Second Stone #54 - Sept/Oct 1997

Second Stone #54 - Sept/Oct 1997

54

1997

Sept/Oct 1997

SECOND STONE
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Issue#54 UVING INTHEEMBRACE Q, ALoVINGANDJUSTGOD September/October !'.J'n
Boys, burning and bridges
Generation X . .,,.. ...... ~ . ,...-•-- .,.-<-"'"--'-_,...,._ in . search of
spirituality
BY REV . DONNA SCHAPER
AT BREAKFAST AND LUNCH,
church and hall, tongues are clicking.
The first week in August three · boys
burnt down the oldest covered bridge in
Massachusetts. We are left with what to
do when our tongues stop clicking.
What meaning do we make of those
who were meant for good? Whose
names were meant to be etched into old
bridges and to remain there for centuries
more, expanding with the aging wood
and becoming more of themselves rather ·
than less?
. These boys saw little shelter in history.
Like many generations before
them in this century, they saw little u~e
for what people · had thought or done
before. They felt "new."
In my sixties, we burnt down other
kinds of bridges. "Nothing like us ever
was," we announced . We .seemed to
believe it ourselves and some of the
statement was true . No other generation
had as much birth control available to it
or as much money. The fact that the
money faucet stopped midstream threw
us for a pretty good loop. We had only
been formed by money; then the money
disappeared. Or, rather, instead of
schools being built for us and highways
being built for us and Sunday school
wings being added for us, we had to tax
ourselves to do these sorts of things.
Even some of the real bridges collapsed,
so little were the taxes we were willing
to pay.
The seventies generation made a fairly
clean break with the old sexual morality.
The eighties generation made a
fairly clean break with the traditional
work ethic . . In the ninc;ties Generation
X widely describes itself as despairing.
Whether they actually are as despairing ,
one' by one, as their press, surefy they
are being raised to hope in less future
than I was·, Or my parents were. Even
though one of my parents only completed
eighth grade, still he thought the
world was his oyster . He would and .
could make good. It is. the rare adolescent
today' who leaves adolescence with
that confidence. Instead they wonder
which of their parents' sins will kill
them. Ozone or chemical pollution,
, vanished topsoil or populati _on explosion,
urban violence or lead paint: take
your pick of enemy. They prey on both
SEE GENERATIONX, Page 6
Parents urged to accept gay children
Catholic-bishops: Sexual
orientation not a choice
BY DAVID BRIGGS Charles Curran's license to teach moral
theology at Catholic Univ~ r~i~y in
NEW YORK- U.S. Catholic bishops ·wa sh in gl'Qf!'; ,~ .Gu!'ran had sa id • ·~- _
are advising parents of gay children to homose xual a~ts if:, so~~,m ora!iy,. ~
put love and support for . their sons and acceptable. · . ' • }t ·•~ 'o/ ,., -! . ':' ·
daughters before church doctrine that . But the mounting uirm<:>il and pain• · .'
condemns homosexual activity . felt by Catholics tom between church
In a groundbreaking pastoral letter, teaching and love for their gay children
the bishops say homosexual orientation prompted several bishqps to request
is not freely chosen and parents muSt guidance from the bishops' Committee
not reject their gay children in a society • .. on Marriage and Family. The committee
full of rejection and discrimination. began studying the conflict in 1992.
"All in all, it is essential to recall one Five years later, the bishops in their
basic truth. God loves every person as a l.etter describe parents who suffer guilt,
unique individual. Sexual identity helps shame and loneliness . because their .
to define the unique person we are," the children are gay and report that "a sliockbishops
say. "Go!! does not _ love ing number" of gay and lesbian youth
someone any less simply because he or are rejected by their families and ·end up
she is homosexual ." on the streets.
The document, titled "Always Our
. The parental rejection, along with the
Children," was approved by the Admin- other pressures faced by young gays and
istrative Board of the National Confer- lesbians, place them at greater risk of
enc .e of Catholic Bishops early in Sep- drug abuse ~d suicide ; the bishops said.
tember and released Sept. 30. Why the form .of a pastoral letter from
In the last two decades, with almost the churt:h's spiritual leaders?
every other cllurch struggling over gay "Primarily to get them to accepi the
ordination or efforts to ease condemna- fact. that their son or daughter is gay or
tory church doctrine, the Roman lesbian, and that their child was not
Catholic Church has siood firm, teach- damned forever," Bishop Joseph Imesch
ing that homosexual activity is morally of Joliet, ill., chairma,n of the Commitwrong.
tee on Pastorii!, Practices, said in an
In two high profile cases in the interview.
1980s, the Vatican disciplined Seattle · The Vatican, in the new Glltholic CatArchbishop
Raymond Hlinthausen for echism and in the pronouncements of
allowing a group of gay Catholics to
meet at St. James Calhe~ and revoked SEE BISHOPS, Page 8
Subscribe today! See page 26 for information .
•Prayer •The Bible •Words & Deeds
UFMCC offers
'Disney SupJX)rtKit'
BY THE URvtCC
COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTMENT
SOME WEEKS AGO, the Southern
Baptist Convention, the largest Protes- ·
tant denomination in the United States
(mote than 15 million members),
announced a boycott of the Disney Corporation
- primarily because · it extended
p;utner benefits to its gay and lesbian
employees. ·
Now, the well-financed, anti-gay
Focus On The Family organization has
thrown its support behind the Disney
boycplt.
David Smith, senior strategist for the
Hum.an .~ _gq!s' ,t;:\1!¼1paign°~ ot~d ,' "We
mu~t ljlke this [boycott] very seriously
because its underlying intent is to punish
. a company fo( treating its
employees fairly :" ·
The following media kit can help your
church counter the rhetoric of.intolerance
. in your cmnmnnity .and to help
make your voice bean\.
Action you can take
to support Disney
Step one: -Adopt
a resolution in
support of Disney
Have your church. or 'Board of Directors
adopt a Resolution of Support for
Disney . Send a copy to Disney .· ·and
mail copies of the resolution along with
a news-release to the gay press, mainline
press; and religion editors in your ·
area. (Sample resolution_ follows.) . ·
Step two: Adopt
a visible activity
A visible .activity can (.1) generate
media · cove~age for your. ·church, .-(2)
·give yqur members a tangible way_ to
express their support for Disney and (3)
provide 11· u .ni .fying ev .e_nt for your .
church's members and friends. For .
example, ro~e . churches have set aside
2 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
one Sunday as Disney Recognition Sun:
day . Some congregations have invited
their members to wear clothing with the
Disney logo or Disney characters to a
certain service, take a group photo and
mailed the photo to Disney. Others have
announced a community-wide collection
of Disney toys for distribution at a local
children's hospital or for a Christmas
children's project.
Step three: Announce
your activity to the media
Send a news release prior _ to your
event or activity. Invite reporters to
cover the "other side" .of this issue .
(Sample news release follows.)
Step four: Call your
local talk radio shows
Tell them about your planned event.
Invite yourself to be a guest. Have two
or three articulate members prepared to
tell how discrimination hurts all people . ·
Step five: Send a
post-event news release
Report on the success of-your event!
Lev.erage your accomplishment. Don't
depend on the media to tell your story -
tell it in your own words from your perspective.
Be proactive! And include
photos of your event.
Step six: Build bridges to
the .g[l/b/t communities
Send letters to every g/1/b/t/ organization
in your area. Invite them to join
hands with you for this project. Invite
their presence and participation in your
evep.t.
. Step seven: Why not
invite a dialog with
Baptist ·churches? ·
Want to build genuine bridges of
understanding to other parts of the body
of Christ? Send a letter to each South.
ern Baptist Church in your area.
(Remember, there , are many different
Baptist denominations; only the Southern
Baptist churches have endorsed the
Disney boycott.) Share your story and
ministry, and invite an open dialog .
Who knows? Miracles may happen!
(Sample letter follows.)
Step eight: Publicly recognize
other gay-friendly
corporations
Other international corporations
already offering domestic partner benefits
include IBM, Eastman Kodak, Harley-
Davidson, Hewlett Packard, GlaxoWelcome,
Microsoft, and Time-Warner .
Proposed resolution
'wHEREAS the Disney .Corporation has
provided outstanding entertainment for
generations, and
WHEREAS Disney has provided domestic
partner benefits to its gay and lesbian
employees, and
WHEREAS Disney has demonstrated
corporate responsibility and social conscien
'i!l by providing equal benefits to
all employees, and ·
WHEREAS Disney's gay and lesbian
employees are affirmed and empowered
by their employer, and
WHEREAS we oppose the boycott of
Disney by the Southern Baptist Convention,
Focus on the Family, and oilier
Religious Right organizations,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that
we, the members and congregants of
[Y ourCity church] do hereby express and
pledge our support . of Disney, salute
Disney for its commitment to justice,
and recognize Disney for courage in the
face of threat.
Sample news release
Here is the suggested text for a news
release for your church. Simply retype
this inform11tion on your church letterhead
and be sure to replace all information
in brackets with your local information.
[YourCity] - The boycott of (he Disney
Corporation by the Religious Right is .
beginning to backfire.
[Y ourCity church] has joined ii grow ing
number of churches and religious
organizations who have come to the
support of Disney.
Disney, which provides domestic
partner benefits to its gay and lesbian
employees, .has been hit with boycotts
by the Southern Baptist Convention,
the largesf'Protestant denomination in
the United States, and Focus on the
Family, a well-financed, anti-gay Religious
Right organization.
Now, [Y ourCity church] has adopted
a resolution of support for Disney. "FQr
our members, this was simply a matter
of justice and fairness," said [Pastor's
Name], senior pastor of the congregation.
."We are not content to stop with a
resolution of support , " [Pastor' s Name]
added. "We're putting our fai(h and convictions
into action," she added.
[YourCity church] meets each Sunday
at [time] at [location].
Media Contacts:
[Pastor's Name], [phone number]
[Local church justice lay leader], [phone
number]
Sample letter to
Southern Baptist
churches
Dear Friends:
Greetings in the name of Jesus
Christ!
I am writing on behalf of the friends
and members of YourCity church. We
have followed with interest the decision
by ihe Southern Baptist Convention to
boycott the Disney Corporation because •
of Disney's benefit policies for its gay
and lesbian employees . We understand
that some Southern Baptist congregations
have endorsed this boycott while
others have not.
We also understand that every situation
has a variety ·of perspectives.
The members of [You.C-4tr~hurcb.} - -
have a different perspective on this story
- a story which has generated national
attention . Because many of our members
are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
Christians who have experienced
the pain of discrimination, our
congregation has given strong support
to Disney .
While some might use this issue to
divide ilie Body of Christ, we welcome
the opportunity to build bridges to fellow
Christians. We would welcome an
opportunity to initiate a dialog which
might foster a spirit of mutual understanding.
As a minister who embraces Jesus
Christ and who respects the authority of
the Scriptures, I would welcome an
opportunity to share our mutual stories
- whether by phone, through a one-onone
meeting, over lunch or dinner, or
even in a mutually agreeable public forum
.
· If this bears witness with you, I invite
you to call me at the church office at
[phone], or to drop me a note at the
address on the above letterhead ..
With so may issues dividing the
Church of Jesus Christ, perhaps
together we could take a small step
toward greaterunderstanding .
Yours in Christ,
[Pastor's Name J
Ed. Note: Thanks to James Birkiti, Jr.,
UFMCC CommuRications Department,
for sending this material to Second
Stone .
Faith 1n Daily Life
"On the night that Jesus was betrayed ... "
Jesus' lesson on betrayal by trusted friends
BY DR. REMBERT TRULUCK
AT 4:00 P.M. ON Tuesday, March 3,
1981, the president of the college where
I had taught for eight years called me to
his office. He handed me a piece of
paper and asked me to read it. It was a
typed statement that had been written by
my former Jover and given to the trustees
of the college. It described in vivid
detail the relationship that he had with
me over a period of several years.
The trustees had lield a secret meeting
without even informing the president
and had decided to request my resignation
but made no written record of any
of their proceedings . I signed a one sentence
statement resigning · "for personal
reasons" from the faculty and staff of the
Baptisl College of Charleston. Thus
ended 28 years in the Southern Baptist
ministry as pastor and professor. Ministry,
family; career, income, possess
sions and all of my accumulated professional
connections and friendships ended
One of the best friends I had ever
enjoyed in my life had used his intimate
knowledge of me to destroy me.
, Betr.iya.¼ 1•0ne's best friends u ually
is less dramatic than my experience, but
in the gay and lesbian community, our
vulnerability to being wounded and
betrayed by people wh..9 really know us
offers an ever present risk. Being
betrayed by someone you love and trust
is always traumatic. It hurts. It throws
us into depression and despair. In the
gay and lesbian environment it can even
mean loss of job, home, family and
much more .
The betrayal of Jesus by Judas gives
us a chance to see how Jesus handled
being let down and betrayed by one of
his best friends.
All four gospels tell of the betrayal.
In fact, when we celebrate communion,
we introduce the sharing of bread and
wine by saying, "On the night that
Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and
blessed it and broke it and gave it to his
disciples." Eating together was considered
an act of personal commitment'between
people and indicated a sharing of
life and love. To be betrayed by
someone who .shared your table was the
height of treachery.
At the last supper, Judas was sitting
next to Jesus, for Jesus dipped into the
bowl and handed it to Judas. Jesus
knew what was in the heart of Judas all
along, but he gave him opportunity to
Son of atheist says life
without/ aith was a misery
HOPE MILLS, N.C. - Evangelist Wil- .
liam J. Murray says it wasn't easy being
raised by a mother who called herself
''the most hated woman in America."
Murray, 51, is son of Madalyn Murray
O'Hair, the operator of American
Atheists, Inc., in Austin, Texas. O'Hair
and other members of the family disappeared
two years ago. ·
"I was not raised in an intellectual
home/ he said Sept. 14, his voice lowering
as he fingered the pieces of a
Nativity scene at Southview Baptist
Church . "I was raised in a really dys.
fllllctional environment."
By the age of 30, Murray said he
smoked two to three packs of cigarettes
and drank a quart of whiskey a day. He
entered a 12-step program, but found
himself searching for something else.
"By one means or another, I came to
discover that unknown. God was indeed
Jesus Christ," he said. "I turned my life
over to his care."
Murray said it has been 20 years since
he has spoken with his mother, brother
Jon . Murray, or daughter Robin MurrayO'Hair.
The three ran American Atheists,
and William Murray was once president
of the organization.
Since their di~ppearance in 1995,
$627,500 was reported missing · from a
New Zealand trust account of American
Atheists and United Secularists, the two
non-profit organizations headed · by
O'Hair and her family.
"Over a period of years, she raised
many millions of dollars," Murray said.
"One of her specialities was talking people
out of their estates when they die, to
build great atheist libraries that were
never built."
Murray believes either .someone murdered
his family members to get at the
money, or his mother died of natural
causes and Jon and Robin afC in hiding
with the funds.
Murray's . family had accused him of
selling out when hi;,,_ became a Christian .
. "I drive a 10-year-old Bronco," he
said. He drove to Hope Mills from his
·home in suburban Washington. "I live
in a rented house, and my take-home
pay is $'158.70 a week."
The rights to his book, "My Life
Without God," have been sold, and he
said a movie is in the works.
'There is no money to be made. in
this country doing what is right or saying
what is right," he said. "You don't
make money promoting Jesus Christ."
(AP)
change. Judas didn't.
In John 13: I-17, Jesus washed his
disciples' feet and gave them an example
of humble loving service. Then in John
13: 18, Jesus said, "I do not speak of all
of you. I' know the ones I have chosen;
but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled,
he who eats my bread has lifted
up his heel against me ." (Psalm 41:9)
The full quotation of Psalm 41:9 is
"Even my bos.om friend in whom I
trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted
his heel against me."
The place of Judas in the setting of
the last supper is of great interest. William
Barclay says in a description of
this setting, "It is quite clear that Jesus
could speak to Judas privately without
the others overhearing. Judas must have
been on Jesus' left, so that", just as
John's head was in Jesus' breast, Jesus'
head was in Judas.' The revealing thing
is that the place on the left of the host
was the place of highest honor, kept for
the most intimate friend." (Barclay,
'The Gospel of John")
John 13:20-30:
Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
the one who receives whomever I send
receives me; and the one who receives
me receives the One who sent me."
When Jesus had said this, he became
troubled inspirit, and testified, and said,
''Tmly, truly, I say to you, that one · of
you will betray me." The disciples
began looking at one another, at a loss
to know of which one Jesus was speaking.
There was reclining on Jesus'
breast one of his disciples, whom Jesus
loved . Simon Peter therefore gestured to
him, and said to him, "Tell us who it is
of whom he is speaking." He, leaning
back thus on Jesus' breast, said to him,
"Lord, who is it?" Jesus therefore
answered, "That is the one for whom I
shall dip the morsel, and give it to
him ." So when he had dipped the morsel,
he took and gave it to Judas, the
son of Simon Iscariot. And after the
morsel, Satan then entered into him,
Jesus therefore said to him, "What you
do, do quickly ." Now no one ofthose
reclining at table knew for what purpose
Jesus had . said this to him. For some
were supposing, because Judas had the
money box, that Jesus was saying to
him, "Buy the things we have need of
for the feast" or else, that he should give
something to the poor. And so after '
receiving the morsel, he .went out
immediately; and it was night.
One remarkable feature of this incident
is the ignorance of the other disciples
regarding the character and purpose
of Judas. Jesus had perfect insight into
the minds and hearts of people; · so the
treachery of Judas was no surprise to
him. The rest of us, however, are usually
as surprised as we are stunned and
dismayed by the betrayal of a trusted
friend. Jesus did nothing to stop Judas.
The Scripture was being fulfilled, and
the destiny of Jesus had been decided
long ago. But Judas made his own -decision
to be the betrayer. Thougli ·Judas
knew that'Jesu~ was aware of his plqt, .
he went through with it anyway.
jesus demonstrated a calm assurance
· in his own successful mission no matter
what the people around him might do,
He knew : that he must suffer and die, but
he also knew that he would be raised
from the dead and vindicated-in all of his
works and teachings. Our wil!ing~ess to
identify with Jesus and the ministry of
the gospel can give to us also a sense .of
purpose and strength of character to handle
all kinds of stress.
Jesus demonstrated his approach to
the betrayal by a friend in several .ways ..
He recognized from the beginning that
Judas had the character that could lead to
trouble. As -we get involved with other
people, we are not as careful · as we
should be in learning what may be in
them that will lead to misunderstandings
and disappointment. ·
Jesus let Judas know that he waS'
aware -of his unfaithfulness. Jesus ·confronted
Judas with what was happening
and gave Jndas; s~~~falJ tI ~!~niti~s'to
tum: back:' We 'often gfoss ·over obvious
negative behavior in people '·'we·'ibve i "
We seem to hope •it will just go away
and everything will be fine. Profound
misunderstandings, however, seldom
just go away. It' is not easy to confront
your lover or best friend with liow you
see some of their potentially destructive
behavior, but sucli confrontation is a
necessary part of a truly honest relationship.
· · · ·
Jesus was prepared to accept the consequences
of'loving people who did not
love hi_m. Jesus was strong enough to
absorb rejections and betrayal. I am not! .
My strength of character and my emotional
stability fall far short of being
able to ride peacefully above lhe betrayal
or abandonment by people I love.
Jesus took the long view of things .
He saw his place in life in the context
of the eternal plan of God for the ages .
He recognized God's control and the
ultimate triumph of the will of God .
even in the most puzzling and tearful of
experiences. Jesus cared. He loved , He
had compassion, which means -to feel
the pain and stress of others. He wept.
But Jesus remained objective ·. He was
not caught by surprise · by human ·
behavior. We are. Our insight into other
people is -blurred by our own sins ·and
frailty. We need forgiveness and the
light that God gives to us by the Spirit.
SECOND STONE 3
Faith in Daily Life
Gay ~rwon'tresign, fights for change in church policy
BY THOMAS R. O'DONNELL
AMES, IA. - Lord of Life Lutherau
Church is a small church - so small iμid
unobtrusive that first-time visitors often
1 have difficulty finding it.
But the Ames church , a member of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, has become the focus of
national and statewide attention.
The church's pastor for the past 12
years, the Rev. Steven Sabin, 38, is gay
- and is living in a rural Ames home
with his partner Karl von Uhl, 35.
Church policy says gays and lesbians
may be ministers, but must remain ceti :
ba te . Bishop Philip Hougen of the
Southeastern Iowa Synod asked Sabin to
resign seven months ago. Sabin has
refused.
" My call as a pastor is to look out for
the best interests of the church," Sabin
said. "I think the church is wrong and
in need of reformation ."
Right or wrong, Hougen said it's bis
· duty to uphold church doctrine . "We ' re
not free as bishops not to follow the
policy," he said. Hougen said his own
views on the policy or homosexuality
are irrelevant.
Sabin, a Mason City native, has
served his entire career at Lord of Life.
He and his wife arrived in 1985 and
began raising a family of two daughters.
But something had never seemed
right, he said. At age 30, after wrestling
with the issue and undergoing therapy,
he concluded he was gay.
Sabin and his wife divorced in 1990 .
Two years'Iater, he met von Uhl via the
Internet. Von Uhl, a writer and bookstore
employee who had been living in
Sail Francisco , moved in with Sabin
two years ago ..
Von Uhl said he and Sabin told a few
church members about their relationship,
but "a majority of the congregation
kind of intuited what was going
on."
People from outside the congregation
figured it out, too, and called it to Hougen's
attention soon after he took office
on Aug. 1. When the two met in
Marshalltown in January, Hougen asked
. Sabin if he was gay and in a relationship.
When Sabin said he was , "I told
him ... I was obligated to ask him to
resign," Hougen ·said .
Sabin asked for time to consider the
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4 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
issue . In a letter to Hougen two days
later, Sabin contended that he was con forming
with church policy. He quoted
church doctrine, writing, "I live infidelity
with my spouse, giving expression
to sexual intimacy within a marriage
relationship that is mutual, chaste and
faithful ."
That wasn't a claim of celil>acy,
Sabin wrote , but "at the same time, an y
further . description of my relationship
w i th my partner is none of your
business. "
The following Sunday, Sabin told the
congregation about his meeting with
Hougen and that he had refused to
resign . Th.en he introduce(\ van Uhl as
his partner.
Jan Melby, president of the church's
congregation council, said she had suspected
Sabin was gay, but "I was unsure
how widely it was known ." Some were
surprised, but they also were supportive,
she said.
N9ne of the congregation's 30 to 35
families has left the congregation, Sabin
said, and a resolution supporting him
passed without dissent a week later,
when Hougen spoke at a church service
and attended the regularly scheduled
annual meeting.
Hougen appointed a "consultation
committee" of three clergy members and
two lay people to meet with the parties
involved and discuss the issue . The
committee has made a confidential, nonbinding
recommendation to Hougen.
"The decision I have to make ... is
whether or not to bring charges that
would lead to a disciplinary committee
■
"I think the
church is wrong
and in need
of reformation."
■
being called," Houg en said. If such a
·committee is conve 1 d, he said, the
matter would be out of his hands .
The one thing on which Sabin and
Hougen seem to agree is the need for the
discussion .
"This is not about me as a person,"
Sabin said, but " the dialogue needs people
who will make it first -person ,"
rather than a faceless concept. He's
willing to play that role if that's what it
rakes, Sabin said .
~ugen said "It ' s been good for
Lutherans in this part of tlie·stan: to talk
about it," but he added that whether it
will have been a healthy exercise
remains to be seen . (Des Moines Register)
Religion, spirituality classes
come to medical school
BY TARA MEYER
ATLANTA - Along with taking a
patient's pulse and drawing blood, aspiring
doctors at some of the nation's medical
schools this year will learn how to
take a "spiritual history ."
They 'll go on rounds with chaplains,
help make funeral arrangements for
deceased patients and learn how to work
with hospice organizations .
The National ·Institute for Healthcare
Research and the John Templeton Foundation
on August 26 gave $25,000
grants to eight medical schools, including
Atlanta's Morehouse School of
Medicine, for courses on the role of
faith in medicine.
Two Illinois schools - Loyola University
of Chicago . Stritch School of
Medcine and University of Chicago
Pritzker School of Medicine - also are
among the eight schools.
"Religion and faith are very important
to many, if not all, patients, " said Dr .
·Dale Matthews, a professor at Georgetown
Medical School. "We in medicine
should be open to di scussing this with
our patients."
Iii the 1950s, docto r s were di scouraged
from discussing religion or sex with
their patients, but now "we talk about
everything except religion . Th e time has
come," said Dr. David Larson, the institute's
president.
Pamela Petersen :Crair; a medical student
at the Univer s ity of California at
San Francisco, said she thinks students
will accept the classe s.
"I think we. will expect to see more of
these," said Ms. Peters en-Crair, who is
a student trustee for the American Medical
Association . "There's a trend · to
make sure we are addressing all of the
different needs of our patients ."
Some of the classes will teach potential
doctors how · to include a "spiritual
history" in their diagnoses, asking
patients not only how they feel but how
they cope with illnes s and how their
beliefs influence their lifestyle .
SEE MEDICAL SCHOOL, Page 13
RJ Faith in Daily Life
Our Shepherd
Thes μriasl ignificanocfe P salm2 3t og aysa ndlesbians
BY REV. SAMUEL KADER
THE LORD IS our Shepherd. Most
people have come across Psalm 23 at
some point in their life, even if only at
·a funeral, on the back of a memorial
card for iheir loved one. But this Psalm
has some significant promises and present
day truth for the Iesbigay Christian
movement in the midst of our generation.
Recall the familiar words: (Ps 23: 1-6)
The Lcrd is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He makes me lie down in
green pastures; He leads me beside quiet
waters. He restores my soul; He guides
rue in the paths of righteousness for His
name's sake. Even though I walk
· through the valley of the shadow of
death , I fear no evil; for Thou art with
me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou dost prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies; Thon
hast anointed my head with oil; My cnp
overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness
will follow me aH the days of
my life, and I will dwell in the house of
,fo~ b:i'd =x'orever. (NAS)
I focus specifically on verse 5 which
in the Living Bible says: (Ps 23:5)
You provide delicious food for me in the
· presence of my enemi_es. You have welcomed
me as your guest; blessings overflow!
(fLB)
God's people have always had enemies.
Elijah had Ahab and Jezebel.
Jesus had ·the Pharisees. The first cen•
tury Apostles had enemies both with the
religious establishment of their faith tradition
and the Roman government. It
seems whenever God is doing a new
thing in the earth, setting captives free,
there is some organized group opposing
· what God is doing and proclaiming they
have a comer on. the truth, calling God's
new move a move of Satan. So it .is
today.
It will soon be an identified thirty
years since God began calling gay people
to freedom in Christ. Yet it _has not .
been without struggle.
The latest wave of attacks on the gay
community from the religious establishment,
boycotting corporations that dare
give our homes and relationships recognition
and health benefits was both predictable'
and disappointing. Yet in the
midst of the church screaming for God
to save Western culture from great
moral decay [read: homosexuality], lawmakers
keep passing laws, and courts
keep ruling in our favor. Slowly but
continuously, our spousal relationships
are moving closer toward legal status.
Employment and housing protection are
also making advancing legal strides.
This is not because we are a well
organized, wealthy, powerful lobby on
Capitol Hill. As a people, compared to
others·, we are anything but an organized,
wealthy, powerful lobby. The
religious right in one mailing, decrying
the horrors that await our society if the
"militant homosexuals" have their way,
get more financial response from their
homophobic appeals than can any of our
organizing efforts. They have more
financial clout; look at the state of their
bank accounts, property holdings, television
and radio ·air time, versus ours.
Yet in spite of their well oiled and
organized operations, we have advanced
further over the last thirty years than we
ever could have imagined. I am old
enough to remember when we were the
love that dared not speak it's name. I
remember dingy Mafia bars being our
only social meeting places. It was not
'<lll that long ago when there were no
welco ming churches, college organizations,
hotlines, or even anyone to call
for help. There were no funds to draw
upon, no colleagues to solicit. But in
·our generation God has and is raising
more churches, Bible study groups, and
places of worship, faster than any
updated listing can keep current. More
and more clergy are being raised among
us, to shepherd this great people of God.
Though some of our churches 'hltve
been fire bombed, spray painted, vandalized,
desecrated and victimized, nothing
is stopping this mighty sweep of God
in our community. If God be for us,
who can be against us? When the Sanhedrin
wanted to martyr the Apostles to
stop the newly formed Jesus movement
in their midst, (Acts 5), the advice of
Gamaliel essentially was "be careful
what you do to these religious upstarts."
He said if what the Apostles . were doing
was of human origin, it would come to
an end on it's own . But if it were from
God, they would find themselves fighting
not twelve Apostles, but against
God Almighty!
Saul of Tarsus was on his way to
Damascus to arrest the believers in this
new movement. He encountered Jesus
on the way, who said "Saul, Saul why
are you persecuting me?"
Jesus did not say "Why are you persecuting
My people", but He took it personally;
asking "Why are you persecuting
ME." This move of God in our
midst is moving forward at record breaking
speed, not because we have the
clout, but because we have God. The
Lord is our Shepherd. Our hope is not
in Washington; it is in the Lord. God is
fighting this battle for us, while we just
remain faitliful to the call of the Gospel.
In Psalm 23 the promise is tliat God
alone provides delicious food for us in
the presence of our enemies. This drives
our enemies crazy! While we are simply
enjoying the fellowship and companionship
of our· Savior/Shepherd, dining
with Him, and He with us, it is as if the
enemies are outside the window; picketing,
raising funds, throwing rocks, calling
names, jeering, weeping and gnashing
their teeth. What a shame and waste
of their energy. Our Shepherd is not
paying any '<lttention to them, because
His loving gaze is attentive to our
needs. I can hear Him ask, "Would you
like another piece of pie, my beloved?"
"Can I get you anything else?"
"Gee, thanks, Lord, but I am so full,
and my cup is already running over!"
Outside, they are screaming for God
to burn the house down, demanding
Sodom's reward upon us, judging us and
waiting to see if the house will fall
upon us. They poll one another. They
call tl1eir legislators.
Jesus arises from the table and our
Shepherd takes us for a walk after our
full and satisfying meal. He leads us
besides still waters.· He makes me take a
nap in green pastures. Life with Jesus is
full, and getting better.
The angry, hateful crowd rants and
raves! "Kill them, Kill them, Crucify
them!" "God hates them!!" They reassure
each other. "We need another million
dollars to stop their agenda and save
our children!" they threaten.
Even though we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, we fear
no evil. He is with us. His _rod and staff,
they comfort us. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow us all the days of our·
lives.
I can't say what will happen to those
outside, raising funds, and missing out
on this fresh move of God's Spirit, but
as for us, inside at His banqueting table,
the promise echoes through the halls,
He restores my soul. I am at peace with
the Prince of Peace. He guides me in the
paths of righteousness for His name's
sake. He personal ly invited us to his
banqueting table, and we shall dwell in
His house forever.
Rev. Samuel Kader is the senior pastor
and co-founder of Community Gospel
Church in Dayton, Ohio. Previously,
he founded Reconciliaiion MCC in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, and pastored
other MCC churches in Dayton, Ohio,
and Melbourne, Australia. Rev. Kader
is the founder/president of S.K. Ministries,
has been a conference speaker and
has written several articles in the gay
press since 1975.
GA¥. .~. ~-~·
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SECOND STONE 5
Faith tn Daily Life
GenerationX
in.s·..e: t H uav' J:;'1/r a.,qrj:. ct l ih1m.-1. o f spm .-ty
F~om Page 1
the bodies and the spirits of children
today.
Sheltering those who · have no
innocence is different than sheltering
those who do. We can make promises
to innocence; lost innocence needs
proof. Where will the proof of spiritual
promise and spiritual shelter come froni1
for Generation X? I fear it will have td ·
come from them, themselves. From
inside them. I doubt that it will comt
from those of us whose credibility is as
lost as the ozone. .
Those boys who burned down their
bridge are now faced with a possible ten
years in jaiL Three lives may be in the
process of being destroyed along with a
town's memories. Lots of initials gone
up in smoke. Lots of first, second and
third kisses. Lots of pretty pictures. All
for the thrill of lighter oil's impact on ,
old dry wood. -
Why? We really need to know why.
··We need a diagnosis of why children
On these pages Second Stone
ca"iesfort.h the work of the
excellenjto urnal "Manna,"
which is no longer in publication.
6 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
actually destroy some of what might be
shelter for them. Not just bridges and
not just history but the companionship
of religion or promise. Why are so
many children throwing out relationship
with the "former things" on behalf of
themselves and their peers?
Boys have been boys for as long as
that bridge has stood and longer. One
person suggested in the last century that
the whole prison problem could be
solved by just locking offenders up until
they turned thirty when "something"
seemed to happen to calm them down.
If you visit in a prison today, you will
see cause for a similar solution. It is
young men who inhabit prisons.
Young men who damage communities,
young men who lose their tempers and
young men who drink too much an_d
drive too fast. Not older men so much.
And rarely women.
I remember facetiously suggesting at
my college that they lock up the men
and let the women go free. We had to
be in at midnight; they could roam. It
was an odd injustice, based on the facts
of who was more likely to pull up the
tulips on the town common and more
likely to burn down the bridges.
We can also imagine that these boys
were once the apples of their parents'
eyes. That some parents actually did try
to shelter them. We can imagine that
tears have been shed over their skinned
knees. That they were like every other
boy at the shore and skipped stones with
great glee at their own prowess. We can
also imagine that they rejected the protection
offered to them in early adolescence
and also that they really wanted to
be able to accept it but didn't know
how.
I remember asking a boy in my yonth
group once years ago why he had
thrown the .stones that broke all the
>windows on the new house being built
rtext to him. His mother was raising
three children by her f. The $1500.00
she had to pay back for the windows
took all her savings and $500.00 more ..
His response was an honest, "I don't
know." He really didn't know why he
had done it. The stone that should have
been skipping was hurling. He really
didn't know why.
Nor lfear do the people who burnt the
bridge. Whoever they are, they probably
don't know what weird violence
took over and let them deliberately
destroy.
Those of us able to be more rational
about burnt bridges are left with the
question of how we can prevent such "I
don't know-ism." How we can deal with
the needs of teens for protection they
don't want. For structure they don't
want. For futures they don't have. For
shelter which they don't want but which
we want desperately to give them.
Clearly we have social as well as personal
responsibility to protect our
bridges and ourselves from out of control
young men. We need to solve this
recession so that children today can have
something like the future most of the
rest of us were raised to expect. And we
need to make divorce and one parent
homes less acceptable than they are
now.
We had a three year old child visit us
last weekend. He is being raised by his
mother. The child said at dinner, "The
most interesting person I met this summer
is my father." We all gasped. As
would his father if he ever heard what
the child had said. Clearly for adults to
shelter children, divorce has to become
less acceptable. Or at least it has to
become one of the freedoms we place
very closely in our personal account
book next to _sheltering our children.
When we get our own towns and our
own ·homes back in order, then we can
begin to work on the systemic issues of
ozone and topsoil, chemically fast
growth and the other public threats to
our children's eventual shelter. Each of
these ".big" things has its root in our
"small" values. You don't like this
wife; get another. You don't like this
house; get another. Move up, move on.
Doing so quickly is better than doing so
patiently or slowly. You want potatoes
in sixty days: grow them faster with
this chemical. So what if the soil can't
be used for twenty years.
Most American public behavior is
routed in American private behavior. It
as though we looked around at our public
life and our land and poured kerosene
on it and lit it. That's how serious has
been our destruction of the safety net
and the social fabric, all because we
· wanted something "now" instead of later.
Children hear these values. They see
them. They do what we do not what we
say.
What can young people do to shelter
themselves? They can rebnild the bridges.
Slowly. They cart commit to each
other if not to us. It would help society
a lot more - and cost it less - to ha~e
those three young men rebuild that
bridge themselves. Forget prisoμ. It
will just ruin what is left in them to be
ruined. If they did it, let them fix. it.
There might even be some fathers in
town who might want to help.
To rebuild the broken society they
have inherited so that it can shelter
them, young people have a lot to do and
a lot to be. They need to take over the
spiritual institutions that now actively
exclude them as well as rebuilding the
physical infrastructure that surrounds
them.
Every church I know wants to kuow
why young people don't come to church
any more. Some of that cry is phony:
young people have always left church
for a while in this country. But now
fewer and fewer are even getting the
religious preparation as . youth that
might allow them to return intelligently
to spiritual life at a later life. Res.,,,;.chers
tell us that youth today make a serious
distinction between "spirituality"
and "religion." Religion is in an institution;
spirituality is pure. It is outside.
Individual and quick fix values
win again. Young people live the values
we teach them. The problem with
· shelter for children today is that our values
don't shelter. They trick.
As hard as it is to find spiritual shelter
in . institutional "religion" today, it is
that much harder to find it outside, all
by yourself. What we find out there is
the accompaniment of God. But not
each other. The God of Christians al
ways sends us back to each other to
test the "spirits" in_ "fruits." In real life.
Younger people today don't even have
good sites for testing each other. They
have a reduced institutionally based
work life - is McDonald's or another
conglomerate an institution or just an
overgrown cell? They have a smaller
school life - is attending .'!. ,.miversi,ty
with 20,000 other students an insti.tu:
lion or a maze? They mistrust the law
and medicine as much as they mistrust
religion. Their level of aloneness is
frightening.
To shelter young people, we need to
teach them how to take over .these institutions.
For example, in the church,
Bach and company need to be unseated
musically. Someone asked the difference
between an organist and a terrorist:
"with the terrorist you can bargain."
What we know about churches is that
we actively exclude younger music. We
say it is for their own good but it is
not. It is selfish. (I love Bach as much
as anyone but Bach has beco.me a batterer
of younger people's faith the way ·
we have used him in the church.)
To shelter young people, we need to
be able to speak about sex in different
ways. We destroy our credibility to.
shelter our children by taking sexually
ethic mumbo jumbo. If we have any
chance to sacralize covenanted relationship
as a sexual value - and _I hope we
do - it will have to be in the context of
sexual honesty.
At one of the churches I care for, a
conflict erupted over homosexuality.
The church called a major meeting and
all the recent confirmands were encouraged
to come. (The "Opeu and Affirming"
of homosexual participation in
church life needed their votes.) As is
typical in our denomination, most of
these conferments had disappeared right
after they had joined the church. One
SEEG ENERATIONX , Next page
String too short to be saved
One warning
BY REV. DONNA SCHAPER
One warning is necessary before we get
. too delighted with finding our keys in
our pockets. Shelter is a place from
which we can go out. It is not a place
where we just stay. There is a subtle
difference between self-sufficiency and
self-satisfaction. Finally we take our
keys out of our pockets and put some
direction into them.
I remember when we first moved back
to Amherst. My three children had
spent most of .their grown life in the
900 square feet of a Long Island cottage . .
Here we were looking at the 2500 square
feet of a rambling old farm house. The
first few weeks came and went and I
realized that they had set up camp in the
living room. Daily more toys and blankets
and pillows arrived in that small
room . Daily I picked them up and put
them in their rooms. Finally I asked
our eldest why the children weren't !iv:
ing in their own rooms. Finally each
had their own room and, as a card carrying
middle class parent, I thought of
this as a major life victory. _ Isaac told
me that they couldn't find the light
switches. And that they were staying
put.
I respect such fear in children. · And
find it almost quaint. But to respect
. such confines in an adult is not wortl1y
of the adult.
Befo re you laugh too much at the
childre11, ask yourself what form your
stuckness takes. Gladness that there is
one small room where you can be safe?
One ethnicity where you can feel at
home? One class or sexual orientation
from which things make sense? One
point on the Meyers Briggs Scale or one
point on the Enneagram?
Are you glad for safety in your own
living room? Or does our shelter need a
jolt, a scary slide on the wall of a room
we haven't entered yet, in search for tl1e
light?
As the children remind us on car trips,
we are going some place in our life with
God. When, they want to know, desperately,
are we going to get there?
■
the confines of your tent.
Repent of your own smallness.
Enlarge the limits of your hom~. spread
wide the curtains of your tent: let out its
ropes to the full and dri v~ the peg s
home ... then you shall break out of
your confines right and left. 11 The keys
in your pockets at home will be your
keys on the way_ also ..
· Some · of you know Donald Hall's
poem "String Too Short to Be Saved. 11
Think about it for a minute. He writes
tile poem because he finds a box in his
Are you glad for safety in your own
living room? Or does our shelter 11eed
a jolt, a scary slide on the wall of a
room we haven't entered yet, in
search for the light?
When will the shelter we know just by
being be available to all the people of
tile world? On tile Croatian and Rowanclan
borders, for example. That shelter
will be availabl~ when those of us with
too much bread learn to let go of a little
of it on behalf of a larger banquet.
Our living rooms are too cramped.
Too small. As thai awful cliche puts it,
"I can't even be safe in my own living
room." Of course not. That is a ridiculous
middle class goal. Remember
God's words in tile Psalm? Break out of
■
grandfather's aitic, marked in an old
hand, "String too short tci be saved."
But of course his grandfatller has saved
it anyway . I suppose God will do that.
God will save those who _have locked
themselves in their living room and
refuse to acknowledge their sin or take
tile risk of finding tile light switches on
the new walls . God will save tile literally
tllousands of white people who
moved out of central cities. God will
save. But God will bless - and not just
save - those of us who want tile adventure
of salvation. The breaking o\it of
GENERATION X,
From Previous Page
sixteen year old girl rose to speak.
"Finally," she said, "finally , · I have
come back to church and found somebody
talking about something important.
Like sex."-
To children sex is important. Music -
- especially their music - is important.
· In most churches I know, even the better
ones, these languages are prohibited .
· If that is not a selfish withholding of
spiritual shelter for children, I don't.
know what is.
One more fence is being built between
us and our capacity to shelter
children, or to be sheltered by them. It
is the new language of the screen . It is
not funny that sixth graders are teaching
seniors computers · in some American
high schools. Or that my eleven year
old son is in charge of electronics in our
house.
Young people need to be useful!
They need to be needed. They need to
be used. They. need to rebuild 'the
bridges themselves .
When all ·we can find -to do is to click
our tongue over television or hand held
games or screens, we further distance
ourselves from a generation that is, for
better or worse , fast on its way to being
visually !iterate in ways that we are not. .
We can't expect tile quality of this culture
to be Enlightenment level: thirty
years after Gutenberg, great _books
weren't being written either. We also
have to watch, if Protestant, our Roman
Catllolic prejudice. The culture before
we became so book and print oriented,
so "plain, 11 so verbal, was a beautiful
image culture .
A Catholic culture, one full of pictures,
not words. That young people today are
heading pell mell towards a picture
world is not evil in and of itself. It's
just not a place where most of us can
feel at home. To simply judge it , rather
than to try to understand it, is yet more
prejudice against youtll. We cannot be a
shelter for that which we disdain.
l heard a poignant story about a grandfather
who took his granddaughter to see
Snow White at the movies. He had
been looking forward for a long time to
the experience. "When I was a kid, I
wanted to be a dwarf!" The girl fell
asleep. The grandfather . was devastated .
"It was too slow," she said . The same
grandfatller watched his son's six minute
movie. The son was a filmmaker. "It
was so fast," said the older man, "it
gave me a headache . 11 The son, "Oh,
God, here I thought it was still moving
way too slow, "
Slow and fast are different to different
Faith 1n Daily Life
the confines of our tent. God will bless
tile barren and the deserted even more
than God will bless those who stay
scared and stuck in tlleir own fear . Those
who refuse the risk of finding the lights
on the new walls. ·
In true sufficiency, true shelter, we.
link tile strings . We don't make the
string larger . We link the strings of our
sufficiencies and our insufficiencies.
Each is too short to be saved. Togetller
they can build a safety net. A web.
Toiether tlley can trap a tiger.
Fot tile American middle class ; those
of us wqo acknowledge our _spiritual
homelessness, the .tiger is the Ii ving
room The privatism . The barrenness of
so much of ciur music, the stinginess
and ugliness of so rnucn of our public
culture. The packaged food that has
become a kind of packaging l!fOWJ.d us.
The way it doesn ;t really mai\ er what
town you have .thanksgiving in .because
· they all look the same anyway. That I
· believe, is our suffering. That is our
tent. McDonalds and Kentucky Fried,
mini vans and nintendos , children
increasingly tied to the dominant culture
no matter our best efforts to unplug
them . •
If the tiger is -th,.i pervasive and large,
what each little string does is quite
impon imt. Tlie ' a y it uft{iackage s its
life. For example . Unti·es itsel from
the phone bread and attaches itsel f' to tile
good bread. S01it e risks will be necessary
to find the good bread. · Our keys
are in our pockets. And sometimes we
will have to take them out and go some
place with them.
generations, raised on different screens.
This is not a moral issue. Fast is bad
sometimes and slow is bad sometimes;
each also has tlle capacity for good. To
shelter young people, the shelter will
have to come spiritually fast. And then
last a life time.
To shelter young people today? Let
and live their world. Get out of ti; , •
way so they can build tlleir own briag.::s,
their own roofs, tlleir own houses. Trust
tllem. They want to be SP.iritually sheltered
too. But they will have to do it
tlleirway.
The Rev. Donna E. Schaper is Associate
Conference Minister with the
Massachusetts Conference of the
United Church of Christ . Her new
book is "The Sense In Sabbath: A
Way '[o Have Enough Time," Innis~
free.
SECOND STONE 7
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l)eclaration will not affect
diocese stance on gay rights
PORTLAND, Maine - A declaration by
Roman Catholic bishops affirming the
church's acceptance of gays and lesbians
does not signal a shift by the Diocese of
Portland.in favor of Maine's gay rights
bill.
The statewide diocese has remained
neutral on the measure, which is
expected to go to referendum before
April. The open letter by the bishops
will not affect that stance, said Ma.re
Mutty ;a diocesan spokesman .
The primary concern of the diocese is
whether the bill endorses homosexual
relations, Mutty said. If so, "the church
is very much opposed," he said.
Tue bill was approved by the Legislature
and signed by Gov. Angus King
last spring. But conservative Christian
groups were able to stop it from becoming
law by submitting petition signatures
demanding a statewide vote.
Mutty said the bishops' letter urging
parents to accept and support their gay
children will not alter diocesan attitudes
because the church has for years told
parishioners that being homosexual is
not incompatible with being a good
Catholic.
''This is not an earth-shattering, historic
document," Mutty said. (AP)
City ~r challenges Billy Graham's
comJrlQllt..on. homosexuality
SAN f'MNCISCO - A city supervisor
condemned . the Rev. Billy Graham's
remark that "homosexuality is a sin."
Supervisor Amos Brown told the
_ Board of Supervisors that "at · some
appropriate time, we should issue a resolution
appealing to Mr. Graham to
back off his statement."
Graham, in Northern California for a
series of evangelical crusades, made 'the
comment when prodded by reporters.
Graham referred to homosexuality as a
sin and said, "It is wrong ... it .needs to
be dealt with and needs to be forgiven."
He then tried to soften the condemnation
by saying, "But why jump on that
sin? There . are bigger sins."
Brown, a minister himself, ·likened
Graham's remarks to those of the Rev.
Eugene Lumpkin, a San Francisco min _
ister and former member of the city's
Human Rights Commission. In 1993,
Lumpkin said "the homosexual lifestyle
is an abomination against God. ".He was
later fired from his commission post for
the remark.
"I welcome Brother Graham to San
Francisco," Brown said. "But, Brother
Graham, you deserve the same kind of
whipping as Eugene Lumpkin if you
feel homosexuality is a sin." (AP)
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8 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
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'Black-list' bishop agrees with
Catholic statement on gays
LINCOLN, Neb. - A statement by U.S.
Catholic bishops advising parents to
love and support their gay chil dren is in
line with church doctrine, said ihe
bishop w.ho last year threatened to
excommunicate members of groups that
"contradict and imperil Catholic faith."
Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz said the
statement "seems to say what the
Catholic Church has al ways taught,
namely that we must hate sin and still
love the sinner."
He went on ·to say that the church's
condemnation of sin "does not permit.
us, either fignratively or otherwise, to
shoot our wounded."
The U.S. Catholic bishops statement
represents the position of a committee,
BISHOPS,
From Pagel
Pope John Paul II, has staunchly held .
that sex is morally acceptable only
· within the bounds of heterosexual marriage.
And the U.S . bishops' letter in no
way abandons Catholic doct rine. It
states clearly that genital se;,;ual activity
between same-sex partners is immoral
and that the letter is not to be understood
"as an endorsement of what some
would call a 'homosexual · lifestyle ."' It
draws a distinction, however, between
homosexual orientation and sexual
activity.
In the letter, the bishops urge parents .
to encourage their ·children to lead a
chaste life and, at times, to challenge
aspects of their children's lives they find
objectionable .
But the bishops also tell parents that
maintaining a relationship with their
child should be their primary goal.
"First, don'.t break off contact; don't
reject yonr child," the bishops say.
Instead, they say, create an atmosphere
in which a child would be willing to
discuss his or her sexual orientation .·
"This child, who has always been
· God's gift to you, may now be the cause
of another gift: your family becoming
more honest, respectful and supportive,"
the bishops said.
Among their recommendations, the
bishops urge parents ·to "do everything
possible to continue .demonstrating love
for your child." That includes remaining
open to the possibility that even after
counseling, a child may still be
"struggling to .. .-accept a basic homo sexual
orientation."
The document also encourages priests
to welcome gays and lesbians into par -
Bruskewitz said. "Most of the Catholic
bishops in the United States were not .
consulted nor involved in its production,"
he said.
John Krejci, state chairman of Call to .
Action, a group black-listed by Bruskewitz
for seeking refom1s in the Catl1olic
Cllnrch, said the committee's statement
represents a "big policy shift" on the
• part of bishops who earlier had held that
homosexuality is a matter of choice.
Krejci added that Call To Action
nationally "sees gay rights as a part of
human rights and the right of nondiscrimination.
This is a fine pastoral
statement that shows progress is being
made on this issue." (AP)
ishes, to help establish or promote support
groups for parents of gay children
and to let people know from the pulpit
and . elsewhere that they are willing to
talk about gay issues.
When they lead chaste lives, homosexuals
should be given leadership
opportunities in the chnrch, the bishops
said.
"Generally, homosexual orientationis ·
. experienced as a given, not as something
freely chosen," the bishops said.
"By itself, therefore, a homosexual orientation
cannot be considered sinful, for
morality presumes the . freedom to
choose."
"The basic hope here," said Bishop
Thomas O'Brien of Phoenix, chairman
of the Committee on Marriage and Family
Life; "is that parents will accept
their children, regardless of their sexual
orientation."
Mary Ellen Lopata, co-founder of the
Catholic Gay and Lesbian Ministry in
the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y ., said
many parents struggle with the · conflict
between loving _ their child and their
understanding that chnrch teaching condemns
that child.
"For them to hear the bishops say to
love the ir child first is very important
and can go a long way to help them
resolve those conflicts and begin some
healing," she said.
Imesch, head of the Pastoral Practices
committee, said the church is nowhere
near even discussing whethe r it could
ever consider homosexual acts morally
acceptable.
In the meantime, however, gay men
and lesbians "still need t o be acc epted as
people," he said. "The judgment part is
left to the Lord ." (AP)
. . . -~ . . Gorep ledgetso fighot n behalof fg aysa ndl esbians
OffilM,@liii¥i❖i¥i
BY JENNIFERROTHACKER
WASHING TON - Gays and lesbians
, "certainly have my commitment to
work as hard as I can" to stop anti-gay
hate crimes, find a cure for AIDS and
end workplace discrimination, Vice
President Al Gore promised Sept.15.
"It is time for all Americans to recognize
that the issues that face gays and
lesbians in this country are not narrow,
special interests, they are matters of
basic human and civil rights," Gore told
the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force at its annual awards ceremony.
The task force honored Coretta Scott
King, widow of slain civil.rights leader
Martin Luther King; AFL-CIO President
John Sweeney; and the Mautner
Project, a service organization for lesbians
with cancer.
Speaking before about 200 people
who enthusiastically cheered his comments,
the vice president - a likely contender
for president in 2000 - vowed to
ensure that .gay and lesbian issues
«al ways have a place on our agenda."
"There's a lot said about having a seat
at the iable, and you have a seat at the
table, but it's not enough for you to
have a seat at the table," Gore said.
"Everybody's got to realize that as full
members of the American family it's
your table too."
Among . those areas Gore vowed to
. fight for was passage of an employment
nondiscrimination act and increased
fnnding for AIDS research. He said a
White House conference in November
would focus attention on hate crimes
and attempt to find ways to prevent
them.
"Some of the -greatest challenges we
face are not challenges oflaw, but challenges
of the heart," Gore said. "Please
be assured, you certainly have my commitment
to wo_rk as hard as I can nntil
the day we do reach those goals.'' (AP)
HatvardU niversityc~ l will allows ame-sexc eremonies
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Gay and lesbian
couples are now allowed to have commitment
ceremonies in Harvard University's
Memorial Church .
The decision by the church . to allow
same-sex ceremonies was hailed by gay
advocates, and criticized by conservative
clergy.
Harvard students, alumni and
employees of the same gender will be
able to take part in commitment ceremonies
in the church, under the decision,
and clergy of all denominations
will be welcome to officiate.
The .Rev. Peter Gomes, pastor of the
nondenominational church on the Harvard
campus, publicly acknowledged he
is a homosexual in 1991, and has been a
champion of gay and lesbian rights.
"I am pleased to be able to extend the
hospitality of the university church to
all members of the university," Gomes
Christian group says gay day at
park okay if nobody else is there
BY KEVIN O'HANLON
CINCINNATI - 'The ieader of a Christian
group has no problem with a Gay
Day at Paramouni's Kings Island amusement
park ... as long as no one else is
there.
Cincinnati's Gay and Lesbian Com0
munity Center rented Kings Island for
the private party on Sept. 19.
The Christian Family Network,
which has members in 40 states, says
that while it does not condone homosexuality,
the private party is better than
the informal Gay Day events of the past
13 years. On those days, the gay community
has come en masse to Kings
Island when the park is open to the public.
·
"By holding a Gay Day at a time
when the general public is not present ...
families are safe from unwanted, unsolicited
subjection to homosexual activity,
which at times has been reported to
be quite explicit ," said Don Jackson,
president of the Christian Family Network.
Spokeswoman Susan Lomax said ·Par,
amount has a non-discrimination policy
and there have been informal Gay Day
events at an its parks over the years.
(AP)
Minister who picketed against
gays ticketed for loitering
FORT ATKINSON, Wis. - A Monroe
minister who was part of a picket line
expressing opposition to homosexuality
was ticketed by police.
Ralph Ovadal, director of the Wisconsin
Christians United , was asked by
police to move so that his picket did not
block the sidewalk, Lt. Dave Fromader
said.
Ovadal refused and was ticketed for
violating the city's loitering ordinance,
Fromader said, and also for failing to
comply with an officer's order, another
ordinance violatio~ :
In a news release issued by his organization,
Ovadal said there was plenty of
room on the sidewalk for others to pass.
Ovadal said he told officers he was
engaged in constitutionally-protected
Christian ministry.
To Ovadal supporters who have called
questioning the tickets issued Sept. 10,
Fromader said that even clergy are not
exempt from city ordinances.
"If a clergyman were speeding through
town, we'd give him a speeding ticket
just like anyone else," Fromader said.
(AP)
told The Boston Globe.
"Our staff will do all that we can to
assist in the development of these services,"
he said.
Three years ago, Gomes turned down
a request from .a gay student to have a
commitment ceremony at Memorial
Church, saying there was no policy.
"It sets a wonderful precedent," Mark
O'Brien of Pride Interfaith Coalition,
which represents gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and transgendered people in Greater
Boston, said of the decision.
"To have one of the nation's great
universities make room for something I
consider to be immoral and contradictory
to biblical authority is terribly disappointing,"
said the Rev. Grant E{skine
of the Church of God, a fundamentalist
congregation in the central Massachusetts
city of Worcester.
Chaplains serving the campus will
not be compelled to perform commitment
ceremonies, said the Rev. Thomas
Chittick , president of the United Ministry,
the organization of chaplains at HarvardandRadcliffe.
"This decision does not tell campus
ministers what to do. Clearly there are
chaplains within the university who
would be opposed to doing it," said
Chittick, a minister in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America ·
The Rev. Thomas Mikelson, chairman
of the Harvard board of ministry ,
which oversees religious life on the
campus, said the decision to allow the
cornmi trnent ceremonies was based on
justice, not theology.
"The core value, which was the basis.
for this recommendation, was diversity
■
"The core value,
which was the
basis for this
recommendation,
was diversity
,L'\ .Sand ,basi<:,1 t .
human rights !'
and basic human rights," he said.
■
He is pastor at First Parish in Cambridge;
a Unitarian Universalist church.
The Unitarian Universalist Association
and the Reform and Reconstructionist
movements of Judaism .are the only
major Christian _and Jewish denominations
that officially permit same-sex
commitment ceremonies. (AP)·
~ KlRKRI~ ::ta~e:!r ' "lt!'e••tc, Sucu -I "'"""'' · y
SIS'IERLYC ONVERSATIONS'9 7:
Cun-eiCtto ncems Among Lesbianso f Faith
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, Sue Fulton, Le Martin
September 19 - 21
AGAPE:I N11MATET RANSFORMATIONS(F or YoungA dut.s1 8- 30)
Grace Fala · and Brad Colby ·
October 24 - 26
IN11MACYw rrH GOD: MATURE SPIRITUAUIY
John Mctlelll and Scott Alexander
Januaiy 8 - 11
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SECOND STONE 9
National News
FllmmakeSro:u therBna ptistuss eB ibleto snubw omen
NASHVILLE, .Teim. - Conservatives
who control the Southern Baptist Con.
vention are using the Bible to keep men
in charge and control women, a documentary
filmmaker says.
"The leadership says: There's a role
for women in the kingdom - where 'we'
decide," David Lip.comb said. "What
V
Presbyterians for
Lesbian & Gay
Concerns
"For all Presbyterians
who care about lesbian
. and gay people and their
full membership in the
Presbyterian
Church(USA)"
/
Boston/NortheNrne wE ngland
802-229-5438
SouthernN ewE ngland
203-442-5138
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. 908-249-1016
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716-663-9130
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.412-683-5239
Philadelphia
215-699-4750
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402-733-1360
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713-440-0353
San Francisco
510-653-2134
Oregon
503-652-6508
Seattle
2S3-859-!i686
PTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
kind -of a pompous, self-righteous .attitude
is that?"
In his film, Lipscomb studied the rise
of conservatism in the largest Protestant
denomination in the United States. His
documentary "Battle for the Minds" aired
. in June on many PBS stations around
the country.
In the documentary. he examines how
Baptist conservatives teach that women
cannot be senior ministers based on certain
Bible verses, including the story of
Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of
F.clen.
"They're punishing women who feel
called . by God to be ministers," said
Lipscomb, a Knoxville, Tenn., native
who now lives in Los Angeles.
Fewer than 20 of nearly 40,000
Southern Baptist churches are .pastored
by women, a decision left up to local
churches. But some local churches who
have picked a woman as minister have
been ousted from their local Baptist
associations .
Conservative leaders say they discourage
women from taking leadership roles
over men but say female enrollment is
strong at their seminaries and that
women are needed in other ministries .
"He's just trying to sell his video,"
David Porter. a spokesman for the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Louisville, Ky .• told The Tennessean
newspaper.
He said Lipscomb uses "classic propaganda
techniques to slander the seminary's
leadership" in the documentary.
Much of "Battle for the Minds"
focuses on attitudes and controversy at
the Southern Seminary. Lipscomb interviewed
teachers and students on both
sides and features administrators w.ho
have overseen changes to ensure a conservative
view prevails in teachings.
Lipscomb said his mother attended
Southern and felt unwelcome at the
seminary:
Penny Cruse, 30, a third-semester
divinity student at Southern, said she's ·
not interested in being a church pastor.
But she's not uncomfortable at the seminary.
"If there were a sense of repression
· here, I wouldn't be here,» ~he said.
The Southern Baptist Convention has
ordained 1,150Women. The president of
Baptist Women in Ministry said the
Southern Baptist climate is repressive
for women.
"What if there's a little girl in the
congregation who God wants to call to
ministry. but she never feels encouraged
because she never sees a woman
preach?" asked the Rev. Kathy Findley,
pastor of Providence Baptist Church in
Little Rock, Ark. (AP)
VermonCt atholibci shops aysc hurchc an'ta lln.,sva me-serxn, arriage
BURLINGTON, Vt. - In the wake of a
lawsuit to force Vermont to recognize
same-sex unions as marriages , Bishop
Kenneth A. Angell of Burlington said
that "there canbe no confusion" about
the Catholic church's opposition to that
idea
'The church's position on marriage ·is
absolutely. clearly defined as a 'faithful,
exclusive and lifelong union between
one man and one woman, established by
God with its own proper laws,"' Bishop
Angell said. "The church's opposition to
same-sex marriage has also been vocally
and adamant! y stated."
But another Burlington church body,
The First Unitarian Universalist, voted
to endorse same-sex marriages. The 500-
member congregation voted at its recent
annual meeting to support a 1996 reso-
1 ution by the Unitarian Universalist
Association general assembly in calling
for legalization of marriages between
gay couples and lesbian couples.
Bishop •t\rigeI.t made his statement on
the issue July 23 . .J he previous day
three same-sex couples who were denied
marriage licenses sued thestate of Vermont
and ·the towns of Milton, Shel-
. burne and South Burlington for the right
to marry.
The couples said the state's refusal to
let them marry denied them access to
rights of heterosexual married couples
such as spousal pension and medical
benefits.
The suit challenges a 1975 state attorney
general's ruling that a state ·law
defining marriage as a union between a
"bride and groom" prohibits marriages
between same-sex couples .
Within the past three years, largely as
a result of a court challenge to the ban
on such marriages in· Hawaii, at least 23
states have amended .their laws to add an
explicit ban or to strengthen existing
bans on recognition of same-sex unions
as marriages.
Bishop Angell said the church's . teachings
on marriage and its defense oT those
teachings "should in no way be misinterpreted
to encourage disrespect for or
prejudice against our brothers and sisters
ofliomosexual orientation."
He said that along with their defense
of marriage, the U.S. bishops have also
insisted that people of a homosexual
orientation "have a right to and deserve
our respect, compassion, understanding
and defense against bigotry, attacks and
abuse." (Catholic News Service and AP)
Bishopb irsr etreatforpirenotfsg ays
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A religious
retreat for Catholic parents of gay and
lesbian children has been canceled by
Bishop Edward M. Egan of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.
The session was to be held in October
in Stamford at a diocesan facility.
According to diocese spokesman Tom
Droh_an, Bishop Egan was concerned
about a nine-year-old investigation of
New Ways Ministry, the sponsoring
organization, by Cardinal. Adam Maida
of the archdiocese of Detroit.
More than 50 parents of gay and lesbian
children from Connecticut and
around the Northeast. had planned to.
attend the retreat. (AP)
,Sports the key to becoming
straight, Mormons are told
SALT LAKE CITY - A Mormon
Church leader advocated a controversial
form of therapy for gays and lesbians by
suggesting they immerse themselves in
the doctrines of the church to heal themselves.
..
Jay E. Jensen, a member of the First
Quorum of Seventy in . the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter 0 day Saints, said
gays must allow the faith's theology to
"inoculate" them against homosexnality.
About 300 gay men ~d women
· gathered with their families to listen to
Jensen and participate in workshops
with titles such as "Resisting the Strug 0
gle and the Temptations," and "Meeting
Female Emotional Needs."
Organizers . of the workshops believe
that sports are key. Many sexually confused
men never were good at team
sports and were teased for being sissies,
they argue. Mastering basebal{ and basketball
promotes masculine self-esteem
and helps men see other males as pals,
instead of potential sexual partners.
The reparative approach described by
Jensen has been discredited by most
mainstreanHherapists. (AP)
National News
Complaintfiledagainst~wh¢on nedoommitmentcerernony
OMAHA, Neb. - A United Methodist
bishop cut short his vacation in Spain
to come home and deal with an
unauthorized lesbian commitment ceremony
opposed by at least 129 church
members.
One of the members of the First
United Methodist Church filed a complaint
against the church's pastor, Rev.
Jimmy Creech, for conducting the ceremony.
Members have also signed a
statement of concern about Creech's
"open defiance" of church policy.
The Rev. Joel Martinez, the church's
Nebraska bishop, returned the last week
of September to look into the complaints
that have been filed against
Creech and to oversee a confidential
review process into the complaints.
Rev. Creech, senior pastor of Omaha's
largest United Methodist church,
performed the ceremony Sept: 14despite
warnings from Bishop Martinez that
such an action would probably trigger a
complaint and possible disciplinary .
action.
Church meinber Bob Howell mailed a
formal complaint to Martinez on Sept
16. He charged that Creech had violated
church rules that prohibit Methodist
pastors from performing union ceremonies
and from allowing them to be performed
on church property.
The two women who took part in the
ceremony are member's of the central
Omaha church's 1,900-member congregation.
Howell's complaint is expected to
u:!gger a review process that could result
in disciplinary action against Creech.
The complaint will go to the Nebraska
conference's committee · on investigations.
It reports to its Board of Ordained
Ministries, which handles all personnel
matters. Possible sanctions include suspension,
leave of absence or surrender of
ministerial. credentials.
Martinez said the matter is one of
high priority made obvious by his decision
to cut short his vacation by three
weeks. The bishop had been studying
the effects of the Reformation in Spain
in the 1600s.
Among those who signed a statement
of concern, which was sent to Martinez
on Sept 25; were several prominent and
longtime church members, including
former U.S. Sen. David .Karnes and his
wife, Liz.
Virginia Semrad, an opposition
organizer, said"the statement is intended
to · let people who oppose Creech's
actions know that they are not alone.
"We want to get our message out,"
Semrad said. "We don't have the pulpit.
We don't have the church newsletter for
our message."
Several lay leaders at Creech's church
said they supported the ceremony for the
two women.
Joan Byerhof, head of the church
council, and Bob Maline, chairman of
the board of trustees, said tlJat under the
Methpdist system, Creech has the right
to determine what goes on in his
church.
E_ven though Creech does· answer to
the bishop, Mrs. Byerhof said, cou-
Focus on the Family president
backs Disney boycott
COtoRADO SPRINGS, Colo. - James
Dobson, president of Focus on the Family,
is calling for his national radio audience
to join the boycoti of Disμey products
launched by the Southern Baptist
Convention.
Dobson asked his estimated 3 million
to 5 million listeners to write the com- .
pany to express their objections to what
he believes are offensive books, television
programs, movies and music,
Focus on the Family officials said.
"We won't bankrupt Disney, given
their enormous resources, and we may
not even damage them financially,"
Dobson said. "But we can certainly let
our constituency _know that Disney is
no longer friendly to the family and call
attention to the immoral material they
are now producing."
Walt Disney Co. spokesman Tom
Deegan responded: "While we respect
the Southern Bap~sts andFocus on the
Family's right to protest what they feel
is in conflict with their beliefs, we also
feel strongly that their attacks on us are
unwarranted, unfair and inappropriate."
Dobson said he will also urge .his
supporters to state in their letters how .
much money the entertainment company
will lose as a result of the boycott.
Dobson, a psychologist, founded •
Focus on the Family in 1977. His radio
program is the centerpiece of the $ 100
million-a-year Christian ministry. ''
Deegan said the boycott lau:n' ~hed by
the Southern Baptists does not appear to
have had much impact. '.'If you look at
our finaricials, I don't think we have suffered
financially from any of those
threats," he said.
"We will remain coJlJ.mtii ed lo certain
values in our everyday life," Deegan
said, "values that include tolerance and
compassion and respect for everybody."
(AP)
science also matters.
Mark Bowman, executive director of
Reconciling Congregation Program,
Baid he knows of no cases under the new
church rule where a pastor was disci plined.
In 1996, the Methodist Church
decided to prohibit pastors from conducting
ceremortles that celebrate same-sex
unions and from allowing such ceremonies
to be performed on church property.
Although the United Methodist
Church supports the civil rights of gays
and lesbi_ans and has committed itself to
ministering to gays and lesbians, it also •
says that the lifestyle conflicts with
Christian .teaching.
(AP and other sources)
Baptist committee: Godsey's
book 'punctuated with heresy'
ATLANTA - Controversial views of '
Mercer University President R. Kirby
Godsey "deviate from orthodoxy," and
his book is "punctuated with heresy," a
Georgia Baptist Convention committee
says.
The committee, which was appointed
to examine Godsey's .views, studied the
book "When We Talk About God ...
Let's Be Honest." It also submitted written
questions to him and interviewed
him in person.
In the book, Godsey affirms Jesus as
the center ofboth his own life and the
Christian faith, but critics point to his
suggestions that everyone will eventually
get to heaven, that the Bible is not
infallible and God is not all powerful.
"The committee's opinion is that Dr.
Godsey's book and his Written answers
to these questions dramatically deviate
from orthodoxy," said a report in the
Christian Index, the Southern Baptist
newspaper in Georgia.
"That being true, it is our opinion
that it is punctuated with here~y." the •
report said. "It is the committee's opin- .
ion that Dr. Godsey has thus failed his
. spiritual fiduciary responsibil,ity as ·
leader of Georgia Baptists' largesi institution."
The committee head, the Rev. Nelson
Price of Roswell Street Baptist Church
irt Marietta, presented the ·report to the
convention's executive committee Sept.
9. A second commit .tee was appointed
by the convention to study the relationship
between the convention · and the
7 ,000-student university.
In a written statement released Sept.
5, the university said it "has . tried to
respond fully and cooperatively with the
inquiries" and is disappointed by the
committee report.
"We are more fOC\)sed upon finding
constructive an4 wsili.:Y,fFR,l,/ndations for
sustaining and strengthening the 165-
year relationship between Mercer and the
Baptists of Georgia," . the university
statement said. (AP)
Gays can 'come on down' to farmer
strip club turned Pentecostal church
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The owner of a
former warehouse who once offered nude
dancing, sizzling steaks to gays and lesbians
and a nightclub scene to teens has
answered a higher calling.
Courtney Krause's Coliseum in Jersey
City is now the venuHor Sunday services
for the Rev. Margaret Davis' small
Pentecostal congregation.
Just as an assortment of customers
have walked through the Colisellm's
doors, Davis said she welcomes anyone
seeking spiritnal guidance.
"I want everyone to come as long as
they're coming with the thought .that
they want spirituality in their lives,"
Davis told The Jersey Journal. ·
Davis preaches for St. Paul's Holy
Church of God in what was once an
adult entertainment club. Overlooking
th.e Holland Tunnel, the huge building
later became Plato's Alternative Steakhouse;
serving up sizzling dishes to gay
and lesbian customers.
It's sizzle fizzled after less than iwo
months of slow business.
Krause and her spokesman Gus. San•
torella then said they would lend free
space to almost any community group
that asked. So when Davis showed up
on their doorstep, they said yes.
Davis and her late husband began the
church around 20 years ago, but they
had their "ups and downs" keeping it
going, she . said. Davis promised her
spouse before he died six months ago
that she would keep at it.
The congregation has only seven .
members now, but Davis- is hoping to
Change that, welcoming anyone who is
, interested in spirituality. ·
The Coliseum's pru;t.incamations do
not bother her. "I'm not going to say to
anyone, 'Who do yo_u sleep with?' You
have to work that ·out with God. That's
between the person and God," said
Davis. "Who sleeps with who - that's
not what I'm about.. If you're gay, well,
come on dow.n." (AP)
SECOND STONE 11
National News
Discipleosf C hrisset ekd iscemmentgoany si nt hec hmch
BY REV. ALLEN V. HARRIS
MEETING IN DENVER, Colorado July
25-29, the over 8,000 delegates and visitors
to the biennial meeting of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
voted to accept an item calling on the
denomination to be in a "period of discernment
regarding the place of lesbian •
and gay persons in the church." With a
clear margin in favor of the item; the
delegates to .the church's General Assembly
added this as a . third topic to the
denomination 's new process for dealing
issues in the church.
Two years ago Richard Hamm, General
Minister and President of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), proposed
a different way of dealing with difficult
issues facing the church. · Rather
, than voting up or down on oftentimes
divisive and complex issues, the ·denomination
was presented with an option for
such perplexing subjects, . which was
then approved at the 1995 Assembly,
meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This "Process For Discernment" seeks
to intentionally incorporate the disciplines
of prayer, Bible study, theological
reflection, and dialogue. Subsequently
the General Board of the denomination
named racisni and the nature of
biblical authority as the church's first
two topics for discernment. ·
A-document ·entitled "A -canF or
Reflection On The Participation Of Gay
And Lesbian Pers 9_ffilI n The Life Of
The Church" was -~pproved by voice
vote at lhi!kyear's assembly. The document
noted that, based on the denomination's
~tnphasis on a simple confession
of faith as being _the only requirement
for baptism, '.'there can be no exclusion
of persons ffum the church on the basis
of sexl)ll! orientation: : -The item also
.. named the . two strong -statements · the
assembly has made in belialf of the civil
rights of lesbian and ,gay persons, first
in l'/17 and then again in 1993. Nonetheless,
the :document acknowledges
that "agonizing . 'di~isions continue
w1tbili t4e -f hurch·; the body of Christ"
oyer ,thi ifissue. -~ . ' .
'~ ''M!ifgaret Rice, moderator of Park
Avenue Christian Church in New-York
City ,-,thh ongregation submitti~g · the
item ; -pre sented it on the floor o( the
assembly :. She affirmed cthe enomious
'po~i,i tial ~ ,newpr!JCess f~di ~ mmetit
~l\s for - bringing Christiarts - of
goql will together on -thel.to,pic. ' Rice
·conf es~ ; ·however / that the congrega,
tion ,She serves was not unanimous on
the i~in. sin~ several elders and members
of the New York ~ngregation felt
that ·the'.·resolution was "ioo little, too
late.' 1P1ll')(A venue .Christian Church is
an Op¢n &. Affirming Congregation,
one of thiirty-three in the denomination
12 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER !997
which has publicly proclaimed itself to
be open to and affirming of the full participation
of lesbian, gay, and bisexual .
persons in the life and leadership of the
congregation.
The opposing viewpoint was offered
by the Rev . Thomas Albin , of Union
City, Indiana . He shared his concern
that too much time and energy was
being spent on the issue of homosexuality
in the church, and offered the example
that the booth for the Gay , Lesbian
and Affirming Disciples Alliance
(GLAD Alliance) was the second largest
in the Assembly's exhibit hall. Richard
Hamm took to the microphone to
explain that no monies from the denomination's
Basic Mission Finance, the
general fund given to by local congregations
and individuals, was used to fund
the GLAD Alliance. Leaders of GLAD
Alliance later pointed out that, in fact,
the advocacy and education group actually
gives money to the denomination
through Basic Mission Finance in that
each time the organization takes an
offering, half of all monies collec.ted go .
to the denomination's general fund. The'
other half goes to a local gay-friendly
charity.
The Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) is a North American-born
denomination with just over a million
participating members in the United
States and Canada. The headquarters of
the denomination are in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
Formear ffiliatoef Focuso nt heF amily3 {X)logizfeosr
organizationco'sn denmationf g aysa ndl esbians
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A
man who calls himself a co-founder of
Focus on the Family publicly apologized
to women, ethnic minorities, gays
and lesbians, religious groups and the
media during a blitz to promote his
book.
Gil Alexander-Moegerle claims he
was one of seven people who co-founded
Focus on the Family, a $100 million-ayear
Christian organization that counsels
people seeking advice in dealing
with family struggles.
In his book "James Dobson's War on
America," Alexan,der-Moegerle <;riticires
the group's well-known leader and his
followers, accusing them of veering
from -their original mission of helping
people raise their children and preserve
their marriages.
The author believes Focus has become
too political and said Dobson has. made
"a harmful foray into big-time politics."
"I apologize to lesbian and gay Americans
who are demeaned and dehumanized
on a regular basis by the false, irresponsible,
and inflammatory rhetoric of
James Dobson's anti-gay radio and print
materials ," said Alexander-Moegerle .
"I am ashamed of my former colleagues
for their attacks on you and for
their pattern of slamming the doors of
reasonable access in your face," Alexander-
Moegerle said in a written statement.
"Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered
people have long been a favorite
target of Focus on the Family," said
Kerry Lobel, executive director of the
National .Gay and Lesbian Task Force .
''Their politically charged rhetoric has
become more forceful as James Dobson
has increased the organization's reach
and influence,"
Alexander-Moegerle, who lives in Los
Angeles, made the comments in a news
release prior to . his appearance at the
Colorado Springs offices of the gay and
lesbian activist group Ground Zero.
He said his book is the first insider
critiqueof"the character, style and political
agenda" of James Dobson, who cofounded
Focus on the Family in Arcadia,
Calif., in l C/77.
While at Focus on the. Family, Alexander-
Moegerle was the executive producer
of "Focus" radio and editor .of "Focus"
magazine .. In addition to the apology, he
called upon Dobson to step down from
political activism.
Paul Hetrick, a Focus on the Family
spokesman, denied Alexander-Moegerle
helped found the nonprofit organization ,
saying the author worked for a Chicago
advertising agency and served only as a
consultant before becoming an
employee in 1980.
Hetrick speculated that AlexanderMoegerle
was still angry over a lawsuit
he lost in Pomona (Calif.) Superlor
Court in which he sued Focus on the
Family for allegedly firing him inappropriately
after seve11 years. Hetrick said
Alexander-Moegerle voluntarily resigned
from the organization after divorcing his
wife and marrying his secretary.
Hetrick said Alexander-Moegerle
accused Dobson of interfering with his
personal life after Dobson suggested he
and bis first wife avoid divorce by getting
counseling .
Focus on the Family, founded in
1977, has become the largest right wing
organization in the United States. Their
30 state affiliates do grassroots political
organizing on anti-choice, anti-gay, and
·anti-sex education issues.
Psychologists debunk 'reparative therapy'
CHICAGO - Homosexuality is not a
mental disorder and doesn't need treatment,
. the nation's largest group of psychologists
has declared in an attempt to
quell controversy over so-'called reparative
therapy .
The American Psychological Association,
by a vote of its major policysetting
board, also called on mental
health professionals to "take the lead in
removing the stigma of mental illness
that has long been associated with
homosexual orientation ."
The association first declared in 1975
that homosexuality isn't a mental disorder,
saying it supported the American
Psychiatric Association in remo ving it
from the official list of mental and emotional
disorders.
The newest resolution said lack of
information, ignorance and prejudice
puts some "gay, lesbian, bisexual and
questioning individuals at risk" for seek.
ing "conversion" or "reparative" therapy,
which is aimed at reducing cir eliminating
homosexuality.
There have been no well-designed scientific
studies to test such therapy, the
association said in a stat~nrent.
But it hasn't been conclusively shown
to be harmful, "extensive clinical
experience suggests that such therapy
feeds upon society's anti-gay prejudic es
and is likely to exacerbate the client's
issues of poor self-esteem," the association's
office said.
Kim Mills, a representative of the
Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian and
gay political group, said the resolution
"reaffirms the fact that since there is
nothing wrong with homosexua lity,
there is no reason that gay, lesbian or
bisexual people should try to change."
Robert H. Knight, director of cultural
studies for the conse _rvati ve Family
Research Council, said "homosexual
behavior entails inevitable phys ical and
psychological risks" and maintained that
homosexuals have been successfully
treatedfotfordecades . (AP)
r
DAYTON, OHIO
COMMUNITY
GOSPELC HURCH
P.OI. DX1 634 • D\YIONO, H4 5401
DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY!
ALL ARE WELCOME
meets 546 XeniaAv~
lliyton, Ohio
Sunday 10 am.
E-MAll.R: evSamuelK@aol.
VJSiot ur Wro Site
httwI Wl'IW.h:me.aol.coml~
937-252-8855
REV. SAMUEL KADER,
PASTOR
LONG BEACH. CALIFORNIA
W~a.ry??
COl.VIE :HOl.VIE!!
~
nm. T Jfl~IT rtlLOIT Jm,
•
Of LONQi'l :#ICH
Jb.. l. 'lll,,,J,,d '.,J.,,,
Classes
. Retreats
. Counseling
Social Activities
"Spiritual Support" Group
Mid-Week "Prayer & Praise" Services
Saturday, 6:00 PM "Worship"
North Long Beach Christian Church
1115 E. Market St., Long Beach, CA.
( 562) 435-0990
E-Mai/:Pa!itorDLM@aol.com ·
Distribution of Second Stone in some
communities is sponsored hy our
Outreach Partners. We invite you to
visit them for worship.
SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA
· riJJ Come ~~l ( · ./ Celebrate
• ,) r With Us •1\•a r-,~• - The New
lifeln
Jesus!
g>m,i,,,J-o~/ ~ (w,1£12)
Non-Denominational - Bible Centered
Sunday Servlces - 10:30 am
at. The Billy Defrank Center
175 Stockton Ave .. San Jose, CA
Pastor David Harvey • (408) 345-2319
" 'http://www.lodsys.co ,rn/celebrate/
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
_ Safe Harbor
Metropolitan Community Church
Pastor: Greg Bullard
Worship: 11:00 AM,
7:00PM
Meets at: 2117 Union Ave.
Join us as we Worship,
Celebrate, Praise and
Serve
Jesus!
POBox41691
Memphis, 1N 38174 "
Phone: (901)458-0501
safehmcc@aol.com
MEDICAL SCHOOL, KANSAS CITY MISSOURI
FromP<!ge4
"That can be done carefl!lly or it can
be done in a way that offends palients,"
said Matthews. "That's where we need
the me.dical schools. Students need to be
trained on how to do this so it doesn't
offend people."
Dr. Valencia Clay, an Atlanta internist
who will teach a class at Morehouse,
said the courses aren't meant to force a
particular religion or set of beliefs on a
doctor or patient. Doctors must know
where treatment might conflict with a
patient's beliefs, she said,
"A Jehovah's Witness is against blOod
transfusions," she said 'There are some
Christians who don't believe in birth
control. We have one whole class on
religious beliefs that may act as barriers."
Morehouse's course also will pair
students with terminally ill patients
from the day they are diagnosed to the
: day they die. They will even be involved
in funeral arrange~nts.
At Loyola, students will go on rounds
with hospital chaplains. At Brown University
School of Medicine, students
will go on a retreat to explore their own
faith and beliefs and learn how to
include hospice groups in their care of a
terminally ill patient.
Dr. Myles Sheehan, a physician and
Jesuit priest who will help teach the
course at Loyola, said the class is a
rediscovery of something that has been
taken for granted among physicians.
"Doctors who miss the experience of
the human spirit are like readers who
skip several chapters in a book," Sheehan
wrote in a recent newsletter for
Choice In Dying, a patient's rights
groubpa sed in New York.
The courses · are also .prompted by
recent surveys and studies that highlight
patients' reliance on faith .
A survey of 268 doctors at an American
Academy of ·Family · Physicians
meeting last year found 91 percent had
patients who asked a priest, rabbi, minister
or faith healer to help with their
illness. A 1996 survey of 1,004 people
by the Roper Center at the University of
Connecticut found 64 percent want their
doctor to pray with them. (AP)
Come share your ministry with ns
at..".
~
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church
5090 NE Chouleau Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 64119
(816) 452-1222
Caring for People and Creation
(Ncnh of the River)
Sunday Worship: 10:30 am
Sunday School: 9:00 am .
http:/l wwvv.s ound.net/ "1liclde
To receive
Second Stone's
online updates,
e-mailyour
address to
secstone@aol.com
HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA
Faith
Full Gospel
Fellowship
Worship: Sunday 5p.m.
22294 City Center Dr. #5108
Hayward CA 94541~2810
(510)886-7332
E-mail: faith2fellowship@hotmail.com
web site: ·
http://www2.netcom.com/-itsamelfaithfel
lowship.htmi
MEMPHIS TENNESSEE
HOLYTRINITY
COMMUc_NHIUTRYC HES
INT ENNESSEE
MEMPHIS--
1559 Madison Ave.
901 /726-9443
Sunday: 10 a.m. Sunday School
I I a.m. Communion
Rev. TimothMy eJdowsM, .Div,S, eniorM inister
NASHVILLE·-
3028 Lebanon Rd. (In the Unity Center)
,,( 61518,37-2424 .
Sunday: 6 p.m, Worship Service
' Rev. Cy'!th~/ ooper, M.M.
ProcfilimingG od's love for All People
SECOND STONE 13
About our
Resource Guide ...
The churches, organizations and publications
listed below are resources
for gay /lesbian/bisexual/ transgendered
Christians. Accuracy of an
organization ' s listing is the responsibility
of the organization. We
apologize for any omissions or errors.
Corrections may be sent to P .0. Box
8340, New Orleans, LA 70182 oremailed
to secstone@aol.com. In most
cases area codes are listed in the city
heading only. ·
National
~j1~9E g~~~~~IN;~~\~f41:S'.;~7~~-=•· ~~~:
drectO'.
AFFIRMT/\I ON/UnitoMd elhcxlslsfo r Gay& lesbianC oocems,
P.O.B ox1 021E, vanston.6IL0 204(.7 08)733·9590.
AMERICANBA PTISTSC ONCERNE1D3, 318C larepoirrtWe ay,•
~R~~mi=ti~s1~~m~ra-1:rr ~49 E.
BurnsidSet , PonlanOd,R 9 7214(-003)230-9427.
APCSTOIJCA T HOIJCC HURCHIN AMERICAa, nationagl ay-
1riendcym ominalioBois.t q,P a~D aviCd. S trongO. SJDP, O8 0<
~~meSeaWlAle9,6 1(»-100(52.0 6)763-246a9p. callch@aol.can.
ASSOCIA ISTRIESP, OB ox8 506,
ASSOCIA ON OF WELC NG AND ~=\lAPTISTS,
P.O.B o<2 596A, tt1eboFraol s,W . 02763-069V4.lf .(506)226-09. 45
WABaplis1silaa.chatn1.) :/•a<i(~ts. A nelwOol!fc
cllllohas,O IQllllllatiaonodsin <Milawlsh ow elcomaen da ct,ooale •ll!,=rficile~gay, andbisexualpeq,we ithin
BALM MINIS=. P:O.Bal 1961, Costa Mesa, CA 92628.
(714)64H968. MarshaS leV!lfis' ,singer/songt1JlteSr.u zanne
t:r""tiir~·NOiilTE PARENTOS F LESBIAN/GACYH ILDRENB,
ox1 708L, ima.OH45 802.
BRETHRENM/ ENNONITCEO UNCIFL ORL ESBIANA NDG AY
CONCERNSB,o x6 300;M ilneapoliMs,N 5 5406-030(06.1 2)722·
6906.B MCooociOaohl.to1o):m/-..V MlCOm.can.bSnlcW/ (lrt
for_ er.livaennd M eMOrgit,.o'f , leslliana,n d -..1 peq,le, and
therparenlS, spousesr,e la- end-. Nbllln: lllllogJe
CHIR HOP RESS·_· -A speciwloi r!(olt he uFfkMci d-AUlnlDici s•
1ricl Nlfmher <1r elijioubs ooks~ndm aleria~,P .O.B ox7 864, ~~~rrw.riic,o~ and~ -
. for g,.'f and-n Ga-clerg,, andr elgoUsP. .O.8 o<6 0125,
Chioo(pI,L 6 0000-012N5l.l i:ation; Communication· ·
CONFERENCFEO RC ATHOLILCE SBIANSP,. O.B ox~ Planetariln
5111N.,e wYa1N<,Y 1 0024(.7 18)921-046!.
CONNECTION··SSP IRITUALLI NKS• Seminarsw,o rl<shqlcs,o n-
oogie1a ndben!awmentR evR. icharBd .G iblfl,< hckr .
1504N . C.rnp,ellS t, V81JaraisIoN, "6383.( 219)464-618w3ic, e
. and1ax. • .
DIGNTYIUS1A5,0 0Massach!Jse11$Ave.,NW\,YSalesh.1in1g,l :ln, g:=J2a~· FAX·(202)429-980G8a. ya ndl esbian
.E CUMENICACLA T HOIJCC HURC;HP.O. Bo<3 2,V i~ Grande, , ~m=u. ~$=~~~~t7003. TheMootRev.
ECUMENIC.AOLRDERO FC HARITYP,O B<»2c5 7,I les l.tlinesI,A
50301.(.5 15)251-825A4n. ecumenicailn, olusivree ligiouos rdero f
~!:,~,.~=lhe~~~Wrt,.
EROSPIRftl:'ESE'ARINCSHT 'l¥JE,P .O.B ae3 893~, nd, CA
94609.(510)428-9063.NalwOl!colga;,and-...,.tali:soffe!ing
-andYideQ8ilierollcsplri1ual1y,
EVANGEIJCA~ANGIJCCAHNU RCHIN AMERICA2,4 01A rtas~
Blvd, Sle. 106-21,3-Beacll, CA 90278.'(310)798-6720.
EA~IACS@aol.can. Na1ionoa1l lioeo f anE ACAc hurcho ommunities.
. .
~~=v~~~~~1~s1~~-,~~i=i/J.!!k=!~ Record · .
THEE VANGELICANLE TWORKB,o <1 6104P, lumb<A, Z85011.
(002)265-2831.
FEDERATIOONF P ARENTASN DF RIENDOS F LESBIANASN D
GAYSI,N C.P .O.B o<2 7605W, aslingtmD, C2 0038.(202)fil8-4200.
Send$3-001poard <e1iontf oonalioo. ·
GULFL OWERAT LANTIDCI STRICoTt l!leUniwrsaFl elloNshoi>f
~wr~)~,~~~"J~ .. ~1
:.:~~I:n~:m~•
GLADMCC@aol.com.
Wernlteh: tip;llwwN.gecxities.com/WeslHot/W000'1490.
~~= :~~ 1~!'.A~ ~~~~i~i~-~~f4~ ~~ar:0112w
0001.
14 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
GAYA NDL ESBIANP ARENTSC OALITIONIN TERNATIONA~
P.O.I la( 50360,W asl-ingtoDoC, 20091(2. 02)583-802l'9L.t ll""11i011
Ne1work
GAY,L ESBIANA NOA FFIRMINGD ISCIPLEASW ANCE,P .O.
Box1 922,3 lnclanapoiiIsN, 4 6219-022(33.1 9)324-623F1o.r m embers
of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Pt.tilication:
Crossbeam. s ·
GAYELLOWPA GES•P .O.B ox5 33,V illageS in,. NewY01~N Y
10014-053(231. 2)674-0120.
GAEAT LAKESD ISTRICoTf Ille UniwrsaFl ellaNshopl MelrqJ>ol
tan CcmmunityChurches1,3 00A mbroJeD r., LouisvilleK, Y 40207.
2410. (502)897-38w21ic, eandf ax.Jua,,Da~c,o orclnalor.
HUMANR IGHTSC AMPAIGN1,1 01 14th St. . NW, Ste. 200,
~~1~~~N~:b
202
:1~ir·New York,N Y 10165-52.5 5
l~=~.~~.i:1 ~~ ""l~'i..~ %8. (617)742-2100.
A lay organiZatioonf UnitarianU niversalisftosr lesbianb, isexu,a l
11'?i\1~~m ''?. o'°~178 ,C oncordC. A 94522-01.7 B8f .
moolh~p lillcation. ·
LUTHERANCSO NCERNEDN/O RTHA MERICAB,o x1 0461F, ort
Oeai1loSolla OOCI\ hica!1, IJL6 0610-046l1'L. troalioo: TheC oocoo1
METHODISTF EDERATIONF OR SOCIALA CTION,a gay.
affirmingm, utti-issuanelvo7a6kC , finfonAveS.,t alents~nd1,l ll01·
ui~g!i~~St~~: it~°":f~~ =~. RI
02940-10.5 5(«>1)722·31.3 C2hristianE, cumen""1a1n di nclusive
communiotyf s~ters., b rolhersa nda ssociates~. ://mg;.01g'ITl9).
MerCj(:orrJm@aol.com.
MOREIJ GKTC HURCHENSE TWORK60, 0 W. FullertonP kvo.,y
Chicag,I,L 60614-269(07,7 3)338-04. R52esoocep acke\ $12.P tb-
1""1tionM: omU g,tC lltrchesN etv«lkN ewslltter .
NATIONAALS SOCIATIOONF CATHOLIDCI OCESALNE SBIAN
ANOG AYM INISTRIES43, 3 JeffersonS t ,'OaklandC, A 94607. =10 465-9344. Newsle11er and na1ional con1erence.
@aot.com. . .
NATI NALC OUNCILO F CHURCHES47, 5R iversideD r., New
Yori\ NY 10115A. IDST ask Force,R oom5 72,( 212)870·2421.
HumanSexuali1y01Rficoeo,m 7 0S(:2 12)870-2151.
NATIONACL OUNCILO F CHURCHESW, ashingto0n1 1ice1, 10
Mar,landAvNeE., ,W astirgonD, C2 000.2 (202)544-2350.
NA1IONALG AY PENTECOSTAALL LIANCE(a: ~o Pan1ecostal
Bille lnstitule( Minlsleria1ll alningj)P.OB.o x 1391S, chenecla<lf,
NY 12301-1391. (518)372·6001. NGPA0concen1r~.nel ,~"T.~.='.. r i~1=t·c:.'~~~~lfirmi'g
OiscjllesA lliance,R ev.A lenV '.Hanis,c lo 1010P ar1A<v e.,N ew
YorkN Y10028-099(211. 2)288-32~tb.l lnandewcetonb'conll"(
llltioos• nd-mlnlslrleosl bl Clris1Cialunch (lliocilolet s
Cms1) wl1icsho ek1 owelconea ndiflinn lesllianr;,J ff,a ndb isexual
~A NDA FFIRMINGPR OGRAMU,r iledC luch Coalitio1no r
L8'blan/GayC 9ncernPsO, Box «l3, Holden,M A0 1520-0403. t5:=6
s:;;r"~300cw .munq,eSt, Philadel,llP1iAa ,
19144(.2 15)849-217N8J. lishesa r1i~cles 10p rogessive
Cl1rlstians.
OTHERS HEEPM ,jJjcuHuMrainJ istrwieis1 hS exuaMl ir)ori113e1s9,
N. Foor1#1910 2, St i.ll<isM, O6 3102•1936(3. 14)241·240F0A. X
(314)241-240E3-.m a:i gilem)geaolcoTmh.e ologcaal nde c1Jca-
1mllwor1lo<o allyn,a ~. andi11emationatf~positive
~~~c~~~ =:,'~ 122Z
lnda1111XINl14is6,: !l6,1222(3. 17)251-152!1.
PRES8YTERIANFOS RL ESBIAN& GAYC ONCERNPS.,O .B o<
38,N ewarun..;:kN, J089(XHXJ38, (00!)932-750(19,0 8)249-1016.
Nbtion• Moml. ig,tUpdale
RECONCILINCGO NGREGATIOPNR OGRAM3,8 01N . Keeler
Ave.. Chicag:)I, L60641(.7 73)736-552F6X.( 773)736-54N75il. cation:
OpenHards
RELIGIONW ATCHP, .O.B ae6 52,N orthB elmore,N Y 11710A.
newsle11mero ni1airg trendsi no onlemporarreyi gion.
TELOSM INISTRIE(SB aptists)P, O Box3.3 90,F als ChlRtll,V A
22043. 561).268F0.a x,- 5. \elllSmin-.can.
SILENTH ARVESTM INISTRIESP,O Bae· 190511D, allas,T X
~~il,,~~j~~GATIONS NETWORKM, ennonitaen d
Bre1hren, PO Box 6300, Minneapolis, MN 55406-0300.
SCNalwOl!c@aol.cAo omo. 1Woortk M ennonGieten,e raCl 0nlerence
MemooileandChtrchofttieBre1ivencorg"!JltiorBwl1ichwebJme
©ir~~~= r,_i~-rmlCE FORL ESBIAN/GACYO N·
CERN;S 25B eaocnStB, ostonM, A021~.( 6,n742-210. 0
UNITEDC HURCCHO ALITIOFNO RL ESBIAIN G AYC ONCERNS,
18 N. College,A 1hensO, H 45701,( 614)5 93-7301P. ullliallion:
Wwes
UNITEDC HURCHO F CHRISTO, ffice1 orC hlRtlli n Socie1,y 110 ~m\;1s1mr~c~~~r=~f:~k.«iN1TY CHURCHE8S7 04S arrteM onicBa Mi, 2ndF~W. esHt ollyNcoCdA.
90069-454.8 (310)36o-8640,F AX (310)360:8680E. -mail:
u1rno,tqilaol.canw.. tlslte•h t1p:/ltlww.u1mcc.can.
t:t~k~~~ 1heE p;scq,aCl hurchP tblishinCg o,
1249Waslil1gton8MS11,e 3. 115l,l elroiM\ l 48226-186(381. 3)962·
2650
WOOOSWOME• NAc lienluretr avel1 orw omen2, 5 W. Diamond
LakeR d, Minneepol'•M. N5 5419(,8 00)279-055(651, 2)822-3809,
FAX (612)822·3814
Alaska
~~~E;~&,..,nan\ P.O.B ox2 8689,9 645.7 46-108H9.o NardH.
Bessp, astorA. Welcominagn dA 1f,minAg mericaBn aptisCt oogegaloo.
iliifWf,fi##iiiiii&&i4iiiW5
Arizona
PHOENX1'(602) :f DeG ris1oE v~I ChU!cl\1 029E . Turne,y 850142. 65-
0live Tree Minis1rie, sPO Box4 7787, 85068-77878.6 1-3424.
~:/fMTI.oom/-.
TtJcsoN(Sl!J)
Corne!stonFee lloWsh2p9, 02N .G eronimo8,5 7056. 22-4626S. unday,
S S•m.,1 0:308.mW., e<tesda7y,p .mP. r!l)'!rs ervicela s1S uno. f
Ille moolh5, p.mR. adaS cha,f fpastorC. HRISTFORALL@juno.can.
Frst ChristianC huro,l l7«l E. Speec!Na8y5, 7196. 24-8695S.u n,.
8:15a.m., 10:30amP. asllrNcbKi anek.o
FAYffiE\/1LLE(501) .
OurL aoo/f Guadail.lJCe sthooCo hurchP, OB ox8 32,7 2702-08.32 1
444-96-0S7a. l, 5:30pm. . al St Martin'sE piscq,aSl tudenCt enter,
814W . Mapl,.F r.J oseph PauSl mithp, askr.
California
HAYWAR0(510)
FaithF etla.Ysh2~2, 294CilyCenterDSrt.e, .5 1089, 45418.8 6-7332.
IRV1NE(714)
IrvineU nitedC hurcho f Chris\4 915A ltonP kvoy9.,2 7147. 33--0220.
. An Open& AffirmingC ongegaOOpIr\o udlyp rogessivein, tentionally
inclusive.
LAGUNBAE ACH(7 14)
Evangeo:alCs oncernedP, O Box 1452,9 2652-14524.5 1-377. 7
Tues.7, :30p..m.
LAGUNAN IGUEL(7 14) · ~:;~.,..,:=~~~~~";"=r:i~:olli,,,~~: l!leir1 amHiaensd m ends.
LONGB EACH(5 62)
Firs1C oogegaliooCafh urch2, 41C edaAr ve.,9 0802.4 36-2256A. n
Opena ncAf ffirm'l/Coogegaliooof 1heU niledC htrcho fC hrist
HolyS piriFt ellaiishpP, OB ox9 12729, 08094.3 5-099. C0hristianity
as)<IUat.\ovl'sq ledltoouldte.
LOSA NGELEAS REA(2 13)
CrescenH1 eig,!sU MC,1 296N o. Fairtax Ave. . WestH ol!IWood.
90046 656-5336.
UnitedC hurchC oalitio1no Lr eroian/GayGaicemSso,o lhemca m01-
niaC hapler,2 41C edarA ve.,L oogB eachC, A9 0802. Rev.L tily ~fs'£J~~~Brinn<( 5 62)436-2256.
FirstCoogegatiorBIChlr4c6h4, E.W alntrtSt9.,1 1017. 95-0696.An
Opena ndA f!inningco rg"!Jllionw. ithinIl le Unil3dC hurcho tC !1r51.
E-mai:l ambde1oolla01.c.a n
SxAN:F RnANsCIS CBOA >Y.R E(A41 5) Coocemed, 586 ValtejoS t, /1259, 4133-403935. 6-2069.
~:i:;i<~:Ja ilh Pra~ea nd WornhiJC ente,r PO Box5 765,
~3f,!319. Sun, 10:30.am. at The Silly_DeFrankCente17r,5
FirstC hris1laCnl rurcl\8 0 S. 51hS t, 951122. 94-2944R. ichardK .
Miller,pasl:lr.
Gay,~ n. andA ffinni'gD iscples,r ioFi oitC hrislilnC htKch8,0
SO. 51hSl,951122.9 4-2944.
SANL UISO BISPO(8 05)
MCColf! leCentralCoesP~O Box1 117G, ,_Clty, 93483-1117.
481-937S6U. nday1, 0:30.0m.R ev.R ancA:1 L/. eslepr,a stor.
WHlmEJ;(310) • . . l'
GoodSemari1aMn CC1, 19~1E . WashirigfoBnM !, 00606-2607.
69&<i21R3.e v. Gila CliapmMp, asb'. .
District of Columbia
DISTRICOTF C OLUIIBIA(2 02)
lliJi1y,P OBox5300210, 0093. 87-4516.
Florida
FORT MYERS
ii·::~~'1~'.~~~S:.=l.':;=.= ~~!::·
BetheEl va,geosiMic inislioIsn,c .P,O B a<m s.3 2148.
KEYW EST{3 05)
MCC1, 215P erooiaS t, 330402. 94-8912S.o oday9, ~, 11a.m.,
::~~tiT~~~,past>.
l't,ffloo1Cho ngegationaUl niledC hlrcllo 1C hris~3 400D awnR d.,
331334. 44-6521S. un.,1 0a.mR. adobroaooastoFoM 9 3.1A. IDS
oo~each !11inisllym, emoriasl erw:ehso,ly unions.A Hw elcome.
www.foea1iYe.~
PANAMAC ITY(9 04)
Famtf 01G odW orshpC en1er1, 139E verittA ve.,C edarG rove,· ~~~_;~Su1n..1, 0:300.msa. ittt,g,cOaoloom.
Penlecos1aolsf TampaB ay,2 0C2et3tle maDnr. ,B ra3n3w5n1,1 .
651-1505.
Illinois
CHICAG0(773}
lnllgi1\IChjcagP>,O B o<3 232,O .kPark,I L60303-323324.8 -6382.
JACl<SONVIL(lE21 7)
S1.M aximiianK olle CalholicC oorcho 11heA mericasP, O Boe
1345,62850-1345.~.Sun ,5:~.m.
Indiana
lNCWIAPOU(S3 17). '
HofyEucharis1Cluch,207504E1. hStS., 1e7. , 462202.5 1-1526.
)owa
DESM OINES(5 15)
Wordo l God MlnlslliesP,. O. Bo<4 3960, 03332. 70-2709M. eetsa t
St Mar1<sEpiscqC,alul ch, 3120E .2 41hStD., esM ome. s
URBANDAL(5E1 5)
UnttedC !'il'ch of Chris~3 5307 0thS t, 50322.2 7!Hl625F. ax,2 76-
2451A. nO pen& A11nnir(gO NAC) ongega1ion.
Kansas
TOPEKA(913)
MCCP, OB <»47c7 66, 6604-0n62. 32-619S6.E l nclareA vaa 1251h
WICHITA(316) . .
WichitaP raisea ndW orshpCente1r,6 07s . Broad,va6y7, 2112. 67·
6270C. huckB reckenridgpea,s lo.r
t ii# iiM &i&i WWifi iiiiiNiiiiiiW ;•M d
Kentucky
LOUISVILL(E5 02)
ThwdL u1heraCn1 1tl!ch1,8 64F rankfoAr1v e.,4 02068.9 6-638.3 Sun<
lly,1 0:308.mTL. CX2@ecunel·O !!J
Louisiana
NEWO RLEANS(5 04)
Firs1J esusN ameC hum~P .O.B ox5 83827, 0158-636A2n. Aels
2:38rongogalion.
St ThomasA q.,inasC atholicC hurcho f the America,s 717P atterson,
701142.6 3-5412.
Massachusetts
CAMBRIDG(E61 7)
OldC smbrkt,JBea ptisCt hurch1, 151M assachuseAttsv e., 0213.8
864-8068I.r ving•C ummingsp,a sta. A Welcominga nd Affirming
AmericaBn aptistc ongega10. 0
WALTHAM(617)
Lu1heransCoocemdoe dR,a ndaRll ice1, 081/2CheslnSutt, 02154-
. o«l6. 893-2783.
Michigan
ANNA RBOR(3 13)
GuildH ooseC ampuMs mistry8,0 2 Monroe4,8 1048. 62·5189R. ev.
O~ne Chris1qn,rson.
DETROIT(810)
MCC,P O Box 836, R<>JaOl ak, Ml 48068-08361.2 48)399-4717.
Meelsa 1O raytcrP, re,cyteriaCnh trchS, un,1 O am. ., 7pm. .
FLINT(810)
RedeemeMr CC,1 665N . ChevroleAt ve.,4 8504-316243. 8-6700. !:;l"i¥~.,i~i ~,:~.: ~: tourthS un.e a moolhe xcep1
FT.GRATIOT(810)
All SoulsA' poslof~C sthol"C~ hurch4,8 53 DesmonBde ach,4 8059.
385-9224H.o lyEucharis1Sun.11a.m.
LANSING(517)
Di1Ji1yP,O B ox1 265E, astL ansing4,8 826.3 21·4841.
Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS/SPTA.U L(612)
All GodsC Mcl'enM CC3, 100P ar1A<v e.s .,M inneapoli5s5, «l7.
' 824-2673W. lrKiJwo f WellnesCs ounselinCge ntero ffersp ooilive
affinninCg hristiacno unseling1 orh om058Xuals.
LutheranCso ocemed1,0 0N . OdordS l , St Paul5, 5104-654808.6 -
8941.
W,tg;panMlnlslr1y0, 0N .O x1ordS, l_Paul,551042.2 4-3371.
Mississippi
JACKSON(ll01) .
SaleH artorF amilyC hurch2, 147H enryH ilfDr,; Ste.2 03,3 9204·
2000.9 61-9500R. ev.J amesH . Bect<epra, s1oWr. l<day3:5 9-6604;
Eve:8 25-0056S. Un.5, p.m.A, <ill1SundaySch6oJol,m .
Missouri
KANSACSIT YA REA(8 16)
AbidngP eaceL lllhera~C hurch5, 090N E Choo1eaTura ff.,,.,ay,
:19,452-~~~~=== MaJyGetlenc, oo-
ST.=-(314) -~ -, ,,,. . .
TheAll'IJ8Ctuoh,2109SoolhSpringA,6ve3.110-35:16764-3588.
~•a01.com.
Montana
LIV1NGST(O40N6 l • . •
A11imatio(Un niledMelhcdst5s2),9 N.'81hSt,5 9047. 222~ '
Nevada
New Jersey
JERSECYI TY( 2111) .
Chris0t .. Te ed,er Gattdc Churcho l lheA mericas2,1 91 S IS l, #1, ~=-=~~tio;ivila·o tcom
PLGCP, 080<38,0 89(XHX)38N, !: Moral.911
New Mexico •
ALBUQUERQU{5E0 5)
MCC·2,« l4 SanM eleoP l., NE,8 71108. 81-9086R.e v.D r.F redC .
- WliamPs;. "SES1'·1 1.1, 00.m.
Rivero l life HealirgM inistries1,3 4Q uincyN, E,8 7108.
. LASC RUCE{S5 05)
Hd/ Famt,-Parisho l lhe Eva~I AnglicaCn huaii n Ame<ica,
1101E .M iss<UiAve8.,1 1015l12.2 •7119.An-parisl1'4l8fll'.>
all .
Kolnoria2,1 62D oraoollr.8, 80115. 21-1490G. ayandlesllionspirluai\
f-.
New York
ALBANY/CAPAITRAELA (518)
Ug,lhooseA posl'.>licctuchP, OB ox1 391S, cheneot1a2<3l0f,1 ·
13913. 72-600. 1BroW. .H .C .rey,pastor·. '
NEWY ORKC ITYA REA
--Yor1<Cl1y1191(212)
BtessedV•gMn eryM ission1, 23E . 15S t, 100032. 28-0898S. un,
U5p.m.
Chri!tlanS ci!mcGe fOll',r fo 4443 rdA ve.1, 4,1 00165.3 2-8379.
Gay,~ n & Affirmi'gD iscplesA lliancerf, o AltenH arris1, 45311
~..::c::.~ar-~olChrisQ, 1010Par1<Ave.
al851hS t, 100282. 86-32~A. vbant crealivea,n dciversceo nge-
~" ":~' "=:.: .0f1~ ~ f_ ;~~~""1""288-3246.
F0111Fhri <By7,p .m.
UCCUGCr,f o CraigH offman1, 4531L1e xingtoAnv e.,1 01282. 89-
3016.
0"""'11(718)
Queens lesbian& G"XC hris1ianPs,O Box4 154,C ollegeP ain\ M:A~Lis~heG:6ood)S heple!d
=~==:;hurch, 1646N ia!JlraA ve.,1 43052. 84-
PLATTSBURGH(518)
St Mar/sEcumenicafCstholicChuPrOchil,o <1 59C, hazy1, 292.1
493-327(2w ice andF AX)R. ev.F r.M ichaeRl .F rost.
ROCHESTER (716)
. PLGC,doC.r1er, 111 t.lb.JmSt, 14607-:!918.271-7649:
North Carolrna
g::,~;:;rJA-ic for Gay,tesbian E<JJ811Y, 5945 Ae(l;inan
Rd, 1205, 28212-1664. 568-6669. GamlttE. Pttb , <mtactper.,,n.
GREENSSOAO (910) .
Unltariln Uniw!sal~t Church of Greensboro, 5603 H~lop Rd.,
27 414. 856-0330. Meels at .GTCC-Jamestown, Sunday School,
9:30a.m., Servi~. 10:30a.m. Barbara ·cooke, pastor.
hl\>1/members.aol.oom/uucg ,
TRIANGLE AREA (919)
Pullen Memolial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillslx,oogh St, Aateig,,
27606. 828-0897. M Mehan Siler, Jr., pasta.
Ohio
AKAON'(330)
cascade CommunHyChurch. 1190/1196 Inman St, 44306. 7r:;.
5298. Sunday, 2p.m. l'lb: cascaoo Newse11er.
CINCINNATl(513)
lnll!Jity, <l!IOSChatetOr.,#11, 45217-1445. 21!2-7297.
~21~':~~8"1J"~1~~chi1~
03
0rw~~~ ~~.~~~ft!:
Af.tlnll.ig,toongeg,lion.
COLUMBUS (614)
g~~~ 82001, 43202. 45Hi528
Ganmlllily Gospel Cluch , PO Ba< 1634, 45401. 252-8855. Spirit
filled, Chnst oentered MeelS nus .. 5p.m., Sun. 101.m. al 546
Xenia Aw., Daytoo.Samuel Kader, pasta .
GRANVILLE (614) =:~~~~Jr.'. \!!B~~=~~~~:~:; can Baplisl Coo(Jeg,tioo. •
MANSFIELD(419)
Center for Paslaal Care, 3180 German Church Rd, 44904. 756-
29TT, TT4-53TT. FAX TT4-9805. Sunday ituigy, 10:15a.m. Pastaal
~rolreats .
Oregon
PORTLAND (503)
Melaroia Peace Community UM::, 2116 NE 18lhAve., 97212· 4600.
281-3697.
Pennsylvania
ELWYN(610) . .
Pigin =· .. ChuR:h, P.O. Ba< 4306, 19063. :!37-1367. MeelS
Stn at · A,pcr1 Comfor1 Im .
LEHIGH VALL (610) .
GraceCMnantF~247N.10lhSt,Allenloon, 18102 711!- :~~o:-~ 8r."lao,<Rowe, pastor. Thom Ritter, musk:
PHIL.ADELPHIA (2151
Urited CoorchCoali1lon for Lestliar>'Gay COncems, PO Ba< 6315,
' 19139. 724-1'247.
Rhode Island
PIIOVIOENCE (401) ·
St Pater's & St An<t9W's Epsoopat Cluch, 25 Pomona Ave.,
~iJ.7:~ai.~==~ :r.fl wab ot lifo, wilh an active lntO!Jity chapla!, hamg and
AIDS m;;ny. se - Espanol ·
South Carolina
COLUIIB!A~ ' .
~°::"~~~rl~m~\~ 7
~~
3
Crilc,
USC.POl!o<882&,29(1Q!.
t.«:C Cdll!ul, P.O. Boe 8753, 29202. 256-2154. Meets at 1111
-St,'2.St.n, 111.m~fw,. PillricllVoab,pasb'.
PRAG, Meets>thid Thlis, Mry mootli, 6p.m. at Corl\murily
HolBe, St M111in'Hl-lhe-Flelds J;plscq)al Cluch, 5220 Clamson
Aw.
Gl&NVILLE (884)
MCC, 314Li1¥1St, 29!1JM«J8. 233-0919. S111., 111.m., l!p.m. ReY.
Mi:A<Hilson,pasb'.
Tennessee
CHATTANOOGA(4ZI) . - . -- .
Joyfu Sound Ctmtiln F-.;p Chtleh, PO Bo< 8506, 37◄ 1'.
=~~~~~-S11t,6p.m.1tlllelnMEIIPHIS
(901)
HdyTrililyCominunityChulch, 1559 Maclisa,, 38104. 726-9<143.
Proi:lalmilg Gcxls kMI for 11 pe(llie.
NASIMLLE(S15) ·
Cluchoflho~Wala!, POilo< 1312, Mads011, TN37116-1312.
1165-2679. Slit, o4p.m.
Resource Guide
Texas
AUSTIN(512)
Joan Wakeford-Ministries, Ire., !M01 Grouse MeadJW tn. , 78758-
6348. 835-7354. .
~~~:~~~:'~=/~ Boe 191021, Danas, 75219.
528-4913.
Graoo Mi1is1ries, Inc., 43/ll-A Holland, 75219.
HolyTrinilyCommunilyChlKch, 4402AoaebndAve., Dellas, 75204.
827-soae. 'A hana lor fN8f'f hear!' S8l'ling !ho Dallas leobian and
~a:::.=:v~::~ll<»<190511, 75219-0511. - .
ELPAS0(915)
t.«:C, 9828 Mootana, 79925, 591-4155. Slll., 10:30a.m., 6p.m.,
Wed,7Jlm.
Unitarian Unive,salist COmmlllily, 4425 Byron, 79930. 562-4001.
SIJ1,10:3Ja.m
· GAL VEST ON (G)
Unilanan Un~lisl Fellowhi>, 502 Church St, 77550. 765-,133(),
AR faitt5 aa:epled. Sexual Cl'lentalion raspacted
. m:.<.,1~mlllilyCht.rch, 13904COunlyAd 193, 75703. 581·
6923 Pastor Ooona A. _Garr¢el.
Utah
LOGAN(801)
MCC, PO Bac.4285, 84323. 750-5026. Sun., 11a.m.
~~ ~~~'ri:tkc, 823 S. 600 E, 84102-3507. 596-0052.
Virginia
· FALLS CHURCH (703)
Talos ~ (BaplislS), PO Ba< 3300, 22043. 560-2680.
· MANASSAS (703) .
· Bull Run Unilafian Unlve<salis1s, PO Bae 2416. 361-6269. A UUA· ~~1ru~1m
Fourd!liooi ol Stone ~~tries, 149 Nelson Or., 23185. 229-0832.
Taacmng, seminars, relrealS, revtvais.
Heaven's Tableland Cluch, P.O. Ba<2674; 23187. (757)887-3719.
ReY.AdellaL Barr, pasta. MeeisSun. BollldarySl t.lnryat 1:30
p.m.
Washington
SEATTLE(:1116) .
lntagity, PO Bo< 20663, 98102, 525-4668. ·
, University C<J9e0ltiooal Uniled ClUch of ctlls\ 451516111 Aw.,
NE, 98105. 524-2322. Opentygaypoq,laa1al-of lmlJShi>.
Wisconsin
Become a Second Stone
Outreach Partner
in your community.
Get listed in our next
National Resource Guide
Churches and organizations with a specific outreach t,o gays and lesbians
will be listed free. Ministries not maintaining a current subscription
t,o Second Stone must update · their listing every six months.
HERE'S OUR INFORMATION FOR THE RESOURCE GUIDE:
ChurchlGroup Name·--------~------------~- Address __________________________ _
Phone __________________________ _
Other inlormatio,~---------------------Please
contact us about [ ] advenising [ ]becoming an Outreach Panner
MAIL TO : Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182 OR FAX TO (504)899-4014
OR E-MAIL TO: secstone@aol.com
September/October 1997
Outreach Partner Report
. The Outreach Partner program helps local ministries make Christ .
known in their gay and lesbian communities by providing free copies to '
. distribute at gay pride events, at P-FLAG meetings, in bars, etc. The
local ministry receives free advertising space in Second Stone, inviting
everyone who reads a·copy to visit for w9rship.
°It's easy to become an Outreach Partner.
First, you determine the number of copies yon can distribute in your
community. Most churches place a flier or brochure for the church in
every copy they distribute. In determining the number of copies you
·need, consider stacking 10-20 copies at gay pride events, PFLAG ·
meetings, gay bars, etc. Multiply every location you think of by at
least 15.
Next, you send us your camera-ready ad. ([here is no charge to run
your ad:) We need to receive your ad at P.O. Box 8340, New Orleans,
LA 70182. Ad size: 2 1/2" wide X 3" tall. Be sure to include in your ad
your logo, address and phone, service or meeting times; and A CALL
TO ACTION like "Come visit us at ... " or "Call for information
about. .. "
And last, give us a street address to which UPS can ship your copies.
Printing and shipping expenses are billed to the Outreach Partner
Fund. You. can contribute the amount of your expenses - or more - or
Jess - or nothing - to this fund.
The deadline for the Nov/Dec issue is October 15.
The Outreach Partner program is a community fund which looks like
this right now:
. EXPENSES
JANUARY/FEBRUARY '97
MARCH/ APRIL '97
MAY/JUNE '97
JUUAUG'97
Other Sheep
Safe Harbor Family Church
H,f>!)'. Trinity Church (Memphis)
Holy Spirit Fellowship
Celebration of Faith
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church
Faith Full Gospel Fellowship ·
Community Gospel Church
lighthouse Apostolic Church
Third Lutheran Church
Church of the living Water
100 copies sent to South Afri~
TOTAL 1997 EXPENSES
CONTRIBUTIONS
Balancefo1ward
First Congregational UCC
· Community Gospel Church
Church of the Holy Spirit MCC
Safe Harbor MCC
First Name Jesus Church
Holy Spirit Fellowship
Faith Full Gospei Fellowship
Other Sheep
1997 CONTRIBUTIONS
FUND BALANCE
308.77
456.93
767.38
45.30
27.56
44 .32
58) 4
34:94
32.33
20.i5
21.30
54.08
(,(),80
1999.34
1593.51
31.64
30.00
30.00
75.00
100.00
,50.00
100.00
45.00
2055:15
55.81*
*Does not include printing. and shipping expenses for the Sept/Oct
'97 issue.
Please support the Outreach Partner program fund in whatever way
you are able. If your church or organization would like to participate in
this program, please follow tlie giii~lin~i A¥ f e . For information call
(504)899-4014, write to P.O. Box 8340. New:Orleans, LA 70182 oremail
secstone@aol.com.
SECOND STON E 15
Welcome!
IF YOU FOUND this copy of Second Stone at a gay
pride event, a P-FLAG meeting, or some other event
or location, there's a Second Stone Outreach Partner
in yoar area Their brochure is enclosed. They are a
Christian church or organiz..._.,n with a specific outreach
to gays and lesbians. We encourage you to visit
them for their next service or meeting, In the meantime,
you may be asking some questions like the
ones that follow.
When I told my church pastor I
was gay, I was referred to an exgay
program. What's that all
about?
Recent scientific research is indicating that sexual orientation
is innate and cannot be changed. Ex-gay programs
are effective in redirecting a heterosexual per-
. son who has experimented with homosexual activity
back to heterosexual relationships. For a gay or lesbian
person, however, an ex-gay ministry can only
· teach one how to "act as if' heterosexual, often with
painful results. An ex-gay program'cannot change
your sexual orientation. Remember Iha~ most ex-gay
church.counselors are heterosexual and cannot speak
from the experience of being gay. Also, any psychologist
or psychiatrist who offers "tr9ltment" for homosexuality
is not following guidelines established by
the American Psychological Association or the American
Medical Association.
After all the rejection I got from
my church, why should . I even care
about God? ,,, ·
Your church may h!tve rejected yo,u, but God never
iμw, God's nature i~ to .draw .Y,_Qu closer to Him, not
. to~ject :yo_ui,~s hur<;g,is ~stered by pastc;irs,.
bish,ops, lay people, committees; people like you and me -sometimes connected with God at work among
· us, and someti~ 11,ot Sometimes the people who
run the church, because of fear, selfishness or other
reasons, are not able to follow as God leads. In the
past, the church failed to speak out against the HoJ0,
canst and slavery . . At some point in the future, the
church's present failure to affirm gay and lesbian people
and its failure to speak out against the homophobia
that leads to discrimination and violence will be
seen as a terrible wrong. As Episcopal Bishop Barbara
Harris once said, the.church is afollowc:r of society,
not a leader. ·
Does this mean I shouldn't go to
church? ·
Absolutely not! (It means the church needs you probably
Iii.ore than you need the church.) There is a place
for you in a church in your neighborhood. There are
. many Christian churclies and organizations around the
country that have a specific ministry to gay and lesbian
people. Even in the mainstream denominations
gay and lesbian people have prominent, although
sometimes closeted, places in the church as pastors,
youth leaders, choir masters, lay leaders, and s.o c1'
Many mainstream churches across the country have
· moved into positions of welcoming and affirming gay
and lesbian people.
· How do I know that God doesn't
rejectme?
Even if you've never set foot in a church or thought much about God, you were created by a loving God
16 SEPTEMBER.•OCTO{!ER 1997
who seeks you out. If there's a barrier between yourself
and God, it is not God's responsibility. Blackaby
and King in Experiencing God say there are seven
realities of a relationship with God: 1 .. God is always
at work around you. 2. God pursues a continning love
relationship with you that is real and personal. 3. God
invites you to become.involved with Him in His
work. 4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the
Bible, prayer. circumstances, and the church to reveal
Himself, His purposes, and His ways . .5. God's invitation
for you to work with Him always leads you to
a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. 6. You
must make major adjustments in your life to join
God in what He is doing. 7. You come to know God
by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes
His work through you.
If yon've never really · believed in God, and
want to know more, ask a friend or pastor .
to ~l_!t ~o you. He or _she may he able to
recommend a reading r<"source, a video, a
Bible study _group or a church. And don't
be afrai!l or embarrassed to ask. Such a
friend or pastor will be glad you asked. It
is how God works among us. If you've
never read . the Bible before, start with
Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-10; and
10: 13.
But can I really be gay and Christian?
Sexual orientation - _either gay or straight - is a good,
God-given.part of your being. A homosexual orienta-'
lion is not a sinful state. The Bible condemns some
heterosexual activity and some homosexual activity;
when someone gets used or hurt rather than loved.
The Bible supports commitment and fidelity in loving
relationships.
Doesn't the Bible say homosexual
activity is a sin?
Daniel Helminiak in What the Bible Really Says
About Homosexuality says: The sin of Sodom was
[not homosexuality.]Jude condemns sex with angels,
not sex between men. Not a single Bible text clearly
refers to lesbian sex ... Only five texts surely refer to
male-male sex, Leviticus 18:22 and 20: 13, Romans
1:27 and l Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy l: 10. All
these texts are concerned with something other than
homosexual activity itself ... If people would still
seek to know outright if gay or lesbian sex in itself i:
good or evil... they will have to loolli elsewhere for ai
answer ... The Bible never addresses that question.
More than that, the Bible seems deliberately unconcerned
about it.
lwould like explore further~ Whal
'•btn, I do now? ·, · · ·
While there are many good books and videos available,
there• s something powerful in being "where twc
or more are gathered." You may ·want to check 0111 a
ministry in your area with a specific outreach to gays
and lesbians, including Second Stone's Outreach
Partner. The worship style may not be what you're
used to, but the point is to connect with gay and lesbian
Christians with whom you can-have discussions
about where you are. Or you may want to try a variety
of churches in your neighborhood, even those of
other denominations. (there is no '"one true church."
There are gay and lesbian people in almost every
church and God, who is always at work .around you,
will connect you to the people you need to know - if
you take the first step.
Wouldn't it just be easier to keep
my sexual life a secret?
Some gay and lesbian people who are happy, whole
and fully integrated may have to be silent about their
sexuality because of their job or other circumstances.
(The day will come when that is no longer the ~e.)
But a gay or lesbian person who cannot integrate the
se~uality with the rest of their being faces a difficult
struggle indeed. To deny one's sexuality to oneself
while in church or at work or with straight friends,
and then to engage in periodic sexual activity is not
self-loving, esteem-building experience. An inability
to weave your sexuality into the fabric of your life iD
a way that makes you feel good about yourself and
allows you to develop relationships with others is a
cause for concern and should be discussed with . ·
someone skilled in gay and lesbian issues.
IIH•J1GIIIM❖Q
"Small steps" taken &l far
Gay group says Notre Thune policies need finther change
BY NANCY ARMOUR
SOUTH BEND, Ind . - The University
of Notre Dame's decision to release a
statement of inclusion specifically mentioning
gays and lesbians was a positive
sign, the leader of a gay and lesbian
srndent group said
But its refusal to include sexual 01ientation
in its nondiscrimination clause
shows there is still work to be done,
said Karl Eichelberger, co-chair of Gays
and Lesbians of Notre Dame and St.
Mary's College.
"These are small steps," he said
August 29. "If the university was serious
about addressing the needs of gays
and lesbians ... they need to do something
substantive to back up their words
. of 'statement of inclusion ."' ·
Notre Dame has had a very public
struggle with the issue of gay and _Jes- .
bian students since 1995, when
GLND/SMC, a student group that had
been in existence for nine years, was
told it could not meet on university
property. The group has never been recognized
by the university.
A group sanctioned by the university
- Notre Dame Lesbian and Gay Students
- was created last fall, but it is not
an official student organization.
An ad hoc committee created to study
the needs of gay and lesbian students
made 12 recommendations in March
i 996, and 11 had been accepted before
this fall. The 12th was for the university
to consider including sexual orientation
in its nondiscrimination clause.
But in an open letter to the universi-
-ty, the Rev. Edward Mailoy, Notre
Dame president, said that was not possible.
The Roman Catholic Church makes
a distinction between sexual 011entation
and homosexual conduct while society
often does tiot. he said.
By including ·sexual orientation in a
legal and binding nondiscrimination
clause, the university could be forced to
accept society's broader definition, he
said
"This ... might jeopardize our ability .
to make decisions that we believe ileces-
., sary to support church teaching," Malloy
wrote. "We don't pretend that our .
beliefs in this regard match the prevailing
secular point of view, and that is
precisely why we're unwilling to cast
our position in legal terms.
" ... But we call ourselves to act in
. accordance with what we regard as a
higher standard - Christ's call to inclu- .
siveness, coupled with the gospels' call
to live chaste lives ."
· Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership
Forum challenges Alveda King
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The head of the
nation's largest black lesbian and gay
organization - has challenged Alveda
King, founder and CEO of King for
America, to come clean about her organization's
connection with the religious
right and sharply criticized her organization
for misrepresenting the views of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Keith Boykin, the executive director
of the National Black Lesbian and Gay
Leadership Forum, accused King for
America of being "willingly manipulated
by the white religious right that
wants to divide the black community
based on sexual orientation." Boykin
said that King's words are being "bought
and paid for by rightwing zealots of the
religious right."
Boykin's remarks follow a series of
anti-gay comments made by Alveda
King during recent media appearances.
King compared gays and lesbians to
"liars; thieves, murderers [and] child .
molesters" and warned that protecting
gays and lesbians from discrimination
would "give a death sentence to civil
rights." She also claimed that Dr . Martin
Luther King Jr. would have opposed
gay rights legislation.
Boykin spoke .with Alveda Kirig by
phone and:reminded her that discrimination
against gays and lesbians is still
legal in 39 of the 50 U.S. states.
"Alveda King is simply trying to cash
in on her uncle's name, and she ought to
be ashamed of herself for doing so,"
Boykin said. He also noted that Co.retta
Scott King, Dr. King's widow, lias been
very supportive of civil rights for gays
and lesbians, "and I think she would
know better than anyone the true meaning
of Dr .. King's dream," he said.
In addition, Dr. Joseph Lowery, who
succeeded Martin Luther King as head of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
has supported civil rights laws
that protect lesbians and gays.
Dr. King himself warned that
"injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere," and one of his closest
advisers, Bayard Rustin, was a gay man,
Boykin said.
Instead, th~ university will have a
statement of inclusion that welcomes all
people, regardless of color, gender, religion
. ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Harassment of any kind will not be con-
■
hoc committee and director of th~ university
counseling center, said he hopes
the statement will be enough to make
gay and lesbian students, faculty and
staff feel COlofortable lllJd safe.
"If the university was serious about
· addressing the needs of gays and
lesbians ... they need to do something
substantive to back up their words ... "
doned, it says.
"We value gay and lesbian members
of this community as we value all
members of this community," the statement
reads.
Dr. Patrick Utz, a member of the ad
■
'The administration is trying to deal
with its Catholic identity and how that's
defined, and its responsibilities to all
members of the community," he said . "I
guess I see it as sort of a compromise
position." (AP)
Murdered Episcopal priest, Integrity
convener, eulogized as caring
BY JOHN CHAMBLISS
THE REV . CHARLES MARTIN
DA VIS, who was shot to death at his
home in mid-July, was praised for his
.t kindness towar<ls'\,others during • funeral
services July 19. -
Members of the Episcopal clergy,
friends and relatives smiled and cried as
they remembered "Father Marty" during
his funeral at Grace Episcopal Church -
just a block from where he was killed
on Sunbeam Avenue.
The .35-year-old priest was eulogized
by the Rt. Rev. Robert Tharp, bishop
. of the Diocese of East Tennessee.
"We .are here to celebrate .his three and
a .half decades oflife and his six years of
ordination," Bishop Tharp said to an .
overflow crowd.
He said Davis came through immense
adversity in his own life to help the less
fortunate in the community.
"Marty was about community. He
would bring people into the community
who ·were social outcasts," Bishop
Tharp said
He said that it would be easy for the
community to be angry with his "cruel
death ." Instead, the Bishop said, "If you
commit yourself to random acts of
human kindness you will be remember- ·
ing Father Marty."
Dan Akerman, 20, worked with Davis
at Camp Billy Johnson in Monteagle at
the DuBose Conference Center. At the
camp for underprivileged children, eai;h
counselor is assigned a child at the
camp . "It is a chance to develop a oneon-
one relationship," said Mr. Akerman .
"Because it was an -unorthodox camp,
his unorthodox ministry fit very· well.
For me,_his special gift was how light
lllJd fun he could make everything."
Another friend s.aid Davis had the
"enthusiasm of a teenager. His real passion
iii life'was-the calnp :''' he saill: The
friend, who visited with Davis-'af his
hom~ shortly before his death, said the
priest "could not wait for the camp to
start.
"Marty was not a power person, who
probably never really wanted his own
church, mici I think he enjoyed that camp
more than anything."
Bob Boatwright, a semi-retired . priest
for the Fpiscopal church, said Davis was
a "real driver in helping the homeless."
Davis was a board member of Chattanooga
CARES; the _local organization
that helps in the prevention of AIDS
and assisting people who have.HIV :and
the AIDS •virus. He was alm.tilocal
chairman of Integrity.
Authorities are still searching fot -thesuspect,
described as a black man in his
20s, weighing between 180 and 200
pounds and about 5 feet 10 inches to 6
feet tall. ·
Witnesses told police a black man
asked "where does the reverend live?"
and then entered · his home. About 20
minutes later; a concerned neighbor
went to the priest's home and found him
dead with multiple gunshots to the head.
Contributions may be given to the
The Camp Billy Johnson Memorial
Fund and may be sent to any of the area
Episcopal Churches or to the Diocese of
East Tennessee. (Chattanooga Free
Press)
SECOND STONE 17
l··········.: ,?·-Y?·'··\·············•. T T····T·'i'??h'l"i•t•i•H'tf-:=·····:·:··•n7-.-•.•nn-·····n=r ···················· ······+······1
Church ofFnglanQcallsfcr
~onto study sexuality
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND at its
General Synod meeting in York in midJuly
voted that the church's present .
policy on homosexuality was "not the
last word on the subject."
The church's current policy _ is
expressed ·in a bishops' statement of
1991 that homosexual relationships are
acceptable for laity but not for clergy .
The -ruling general synod voted heavily ,
in favor of requesting further discussion
on the issue of human sexuality by
clergy and .congregations across the
country. .
The decision was welcomed by gay
rights suppofters. It dismayed opponents
of the ordination of non-celibate gays.
Leading figures in the-church, however ,
claimed that the vote was simply a call
for further study and reflection. ,
During thi; debate; the Archbi~hop of
Canterbury, the Most Rev. Ge,orge
Carey - who spoke put against "sexual
activity outside marriage" - put the issue
of homosexuality center stage in thb
wo~ldwide Anglican Communion. He
announced that next year's Lambeth conference
· - the ten yearly meeting of
Anglican bishops worldwide - would be
asked to set up an international commission
of inquiry _into human sei1;uality.
.
The general synod was not required to
vote on the proposal for an international
commission, but supporters of gay
rights believe that _it will strengthen
their position inside the Church of England.
· A delighted Richard Kirker, general
secretary o( the Lesbian and Gay Christian
Movement, told Ecumenial News
International: "It's game, set and match
to us . I didn't predict and wouldn't have
predicted that synod would vote as it did.
"We floated the idea of an international
commission two years ago. Jt has
the seeds of being helpful, but it will
need among its members self-affirming
lesbians and gays, not homosexuals
who play the establishment's game by
denying their identity.''
Hqwever , leading figures in the•
church maintained that the motion was
simply a call for further study and reflection
.
Archbishop Carey said : "I do not
share the assumption that it is only a
matter of time before the church will
change its mind."
He declared: "I do not find any justification,
from the Bible or the entire
Christian tradition, for sexual activity
outside marriage. Thus, same-sex relationships
in my view cannot be on a par
with marriage."
Before the vote the Lesbian and Gay
Christian Movement released the results
of a survey that claimed 19 serving or
retired Church of England bishops had
knowingly ordained non-celibate gays.
(Anglican Communion News Service)
Australianch\nch says sexual
orientation no bar to ordination
BY BRUCE BEST
PERTH - The national assembly of the
Uniting Church in Australia has agreed
that a person's sexual orientation is in
itself no bar to ordination and that presbyteries
(regional councils) can provide
some recognition to same-sex relationships.
The assembly, which took place- in
Perth, July 5-12, did so by agreeing to
"note" - and not to reject - the decisions
on sexual orientation made by the
chnrch's national . executive committee
over the last 15 years. The new president
of the chnrch , Jolm Mavor, spoke
of an inclusive church in which gay and
lesbian people were "very welcome."
According to a Uniting Church ·media
release, the current policy of ti\e church
is that "the sexual orientation of an
applicant or candidate (for ministry) is
not and has not been in itself a bar to
ordination." The policy also states that ·
the suitability of a candidate may
depend, however, on the "manner in
which the applicant or candidate's sexuality
is expressed ."
But the assembly decided' not to vote
.on recommendations concerning homosexuality
contained in a major report on
sexuality, six years in the making,
drawn up by a national church task
force. One recommendation w·as to
· "affirm" the existing policy, not simply
to note it. Another was to ·set up a
group, including gays and lesbians, to
recommend how the chnrch could recognize
life-long, faithful gay relationships.
The issue of homosexuality is. a · con°
troversial issue within the Uniting
Chnrch, which wali formed in 1977 by a .
union of Methodists, Congregationalists
and most Presbyterians. Three major
groupings within the church - the Uniting
Aboriginal and Islander Christian
Congress (UAICC), the migrant-ethnic
congregations, and Evangelical Members
within the Uniting Church (EMU)
- opposed the recommendations of the
task group on homosexuality.
However, the debate on sexuality
meant that the little 0 known policies of
the church on gay ordination and part
· nerships received attention throughout
Australia, especially after a number of
people at the assembly declared themselves
in saine-sex relationships.
Early in the debate, the clinrch's
national mission director, the Rev. Dorothy
McRae McMahon, told the assembly
that she was "one of the people
whose ordination is in question." She
said later in an interview that this was
her way of declaring herself to be a lesbian.
In its final resolutions, the assembly
recognized "with sadness" .that it could
not proceed any .further on the task
group's proposals about homosexuality.
It agreed to "acknowledge the disappointment
of those who were looking
... for greater clarity and direction" and
to "continue in dialogue about -these
matters." Three of the assembly's
former presidents have been asked to recommend
further action.But other proposals
from the task group won approval
from all members of the assembly . One
was a description of sexuality as "God's
good gift." Another has given the Uniting
Church its first ·ever statement on
marriage, separation, divorce and remarriage
in its 20 year history . The statement'saicl
marriage was intended to be
mutually faithful and lifelong, but,when
it did break down irretrie".ably divorce
might be "the only creative and lifegiving
direction to take." (Ecumenical
News International)
Canadian bishops defend gay rights
ANGLICAN BISHOPS from the
Church of Canada in the Province of
British Columbia have sent the followirig
letter to the province's premier,-the
J:on. Glen Clark:
"As ·bishops of the.4Jiglican Chnrch
of Canada in British Columbia, we ·
write to express our support for the provincial
· government's proposed amendments
to the Family Relations Act and
the Family Maintenance Enforcement
Act.
"It is a matter of fundamental equality
and human rights that homosexual people
should have the same obligations
and protection under the civil law as
18 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
other citizens of British Columbia. 6nr
support for the proposed changes in this
Province is consistent with positions taken
by the Qeneral Synod'of the
•Anglican Church of Canada and the
national House of Bishops of the Anglican
Church of Canada in recent yeats:
·«we affirm that homosexual persons
are entitled to equal protection under the
law with all other Canadian citizens."
(Guidelines of the House of _ Bishops,
Mississauga. 1979)
"We condemn ... bigotry , violence and
hatred directed toward any due to their
sexual orientation." (General Synod,
Ottawa, 1995)
·'This House ofBishops ·supports the
proposed amendments in the House of
Commons to .the Canadian Human
Rights Act to prohibit discrimination
based on sexual orientation.'' (House of
Bishops, Mississauga, 1996) ·
"Religious organizations have a particular
responsibility to safeguard the
freedom, dignity and responsibility of
every person, and to work for an end to
discrimination. While we are aware that
many people cannot yet accept homosexual
relationships as equal in dignity
with heterosexual relationships. never,
theless we have an obligation to safe,
guard the right s of same-sex partners as
a matter of justice . Equality must be
supported in substance, not just by . rhetoric.
"We do not believe the proposed legislation
will weaken the family structure,
which is central to the well-being
of society. On the contrary, by ensuring .
the same benefits and the same respo~i bili
ties for homosexual families as for
heterosexual families, it will strengthen
all families in their diversity and encourage
long-term, stable relationships to
the benefit of children, spouses and
society as a whole." (Anglican Ccimmuncion
News Service}
Acaseof
Jmic justice
per," headed a letter I wrote in reply,
"Mr Higton. got his facts wrong." .
Would that the complaint to the police .
was similarly short.lived.
A couple of weeks after the Bath visi•
talion, myself and Ri~hard Kirke;, gen•
eral secretary of LGCM, were requested
for interview at Charing Cross Police.
• Station . We of course complied,
accompanied by our solicitor, Angus
Hamilton. The interrogations l•ted
about an hour each. It was an unpleas•
ant, humiliating experience. But that
would have been redeemed by a swift
closure to the investigation, which I
A web site hypertext link leads to a police
investigation of a member of London's
Lesbiana nd Gay ChristianM ovement
BY MARK VERNON
ED. NOTE: WHEN MARK VERNON
. created a hypertext link to a US.based
web site for his own LHsbian and Gay
Christian Movement site, little did he
realize it would lead to an 1 B•month
police investigation . . Here he tells his
story.
IF IT WERE NOT so serious itwould
be just ridiculous, that I was sat, unde.r
caution, in a windowless room at Char:
ing Cross Police Station, being inter•
viewed by Inspector Bell of the Vice
Squad. The cause ofhis investigationis
· as astonishing as it sounds archaic. I
was . accused of publishing a bias•
phemous libel on the Internet. What
actually happened is mundane when set
alongside so florid an interpretation, but
it arguably raises serious issues no less.
At the beginning of 1995 I had estab•
lished a World Wide Web site for the
Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
(LGCM). On the pages could be found
information about the organization,
comment . on relevant current events and
hypertext links to other Web sites of
interest, including bibliographical lists,
related organizations and other religious
resources. The site was frequented by
about a thousand people per month and
provided a useful publicity tool for the
movement as well as valuable informa•
lion for lesbian and gay Net users.
phemous libel when the magazine
printed the poem, in a prosecution
brought by the veteran campaigner Mary
Whitehouse. It was the first criminal
prosecution for blasphemous libel to
succeed-in ·the British courts in 44 .years.
Though clearly aware of this history,
■
thought likely. ·
It all seemed too bizarre. I am a pri •
est, and wild speculations with friends
on how I might become the first min•
ister of religion to be tried for bias•
phemy in several hundred years, served
as a reality check on the situation . But
The poem was at the center of a
high-profile Old Bailey court case 20
years ago. In 1977, Denis Lemon,
editor of "Gay News," was successfully
prosecuted for publishing a
blasphemous libel when the
magazine printed the poem ...
the informal legal advice we received at it did not stop there. Six months later,
the time was that a hypertext link would we heard that the police had visited Dur·
notcontlict with any court rulings. In ham University computer department,
October 1995, as part of the routine taken statements and -seized back.up
updates, the link to the poem was taken tapes. Apparently, a second wave of
down. I thought little more about it. investigation was underway. And sure
· That changed six months later with a enough, I was called back for another
telephone call from a friend at Bath Uni• interrogation session.
versity . The police had been to visit the Then in November of last. year,
computer department. (The pages had Reform saw a further chance to exert
. been moved to Bath when the Internet political pressure. LGCM was celebrat•
Feedback on the pages was notable for account at Durham University, where ing its 20th birthday with a festival at
anappreciationofthecontactitafforded the site was originally held, lapsed .) It Southwark Cathedral. Reform was not
to otherwise isolated individuals. Keep• transpired that the police had received a happy. Philip Hacking, the chair of the
ing content up•to.date is important for complaint from three individuals , group, wrote to Sir Nicholas Lyell, then
any site; and so the hypertext Hnks and including the Rev Tony Higton of the Attorney General, claiming, "We our•
other materials were regularly refreshed. evangelical pressure group Reform. selves are also now being asked why
And as part of this turnover, for about nothing has been done by the secular
six months, a link was provided to the Of course the Church of England is authorities over what is perceived as a
U.S. servers of the Queer Resources currently engaged in a lengthy debate criminal matter," and demanded know!•
Directory. At this site, the poem ''The over homosexuality . The momentum is edge of action being planned by Sir
love that dares .to speak its ruime" by for progressive change, but in the mean• Nicholas, claiming that the ·poem had
Professor James Kirknp could be found, time conservative organizations attempt been "republished" But still no official
a piece possibly of interest to lesbian to resist steps forward . Having been noises came from the police or the
and gay Christians because it is an tipped off about the Web site, Reform · Crown Prosecution Service.
attempt to explore the relationship bet· saw another opportunity in its attempts My MP, Glenda Jackson, became
ween spirituality and sexuality. to discredit LGCM. Three months earli• involved in January of this year. She
The poem was also at the center of a er, Rev Higton had initiated a brief let• wrote to Dame Barbara Mills, the Direc•
World News
it might be "in the near future ."
Six months later she wrote again ,
And at last an end came into sight. The
police had submitted a final report in
April, 16 IIlonths after the original' com•
plaint. Another two months later, .. the
CPS concluded that there was nothing
to go on. I finally heard from the police
myself just at the end of last W\:Ck. The
threat of prosecution had been lifted after
18 months.
But the story is not ended quite here,
for it raises a number of important ques.
lions. In the first instance, how much
public money has been spent on this
absurd case? And what were the reasons
for so drawn--0uatn dt horougha n inves•
ligation? Further causes for concern
also open up. The Internet allows for a
· degress of democratization within pub•
lishing and broadcasting, potentially
taking the regulation of information
from the hands of the few. · But in turn,
is everyone and anyone to.be made vuJ.
nerable to the gross distortion of their
responsible Internet activity? And will
people in power be left with• an easy
means with which to cause anguish, as
and when they choose?
Finally, if this new inedium is to
. offer even a small part of its liberal<
promise, it must rise about the politics
of the salacious. When a hypertext link
on a Web.page leads to the police
knocking at the door, it is shocking and
suggests an unsophisticated, undiscem.
ing legislature. _ A:t the very ledst, ·that
the extil ordi'.ruiyi- 'cduipiiaitis oni mis•
guided but powerful religious grouinpi•
tiates a ~minal investigation soine 18
months long points to a certain lack of
commonsense. (The Independent)
Ecumenical & Inclusive
~ ,1
' '
. /! 'r' in.; .
We are a Christianc omn1Unitoyf men
and women from various _catholic and
Protestant . traditions involved in min•
stries of love, compassion and· reconcili•
ation. We live and work in .the world,
supporting ourselves and our ministries
and are inspired by the spirit of St.
Francis and St. Clare. We are not
canonically affiliated with any denomination.
For more infomiation or a copy of our
newsletter; Footsteps, please write. us:
Vocation Director
Dept. 55, PO .Box 8340
New Orlearis, LA 70182
high•profile Old Bailey court case 20 ter•writing campaign in the religious tor of Public Pros .ecutions, on my
years .ago. In 1977, Denis Lemon, edi• press, though it could be judged a failure behalf, asking what was taking so long. Mercy of. God
tor of "Gay-News," was successfully when the leading evangelical publica • We heard in reply that the police inves• Community
_P_· rso__e_c_u_1e_d_f_or_p_u_b_li_s_h1_·n___g__ a_bo__I·ao__s'n___'T•, h_e_Ch_ure_h___o fI__Eanng_ d.,.N_ew_s_p_a _· ti_ga_o_·o_n_w_as_n_o_t_y_e_· t.•, .ctho__onuc__glu__h d ed_.:::============
SECOND STONE 19
AIDS Warriors & I-Ieroes
"The body of Christ has. AIDS"
_Btochuresloganuμ;ets9Jlre
~liy-~bishop resμnds
A FEW PEOPLE were upset by a
brochure distributed at the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America's 1997
Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly, held in
Santa Clara, California . Letters of protest
were received by the bishop .of the
synod, the Rev. Robert Mattheis.
"The Body of Christ has AIDS" was
the title of the brochure which was
created by the synod's committ_ee cin
HIV/ AIDS . The brochure was included
in the official packet that all voting
members received at the assembly, held
at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
As one opened the brochure, two
questions were posed: "Does this statement
shock or offend you?" and "What
does it mean that the body of Christ has
AIDS?" Readers were then directed to
biblical references , Romans 12:5 and I
Corinthians 12:26.
Bishop Mattheis responded to those
who complained:
•"AIDS is not a nice disease. Like
cancer and heart disease it kills people.
And we could say that the body of
Christ has cancer, heart disease . We
could say that the body of Christ is
obese. We can say all of these things
because they describe people who have
been baptized into the body of Christ
and who through faith continue to look
to Jesus as their Savior . When one
member of the body of Christ has a disease,
we can say that the whole body
has the disease because we are part of
one another through our faith and our
baptism into Christ.
"Because we are a part of the body of
Christ, the apostle Paul urged us to bear
one another's burdens, to weep with
those who weep and to rejoice with
those who rejoice. It is a harsh but true
reality that fellow members with us in
the body of Christ ha~e AIDS. It is a
harsh and ugly reality that we would
rather deny, for Iione of us wants to be
connected with this disease . But it
remains true. It is for us to recognize
that reality, to pray for one another and
to ··work together so that this disease
mighf be overcome. Christ is the healer
and we who share with him our life in
the body of Christ are healers ·as· well as
diseased persons. It is our calling now
20 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
to take Up this healing ministry arid
minister to one another in the name of
Jesus who is our health and salvation."
Aside from the complaints received by
Mattheis, the ·committee generally felt
that synod officers and voting members
■
"When one
member of the
body of Christ
has a disease, we
can say that the
whole body has
the disease ... "
■
welcomed and supported the presence of
the HIV/AIDS ministry at the assembly.
The synod committee provided an
information table with written materials
along with people to answer questions
during the assembly. A workshop dealing
with AIDS was also held'. The committee
sponsored a dramatic skit, one of
four skits selected for the "Spotlight"
times, which was presented before the
entire assembly.
Four sections of the NAMES Project
AIDS Memorial Ql,lilt were on display
at the assembly. Each section was at a
different location, surrouading the entire
gathering room. Two .of the four were
Lutheran-specific; all four had moving
spiritual messages. The orie chosen for •
the front of the assembly hall was a
four-panel depiction of Jesus holding a
lamb .
A banner that was designed by Arlin ·
Aasriess, a member of the HIV/AIDS
committee , was carried in the procession
for worship services. The banner
depicted a stained glass window with a
red ribbon formed by some of the panes
of"glass ." It was on a black background
with the words, "Lord, have mercy," at
the bottom. (LANEfNewsletter)
Saga of lovestruck couple in
age of AIDS OOCk on subways
BY DONNA DE LA CRUZ
NEW YORK - When New York subway
riders first met Julio and Marisol in
1989, the comic strip couple was trying
to ha"'.e a relationship in the age of
. AIDS.
Macho Julio didn't want to wear a
condom as Marisol insisted. "I love
you, but not enough to die for you!"
was her tearful response.
But straphangers were abruptly left
dangling when the comic strip was
yanked off subway trains in 1995
.because of a contract · dispute concerning
space availability between the city's
health department and the advertising
agency for the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority.
Thanks to a new deal between the two
factions, riders can again follow the
saga, written in English and Spanish.
The comic strip, "The D\:cision: Julio
and Marisol," slowly began being
posted Oct. 2 in 1,140 subway cars -
out of about 5,800 total. The subway
soap also made iis debut on four local
radio stations, also in English and Spanish.
Ann Sternberg, the project mariager
for the health department's comic strip
campaign, said she hopes the feature
regains its popularity.
"When it first debuted, there was a
remarkable response and that response
continued each time a new episode
appeared," Sternberg said . "We had
volumes of calls to our (AIDS)
hotlines. People would write in and suggest
storylfoes, some wonderful ones."
Several people riding the B train
uptown were thrilled to see both the
English and Spanish versions of the
black-and-white ·strip, both about the
size of an 11- by 14-inch piece of paper.
The strip was featured next to an ad for
designer braces and the Metrocard.
"It 's back! I w6ndered what happened
to it," said Maria Ochoa, 26 , of Queens.
"My friends and I used to talk about it -
it's pretty cool and has a good message.
I hope Julio and Marisol can get together."
George Henry, 49, said he remembered
when the strip debuted .
"It was only in Spanish in the trains I
took and I always had to get it translated,"
said Henry, of Queens. "I really like
it. I always wondered what happened to
Julio and Marisol."
The couple's relationship remains in
limbo in the new episode (number 10).
Julio, distraught after learning his old
girlfriend is HIV positive, wonders if
he, too, is infected with the AIDS virus.
As he gets on the subway, he sees an ad
for the . health department's AIDS
hotline . Will he call the toll-free
number?
Sternberg says New Yorkers will have
to ponder that question for about three
months - that's how long an episode
usually stays up before being replaced
by anew one.
In case you need a refresher on Julio
and Marisol, the health department has
put together a comic .book featuring the
. first nine episodes. (AP)
U.N.: Companies need to help
employees more against AIDS
BY PHILIP WALLER
GENEY A - The world's biggest companies
need to do more to combat AIDS,
according to a U .N. agency.
WhiJe. international companies are
undertaking anti-AIDS campaigns inside
their own work forces , they should
expand their efforts to surrounding
communities, said Sally Cowal, spokes •
woman for UN AIDS.
An estimated ·22.6 million adults and
children worldwide are now living with
HIV/AIDS, a study released Sept. 17 by
UNAIDS said.
More than 3 million new cases were
reported during 1996 and half the new
· infections affect people ages 16 to 24, it
said
'The latest data show the majority of
AIDS cases occur before · the age of 35,
affecting people in their prime working
, years," said UNAIDS Executive Director
Peter Piot.
South African President Nelson Mandela
helped launch the UNAIDS program
last February to encourage intemational
business to combat AIDS and
HIV.; the virus that causes the disease.
In South Africa, the continent's economic
powerhouse , it is estimated . the
AIDS epidemic wiil eventually strike
one-quarter of the country's work force
and reduce economic growth by l per
·cent a year .
"We know that Kenya's gross domestic
product will be 15 percent less than
. it would have been by the year 2005 had
AIDS not taken a hold there,'' said Cowal.
The survey of leading companies carried
out in 14 countries showed nearly
three-quarters of the 203 firms who
responded now have programs to help
protect their employees against AIDS
and HIV. (AP)
AIDS Warriors & Heroes
Soun.1em Baptist camp for μ:uple with AIDS is tmi(}Ue
BY GARY D. ROBERTSON
. ASHEBORO, N.C. - Brenda Jones
never thought she would be alive today
to taik about her battle with AIDS - let
alone share her tears and laughter at a
conference center run by Southern Baptists.
Often felt rejected by the church and
members of the nation's largest Protestant
denomination, some illV patients
are finding cornf ort at a retreat in North
Carolina designed to renew their spiritual
bodies. '
Dozens diagnosed with the virus have
discovered faith through HIV / AIDS
retreats sponsored through the Baptist
State Convention of North Carolina .
"I thought I'd drop off the face of the
earth and die. I thought it was a death
sentence," Jones, diagnosed eight years
ago with HIV , told fellow patients dur ing
a small-group meeting at rustic Caraway
Conference Center. "But you're
not going .anywhere until (God) calls
you home."
The AIDS retreat, unique in the
Southern Baptist denomination, gives
patients and their caregivers a chance to
talk about their sickness and find some
support from fellow patients in the rolling
hills of rural Randolph County.
The convention held a similar camp for
children with AIDS.
"It's a place .to get away and meet _
other people," said James Atkins, a
Moore ·County native diagnosed with ·
HIV 11 years ago. The 45-year-old exsoldier
attended each of the four retreats
the state convention has sponsored
going back to August 1995 . "There's a
lot of churches ont there that really
aren't open to this type of health work ."
The retreat in part tries to dispel the
stereotype that Southern Baptists are
unconcerned with the AIDS crisis. The
denomination's boycott of the Walt Disney
Co. this summer for its gay-friendly
policies didn't help to change that
image.
"This is a place where they can be
open about iheir disease," said Eric Raddatz,
executive direct4r of the Baptist
AIDS ' Partnership of North Carolina . "A
lot of people have bad feelings about the
church. But when we bring"them togeth-
. er, we say_ 'this, this is the church."'
The dozen AIDS patients at the fiveday
retreat come from different backgrounds
and different ))<!l1s of the state -
some are gay, others straight - but they
all share the same feelings associated
with their disease .
They feel lonely fighting their illness ,
some likening it to the way peopie in
Biblical times viewed leprosy . They feel
abandoned by friends and the church.
Others like Sandy are siill trying to
come to terms with her illness. The
young woman from Goldsboro, who
didn't want to give her last name, just
learned severi months ago she had HIV .
"I never had to go through anything
like this," Sandy said. "I was popular in
school. I got along with everybody ...
Even though my family loves me, I feel
I'm still alone. I just don't want to be
alone. I'm not ready to die."
Jones, who was attending her second
retreat, says the drugs she is taking is
helping her live longer than she ever
thought she would. AIDS death rates are
dropping and drug combinations including
protease inhibitors are increasing the
hope of the ill.
· But many are poor, unable to work
anymore and depend on Social Security
payments for food and shelter and Medicaid
to pay for the pills that keep them
alive.
"It's hard to feel normal when you
take your medicine in the morning and
you take your medicine again at night ,"
Donald Bloodworth of Lumberton told
other camp participants.
Raddatz says the retreat's goal is to -•
The retreat in part
tries to dispel the
stereotype that
Southern Baptists
are unconcerned
with the AIDS crisis.
■ make the patients feel normal . Bible
studies focus on community, forgiveness
and mercy.
The Rev. George Fuller taught a
Bible study from the New Testament
book of Ephesians. The Bible's message,
said Fuller: all are sinful and
unworthy of God's love, but Jesus' death
on the cross makes everyone complete.
"Has anybody here been misunder:
stood?" Fuller asked the group. Everyone
nodded. "I think that's why so many
people don't know God because they
misunderstand him.
" ... His grace and mercy and great
love are big enough for everything
we've done wrong."
The camp also includes nightly worship,
singing, free ' tiine and a _ me~orial
service for patients and caregive~ who
· want to remember those who have died
to AIDS .
Raddatz, a California native, started
the Baptist AIDS Partnership after
attending Southeastern Baptist Theolog- .
ical Semina _ry in Wake Forest. His
father, who got the virus from a ,blood
transfusion, died of AIDS in 1993.
"There was a real need · for some work
in this area," said Raddatz, 54 . "So
many people in the church weren't
going to secular organizations to work
because there is so many agendas associated
with them . We wanted to do
something positive."
The denomination has not uni versa!! y
backed his mission, but he keeps the
partnership alive with a cross-section of
congregations.
"Pe<>ple say I shouldn't be working
with homosexuals," he said. "But I tell
them all I'm trying to do is follow what
Jesus said to do. To love you neighbor
as yourself.
"We're being non-judgmental and loving
and not condemning -... my job i s
not , to judge. I don't condone the
behavior, but my job here is not to do
that. What would Jesus do? He would be
here." .
If it wasn't for Southern Baptists )ike
Raddatz, Diane Duncan , of.,Wayne
County . would have left the church a
long time ago .
"I've experienced more spiritual
growth and felt more close to God," said
Duncan, who contracted the virus
through her husband. "It's a shame that
it took something like this to bring me
closer to God" (AP)
L4NET releases church-based AIDS prevention curriculwn
THE LUTHERAN AIDS Network has
produced a new HIV/AIDS prevention.
curriculum designed for use with teenagers,
an age group where the spread of
HIV is on the rise. ·
"Brokenness to .Wholeness," a project
of LANET with support from the Cen- ·
ters for Disease Control and Prevention
and the AIDS National Interfaith Network,
is a four part course based on the
need for young people to explore what
the reality of HIV means for their Ii ves
in general and i n light of their faith and
faith community. The authors say the
course was written in hope that those
who come in contact with the process
will have some tools and feel better
about their own internal strength and
ability to keep tl1emselves healthy and
infection free :
The curriculum's auth ors are Rev.
Thomas H. Carlson, a Washington,
D.C.,Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
pastor, and Dr. MaryH. Zentner, a Chicago
writer and editor in the field of .
childrenandfamilyeducationandministry
Teenagers hear about and are affected
by the disease ' through information
gained at school and through the media,
friends and family members who are
infected with HIV, and possibly their
own risk behaviors.
The goals for the curriculum are:
To help participants explore how risk
behaviors relate to brokenness found in
themselves, their communities, and
their relationships;
To help participants understand the
facts about transmission and prevention
of HIV/ AIDS and how it affects adolescent
and young adult populations;
To help participants explore the differ ences
between life-enhancing · and riskproducing
behaviors and the values that
influence their decisions to choose bet -
weenthem;and
To help participants pla1, ways to
respond, both individually and as a community
of faith, to others who are infected
with HIV .
The church-based curriculum can be
used during Sunday morning or other
education programs, youth group sessions,
and retreat settings.
A Biblical background, including the ·
building of healthy communities and
relationships amidst the reality of sin
and evil in the world, is a key concept
in the curriculum.
For information on "Brokenness to
Wholeness" contact the Lutheran AIDS
Network, 1111 ·O'Farrell Street, San
Francisco, CA 94109 ,
{j NJ'£ •yov 'R.__PJU'L'Ji['DS .::1. S£C05\{_']) S'TOX£
(j Jj'T Stt.J'BSC'R._J•Pn0'}[1TJ{J5 C:Jl'R._I/i'I'.1l:1S.
•'Too u.,c(u[to bc.fl'/'j''IICJI
••Too t1pprccit1tcd to fie rctumc,{
• (ji1'Cl1 1101 011cc, tiut a({ yc,1r [o1~7
• Srnt ,l'itli ,w attmctii•c g~(t car,fsijncif ill !/ounrnmr .
. See p,~qe 16 it' order.
SECOND STONE 21
--:-:-::lm
i:I
Church & Or anization News
Virginia Unitarian
congregation adopts
Welcoming Congre~
gation statement ·
. THE BULL RUN Unitarian Universalists
(BRUU) of Prince William County,
Virginia, has defined itself as a Welcom-
)ng Congregation . The church adopted
the policy at its annual summer congre- .
gational meeting. The statement reads:
"BRUU is a Welcoming Congregation
which celebrates and supports the'lives ,
the relationships, and the individual and
gr~up contributions of its lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender members and
friends. We affirm and promote their
full participation in the life of the congregation
and community. We pledge
our congregation,.s commitment to continue
dismantling the belief that heterosexuality
is the only normal, acceptable,
and healthy sexual orientation ... ,
The Welcoming Congregation program
of the Unitarian Universalists
Association (UUA) was adopted by its
General Assembly in 1989 : It was a
first step to . make all of its congregations
welcoming places for people -of all
sexual orientations.
"It is the belief of members of BRUU
that an explicitly affirming spiritual
home needs to be located within Prince
William County and the cities of Manassas
and Manassas Park," said a spokesperson
for the church. "Recognizing
that negative attitudes, prejudices, and
misunderstandings and ignorances about
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
life and persons exist within the local
community, members of BRUU also
feel it necessary to publicly state
BRUU's support of its members and
friends of all sexual orientations. To
remain silent of its support would only
add to the oppression faced by many
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
persons within the community ."
BRUU has an active Welcoming Congregation
program that provides varied
forums for examining, discussing, and
reaching understanding of gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender concerns.
Sue~ forums include worship services ,
discllssion groups, and movie nights in
addition to its open acceptance of gay
and lesbian members and their relation-
22 SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
ships .
BRUU may be contacted at 703-361-
6269,
http: //users.aol.com/bruu2/bruuhp.html.
Open & Affirming
Ministries names
provisional board
AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING the Gay,
Lesbian and Affirming Disciples
Alliance (GLAD Alliance), meeting in
Denver; Colo., July 25; affirmed the
hrmation of a provisional advisory
board for its Open & Affirming Ministries
Program . O&A Ministries is the
program which seeks to nurture,
resource , and empower local congregations,
campus ministries, and other
manifestations of the Christian Church ·
(Disciples of Christ) to publicly welcome
and affirm lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgenderpeJ¥>ns, their friends anp
families, into the life and leadership of
thechurch. ·
Five . persons were named ·to the provisional
board, the first leadership team
ever assigned to the program. These
persons are Gerry Brague of San Francisco,
California; ' the Rev . Cheryl
Breiner of Denver, Colorado; Aeros
DeAnda of Los Angeles, California; the
Rev . Mark Johnston of Boston, Massachusetts;
the Rev. Pamela June Webb
of New Hampton , Iowa . Previously the
O&A Ministries Developer, the Rev.
Allen V . Harris, was supervised by the
GLAD Alliance Counci .l directly .
Over · the next two years the provisional
advisory board will envision a
mission and a structure . Begun in 1989,
O&A Ministries now names 33 ministries
as Open & Affirming, including 27
congregations, four campus ministries,
one region, and one denominational
agency.
GLAD Alliance is the advocacy and
edi#atio11 organization · for persons
related to the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ) and other traditions
from the Campbell-Stone movement of
· the early 1800's. More information
about the Open & Affirming Ministries
Program may be received by contacting
Harris at 1010 Park Ave., New York,
NY 10028 or by e-mailing him at
OAMinistry@aol.com.
Popular ·authot now
has website
DR. REMBERT S. TRULUCK, a frequent
contributing writer to Second
Stone, has recently publi shed his website
on the Internet at
http: //www.truluck .com, on the subject
of "Steps to Recovery from Bible
Abuse. " This website gives an overview
of Dr. Ttuluck's forthcoming book
from Chi Rho Press with the same title
as the website .'
The on-line material deals with the
facts about the Bible and homosexuality,
sexual orientation and the ex-gay _
fraud, 12 steps to recovery from Bible
abuse, legalism as idolatry, Jesus and
Events
Announcements in this section are provided
free of charge as a service to Christian
organizations. To have-an event listed,
send information to Second Stone,
P .O. Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182,
FAX to /504)899-40/4 , e-mail
secstone@aol.com . •
Beaver Farm Men's Retreat
OCTOBER 11-13,. This retreat for gay,
b1se,rnal and transgendered Quaker men is
held every year at Beaver Farm, an old
farm house located in the Croton River
Valley, atx,ut an hour north· of New York
City. The retreat is a time of talk, prayer,
eating, rest and renewal in an unstiuciured
setting. There are a number of opportunities
for worship and worship sharing.
Cost is $185 . For information contact
Grant P. Thompson, 1426 Jonquil St.,
Washington, DC 20012, (202)723-8282,
fax (202)291-1823, billstar@radix.net.
MFSA National Assembly
OCTOBER 18-19, The Methodist Federation
for Social Action gathers in
Washington , D.C. The theme is "Our
Times Are in Your Hands: Celebrating Our
Past - Fashioning Our Future." Capitol
Hill United Methodist Church is the setting.
Dr. Jeanne Knepper delivers the keynote
address. For inform ation contact
MFSA, 76 Clinton Ave., Staten Island,
NY 10301, gmcclain@igc.org.
Youth Conference
OCTOBER 24-26, The National Youth
Advocacy Coalition sponsors "Reaching
Out in the South." the third annual southern
regional conference for lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender youth and their
allies. Georgia State University in Atlanta
is the setting. Sean Sasser from MTV's
"The Real World' is the keynote speaker.
The conference is an opportunity to share
experiences and energy, to network and
socialize, and to explore cutting-edge
issues . For information contact The
Atlanta Gay/Straight Alliance, P.O. Box
. 3054, 'Decatur GA 30031, (404)378 -721 0,
reachingo@aol.com.
the · Bible, gay Christian responses to
Southern Ba pti sts , how to start you~
own recovery group , and a special offer
of a "Gay Spiritual Survi val Kit" to
help gay and lesbian Christians answer
questions about the Bible and homosexualit
y.
Dr. Truluck's most recent articl e in
Second Stone was "Many ex--ex-gays
continue drift toward abusive religion "
on page 3 of the July/August, 1997 ,
issue .
You can write to Dr. Truluck at P.O.
Box 24062, Oakland, CA 94623 or at email:
Rembert@slip ;net.
North American Lutheran
Conference on AIDS
NOVEMBER 6-8, "Hope, Help and Healing:
A Lutheran Challenge' is the theme
for this fifth annual conference to be held
in Secaucu s, NJ._ Sponsored by the
Lutheran AIDS Network (LANET), the conference
will featur.e interactions with
ELCA Bishop George Anderson, Or. Martin
Marty, Sen. Paul Simon, Dr. Musimbi
Kanyoro, and other speakers. In addition
there will be special worship opportunities
, form al work shops , experiential
learning through visits to AIDS service
programs, resource/information exchange
areas, and fellowship with companions in
HIV/ AIDS ministry. For more information,
contact Loretta Horton at 800/638-
3522, ext 2404 .
Surfacing Our Souls:
A Study of Families,
Fear, and Faith
NOVEMBER 28-30, A weekend retreat to
explore: how we grow and develop in family
systems; how our faith and spirituality
grow in stages; and what the Bible says
about_ homosexuality. To be held at the
Bishop Booth Conference Center in Burlington,
Vermont. Cost is $155 - $195
per person. For information contact Triangle
Ministries, Rev. Christine S. Leslie,
M.Div., 14 White Birch Lane, Williston
VT 05495, REVCSL@aol.com (802) 860-
7106, htip://members.aol.com/tevcsl
Weekend Retreat:
"Having The Holy In
Our Holidays"
DECEMBER 19-21, A weekend retreat for
members and friends of the gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender community .
Gather to explore naming and claimin!
The Holy in your Holidays. The, Bishor
Booth Conference . Center in Burlington
Vermont, is the setting. Cost per person
$155-$195 . For information contact Tri
angle Ministries: A Center For Lesbian &
Gay Spiritual Developmeni, Rev. Chris
tine S. Leslie, M.Div., 14 White Bircl
Lane Williston, VT 05495
REVCSL@aol.com,. (802) 860-7106.
Church&Or anizationNews
Largest-ever
Reconciling
Congregations
gathering
ALMOST 500 RECONCILING United
Methodists gathered in Atlanta from .
July 24-27 to witness to and celebrate
. the growth and vitality of the movement
welcoming all persons , regardless of
sexual orientation , into the United
Methodist Omrch.
This largest-ever Reconciling Congregation
Program convocation was marlced
by spirited worship services each day
which created the atmosphere of an oldfashioned
revival meeting with a love-
Transitions
ILA MAE WILSON, known as
Grandma .Wilson to fellow members of
. The Church of The Living Water , died ,
at age 85 at her Nashville home . She
leaves to mourn her passing a daughter,
Rev . Linda Kennemer, a daughtcr-inIaw,
Connie Burk, both of Nashville,
eight grandchildren, eight great- ·
grandchildren, one sister, and a host of
friends. She was a faithful church member
and active in community, even participating
in this year's gay pride parade.
Ila Mae Wilson, center, in
Nashville's gay pride parade
and-justice theme.
''The energy and exuberance of this
gathering of the diverse family of God
demonstrates unbounded possibilities for
· Christian communities who truly seek
to be the inclusive Body of Christ," said
RCP executive director Marlc Bowman .
A highlight of the convocation was
the recognition of the "Denver 15"
bishops, who made an unprecedented
public dissent from the .denomination's
unwelcoming policies toward gay and
lesbian persons in April, 1996. Two of
the fifteen bishops, Melvin Wheatley
and Dale White, were present, while
greetings from several other bishops
were read. The bishops received a prolonged
ovation for their witness and
words of encouragement for the RCP
movement.
"This convocation was indicative of
the vibrant RCP movement which is
thriving across the United States," Bowman
said. "Because we don't talk in battle
language or threaten to leave the
church, we don't get much media coverage.
Persons are flocking to this movement
because we offer good news that
everyone is truly welcome and we are
transforming a rules-driven church into a
church of grace and love. We believe
this is God's message to a troubled
churchandwor!dtoday."
MCC Louisville
celebrates 25th
anniversary and
building dedication
. THE METROPOLITAN Community
Church of Louisville celebrated its 25th
anniversary in the Kentuckiana area in
mid-September. The highlight of the
·weekend-long celebration was the formal
building dedication of the church's new
building, which is the 104-year-old
former Trinity Lutheran Church, which
MCC purchased in July . Rev. Troy Per•
ry, founder of the Universal Fellowship
of Metropolitan Community Churches,
GAYELLOW PAGES™
INFORMING THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITT SINCE 1973
All editions now Include a.SEPARATE WOMEN'S SECTION
Complete gay-friendly resources and businesses: aa:ommodatlons, bars, bookstores, dentists, doctors, lawyers,
therapists, tiavel services, printers, organizations,•• rel~lous groups, help lines & IIV/AIDS resources.
Listings broken down by•State&City. lndex&fast access phone list UPDATED ANNUALLY.
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delivered the sermon for. the celebration. ·
MCC Louisville is pastored by Rev.
Dee Dale, who will celebrate her 14th
anniversary as pastor of the church in
December. Neighbors in the community
were invited to participate and celebrate
the continuance of Christian ministry in
the historic building.
Dignity/USA
observes third
Solidarity Sunday
OCTOBER 5TH MARKED Dignity /
USA's third Solidarity Sunday . Thousands
of churchgoers wore a rainbow
ribbon to make known their support of
ending verbal and physical violence
directed toward gay and lesbian people .
This year's campaign got a boost from
Vice President AI Gore, who issued a
strong endorsement of Solidarity Sunday.
In addition to Dignity/USA and its
chapters, others participating included
Catholic churches, Metropolitan Community
Churches, Unitarian churches,
Episcopal churches, PFLAG chapters,
and. others.
Dignity /Pittsburgh
joins Adopt-aHighway
program
THE PITTSBURGH CHAPTER of
Christian Community News
· Dignity/USA has adopted a stretch of .
highway as a participant in the statewide
rqad cleanup project sponsored by Pe1111-
sylvania' s Department of Transportation.
The group is identified as· "Dignity
Pittsburgh" on blue and white roadside
signs that mark the beginning and end
of its two-mile stretch. "A lot of people
driving down Route 65 honked their :
horns and waved in support," said Dan '
Fix, vice president of Dignity /Pitts burgh.
"We want the community at 1
large to be accepting of us, and we're
showing that, in the community effort
to help out and make -our city cleaner,
we 're ·.willing to be. a part of that as
well."
Group forms to assist ·
independent churches
LEADERS FROM . FOUR churches
gathered to fonn the United Christian
Ministries, an organization for independent
churches that will focus on Christ,
worship and ministry. The group elected
four bishops who will be consecrated at
the first conference of the United Christian
Ministries which will be held
October 24-26 in Birmingham, Alabama
. Those elected: Rev. S. F. Ma-Hee,
Rev. Charlene McDonald, Rev. Brenda
Ross, and Rev. Chuck D. Thompson.
For information on the United Christian
Ministries, rea<krs may call (205)833 -
3501 or (423)894-6224.
• Exciting Articles & Features
• Color Photos That Take You There
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• Exclusive Travel Listings
OUR WORLD is the recognized monthly
magazine for travel enthusiasts. Unlike
other publications, you'll find everything
you need to know l!bout gay and lesbian
travel in our 56-page, all-glossy format
- including color photography.
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SECOND STONE 23
Govemortmneclauthorurges
Christians to get into JX)litics
LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee,
- in a newly released book, urges Christians
to get involved in politics because
society has lost its focus on God.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister, presents
two opposing philosophies in his book,
"Character is ·the Issue."
One ·view is that humans are essentially
good, Huckabee says. The other,
which Huckabee believes, holds that
human are basically self-centered and in
need of God's help."
Those who believe differently often
point to education as the means to solving
society's ills, such as crime, poverty
and disease, Huckabee said. ·
"We must come to see that our core
problem is not a Jack of education but
lack of righteousness ," Huckabee writes.
"We don't need more information as ·
much as we need new hearts. " . .
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
explores the book's central theme - that
Chris .tians .with character are needed in
public office to fight the battle .of philosophies.
The . final section contains copies of
several of Huckabee's speeches.
Some of Huckabee's messages are
headed: "Faith is like a Bass Boat," "No
Compromise 'on Core Convictions" and
"The Necessity of Fun."
Huckabee frequently cracks jokes at
news conferences and other public
· appearances.
"Sometimes the best mediciue we can
reach for is not a bottle or a pill, but a
joke book," Huckabee write s. "The
capacity to laugh, to make light of situations
that are heavy , is incredibly
important."
Upon becoming governor, Huckabee
writes that he immediately banned
smoking and swearing in the office .
"No.t because I'm a··self-righteous
prude but beca~e those things kill morale
and sap productivity," Huckabee
writes. "I also made it clear that I have
no patience with people who make sexual!
y inappropriate remarks." ·
Huckabee said the transition from pastor
to politician came naturally because
both professions require the same skills
- the ability to communicate a message,
■
liveii;i."
One of Huckabee's longest passages
involving a single perso~ recounts a telephone
conversation he had with Elders
when asked by Clinton to explain to her
"how people of the evangelical world
feel."
"Dr. Elders argued that man is basically
good; therefore if he does bad
things, he simply doesn't realize they
are bad, or else he hasn't been trained to
Huckabee said the transition from pastor
to politician came naturally because
both professions require the same skills ...
motivate v·olunteers and raise money and
an understanding of the media.
Huckabee scatters references to other
politicians and public figures throughout
the book, including President Clinton,
Tucker and former U.S. Surgeon
General Joycelyn Elders.
Of Clinton , Huckabee writes in the
book's introduction: "Responding to
questions regarding his personal character,
President Bill Clinton once told his
audience that 'character isn't the issue.'
Yet our character defines the world we
■
do good," Huckabee writes. "It sounds
noble and, frankly, it seems a much
more appealing approach to life than the
alternative. It has but a single flaw: it's
wrong.
"It will never work because our problems
do not result from economics or
deficiencies in education. They result
from the selfish decision to ignore God's
standards of integrity. Standards based
on anything else are relativ e , and relative
standards are meaningless." (AP)
obtained the book in page-proof form
from the publisher and reported on it
August 27.
Grace, forgi,veness theme of two new books
Huckabee's book bears the subtitle,
"How People with Integrity can Revolutionize
America." It is divided into three
sections spread over 14'chapters and .191
pages. It is being published by Broadman
& Holman and was to be distributed
to Christian and secular bookstores
across the nation in mid-September, said
Huckabee spokesman Rex Nelson. It's
hardcover price wili be $14. 99.
The first and longest of section of the
book recounts Huckabee's ascension t.f
governor on July 15, 1996, when thenGov.
Jim Guy Tucker waffled between
resigning and only stepping aside temporarily
following his convictions by a
federal Whitewater jury.
The middle section is where Huckabee
2. SEPTEMBER•OCTOBER 1997
Books
BY DAVID BRIGGS
"IF ONLY THERE WERE evil people
somewhere insidiousiy committing evil
deeds, and it were necessary only to separate
them from the rest of us and
destroy them. But the line dividing good
and evil cuts through the heart of every
• human being. And who is willing to
destroy a piece of his own heart?" -
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
When his son was killed in a car
crash, Bill Chadwick attended every
court hearing for the drunken driver
responsible for the accident. He wanted
to make sure the driver paid for what .he
haddone.
But it was only some months after
the driver had been sentenced to six
· months in a boot camp program that
Chadwick began to realize that he would
never find peace until he could forgive
the driver.
"No amount of punishment could ever
even the score. I had to be wiliing to
forgive without the score being even,"
· he wrote. "And this process of forgiveness
did not really involve the driver - it
involved me.H was a process I had to
go through; I had to change, no matter
what he did."
The scene from a new book -
"Seventy Times Seven: The Power of
Forgiveness" (Plough . Publishing) by
Johann Christian Arnold - explores one
of the most difficult commands given to
Christians some 2,000 years ago: to
love their enemies and to forgive each .
other as God forgives their -sins.
It is also the theme of another book,
"What's So Amazing About Grace" by
Philip Yancey, published by Z.Ondervan.
Set against a society where liberal and
conservative Christians are often so
publicly at one another's throats, both
Arnold and Yancey - the senior elder of
the Bruderhof religious communities in
the United States and England, and the
_ediior-at 0 large for Christianity Today,
respectively - argue for the need to show
more charity and less judgment toward
others,
"Grace is Christianity's best gift to
the world, a nova among us exercising a
force stronger than vengeance, stronger
than racism, stronger than hate," Yancey
writes. "Sadly to a world desperate for
this grace the church often presents one
more form of ungrace."
A visit to the White . House after he
wrote a magazine article titled "Why
Clinton Isn't the Antichrist" prompted
Yancey to write on ·grace.
There, Clinton, a lifelong Southern
Baptist, told Yancey and other evangelicals,
"I've been in politics long enough
to expect criticism and hostility. But I
-'was unprepared for the hatred I get from
Christians. Why do Christians hate so
much?"
In the case of Clinton, there are
plenty of reasons for evangelical disapproval,
Yancey notes, from his personal
life to .his voting record firmly opposed
to any · limits on abortion.
However, Yancey · said in an interview,
hating the man is ilot the solution.
"Bill Clinton is a human being, and
as a Christian I don't have the option of
hating him, or even writing him off,"
he said.
A style of grace, in which Christians
show love to people they disagree with
and offer practical alternatives to
policies they oppose, would be a more
effective way of communicating their
concern. he said.
"If Christians were known primarily
as ones who minister to AIDS victims,
take care of babies, instead of moralizing
on the picket line, I think that
would be a huge step toward recovering
our stance of grace, which we are cal.led
to do," Yancey said.
In "Seventy Times Seven" - the title
is taken from Jesus' answer to Peter
when he asks how often he should forgive
another person - Arnold states that
forgiveness is necessary in a world of
imperfect human relationships.
"In my life, the only fail-safe ~olution
I have found is to forgive, if necessary
seventy times seven in one day, and to
pray ." (AP)
Gatherings
Christian ~uthor asks: Is ~eauty the beast?
Books
BY DAVID BRIGGS
WHEN JACOB SELECTS a . wife, he
chooses the woman, Rachel, who is
described as "beautiful in form," over
Laban's eldest daughter, Leah. But it is
. the older daughter whom God looks on
' with favor "when the Lord saw that
Leah was unloved .. "
·when David gazes upon Bathsheba,
he is inflamed by lust that brings tragedy
.to both familie s. And Samson,
who has a roving eye for all the wrong
women; finally has his eyes gouged out
after a disastrous dalliance with Delilah.
A few thousand years later, the handsome
clergyman with an attractive wife
is more likely to get a prestigious pulpit,
and men and women in Christian
singles groups are still judging potential
mates for their looks as much as - if not
"No Matter What Way!"
more than - for their spiritual qualities .
So why is it that throughout the centuries
religious folk have had such a
hard time getting past people's outward
appearance to see the beauty of their
inner selves - "the unfading beauty of a ·
gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great
worth in God's sight," according to. 1
Peter.
It is partly human nature. And partly
because of the overwhelming emphas is
secular culture places on physical beauty
.
But a large part of it is because religious
institutions ignore the issue, allowing
both the beautiful and not -sobeautiful
to be consumed by the unattainable
goal of physical perfection,
says Karen Lee-Thorp, a Christian
writer from Pasadena, Calif.
In an article in a .recent issue of Christianity
Today, and in a new book from
NavPress titled "Why Beauty Matters,"
Lee-Thorp explores the religious perspective
on beauty throughout . the centuries.
What she found in her research is that
little has been written about the preoc'
cupation men and women have with
their physical appearance.
"There's chiefly a loud silence about
· it," she said in an interview .
Churches have either trivialized 1t as
an issue of vanity or a "woman's issue,"
or they have continued in a religious tradition
associating beauty with danger,
lust and sin, she said.
However , ignoring the subject does
not make the issue go away , she said .
"We can say sex is bad, then we have
a taboo talking about it, then every sexual
sin or excess runs through the
church," she said.
Similarly, she said, the church is missing
an opportunity to help millions of
people who are obsessed with their bodies
.
According to one 1995 study, she
Marsha Stevens better than ever on new CD
Music
MARSHA STEVENS' remarkable
music ministry to the gay and lesbian
community continues with the release
of her new CD, "No Matter What Way! "
The 10-song CD, produced by Chris
Lobdell , features new songs, most written
or co-written by Stevens, including
" Light of the World ," the theme for the
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches General Conference
recently held in Sydney, Australia.
Stevens' son, John, also contributed
music and lyrics to the snappy compilation
of songs of praise .
Stevens began her musical career at
the age of 16 when she wrote the modern
hymn "For Those Tears I Died"
which has been included in most church
"I found
out that
I didn't
need
to come
out to
God" '
hymnals since 1972. She sang and
toured for nine years with the Christian
folk group "The Children of the Day." ·
The group made six albums for which
Stevens wrote most of 'the songs . Dur- ·
ing this time she also sang and did back up
vocals on several of the "Maranatha"
and "Praise" albums and toured in the
United States, Canada, Europe and
Israel.
She eventually married and began a
family . Then , in 19"19. after seven yeiμ-s
of marriage, she divorced. Stevens came
out as a "born again lesbian" and spent
most of the first five years sorting out
and establishing her new life.
said , 48 ircent of American women felt '
"wholesale di~pleasure about their '
lxxlies." ·
In a survey by the National Institute :
for the Christian Single, men rated ·
looks as the third most important qua! - .
ity - after the ability to communicate, ·
and personality - when looking for :
someone to date, she said .
"The world is full of people who are
undervalued because of the way . they
look, and when we treat them as though ,
their pain matters , we affirm their ·
value," she writes . .
Pastors need to talk about the issue
from the pulpits, and churches should
offer groups where people can share
their concerns and experiences about
their body images, she said
" These people do not need to be told
they are vain," according to Lee-Thorp .
"They need to be loved, body and soul,
until they can look in the mirror and see
the image of God." (AP)
"When I came out as a born again lesbian,
I didn't anticipate that people
would come unglued the way they did,"
Stev ens said. '.'Ql!,.1,e_ ti}.1, chll!".ch_ff>und
out, people came over and told me to
take the 'Jesus is Lord' sign off my
door. People would rip the pages out of
their hymnals containing my songs and
s end them to me with hate mail."
In 1984, she began singing and writing
again, this time as a ministry to the
gay and lesbian Christian community .
She studied nursing at the University of
the State of New York and became an
RN to supportherself and her two children
as she traveled on weekends, taking
her music to _gay 0affirming churches
around the United States and Canada .
"I found out that I didn't need to come
out to God," Stevens said. "Hound that
ihe Word still burned in my heart and I
could not contain it."
In early 1993, Stevens and her partner,
Suzanne, sold their home and moved
into an RV to begin traveling fulltime
to sing and share about God's love for
all people. She now makes about 200
appearances a year .
Thanks to avid followers of her
music, Stevens has mad _e five solo
albums and a concert video. Her work is
released on the B.A.L.M . label, (Born
Again Lesbian Music) which she started
· and operates with her partner.
Stevens' music is available from
BALM Ministries, P.O. Box 1981,
Costa Mesa CA 92628, (714)641-8968 ,
. (213)700- 706().
SECOND STONE 25
f)
__ SJN-C 'E
1988, A
FRIEND
FOR THE
JOUR -~EY
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The National Ecumenical And
Evangelical Newspa_per About Being
Gay And Christian
26 S.EPT .EMBER•OCTOBER 1997
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Resnonse
Lettersf" Commentary
Now is our time to act
The marriage battle
has just begun
BY REV. MEL WHITE
THE SAME-GENDER maniage issue
is a justice issue .about which we dare
not remain silent, inactive, and on the
sidelines. It is time for congregations to
speak and act with courage and with
creativity .
The following compilation of
resources from the National Freedom to
Marry Coalition is intended to he lp
every congregation develop a strategy to
Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Gays in the Jewish
Conservative move..:
ment: Get used to it
Dear Secood Stone,
I note with interest your article in the
March /April 1997 issue, "Not Every
Synagogue Feels Like Home." Though
I know that you are a Christian publica-
SECOND STONE Newspaper, ISSN
No. 1047;3971, is published. every
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LA 70182, secstone@aol.com. Copyright
1997 by Second Stone, a registered
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otherwise not responsibl_e for the
return of any material:
SECOND STONE, a national ecumenical
and evangelical Olristian
· newspaper with a specific outreach to ·
gay, lesbian and bisexual. people.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR Jim Bailey
help win justice for God's lesbian and
gay children . The religious and po)itical
extremists are committing · huge
resources in their campaign to deny us
our right to maniage . We must redouble
our efforts to win those rights and
protections and to . enlist gay and nongay
support for our freedom to marry .
The National Freedom to Marry Coalition
includes every national lesbian
~d gay rights organization, numerous
tion, it was good to see acknowledgment
of your Jew ish sisters and brothers
in your pages. .
One slight correction: · I am an "out "
gay Cantor who serves a Conservative
congregation, in addition to being on
the faculty of the Rabbinic School of
Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, a
Reform institution. Addi_!ionally,two
years ago, the Conservative Rabbincal
Assembly, rather quietly placed an "out"
gay man in a Conservative pulpit. Also,
it should be noted that several Conserva- .
tive synagogues have outreach programs ·· ·
for its lesbigay Jewish constituency,
one of the most prominent being Temple
Valley Beth Shalom's " Response"
group in Encino, Cafifornia. As a
movement, we may be lagging behind ·
strides made in the Reform and Recon- ,
structionist movements, but "we're here ,
we're Conservative and .queer! The y're
~etting used to it!"
Sincerely,
Cantor Samuel B. Radwine
CongregationNer Tamid of South Baj
non-ga y allie s,.and state and local paitn 0
ers in every state - all working together
to secure the freedom to marry fre e o(
sex discrimination.
I invite you and your congre gation to
join the Coalition in the l asks before
u s: 1) Beating back the radical right
anti-maniage backlash bills in state legislatures
across the country ;. 2) Defeating
anti-marriage !)allot measures in
Haw aii and elsewhere; and 3) In every
■ ..
maiTiage fight and tools for discuss ing ;
_ih e:Jssue of maiTiage wi th others . Pack- ,
ets also address the perspectives of relig- '
ious communities and people of color. :
2) Freedom : to Marry Brochure -. The :
Marriage Resolution , basic que s'tions ·
and answers, and talki1,1g points. 3) R~solution
and Signatories - list of national :
and local organizations, religious lead- i
ers, and congregations signing on to the :
Marriage Resolution . 4) Interracial :
The religious and political extremists are
committing huge-resources in their campaign
to deny us our right to marriage. We must
redouble our efforts towin those rights ...
community, affmnatively enlisting non gay
supporters and reaching out to the •
non-gay persuadable public, engaging
people in dialogue about our freedom to
marry, inviting support for the Marriage
Resolution, and shaping the climate of
receptivity for the couples soon to be
legally married.
Here is ii vast array of resources,
available from Coalition members , or
from Lambda ' s Mam.age Project. We
urge people to .use the remainder of this
year as a time to hold forums , engage in
dialogue, shape media, make contacts
with reachable non-gay political supporters,
and ask for discussion and support
of the MaiTiage Resolution. This
i s a precious window of opportunity .
These resources are available to you to
use in creating and fulfilling your local
action plan.
The following materials are available
thro\lgh Lambdal.egal Defense and F.ducation
Fund ' s Marriage Project, 120
Wall St.; Ste . i.500, New . York, NY
·10011, (212)809-8585 (voice), (212)
800-0055 (fax), or lldeftruqT)'@aol .com . ·
Materials ·inchide : 1) MaiTiage Information
Packets - inforni.ation on the
■
Marriage/History - including summary
of the parallels between the antimaiTiage
laws aimed at smne-sex couples,
and the prohibitions against interracial
marriage from a generation ago . 5)
Bibliography - list of articles, legal and
popular , in the areas of marriages performed
in Hawaii, recognition of samesex
couples in other countries. 6) Articles
- includi!_tg various press clipping s ,
ii:icluding cSeleeted . clippings · putting
forth the " conservative case" for .equal
marriage rights. 7) Bress Kit - contains
general legal, historical and social back -
. grounfters on the freedom 'to marry for
same-sex couples, as well as press clip,
pings .
We welcome your
letters and opinicms
.Write to Secone Stone. All letters must
be originai and 5!gned by the writer.
Clearly indicate if yuur name is to be ·
withheld. We reserve the rightto edit.
Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182, or
e-mail, secstone@aol,com or FAX to
(504)899-4014,
tel tiMM4iiii!SiiRi#¥iR#ii4i4ii! £f St M M:¥ 52 i iiHMWN classif.
BOOKS/PUBLICATIONS
RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY, a List of
Resources for Gay Men, Lesbians and Bisexuals.
35-page list includes over 300 ·book
titles, plus directory of religious organizations
and their publications, other organizations,
newsletters, and journals. $6 postpaid
from GLBTF Clearinghouse, c/o Office for
Outreach Services, American Library Association,
60 East Huron St. , Chicago IL
6061 I. 2/98
ENLARGING THE CIRCLE: Pullen's Holy
Union Process, the inside story of how a
Baptist church .in Jesse Helms' hometown
decided as a co.ngregation to offer rituals of
blessing for. gay and lesbian · couples. The
church's history with gay issu~s. discussion
within the ·congregation, reac;tion from out- .
siders, expulsion by fellow Baptists, celebrations
of covenant, and consequences for
the church are shared by lesbian Pat · Long,
the onry "out" deacon during the process.
_$end $10 plus $1.25 postage to BOOK, Pullen
Memorial Baptist Church, 180.J Hillsborough
Street, Raleigh, NC 2?605'. TF
"WONDERFUL DIVERSITY." "Heartily _recommended,"
"Philosophically intriguing."
"Excellent '.• Why do reviewers highly
esteem CHRISTIAN*NEW AGE QUARTERLY?
Great articles and lively columns make
this bridge of dialogue between Christians
and_ New AgCrs as entertaini"ng_ as it is substantive.
Subscribe for only · $12.50/yr. Orsample
us for $3.50. CHRISTIAN*NEW AGE
QUARTERLY, P.O. Box 276, Clifton, NJ
07011-0276. TF
BUS INESS OPPORTUNIT IES
Jess or Mike at (703)370-7875.
EMPLOYMENT
THE OTHER SIDE, the Christian magazine of
peace, justice, and spirituality, seeks a Director
of Operations to coordinate overall management,
long range planning, personnel,
and board development: Teambuilding skills,
2-4 years administrative experience required.
We offer excellent benefits and work on a
common salary structure - currently $18 ,740
per year for individuals (plu s generous stipend
for dependent ·children). Contact:
Search committee, _300 West Apsley, Philadelphia,
PA 19144. (215)849-2178.
TOS.PA@ecunet.org. 10/97
FRIENDS/RELATIONSHIPS
. . . .
CHRISTIAN_ GWM, 45, fit, professional
. , seeks GWM 25-40 for possible monogamous
• long term relationship in NW Florida. No
prisoners. Tell me about · yourself. Photo
appreciated. Reply to: P.O. Box 15022, Pan- .
ama City, FL 32406. 10/97
GENER AL INTEREST
CAN'T GET TO CHURCH? We'll come to you ·
by audio cassette of our weekly worship.
Send request and donation to Holy Spirit Fellowship,
P.O. Box 91272, Long Beach, CA
90809: 10/97
OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY 2000-
Join us in our wonderful Alpine Adventure
and Treasures ·of Italy tour now being planned
visiting •Innsbruck •Ischgl •Liechtenstein
•Venice •Milan •Florence •Tyrolean Alps. 15
exciting days - September 20 to Oc_tober 4,
2000 - departing from Detroit. Hosted by
Rev . . Steve Weinberger. Call or write for
more informati<ln: 517-224-6859, 200 E.
State St., St. Johns, MI 48879. 8/97
and lesbian Christian friends from across the
nation as you tour one of the most sacred
places in the world: Christian Pilgrimage to
Israel including a stop in Amsterdam. Visitors
. often remark that this trip to Israel was
the journey of a lifetime ! This 12-day trip
through this ancient and holy land includes a
2-night stop in delightful Amsterdam .
$2,469.00 per person , Contact Second
Stone, P.O. Box 8340, New. Orleans, LA
70182 . secstone@aol.com ----·Reader' _____________
toReader
!I~~!!~~!:.~,~::~::? 221~;~~:~.. and lesbian Christians across toWn or across the country - To have
your profile published simply send your information to Second Stone,
P .O. -Box 8340, New Orleans, LA 70182, e-mail to secstorte@aol.com ,
or FAX to (504)899,4014. ·
1=====·
1 .. Stale, Cily------~-------------
2. Name,---------------------~-
CIRCLE: 3. Single or committed 4.Gay, lesbian, trans, bi, or straight 5. Male or female
6. Age__ 7. Religious affiliati ::::
8. Occupali
NOTE: Select TWO of THREE ways to be contacted: Your mailing address, your e-mail · i
address, or your telephone number. . · • !
9. Contact informatio ..._---------------~--- i
.. !~~~~~~~!!~!~~!~~~--- .. ·· . ······················································HOW TO REA1< R2R: Listings are in
alphabetical order by state, then by
city. If a mailing .address is given in a
listing the zip code appears in the
listing. NNG = No name given.
S=single,.C=committed. G=gay,
L=lesbian, T =transgendered,
B=bisexual, S=straight. M=male,
F=female. Age, religious affiliation,
occupation, contact information.
MICHIGAN, LANSING
NNG, SGM;46, METHODIST, SELF EMPLOYED,
517-224-2415. .
MISSISSIPPI, JACKSON
ALLEN SHIRLEY, SGM, 32, INDEPENDENT-AIM,
5136 GERTRUDE, APT A, 39204
MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY
JOSEPH STUCHEL, SGM, 36, CATHOLIC, COM·
PUTER PROGRAMMER, 4006 OAK ST., #6, 64111,
jgstuchel@aol.com
NEW HAMPSHIRE, MANCHESTER
BILLIONAIRE.BOYS/GIRLS Club: Looking
for motivated individuals to make some extra
money. No telemarketing or door to door. .
Lots of fun, great' people. Interested? Call
· · CALIFORNIA, DOWNEY
CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGES - Meet new gay . . THEODORE CRANFORD, SGM, 67, UFMCC,
RETIRED, PO BOX 1307,90240-0307. (562)928-
4489.
ROD, SGM, 42, INSURANCE UNDERWRITER,
hotnho9258@aol.(X)fll.
classified ad oraer rorm
When? I )Jan/Feb [ ]Mar/Apr [ iMay/Jun [ )Jul/Aug [ )SepK:>ct [ ]Nov!Oec
Where? I ]Books/Pubs [ ]Business Ops . [ ]Employment [ ]Friends/Relationships
I ]Gen! Interest I ]Mail Order [ ]March [ ]Organizations [ ]Prof Services
I ]Real Es~te [ ]Retreats [ ]Roommates [ ]Travel [ ]Videos
Yourname. ____ ~--------------
Addres...__ __ '--"-------'----------
City/State/Zi _____ ...;__ ______ --,-__ __;_
Your ad COPY----------------
How much? Count .the number of words in your ad and multiply that figure by .35.
Send a check in that amount and this fonn to: Second Stone, P.O. Box 8340,
New Orleans, LA 70182. Minimum 20 words. ·All classified ads must be prepaid.
Deadline: 15th of thfil month p_rior to cover date. We'll send you a copy of the
/ssue(s) in which your ad appears. TO ORDER BY FAX OR E-MAIL, SEE THE
INFORMATION ON PAGE 26.
. CALIFORNIA, PASADENA
BARRY DIXON, SGM, 40, WORLDWIDE CHUR
GOD, TECHNICAL WRITER dec4th@aol.CXlfll . .
NEW YORK, YONKERS
JOHN PRATHER, $GM, 71, EPISCOPALIAN,
COMPUTER SPECIALIST, 7 BELL PL., 10701,
914-964-0379.
OREGON, FLORENCE .
JOE NOLAN, CBM, 59, EPISCOPALIAN, GARDENFLORIDA,
PANAMA CITY ER, PO BOX 2263, 541-997-1752
RQBBDOYLE, SGM, 38, CHARISMATIC ACC,
MEDICAL MESSAGE, 1139 EVERITT AVE 32401, TENNESSEE, CHATTANOOGA
mgay4jesus@aol.com . CHUCK THO'-i!PSON, SGM, NONDENOMINATIONAL;
PASTOR, 3623 FOUNTAIN
FLORIDA, BRANDON AVE., #109 37412, 423-624-9824
ROBERT MORGAN, SGM, 36, PENTECOSTAU
· APOSTOLIC, FLIGHT ATTENDANTMINISTER, TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE
2023CATTLEMAN DR., 33511. 813-651-1505. MEL, SGM, 42, PROTESTANT, PUBLISHER,
bnamelman@aol.com
. FLORIDA, TAMPA JA
LANCE, SGM, 50, UNITY, SOCIAL SERVICES, CK D. GREGORY, SGM, 54, INTERDENOMINA·
8311 ROYAL SANO CIR #115, 336l5. 813-249: TIONAL, CLERK, 1002 DOZIER Pl.; 37216. 615'
~- . - ·-· 227-3261.
ILLINQIS, MT. STERLING TEXAS, BEAUMONT
LOGAN o. KING, SGM, 50, DISCIPLES Or MICHAEL DAVID, SGM, 42, PAINTER, PARALECHFIIST,
PROGRAMMER/ANALYST, BOX 2000- GAL, 648558 MARK STILES, RT. 4 BOX 1500,
N41549,62353. mos.
IT ALY, NAPOLI TEXAS, SAN ANTONIO
PAOLO LANNI, SGM, 39, PENTECOSTAL, PHYS~ AL EISCH, SGM, 53, CATHOLIC, SOCIAL SERV•
CIAN, PO BOX 1 t, 80100 NAPOLI, 39-81-7761534. ICES, PO BOX 12754 78212, MOCHICA@FLASH.NET
·LOUISIANA, BATON ROUGE . VIRGINIA, RICHMOND
PAM GARRETTSON, SLF, 31, LUT.HERAN, GRAD MICHAEL KEITH HALL, SGM, 39, BAPTIST, PRO·
STUDENT, xp2927@LSUVM.SNCC.LSU.EDU GRAM SUPPORT/SCREENWRITER, 2201
FOURTH AVE., 23222. .
LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS
• ------•------------------- ~IM BAILEY, GGM, 42, LUTHERAN, PUBLISHER, NO LOCATION GIVEN . -secslone@aol.com NNG, CLF, 39, BAPTIST, gosep@aol.com
/ ~::8::--:_S::E:-:P:-:T:-::E:-M:-B:-::E-:R-•::O:-C'.::=T-:O::B:-E::-::R-:l::9:-:9:-:7::----------------.:....----------------__:_.:....:__.:__ __ :...:_...:_.:..._.:... __