gay
man writes of how her need to know
more about Gays led her to volunteer
with an AIDS Task Force and
eventually to start a support group for
LOS wives of gay men . There are
accounts by Gays and Lesbians who
want to stay in the Church, and
others by those who left because they
felt that being both gay and Mormon
created "irreconcilable differences ."
Those who stay complain that "silence
is the price of acceptance, even of
love."
Carol Lynn Pearson writes of
learning of her husband's homosexuality.
She was at this time
already an LDS celebrity and spoke
frequently t o many different
congregations. But now she felt s he
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~ Second Stone• January/February l 992 l13J
Catholic Charities fires shelter director
for providing condoms to homeless
By The Baltimore Alternative
CAMBRIDGE, MA - AIDS activists
and homeless women are urging
Catholic Charities officials to rethink
their stand against providing condoms
at shelters.
"I think the Cardinal (Bernard Law)
should take a really .good look at
this," said Betty Finn, a former homeless
woman who often relied on ·
shelters.
The coalition met to show support
for the director of an emergency
women's shelter who was fired for
making condoms available to women
using the facility.
"I think homeless women should be
told about AIDS and have a way of
protecting themselves from it," said
Finn, 41.
Gayle ~asten ·has head ed St.
Patrick's Shelter for Homeless Women
in Somerville, formerly York Street
Shelter of Cambridge, since December,
1989. Basten had been providing
seminars and literature on safe
sex and AIDS, but she also kept a
basket of condoms on the hack of a
toilet in a bathroom for the women.
The Roman Catholic Church
disapproves of conc!om use, said
Christian right showing results from
local church-based activism
The Christian right's movement
toward state and local politics is
showing results in California, which
may be a harbinger of things to come
nationwide. In the October issue of
Church & State, a magazine calling for
strict separation of church and state,
journalist Frederick Clarkson reports
that the Christian right has become
increasingly influential in California's
Republican politics: Conser vative
Christian activists "now control half of
the county Republican Central Committees
in California, as well as the
state board." In San Diego County the
Christian right fielded 90 candidates
for local offices such as school board,
water board and _city council . in
November 1990. Sixty of them won.
In a recent special election for a State
Assembly seat from Sacramento, the
hand-picked candidate of Gov. Pete
Wilson was vigorously opposed by
the Christian right. "which pitched
the campaign as a battle between
heaven and hell." Clarkson writes
that these recent stirrings point to
new "ingredients" and strategies that
are finding a hearing
Christian activists beyond-~ •:, .•
- ~a<>_
A Presbyterian Promise
"We will work to,increase the acceptance and
participation in the church of all persons regardless
of racial-ethnic origins, sex,, class, age,
disability, marital status or sexual orientation"
-195th General Assembly (1983),
Atlanta, Georgia
If this is your promise, too,
we invite you to join
Presbyterians for
Lesbian/Gay Concerns
Write to Elder James D. Anderson
PLGC, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ
08903-0038, 201/846-1510
I 14J Second Stone• January/February 1992
Joseph Doolin, Boston archdiocesan
director of Catholic Charities of
Massachusetts.
Basten was given a one month
notice of her termination but was soon
asked to leave immediately ·because
she continued to say publicly that
condoms should be allowed in the
shelter, said Doolin.
'This is a harassment of women,"
said Larry Kessler, director of the
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts.
"It says, 'we don't care about
women, so we won 't protect them."'
"I think there should be outrage at
the Church's denial there is a disease
There is a strong Reconstructionist
influence among such Christians, as
they seek to apply Biblical principles
to society and its institutions, according
to Clarkson. The second
ingredient in this new activism is the
"formation of a disciplined voting bloc
in sympathetic churches. The strategy
pivots on a high turnout of voters
from a handful of churches in a given
community to exploit generally low
voter turnout in most elections,
particularly party primaries." A
recen\ tape Clarkson obtained of
activist leader Jay Grimstead of the
Coalition on Revival alleges that
congregations are using the
"shepherding/ discipleship" methods
[where less-experienced Christians
are teamed up with church leaders for
spiritual advancement] to bring
church members into political work.
Grimstead says that "several
national groups of strategists are
looking now at 60 major cities in the
-that is killing people," said Basten.
Doolin said Basten's firing was final.
The 22-bed shelter is located in an
old convent remodeled with federal
money. Catholic Charities operates
the shelter, but the state provides
more than 90 percent of its funding,
said state Department of Welfare
officials. -
Under contract with the state, the
shelter must provide AIDS education
in addition to food and other services,
according to the DPW's shelter
resource unit. But the shelter is not
obligated to make condoms accessible,
state officials said.
United States and Canada" for long
term influence. This would include
"Replacement of anti-biblical elected
officials with biblically-oriented candidat
es." The third ingredient in the
new Christian politics is the "infusion
of Pat Robertson for President activists
into the Republican party structure,"
Clarkson adds. These strategies are
evident in other states such as
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida and "a
dozen other states." In the leftist
Mother Jones magazine (Nov /Dec)
Clarkson cites the California-based
Citizens for Excellence in Education as
epitomizing the "revival of the
Christian right." The organization
plans to "take our entire education
system back and· put it in God's
hands," by electing its own school
board candidates, according to CEE
head Robert Simonds .
Reported by Religion Watch newsletter.
Bulk issues
available for
churches
& groups
Extra copies of Issue #19 of Second Stone is
available FREE to churches and organizations
for distribut ion to members .
To obtain a quantity for your church or group,
drop us a postcard indicating how many you
need and the phone number of a.contact
person .
Christian Lesbians convene in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS - Snow may have
paralyzed most of this city on
Halloween night and for the
following two days, but this same
record-breaking storm sheltered 72
members of Christian Lesbians Out
Together (CWUT) through their first
nationwide conference, "A CLOUT of
Witnesses," November 1-3.
Sheltered within the storm, the
women recognized their collective
strength. Through ritual and worship,
through workshops and story
telling, they shared memories of
struggle and visioned a future where
each could fully and openly live her
life.
Spirit of the Lakes United Church of
Christ in Minneapolis hosted the
·gathering which brought women
together from places such as Florida,
Texas, California and the East Coast,
as well as from throughout the
Midwest.
It has been one year since ten
women met in New York to discuss
what it means to be out of the closet
and be a Christian . Within three
months of that initial meeting,
CLOUT had been formed and 113
women from 14 denominations had
already signed a Statement of Commitment.
CLOUT was conceived as an
intercultural, ·multiracial solidarity
coalition of "out" lesbian Christians .
Its primary purpose is to empower
lesbian Christians and to challenge
the churcl1es to which members
belong .
The CLOUT Statement of
Commitment calls on lesbian
National Council of Churches report:
Church must fac.e gay/
lesbian justice issue
"I am pleased and encouraged that
the National Council of Churches is
continuing to dialogue with us, despite
pressure to break off relations,"
said Rev. Elder Troy Perry, founder
and moderator of the Universal Fellowship
of Metropolitan Community
Churches; after the NCC General
Board received a report on the
dialogue.
The report marks the 10 year
anniversary of UFMCC's application
for membership in the NCC. Controv
ersy arose because UFMCC affirms
lesbian and gay people, and the
application was never approved.
"Although we are not yet
recognized as members, the NCCUFMCC
Dialogue Committee report
that ";as received today by the
General Board states that we have
now reached an historical moment
when church and society must face
the issue of justice for lesbian and gay
people," Perry said.
In this report, the NCC admits for
the first time that "the issue of homosexuality
appears to be firmly
entrenched within the lives of many
(NCC) member communions."
Rev. Perry said that UFMCC will
continue to be a Christian church that
proclaims \::;od's love for all people,
including gay and lesbian people.
"Our dialogue with NCC will, by the
grace of God , empower the entire
Christian church to identify and justly
address lesbian and gay issues."
The report also breaks new ground
by pointing out the connections
among the growth of UFMCC, the
impact of- AIDS, the emergence of
militant lesbian and gay rights
groups, and the increasing organization
of lesbian and gay people and
their supporters within NCC member
communions.
Lesbian veteran champions
Project 1 O in Milwaukee
Miriam Ben Shalom attended a
mid-November worship service at
Long Beam Metropolitan Community
Churm to receive the Humanitarian
of the Year Awa.rd from Senior Pastor
Dusty Pruitt. Both Ben Shalom· and
Pruitt have spent the last decade or
more in litigation against the U.S.
Army to remain in their local reserve
units. Both have won some of their
court cases and fost others. Ben
Shalom had the Supreme Court
moose not to hear her case last year
and Pruitt recently succeeded in
convincing the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco to rule
against the Army because discrimination
based on public prejudice is
not justifiable by a government
agency.
In accepting her award, Ben Shalom
thanked the congregation for the
honor, though she accepted it in the
name of many others . who are also
struggling to end bigotry and
prejudice towards Gays and Lesbians.
She discussed the fact that this
summer s·he srriously considered
ending her .involvement in Gay,
Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of
. America, a group she helped found
in late 1989. She thought she needed
a break from the 20 hour days, the
travel and the pressure.
But then the Jeffery Dahmer case
unraveled in Milwaukee . Some
SEE VETERAN, Page 20
<::hristians to come out of the closet,
whenever and wherever possible,
and to help empower and celebrate
one another in taking this courageous
step . It emphasizes the development
of justice-based theologies and
spiritual resources that grow from the
lesbian Christian experience;· the
exploration of new understandings of
sexuality and commitment; and
encourages networking with organizations
of other marginalized women
and men.
In Minneapolis, Janie Spahr, an
openly lesbian Presbyterian minister,
spoke to the group on 'The Journey
Out ," as they convened . Spahr is
executive director of the Ministry of
Light, a resource center in Marin
County, Calif., for Lesbians, gay
men, bisexual people, and people
with 1-IlV.
The next morning, Carter Heyward
and Mary Hunt shared the floor to
look back at the pioneering work of
Christian Lesbians in the '70s and to
warn of today's dangers.
Heyward defined the current
political climate as "an historical
moment of distortions, when everything
is called what it is not." She
called on her community to "work
politically and pastorally with
compassion" to reveal these distortions.
"We're living in the era -of Skull
and Bones," Hurit concurred,
referring to the secret society
President George Bush belonged to as
.a student at Yale University. She
described the intrinsically sinister
nature of secrect societies and their
relationship to power and privilege.
"Violence is not episodic, it's
contextual. Justice at best is episodic,"'
she said of the United States in this
decade.
Heywart:I. is an Episcopal priest and
professor of theology at the Episcopal
Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.
Hunt, a Roman Catholic feminist, is
co-director of the Women'.s Alliance
for Theology, Ethics and Ritual
(WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Whatever challenges Christian
Lesbians may face, participants
agreed that they were out of the closet
to stay as they began to plan
CLOUT's future.
When the storm was oven, the city
had received half its average annual
snowfall and CLOUT had established
a national network designed to
., support Christian Lesbians who are
out of the closet, to provide a lesbian
presence within the established
denominations, and to explore a
theology that springs from their own
experiences as Christians and as
Lesbians.
For information about CLOUT contact
Se/isse Berry, 1i11 1/2 Castro St., San
Francisco, CA 94114, or call
(415)550-7796.
OURWORLD The International Gay Travel Magazine
Month by month, we invite you to explore the exciting world of
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Plus, every month, regular departments
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Second Stone• Jauuary/Febrnary j99z ~
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Thef ollowinga nnouncemenths aveb een
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groups.
Sh;terly
Co1nversations
JANUARY 10-12, current concerns
among Lesbians of faith, led by
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, feminist
theologian and board member of the
Center for Sexuality and Religion.
Topics include how to develop a
care-based ethic to replace
heteropatriarchy 's competition-based
ethic of conflicting rights and how to
heal ourselves and our relationships
of the damage done by incest, ·
physical and psychological abuse,
and the woman-hatred and
gay-hatred of society. Cost is $195.
The setting is Kirkridge, Bangor, PA
18013-9359. Call (215)588-1793f or
information .
Homophobia
in Religion
and Society
JANUARY 31, Church of St. Bernadette,
Houma, LA; FEBRUARY 1, St.
Francis Cabrini Hospital, Alexandria,
LA; FEBRUARY 3, Catholic Center,
Shreveport, LA; FEBRUARY.5 , St.
Patrick's Hospital, Lake Charles, LA;
FEBRUARY 7, Unitarian Church,
Baton Rouge, LA - A Catholic priest
and nun bring their 7-year national
campaign to.reduce violence and
discrimination andJromote understanding
of gay an lesbian people to
southern Louisiana. Robert Nugent,
SDS, and Jeannine Gramick, SSND,
have been speaking and writing on
the top!C of homosexuality since 1971.
Seminars are designed for clergy
and laity of all denominations, edu-.
cators, counselors, social workers,
AIDS activists and others in the helping
professions and the concerned
general public.
For information contact the Center
for Homophobia Education, P.O. Box
1985, New York, NY 10159,
(212)884-8228.
Se!venth annual
Charismatic
Ccmference
FEBRUARY 7-9, "Equipped to Serve"
1s the theme of this gathering
sponsored by MCC Long Beach, Ca.
The conference will feature a wide
variety of workshops and guest
speakers including Rev. Elder Troy
Perry, Rev. Phyllis Mann, Rev.
Delores Berry, Rev. Dusty Pruitt and
Rev. Duane Moret. Registration is
$30. Contact MCC Long Beach, 1231
Locust-Ave., Long Beach, CA 90813,
(310)432-3641.
[16J-SecoStonned• J amlary/February 1992
Fifth Annual
T-E-N Weekend
FEBRUARY 21-23, The Evangelical
Network sponsors its annual
gathering. Speakers include Torey
Stuart, Rada Schaff, Jim Elsbury and
Fred Pattison. Panel discussions
follow each presentation . The registration
fee is $25.00 per p2rson. For
information, contact T-E-N, P.O. Box
16104, Phoenix, AZ 85011 or call
(602)265-2831
Institute
of the Son
FEBRUARY 24-29, Phoenix Evangelical
Bible Institute sponsors its
third annual institute. The theme is
"Living in Christian Relationships."
The sessions will include materials
used in preparing couples for
Covenant (Holy Union) Services.
$50.00 fee includes materials, tuition
breakfast and lunch. For informatio~
write to P.O. Box 16104, Phoenix, AZ
85011
Brethren/
Mennonite
Connecting
Families
MARCH 13-15, "Listening, Learning,
Loving" is the theme selected for the
third Connecting Families weekend
at Laurelville Mennonite Church
Center . Planned by families with
gay or lesbian members, the
weekend retreat seeks to build
communication lines between parents
and aduH siblings in families dealing
with the issue of homosexuality.
Featured presenter will be Michael A.
King, author, editor and former
pastor . More information may be
obtained from Brethren/Mennonite
Church Center, Route 5, Mt. Pleasant,
PA 15666.
Affirmation
spring gathering ·
MAY 8:10, United Methodists for Gay
& Lesbian Concerns· meets in
Louisville, Ky. during the UMC
General Conference. For information
contact Affirmation, P.O. Box 1022,
Evanston, IL 60204.
13th Annual Gay
& Lesbian Parents
Conference
JULY 2-5, the Gay and Lesbian
Parents Conference meets in
Indianapolis for Celebration '92 at the
downtown Hyatt Regency. "Come
Home to Indy" is the theme. For
information write to GLPCI
Celebration '92, Box 831, Indianapolis
IN 46206. '
Spiritfest '92
JULY 3-4, New Creation Christian
Fellowship, St. Louis, Mo., hosts
Grace Ministries' annual Celebration
of the Holy Spirit. The S.l.U.
Conference Center is the setting.
Spiritfest has been expanded from
two to three full days. For infor- .
mation contact New Creation
Christian Fellowship, 2138 Orgeon
St. Louis, MO 63103, 1-800-945-1992.
Lutherans
Concerned
Assembly '92
JULY 9-12, Lutherans Concerned/
North America meets at the
Philadelphia College of Textiles and
Ordinary People
Science for Assembly '92. "Free to
Celebrate: We are the church" is the
theme. For information write to
LC/NA, Box 10461, Fort Dearborn
Station, Chicago, IL 60610-0461.
CCL 10th
Anniversary
National
Conference
JULY 17-20, The Conference for
Catholic Lesbians meets in the Boston
area. CCL is a national organization
for Lesbians of Catholic heritage. For
information contact CCL-SS, P.O. Box
435 Planetarium Station, New York,
NY 10024.
SEND EVENT NOTICES TO:
CALENDAR, SECOND STONE,
P.O. BOX 8340,
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182
Awareness Project brings
campaign to national magazine
The Lesbian and Gay Public
Awareness Project began its national
?1edia campaign with a full page ad
m the year-end double issue of Peaple
Ma9azine, according to Awareness
Proiect Executive Director Julie Baron.
The ad, the first by a gay organization
to be published in People,
encourages readers to look beyond
lesbian and gay stereotypes and
acknowledges them as real people.
Baron says the ad is part of a
comprehensive campaign to educate
Americans that gay people are
integral to all races and cultural
groups. The importance of providing
positive images and role models for
Lesbians and Gays is another purpose
behmd t_he ~d. "We are not asking
for special nghts, but for our basic
human rights," Baron says. "We ask
for ~othing more and we will accept
n_othmg less. Until we all have equal
nghts, no one is · truly free," she
stated.
Hollywood actor Dick Sargeant,
who recently announced that he is
gay on "Entertainment Tonight" and
who appears in the ad, said, 'There
were no role models for me. The
suicide rate for gay and lesbian
teenagers is so high, we've got to get
more people to come out."
Said founding Director Catherine
Coker, who established the organization
in 1987, 'This ad is especially
relevant since California Governor
Pete Wilson succumbed to pressure
from religious fundamentalists and
reneged on a promise to sign AB 101,
the state's anti-discrimination in the
workplace bill."
Although Awareness Project ads
have appeared across the nation in a
variety of publications in the last five
years, the People ad marks the first
one purchased in a national publication.
Baron says the ad appeared in
ten major metropolitan areas and was
seen by 1.7 million readers. The
selected metro areas included: New
Yo~k City,_ Los Angeles, Chicago,
Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, San
Francisco-Sacramento, Dallas-Fort
Worth, Cleveland and Washington,
DC-Baltimore.
Founded after a young man
senselessly committed suicide because
he was gay, The Awareness Project
operates a wide range of multimedia
activities including radio public
service announcements, a video series
for cable-access television and a
speakers bureau. The Awareness
Project has also distributed thousands
of brochures about homophobia and
produces educational and positive
image print ads. One ad, "Are you
abusing your child without knowing
it?" is written by the mother of the
young man who committed suicide
with the regret that she taught her
son to hate Lesbians and Gays.
For information on the Awareness
Project, write to P.O. Box 65603, Los
Angeles, CA 90065.
T Noteworthy • ..................................... • .................................. .
"Welcoming"
churches totaJ 225
There are now over 225 local churches
in the United States and Canada that
have made a public declaration that
they welcome Lesbians and gay men
- 15 percent more than a year ago,
reports the Reconciling Congregation
·program. The leaders of these local
church programs in different denominations
met in Chicago, November
15-17, to share information and to
discuss cooperative efforts.
Since the leaders of the program met
a year ago two new programs have
organized - in the Disciples of Christ
and in Brethren/Mennonite churches .
Reports were heard that organizing
efforts are beginning in the American
Baptist and Episcopal denominations .
Some of the discussion during the
weekend centered on cooperation in
the publication of the magazine Open
Hands. The groups agreed to name
representatives to a joint editorial
advisory committee which would
assist in planning and evaluation of
the magazine. A proposal to move to
formal cooperative publishing is still
under consideration by the boards of
the various groups.
The programs represented at the
meeting and their number of
churches are: More Light (Presbyterian)-
46; Open and Affirming (United
Church of Christ)-63; Reconciling
Congregations (United Methodist)-49;
Reconciled-in-Christ (Lutheran)-69 ;
Supportive (Brethren / Mennonite) -
new.
Ecumenicaf
Catholic Church
begins services at
Russian River
The first Sunday in Advent,
December 1, marked the beginning
of weekly masses for St. Michael's
Ecumenical Catholic Church. The
Most Reverend Dr. Mark Shirila 11,
bishop of the Ecumenical Catholic
Church, recently relocated to the
Russian River area from Southern
California to begin this mission work.
The ECC is a small, independent
denomination within the Christian
Church. The worship service is
formal but modern, similar to that of
most Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and
Lutheran churches . The theology is
based _ on the Nicene and Apostle's
_ Creeds which unite all Christians
together. The basic difference is that
the ECC teachs that God's love is
unconditional.
The denomination was formed in
1987 because the larger church bodies
were failing to address all persons in
love. While conservative bodies were
condemning divorce and liberal
bodies were debating whether
homosexuality was acceptable, the
ECC was proclaiming the God's love
has nothing to do with whether you
are gay, straight, single, married,
divorced, male or female. Ordination
in the ECC is open to women and
Gays, and gay marriages are viewed
l\.S equal to their heterosexual counterparts.
Until larger facilities are found , the
masses will be held in the chap ~! of
the bishop's residence. All p erso n s
are welcome at St. Michael's and Holy
Communion is open to all bapti ze d
Christians, regardless of church
affiliation . For information call
(707)865-0119.
UFMCC's EXCEL
seeks couples for
retreat program
EXCEL International, UFMCC's lay
renewal ministry, is seeking committed
couples to help develop a new
retreat program. The program is
designed to help couples strengthen
their relationship through centering
their relationship in Christ. EXCEL
hopes to form a retreat team of three
or four couples - who will host a
couples weekend after an intensive
training period. Training will be
based on a retreat manual that has
been specifically written for the
program, as well as other materials
the team wishes to contribute.
Couples interested in formin{ a
team must be willing to train intensively
for a year-long period and
should be graduates of EXCEL.
Interested persons should contact
Brenda Blizzard, (313)775-6663.
Activist, author
Gerald Mallon
dies
Gerald L. Mallon, long-time gay
rights activist and author of Resisting
Racism, An Action Manual, died
November 5, 1991 of complications
related to AIDS.
Mallon had been an active member
of Dignity for more than 15 years,
during which he served in various
positions. Most recently, he served as
a lector, and as a Eucharistic Minister
on the Liturgy Committee.
He was emloyed by the Methacton
School District in Pennsylvania as
Planetarium Director since graduating
from college in 1974. In a tribute
to his major contribution to the school
district, the planetarium will be renamed
in his honor . As director of
the planetarium he was selected frorri
a host of other applicants to be the
first recipient of the prestigious
Challenger Seven Fellowship, a
memorial to the astronauts who lost
their lives in the shuttle disaster.
Mallon was a founding member of
the Philadelphia chapter of Black and
White Men Together and also a
former co-chair · of the National
Association of Black and White Men
Together .
Spirit of the Lakes
fund drive a
huge success
Far exceeding expectations, Spirit of
the Lakes Ecumenical Community
Church, Minneapolis, Minn., has garnered
over $400,000 in pledges
during its four-month capital fund
drive.
Pledges surpassed the church's goal
of $300,000. The drive was designed
to pay off part of Spirit of the Lakes'
recently acquired building, provide
for structural improvements, cover
fund-raising expenses, and purchase
Texas State Representative:
a computer system.
-Equal Time
Alabama church
celebrates fifth
anniversary
The Metropolitan Community Church
of Huntsville celebrated its fifth
anniversary in October. Rev . Troy
Perry, founder of the Metropolitan
Community Churches, was featured
speaker at the anniversary celebration
. Rev. Janet Pierce, pastor of
the Huntsville church said that,
although it was a wonderful weekend,
she was disappointed in local
media converage. Perry told the
gathering that 'The most revolutionary
act still left in America is for
two men or two women to walk down
the streets of Huntsville _ holding
hands."
-Alabama Forum
Homosexuals bear sole responsibility
for bringing AIDS to United States ·
State Representative Billy Clemons
(Democrat, Po llock County, Texas)
stated in a letter to an AIDS activist
that homosexuals were responsible
for bringing AIDS to the
United States and speading it "all
over." Clemons has seived as both
the Vice Chairman of the Public
Health Commission and as a member
of the State Task Force on AIDS and
has also expressed as interest in
running for Speaker of the Texas
House.
·"I am not homophobic, if that
means I am afraid of homosexuals,"
Clemons wrote in a letter to Ben
Rick Jordan, a resident of Lufkin
and an AIDS activist in East Texas.
He added, "I don't fear them, but I
do have some resenttnent , which is
based on two things: 1. each
person's lifestyle is their own
business, but don't expect me to
accept it and say it's okay . I don't
expect anyone to tell me that what I
do is okay, if what I'm doing is
unhealthy or ungodly. 2. lllV is a
homosexual disease. It was brought
to this country by homosexuals,
spread all over by homosexuals (the
original acronym was GRID: gayrelated
immunodeficiency disease) .
Babies would not be born with it,
and blood recipients would not get
it, if it had not been for homosexuals
. If you think more heterosexual
cases wil! cause society to
blame policy makings, more than
homosexuals, you're wrong. The
general society blames the homosexual
community . . The fact that
HIV was brought to and spread all
over the USA by homosexuals is not
a matter of opinion, but rather of
expert testimony ."
Clemons conclud ed, "Neither
policy makers nor the public is
concerned about preserving promiscuity
. Our testimony made it
obvious that what homosexuals
really hated, was that they would
either have to abandon their
promiscuity, or die."
For your convenience
you may now FAX:
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Second Stone• January/Febrnary 1992 [iz]
Resource. Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Listings in lhe Resource Guide are free to
churches, organizations, publications and
community services. Send information to
Second Stone, Box 8340, New Orleans, LA
70182 or FAX to (504)891-7555.
National
RELIGION WATCH, P.O. Box 652, North ·
Bellmore, NY 11710. A newsletter monitoring
trends in contemporary r~ligion.
LUTHERANS CONCERNED I NORTH
AMERICA, Box 10461. Fort Dearborn Station,
Chicago, IL 60610-0461. Publi cation:
The Concord
PRESBYTERIANS FOR LESBIAN & GAY
CONCERNS, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick,
NJ 08903-0038. Publication: More Light
Update
UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP OF METROPOLITAN
COMMUNITY CHURCHES 5300
Santa Monica Blvd., #304, Los Angeles, CA
90020, (213)464-5100. Publication: Keeping
in Touch ·
BRETHREN / MENNONITE COUNCIL
FOR LESBIAN AND GAY CONCERNS,
Box 65724, Washington, DC 20035.
Publication: Dialogue
UNITED CHURCH COALITION FOR
LESBIAN / GAY CONCERNS, 18 N.
College, Athens , OH 45701, (614)
593-7301. Publication: Waves
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS KINSHIP
INTERNATIONAL, Box 3840, Los Angeles,
CA 90078, (213)876-2076. Publication:
Connection
RECONCILING CONGREGATION PROGRAM,
P.O. Box 23636, Washington, be
20026, (202)863 , 1586. Publication : Open
Hands
INTEGRITY, INC, P.O. Box 19561, Washington,
DC 20036-0561, (718) 720-3054 .
Pub lication : The Voice of Integrity
ECUMENICAL CATHOLIC CHURCH, P.O.
Box 32, Villa Grande, CA 95486-0032.
Holy Spirt Church, East Moline, IL,
(309)792 - 6188. St Michael's Church,
Russian River, CA, (707) 865-0119 .
Publication: The Tablet
LIVING STREAMS, P.O. Box · I78, Concord,
CA 94522-0178. Bi-monlh~y· publication.
AIDS NATIONAL INTERFAITH NETWORK,
300 I St, NE, Ste. 400, W!'5hington,
DC 20002. (800)288-9619, FAX
(202)546-5103. Publication: Interaction.
NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN
R(GHTS - 1663 Mission St, Sib Fir., San
Francisco, CA 94103.
GAY AND LESBIAN PARENT COALITION,
P.O. Box 50360, Washington, DC
20091. Publication: Network.
THE WITNESS, Published by the Episcopal
Church Publishing Co., 1249 Washington
Blvd., Ste. 3115, Detroit, Ml 48226-1868.
(313)962-2650
INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN
ARCHIVES, The Natalie Barney Edward
Carpenter Library, P.O. Box 38100,
Hollywood, CA 90038. (213)854-0271.
Publication : Bulletin. ·
COUPLES Newsletter , Published by TWT
Press, Inc. , P.O. Box 253: Braintree, MA
02184-0003.
WOODSWOMEN - Adventure travel for
women, 25 · W. Di.amond . Lake Rd.,
Minneapolis, MN 55419 ; (800)279-0555,
(612)822-3809, FAX (612)822:3814.
DAUGHTERS •OF SARAH ·- Jhe magazi.ne
for Christian Feminists, 3801 No. Keeler,
Chicago, IL 60641, (312)736-3399.
CHI RHO PRESS , A special_ work of the
UFMCC Mid,Atlanlic District Publisher of
religious books and materials. ' P.O. Box
7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898,
(301)670-1859 :
COMMUNICATION MINISTRY, INC.Dialogue
and support group for gay and
lesbian Catholic clergy and religious. P.O.
Box 60125, Chicago, · JL 60660-0125.
Publication: Communication · ·,
WOMEN'S ALLIANCE FOR THEOLOGY, .
ETHICS AND RITUAL, 803,5 13th St.,
Silver Spring, MD 20910 . (301)589-2509 ,
FAX (301)589-3150. Publication: WATERwheeL
AFFIRMATION/United Methodists for Gay
& Lesbian ·Concerns, P.O . Box 1022,
Evanston, IL 60204 :
ST. TABITHA'S AIDS APOSTOLATE,
Christian AIDS Network of the Merican
Orthodox Catholic Church of St Gregorios,
P.O. Box 1543, Monterey, CA 93940.
(408)899-073 L
THE WOMEN'S PROJECT, 2224 Main St.,
Little Rock, AR 72206. (501)372-5113.
Workshops on women's issues. social justice ,
racism and homophobia.
Alabama
BIRMINGHAM - THE ALABAMA FORUM,
P.O. Box 55894, 35255-5894.
(205)328-9228.
California
SAN FRANCISCO - DIGNITY, 208 Dolores
St, , 94103. (415)255-9244. Publication:
Bridges.
SACRAMENTO - THE LATEST ISSUE, P.O.
Box 160584, 95816 . (916)737-1088.
WEST HOLLYWOOD - Evangelicals
Together, Suite 109-Box 16, 7985 Santa
Monica Blvd,, West Hollywood, CA 90046,
(213)656-8570. Publication: ET News
SAN FRANCISCO - Lutherans Concerned ,
566 Vallejo St., #25, 94133-4033,
(415)956-2069. Publication: Advent
SAN FRANCISCO - Gay and Lesbian
Historical Society of Northern California,
P.O. Box 42126, 94 142. (415)626 -0980 .
Publication: Our Stories.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Parsonage, 555-A
Castro St, 94114 -0293. Publication: The
Parsonage News
CO!Orado
.DENVER - Evangelicals Reconciled, P.O.
Box 200111, 80220 , (303)331-2839 .
Colorado Springs: (719)488-3158 .
DENVER - Evangelicals Concerned I
Western Region, P.O. Box 4750, 80204.
Publication: ThECable.
District of Columbia
· Integrity/Washington, Inc., P.O. Box 19561,
20036-0561. (301)953-9421. Publication:
Gayspring.
Florida
ST. PETERSBURG - King of Peace MCC,
4825 9th Ave. N., 33713-6135.
(813)323-5857. Sunday, 10:00 a.m. & 7 :30
p.m. Rev. Dr. Fred C Williams, Sr., Pastor.
Georgia
ATLANTA - SOUTHERN VOICE, P.O. Box
18215, 30316. (404)876-1819 .
Hawau
KAHULUI - BITTH SIDES NOW Newsletter,
P.O. Box 5042, 96732.
lllmois
CHICAGO - OUTLINES , Published · by
Lambda Publications, 3059 N. Southport,
60657. (312)871-7610. FAX (312)
871-7609.
Louisiana
BATON ROlJGE - Dignity, P.O. 1\ox 4181,
70821. (504)383-6010.
Mary land .
THE BALTIMORE ALTERNATIVE, P.O.
Box 2351, Baltimore, MD 21203.
(301)235-3401. FAX (301)889-5665.
Massachusetts
CHERRY VALLEY - Morning Star MCC,
231 Main St., 01611. (508) 892-4320.
r - -. - Ll.8JSecond Stone• January/Febmary 1992
Publication: Morning Star Witness.
Michigan
DETROIT - CRUISE Magazine, 19136
Woodward North, 48203. (313)369-1901.
FLINT - Redeemer MCC, 1665 N. Chevrolet
Ave., 48504. (313)238-6700. Sunday, 6:00
p.m. Publication: Sounds of Redeemer.
ANN ARBOR - Huron Valley Com- munity
Church meets at Glacier Way UMC, 1001
Green Rd., Ann Arbor , 48105-2896.
(313)741- 1174. Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
DETRCIT - Integrity, 980 Whitmore, #205,
48203.
GRAND RAPIDS - Bethel Christian
Assembly, P.O. Box 6935, 49516.
(616)459-8262 . Rev. Bruce Roller-Pletcher ,
pastor. Publication: The Bethel Beacon.
Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS - All God's Children
Metropolitan Community Church, 3100
Park Ave. S. (612)824-2673. Publication:
The Disciple.
MINNEAPOLIS : EQUAL TIME , 310 E
38th St, Room 207, 55409. (612) 823-3836.
Published by Lavendar, Inc .
New Jersey
HOBOKEN - The Oasis, 707 Washington St,
P.O. Box 5149, 07030. (201) 792-0340 .
New Mexico
SANTA FE - THE CATSBY CONNECTION
, 551 W. Cordova, Ste. DIE , 87501.
(505)986-1794 .
New York
NEW YORK - Lesbian and Gay Community
Services Center, Inc., 208 W . 13th St, !OOH.
(212)620-7310. Publica_tions: Center Stage,
Center Voice.
NEW YORK - lhtegritj,', P.O. Box 5202,
10185-0043. Publication : Outlook .
ROCHESTER - THE EMPTY CLOSET. 179
Atlantic Ave., 14607-1255. New York State's
oldest gay newspaper.
Ohio
COLUMBUS - Metropolitan Community
Church, 1253 North High Street, 43201.
(614)294-3026. Sunday, 10: 30 a.m.
Publication: The Beacon News.
COLUMBUS - STONEWALL UNION
REPORTS, Box 10814, 43201-7814.
(614)299-7764.
Pennsylv ania
ALLENTOWN - Grace Covenant Fellowship,
247 N. 10th St., 18102. (215)740 -0247.
Bryon Rowe, Pastor. Thom Ritter, Minister of
Music.
Texas
DALLAS - White Rock Community Church ,
P.O. Box 180063, 75218. (214)285-2831,
(214)327-9157. Sunday, 10:30 a.m. Jerry
Cook, Pastor.
AUSTIN - Joan Wakeford Ministries, Inc.,
9401-B Grouse Meadow Ln., 78758-6348.
(512)835 -7354.
DALLAS - Silent Harvest Ministries, P.O ..
Box 190511, 75219-0511. (214) 520-6655.
MIDLAND - Holy Trinity Community
· Church, 1607 S. Main, 79701.
(915)570-4822. Rev. Glenn E. Hammett,
Pastor. Publication:Trinity Tribune . .
DALLAS - Holy Trinity Community
C hurch , 4402 · Roseland, 75204.
(214)827-5088. Rev. Frederick Wright,
Pastor. Publication: The Chaiiot
LUBBOCK - Lesbian/Gay Alliance, Inc.,
P.O. Box 64746, 79464-4746.
(806)791.-4499. Publication: Lambda Times,
ROANOKE - MCC of the Blue Ridge, P.O.
Box 20495, 24018, (703)366-0839.
Publi~tion: The Blue Ridge Banner
ROANOKE - BLUE RIDGE LAMBDA
PRESS, P.O . Box 237, 24002,
(703)890-31134. .
FALLS · CHURCH - MCC of Northern
Virginia, 7245 Lee Highway, 22046. ·
Washington
SEA TILE GAY NEWS, 704 E. Pike, 98122.
(206)324-4297. FAX (206) 322-7188.
SEA TILE - Grace Gospel Chapel. 2052 NW
64th St, 98107. (206)784-8495. Sunday,
11:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, 7:30
p.m. Jerry Lachina, Pastor.
International
LONDON - Lesbian and Gay Christian
Movement, Oxford House. Derbyshire St,
London E2 6HG, UK, 071-739-1249.
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T Just Out T ........................................
Victory Choir out on new cassette
The music ministry of the
Metropolitan Community Church of
Washington, D.C. has announced the
release of "Glorious Praise, " a
professional recording by the 32 voice
Victory Choir and musicians under
the direction of Dale Jarrett.
. "Glorious Prais e" consists of eight
songs by the entire choir, plus two
songs by the Women's Ensemble and
two songs by the Men's Ensemble.
Director Jarrett said, "We are excited
to share our gifts in such a way that it
would encourage our sisters and
brothers to be faithful in their walk
with Christ, and to encourage • other
gay and lesbian Christian congregations
to know that God can inde ed
move in our lives if we will just be
faithful, and get a vision of what God
so lovingly wants to do in all of our
lives."
Construction was · to start on
MCC/DC's new ministry facility as
this issue went to press. Pastor is
Rev. Larry Uhrig and Associat e
Pastor is Candace Shultis.
Cassettes may b e purchased at the
church or by mail. Proceeds benefit
the McBride Fund fqr Music Ministry
at MCC/Washington, D.C. To order,
send $12.00 to "Glorious Praise," cf o
MCC-DC, 415 M St. , NW,
(Washington, DC 20001. MCC/DC's Victory Choir on newly released "Glorious Praise"
Gay and lesbian veterans honored
History-making tribute out on video
A first time ever tribute to lesbian
and gay veterans drew a crowd of 200
to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on
the grounds of the California state
capital in Sacramento on November 9.
Those in attendance heard praises for
Gays and Lesbians in the military
from several speakers despite the
Department of Defense's official
policy that "homosexuality is incompatible
with military service." At
least one person wore a bag over his
head to protect his identity.
An inspiring and moving video of
the ceremony is now available on
VHS, according to event organizer
Lynn Strawbridge . "It is my hope,"
Strawbridge said, "that we can
generate enough interest in this
ceremony to inspire Lesbians and
Gays in every city to sponsor an
event like · this. · -1 believe it shows
our community in such a positive
light that it can only help further the
cause of all human and civil rights."
Strawbridge completed the · task of
putting the event together in spite of
Keith Haring
"Coming Out" pin
As an addition to the very popular
Official Keith Haring National
Coming Out Day T-shirts, greeting
cards, stickers and buttons, a brand
new Coming Out Day commemorative
has been created: the celebrity
pin.
This .1" square gold, four color pin
(of the Keith Haring person coming
out of the closet) was the hit of the
Creating Change Conference in D.C.
·•we sold out almost immediately. It
. was incredible!" said Jim Hutchinson,
D.C. Coordinator for NCOD. For
information on the pin, call
1-800-445-NCOD.
ill health.
The Sacramento Lesbian and Gay
Town Council voted to sponsor the tribute
every year until the Department
of Defense rescinds its' order
discriminating against Gays in the
armed forces.
The event, which received wide spread
television and newspaper
publicity, featured posthumous tributes
to two decorated gay Vietnam
Book catalog
hot off the press
A Different Light Bookstore has
recently published the latest edition
of its mailorder catalog, HA Different ,
Light Review." The fully annotated
and illustrated free mailorder catalog,
which includes over 200 fiction and
non -fiction book titles of special
interest to lesbian and gay people, is
easily obtainable by calling
1-800-343-4002.
A Different Light Bookstore, with
retail locations in New York, San
Francisco, Los Angeles and West
Hollywood, stocks over 13,000 fiction
and non ~fiction titles, everything
written by, for and about gay and
lesbian people.
~ Evangelicals • '1/ logetlrer Art:.
8181.E STWY GIIOOPS
SOCIAlS • IIOll«slfOPS • IIETAEA1S
HIV I Al>$ Sll'POIIT GIIOOP
l'ASIDIIAL CARE I COIJHSEI.IHG
FOR Gay & Lesbian Christians
In Southern Callfonia ... sioce 1979
Sufi• f 09-Box f tf
79B5 St1nt11 Monica Boulevard
We•t Hollywood, CA 9004tf .
213/65(3-8570
veterans, Leonard Matlovich and
Harvey Thompson, each acknowledged
by speakers as "gay American
heros."
Keynote speaker Rev. Dusty Pruitt
was discharged from the Army
Reserves after admitting in a 1983 Los
Angeles Times interview that she was
a lesbian. 'Just stating that I was a
lesbian made me a moral derelict,"
New video for
gay/lesbian youth
Be True to Yourself, a new video on
lesbian/ gay youth, is available from
21st Century News. The video features
a studio interview with Bob and ·
Rod Jackson-Paris and ten teenagers. ,
It includes a 36-page resource guide.
Members of St. Francis in the
Foothills United Methodist Church ·
are principals of 21st Century News.
The cost of the video is $29.95 plus
$3.00 postage. The company may be
contacted at 1880 E. River Road, #210,
Tucson, AZ 85718, (602)577-6476.
said Pruitt. 'No one considered how
moral learning to throw a low yield
nuclear weapon on a target might
have been." ·
"A Tribute to Gay and Lesbian
Veterans" is available from America's
Legal Bookstore, 725 J St.,
Sacramento, CA 95814, for $14.00 ·
plus $350 postage. For information
call (916)441-0410.
lht "olhtr" place
111tdtr lht sun ...
- Write or call for brochure. -
120 E. Aioi St., P. 0 . Box 2326
South Padre Island, Texas 78597
(512)761-L YLE
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A BOOK OF REVELATIONS
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Employment
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM seeks
Associate to: help implement AA plan at
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to provide TA on gay and lesbian,
women's issues; c09rdinate newsletter publication;
help develop and facilitate training
experiencesa ro1:1nadf firmative action issues.
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resume: Karen Cromley; AFSC/Personnel
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19102. 2/92
Friends/Relationships
28, GWM, 5'8' 180 lbs, brown, green, AA
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yet very affectionate at the right times. I
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12ol Second Stone. January/February 1992
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B4192
GWM, 39, 6'2" , 165 lbs:, brown hair,
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GWM, age 23, seeking friendship ihrough
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friend, Please write to Dwayne Chappell
#866376, P.O. Box 41, Michigan City, IN
46360.
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Organizations
CONFERENCE FOR CATHOLIC LESBIANS
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Conference - Boston area, July 17-20, '92.
National organizatio~ o( Lesbians of Catholic
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Newsletter (Sample $3.00). Contact CCL-SS,
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PEOPLE, From Page 13
had to lie and hide and was amazed
that no onenotked. "I was saying the
right words, and the right words
were fine with them. Was that all
they w ...n ted? Is that all anybody
wants? Just to hear the right words?"
She tells of her aloneness, this
woman with "a dozen good friends."
"If my house had been destroyed by .
fire, if my child had been run over, I
could call on the church. The church
would be wonderfuL But not this ...
Women With problems were
encouraged to take them to the
bishop or to the Relief Society
president [The highest position a
woman can hold in a congregation]. I
couldn't go to the bishop, not now ...
And I · was the Relief Society
president. Women in the ward
brought their problems to me ...
Charity Never Faileth. That was our
motto. What did it mean? Compassion.
But not for wickedness. Not for
the very lowest of the low. Not for ...
homosexuals."
She goes on in her_ heartwrenching
chapter to explain her devastation on
VETERAN, From Page 15
members of the Board of Education
proposed starting a Project 10 in the
Milwaukee schools. (Project .10 is a
counseling and support network for
school age Lesbians and Gays that
was first implemenll'.d by Virginia
Uribe at Fairfax High School in Los
Angeles.) As a high school English
teacher, Ben Shalom understood the
need for the project and when her
·reacher's Union asked her to
represent it at the Board of Education
meeting, she agreed.
Recalling the meeting Ben Shalotn
another leve l. · In a church that
regards femaleness "as second prize,"
she found her sel(-esteem shattered
when she isn't desirable on any level
by men. An LDS sex ~ducator later
in the book sums up all the pain of all
these people in the preceding
chapters by saying that what is truly
perverse isn't homosexuality but is "to
cause suffering needlessly."
As a gay Mormon myself, I found
that I could relate to most of these
accounts in a way that.I couldn't relate
to otheibooks on homosexuality and
religion. And even though Peculiar
People is intended as a11 introduction .
to the subject, and I had already read
70 other books on homosexuality, I
didn't find it ted iously sophomoric.
The book is worth reading from any
level, an:d for gay and lesbian
Mormons and their families, the book
is a long overdue and . much
welcomed acknowledgement of a
problem that desperately needs
attention within the Church. Peculiar
People is a peculiarly good read.
said, "I felt more fear for, my life !hart
I've ever felt through years of service
in -the Israeli Artny, the U.S. Army,
and my other struggles . Four ·
hundred fundamentalists packed the
auditorium '111ds houted bigoted slurs
all through rriy minute long speech in
favor of Project 10." The Board of
Education did not vote on a decision,
but Ben Shalom said her commitment
to end bigotry and prejudice was
strengthened. "I shall refuse to
engage in. silence," she said.
' I