116 20 2500 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/76d072cc597d077260aaf242c53b14ef.jpg 4d6cf5acc6712cfdecdd7314f2244236 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-spiritual Leadership Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Thus Spoke the Plant Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Monica Gagliano, Penguin Random House, 2018 Description An account of the resource ...we breathe each other in and out of existence, one made by the exhalation of the other. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tim Tennant-Jayne Stole Text TIM TENNANT-JAYNE I received my Master of Divinity degree in 1980 from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, OH. I was ordained an Elder in 1982 in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 1985 I went on leave of absence as I came out as a gay man and moved to Minneapolis, MN. Then in 1992 I was place on administrative location with Iowa. Since then I've earned a Master of Arts in Religious Leadership in 1995 from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, New Brighton, Minnesota. I have now begun my own ministry of friendship to the male prostitutes in the Loring Park area, called Legends Street Ministry. The call doesn't end just because the organization doesn't want you. This Pentecost stole was designed by me and made by my ex-wife and myself. I wore it at my ordination. In the photo, I'm in the back row, second from the left; the one in white in a sea of black. Perhaps even then I should have known that a normal life was not for me… Denomination United Methodist Church Contribution Date 1998 Contribution Story Tim Tennant-Jayne's stole was among the first United Methodist stoles donated to the Shower of Stoles collection. The picture attached to the stole is a photograph of the class ordained as Elders by the Iowa Conference in 1982. Everyone in the photo is wearing a black pulpit robe except for Tim, who is garbed in white. Tim tells me that the Bishop took exception to his choice of color; from that point on ordinands were required to wear black robes. Although Tim has not served in an official capacity with the United Methodist Church for over twenty years, he has carved out an important ministry on the streets of Minneapolis, working with those who are routinely overlooked and unwelcome in the church. Martha Juillerat Founder, Shower of Stoles Project 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 479 Title A name given to the resource Tim Tennant-Jayne Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tim Tennant-Jayne Clergy Activist Methodist Minneapolis Minnesota Tennant-Jayne, Tim Theology United Methodist Church Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-spiritual Leadership Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource TIMELINE: CHRONOLOGY OF THE INQUISITION Subject The topic of the resource Self-explanatory. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Erenow. Modern History. https://erenow.net/modern/the-spanish-inquisition-a-historical-revision/17.php https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/e38da7600bdd859f6d356b03be8d63a8.pdf 43e8a1530d010a1a067f28ee33cac7a8 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Times Literary Supplement Friday March 1 1963 Love and Morals Towards a Quaker View of Sex. 75pp. Friends Home Service Committee. 3s. 6d. These first gropings towards a current Quaker view of sex, formulated with worried care and often, we are told, with painful modification of previous assumptions, will in the main be readily acceptable to many liberally-minded Christians as to serious unbelievers. Central to the Quaker arguments, and worth repeating because still far from universally accepted, is the belief that "sexuality, looked at dispassionately, is neither good nor evil--it is a fact of nature" and, to the Christian, "a glorious gift of God". Morals, which "were made for man, not man for morals", are to be judged by their motives, their intentions and their fruits, and those attitudes, those kinds of behaviour are to be preferred which lead to understanding, compassion, warmth, friendship and love. In t his light, and in the light of some recent research, and also, it should be stressed, in the light of the Will of God of which understanding must constantly be sought, this Quaker group puts forward some tentative conclusions on some of the sexual problems that perplex our society today. Their intended readership, we must suppose, consists of intelligent (the approach is far from simpliste) Quakers (this is implicit) who may be called on to give guidance on these problems (professional help is described and useful addresses given) but who up to this point were singularly ignorant of them (the glossary defines such words as contraceptive, extramarital, intimacy, menstruation). In so far as such a readership exists, the booklet must be welcomed by all who are sympathetic to its general point of view. Since it is, unfortunately, still necessary to tell people that masturbation is almost universal and usually harmless, that seduction by older men is not likely to fix sexual attitudes in younger ones, and that the range of sexual behaviour considered normal and acceptable is almost infinitely variable, even inside different classes in our own community, then it is desirable that such information be given as often as possible, and especially that it should be given with the good-will and loving-kindness that characterize this booklet throughout. But it has faults. It is often muddle-headed and sometimes fails to see the fuller possible ramifications or implications of what is being said. Thus, the authors quote Dr. Sherwin Baily as saying, "I love you" should imply desire for a permanently shared life. This, they say, is unrealistic, since love may be felt where sharing is not possible, as in the cases of homosexuals and of those who love outside marriage. Some of us may realize that when these authors speak of love they mean or include agape, but they ignore what is now the common usage of love among many of those whom the booklet is meant to help. "She saw him across the room and felt a strange new thrill. This was love." Some such phrases are common in the conventional love-ethic of today, and a right gloss on the word would often be something like infatuation or lust or yen--necessary parts of full sexual love, but insufficient along to justify the use of the word love; and the ethic that accompanies this limited interpretation is that "love" of this kind is compulsive and that to deny it is betrayal. The authors do not apparently realize the extent to which they present a counter-ethic, or that usefully to do so demands understanding and discussion of the one that actually prevails. Often they lay themselves open to considerable misunderstanding, as, for instance, when they grant the frequent harmlessness of "light-hearted and loving casual contacts" or commend falling in love with a happily married women as "surely" helpful to "a nervous youngster". But a more serious charge is the disproportionate space given to one problem, homosexuality--sixteen out of forty-three pages of text proper--and the disregard of others now surely more important and serious in light of social health and individual happiness. Nothing whatsoever is said about problems of contraception and abortion in relation to the increase (which the authors initially stress as the most important current developments) of sexual relationship between adolescents and young people before marriage. Everyone who has to do with young people today knows to what a terrible extent these problems are real ones. The current informed guess at the figure of illegal abortions is 300 a day. What this means in terms of distress, danger, financial burdens, contempt for law can be regarded only with horror. One could surely have hoped that, at the least, such a booklet as this would have discussed moral approaches to these problems, at best would have considered whether contraception should be freely available to the unmarried and whether it was not urgently necessary that there should be an official inquiry into abortion. Certainly at any given moment some problems are "fashionable", others not, but the sincerity and deep sense of responsibility with which these Quakers imbue their booklet makes it a matter for regret that these urgent current problems should have been ignored. The Times Literary Supplement March 4, 1963. Dear Sir, You may be glad to have this review ofo ne of your recent books, which appeared in the Times Literar Supplement of March 1, 1963. May I take this opportunity of inviting you to use the Times Literary Supplement more regularly for advertising? I would be pleased to give rates and international circulation on request. Yours truly. Jerome Foster Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Times Literary Supplement, 1 March 1963 Description An account of the resource The Times published a mixed review in its Literary Supplement on March 1. The reviewer seemed to have misunderstood the intentions of the authors when criticizing the number of pages dealing with homosexuality. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived clipping in HSC Quaker Group on Homosexuality records, Friends House, London https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/2b2e59e06477fc9e4163509f9b1204f9.jpg 0a11a08f45b941dd09722128e4d15ad7 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/b86029809ab6d54949bda1216d2d82c4.jpg a48d32fb9db2281c11e7cbefe4311ca4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tina (One of a group of eighteen Lutheran college students in New York) Stole Text TINA ELCA NY Denomination Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Contribution Date 2001 Contribution Story This is one of eighteen stoles made by an group of LGBT Lutheran college students in NY; sixteen are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and two belong to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), a far more conservative branch of American Lutheranism. All eighteen stoles have been patterned identically out of rainbow colored felt; each has a first name in block letters on one panel, and either "ELCA" or "LCMS," and "NY" on the second panel. The eighteen students represented by these stoles came to know each other by meeting at an ecumenical event, and they decided to keep meeting together informally. The students were particularly concerned with providing support for one of their two new LCMS friends. Although this young man was not "out" to anyone outside the group, he had been mercilessly abused by his family and his church on the mere suspicion that he was gay, and he feared for his life. Almost all of the other students are "out," but instead of simply trying to push their friend out of the closet, out of his church or away from his family, they chose instead to "sit with him," to be patient, offer their friendship and support, share in Bible study, and provide a listening ear until the young man's fears subsided and he could "find his own way." These stoles were given to me when I directed a display of stoles at the Tang Museum on the campus of Skidmore College in 2001. One of the ELCA students drove to Saratoga Springs, NY to deliver the stoles and tell me their story. As an act of solidarity with their one friend, all eighteen chose to put only their first names on the stoles. The student who delivered the stoles talked with me for quite awhile, but he, too, chose to tell me only his first name and he left no contact information. Although I don't know these students beyond the bit that they chose to share with me, I am touched by their story and impressed with the bond of faith and friendship they have formed. When I asked how their friend was doing, the student smiled and said, "He's getting his spiritual life back." And, he added, "He has changed our lives, too." Martha Juillerat Founder, Shower of Stoles Project 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 826 Title A name given to the resource Tina (One of a group of eighteen Lutheran college students in New York) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New York (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource A Group of Lutheran College Students Evangelical Lutherans of America (ELCA) Lutheran New York Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tish Tabb Stole Text TISH TABB Park Slope UMC Brooklyn, New York I came to PSUMC over eight years ago. In 1993 Rev. Finley Schaef co-ministered my wedding. In 1995, my husband and I separated, as I began my personal journey out of the closet. As our divorce concluded, my ex-husband discontinued worshiping at PSUMC while I remained involved with the children and youth programs. I began teaching Sunday School almost immediately, and in 1998 was hired as the Sunday School coordinator. I lead this role mostly by example of the many who come before me. Throughout the years I have received love, friendship, support, nourishment, balance, serenity, growth, pride, acceptance, and most of all, community. As a somewhat "quiet" lesbian here, I am happy I can tell my friends and family that I belong to a church that accepts and welcomes all people regardless of who we love. Denomination United Methodist Church Contribution Date 2000 Contribution Story This is one of thirty one stoles from Park Slope United Methodist Church included in a display of UM stoles at the 2000 General Conference of the UMC in Cleveland. All are made from identically sized pieces in turquoise, lavender and purple cotton batik, With only 200 members, Park Slope has donated the largest number of stoles to the collection from a single United Methodist congregation. A diverse community, Park Slope's creed is: Hand in hand, we the people of the Park Slope United Methodist Church -- black and white, straight and gay, old and young, rich and poor -- unite as a loving community, in covenant with God and the Creation. Summoned by our faith in Jesus Christ, we commit ourselves to the humanization of urban life and to physical and spiritual growth. A scrappy congregation utterly committed to putting their faith into action, Park Slope has been unrelenting in its pursuit of justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the UMC. 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 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 552 Title A name given to the resource Tish Tabb Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Brooklyn, New York (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Park Slope United Methodist Church Clergy Activist Methodist New York New York City Ordination Reconciling Ministries Network (formerly Reconciling Congregation Program) Tabb, Tish Theology United Methodist Church Women and Religion https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/619812499347a4f6a8912398808b2cbd.jpg 119abe3279716a12155268c8b765aa58 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-spiritual Leadership YouTube Video A video hosted on YouTube. YouTube ID Eleven-character ID assigned by YouTube xA1yU4y40j8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource To Understand the Story of Black Wall Street, Go Back to the Trail of Tears | OWN Spotlight | OWN - YouTube - June 2, 2021. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA1yU4y40j8 Subject The topic of the resource Blacks were slaves allotted land as Natives and bought surplus land sold to Blacks to build Black Wall Street in Tulsa. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/f1c85cb6424ca1e771597651b470f06d.jpg e3e9447449a992ec40908ef079d22fb3 Person An individual. Text Any textual data included in the document <div id="bio-view"> The Rev. Tom Baynham is a native of Richmond, Virginia and has served as the Director of Worship Arts and Event Planning at the Grace United Methodist Church in Saint Louis since July 2017.  He holds the Master of Sacred Theology from the Boston University School of Theology; the Master of Divinity from the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and the Master of Arts from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served congregations in Indiana, New Hampshire and Virginia. From 2011 to 2014, Tom served as the Associate Director for the One Voice Chorus, and receives frequent requests as a soloist, choral adjudicator and clinician.  He is a member of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada; Advisory Board for the Center for Congregational Song and The CenturyMen. Tom is father to two adult children, Daniel, a social sports coordinator in Jacksonville, Florida, and Lindsey, an ordained elder in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. </div> Biographical Text The Rev. Tom Baynham is a native of Richmond, Virginia and has served as the Director of Worship Arts and Event Planning at the Grace United Methodist Church in Saint Louis since July 2017.  He holds the Master of Sacred Theology from the Boston University School of Theology; the Master of Divinity from the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and the Master of Arts from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served congregations in Indiana, New Hampshire and Virginia. From 2011 to 2014, Tom served as the Associate Director for the One Voice Chorus, and receives frequent requests as a soloist, choral adjudicator and clinician.  He is a member of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada; Advisory Board for the Center for Congregational Song and The CenturyMen. Tom is father to two adult children, Daniel, a social sports coordinator in Jacksonville, Florida, and Lindsey, an ordained elder in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tom Baynham Tom Baynham UMC United Methodist Church https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/c74269f7b59588b59875b2b335ac94bf.jpg e9cd807bcb7bf8f382f7b42e068fe495 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/af6da2ec07afad3d7180fc32b22c55a3.jpg 093c9cfb1b3c4536436cc2e8715a3115 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/09742e4c4a3987d799aa635c2ea6beea.jpg 66912531eb2820ad8d7e39b28f3b1e2f https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/f03a353ad52229b5722d73157bfec6ea.jpg ddc2776fb881c1587137755b746f9aa6 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/4597fffb49e6c6cc43eb560aff8b4e57.jpg 0d35458af81d8861157862e67b701859 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Christianity & Crisis, October 14, 1963 pp. 175-79 A Look at the Quaker Report: On Taking Sex Seriously by Tom F. Driver Headlines were made in England last winter by the publication of a 75-page pamphlet titled "Towards a Quaker View of Sex" (Friends Book Store, 302 Arch St., Philadelphia 4, Pa., $.75) Of all the revolutions through which nowadays we are passing, the revolution in sexual mores is one that receives the least thought. I do not mean that it gets the least attention but that the attention it gets is least informed by objective and radical thinking. The Quaker pamphlet deserves the critic's praise and the public's reading because it is one of the few recent documents written by Christians that attempts to look at sex dispassionately and at human beings compassionately. The group that prepared the statement proceeded on the honest Quaker assumption that Christian ethics must be founded primarily upon conscience, not primarily upon law sacred or secular, and they have spoken conscientiously. As a result, their conclusions are very liberal with respect to the letter of the law. A society that finds much of its sexual pleasure in breaking the received code cannot help, therefore, giving headlines to a statement by Christians that puts the ultimacy of that code in question. The pamphlet is not an official statement of the Religious Society of Friends in Great Britain. It is the result of a six-year study carried out by 11 individuals, six of them elders in the Society. Their discussions began in response to problems of homosexuality "brought by young Quaker students...who came to older Friends for help and guidance." The group discovered that one type of sexual problem could not be clearly seen apart from other types: "a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle could not be identified without the whole picture." Thus the pamphlet includes an "Introduction and Basic Assumptions" and chapters on "Normal Sexual Development," "Homosexuality" (both male and female), a call for a "New Morality" and "A Word of Counsel to Counselors." There are also appendices, a glossary and a book list. The reader looking for surprises may find them. For instance, we read the following about triangular heterosexual relations: This is too often thought of as a wholy destructive and irresponsible relationship...Not sufficient recognition can and often does not arise in which all three persons behave responsibly...It is worth noting that in the two-woman/one-man situation, the very happiness of the marriage may attract a young girl or a sensitive and responsible woman...By the same token, it could surely help a nervous youngster to call in love with a happily married woman. (p. 20) On homosexuality the group supports the recommendation of the 1957 Wolfenden Report that such acts between consenting adults is private should no longer be a criminal offense. It follows the Bishop of Woolwich in his 1962 appeal for reform of "our utterly medieval treatment of homosexuals," which called a peculiarly odious piece of English hypocrisy." The group adds: Surely it is the nature and quality of a relationship that matters: one must not judge it by its outward appearance but by its inner worth. Homosexual affectation can be as selfless as heterosexual affection, and therefore we cannot see that it is in some way morally worse." (p. 36) In its section on a needed "new morality," the group writes: Nothing that has come to light in the course of our studies has altered the conviction that came to us when we began to examine the actual experiences of people--the conviction that love cannot be confined to a pattern. The waywardness of love is part of its nature, and this is both its glory and its tragedy. If love did not tend to leap every barrier, if it could be tamed, it would not be the tremendous creative power we know it so be and want it to be. (p. 39) The utterances of the group on particular problems, such as those cited, are courageous and debatable. What interests me, however, is the basic assumption that gave rise to them. This assumption is that the cardinal ethical virtue of responsibility can be made the norm for regulating and judging sexual behavior. Sexual acts are thus to be evaluated by whether they express and encourage the responsible behavior of the whole person, negatively by whether they involve exploitation. Using this as its criterion, the group finds no reason to condemn premarital, extramarital or homosexual relations as such. Sexuality, regarded objectively, is "neither good nor evil." The Christian sees it as "a glorious gift of God," which can indeed be misused; but misuse is not synonymous with infringement of the moral code, not even when that code is called Christian and seems to have biblical sanction. "It seemed to us that morals, like the Sabbath, were made for man, not man for morals..." I am going to criticize this approach, but I would like first to say that the group's obvious concern for "what is happening to people, what they are seeking to express, what motivations and intentions they are satisfying, what fruits, good or bad, they are harvesting" is of great importance and commends their report to every person who is seeking light on sexual ethics in our time. Law and Gospel The issue for Christian ethics raised by the pamphlet is a particular case of the relation of Law and Gospel. The Friends group was right to see that in our present cultural situation it is not longer sufficient to reiterate traditional standards, not even if this is combined with a Christian compassion for the offender. For the problem is that the traditional standards are no longer felt by the society to be derived from a genuine authority. This is so not only because of the alienation of the multitudes from the Church but also because within the Church--among pastor and other counselors--there is a widespread feeling that to insist upon "pure" sexual behavior may lead to neglect of "weightier matters," may jeopardize the communications of that profounder thing, man's freedom in Christ. This feeling may not be based upon the deepest sort of insight, but it is based upon one accurate opinion: namely, that when traditional religious authority is not felt by a man to be binding upon his conscience, then it is not possible to preach to him the Law and the Gospel as the same time. Well aware of the disasters created by preaching the Law only, ministers tends to say more about the Gospel. But in the long run this has the effect of undermining the Law itself, at least in so far as the Law must be spelled out as a specific guide to conduct. The last 50 years have witnessed most churches steadily liberalizing their views on divorce, softening their condemnation of many sexual practices, particularly homosexuality, and at the same time failing to provide a new formulation of the Law as it pertains to sex. No area of life is so neglected by specialists in Christian ethics as is sex. In no field have we done less to re-examine our basic assumptions, "Bible in one hand and newspaper on the other." The Quaker group calls for a "new morality" of sex. It affirms that "there must be a morality of some sort to govern sexual relations." It insists very cogently upon the social character of even the most private sexual acts. But it says nothing that might lead directly to the enunciation of the "new morality" for which it calls. The call had to be made, however, and I want now to add to it a few considerations that ought to be taken into account by Christian ethicists when they consider, as they must, the problem of sexual morality anew. The aim of the Quaker group is to pass beyond an insistence upon conformity to a code by urging that sexual relations, conformist or not, be brought into line with authentic selfhood. This is of course commendable, especially when so many people treat sex as a commodity. But I am convinced that it is insufficient and even highly misleading. It is at once too idealistic and too somber to fit the facts. An Impersonal Force Sex is a force that streams impersonally through nature. If we ask that this force be an expression of love, we must be aware of the several reality that are signified by this one English word. Love is not only responsibility and agape. It is also eros, which means desire. Sexual desire is not only desire of the "other" for the various kinds of beauty and good he, she or it may possess. It is also desire for self-gratification. The great power of sexual desire comes from the fact that it combines desire for the other with desire to gratify the self. If we are not speaking of this Janus-force we are not speaking of sex but of other things that are deemed good in association with it. No sexual ethic, including a Christian one, can be valid if it does not recognize the sex-force as a power in its own right and in both its other-directed and self-directed aspects. Whatever we say of the Church's time-honored view that marriage is a license for outlet of sexual passion (and the Quakers' report is adamant against it), at least it had the virtue of realism in regarding the sex-force as a given and not fully tamable fact of human nature. It is a mistake to assume that sex can be entirely personalized or, as a new book by a Protestant tells us, that is "is inseparable from the realization of one's humanity."* Sex is not essentially human, it is not inseparable from the human in us, and it cannot be fully humanized. It can be personified, as Aphrodite or Brigitte Bardot (I prefer Aphrodite), but these personifications have imaginative power because they represent as personal that which overrides personality. Did we not laugh when Thurber and White asked us, "Is sex necessary?" It is, indeed, from sexual humor that Christians have at present most to learn. We should distrust any pronouncement about sex, including the Quakers' report, that does not allow for the humorous side of the subject. Volumes of ostensibly Christian literature may in this way be swept from the shelves, with good riddance. Misplaced seriousness has wreaked more havoc on modern sexuality than all the films of Hollywood, most of which are themselves soddenly lugubrious as a "concession" to the pious. A return of ribaldry, now virtually absent from Broadway and Hollywood, would do much to clear the air. Laughter at sex is about the only way to put sex in its place, to assert one's humanity over against that impersonal, irrational, yet necessary force that turns even the best of men into caricatures of themselves. Not only "sinful" sex does this: lawful sex, safely within the limits of marriage and love, does it too, as everybody knows; and he who does not laugh about it must be humiliated by it. To be sure, there are various kinds of laughter. I hold no brief for snickering. Quite the opposite. A snicker is the unhappy result of a healthy impulse to laughter being partially suppressed by an unhealthy sense that laughter is forbidden. Also the giggle, which comes from embarrassment. What I proclaim is the Christian freedom to treat an impersonal aspect of creation lightly. What I deplore that that almost every book and article written on sex by a Christian leaves one with the feeling that sex must be a serious business. What has happened to our common sense? The Adolescent and the Disturbed Part of the answer may lie in the negative attitudes St. Paul seems to have had, part in the Church's long-held view that flesh belongs to sin. But I believe there is a simpler explanation closer to hand, especially as regards recent writing. It is that writers on sexual behavior tend to have in mind the needs of adolescents and other persons who are disturbed about their sex life. Laughter at sex comes naturally to the blessed, by which I mean young children and grown-up people, but not to the adolescent and the disturbed. To children the human body is neither a temple nor a prison; it is just odd, like the frog in the garden. The girl child's laughter at male physiognomy is no rejection of the body but simply a subordination of it to common sense. And her mother, if she has left adolescence behind her, will find the subject even funnier because she knows the sex act and all its disproportions. (Males usually do not find as much to laugh at; proud man does not like humor to cut him down to size.) In the whirlwinds of puberty the body becomes a serious matter. Loss of chastity looms up, longed for and feared, and even after that happens there is a long road to travel before those many adjustments are made that allow the sex life both to flower and to be separated from the centers of anxiety. While this is going on, laughter seems too cheap for sex--though by an assumed toughness the adolescent can invert his natural feelings. A special problem is therefore posed as to how one discusses sex with the adolescent and the disturbed. Telling a homosexual who is a potential suicide that his situation is comic is obviously not going to help him. That doesn't change the fact that this is actually what he most needs to know. Had Oscar Wilde considered his own emotions to be as humorous as he considered other things, he would not have gotten into all that trouble. Of course we wanted trouble; and the law, being as serious as he, obliged him. If Wilde lost his sense of humor at this point, at least one old lady maintained hers. Asked what she thought, she replied: "I don't care what they do, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses." What we say to the adolescent and the disturbed is a pastoral question or, if you like, a question of therapeutic strategy. (Adolescence is a disease: if one is cured of it, he becomes immune.) The strategy will often be decided, as the Army says, "by the situation and the terrain." But this particular question is to be separated sharply from the problem of framing a basic Christian sexual ethic. The psychology of the adolescent and the disturbed cannot be normative. The adolescent is endemically romantic: he idealizes sex, sometimes inverting this idealism into scorn and fear. But Christianity should no more idealize sex than it should scorn or fear it. It sees sex as a fact of created nature. This natural force can no more be made fully "human" than can mountain goats or ocean currents. Like them it can, if accepted, be used by man for his own good within a life of faithfulness and praise. Only, however, if the mystique of sex, a holdover from paganism, is blanched away. For the idealization of sex is merely once face of the coin that shows on its other side the disparagement of sex. Among the topics in the Quakers' report that could be improved with the leaven of humor is homosexuality. Society regards homosexuality between consenting adults as a crime. Opposing this, the Quaker group sees it as tragedy or potentially as a serious and responsible sexual relation. Now a crime is certainly should not be. I would not deny that it can be a serious and responsible relation. But the matter cannot be left there, as the report leaves it. Let us go on to say that homosexuality is odd. All sex is odd, but homo-sex is odder than most. And funnier. The homosexual doesn't know what he's missing. Bigger joke: for emotional reasons, he can't know. The guy is trapped. The question now is: are we to take this trap as fate (bad), or destiny (potentially good) or as a devil of a predicament from which there might be a way out? The minute we opt for fate and/or destiny we play acolyte to the bogus rituals that surround homosexuality. There is a whole literature and psychology built on this, and it's just plain cockeyed. Psychiatry, as it sheds its doctrinaire determinism, is waking up to this fact. Since we are not to idealize heterosexuality, neither are we to acquiesce in the idealization of homosexuality. The first step to health is to remove from it the aura of forbidden (therefore exalted) mystery. And I submit that homosexuality brought fully into the light of day and stripped of its exotic defenses will appeal to only a fraction of the people now swept along by it. I do not mean to say that the ethical dilemmas of sex can be overcome by purely social and psychological means. Whatever we do to dispel by laughter and common sense the mystique of sex, whatever we do to make the statutes of the land more wise, there will always remain an area in which one's moral response is decisive and in which codification is necessary. But the area of decision-making will remain obscure as long as the laws and the prevalent attitudes of society are out of touch with human nature. Let us not try fully to humanize, let alone to sanctify, sex; but let us assert a human transcendence over it. Such a plea does not add up to a Christian ethic of sex. It only asks that specialists in ethics deal with sex at the thing it is and not as the bearer or either our salvation or our damnation. The Quakers did not make that mistake, but they were so serious in their approach that they come close. Sex is necessary, but it is not a necessity. _______________________________ *Roger Mehl, reviewing in Le Monde (May 29, 1963) Amour et Sexualite by Robert Grimm (Delachaux et Niestle: Neuchatel and Paris, 1962). Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tom Driver review in Christianity & Crisis Description An account of the resource Tom F. Driver, instructor at Union Theological Seminary in New York (later long-time Paul Tillich Professor of Theology & Culture there) published this somewhat whimsical review in the weekly journal Christianity & Crisis. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Christianity & Crisis, October 14, 1963. pp. 175-79. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tom Hickok Stole Text TOM HICKOK This stole was hand-made by four women who interviewed Tom to find out his favorite symbols of the church. A graduate of Princeton Seminary and Edinburgh University, Tom longs for the day when the church will accept him for what he is. Denomination Presbyterian Church (USA) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 377 Title A name given to the resource Tom Hickok Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Thomas Hickock Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Unknown Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tom Philipp Stole Text In Honor of THE REV. TOM PHILIPP Given by Bob and Vergene Wieman Campus Chaplain and for more than 15 years pastor of the Community Presbyterian Church in Merrick, Long Island, New York. A great pastor, counselor, presbyter and friend. Tom came out at the 1978 General Assembly when the "definitive guidance" was first enunciated. The next year he was elected Moderator of Long Island Presbytery and served in that capacity in 1980. He has served the presbytery and the communities of Long Island faithfully and in many diverse capacities. Under his leadership Merrick Church became a More Light Church. Denomination Presbyterian Church (USA) Contribution Date 1997 Contribution Story Rev. Bob and Vergene Wieman, donors of this stole, count their friend and colleague, Tom, as one of their heroes. Tom was one of the few ordained LGBT folk who came out at the fateful 1978 General Assembly and managed to remain an ordained parish pastor. The fact that he was elected Moderator of Long Island Presbytery the very next year is a testimony to Tom's exemplary faith, character and pastoral leadership. In part because of the witness of Tom and other LGBT people of faith and courage, Bob and Vergene have been active leaders themselves in the More Light movement in Ewing and Princeton, NJ. Martha Juillerat Founder, Shower of Stoles Project 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 387 Title A name given to the resource Tom Philipp Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Merrick, Long Island, New York (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Bob and Vergene Wieman Ally Clergy Activist More Light Presbyterians for LGBT Concerns New York Philipp, Tom Presbyterian Presbyterian Church (USA) Wieman, Bob Wieman, Vergene https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/915ecba4df0beaa316bd046975772fb5.jpg 8b5b3e7c9293824b5d895dad9b039ea3 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/2d32a39a5f70f85ac3b274aaa6126b46.jpg 3caf29b3e17523b68856905e366e4fda Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tommy Pritchard Stole Text Tommy Pritchard PC '86 CTS '95 Denomination Presbyterian Church (USA) Contribution Date 1996 Contribution Story In 1997, North Decatur Church donated about a dozen stoles to the collection. A few stoles honored members of the church, a few more were Signature Stoles from the congregation. The final few stoles were made to honor LGBT persons known to the church (although not necessarily members there) who serve the Presbyterian Church in silence. Tommy Pritchard is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary. Martha Juillerat Founder, Shower of Stoles Project 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 355 Title A name given to the resource Tommy Pritchard Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Decatur, Georgia (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource North Decatur Presbyterian Church Georgia Presbyterian Presbyterian Church (USA) Pritchard, Tommy https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/4579f8769589a88e6b57e1f4ceb17f8b.jpg f01fe54b6e1363deb051710842f6fd62 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0a38b1efd2f9d2bc9966df94cb0350db.jpg bc683baae1c2b9b8e188aa5353c5eb37 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tompkins Family Stole Text Helen Tompkins Ernie Tompkins Margaret Tompkins Sam Tompkins Denomination Presbyterian Church (USA) Contribution Date 1996 Contribution Story This is one of about thirty stoles donated to the collection by First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto. First Palo Alto, a More Light congregation, has for decades been on the forefront of the movement for full inclusion of LGBT persons into the life and leadership of the church and greater society. Among the many leaders of the movement who have come from this congregation is Mitzi Henderson, former national President of PFLAG and national Co-Moderator of More Light Presbyterians. Martha Juillerat Founder, Shower of Stoles Project 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 142 Title A name given to the resource Tompkins Family Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Palo Alto, California (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource First Presbyterian Church Ally California Henderson, Mitzi More Light Presbyterians for LGBT Concerns Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Presbyterian Presbyterian Church (USA) https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/e5150af7bc4051ce41d8a7f11c904409.jpg 9717b2615db332c5fdaa6daec20d3bed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-spiritual Leadership Website A resource comprising of a web page or web pages and all related assets ( such as images, sound and video files, etc. ). URL https://tongaleiti.org Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tonga Leitis Association Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived https://tongaleiti.org Description An account of the resource Since 1992, Tonga Leitis Associations (TLA) was established with the intention to recognize the contribution of our members to the community. Over the years, TLA recognised the importance of our contribution and committed to improving the health and rights of people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGICESC) in Tonga and across the Pacific. TLA was incorporated under the Tonga Societies Act as the only non-profit organisation that represents and works with SOGIESC people. Our main office is based in Nukualofa, Tongatapu, with network of individuals and small groups in the outer islands with specific to ‘Eua, Ha’apai and Vava’u.   <a href="https://tongaleiti.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://tongaleiti.org</a> https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/0861e39a0d9539e9046311b6d2466e67.jpg 1869aa4f7e8b17a27cdddb885a8a02f6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-spiritual Leadership YouTube Video A video hosted on YouTube. YouTube ID Eleven-character ID assigned by YouTube 7zZGQFYGdw4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tongan transgender activist Joey Joleen Mataele Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Tagata Pasifika https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zZGQFYGdw4 Description An account of the resource A Tongan transwoman discusses the difficulties of life and sees her faith as her only refuge. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/a8a017ac395b1714b795732556d86aeb.jpg 180f79641b85a8f2addff82807113d6a Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Torah scrolls at CBST Description An account of the resource In 1974, Temple Shaaray Tefila, NYC, lent CBST a Torah for the High Holy Days. In 1976, CBST received a Torah on permanent loan with the metal gates of its ark from the closed Reform Tremont Temple Gates of Mercy, Bronx, NY. CBST raised funds to purchase a second Torah in 1978 and a third in 1982. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CBST Archives https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/57b45a81d5f9731b6958e7a1c291a253.jpg d8b2686d37fb119405f765c2c22e93f5 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/3dea2b6c30e5d45b969329e172abbd08.jpg 05237de06265872454bfee6a618f58d2 https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/66f584f6c11667c9de56478c51c9b573.jpg f1025ad2e8c579e6acd2161b9197694a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Torrie biographical info Description An account of the resource Biographical data on Alfred Torrie from the Dictionary of Quaker Biography. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Library of the Society of Friends, London. Reproduced by permission of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain. https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/d7eb8d5dc204c536e84a048622c2965e.pdf d6e203bd377c3f6b301305181de380b5 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Towards a Quaker View of Sex, 1963 Description An account of the resource The original 1963 edition of the TQVOS pamphlet https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/3eee77e0c889e3ba089925c775c953f0.pdf ef479f75ca23e6014f8f8c519e96dea2 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Towards a Quaker View of Sex, 1964 Description An account of the resource The first revised edition (1964) of the TQVOS pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shower of Stoles Description An account of the resource Items (stoles) for the Shower of Stoles exhibit Stole A stole in the Shower of Stoles exhibit Honoree The person honored by the creation of thestole. Tracy Smith Stole Text My name is Tracy Smith and I earned my M.Div. From Boston University School of Theology in 1984. I grew up in the United Methodist church and was very active in the youth and camp programs throughout my junior and senior high years of school. I felt called to ministry during those years, preparing myself by first attending a Christian college for four years. I realized I was a lesbian my last year of college. I continued with my plans of theology school not knowing really what this would mean for my career. The pastor of my church where I sought to be "in care" found out that I was a lesbian at the end of my first year at BUSTH. I was outed by another student in the same conference. My pastor said he would make it his mission to see to it that I never ministered in a church. He was a member of the Board of Ordained Ministers in the Michigan Eastern conference. He stuck by his word and was successful in keeping me out of ordained ministry in the United Methodist denomination. I was offered the opportunity to write a statement that I believed homosexuality was wrong, not keeping with Christian teaching, and that I would remain celibate. If only I would sign… I did not sign a statement. There were many years of struggle, being lost, and in the end being found. I have a successful private practice in psychotherapy where I work with gay, lesbian and heterosexual people. I am truly honored that I am allowed to journey with people during some of the most significant times of their lives. I am able to fulfill my call to ministry in my work. What is of God will prevail if we continue to be faithful! Besides my practice of 11 years, I am the Minister of Outreach at Euclid Ave. UMC in Oak Park, IL. During this time of turmoil Euclid made a bold statement in creating a position to reach out to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. My heart aches during communion because I know that even with the taking of this position it does not change the reality that I can not administer the sacraments. Until something radical changes, I will not be ordained. The beautiful stole you view will never be mine to wear. I am blessed with a partner of 15 years. Together we have created a family, a 3 year old daughter and a 16 month old daughter who we have adopted internationally. My partner is out of the country as I write this to bring our youngest daughter home! Life is full! People and politics have not always been good to me but I can say that God is good and has been good to me. Denomination United Methodist Church Contribution Date 1999 Contribution Story This stole was given to us in advance of the 2000 General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH. The United Methodist Church has turned away a treasure in denying Tracy Smith the opportunity to pursue her call to ordained ministry. Fortunately, Euclid Ave. Church recognized Tracy's abundant gifts and made a place for her on their staff. 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 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 468 Title A name given to the resource Tracy Smith Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oak Park, Illinois (USA) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tracy Smith Clergy Activist Illinois Methodist Ordination Reconciling Ministries Network (formerly Reconciling Congregation Program) Smith, Tracy United Methodist Church Women and Religion