First Pres. Church
Albany, NY
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
This stole was donated together with matching stoles from Union College in Schenectady, NY and First United Presbyterian Church of Troy, NY. First Albany is a More Light church, working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
RICHARD
MPC
",1998,"Richard Sprout is an ordained Elder at Montclair Presbyterian Church. His stole was sent to us along with a Signature Stole from Montclair (stole #417). Richard was active in the national leadership of Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns, one of two organizations that merged to form More Light Presbyterians.
Montclair Presbyterian Church has been a More Light church for twenty years, and for many years has been in the forefront of social justice work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in society.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
Montclair Presbyterian Church has been a More Light church for twenty years, and for many years has been in the forefront of social justice work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in society.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
Redwoods Presbyterian Church
Larkspur, California
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
Redwoods Presbyterian Church, located just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, is a More Light Church working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA). In addition to their participation in More Light, Redwoods Church also actively addresses a host of other social justice issues, including family violence, peacemaking, hunger and homelessness in the Bay area.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
JOY
A favorite writer of mine, Eddie Askew, wrote these words…
""Lord, give me the strength to hold fast to love,
Hold fast to you.
I see you, hanging on the cross.
'Father, forgive them…'
But sometimes, Lord, they DO know what they do!
And still I need to love.
If violence defeated violence
then violence would be left. Victor.
Lord, the victor must be love.
Was love, on the cross.
To death and beyond.
And on the third day,
in your resurrection life
I find the courage to begin.
Tremulous, hesitant as a newborn lamb,
I stand with you, in love.
Staggering and uncoordinated,
yet the hope is there.
That as I live in you
and you in me
the love will grow.
The dream will become reality.""
And so, following Christ's example, I strive to love those who would exclude me from the church.
The lining of this stole is fabric which was used in our union ceremony. Performed in Oklahoma by two Presbyterian pastors, the ceremony was held in a United Church of Christ sanctuary. My partner and I have been together 15+ years.
I am an ordained deacon and elder… and a beloved child of God. I am called BY GOD to serve the church and the world.
",1997,"This anonymous Presbyterian, ordained as a Presbyterian Deacon and then Elder, asked that further identifying information be withheld. This individual and partner have now been together for 25 years.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
ANONYMOUS
Ordained Deacon
",1997,"This anonymous ordained Presbyterian Deacon requested that their name and other identifying information be withheld. This person lives in the Southwest.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
The Presbytery of Western Reserve covers nine counties in northeastern Ohio, including the greater Cleveland metropolitan area. This is one of two stoles from the presbytery made in advance of the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
(Note: A signature stole is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
","Presbyterian Church (USA)",,,"Ally,Ohio,Presbyterian,Presbyterian Church (USA)","https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/fe529876906bfe20712a55001b691149.jpg,https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/files/original/965a18a37aee7d5239f34ce7c957d32e.jpg",Stole,"Shower of Stoles",1,0 867,https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/items/show/867,"Anonymous (North Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur GA)",,,,,,,"North Decatur Presbyterian Church",,,,,,361,"Decatur, Georgia (USA)",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Anonymous (North Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur GA)","AnonymousIn 1997, North Decatur Church donated about a dozen stoles to the collection. A few honored members of the church, a few more were Signature Stoles from the congregation, including this one. 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. We have no other information about this anonymous individual.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
In 1997, North Decatur Church donated about a dozen stoles to the collection. A few honored members of the church, a few more were Signature Stoles from the congregation, including this one. 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.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
In 1997, North Decatur Church donated about a dozen stoles to the collection. A few honored members of the church, a few more were Signature Stoles from the congregation, including this one. 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.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
In 1997, North Decatur Church donated about a dozen stoles to the collection. A few honored members of the church, a few more were Signature Stoles from the congregation, including this one. 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.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
This is one in a set of four stoles given to me by the More Light Chapter in Oklahoma honoring some of their members who serve in silence in the leadership of the Presbyterian Church. They were given to me in 1997, when I brought Oklahoma's first display of stoles to Tulsa.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
This is one in a set of four stoles given to me by the More Light Chapter in Oklahoma honoring some of their members who serve in silence in the leadership of the Presbyterian Church. They were given to me in 1997, when I brought Oklahoma's first display of stoles to Tulsa.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
This is one in a set of four stoles given to me by the More Light Chapter in Oklahoma honoring some of their members who serve in silence in the leadership of the Presbyterian Church. They were given to me in 1997, when I brought Oklahoma's first display of stoles to Tulsa.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
Cole Williams
Clown extraordinaire, star Youth Group Advisor and Sunday School Teacher, advocate for children, lover of all God's flowers, man with a heart of gold…
Ordained an Elder
April 10, 1988
First Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Illinois
Rev. Barbara Battin made this whimsical stole to honor Cole Williams, an ordained Presbyterian Elder. Barbara was a pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Decatur and later served at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Wayzata, MN. Barbara and St. Luke were instrumental in the founding and continuing support of the Shower of Stoles Project (see stole #131 for more details).
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2000
Glyndon Morris
Vanderbilt Divinity School
God brought me out.
A dear little old lady in church talked to my mom about college prospects. At college, my mom looked at the Student Activities brochure and joked, ""Here's one for you -- the Gay and Lesbian Association."" I thought to myself, ""Bingo!"" One of the men I lived with in the dorms was the president of the G.A.L.A. I would never have known of that college but for that little old lady -- in church.
God brought me out.
",1996,"Glyndon Morris sent us this stole just as he was entering the Master of Divinity program at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN; he graduated in 2000. While at Vanderbilt, Glyndon participated in the Carpenter Program in Religion, Gender and Sexuality, completing a Community Project as a Sexual Educator with Planned Parenthood, and Project Paper: Should a Gay Man Join the Presbyterian Church?, including topics on Gay Theology, Gay Ecclesiology, Gay Psychology and Gay Sociology.
Glyndon currently resides in Arizona and remains active in the work of Grand Canyon Presbytery and More Light Presbyterians, an organization working for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
Glen and Alesa Glazier would be Presbyterians today were it not for the denomination's non-acceptance of Gays.
They have four children, two of whom are gay.
",1996,"This stole was given to us in advance of the 1996 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). At one time Glen and Alesa Glazier were active members of the Presbyterian Church. Like so many other parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender children, however, they eventually left the denomination after deciding they could no longer reconcile their love for their two gay children with their membership in a church that actively discriminates against LBGT persons.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
The donor of this stole gave us no information about this Presbyterian minister, and requested that the donor name be withheld to protect the minister's anonymity.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
LET THERE BE LIGHT
South Presbyterian Church
Dobbs Ferry, NY
(Note: A “signature stole” is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization. These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as ""one among many"".)
South Church, located just north of Manhattan and Yonkers, NY, has a long history of social justice activism locally and nationally, particularly on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Their public declarations stating their intention to ignore the Presbyterian Church's ban on LGBT ordination, along with pastor Joseph Gilmore's performance of same-sex marriages, drew fire from the denomination on many occasions.
In 2005, South Church hosted the ordination of Ray Bagnuolo, and openly gay man, to the Presbyterian ministry. Reporting on this act of defiance, a newsletter for a far-right organization of Presbyterians stated: South Church is the unvanquished Alamo of homosexual activists and their allies in the PCUSA, having successfully fended off a number of attempts to require the session and the church's senior minister, Joseph Gilmore, to conform to Presbyterian polity. Given the source, South Church and Gilmore accepted their ""Alamo"" designation as a point of pride.
A More Light congregation, South Church continues its work for the full inclusion of LGBT people into the life and leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006
Click here to read Ray Bagnuolo's biographic profile in the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network's Profile Gallery.
Linda M. Schultz
Elder
First United Church of Oak Park
Nothing shall separate us from the love of God
",1996,"The Shower of Stoles Project owes its very existence to First United Church of Oak Park, where Linda Schultz is an ordained Elder. FUCOP is a More Light and Open and Affirming congregation working for the full inclusion of LGBT persons into the full life and leadership of the church.
First United Church of Oak Park was formed in 1975 by the merger of First Presbyterian Church of Oak Park and First Congregational Church of Oak Park. Both congregations can trace their roots back to the same church, Oak Ridge Church of Harlem. Oak Ridge Church, which met in a small, wood-framed schoolhouse, counted among its thirteen founding members Mr. and Mrs. Anson Hemingway, grandparents of author Ernest Hemingway.
The merger between these two churches was a unique and remarkable event. While most mergers take place between small, dying congregations, these two churches were both strong, healthy, fiscally sound churches when they decided to make this unprecedented move. Both congregations had long histories of work on the forefront of social justice causes. Looking for more opportunities for cooperative work between them, they concluded that by merging and selling off one of their two large physical plants they could use their common resources more effectively and put far more money towards mission giving. The result was the creation of a million dollar Special Mission Endowment Fund which has supported advocacy and justice efforts locally and across the globe.
By late 1996, my partner, Tammy and I had collected well over three hundred stoles -- kept in plastic trash bags and old suitcases -- and were beginning to get requests for small displays from dozens of churches. At the time we were not incorporated ""project"" and had no funding; Tammy and I paid for these first displays out of our own pockets. Since we had both returned to school, however, and had very meager income from part-time jobs, we soon hit the financial wall. Two churches, FUOP and St. Luke Presbyterian Church of Wayzata, MN, sensed the importance of what we had in our hands and decided to take a chance. Both churches wrote us a check for a few thousand dollars with instructions to get the stoles out of trash bags and find a way to share them with the world.
The end result of their generosity, we believe, is far greater than any of us could possibly have imagined.
Martha Juillerat
Founder, Shower of Stoles Project
2006