Second Stone #41 - July/Aug 1995

Second Stone #41 - July/Aug 1995

41

1995

July/Aug 1995

THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER FOR GAY/LESBIAN/BISEXUAL CHRISTIANS 2.95
I OUR SEVENTH YEAR
Offering Hope
Bob Ivancic, administrator of Hope House in Dallas, Texas
Runaway, throwaway _gay and
lesbian youth find help and
hope at church-run shelter
STORY AND PHOTOS BY GIP PLASTER
HOMELESS GAY AND lesbian youth
in the Dallas area · are finding safety
and help through Hope House, a program
that offers housing and other
services to runaway and throw~way
youth. .
Hope House is a service to youth
SEE HOPE HOUSE, Page 9
SUBSCRIBE NOW• ONE YEAR ONLY $17 • Box 8340, New Orleans , LA 70182
P.O.Box 8340
New Orleans, LA 70182
ADDRESS CORRECTION
REQUESTED
TIME DATED MATERIAL
DONOTDELAY
BU.K RATE
U.S.POSTAGE
PAID
NEW ORLEANS, LA
PERMIT No. 511
ISSUE #41 I
Religious .groups in
battle over amendment
DENVER (AP) - Battle lines
have been drawn by 17
religious groups and indi viduals
· in the U.S. Supreme
Court case over
Colorado's Amendment 2.
Eleven groups have
joined together to file two
friend-of-the-court briefs
against the anti-gay rights
amendment, and six groups
sent one brief in support of
Amendment 2. ,
The two sides disagree
about whether the amendment,
passed .by Colorado
voters in 1992, protects relig10us
freedom or forces
homosexuals into secondclass
citizenship.
Amendment 2 seeks to
ban laws that protect Gays _
from discrimination, and
would · nullify ordinances
already in place in Denver,
Boulder and Aspen.
The Colorado Supreme
Court declared the amendment
unconstitutional earlier
this year, and the U.S.
Supreme Court is expected
to take up the case this fall.
A ruling could come by
early next year .
The pro-Amendment 2
brief, supported Colorado
Springs-based Focus on the
Family and others, states
.. that gay-rights laws will
force churches to admit
Gays, which is an abridgement
of freedom bf religion.
SEE BATTLE, Page 11
Gay Christians respond
to Coalition 'contract'
LOS ANGELES - The
Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community
Churches has issued a response
to the Christian Coalition's
"Contract with the
American Family." Ralph
Reed, executive director of
the Christian Coalition unveil~
d the long awaited
document the last week of
May.
''In the entire Contract,
there was not one specific
reference to Gays and Lesbians,"
said the Rev. Troy
Perry, founder of the
UFMCC. "It is good news
that the Coalition didn't use
this occasion to bash us with
their usual false charges.
Still, given Pat Robertson's
long range goal 'to eli minate
homosexuality,' this
sudden silence is too dangerous
to celebrate."
According to Mel White,
UFMCC's national Minister
of Justice, that the Christian
Coalition didn't use the
occasion to bash Gays is a
change of tactic, not a
change of heart. "We are
convinced," said White, "
that silencin g temporarily
the Coalition's stream of
anti -gay rhetoric is Ralph's
attempt to mainstream the
Christian Coalition movement
and to help quiet the
growing national protest
against the false and inflammatory
rhetoric they
have us ed to condemn
innocent Lesbians and
Gays. In fact, the Coalition
is neither mainstream nor
pro-gay."
SEE RESPONSE, Page 11
w Calendar w
Announcements in this section are provided free of charge as a service to
Christian organizations. To have an event listed, send a p~~ to
Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, IA 70182, FAX to (504)891-7555
or·e-mail to secstone@aol.com.
Near Fourth of July Weekend Seminar
JUNE 30-JUL Y 2, Faith Tabernacle in Aberdeen, Washington hosts this ministry
weekend themed "Faith That Works." Past0r Thomas Hirsch of Advance
Christian Ministries will be the presenter. Registration is $30 per person or $40
per couple. For information contact Naomi or Elaine, (206)249-3055.
Evangelicals Concerned ConnECtion '95
JULY 1-4, This conference is an opportunity to gather with 200 other Christian
Gays and Lesbians in a supportive atmosphere of acceptance and celebration.
Keynote speakers are author Michael J. Christensen and EC founder Dr.
Ralph Blair. This year's conference returns to the San Franciso Bay Area and
the campus of Mills College. For information contact ECWR, P.O. Box 66906,
Phoenix, AZ 85082-6906, (602)893-6952.
Ecumenical Catholic Church Clergy Conference
JULY 4-7, The Ecumenical Catholic Church conducts its annual clergy conference
at the bishop's residence in Monte Rio, California. Clergy and laity from
throughout the United States are invited to attend. For information, contact Fr.
Denis Martel, (504)341-1880.
Convocation of Reconciling Congregations
JULY 13-16, "Bound for the Promised Land" is the theme for the fourth national
gathering of Reconciling Congregations, to be held in Minneapolis . A youth
and student rally and a special gathering of the Reconciling Pastors' Action Network
is planned. Individual fee is $165, $85 for children and youth. For information
contact the Reconciling Congregations Program, 3801 N. Keeler Ave .,
Chicago, IL 60641, (312)736-5526.
A.C.T.S. Central Weekend
. JULY 14-16, "Many Parts, One Body" is the theme of this weekend,
sponsored by Advance Christian Ministries. Camp Hiawatha, Wichita, Kansas,
is the setting. Brother Thomas Hirsch is facilitator. For information contact
Advance Christian Ministries, 4001-C Maple Ave., Dallas, TX 75219,
(214)522-1520.
The UFMCC General Conference
JULY 23-30, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches will
gather at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta for its 17th conference.
"All Things Are Possible" is the theme for this conference which offers a discounted
rate of $180 for non-delegates. A special gathering will be held at the
Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change. For information,
contact UFMCC GCXVII, 5300 Santa Monica Blvd., #304, Los Angeles, CA
90029, (213)464-5100. .
Conference of the National Gay Pentecostal Alliance
JULY 28-30, NGPA holds its General Conference in Schenectady, New York,
on dates coinciding with the 15th anniversary of the founding of the organization.
A variety of speakers will be featurect and the conference will include
teaching workshops and evening worship. For information on NGPA write to
P.O. Box 1391, Schenectady, NY 12301-1391.
Christian Lesbians Out T oqether
AUGUST 10-13, CLOUT will hold its third national gathering at SUNY
Brockport, 16 miles west of Rochester, New York. The theme is "CLOUT Our
One Foundation: Celebrating Our Herstory , Diversity and Ritual." The
gathering will feature ritual, workshops, lesbian Christian video documentaries
and more. For information call (415)487-5427 or write to CLOUT, P..O. Box
460808, San Francisco, CA 94146.
Third International TEN Conference
SEPTEMBER 1-3, Liberty Community Church, Vancouver, Canada, hosts
"How Shall We Then Live," the third international gathering of The Evangelical
Network. Workshops will focus on stress management, coping with crisis,
coupling concerns, being single, burn-out and other issues. For information
contact Pastor Rick Morcombe, Liberty Community Church, #402-2388 Triumph
Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada VSL 1 LS.
Conference tor Catholic Diocesan Leaders
SEPTEMBER 8-10, The National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and
Gay Ministries sponsors a weekend conference entitled "The Challenge of
Leadership in Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries" The Meany Tower Hotel
in Seattle is the setting. Richard Sparks, C.S.P., will be the keynote speaker
and there will be opportunities for sharing program expe~ience and resources,
social time and liturgies . For information contact Rev. Jim Schexnayder, 433
Jefferson St., Oakland, CA 94607, (510)763-3101.
SEE CALENDAR, Page 17
SECOND STONE -
THE NATIONAL ECUMENICAL CHRISTIAN
NE SJOURNAL FOR LESBIANS, GA VS AND BISEXUALS
Contents
•••••••• . • •••••••••• l'I ••••••
fi~J
[6J
Calendar
Opportunities for connectedness
across the country
Cover Story
Hope for runaway, throwaway teehs .
Legacy
Author Emily Edwards remembers a
grandpa who knew unconditional love
In Print
Don Bell reviews Equal Rites . ' . . . . . .
Noteworthy
I 19-l From the editor
America Online is for us!
[20] Classifieds
Plus
12 pages
of news
JULY/AUGUST 199 5
News ............................................. •· ......................... .
Low numbers force postponement of Mississippi protest
THE MEMORIAL DAY weekend
Freedom Ride to Ovett, Mississippi
was postponed because of an insufficient
number of persons planning to
participate . Rev . Troy Perry, moderator
of the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches,
and Robin Tyler, a prominent lesbiilll
activist, had planned the Freedom
Ride as an attempt to come to the
· assistance of Wanda and Brenda
Henson in their efforts to keep Camp
Sister Spirit alive and well .in the face
of terrorist-type threats and
vilification. 1
Planners hope to reschedule the
event next spring, ·as a "Sprir:ig
Break" happening. The Memorial
Day weekend Freedom Ride conflicted
with the South's major gay and
lesbian party gathering on Pensacola
Beach.
The Hensons are the developers of
Camp Sister Spirit, .120 acres of
woodland outside Hattiesburg,Mississippi,
designed to provide a safe
space for Lesbians. The lesbian
couple's dream has become the focus
of ongoing harassment and · death
threats by people in the area.
"It saddens me that we have been
unable to respond, now, to this critical
need," said Perry in announcing the
postpor:iement. "It is our intention for
this project to succeed and for that to
happen we need more time. We are
asking everyone to rally to this
important cause and plan to be
present in Mississippi when this
event happens next spring."
Presbyterians oppose Amendment 2
DENVER (AP) - The Presbyterian
Church has filed a friend-of-the-court
brief backing opponents of Amendment
2, Colorado's anti-gay rights
amendment.
The church, which has a
membership of 2.7 million across the
country, filed the brief June 19. The
Rev. James Andrews, the stated clerk
for the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, said the church
felt it was important to make its
stance public.
"We are advising the U.S. Supreme
Court on th e Presbyterran Church's
(stand) on the issue of sexuality, particularly
about the protection of the
civil and human rights of homosexuals,"
he said.
Amendment 2, approved by voters
in 1992, prohibits governments from
passing laws protecting homosexuals.
The amendment has been on hold
pending appeals. After being struck
down by the Colorado Supreme
Court, the U.S. Supreme Court earlier
this year agreed to hear the case.
The brief stemmed from a request
from the Denver church two years
ago.
'They did not ask for us to take any
position, but wanted to know what
the church said about this," Andrews
said.
Presbyterian philosophy holds that
Storm blows roof off 'miracle Sunday' church
ARLINGTON, TX - A major storm
ripped the roof off the building of
Trinity Metropolitan Community
Church on May 5, just days after
members of the church contributed
over $30,000 on a single Sunday towards
the building of a new church.
The church offices sustained heavy
wind and water damage . The congregation
is meeting at a local hotel,
and has stored church property until
a determination can be made as to
whether the building can be rebuilt.
Trinity's 102 members exceeded
their six-week $24,000 "Miracle Sunday"
campaign drive and netted
$33,600 ,in their offering that culminated
on Easter morning .
On the kickoff Sunday six weeks
before Easter, Rev. Jo Crisco asked
each person in attendance to give
$100 b eyond their usual tithes to what
she designated "Miracle Sunday" on
Easter morning. She told th e congregation
that a $24,000 safety net
was the only obstacle standing between
Trinity and the opportunity to
launch a bond sales campaign to
build a new church home.
Crisco acknowledged her own
anxious moments during the six week
c.ampaign. 'There were points when
my heart would stop beating, and I'd
imagine how it would be if we didn't
make the goal. I'd ask God to surely
not let me make that big a fool of
myself! ·The consensus from my colleagues
from other churches was that
I was either incredibly stupid or a
person of great faith, and Easter
Sunday would ·tell the tale," Rev.
Crisco chuckled .
Long time charter member Naomi
Coleman said, 'This is no more of a
miracle than God moving on the
hearts of a small group of Gays and
Lesbians 11 years ago to form Trinity
MCC, and it further proves what
we've known all along. God not only
owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
but God owns the gold under those
hills . The only restriction that we
have in accessing God's riches is the
limitation of our own faith."
- Keeping in Touclt
Kansas passes funeral picketing law
THE CONSERVATIVE KANSAS State
House made a step towards curbing
the activities of the Rev. Fred Phelps
by passing a revised law against funeral
picketing . Phelps, head of the
family-owned and managed Westboro
Baptist Church of Topeka, will
SECOND STONE
be allowed to . picket but not be
around to harass mourners an hour
before and after the actual funeral
service. Phelps and his followers
have become known for picketing the
funerals of people who die AIDS
related deaths. •
homosexuality is a sin, and in 1991,
the General Assembly decided that
Gays and Lesbians cannot be ordained
as church officials or deacons.
However, in 1978, the General
Assembly established a policy that
"vig ilance mus.t be exercised to oppose
federal, state and local legislation
that discriminates against persons
on the ·basis of sexual orientation."
Gay religious groups file Supreme Court brief
GAY AND LESBIAN Christian organizations
have joined to file an arnicus
(friend of the court) brief in support of
the unconstitutionality of Amendment
2 to the Colorado State Constitution .
This amendm.;nt prohibits local governments
from passing laws which
would protect the civil rights of gay,
lesbian and bisexual people. The
case will be heard by the U.S.
Supreme Court.. The results of this
decision will have major impact on all
civil rights laws across the country for
many years to come.
Two lawyers in Atlanta have
donated their time to write the brief.
The organizations supporting the
brief are Lutherans Concerned, Affirmation:
United Methodists, Integrity,
Presbyteria ns for Lesbian and Gay
Concerns and Dignity/ USA.
Recent finding by top biblical scholars
offer a radical new view on
the Bible and homosexuality.
What Bible the
Really Says
About
Homosexuality
.
1
, \-\elrninial<, pt,.D.
Dame,...
Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D.,
respected theologian and
Roman Catholic priest,
explains in a clear fashion
fascinating new insights.
" ... will help any reasonab ly open and
attentive reader see that the Bible says
something quit e different on this subject
from what is often claimed."
-L. William Countryman,
Author of Dirt, Greed and Sex
" ... the most thoughtful , lucid and accessib
le summary I know of current biblical
scho larship relating to homosexual
issues . .. eminently useful ... 11
-James B. Nelson,
Author and Theology Professor
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□
WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SA VS
ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
By Daniel A. Helminiak, $9.95, paperbk
Postage/Handling $3 first book, $1 each additional
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED -----
NAME _____________________ _
ADDRESS ____________________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP ___________________ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA 79182
JULY/AUGUST l 9 9 5
Subscribe
Today.
AND Y O U1 L L N E V E R
WITHOUT
YOUR
A FRIEND
JOURNEY.
BE
FOR
SceonSdt one The National Gay and Lesbian
Christian Newsjournal
···YES ·t·····-···················
Begin my subscription to
SECOND STONE for:
I I One year (6 Issues) $17.00
[ ] Two years (12 issues) $28.00
[ ) Three years (18 issues) $39.00
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY/STATE/ZIPC ODE
CHECK HERE [ ] if a plain envelope Is required and add $2 .00 per year . Allow 6-8
weeks for delivery of your first issue. international subscribers add $10.00 per year,
U.S.c urrency.
Mail To: SECOND STONE, Box 8340, New Orleans , LA 70182
THANI{ YOU
for your subscription support!
SECOND STONE •
News
• • • • • • • • • • • • • e • • • • • • • • • e • e • e e e e e C Q IJ
Wisconsin Synod dumped
over men-only leadership rule
WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A congregation
disagreed so strongly with
the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran
Synod's teachings that it decided to
leave the fold rather than fire its pastors
as ordered.
For three years, pastors of St. James
Evangelical Lutheran Church have
openly grappled with a policy that
women cannot teach men and that
"only men will do work that involves
authority over men."
Synod leaders removed them from
the church in May.
Given a choice between firing their
pastors or being removed from the
synod, the congregation voted 118-3
June 11 to leave the synod.
"Some people think we're heroes ...
Some people out there use the word
'heretic," said St. James's pastor, the
Rev. Richard Stadler. That 's because
"in a conservative, Bible-believing
church body, there is a reluctance to
buck tradition," he continued.
The Wisconsin synod is considered
the most conservative branch of the
major Lutheran denominations.
Women aren't allowed to vote in
church elections or become ordained
ministers .
"I remember a number of
congregations leaving our synod over
a doctrinal issue some 30 years ago,"
said the Rev. Ronald Uhlhorn, vice
president of the Minnesota District of
the synod . "Since then, I don't recall
anyone leaving over doctrinal issues
in our district at all."
St. James members question ed the
teachings more than three years ago,
Stadler said.
In correspondence with the synod,
they asked where the Bible specifically
says that "man must be the head
and the woman must be submissive
to man."
They unsuccessfully sponsored
resolutions al synod conventions, asking
that the document be re-examined,
Stadler said.
Synod leaders held a series of
meetings at St. James last fall to explain
their view that these statements
come from passages in the
New Testament books of Timothy and
Corinthians.
But many church members insisted
the Bible makes no direct statements
that only men have authority and
that women must submit.
Stadler sees his church's saga as a
sign of the times.
"Fifty years ago, people just
assumed that what came down from
the church body was a correct interpretation"
of the Bible, he said. "Now,
more and more churches are willing .
to challenge the pronouncements ... to
make sure that they are really
derived . from the Scriptures - not
simply human notions imposed on
the Scriptures ."
Abilene Christian president fires
play director over his sexuality
ABILENE, Texas (AP)- Robert
Neblett planned to return to his
alma maier Abilene Christian
this summer to direct a campus
production of 'The Merchant of
Venice."
Then school president Royce·
Money learned that Neblett was
gay and the 1993 graduate was
told he wasn't right for the job.
"Although our religious convictions
preclude persons
espousing a lifestyle of homosexuality
from serving in a position
of leadership, we care
deeply for Mr. Neblett," ACU
President Royce Money said.
"We appreciate his tremendous
talent and find it unfortunate
that his choice of lifestyle
has resulted in this situation."
Neblett, a Snyder native now
studying at Washington University,
said he was asked
whether he was gay a week
before rehearsals were lo begin.
"When I said yes, (the school)
informed me that I was unfit to
represent the university because
of its moral code," Neblett
said.
Neblett, 23, said he's crushed
by the incident, which has
forced him to tell his family of
his sexuality sooner than he
had planned. ·
"I feel that Abilene Christian
University has outed me and
pushed me out of the closet in a
public way," he told the Abilene
Reporter-News. 'They have
forced me into certain circumstances
by doing this."
Money said that Neblett, a
former student, should've
known the university's stance
toward homosexuality .
'They act like I made a choice
and chose for this to happen .
No one would choose to be
treated the way Gays are in this
homophobic society," said
Neblett, adding that he is
considering legal options.
JULY/AUGUST l 9 9 5
r,
I
News ............................ ~ ........................... .
Religious leaders challenge radical right claim on morality
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The
radical religious right is a threat to
churches and the American political
system, some religious leaders say.
"We are not willing for the radical
religious right - with its demagogues,
rabble rousers, opportunists and business
entrepreneurs masquerading as
.Christian evangelists - to go unchallenged
in their claim to be the only
rightful occupants of the high ground
of Christian morality," church-stat e
separation advocates wrote in a statement.
The advocates include some prominent
Southern Baptist moderates.
Last month, the politically powerful
Christian Coalition issued its "Contract
with the American Family."
The coalition's contract includes calls
to return prayer to public schools, to
further restrict abortion, and to revamp
public ·schools . .
It was embraced by some Republican
lead ers who had their "Contract
With America" agenda in Congress
this year.
After a colloquium May 30 spon sored
by the Dalla s-based Center for
Christian Ethics, several religious
leaders drew up a statement to counter
the coalition's contract.
The radical religious right, the
statement says, threatens personal
liberties by advocating government
intrusion into the most intimate religious
experiences and health decisions
and by . "distorting the Gospel
by identifying the cause of Jesus ·
Christ with their own narrow political
agenda."
The statement accuses religious
conservatives of unethical tactics, such
as concealing their leanings while .
running for school boards and other
public offices.
It also criticizes religious political
conservatives for the "shameless identification
of Christianity with one
extremist wing of a single political
party ."
Dick Weinhold of Bedford, state
Phelps grandson refused school credit for picketing
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -The Topeka
School District refused on June 7 to
give community service credit for
anti-gay picketing by a grandson of
the Rev. Fred W. Phelps Sr.
Sam Phelps-Roper, a junior al
Topeka West High School, was refused
the credit eight months after he
asked for it. He is the grandson of the
senior Phelps, who has taken his
virulent anti-gay picketing across the
country .
The pickets are mostly members of
the Phelps family .
The school district last year began
including community service work on
transcripts. The hours don't co4nl for
academic credit, but they may impress
a future employer or college.
The district did not have a
policy for what constituted community
service work when Phelps applied
for the credit.
Th e situation caused the district to
develop such a policy. Picketing was
not included in the guidelines.
UCC ordains openly gay pastor
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A campus minister
who says he has been openly
gay since 1980 has been ordained as a
United Church of Christ pastor.
Phil Owen, 43, is believed to be the
denomination's first acknowledged
gay pas tor to be ordained in Nebraska.
"We knew this would be a ground
breaker," said the Rev. Lee Milligan,
president of the Omaha Association,
the ordaining body comprised of 10
area United Church of Christ congregations.
"He will make a very good
pastor," Milligan said. "I am proud to
have him as a colleague ."
Owen, a Lincoln native, is pastor at
United Christian Ministries in Higher
Education, a ministry that serves students
and faculty at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha and NU's Medical
Center. The ministry is supported
by Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), United Methodist and Presbyterian
churches and the United
Church of Christ.
Owen is divorced and has an
18-year-old daughter who lives with
him and his mal e partner of four
SECOND STONE
years.
Milligan, pastor al Arlington
Community Church, said Owen's
ordination is consistent with Scripture
and denominational guidelines. The
church's General Synod in 1983 said
that sexual orientation is not a moral
issue and should not be grounds for
denying requests for ordination.
"Having that recommendation from
the synod, and finding no evidence of
promiscuity, we voted to ordain Phil,"
Milligan sa id last week. "I believe
God has called him to ministry. "
Owen said he felt called to the
ministry in the late 1980s. He entered
the United Theological Seminary of
the Twin Cities in Minnesota in 1989
and graduated in 1992. He is a former
Russian lingui st for the Air Force and
a former slate Department of Social
Services caseworker and office ser vices
manager in Omaha .
Owen holds a master's degree in
education from · the University of
Southern California. His bachelor's .
degree in French language and literature
is from l'JU's Lincoln campus . -
chairman of the Christian Coalition,
said the group does not purport to
represent all Christians. .
• "We do believe we represent the
mainstream of conservative Christian
thoughtin America today," Weinhold
said. "What we are proposing . is a
modest, mainstream agenda for
change that protects reljgious liberty
and enhances the role that families
have in the life of our nation ."
The Dallas colloquium held May 30
was named . for the late T.B. Maston,
former professor at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort
Worth and a pioneer in race relations
and Christian ethics for his denomination.
UCC executive will address gay/ ·
lesbian Christian gathering
DR. PAUL SHERRY, President of the
· United Church of Christ, will address
an international gathering of gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender
Christians in Atlanta on Friday, July
28 . The Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches
will hold its biennial General Conference
at the Altanta Westin Peachtree
Hotel July 23-30.
Sherry is the Chief Executive Officer
of the United Church of Christ, a
protestant denomination emerging
from a union, in 1957, of the former
Congregational Church and the
Evangelical and Reformed Churches .
The Metropolitan New York Conference
of the UCC ordained a gay
minister, for the first time, in 1972
and the denomination has supported
the inclusion of gay clergy within its
own ranks as well as ecumenical
agencies such . as the National and
World Councils of Churches .
Other speakers scheduled to address
those gathered for the UFMCC conference
include . Chris Glaser, lecturer
and author of The Word is Out,
Elizabeth Stuart, editor of Daring To
Speak Love's Name and Randall Bailey,
Associate Pr_ofessor of Old Testament
and Hebrew at the Interdenominational
Theological Center in Atlanta.
See Calendar.
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE:
Edited bv
Sally B.(~eis &
Donakl E. \lesser
Helping Christians
Debate Homosexuality
Few other issues divide the
Christian community more
sharply than homosexuality.
In this new volume, writers
with divergent points of view
deal with questions at the
center of the debate between
pro-gay and anti-gay believers.
Edited by Sally B. Geis, director, Iliff
illslilule, Lay and Clergy Education, The
Iliff School of Theology. Denver, and
Donald E. Messer, president, The Iliff
School of Theology.
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□ CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
By Geis/Messer, $12.95, paperbk ___ _
Postage/Handling $3 first book, $1 each additional -----
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED----~
NAME _____________________ _
ADDRESS ___________________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP• ___________________ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA ?0182
J _ULYJf::,UGU ~_T _ 1 _9 _9 _5
News ..................................... -• ................................. .
Episcopal priest relieved of duties
after officiating at same-sex ceremony
EASTON, Md. (AP) - The way he sees
it, the Rev. John K. Mount was just
praying for strength and comfort for
two gay men dying of AIDS when he
blessed them at a ceremony in May.
.But according to the Episcopal
church, the 85-year-old priest · was
leading a gay marriage ceremony,
thereby violating church law, and
should no longer be allowed to
preach or perform the sacraments.
"While such a relationship might be
loving and faithful, it cannot be
considered a marriage and you have
no authority to bless it as such,"
Bishop Martin G. Townsend wrote
Mount in a letter telling him his right
to preach had been revoked.
Since .1992, Episcopal priests in
Maryland have been under orders to
not take part in same-sex weddings as
the church reviews the issue national-
1 y.
Out of respect for Bishop Townsend
he will not disobey his order not to
preach, Fath,er Mount said.
But Mount said he strongly
disagrees with the bishop's interpreta tion
of church law and of what
happened at the ceremony he led in
front of 70 guests at a waterfront
home on the Eastern Shore of the
Chesapeake Bay.
"I feel the church has been waffling ·
Methodists reject resolution
on gay civil rights
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - United
Methodists from throughout the
Rocky Mountain region closed their
annual meeting June 5 without acting
on several resolutions, including one
that would have supported civil
rights laws for Gays and Lesbians.
However, delegates at the Rocky
Mountain Annual Conference, meeting
at Colorado State University, did
approve a proposal condemning abortion-
clinic violence.
Among the resolutions that failed
was one that would have supported
deleting the church's longtime stand
that the practice of homosexuality is
incompatible with Christian teaching.
It didn't gain enough suppo1t in committee
to be considered by the more
than 800 delegates.
Delegates also killed a proposal
asking the national church to end its
ban on giving any money to gay
United Methodist groups.
The issue has divided the 9 millionmember
church for decades.
The successful resolution condemning
abortion-clinic violence and
asking people "to repent of violence"
will be forwarded for consideration to
the national convention of the church
- the General Conference - which will
meet next April in Denver .
The resolution called murder and
other attacks at abortion clinics "domestic
terrorism."
Delegates also passed a measure
urging individual churches to study a
church-produced book on homosexuality.
A proposal calling on the General
Confer ence to discourage the entertainment
industry from using graphic
depiction of violence failed.
Resolutions not considered by the
full conference will be sent to the
national convention, but won't have
the endorsement of the regional
church members .
The Rocky Mountain Conference
includes almost 80,000 Methodist s in
Colorado, Utah and a section of
Wyomins., ·
MCC members meet online
MCC MEMBERS HAVE been meeting
and greeting each other via computer
every Thursday evening for about a
year now. The '.'MCC Chat Room" is
accessible to anyone who is a member
of America Online. ·
The chat room was started by Bill
Dailey, a lay delegate of MCC of the
Vineyard in Fresno, California and
Don Clothier, director of music
ministries at New Horizons MCC,
Oklahoma City, after they met via on
online discussion for gay Christians. It
recently reached the status of an
official America Online forum.
The MCC Chat Room is open from
7:30 to 9 p.m . Eastern time every
Thursday . To reach it, go to the Gay
SECOND STONE
and Lesbian Community Forum and
click on the Lambda Lounge icon.
The room holds 48 people . It is currently
moderated by Clothier, whose
online address is DonC448@aol.com.
After 9 p.m., discussion continues in a
member room.
· 'The room has come to mean a
great deal to a lot of people," said
Clothier. "For example, we've had a
15-year-old boy who says that the
chat room is the only place he's gotten
any kind of support. He 's in a small
town, with parents who do not
understand him and a fundamentalist
church that preaches hate and discrimination.
-
for years on this question, " the priest
said. "Somebody has to break the ice.
Some day, I think people will say,
'Father Mount was on the cutting
edge on this."'
Mount, who was also removed as
an honorary officer of Trinity
Cathedral in Easton, also disagrees
that the ceremony he took part in was
a wedding .
It . may have looked like a
"fuH-scale, formal wedding," Mount
said. But nevertheless he made it
clear to all of the people present that
he was not officiating at an Episcopal
wedding "in the church's point of
view" but was "simply asking God to
bless ·two men who made vows to
each other ."
Bishop Townsend disagrees .
''By acting as you did; unilaterally
and out of communion with both the
bishop where you are canonically
resident in Baltimore and the bishop
where you performed this rite on the
Eastern Shore, you misled the two
men whose union you blessed," the
bishop told Father Mount.
The Episcopal Book of Common
Prayer sets forth no rite for a blessing
of a ·same-sex union, Townsend said.
Had Mount simply blessed the home
of the couple in accordance with an
established rite, there would have
been no violation of church law, he
said.
In so doing, Townsend was in
agreement with retired Maryland
Bishop A. Theodore Eastman. In 1992,
he argued the same thing in imposing
the moratorium on blessing
same-sex unions.
His decision came after an intense
controversy over . a ceremony in a
Baltimore church that many Episcopalians
insisted was a "lesbian wedding."
Lesbian settles suit against religious broadcaster
A WISCONSIN RELIGIOUS broadcaster
has agreed to pay a $255,000
settlement to former United Press
International reporter Julia Brienza,
but the Rev. Vic Eliason still disputes
claims that his nationwide radio
campaign prompted the wire service
to fire Brienza because she is a
lesbian. Eliason began his broadcast
campaign aga inst Brienza in 1990
after she telephoned him while researching
a freelance story for the
Washington Blade. UPI fired the reporter,
claiming she violated company
policy by working for another
media outlet. Brienza sued both
Eliason and UPI. In - the UPI suit, a
judge ruled April 13 that UPI had
illegally fired Brienza for being a
lesbian.
Group kicks out church that
embraces Gays and Lesbians
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The
censure of a church that accepts
homosexuals_ will not prevent
Gays and Lesbians from expressfng
their faith, the associate
pastor said.
'They are going to be more
committed to our community
than ever," said the Rev. Gail
Clark Adams of First Baptist
Church in Granville .
The Columbus Baptist Association
voted 101-34 June 6 to
kick out the church because it
accepts Gays and Lesbians.
_"What we just experienced is
what the gay and lesbian
community has always
experienced," said George
Williamson, the pastor of First
Baptist.
Williamson and his congregation
sang hymns outside the
association's meeting after the
vote.
Even some.who opposed First
Baptist said the vote was not a
victory.
Gary Boggs, pastor of
Granville's Second Baptist
Church, said First Baptist was
affirming gay lifestyles in
opposition to the Bible. "If they
rescind their policy, we should
welcome them back," he said.
Six ministers wrote a letter to
the association in April seeking
action against First Baptist.
But Jack H. Warwick, a
deacon at American Baptist
Church of suburban Westerville,
said Williamson and his
church "are leading us. I think
what they are doing is great.".
He and other First Baptist
supporters . said the vote was
contrary to an Amerieun Baptist
tenet of allowing each church-to
interpret Scripture.
JULY/AUGUST l 9 9 5
News .................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Theologian challenges heterosexuals to break
free from 'straight and narrow limitations'
Grace Janzten, Reader in the Philosophy
of Religion at Kings College,
London delivering the keynote adress
at the 19th annual conference of the
Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
on April 29 made a strong plea
for a. new shape to Christian the9logy
1f 1t 1s to be of value to lesbian and
gay people .
Addressing an audience of 150 in
Central London she said "Only as we
face the multiple ways in which the
straight God has been part of the
project of the straight and narrow
mind, and how much of that we have
internalized to our cost, will we be in
any position to explore transgressive
alternatives . Even some of those who
Operation Rescue founder calls for
Commandments as civil law
DENVER (AP) - Operation Rescue
founder Randall Terry on May 5 announced
the startup of a nationwide
radio call-in show called Randall
Terry Live that he said will make
Oliver North look "moderate" and
Rush Limbaugh "liberal".
'We will have people listening just
to see why they want to hate me,"
said Terry, who last month was released
from a federal prison in
Allenwood, Pa., where he served a
five-month term for contempt of court.
Terry said he was jailed after a
judge found out that his group
planned to show then-presidential
candidate Bill Clinton an aborted
baby.
But Terry's mes s age on May 5 was
aimed at neither abortion nor radio
call-in shows.
Knights sell Disney
stock in movie protest
NEW HAVEN , Conn. (AP)-To
protest the movie "Priest," The
Knights of Columbus has sold
all of its nearly $3 million worth
of stock in the Walt Disney Co.
The Catholic lay organization
also said it has canceled a trip to
Disney World 0to protest the
movie, r~leased by Miramax,
which is~owncd by Disney.
The movie portrays several
clergymen in England, including
a gay priest and a priest
who has a love affair with his
female housekeeper .
"It presents a distorted, negative
and fundamentally unfair
picture of Catholic priests;"
Supreme Knight Virgil C.
Dechant said in a statement.
Dechant urged the more than
1.5 million Knights and their
families to voice their concerns
about the film to Disney.
Pressure from Catholic groups
prompted Miramax to change
the national opening of the
movie from Good Friday to the
following week.
SECOND STONE
"We must seek to rebuild America
on the Ten Commandments," he said.
"Because once you depart from the
-Ten Commandments as the founda tion
of civic law and cultural law, you
are in a moral freefall."
Terry warned that without the Ten
Commandments -as moral absolutes in
America, it will be an "anything
goes" society.
'The arguments used in favor of
homosexuality today will be used
next week in favor of pedophilia," he
said .
He said proponents of gay rights
say "if a modern child wants to have
a relationship, express their love this
way, they should have the freedom of
choice to express that."
"If you depart from Biblical Christianity,
you cannot condemn pedo'
philia," h e said.
He said America's future depends
on an inflexible moral foundation.
. "We're not talking about the slate
being ruled by the church. We're
talking about faith, and leaders
acknowledging they are under God ."
On other topics:
-Terry said the days of the
Republican Party are numbered and
it soon will follow its predecessor, the
Whigs, into oblivion. 'The Whigs
refused to deal with slavery. The
Republicans are refusing to -deal with
homosexuality and .abortion."
-If Timothy McVeigh is guilty of the
Oklahoma City bombing, his actions
are "the substance of the idealogy of
the left. It tells me McVeigh's actions
are the fruit of moral anarchy."
-Militias are not the fearsome threat
to America some believe. "You will
remember that the Minutemen were
militia . Patrick Henry's 'Give Me
Liberty or Give me Death' speech
was given to raise militias."
'They (Founding Fathers) knew the
greatest potential for the oppression of
the citizens was to have a huge
centralized federal government that
was armed and a citizenry that was
disarmed," he said.
-Homosexuality is a behavior, not a
dght. "Homosexuality is the stuff
collapsed civilizations are made of,
whether it's Sodom and Gomorrah or
the Roman Empire." -
are calling for a new consideration of
sexuality in the churches seem less
than eager really to engage with
lesbian and gay perspectives. Yet
this is by no means true of all. The
straight mind as it is socially constructed
in the west is after all also a
straight jacket, a confinement to a
way that many heterosexual people
themselves reject as too narrow."
"As we· discover ways to transgress,"
she continued "to 'play in the
fields of the Lord' we will surely find
ourselves with many delightful compamons,
some of them unexpected.
And it will be - a ·great day, not only
for us but for our churches, when th e
question is not, 'how far should sexual
diversity be tolerated ' but ' how can
we learn from sexual diversity , and
celebrate together?'"
Meeting at the same time as the
Archbishop of Ca.nterbury was speaking
to the An 5 1ican Evangelical
Assembly in Hertfordshire, LGCM's
members passed an emergency
motion on hearing of his speech in
which he said that the Church, in
relation to sexual practice, "only
recognizes two options ... heterosexual ·
marriage and celibacy."
Passed unanimously the motion
reads 'This annual conference deplores
the remarks of the Archbishop
of Canterbury and calls for him to
live up to his previously declared
·view, made as recently as last month
at the Primates Meeting that
'homophobia in all its forms is not
acceptable within the Christian
Church.' Lesbian and gay Christians
are not made to feel welcome in the
Church by the imposition upon them
of unreasonable demands - and
celibacy is not necessarily a sign of
wholeness and integrity."
Commenting of the Archbishop 's
inconsistency Rev. Richard Kirker,
General Secretary of LGCM said,
"Our members will once again feel
shocked and dismayed that George
Carey has made remarks that display
obvious confusion and no respect for
loving same-sex relationships. The
Church is being deluded and cruel
the longer it delays affirming gay
love."
HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE CHURCH:
Both Sides of the Debate
Homosexuali'1
in the Church
Outstanding authorities on
scripture, tradition, reason,
biology, ethics, and gendered
experience discuss the place
of Gays and Lesbians in the
community offaith. This
book will provoke discussion
Quan.
l~tttt, S ~ , h,. r d,1 0,
. in congregations, study groups,
and ethics and social justice
issues.
Edited by Jeffrey S. Siker.. Associate
Professor of New Testament at
Loyola Marymount University,
Los A11geles.
Order now from Second Stone Press
□ HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE CHURCH
Edited by Jeffrey S. Siker, $14.99, paperbk ___ _
Postage'Handling $3.00 first book, $1.00 ea. additional ------
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED -----
NAME ___________________ _
ADDRESS-~-------------------
CITY/STATE/ZIP _ _____ _ ____________ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA70182
JU LY/AUGUST 9 9 5
w News w .........................................................................
Gay school board candidate triggers religious war
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - While
presidential candidates pay attention
to Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses,
many political activists are preoccupied
with a school board race that's
likely to pit religious conservatives
against gay rights advocates.
It's school board .politics with a
vengeance, and some say it can be
used to gauge the growing clout of
the religious right.
'This is all being pretty well
orchestrated to generate money and
to help organizationally in anticipation
of the upcoming caucuses," said
Jonathan Wilson, a veteran member
of the Des Moines school board who
last year triggered an uproar by
announcing he's gay.
Iowa's precinct caucuses are the first
stop on the trail of primaries and
caucuse s that produce presidential
nominees. The major Republican
candidates all -have set up shop in the
state.
Religious conservatives are a
growing force in Iowa's Republican
Party. They've taken aim at Wilson in
the September school board elections.
Wilson blames "the radical right"
out to flex its political muscle, but
those opposed to his re-election say
they're just trying to protect children.
'They are gathering up names,
addresses, phone numbers, contributors.
They are soliciting national
money for the effort," Wilson said.
'T hey're planning on making Des
Moines an example for the nation ."
Bill Horn is an organizer for The
Report, an anti-gay rights group with
roots in fundamentalist churches. He
dismisses that argument.
Hom says Wilson himself raised the
issue by making public his sexua l
preference and traveling the country
speaking to gay rights groups .
"How come he's out speaking across
the country raising money?" Horn
said . "I think the thing about
Jonathan Wilson that people are discouraged
about is the whole homosexual
agenda."
"He keeps referring to the radical
right, and I don't know who he is
talking about," Jerry Erickson, minister
at Union Park Bap~ist Church,
said . "I don't consider myself radical
right in any sense of the word. I've
probably voted for as many Democrats
as Republicans."
GOP presidential candidates watch
the fight with interest because religious
groups such as the Christian
Coalition can make a big difference in
next February's precinct caucuses.
"I am with them all the way in that -
cause," former television commentator
Pat Buchanan said.
Both sides have been rallying their
forces and raising money.
'This is a controversial, hot-button
issue," Horn said. 'This will get
national attention."
Wilson has been a force on the
school board for 12 years, including a
stint as its president. Some had urged
him not to run again, but he's
seeking another term.
Vatican newspaper calls
condom-in-hotel-room idea 'squalid'
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The
Vatican newspaper on May 30
denounced as "squalid" an antiAIDS
camRaign to put condoms,
along ,with soap and
'toothpaste, in seaside resort
hotel rooms.
Backed by an Italian gay
rights group, businessman
Franco Albanesi, who owns
part of a chain of seven hotels
along the Adriatic, came up
with the idea to distribute condoms
as part of the complimentary
toiletries left for guests.
The condom packages carry
the writing "Safe love is good
for life." Backing the initiative
was Italy's leading anti-AIDS
researcher, immunologist,
Fernando Aiuti.
But the president of an association
of hotels along the Riminiarea
seacoast called the condom
promotion "stuff for madmen."
Hoteliers fear that families
arriving for summer vacation
SECOND STONE
will get the idea that the resorts
are more suitable for love affairs
instead of family vacations,
the Italian news agency ANSA
reported from Rimini, the
coast's biggest resort town.
"Alarming the hoteliers is the
legitimate fear that the distribution
of condoms will frighten
the families who crowd the
hotels from June to September,"
the Vatican newspaper
L 'Osservatore-Romano wrote.
In a scathing attack on Aiuti,
the Vatican newspaper said:
"Perhaps he thinks that the
hierarchy of countervalues,
based on libertinism and
hedonism, is more defused"
than "normal family" values.
The scientist and the Vatican
have been at odds for years.
Aiuti contends that government
anti-AIDS education programs
have been stymied by the Vatican's
traditional influence on
Rome politics. -
His critics say they are unconcerned
about Wilson's sexual preferences,
and Wilson himself labels it a
"peripheral issue ."
'Tm focused on quality education,"
he said.
But religious leaders have sought
and failed to deflect attention to other
pressing issues facing the city's
schools.
'There is every danger that the one
and only issue that attracts people's
attention will be this issue of sexual
orientation," David Ruhe, senior
minister at Plymouth Congregational
United Church of Christ, said. "I ha ve
suspected quietly to myself that it's
certainly possible for cynical people to
manipulate the intense feelings and
emotions around the issue."
Rich Eychaner, a prominent
Republican businessman, has some
experience in the fight. Eychaner,
who is gay, sought a Republican con-
SEE CANDIDATE, Page 19
Church panel urges tolerance of
unmarried couples
LONDON (AP) - The Church of
England has been advised by
its own experts to welcome sexually
active couples, regardless
of whether they are married or
are of the same sex.
"Everyone, whether single,
married, separated or cohabiting,
heterosexual or homosexual,
should find a place of
welcome in the church," the
Board of Social Responsibility
said in its first report on family
life in 20 years .
The report is expected to be
debated in November by the
church's governing General
Synod.
Archbishop of Canterbury
George Carey, head of the
church, welcomed the report as
part of debate and soul-searching,
but said, "It is not, and
does not purport to be, the
chμrch's authoritative teaching."
The board, a synod department
that advises on social
issues, estimated that by the
year 2000, four out of five couples
will live together before
they _ marry.
The church should resist the
temptation to look back to a
"golden age of the family" and
instead support families in all
their diversity and help people
build strong, committed, faithful
relationships, the report
said.
While marriage is central to
the Christian family, the church
has been too "censorious" of
people living together outside
wedlock, it said.
The report also said gay couples
are capable of enduring
and faithful relationships and
should not be excluded from
the church.
Singapore clergy opposes Church of England on 'living in sin'
SINGAPORE (AP) ~ The head of
the Anglican Church in Singapore
has opposed a Church of
England panel's recommendation
that the phrase "living in
sin" be abandoned, a newspaper
reported June 10.
Right Reverend Moses Tay
told the Straits Times newspaper
that the recommendation will
never be adopted in Singapore,
where the Church will continue
to uphold the biblical standards
of morality.
"All sexual behavior, apart
from that between a man and a
woman in the context of marriage
covenant is sin," Tay was
quoted as saying by the Times.
"Adultery, fornication and
homosexuality are wrong. We
have to call a spade a spade. A
sin is a sin," he said.
Earlier in the week, the
Church of England's Board for
Social Responsibility urged
Britain's state church to continue
to "affirm the centrality" of
traditional marriage. But it also
suggested that the phrase "living
in sin" be dropped and that
unmarried couples, heterosexual
and homosexual, be
more readily welcomed into
Anglican congregations.
While commenting on the
recommendation , Singapore's
patriarch, Lee Kuan Yew, said
his city-state_ will insist on
certain standards and moral
values if it is to preserve the
strength of its society.
Reverend Tay said the church
also was "firmly of the same
view" as Senior Minister Lee,
who gave his views while on a
trip to London.
The "living in sin" report has
contributed to a growing debate
in the British church on issues
such as family, sexuality and
gender.
JULV/AUGU _ST l 9 9 5
Hope House lifts gay teens from despair
From Page 1
who have no family or whose family
has abandoned them .
Th e Hope House program
serves te ens and young adults up to
age 21. It can provide a temporary
living environment and services lo
help mov e young Gays, Lesbians and
others from hop e lessness to independence.
At Hope House, youth who once
had no place to go now find a home
and some help.
The program is a part of
Cathedral of Hope Metropolitan Community
Church, the largest predominately
gay and lesbi an church in the .
world. The ne ed for the program
became clear when two teenage boys
came to the church a couple of years
ago looking for help. They had .run
away from home and ended up in
Dallas with 110 hom e and no money.
The church helped these teens, but
soon realized that runaway teens and
young adults were a large problem
and the resources to help them were
yery limited.
Then Rev .. Paul Tucker, a pastor
at Cathedral of Hope, decided it was
the church's job to help.
"We knew we had to do something,"
Tuck er said, "Nobody else
seemed equipped to handle them."
K In April 1994, the Hope Ho~s·e
program was created. By October, the
papers were signed on Hope House, a
transitional living facility for young
people with no other place to go.
said Luke, a Hope House resident.
"He makes sure I'm on the right track
and watches over me."
Luke came lo Dallas when he
was rejected by his East Texas family
after coming out. When he told them
he is gay, they cut him off financially
and began to wash his clothes and
dishes separate ly , making him feel
like an outcast.
. 'T hey said I might as well quit
high school and live on the streets,"
Luke said . 'They said they hope I get
sho t in the head."
Then he found Bob Ivancic,
Hope House's administrator.
"I told him about the program
and I asked him what he wanted,"
Ivancic said. Ivancic matched him
with a mentor and got him involved
in a s upport group, then helped him
enter Hope House's residential program.
"It allowed me to get back on
my feet," Luke sa id. "I can begin to
think about being gay and having to
deal with all the stresses the world
puts on us."
There .are no other programs in
North Texas and few in the nation
that are designed to meet the unique
n eeds of gay and lesbian youth.
Ivancic said the church wants to help
establish youth programs in other
cities as a part of Cathedral of Hope's
mission to become a national resource
in the lesbian and gay community.
'The straight community take s
care of its children," Ivancic said.
'There's nothing for youth in our
"The straight community takes care of
its children," Ivancic said. "There's
nothing for youth in our comn1unity."
Now, a case manager, an administrator
and a full time live-in home
supervisor assist in running the program
that Tucker and others created.
Hope House provides its clients
a variety of services to prepare them
for life on their own . The program
offers access to medical, dental and
psychological eva luation and treatment.
It also offers opportunities for
education, socia l and life skills training
and drug arid alcohol services, if
needed. Up to 18 months of residential
care in Hope House and two
years of follow up after leaving the
residence ~re also offered.
Hope House also provides a
mL•ntor program for residents and
nonresidents . Each youtl1 in the program
is mat ched with a carefully
scn•,•1wd and trained mentor, a gay
m ~n or ll•sbian woman who functillns
as a role model to help • put the tl'L'll
on the road to a healthy adult life.
''The mentor provides a big
brother-- someone I can look up tn,"
SECOND STONE
community."
Tucker explained that Dallas has
teen shelters and a variety of services
for adult gay men and lesbian women.
Adult gay and lesbian services,
though, are often unwilling to help
children and teenagers. These agencies
are afraid of perpetuating the
belief that gay and lesbian organizations
recruit young people.
In ·some shelters for youth,
Tucker said, gay and lesbian runaways
are the target of. abuse and
violence.
A large, short-term youth
shelter for gay and lesbian teens is
need ed in the Metroplex, Ivancic said,
but he ex·plained that they · are
moving one step at a time and trying
to help as many young people as
possible along the way.
Ivancic and Tucker have dozens
of storil's about yout h in trouble.
"[One girl] was from west
T,•xas," Tucker said. "Her mother
found out about her sexual orienta--
Hope House administrator Bob Ivancic, left, plays Scrabble with Luke, a
resident who was rejected by his East Texas family after coming out.
lion. She put her daughter on ·a bus
with a one-way ticket to Dallas."
Tucker remembers meeting one
17 year old boy who was at a local
ho spital's ' psychiatric emergency
room because of a drug overdose.
''This young man had been
living on the streets since he was 14
when his parents found out he was
gay and kicked him out," Tucker
sai d. "He used selling sex and selling
drugs as a mea ns of survival but in
th e proces s got hooked on cocaine."
Alcohol and drug use is
prominent in runaways and throwaways,
and many turn to prostitution.
Others turn to suicide .
Sixty-eight percent of all ga1·
male ·adolescents report alcohol use,
and almost half say they hal' e used
drugs, according to an unpublish ed
study in 1987. The numbers .ue
higher among lesbian teens. S,1me
also report selling their body ,rnd ,1
large number say they h aYc> c,,nsidered
or even attempted suicide.
Until recently, ther e was no
place in Dallas for troubled gay and
lesbian youth to find help . .
Some of these youtH in trouble
go to Dallas' gay and lesbian area
near the corner of Oak Lawn A venue
and Cedar Springs Road. This make s
the church 's location in Oak Lawn
important.
"Many of them end up in the
Oak Lawn area of Dallas trying to
survive on the streets," Tucker said.
Luke said Hope House saved
him from that.
"I would have probably ended
up on the streets or in some homel ess
shelter," Luke said.
But help for Luke was al'ailable
fwm a house and a church named
H,,pe.
If you can benefit from th e
services of Hope House or would like
to help in its ministry , call Cathedral
of Hop e at 800-501-HOPE.
Integrity wraps up national convention
WORSHIPERS LINED THE walls of
Atlanta's All Saints Episwpal Church
during the closing Eucharist ,,f the
Integrity National C,mvenlion on
June 10. The circle of over 200 people,
which included . the celebrant,
Atlanta's Bishop Frank Allen, and
two other bishops , was intended to
i.llustrate till' nature' of the Holy
Trinity. Tl w S<•rm,in on th e eve of
Trinity Sunday was given by Rev.
Canon Linda Strohmier, Evangelism
Coordinator for the Episcopal Church.
• Delegates to the n1nvention heard
the Rev. Canon Rowan Smith, chief
assistant of Archbi sh op Desmund
Tutu speak on the gay liberation
struggle in South . .\frica ,rnd the
church's role.
Mark Graham of Atl,rnta. c,1-dean of
the convention, receiH th e Louie
Crew Award for .outst.rndin~ contributions
to Int egrity. · '
Most of Integrity 's Stl chapters hav e
fewer than 50 memb,•rs ,111d man y
Integrity memb,•rs d,,,d h,n ·e ,1 local
chapter to altL'nd.' ~ 1Jny (L'nventi('lleers
come fn.1m un~uppL , rtiv t:" dioceses,
so tht' ronvt•ntiL, n pnwide:,; an .
important opp,1rtunity to <'~p<'rit' nce
fellowship ,1nd rl'tww,11.
JULY/AUGUST 9 9 5
B orn in 1898, my grandpa
was one of ten children.
The family name was a
heritage. Although all his
sisters and brothers were members of
the church, grandpa was not. I never
asked him why. I always figured
that it had to do with the gal that he
married . A refined woman from
upstate. I was three months old when
she died . Grandpa spent the next 26
years being chased by the best and
worst of them. Being one of the best
{egacy
BY
EMILY
EDWARDS
SECOND STONE
catches around, we would . laugh
when their intentions were quite
obvious. No one ever caught him.
I have always been sad that I never
knew my grandmother. He would
never · talk of her. I learned from ·
asking their best friends. One of her
ma_ny legacies is that I was raised in
her church .
In this town of 2,000, all my
relations were raised in the church of
800. They were a loving, hard working,
and kind people. They took care
of their elderly and infirm . The y
took care of each other. They were
also a God fearing people. So the
church had many traditions.
All th e women who were members
wore a black lace cover on their
heads , When Great Aunt Ida was so
sick, for a while we were not allowed
to see her , Bouts of senility were
allowing her to reveal the family
secrets. One time when I was visiting,
she lapsed before my ears. She
told me how the Elder had paid a
surprise visit one day, and she barely
had time to get the black lace cover
on her head before he walked in the
door . After a time, the women members
were only expected. to wear them
in church,
Automobiles, trucks, tractors and
radios were definitely allowed. They
were necessary for commerce . T elevisions
were not. My cousins and
friends loved to visit. We would
watch TV. By the time Great Aunt
Mary was 82, she realized that she
had lived a life worthy of the call
from God , She did not care if anyon e
saw the small TV in her kitchen.
And no one in the church dared to
say anything. Great Aunt Mary told
me once that many men had asked
for her hand . The men went to the
Elders and then the Elders went to
the women. She kept turning them
down and was never sorry for her
choice of remaining single. She told
me that this one woman never treated
her too nicely through the years. Her
husband was quite wealthy, Inside
Great Aunt Mary laughed at this
woman's haughtiness. For this man
was one of the many suitors she had
sent away.
When Great Aunt Barb passed
away, there were a few compacts with
face powder. That was allowed . She
had watches and pins that were also
allowed . Somehow the word got out
though. My cousin Jim told me that
someone confronted him. Did she
really have 250 pins and 22 watches?
He reminded them of the Christian
woman, his grandmother that they
were asking about. And no one
dared to say anything more.
Yes, the church is rich in many
traditions. The people are loving,
hardworking and kind, and alway s
take care of their own. They built a
nursing home and a home for
disabled. You have to be on a waiting
list for some of the volunteer
positions . They built a social hall.
When the first bricks of each were
laid, they had already been paid for.
My grandpa was a successful and
respected man in his own right. And
when I was born, the birth listings in
the papers said granddaughter of.
When he passed on, 1700 people
came through the funeral home. I
knew most of them, but not all their
name s. Everybody always knew that
I was the granddaughter of.
Growing up, I was cool. I stayed
out of trouble . I got my name and
picture in the paper for first class
scout, band and chorus awards, stuff
like that. So pretty much, I did not
dishonor the heritage of the family
name. Except the part that I was gay
from the time I was 16. So after
college, wanting to live freely and not
bring dishonor, I moved far away
from the little town and its hassles
and lived free , I would fly home and
be with grandpa. I always brought a
dress with me, for I knew I would be
attending the church with him.
Congregational seating _ was also
part of the tradition. Women sat on
one side, men sat on the other. A
portion of the pews in the back rows
were reserved where both could sit
together. That one Sunday, we
climbed the stairs and grandpa did
not stop in the back rows . He· kept
marching down the long aisle. I
grabbed his suit coat so hard that it
stopped him and said in his ear,
where are we going. We need to sit
in the back row, He said come on
and took off again and I followed him
like I always had. We suddenly sat
on the men's side in the front second
pew. As I was shaking, I received a
tap on my shoulder. I painfully and
slowly turned to hear and see Tom
and Joe. Old schoolmates saying
hello. I sang tenor that day with the
congregation - who had never known
what it was like to sing with a piano
or organ. Yes, like singing tenor on
the men's side would not make me
stick out.
When we left church, 1 was furious
with my grandpa. Why did you do
that . What are you doing . And all
he would do was laugh and laugh .
Everytime I brought it up through
the remaining years, he would laugh
and laugh and say nothing.
When grandpa passed on, 1 was the
only one who did not pass by his
casket in the foyer of the church . 1
don't know why. When Jane came
up to me at the meal after the funeral
service, I noticed that she had a black
lace cover on her head . She had
·become a member. She was very excited.
Wasn't your grandpa's funeral
. great . They put him in heaven with
Jesus.
The next day it finally computed in
my weary mind . There were three
When we left
church, I was
furious with my
grandpa. Why did
you do that. What
are you doing.
And all he would
do was laugh
and laugh.
types of funerals in the church. In
my youth I had heard about this one
type. The Elder pointed to the family
in the front row and declared, and
how ·do you feel knowing your
husband and father is burning in
hell. Seriously, if you were not asked
to leave, as some were, you ran the
risk. There was the type of funeral
for people who attended the church
and then there was the type of
funeral for members of the church.
My grandpa, being placed in heaven
with Jesus, had been given the
funeral of a member.
Yes; the church is indeed still rich
in many of these traditions. They are
a loving, hardworking, and kind
people of God.
All· this came back to me today
when I ran across my grandpa's derby.
He had worn it when he courted
my grandmother. And remembering
all of this, I finally accepted that
grandpa knew that I was gay. He
might not have understood it all, or
even have wanted to, yet he indeed
knew and loved me still the same.
And in all these years, I have
wondered why he marched me down
the aisle that Sunday to sit with the
men. And today maybe I finally
realized why. That no one had better
dare say anything .
. JULY/AUGUST 1- 9 9 5
Pro-gay bishop elected in New York Episcopal diocese. · _1
NEW YORK- At its 219th convention, Bishops meeting during the 1994 January. The resolution_ Was spon- Assembly, but has never mad~ it to
held on June 10, the Episcopal Dio- General Convention in Indianapoli_~, sored br the three Integnty c~apter:- the floor of the Repubhcan-dommated
cese of New York strong ly supported the diocese put itself on record m m_the Diocese of Ne~ ~ork with Phil State Senate.
the full inclusion of Lesbians and support of blessing same -sex umons Nic~olson,_ Integrity s NortheaS t Bishop-elect Roskam was ordained
Gays in the church . Elected as Bishop and opening the_ ordination process to Regional Vi~e President an? a dele- to the priesthood in 1984 at Manhat-
Suffragan was longtime Integrity Gays and Lesbians, whether or not 9ate to the diocesan convention, lead- tan's Church of the Holy Apostles,
member, the Rev. Catherine S. they are celibate. mg th e effort. joining the New York City chapter of
Roskam. Bishop-elect Roskam is cur- The resolution was .tpproved by Integrity shortly thereafter. She mainrently
Missioner of the Di_ocese of over two-thirds of the delegates in .a The convention also passed tained her membership in Integrity/
California and is a gay-positive het- voice vote. New York became the a resolution urging the New .York even after moving to San
erosexual. second Episcopal diocese to endorse Francisco several years ago. While.
The diocese also approved three Spong's "Statement of Koinonia," New York State legislature looking for a job in the Diocese of
pro-gay resolutions. By endorsing a which was signed by 71 bishops. The to outlaw discrimination California, she experienced discrimistatement
that Newark Bishop John Diocese of Washington (D .C.) had . nation due to her membership in
-Spong introduced at the House of approved it at their convention in based on sexual orientation. Integrity and her expressed desire to
BATTLE,
From Page-1
The pro-Amendment 2 br ,ief was
filed by the Southern BaJ?tist Convention,
Catholic Legal Society, Catholic
League for Religious and Civil
Rights, Focus on the Family, Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod and the
National Association of Evangelicals.
The anti-gay rights groups contend
Amendment 2 protects the religious
rights of groups that believe homosexuality
is a sin.
The 11 groups filing against
Amendment 2, which include several
Jewish groups, Protestants, the Quak,
ers and the head of the Episcopal
. Church, argue the amendment vio.
!ates the state constitution by setting
aside one group for discrimination.
The groups state the amendment
subjects Gays to "second -class citizenship."
One anti-Amendment 2 brief was
filed by the American Friends Service
Committee (Quakers), American Jew-
RESPONSE,
From Page 1
Flanked by Republican leaders
from across the nation including
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and
presidgntial hopeful Phil Gramm,
Ralph Reed announced his 10 point
moral agenda for the second 100 days
of the 104th Congress. "We are com~
mitted," said Gingr .ich, "to imple'
menting the Contract with the Fami-
1 "
Y;,If the Christian Coalition's Contact
is implemented," said Nancy Wilson,
a UFMCC elder and pastor of the Los
Angeles congregation, ''.it is possible
that gay and lesbian Americans will
suffer a whole new reign of terror and
intolerance in the land."
"Just below the surface," claims
White, "Ralph Reed's Contract with
the American Family is just one more
attempt by leaders of the radical right
to reshape traditional American
values in their own narrow, fundamentalist
image. The Contract is far
more than the sum of its parts . It is in
fact, a dangerous threat to all Americans
who believe in tolerance and
freedom."
SECOND STONE
ish Committee, Anti-Defamation ,.
League, Reconstructionist Congregations,
Interfaith Impact for Justice and
Peace, Reconstructionist Rabbinical
Association, . Unitarian Universalist
Association, United Church of Christ,
United Synagogue for Conservative
Judaism and Bishop Edmond Browning,
head of the Episcopal Church ..
The stated clerk of the national
Presbyterian Church filed his own
brief against Amendment 2.
Also approved by the convention
was a resolution introduced by the
diocesan Economic Justice Commis-·
, sion directing the trustees of the
diocese to formally request each company
in their investment portfolio to
prohibit employment discrimination
based on marital status and sexual
orientation. The convention also
passed a resolution urging the New
York State legislature to outlaw discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
This measure has been passed
year after year by the New York State
Presidential hopeful urges tougher
stand on moral issues
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Conservatives
have helped create a
moral disaster by not taking a
clear stand against abortion, unwed
motherhood and homosexuality,
says 19% Republican
presidential candidate Alan L.
Keyes. ·
Keyes, a Maryland radio talk
show host, spoke to about 300
people May 25 at a luncheon
sponsored by The Freedom
Foundation, a conservative
organization.
"We must take a clear stand
on putting the emphasis back
on supporting the marriagebased
family," he said.
On May 23 in Topeka, Kan.,
Keyes had a rally on the south
steps of the Statehouse and
attended a $100-a-plate fundraising
dinner.
His Kansas visit was sponsored
by the Topeka chapter of
Kansans for Life, the state's
largest anti-abortion group, the
Family Action Network and the
2nd Congressional District
Republican Party.
Keyes served in the State
Department under former
President Ronald Reagan and
as ambassador to the United
Nations Economic and Social
Organizations .
He is the first black candidate
for the Republican nomination
for president. He entered the
race in March after two unsuccessful
campaigns for a Maryland
state senate seat in 1988
and 1992.
Bulk Copies Available
OF THIS ISSUE OF SECOND STONE
10 copies - $13.50 • 25 copies - $29 .50 • 50 copies - $45 .00
100 copies - $67.50 includes postage and handling.
Send your pre-paid order to Second Stone.
PO . Box 8340. New Orleans. LA 70182
minister to persons with AIDS. If, as
expected, her election is confirmed by
a majority of diocesan Standing Committees
and Diocesan Bishops, she
will become the fourth woman in the
Episcopal Church's House of Bishops.
Her consecration is expected to take
place in December at the earliest.
In another notable election, Dr.
Deirdre J. Good was elected a deputy
to the Episcopal Church's national
governing body, the General Convention.
Good is expected to be one
of at least six openly lesbian deputies
at the 1997 convention. She is a
professor of New Testament at the
General Theological Seminary in
New York City . Her corning out as a
lesbian with a life partner led to a
change in the seminary's housing
policy, following a struggle that
included the mediation of the New
York City Commission on Human
Rights. Her election as deputy came
as something of a surprise since she
had never · before run for diocesan
office. Two other Integrity members
were among the eight elected as
G_eneral Convention deputies .
h the spirit of St. Frtl'lcir:; .im St.
Clare, wdre aeelci,g ~ bulder6
.im pear::e IM(8l'S to journey with
119 i1 t;h6 fOC>t61:ep5 of Jee;us Christ.
C?
d!'SJ We are an ecumenical,
inclusive, non-clerical
0.._ community of baptize~ men
~ and women from various
Christian traditions who
./!.O chose to worship and live in
~ a faith-sharing ~pirit.
You may become an
~ Associate or enter the
program leading to the
profession of vows as a
~~ religious Brother or Sister.
Ask to receive our
newsletter, "Footsteps." t We work in ministries
of love, care and reconciliation
nationwide.
For more information,
please write to:
MERCY OF Goo COMMUNITY
Att: Vocation Director
P. 0. Box 41055
Providence RI 02940-1055
J U L Y / A U G U .s'T , l 9 9 5
Pastor calls ruling against lesbian mom 'act of terror'
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A gay clergyman
drew comparisons April 29
between the Oklahoma City bombing
and a Virginia Suprem e Court decision,
calling a rufing that a lesbian
was an unfit parent "another act of
terror."
While acknowledging that.the ideas
behind the bombing and the court's
ruling in the case of lesbian couple
Sharon Bottoms and April Wade are
widely separated, the Rev. Mel White
contended they are on the same
spectrum. ·
"To put a jurist, a wonderful,
committed jurist on the Supreme
Court of Virginia on the same scale
with the bombers would be a travesty,"
White told reporters at a news
conference. "But to say that there are
ideas that link the bomber and the
jurist is very important."
White added: 'The ideas are
wrong. They need to be attacked .
And the terrorist that takes away a
child from Sharon and April is that
same kind of idea that says that we
ne ed to explode away, do away,
purge the nation."
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled
4-3 on April 21 in favor of Ms.
Bottoms' mother, who had sought
custody of 3-year-old Tyler Doustou.
The court said lesbianism was one of
. several factors that made Ms. Bottoms
unfit.
'The only issue, really, is they are
lesbians. And the court has decided
in this case that lesbians can't be good
parents," he said . "And we will fight
that across this nation in every court
where it raises its head . And we will
chain ourselves to the Supreme Court
and fast until we die if this comes to
the Supreme Court and they decide to
take away our children."
White, 54, of Dallas, was the keynote
speaker for a district conference
of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches. The
organization's mid-Atlantic district includes
15 churches with an estimat ed
2,000 parishioners in Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
the District of Columbia.
The UFMCC called for .a national
day of prayer on May 14, Mother's
Day, in support of Ms. Bottoms and
other gay and lesbian parents fighting
for custody of their children .
"Pray on Mother's Day that this
injustice will be righted,"White said.
"And pray too that these terrible
sodomy laws, which say that our love
for each other is a felony, will be
struck down ."
The couple's pastor, Dwayne
Johnson of the MCC Church of Richmond,
said the women felt a deep
"Your Brother Doesn't
Have to be Speaker
for You to Make a
Diff ere nee in America."
Candace is the lesbian s iste r of Newt Gingrich.
Speaker of the Ho~se nf Represenratives
- Candace Gingrich.
Na~ianal Coming Out Projec t Spokesperson
M,, people who know someone
gay or lesbian are far more supportive of
gay issues. Coming out shows the true
diversity of the gay communiry. But,
you don't have co be related to someone
famous to take your next step. For more
information about coming out, or
upcoming National Coming Our Day
events, please call 1-800-866-6263.
Come Out.
Get Involved.
It Truly Makes a Difference.
National Coming Out Project
is an education and ou1reach program ol lhe
SECOND STONE
Fffil
~
personal loss because of the court
ruling. "Removing a child from a
mother is akin to death," Johnson
said. 'That is the emotion they are
feeling at this time."
Before publicly acknowledging his
homosexuality in 1991, White was a
ghostwriter for religious broadcasters
Pat Robertson and the Rev . Jerry
Falwell. He was arrested in February
for trespassing at the Virginia Beach
headquarters of Robertson's Christian
Broadcasting Network while seeking
a meeting with Robertson.
He fasted for 22 days in the
Virginia Beach jail until March 8. The
charge against him was dropped less
than an hour after Robertson met
with him in jail. A Robertson spokesman
said the visit was out of
compassion for White's parents.
"I think Pat Robertson is so
misinformed that his soul is at stake,"
White said. "I hope I'll have all of
eternity to show him where he's
wrong."
Boy ~hinks Jesus took him from his mother
RICHMOND (AP) - When 3-year-old
Tyler Doustou visited his lesbian
mother recently, he told her that his
grandmother says "Jesus took him
away from me," Sharon Bottoms told
a radio audience.
Ms. Bottoms said April 27 she told
Ty !er that Jesus gave him to her, and
that it was his maternal grandmother,
Kay Bottoms, who took him away.
But Tyler didn't believe her, she said.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled
4-3 in late April that Sharon Bottoms
was an unfit mother and that Tyler
should remain in the custody of Kay
Bottoms.
Sharon Bottoms and her live-in
lover, April Wade, appeared on a
WRY A-AM call-in show hosted by
former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. The
couple, their lawyer and Wilder
crowded around a studio table as
television photographers prowled
around them.
Asked by Wilder how she felt
about the ruling, Sharon Bottoms
hesitated, then said, ·"I know how I
feel, but I don't know how to explain
it." After even longer pause, she said,
"I think it's sad."
Most callers were supportive.
Antoinette from Richmond urged Ms.
Bottoms to "Get out there and fight for
your baby!" Ca ssandra from Henrico
County and Chris from Gloucester
County both told the lesbian couple
they support ed them "100 percent."
Three of. the 11 callers confronted
the couple about homosexuality.
Ms. Bottoms' lawyer, Player
Michaelson, said she will ask the
Virginia Supreme Court to rehear the
case. She said she will argue that the
judges ruled on a case record that
included inaccurate allegations, such
as that Ms. Wade hit Tyler, that Kay
Bottoms was motivated to seek custody
of the boy after learning about
Sharon Bottoms' homosexuality, and
that Sharon Bottoms and Ms. Wade
taught the boy to call Ms. Wade
'Da"da ."
In its ruling, the Supreme Court
said lesbianism was one of many
factors that made Ms. Bottoms an unfit
mother. Other factors cited included
her history of moving from place to
place, relying oh others ' for support
and "difficulty controlling her temper,"
the justices said.
After the radio interview, Ms.
Bottoms told reporters that Kay
Bottoms called her this week to tell
her she could not have Tyler. for his
court-ordered weekly visit of one
night. "She said they were going out
of town," Ms. Bottoms said .
Richard R. Ryder, Kay Bottoms'
lawyer, said she told Sharon Bottoms
in advance that she and Tyler · were
going on vacation. 'They'll make up
the visit when they get back," he
said.
Not trying to take over GOP,
says Ralph Reed
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - The
Christian Coalition is not on a
crusade to take over U.S. politics,
or even the Republican
Party; all it wants is a "place at
the table," says Ralph Reed Jr.,
the group's executive director.
"It's not right for us to select
t.he next Republican presidential
candidate," said Reed, who
heads the nation's largest Christian
group that has deep inroads
into the Republican
Party. ·
But only the party that values
"the sanctity of life" will get th"
group 's backing, Recd told th,,
Panhandl e Tiger Bay Club May
19.
In its "Contract With the
American Family," the 1.6 million-
member group calls for an
end to late-term abortions and
permission for states to refuse
.Paying tax funds for abortions,
among other things.
"What we want is not in the
form of a demand," Recd said, ·
'The contract is 10 suggestions."
'This (contract) is a very ambitious
agr,nda, a hold ag,•nda.
It won't happr,n ov,·rnight. W,·
wi ll kr:<:p at it," l<•·•·d add,•d .
"Our rr,I,. i '-> tr, h,· a rwrm ;uv·nl
fixturr : <,nth,, pr1l1tir al J;111d
<.,< ap1•. W,, rir.>W li :1v1· ;1 pl;ic ,. ;II
thr· tahl,- ...
I I J I I I /. IJ (, 'J ·, I, I ') 'I !,
Evangelist at Promise Keepers rally criticizes Gays
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - A Dalla s
evangelis t at a rally for Christian men
urged blacks and whites to come
together to reverse what he said was
"immorality in the name of hell"
brought on by homosexuality.
''Black and white Christians can get
together and bring the kingdom of
God in the name of heaven," Tony
Evans told 72,000 men at the Silverdome
for the Promise Keepers conference
held the last weekend in April.
Founded five years ago by thenUniversity
of Colorado football Coach
Bill McCartney, the international
group bills itself as a Christ-centered
ministry dedicated to helping men
become better husbands, fathers and
community leaders.
The group has packed arenas across
Middle America. Last year, the group
drew more than 250,000 men to seven
stadium rallies. This year, it says
500,000 will attend 13 such events.
The event at the Silverdome was the
first.
Evans' comments did not surprise
the critics who say the Promise Keepers
movement is anti-homosexual and
anti-women.
Jeff Montgomery, president of the
gay advocate Triangle Foundation of
Detroit, said comments such as Evans'
frighten Gays.
"With that rhetoric, we feel threatened,"
Montgomery said, leading a
protest outside the Silverdome.
Women's activists also protested
outside the Silverdome, saying the
Promise Keepers' true agenda calls for
men to dominate their wives and
children.
Anti-gay initiatives
attacked at regional
Methodist gathering
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - Two
anti-gay initiatives have been
rejected by the Pacific Northwest
Conference of the United.
Methodist Church.
About 900 clergy and lay
representatives from Washington
and northern Idaho. voted to
oppose Jnitiative 166, which
would bar schools from portraying
homosexuality as an acceptable
lifestyle, and Initiative 167,
which would bar Gays and Lesbians
from adopting children or
becoming foster parents.
"It's a civil rights issue," said
Tricia Schug, communications
director for the conference at the
University of Puget Sound.
'The United Methodist Church
tries to be proactive in social
justice issues."
Conference 'members also
voted to ask the church's
national board to change the
Book of Discipline, a set of
guiding principles which
describe the practice of homosexuality
as incompatible with
Christian teaching.
SECOND STONE
Although those attending the
Promise Keepers did not approach the
protesters, members of a local fundamentalist
group, the Voice of Thunder,
confronted them.
The two sides shouted slogans at
each other. Voice of Thunder member
Roger Pettibone of Pontiac also
criticized the Promise Keepers, saying
the group would be more effective
preaching in the streets, rather than
in stadiums .
But many attending the rally felt
otherwise.
Nathan Schuck, a Michigan State
University chemist from Mason, was
AIDS memorial service prompts protest
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Protesters
missed the point of an AIDS candlelight
memorial at the Roman Catholic
church on Old Town Plaza, said an
organizer of the memorial.
"For someone in the city to feel they
should boycott because it's being held
at a church, it's very sad," said Peter
Counterman, executive director of
New Mexico People Living With
AIDS.
. "It takes away the whole feeling
behind the memorial and mobilization,"
he said .
The memorial at S<Ul Felipe de Neri
Church drew about 400 people.
"It's very comforting to be in a
house of God - what better place to
have a service and a memorial?" said
Don Alan Croll,.a Jewish cantor who
is gay.
His partner, Jan Gartenberg, said
he could detect no particular religious
slant to the service. He said he
listened 9osely.
'The issue is about AIDS more than
where it's held," Gartenberg said.
Outside, however, another group
boycotted .
"As long as the church as an
institution continues to preach that
homosexuality itself is sinful, it encourages
the spread of AIDS," said
Neil Isbin, a gay rights advocate who
helped organize the boycott. .
Using a church hadn't been the
group's first choice but that it turned
out to be more affordable and it
allowed the use of candles, which not
all venues permit, Counterman said.
Anyway, a church seemed an
appropriate place for remembrance,
he said .
The Rev. Lambert Luna, pastor of
San Felipe de Neri Church, said the
church traditionally reaches out to the ·
sick and dying and that AIDS sufferers
deserve the same consideration.
"We're not trying to make a
political statement," he said.
Recommended Reading For Everyone ...
PASTOR, I AM GAY
by The Reverend H. Howard. Bess
An extraordinary book. PASTOR, I AM GAY ... is a
prophetic witness to the church. It is compelling in
its intensity, compassionate in its identifications, and
courageous in its call to sharing humanity without
qualifications. A . reader will not be able to put it
down ·
· James B. Ashbrook, Professor Emeritus and
Senior Scholar in Religion and Personality
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary
Northwestern University
PASTOR, I AM GAY is a superb entry into the difficult and painful
subject of homosexuality that faces us in the church and society today.
Both pastor and lay person will find this book readable and informative
as we seek more insight into the lives of homosexual friends inside and
outside the church. Donald Parsons, . Bishop, Alaska Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan.
□ PASTOR.I AM GAY by Rev. Howard aess
$14.95,paperback. ___ _
Postagei'Handling $3.00 firat book, $1.00 ea. additional -----
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED -----
NAME ____________________ _
ADDRESS ____________________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP ___________________ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182 •
brought to tears ~hen the crowd
broke into small groups to pray.
"If you're a lukewarm Christian,
you're no good to anyone,"he said.
With hotels full, some had to roll
out sleeping bags on church floors.
But Doug Gross, 34, of Portland, said
it was worth it.
"It's very emotional. It's intense,
like a fooJball game," he said.
Book Sale!
DEFECTING IN PLACE: Women Claiming =~n;::~t-fa~.!rrlOJal UY86by 'Mnter,
Was 22.95 NOW 18.95
A SINGING SOMETHING: Womanlst Renections on
Ama ...Ulla 0:>oper" by Baker-Fletcnsr. HardOover.
Was 19.95 NOW 15.95
A HUNDRED DAYS FROM NOW, &ll?oraUon of
lo:'9, raceW~~arNi•wt:,;1~:n . Hardcover.
YUGOSLAVIAN INFERNO: Ethno relfgloos Watfareln the s,u:i~:!>t~~Z:-o~~:-
woMEN AT WORSHIP: lnterpretauons Of North Am&neanw~~tW;~~ WalllYl. Paper.
~=~~~J~!~~~NJ:t:::E~~ C
sctmlt1. P- .
Was 13.95 NOW 11.95
NOW OARE EVERYTHING: Tales 01 HlV-Aelated PS)UlOth~:lfM>t1~-r,~r-
SEXUAUTY ANO THE SACRED: Sources tor
Thaolcvcal Aal'lacdon t7)< Nafson llrld l.alg1ellow.
Paper.
Wis 24.W NOW 20.DS
IS THE HOMOSEXUAL MY NEIGHBOR? Revt89d
and Updated by Scanzoni and Mollenkott Paper.
Was 11.00 NOW 0.05
JESUS ACTED UP: A Gay and Leebian Manifesto
by Goa.. Paper.
' Was 14.00 NOW 11.05
FAWLY: APor1ral1 Of Gayand l...eSlian America by
Andl"IWB.Paper.
Was 25.00 NOW 21.05
GAY AND LESBIAN STUDIES IN ART HISTORY
by Davis. Paper.
Was 19.95 NOW 18.95
MEISTER ECKHART AND THE BEGUINE
MYSTICS by McGiM. Hardcover.
Was 19.95 NOW 18.95
THE SECOND PLAGUE OF EUROPE, AIDS
Prewntton art! Se>Ual Tra-urn1saon Amorg Men In
Westem E~ by Pollak. Paper.
Was 11.gs NOW 0.95 ·
ANO THE FLAG WAS STILL THERE: Straight :;rn:~r. ;=~ and Se:4laltty In tie U.S. Military
Was 19.95 NOW US.IS
MURDER AMONG FRIENDS, gay CJ.laker murder my&1aryw~,:.~& 11.05
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE.T,O.L.ESSIAN AND GAY
WEDDINGS by A)llr& and Brown. Paper.
Wa; 16.00 NOW 13.05-
AFREKETE: An Annotogy Of Black L.eetlian Writing
by McKln:ls~.~1;.'8~·~~:»ver.
THE f!AW!!~~~ ~O~~~ Ha!dcover.
IN .THE COURTS OF THE LOAD, gay Epl9Copal
p,1M on:~~•~:"lo~·
WOMEN PASTORS by Stokes. Paper.
Was 14.95 NOW 12.05
ANO SAY HI TO JOYCE: Amelfca's Arel Gay
Cokmn =~ ~;~~ Mutdcdl . Hatdcowr.
Place your order today!
· Quan. TiUe Price Total
□---------
□---------
Postage/Handling $2.90 fiist book,
$1.00 ea. additional
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED
NAME~---------
ADDRESS ________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP ______ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS
P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182
JULY/AUGUST 1995
New network wants to shine light on hate groups
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Unlike the
days of frequent Ku Klux Klan
marches, hate groups are scarier these
days because people can't tell what
they are up to, according to their opponents
.
The new tactics of hate groups drew
attention May 19 as community activists,
preachers, state troopers and government
officials met in the first of
three regional meetings of opponents
of hate group such as skinheads, the
Klan and the Aryan Nation.
"What has me worried is what the
hate groups are doing behind the
scenes, the infiltrating they are doing
in all aspects of society," said one
participant, the Rev. Bob Lewis of
Calvary United Methodist Church in
Erie.
Initiative takes aim at 'right-wing
fundamentalist Christianity'
OLYMPIA (AP) - A Seattle man has
filed an initiative that would prevent
state agencies from placing children
in the custody of anyone "who
practices right-wing fundamentalist
Christianity."
William Humphrey said his
measure is in response to Initiative
167, the proposal that would restrict
adoptions by Gays and Lesbians.
Humphrey's initiative, filed earlier
in June with the secretary of state's
office, extends the prohibition to anyone
"who participates in any political
organization or religion . which condones
the discrimination of individuals
who practice dissimilar beliefs."
Humphrey is a reporter for The
Stranger, a free, Seattle alternative
weekly newspaper. He said he filed
the measure as part of a story h_e's
working on about' how the initiative
process works,
Sam Woodard, executive director of
the Citizens Alliance of Washington,
the organization sponsoring anti-gayadoption
Initiative 167, called
Humphrey's proposal "a joke."
"I think it's hilarious," Woodard
said. "It couldn't hold up in any court
of law. It is directly against the constitution
and freedom of religion." ·
Humphrey is up against a tight
timetable. He has only until July 7 to
collect the signatures of 187,000 registered
voters to qualify his proposal for
the November ballot.
Now available from Second Stone!
The ·Word ls ·out
365 DAILY MEDITATIONS FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN
Author Chris Glaser fearlessly
liberates the Bible from those
who w·ouJd hold it hostage to
an anti-gay agenda. In this
inspiring collection of 365
daily meditations, the Bible's
good news "comes out" to
meet all of us with love,
justice, meaning, and hope.
Chris Glaser is the author
of Uncommon Calling and
Coming Out to God. He is
a graduate of Yale Divinity
School.
The Word Is Out,
$12, paperback.
Order now from Second Stone Press
Quan. Titte
□
Postage/Handling $3.00 first book, $1.00 ea. additional ------
TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED-----
NAME ______________________ _
ADDRESS ______________________ _
CITY/STATE/ZIP ___________________ _
ORDER FROM: SECOND STONE PRESS, P.O. BOX 8340, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70182
SECOND STONE
About 150 people exchanged ideas
for confronting what they say are
increasingly sophisticated hate groups
in Pennsylvania, particularly white
supremacists. The state Human Relations
Commission has identified 64
white supremacy organizations in
Pennsylvania, second only to Georgia.
'The face of hate is more easy to
accept nowadays. They're not wearing
hoods, and they're not wrapping
themselves in the American flag like
they used lo," said Barney Ousler,
co-chairman of the Pittsburgh Coalition
to Counter Hate Groups.
What they_ are doing is infiltrating
schools, says a former member of the
Aryan Nation who broke ranks three
years ago. Floyd Cochran now campaigns
against hate groups a_cross the
country, carrying with him videotapes
of youth recruiting sessions and
the "White Will" comic book.
"What they do is tell these kids,
'We're family,' and, 'No one loves
you? We'll love you,' and a lot of
them come from dysfunctional fami.
lies in· the first place, with · no father
figure, so of course they're going to
join," said Cochran, himself a divorced
father of two .
The watchers of hate groups say
anecdotal reports indicate more
activity around the slate lately - a
baseball bat beating in Jeannette, a
skinheads' march in New Hope,
synagogue vandalism in York and
damage to a Pittsburgh-area car dealership
owned by a mixed-race couple.
Groups such as the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, the YWCA and
church associations across the state are
sharing information about groups and
organizing a quick-strike task force to
be sent to towns where crosses are
burned or other hate crimes are committed,
Ousler said.
The number of hate crimes in
Pennsylvania more than doubled in
the last five years, Attorney - General
Ernie Preate Jr. said recently.
Communities tainted by hate crime
- cross burnings, church vandalism,
offensive leaflets and the like -
typically react wrongly in ignoring
the incidents, he said.
"Silenc e is the welcome mat for
hate,'' said Ann Van Dyke, assistant
education director of the state Human
Relations Commission.
Priest wouldn't allow condoms at health fair
SANT A FE (AP) - A Roman Catholic
priest would not allow condoms lo be
available at a health fair May 13 at
his Santa Fe parish hall.
One of the groups sponsoring the
event, People of Color AIDS Foundation,
said earlier it would make condoms
available at the fair because of
the life-or-death issue involved with
AIDS.
However, the Rev. Albert Gallegos,
priest at Our Lady of . Guadalupe
Church, said the group would not
bring condoms.
"It's not the reason the fair was
. called," he said. "It's for information
about (medical issues) including
AIDS."
Jewel Cabeza de Vaca, executive
director of People of Color AIDS
Foundation, had said earlier it was
irresponsible to provide information
about the deadly virus without givjng
people ac cess to .condoms - an
effective way to reduce the risk of
infection.
The Associated Press attempted to
call her for comment at her Santa Fe
office, but was told that she was not
in .
The health fair targeted Spanish
speakers, including immigrants ·from
Latin America, who lack access to
medical care and information about
AIDS, Cabeza de Vaca said.
The state Department of Health has
documented 1,141 AIDS cases in New
Mexico since 1981, including 355
Hispanics. At least 673 of those with
. AIDS have died.
Housewife excommunicated
from Mormon Church
PROVO, Utah (AP) - A feminist
housewife who wrote about a
divine mother in heaven and
challenged the notion that Jesus
would not allow the Mormon
Church lo be l ed astray says
she has been excommunicated.
Janice Allred said the action
was taken May 9 after a fivehour
hearing before a disciplinary
council headed by Bishop
Robert Hammond, the lay leader
of het congregation.
Hammond declined to comment.
Spokespersons at church
headquarters in Salt Lake City
routinely refuse to comment on
such cases, saying they arc local
matters.
Including Allred, at least
eight high-profile feminists and
academics have been excommunicated
in the last two years on
grounds of apostasy or public
criticism of leaders of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints.
Mormons believe their lcadershi
p to be divinely inspired.
Supporters of the disciplinary
act ions contend that failure to
sustain and obey church leaders
is a repudiation of the church's
most basic bL•lil'fs.
A lln•d, 48 and the mother of
nim •, said slw would appL·al.
JULY/AUGUST l 9 9 5
,,
•
In Print ........................................................................
Lesbian and gay celebrations
Equal Rites
By Don Bell
Contributing Writer
Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship,
Ceremonies, and Celebrations.
Kittredge Cherry and Zalmon
Sherwood, editors. Westminster John
Knox Press
E qua! Rites is a very welcome
addition to the growing
body of worship materials
that give voice to the genuine
religious faith of many gay and
lesbian persons. Indeed, the book is
a godse.nd for those longing to
acknowledge and express their spirituality
in positive, affirming religious
celebration and worship.
One strength of this important work
is the large number of contributors
(more than 30), all with unique spiritual
experiences and ihsights. The
writings respect sexual orientation,
yet transcend it to embrace deep
' spiritual truths and convictions shared
by people everywhere, regardless of
denomination or sexual orientation.
The great variety of ritual and
ceremony detailed here sho uld enhance
the usefulness of the book for
Lesbians and gay men everywhere.
One aspect I really like is that the
authors did not forget major seasons
or holidays celebrated by persons of
faith around the world. In an effort to
be different or set themselves apart
from the traditions of others, some
gay and lesbian persons tend to
ignore or reject holy days celebrated
by organized religious groups. After
all, they reason, these are the very
religious groups that have spread
misinformation, misunderstanding
and prejudice toward gay persons for
so long. Why would a gay person
want to observe any traditions held
sacred by these hypocritical groups?
Yet Equal Rites.does lay claim to these
spiritual occasions and includes rites
that make these holidays meaningful
and relevant for the lesbian and gay
person . .
The book is designed for those
planning or participating in rites,
ceremonies, or worship services.
However, I believe the book has a
much broader use as an excellent
meditation and devotional resource,
meaningful to persons of faith everywhere,
regardless of race, denomination,
or sexual orientation. Throughout
the book, God is loved, worshipped
and honored; respect, caring
'Straight Parents/Gay Children' from former PFLAG editor ...
B ob Bernstein, creator and
former editor of the
PFLAGpole, the newsletter
of Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays, tells
his personal story and that of PFLAG
in Straight ·Parents/Gay Children:
Keeping Families Together, just published
in June: Bernstein is a newspaper
columnist and PFLAG national
vice president.
Straight Parents/Gay Children is the
story of a father's coming to terms
with a daughter's homosexuality and
discovering that his life was not
diminished but enriched through the
process, according to the publisher,
Thunder's Mouth Press of New York.
It is also a story about PFLAG, the
organization which helped him
achieve a fuller understanding and
appreciation of human and sexual
diversity.
The book recounts dramatic
episodes of PFLAG's history, and in- .
dudes accounts of numerous individual
PFLAG members who have taken
the lead in seeking · social equality
and justice for their gay loved ones.
Straight Parents/Gay Children carries
an introduction by Robert MacNeil of
the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and a
Forward by Beth Winship of the "Ask
Beth" -syndicated advice column.
MacNeil has been outspoken in support
of his gay son Ian, an awardwinning
. theater set des igner and
Winship is a PFLAG honorary director.
The book's cover includes praise
from Episcopal Bishop John S. Spong,
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Dr.
Keith Brodie, President Emeritus of
Duke University and of the American
Psychiatric Association.
"If Bob Bernstein's book were
compulsory reading in America, the
population of bigots would dwindle at
a rapid rate," Frank writes. "His
ability to make the case for fairness
and decency in our treatment of each
other is unsurpassed."
Bernstein began his career as a
journalist but was also a law professor
and government attorney before
retiring from the United States
Department of Justice in 1989. His
articles on various civil rights matters
have appeared in more than 50 major
metropolitan dailies.
... and gay parents/straight children: 'The Changing Family'
l esbian and Gay Families: Redefining
Parenting in America,
part of publisher
Franklin Watts series The
Changing Family, explores the growing
number of gay and lesbian couples
who are parenting. This book,
written by Chicagoan Jill S. Pollack,
introduces the reader to seven lesbian
and gay families who share their
stories;J·oys and challenges. Their
firsthan testimony becomes a vehicle
for exploring the many roads to
parenthood including adoption, alternative
insemination, foster parenting,
surrogacy and previou. s heterosexual
relationships. .
In America, the number of Gays
and Lesbians with children grows
dramatically each year. Nevertheless,
the rights of these individuals
and couples to adopt or retain custody
SECOND STONE
of children is in constant jeopardy,
and their families often experience
complete alienation from their
communities. The recent court battles
of Sharon Bottoms and her struggle to
_raise her son have helped bring these
issues into the national spotlight.
"I am proud to .have played a role
in seeing that this very important and
timely book reaches bookstores," says
E. Russell Primm III, Editorial
Director, Grolier Children's Publishing.
"Whether the reader is a lesbian
or gay parent, the child of a lesbian
or gay parent or someone who knows
and loves someone in a lesbian or
gay family, Jill Polack pointedly
shows us the many faces of love and
the many kinds of families."
Lesbian and Gay Families provides
the reader with insight into the facts,
theories and history surrounding the
political and social biases lesbian and
gay parents in America must overcome
. Pollack's book explores the
often difficult process of corning out,
traces the web of legal hurdles gay
and lesbian parents must face and
provides in-depth information on
local and national networks of
support. By chronicling the stories of
the gay and lesbian families that
have come forward in .her book,
Pollack establishes that love, not
sexual orientation, defines a family.
Pollack is a writer and editor
· residing in Chicago whose work has
appeared in newspapers, magazines,
trade periodicals and political
journals . She is the author of Shirley
Chisholm and is currently writing
Women on tlie Hill, a history of women
in the U.S. Congress .
and genuine love are encouraged for
all human life and for animal life and
nature itself.
The reader of Equal Rites . will
particularly notice the many, beautifully
written, meaningful prayers
included throughout. Relevant,
personal prayer is a new experience
for many lesbian and gay persons .
The written prayers in this book give
voice to the real pain, mental and
physical suffering, and heartfelt
longings, as well as joy, thanksgiving
and praise of many individuals .
In "Corning Out: Corning Home" by
Diann Neu, some readers ·may fail to
make the connection between the
blessing of the four elements - fire,
air, water, earth - and the very
personal experience of coming out.
Perhaps the theme of this beautiful
ceremony is that all of God's creation
celebrates when truth and honesty
are manifest in the life · of a gay,
lesbian, or bisexual person. I believe
such a ceremony would provide
emotional strength and make the
occasion a memorable one for the
corning out participant.
Persons who have tried gender-frer
inclusive hymnbooks arid worship
materials and found them unappealing
should genuinely appreciate the
ceremony "Rediscovering God as
Father" by Louis Kavar.
Many of the unique chants and
songs are well documented, though I
wonder what success a reader would
have in finding these resources.
Other songs and hymns are mentioned
by name only, wit ~ no
mention of where they may be f9und.
Maybe it is assumed that these songs
are widely known and availab /e in
hymnbooks of organized denominations.
Yet to the uninitiated g~y or
lesbian person who has long 0been
alienated . from these organ i zed
groups, the songs and hymns may be
unfamiliar, and the person may not
know where to locate them. ·
Equal Rites is an excellent public
and personal worship and devotional
book. The ceremonies detailed therein
are designed to strengthen f
1reiigious
faith, bring healing, and
provide the participant with a meaningful,
sensitive , caring, loving
worship experience. This choice book
would be a useful addition to <:omprehensive
religious collections in
church, public, and academic libraries.
As a devotional g uide,
individuals will want the book on
their personal bookshelf. The book
should be a real blessing for those
churches seeking to be more caring
and inclusive in worship experie I ces.
~ULY/AUGUST 19 195
W Noteworthy W ................ . • ............... ' ....................................... .
New club for kids
aTHE COLAGE KIDS CLUB is the
first and only organization for young
kids with lesbian and gay parents. It
was created by daughters and sons of
lesbian and gay parents. 'The most
pressing problem facing kids with
lesbian and gay . parents is our
isolation," says Suzanne Pullen,
COLAGE's Adminstrative Assistant
and herself the daughter of a lesbian
mother. The American Bar Association
estimates there are upwards of 8
million daughters and sons of lesbian
and gay parents in the U.S. alone,
hundreds of thousands of whom are
under 10. For information on
COLAGE write to 2300 Market St.,
#165, San Francisco, · CA 94114 or
KidsOfGays@aol.com.
Ann Arbor church closes
MFTER MORE THAN a decade of
serving the Ann Arbor, Michigan
area the Huron Valley Community
Church has ceased operation. The
Minister's hunger strike yields antidiscrimination
statement from
United Methodist bishops
AUSTIN (AP) - A Methodist minister
ended a 15-day hunger strike on May
6 after receiving a statement from
United Methodist bishops that decries
discrimination against Gays and Lesbians.
The Rev. Charles Moore, pastor of
Grace United Methodist Church, said
he received a "serious and constructive"
reply from the denomination's
bishops, who were meeting in
Austin.
He said while "it's not all we hoped
for, it's a positive statement."
Moore, 60, had wanted a public
statement from the bishops "expressing
their concern about the mistreatment
of gay people, especially in the
church."
He points to a statement adopted by
the denomination's 1972 general conference
that says, "We do not condone
the practice of homosexuality and consider
this practice incompatible with
Christian teaching."
Delegates to the last general
conference, held in 1992, voted to
retain that language, and the statement
is again expected to be an issue
at the 1996 convention in Denver.
'The issue is wracking every maj.or
denomination," Moore said. "It is not
an issue that can be ignored. The
churches are not going to be able to
hide from this."
The Austin American-Statesman
reported that the bishops responded
by drafting a resolution that:
- Acknowledges failures "if by our
inaction we have contributed to ostracism,
stigma, unnecessary suffering,
. denial of civil and human rights, torture,
persecution and pain inflicted"
on homosexuals.
- Calls upon all United Methodist
congregations to welcome all people
into "redemptive fellowship" and to
become centers of learning about the
nature of homosexuality.
- Recognizes the official United
Methodist position that calls "the
practice of homosexuality" incompatible
with Christian teaching.
Bishops don't make policy for the
Protestant denomination. That responsibility
rests with a legislative assembly
made up of lay and clergy representatives
from around the world.
The secretary of the Council of
Bishops, Melvin E. Talbert of San
Francisco, said the council has the
privilege of choosing how to handle
pastoral concerns.
"In this case, th e council felt it was
important to make a pastoral response,"
he said.
Moore, who said he is a heterosexual
who for too long ignored the .
pain of discrimination felt by Gays
and Lesbians, shed 15 . pounds from
his 5-foot-10-inch frame since beginning
the fast.
Phelps' group stages protest in Mississippi
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A group of
Kansas church members held an
hour-long anti-gay demonstration in
Jackson. The 14-member group from
Westboro Baptist Church and Library
in Topeka rallied May 30 in the
downtown area, some holding signs
that proclaimed: "God Hates Fags."
The Rev. Fred W, Phelps, the
chu!ch's pastor, said his group's ultimate
destination was Orlando because
"homosexuals are taking over
Disney World. We want good, wholesome
family entertainment, and
homosexuals are. taking it over. Walt
Disney is probably turning over in
SECOND STONE
his grave."
He referred to "Share the Vision
Weekend '95," an annual national
gay event scheduled June 2-4.
'This is a disgrace!" Jackson
residentPaula Adkins shouted as she
stopped her minivan near the protest.
"Who is your God? My God hates
no one. He created everyone equal,"
Adkins shouted at the group.
Members of the group said the
Jackson protest also was aimed at
Brenda and Wanda Henson of Ovett,
two lesbians who founded Camp
Sister Spirit, a retreat near Ovett in
rural Jones County.
action came as the result of an
informal vote of those members who
have been actively attending the
church recently.
In a formal announcement of the
closure of the church leaders stated
that "Our attendance has been lagging
and we have finally come to the
conclusion that God's direction is for
us to move elsewhere ."
While the announcement of the
closure came as a sh0ck it was not
unexpected. Over the past two years
the church has pleaded on at least
three separate occasions with people
on the mailing list to get involved in
the church's activities.
AIDS activist receives
Robert Wood Johnson award
M SOlITH CAROLINA AIDS advocate
has received a $100,000 national
health care award for his efforts to
expand community services for people
with the deadly disease.
Peter Lee of Columbia, director of
the AIDS Ministry of South Carolina
Christian Action Council, recently
received the Robert Wood Johnson
Community Health Leadership Pr_ogram
Award.
"Mr. Lee exemplifies the kind of
community health leader we aim to
honor with this award," said
Catherine M. Dunham, Community
Health Leadership Program director .
"He is tenacious, caring and creative
in finding ways to reach those not
served by the traditional health care
system."
Lee's AIDS Ministry oversees AIDS
care teams based in church congregations.
The teams, in 40 churches with
500 volunteers across nine denominations,
provide support services such
as food _shopping, transportation and
comparuonship.
"They fill needs, other than
medical, by providing someone to
listen, care and help with the business
of living," said Lee, who used to
work at the Department of Health
and Environmental Control's Center
for Health Promotion.
Lee said he would use the award
money to help expand the AIDS
Ministry, as well as creating a
"healthy communities" foundation to
encourage community leaders to
assume responsibility for improving
health care.
Integrity chapter bounces back
aTHE PITTSBURGH CHAPTER of
Integrity, Inc., the association of gay
and lesbian Episcopalians and their
friends, has been reorganized and is
meeting on a regular schedule the
second Wednesday evening of each
month. The chapter was originally
formed in 1976 and operated on a
regular basis for ten years. During
this time the chapter established St.
Aelred's House as a safe haven for
people with HIV and AIDS. Activity
has been sporadic for the past few
years, but in the fall of 1994 th e
chapter was reconstituted and is now
in the process of becoming a fully
certified chapter . To contact the
chapter, write to P.O. Box 3, Verona,
PA 15147 or phone (412)734-8409.
Pride rally features mass wedding
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - A St.
Johnsbury Unitarian minister
performed a mass wedding
ceremony at the gay pride rally
for anyone who wanted to take
part. A similar ceremony at the
1993 Gay pride march in Washington
, D.C., drew 2,600 participants.
Although the state
will not recognize the unions,
the Unitarian Universalist
Church will, as it has for 11
years.
Glover resident Brendait
Hadash, an ordained Unitarian
Universalist minister, said the
fight to get states to legally
recognize gay marriage was the
new civil rights battle for Gays.
A bill introduced in the last
legislative session would require
Vermont couples who
wanted to adopt a child to be
legally married, a r~gulation
Hadash said wo uld effectively
outlaw adoption for gay
couples . .
"It's a convenient little
statement for them to make, "
Hadash said.
He said the current system
also barred Gays from filing
joint tax returns, receiving
many spousal health insurance
benefits, obtaining citizenship
through marriage, securing
next-of-kin rights, and automatically
inheriting property .
Hadash said he had lived his
life "in the closet with the door
open. People can look in if they
want, but I don't force it."
He said in Vermont he found
"the New England attitude of
live and let live." But he said .
many Gays and Lesbians still
faced prejudice.
"For example," said Hadash,
"here in the Northeast Kingdom
there were two men who had
been together for more than 40
years, close ted. As he was
dying, one of them said to the
other, 'You can come to my
funeral, but you can't cry at it.'
Of course the man did cry, but
it' s just not fair."
JULY/AUGU~T l 9 9 5
Father Bob Arpin never lost hope for change
A t a time when it would
have been easier to keep
his secrets, the Rev. Bob
Arpin chose the path of
courage. and spoke his mind - he
thought 1t would help others.
In an institution that condemns
active homosexuality, Father Arpin
was proud to be a gay man, a gay
priest and so undaunted by personal
affliction that he took his homily to a
national level.
Father Arpin, a native of Chicopee,
Mass., was the first Roman Catholic
Gay couples unite in
prayer during international
conference
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -
Fourteen homosexual couples
were united in prayer at the
17th Annual World Conference
of Gays and Lesbians.
Reverend RobertoGonzalez,
an Argentine protestant, conducted
the June 23 ceremony,
which was called a "prayer service"
because Brazil prohibits
homosexual marriages.
The ceremony followed a
briefing by Brazilian congresswoman
Marta Suplicy, who is
leading a movement to legalize
homosexual marriages in South
America's largest country.
The conference ended June 25
with a "March for Full Citizenship"
down Rio's showcase
Copacabana Beach.
CALEN1DAR,
r_rom Page 2
priest in the country to openly discuss
his sexual orientation and his illne~s
with AIDS.
Eight years after being diagnosed
with HIV, eight years after confounding
doctors who had given him scant
few months to live, Father Arpin died
May 23 in San Francisco, his home for
20 years . He was 48.
''Bob was a man with a mission,"
said Bill Thorne, a friend of Father
Arpin for more than two decades. "He
wanted to stay within the Catholic
Church, to try to cause change from
within ."
It was becau s e of Father Arpin,
Thorne said, that church leaders
started a national support group for ·
priests. And from the priest's candor,
others said, countless other clerics
drew inspiration.
Father Arpin was ordained in his
hometown of Chicopee when he was
25.
He worked as a chaplain, a parish
priest and a counselor, then was
assigned 'io the San Francisco Bay
area on a long-term loan from his
Massachusetts diocese.
He became an assistant pastor at
Queen of AH Saints Church in Concord
and as chaplain at Mount Diablo
Hospital, where he launched an interfaith
ministry program.
. He then began working with the
San Francisco Archdiocese, providing
grief counseling and housing assistance
through Catholic Charities.
Father Arpin lived in a San Francisco
apartment with a tidy mix of crucifixes
and papal blessings, Gay Freedom
Day Parade souvenirs and his
beloved stuffed teddy bears.
Hope and Healing Conference
SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 1, More than 500 people are expected to
attend this AIDS conference which is jointly planned by the Lutheran, Ep1s~opal
and United Methodist .AIDS networks. Three tracks of workshops_ will be
offered: Care and Compassion, Prevention and Education, and Calhnf! and
Service. - The program is expected to include theolog1~ns such as W1ll1am
Countryman and several experts from the Centers for Disease Control. For
information call (202)628-6628.
~Unity Fellowship Second Annual Convocation
OCTOBER 2-8 The Unity Fellowship Church Movement sponsors "From Fear
to Faith," at th~ Ramada Inn in Culver City, Calif. Nightly worship, ~orni _ng
praise and prayer service, workshops on self empowerment, music, sp1ntuahty,
human rights, family, health, cultural arts, youth, economic empowerment. For
information contact Deacon Alfreda Lano1x-Owens, 5149 W. Jellerson Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90016, (213)936-4949.
National Day of Prayer, Fasting and Spritual Renewal
·ocTOBER 11 Rediscover the power of effective intercessory prayer for the
gay and lesbia~ community on this day of prayer held every year on the day
before National Coming Out Day. Support materials available from River of
Life Healing Ministries, 134 Quincy, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108,
rolhm@aol.com. ·
·christian Responses to Homosexuality .
NOVEMBER 10-12, Three days of dialogue with people from across th_e
philosophical and theological spectrum, sponsored by t~e Rocky Mount~in
Conference of the United Methodist Church. The cost of this conference, which
will be held in Denver, is $125. For information contact Elizabeth Pruett, Box
2922, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602-0292, (970)945-7293
SECOND STONE
When he was diagnosed as infected
with the human immunodeficiency
virus, Father Arpin found his greatest
ministry - AIDS counseling. He
wanted to educate the general public
aboμt the disease by showing that
even priests can be stricken with it.
Father Arpin went public. He
talked to reporters, he went on Phil
Donahue's talk show. And he wrote
his own book, Wonderfully, Fearfully
Made, a lesson in hope to those with
AIDS.
"It was thought that only unsavory
people in back alleys got AIDS," he
told The Examiner in 1989. "I thought,
how more respectable can you get
than a Catholic priest? I decided to
come out of the closet because AIDS is
not a punishment from God."
Tirelessly, Father Arpin preached
about the fallibility of priests and the
Roman Catholic Church's forgiveness.
The church 's uncompromising position
against homosexuality angered
Father Arpin to his final days, but he
said the institution was not perfect,
and he never wanted to embarrass it.
'The fact that I am able to say
things that the church doesn't like
and still be a priest in good standing
is an incredible sign of hope for me,"
he said in the 1989 interview .
"Father Bob Arpin always lived his
life, his priesthood, and faced the
challenge of AIDS with optimism and
joy," said Deacon Bill · Mitchell,
, spokesman for the San Francisco
Archdiocese . "He is now at rest and
has gone to meet compassionate
God ."
Father Arpin is surviv ed by his
mother, Jeannette Arpin, a resident of
Chicopee, Mass., who kept a bedside
vigil by her son; and a large group of
friends.
Characteristically leaving nothing
undone, Father Arpin made all the
arrangements for his memorial
service and burial. He chose a simple
inscription for his gravestone .
It reads, 'Thank you Jesus."
Parent group: Play is 'smut'
KINGWOOD, W.Va. (AP) - A high
school drama class play involving
themes of homosexuality, AIDS and
guns has come under fire from a
group of parents who called the production
"smut."
But Preston High School drama
teacher Fran Kirk said the production
dealt honestly with issues facing teenagers
today.
"In addition to teaching theater, I
hope I am giving them a forum for
discussion," Mrs. Kirk said.
A group of parents on May 23
asked the Preston County Board of
Education to begin reviewing materials
presented in the schools. The
board did not immediately act on the
suggestion.
Kirk said the "Vision 2000" play
performed May 6 was_ a series of
monologues that focused on teen
issues.
During six weeks of rehearsal,
material was changed for any cast
member who had a problem with it,
Mrs. Kirk said.
Poll: Rome's Catholics stray far
from Vatican doctrine
ROME (AP) - In the shadow of
the Vatican, many Romans are
true believers - in premarital
sex, contraception and other acts
at odds with Church doctrine.
But they don't call themselves
rebels. They say they're Catholics,
according to a poll published
May 9.
The survey, presented to
clergymen in the Rome .diocese
May 8, found 78 percent of
Romans questioned defined
themselves as Catholics.
They also portrayed themselves
as supporters of few restrictions
on sex, divorce and
opening the priesthood to women.
The poll by Franco Garelli, a
sociologist at Rome's Catholic
University, did not give the
number of people queried or
the margin of error. But it reflects
the sometimes cool rapport
between the Vatican and
Italians, who identify with
Catholicism but often snub its
teachings.
In 1981, Italians voters upheld
the nation's liberal abortion
laws despite heavy lobbying
by the Vatican.
The survey found just 14 percent
of the respondents said
abortion should be completely
outlawed.
The study also found only 23
percent of those questioned go
to Mass regularly and 42 percent
rarely or never attend .
About half of the respondents
opposed the celibacy rule for
priests and 40 percent said
women should be allowed into
the priesthood, the poll said .
On sex, the scales tipped
. strongly away from Church
doctrine: Nearly 80 percent
supported premarital sex, birth
control methods and cohabita'
lion between unmarried lovers.
About the same number saw no
moral objections to divorce.
JULY/AUGUST . l 9 9 5
Death of professor's son sparked awareness among Mormons
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Brad Schow
felt trapped . And he was exhausted .
'1 feel so weary. I'm tired of always
worrying about morals, God, salvation,
myself, girls, guys, Gays, family,
school, etc .....
"I need a vacation from myself."
Schow wrote those words in 1978 at
age 20, some months before telling
his parents that no matter how hard
he had hoped and prayed to be
otherwise, he was gay.
Eight turbulent y~ars later, he died
of AIDS complications in his hometown
of Pocatello, Idaho, his parents
at his side in an agony of regret. That
was in 1986, and Brad was the
contagion 's first reported casualty in
the Gem State.
T oday, there are many similar
stories in the bedrock Mormon culture
of Utah and southern Idaho that produced
Wayne and Sandra Schow,
Brad 's parents. But they remain
whispered stories within a patriarchal
faith that condemns homosexuality
and preaches that "families are forever."
Using their son's and their own
experience as a guide, Brad's parents
have tried to change that.
At Sandra's urging, Wayne Schow
and his brother, Ron Schow, both
professors at Idaho State University,
joined co-editor Marybeth Raynes in
producing the 1991 book, Peculiar
People: Mormons in Same-Sex Orientation.
The volume gained a wide audience,
especially among hundreds of
deeply conflicted Mormon Gays and
the parents who had raised them to
serve missions and marry in the
faith's temples "for time and eternity."
Ron Schow was instrumental in
forming Family Fellowship, a service
organization with several chapters in
. Utah and Idaho that seeks to strengthen
Mormon families with homosexual
members .
"It was just a matter of someone
daring to say, 'Hey, why don't we do
something about this?"' said Mildred
Watts, who co-chairs the group with
her husband, Gary, a Provo radiologist.
"I think we are viewed with some
suspicion by some church authorities,"
Gary Watts said, but the
organization's sole aim is to promote
love and understanding . "Really,
Brad is the genesis of the whole
thing."
In 1993, Wayne and Sandra Schow
were interviewed for "Straight from
the Heart, " a short documentary
about Gays and Lesbians and their
families that was nominated for an
Academy Award.
"I wish I had had the past 12 years
to live over," Wayne Schow told the
filmmaker. "If (Brad) were still with
us I would be doing what I could to
make his way smoother."
But as it happened, Brad's coming
out declaration to his parents was the
biggest shock of his father's life,
triggering years of public denial and
inner turmoil.
The separate struggles of father and
son are detailed in a new book by
Wayne Schow, Remembering Brad: On
the Loss of a Son to AIDS, a deeply
personal account that draws on Brad's
voluminous journals and the father's
letters to his son.
"Brad's journals are prett y
compelling," Schow said. 'Tm happy
to say that in some sense they are the
heart of . the book and my writing is
something of a gloss on his directly
repre senting his dilemma ."
Also satisfying to the author is the
sense that the two have collaborated
on the work, published by Signature
Books.
The journals Brad began at 15 and
added to until his death at times
depict a soul impaled on the irreconcilable
forces that shaped his life:
religion and sexuality.
'1 don't want homosexuality to be a
part of my life," he wrote in 1977. "I
have had urges of that kind for as
long as I can remember , but it's
something I'm dealing with as well as
I can .
'1 don't understand where, at which
point, it becomes evil, and how and
where homosexual drives come into
· the plan, but still I don't want it. It's a
sterile kind of relationship. One can't
have offspring."
And yet, after two years of college,
he dropped out and embarked on a
hedonistic sojourn in the gay cultu r e
of West Hollywood. Four / e ars
passed before Brad, disillusione with
the self-destructive nihilism of his life,
broke away to resume work on a
degree at Utah State University .
Two years after that and starting to
suffer, he went home to Pocatello.
Eighteen months later he was gone.
'1 hav e wondered more than a few
times since his death whether the
religious upbringing we gave him
was, on balance, more help or
hindrance to him in his life," Schow
writes . "Whatever the answer to this
question, that upbringing was a large
part of the cross he bore."
So, too, for his mother .
"When Brad came out to us, the
church and much of what I read said
it was all our fault," she said. "Parents
are so afraid, especially those who are
members of the church. They're all in
the closet."
As Wayne relates in Remembering
Brad, the Schows were there too
before their eldest son dragged them
out.
UM plan targets hate crime offenders
Pope urges movie-makers to
show more responsibility
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - People who
commit hate crimes at the Univ~rsity
of New Mexico will receive stiffer
penalties under a new policy that was
prompted by a series of hate-motivated
incidents on campus.
The UNM regents approved a plan
May 12 that will more harshly penalize
students or visitors who commit
such crimes. -
Board president Art Melendres said
the sanction policy gives UNM a
"hate crimes bill." Gov. Gary Johnson
vetoed such a bill in March, making
New Mexico one of 11 states without a
hate crimes law .
UNM's policy was spurred by a
series of incidents over the past few
years, including racist graffiti and the
removal of lesbian material from
library shelves.
The new policy allows officials to
determine whether a crime was moti•
vated by factors such as sexism, racism
or homophobia and states that
I harsher penalties can be imposed under
those circumstances. Those penalties
could include being expelled
from school.
The plan passed 6-1, but there was
some discussion about whether it is
too vague . The policy carries the
understanding that guidelines on
offenses and their possible penalties
be brought back to the board for
approval.
SECOND STONE
"I think there are some constitutional
rights concerning what crimes
carry what puni shment," said regent
Gene Gallegos.
'There's nothing in the code that
would put someone on notice as to
, what penalties can be expected."
. The policy says that in determining
puri.ishinent for rule infractions, officials
will take into account "whether
any harm or injury was targeted
against a person or group because of
that person or group's race, color,
religion, national origin, physical or
mental · handicap, age, sex, sexual
orientation, ancestry, or medical
condition."
c...$... Pontius' Puddle
VATICAN CITY (AP) - As the
Cannes film festival prepared to
grant its awards, Pope John
Paul II urged movie makers to
show a greater sense of "authentic
values."
The pope's comments w ere
made May 28 during his regular
Sunday address from his
window overlooking St. Peter's
Square . He said he wanted to
mark the Church's International
Day for Social Communications.
The mass media can be vehicles
for "truth, solidarity, authentic
love, or the means of
manipulation, even violence or
the vulgar exploitation of man's
basest instincts," John Paul said.
Thus, the sense of responsibilty
of the "promoters of social
communications" should grow,
he said, particularly with
regard to the cinema on its
100th anniversary.
"I hope that it, honoring its
best traditions, will become
ever more a vehicle of culture
and a proposal of authentic
values."
Awards were presented at
the Cannes festival May 28.
r RE..AU'Z.E. THIS IS 1HE- a.e's,
8Ui I. STILL THINK CHAN~INCr
'/OUR M.A.RRIA&E. VO'v-1S 1'0 RE.AO··
•~ 'TU .. t>AWN 00 OS ~~T, "
ISN'T M~KING-~NOl..)6-μ
OF A CCMM\iME.ITT.
JULY I.AUGUST 1 9 9 5
W FrotmhEe ditWor •••••••••••••••••••••••••• C: - ••• .
"Thunder-lizard" computer a good connection
By Jim Bailey
WHEN I FIRST started publishing Second Stone in 1988 I could tell from the
needs expressed in the letters I started receiving that many of our new readers
were dealing with isolation and lack of resources more than any conflict
between their spirituality and their sexuality. I still get letters from folks who
feel like they don't quite fHinto the gay and lesbian community in their area -
and they don't quite fit into the church community either. So isolation continues ·
to be a part of life for many of us.
The very best resource that anyone could have imagined for gay and lesbian
Christians has come into being over the past few years and continues to
develop. (And it is big time competition for Second Stone.) Self described by
America Online, it's "one big thunder-lizard computer." Many Seco.nd Stone
readers have already signed onto America Online and I recommend it for
everyone. All it takes is a Mac or a PC, a modem, which if not built in may be
purchased for about $150, a telephone line, and free software which America
Online will provide along with 10 hours of free sample time.
After you get online, you'll be interested in areas in the "Lifestyles and
Interests" department. Go into the "Religion and Ethics Forum" and you'll find a
Christian .message board which includes lively debate under the "Religion and
Politics" topic. Another area of interest is "Christianity Online" which offers a
"Discuss Current Topic" area that included 26,519 messages last time I checked.
Under "Christians and Sexuality" there are 26 topics with 1639 postings. There
is much discussion in this category concerning gay and lesbian issues. Also in
the "Lifestyles and Interests" department: the "Gay and Lesbian Community
Forum" which now includes the Lambda Rising Bookstore online. Message
boards include very helpful areas like "Support and Recovery" for 12-steppers
and others, and a board of major interest to gay and lesbian Christians:
"Spirituality" with 50 topics and 4355 postings. Most gay and lesbian Christian
organizations provide news about their groups in folders that can be found here.
The "Gay and Lesbian Community Forum" also features a "Heart to Heart"
personals board, where a message can be posted or answered, and the "Lambda·
Lounge" where people are online and waiting for someone to connect with.
:;Although this is a great service for everyone; •ir-is especially-valuable foflhose
who do not-have good resources in their community or for those who are still in
the closet: online communicating is _done under your screen name. America
Online provides a generous amount of time each month for $9.95.
FOR READERS WHO HA VE been clamoring for hard news, this issue is for
you. It's stuff you couldn't find on America Online. So keep those subscriptions
coming.
SECOND STONE Newsjoumal, ISSN No. 1047-3971, is published every other
month by Bailey Communications, P. 0. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
Copyright 1995 by Second Stone, a registered trademark.
SUBSCRIPTIONS, U.S.A. $17.00 per year, six issues. Foreign subscribers add
$10.00 for postage. All payments U.S. currency only.
ADVERTISING, For display advertising information call (504)891-7555 or write
to P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
EDITORIAL, send letters, calendar announcements, noteworthy items to
(Department title) Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182.
Manuscripts to be returned should be accompanied by a stamped, self addressed
envelope. Second Stone is otherwise not responsible for the return of any material.
SECOND STONE, a national ecumenical Christian social justice newsjoumal
with a specific outreach to sexual orientation minorities.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Jim Bailey . .
CONTRIBUTORS FOR THIS ISSUE: Emily Edwards, Don Bell, Gtp Plaster
SECOND STONE
CANDIDATE,
From Page 8
gre~sional nomination in 1984 and
lost badly.
"I do believe it is being used as an
organizing tool by the radical right to
organize for a variety of purposes,''
Eychaner said. 'They need continued
anger and antagonism to raise
money."
Wilson says religious conservatives
are playing on public fears over
homosexuality to build their ranks
and play a bigger role in the presidential
campaign.
Horn pointed to a failed effort last
year to include in the Des Moines
curriculum teaching youngsters about
homosexuality as evidence of a
broader "gay agenda."
"When you start looking back, the
evidence is there," Horn said.
Erickson dismissed the notion that
religious conservatives are looking for
a way to energize their forces.
'They are already involved. They
don't need any issues to get their
people out," he said.
Eychaner said ,the fight is too
familiar.
"It's not hard to incite and inflame
people," Eychaner said, "We will:
always be here unless they extermi-:
nate us. Hopefully, that's not the
agenda."
Others worry about the city's
schools being caught in a larger
political debate and polarized for
years to come.
"In my opinion, no matter who
wins, there's the strong potential that
it is the children and the youth of the
Des Moines public school system who
are caught in the crossfire who will
lose," said Tony Vis, minister at
Meredith Drive Reformed Church.
Few doubt the outcome. Ruhe
tipped his hat to the organizing skills
of conservative Christians.
"In liberal churches like ours we
have preached about political
involvement for a long time," he said.
"Much to our chagrin we wake up
and see some conservative folks -are
better at it than we are. I'm fearful
that the liberals in general will be
getting a wake-up call."
.............Y....o.u..r..T...u. rn
Safe sex more
reliable than one's
health claims
Dear Second Stone,
The commentary a few issues back on
men who had been duped into unsafe
sex by their own lovers who lied
about their HIV status caught my
attention.
This happened to a friend of mine.
He had the "satisfaction" of being
invited to testify at his lover's courtmartial.
My friend had assumed his lover's
employment in the military confirmed
his claim to be HIV-_negative.
Not so! The serviceman knew he was
HIV-positive and was under orders to
tell any prospective sexual partner
that he was HIV-positive and also
under orders to use a condom. He
did not tell his lover he was HIVpositive,
nor did he practice safe sex.
My friend had survived a decade of
the AIDS crisis without becoming
infected until his new lover seduced
him into unsafe sex. When he discovered
he was HIV-positive, he
demanded an explanation. Thus, the
courtmartial.
An MCC student clergy, who was
worki.ng on a nursing license, took
my lover and me aside one Sunday
and said, "If you have sex with
someone else, make sure it's safe sex."
My first reaction was irritation that he
would assume we were not monogamous,
but as I thought about it, I
realized he really cared about us.
Undoubtedly he had seen or counseled
friends who had become infected
outside their primary relationship.
As a gay man in my 40's, I'd like to
see during my lifetime a generation
of gay men free of AIDS. Relying on
other people's health claims is not
going to be sufficient to reach that
goal.
Name withheld
Richmond, Virginia
Still innocent
until proven
guilty
Dear Second Stone,
Second Stone was a gift to my spouse
and me on the occasion of our commitment.
I relish it's arrival and
applaud your efforts.
In your recent editorial "We'U pay
more attention to hate now,''
(May /June '95) I was troubled by
your having tried and pronounced
guilty Mr. McVeigh when you wrote:
" ... the many who perished at the
hands of McVeigh ... "
As flawed as it may be we must
allow him the priviledge of a fair
trial.
Sincerely,
Bryon H. Knight
We welcome
your letters
and opinons
Write to Second Stone. All letters must
be original and signed by the writer.
Clearly indicate if your name is to be
witlilield. We reserve the right to edit.
Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182 or
FAX to (504)891-7555.
J U,L V / A U G UST l 9 9 5
. . . Classifieds ~ . . . . " . . . . ... , .. ~ . . . . . . . . . . . ...• . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . . ..................
l~tr.i,~~~~ : .~
"WONDERFUL DIVERSITY," "Heartily
recommended," "Philosophically intriguing,
11 11Excellent." Why do reviewers
highly esteem CHRISTIAN*NEW AGE
QUARTERLY? Great articles and lively
columns make this bridge of dialogue
between Christians and New Agers as
entertaining as it is substantive. Subscribe
for only $12.50/yr. Or sample us for $3.50.
CHRISTIAN*NEW AGE QUARTERLY, P.O.
Box 276, Clifton, NJ 07011-0276. TF
OPEN HANDS, an ecumenical quarterly
magazine on ministries with gays, lesbians
and bisexuals. $16/year. Free sample. 3801
N. Keeler Avenue, Chicago, IL 60641.
312/736-5526. FAX-312/736-5475. 10/95
HOMOSEXUAL? The Lambda o'irectory of
Religion and Spirituality with over 400
sources of spiritual support for Gays,
Lesbians and their advocates - 1:>ooksg, roups,
periodicals, etc. Send $7 plus $2 S&H to:
Pyramid Press, 13237 Montfort, Ste. 810J,
Dallas TX 75240. 10/95 .
NOVELS FOR RELIGIOUS people! The
novels of Lammy-winning author Toby
Johnson deal positively . with the spiritual
significance of gay experience. GETTING
LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE is a heart-warming,
soul stirring tale of love and religious
meaning. Available at gay bookstores
nationwide. Or for $11.50 from Peregrine
Ventures, P.O. Box 684704, Austin, TX
78768. 12/95
"A POSITIVE LOOK a~ the Bible and
Homosexuality 11 tracts, fas ·t reading,
excellent for pride events, bar ministry,
personal sharing. Economical. $1 and SASE
will return sample and order form from:
River of Life, 134 Quincy NE, Albuquerque,
NM 87108 10195
TIRED OF B.IBLICAL "condemnation" of
·gays? Read 11From Darkness into Light:
What the Bible Really Says About
Homosexuality" by David Cooper. Do gays
have any basis for Holy Unions? Read "Sex,
Marriage, and Divorce 11 by Cornerstone
Fellowship. Both pamphlets available for
$2.00 each from Cornerstone Fellowship,
(2902 N. G~eronimo, Tucso-n. AZ 85-705. TWO CHRISTIAN WOMEN seeking investors
for development of private RV resort in
central Arizona : For details call 520-
797-1626, fax 520-544-9649, or write 7920
N. Patrick Henry Place, Tucson, AZ 85741.
HAS GOD CALLED you to the ministry? A
growing~ interdenominational congregation
seeks pastoral leadership in East Texas.
Please send your inquiry to: Pastoral Search
Committee C/O R Reno, 5621 Old Bullard
Rd. #205 Tyler TX 75703. 10/95
GAY EPISCOPAL PRIEST seeks church
position with loving, inclusive community
that respects the dignity of all: Write to 431
Gravier St. #300, New Orleans, LA 70130
GAY TEACHER desires a caring, sharing
male friend-first. At 50 I enjoy home, travel,
restaurants( movies, music, church, and
diversity. Your heart's desire? Write tonight!
Dave, Box 18122, Rochester, NY 14618.
12195
MEET NEW PEOPLE the fun way today!
1-900-884-7800, Ext. 1890 $2.99 min 18+
Procall Co. (602)954-7420 8/95
GWF, 44, professional, feminine, well
educated, kindly humorous, talkative,
financially stable, no drugs/smoking, little
drinking, faithful Presbyterian, liberal in
SECOND STONE
--- --- ------------7
Classified Order Form
FOR ONLY
35¢ per word,
your classified ad will
reach readers from
Sitka, Alaska to
Amherst, Maine and
everywhere iri between.
Business or personal. ..
try a classified ad in
our next edition!
MailTo:
Second Stone
Box 8340
New Orleans, LA 70182
Name ___ _
Address __________ _
Ci ty /St./Zip _______ _
AD COPY _______ _
---------------
-----------------
__ words X .35= $ ____ _
20 word minimum. All classifieds
must be pre-paid. Deadline one month
prior to cover date. We will mail you a
copy of the edition(s) in which your ad
appears
Please place my ad in these
issues: [) Jan/Feb [ ]Mar/Apr
. [) May/Jun [) jul/Aug
[ ] Sept/Oct [ J Nov/Dec
CLASSIFICATIONS
[ l Books & Publications
[ l Business Opportunities
[ l Employment
[ l Friends/Relationships
[ l General Interest
[ l Mail Order
[ l Merchandise
[ l Organizations
[ J Professional Services
[ l Real Estate
[ l Retreats
[ l Roommates
[ )Travel
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1
I
I
I
I -------------------------------------------------------------'
outlook, conservative in lifestyle. ISO truly
similar lady living within 2-3 hours: GWF,
good listener, feminine, 39-49, interested in
commitment vs. casual relationships. Write:
Sarah, P.O. Box 14163, Augusta, GA 30919.
l~~oo~@~'ltmt' 'M ~--~..
PRIVATE RV RESORT park for women
being developed in central Arizona. For
details, call 520-797-1626, fax 520-
544-9649, or write The Point, 7920 N.
Patrick Henry Pl=,_I~Z 85741.
WANTED: PATRON(S) Young gay Christian
HIV+ writer. Former Fundementalist. Intense.
Passionate. Deeply spiritual. Compelling
desire to communicate the transforming
power of God's universal love. Distracted by
tight finances, seeks financial supporters!
More details - write JRL, P.O. Box 4914,
Irvine, CA 92716-491'!,_Thanks!
I
CREMATION URNS: Introducing the
Lambda Pride Um. Celebrate Life with an
urn that reflects personality and style. Call
for . free brochure. LifeStyle Urns
1-800-685-URNS. 8/95.
GAY PRIDE FLAGS, Banners, Lapel Pins,
Wall Clocks, Tote Bags, Bumper Stickers,
Wind Socks & More. Free Catalog.
1-800-854-1438. (24 hrs. - 7 days.) Retail &
Wholesale. B.
LIVE OPERA performances on audio/video
casette. Incredible selection since. 1930's,
world-wide . Over 7400 items. Magnificent
free computerized catalogue. Live Opera,
P.O. Box 3141, Steinway Station, Long
Island City, NY 11103. 12195
PIANO FOR SALE. Wanted: a responsible
person to take on a low monthly payment on
a beautiful console piano, no money down.
Call toll fr"!'_;J-800-533-7953. 10195
BECOME A PRIEST - Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual persons, serve God and Comr:nunity
as a Priest. External program leads to valid
ordination. An incardination process is
available for those already i:n Orders. Those
interested in this program for personal
fulfillment without interest in ordination
may also reply. EACA Vocations, 2301
Artesia Blvd., #12-213, Redondo Beach, CA
90278 8195
CONFERENCE FOR CATHOLIC LESbians
(CCL) is a national organization for
lesbians of Catholic heritage. Quarterly
newsletter. Supportive network. Advocates
for lesbian issues in political · and Church
forums. For rriembership information please
contact CCL-SS, P.O. Box 436, Planetarium
Station, New York, NY 10024, (212)
663-2963 FAX (212)268-7032. 12/95
INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC religious order.
Men/women, lay/clerical, gaylnon-g'l)'.
Optional celibacy, non-residential, ecumeiiical.
Ordination possible. Father Abbot,
Order of St. John the Divine, 166 Jay St.,
Albany, NY 122!0. 10/95
GAY PRINCIPIANS GROUP - Qay, Bi, Lesbian
and Straight/Supportive Alumni of
Principia College (Elsah, IL) and Upper
Schools (St. Louis) Contact: David White
#124, 2900 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington,
DC 20008-1404, 202-387-7250,
E-mail Mrblanc@aol.com. 12/95
CHRISTIANS IN COMMUNION with Creation.
An Organization for "Green Christians."
Membership with monthly mailings,
$35. Roger Wharton, 1404 Arnold Ave., San
Jose. CA 95110. 408-451-9310. 12/95
RETREATS FOR GAY monks focusing on
coping techniques in repressive communities
at Saint Be·nedict Monastery. Information
write: Dan, 1012 Monastery Rd., Snowmass,
CO8I654.
GAY EROTIC Spiritualities. Mystics, Ministers,
Masseurs, Theologians, Teachers, Artists
speak in 25 videos wisdom that only comes
from the heart. EroSpirit Newsletter. Free.
800-432-3767 12195
THE EROTIC CONTEMPLATIVE. Re0ections
on the Spiritual Journey of the Gay/
Lesbian Christian. $199. For contents, call
EroSpirit. 800-432-3767 12/95
HOW CAN WE activate our individual and
communal visions if nonstop grief has shut
us down? An hour video talk by Pastor Jim
Mitulski, MCC minister. $24.94. EroSpirit.
800-432-3767. 12195
BOTH LOVER AND PRIEST. In this hour
video Ro.bert Goss, author of Jesus Acted Up,
discusses liberation theology and how he
came to write his bestseller. $24.95.
EroSpirit 800-432-3767. 12/95
SecondS tonec lassifiedbsr ingr esults!
ARE YOU
MOVING?
The Post Office will not
forward The Second Stone.
You must notify us for
uninterrupted service if you move.
Please notify us four weeks in advance for
uninterrupted delivery . Send both old and new
addre$ses . If possible attach mailing la.bel in
space provided .
PRINT
NEW ADORESS
w E I i, '"
Send completed form to :
THES ECOND$ .TONE
Box8340
NewO rleansL, A 70182
JULY/AUGUST 1 9 9 5