Karin Lamberson

Karin Lamberson
Newport, Oregon

I grew up in the Trinity United Methodist Church in Toledo, Oregon, nestled in the lush forests of the Coast Range.  I have always been active in church activities, such as Sunday School, choir, food share, Christmas pageants, youth group and especially camp.  As soon as I was old enough, I went to summer camp at Suttle Lake (near Sisters, Oregon) and from there I was hooked.  Throughout the years, I have participated in camps as a camper, counselor, and summer staff member.  I have a feeling that camp will always be a big part of my faith journey and personal ministry.

I am now 20, and about a year ago I came out to myself, and then to some of my friends and family, as a bisexual person.  Although I am not out publicly to my home congregation, several of the members know about me.  It hurts me that under the current rules of the United Methodist Church, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people cannot be ordained.  I hope that through discussion and prayer, we can change this injustice for the good of all.

My younger sister, Julie, has been one of my biggest allies in my coming out journey.  Since she is a much more accomplished seamstress than myself, I requested her assistance in making this stole.  It's not that good, I know, but it gives me great pride to look at the stole, constructed of scraps I found in my house, and think that I made it.

This stole was given to us in advance of the 2000 General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH.  Karin is one of several United Methodists women who made this a "family affair," enlisting the help of a sister to make their stole.  In 1999, the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) inquired about the possibility of having a display of the Shower of Stoles at the General Conference the following April.  At the time, there were only around twenty United Methodist stoles in the collection.  We decided to introduce the Shower of Stoles to the Reconciling community by bringing the twenty UM stoles and about a hundred others to RMN’s Convocation in Denton, TX over the Labor Day weekend.  Stoles started to trickle in during the fall, and by February they began coming in droves.  In all, we received 220 United Methodist stoles – the vast majority of them arriving within eight weeks of the Conference.  Thanks to a monumental effort by a number of volunteers who pitched in to help record, inventory, sew labels and make last-minute repairs, all of the new stoles were present in Cleveland.  Twenty more people brought stoles directly to Cleveland, bringing the total number on display to 240.

 Towards the end of the General Conference, twenty eight lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender United Methodists and allies stood on the Conference floor in silent protest over the Conference’s failure to overturn the ban on LGBT ordination – a profound witness and act of defiance for which they were later arrested.  As these twenty eight moved to the front of the room, another 200 supporters stood up around the balcony railing, each wearing one of the new United Methodist stoles.  Hundreds more stood in solidarity as well, in the balcony and on the plenary floor, wearing symbolic “stoles” made from colorful bands of cloth.  A group of young people from Minneapolis, members of a Communicant’s Class, had purchased bolts of cloth the preceding evening and stayed up all night cutting out close to a thousand of these “stoles”.  In less than eight months, a handful of stoles had grown to become a powerful, visible witness to the steadfast faith of LGBT United Methodists nationwide.

Martha Juillerat

Founder, Shower of Stoles Project

2006