Date: Sun, 18 Apr 99 10:11:33 EDT From: James Anderson Subject: MORE LIGHT UPDATE May-June 1999 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MORE LIGHT UPDATE May-June 1999 Volume 19, Number 5 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTENTS CHANGES: Laurene Lafontaine and Jim Foster OUR COVER: Howard Warren OOOOOPS! *Update* Will Continue to Go to Everyone -- For the time being WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR THE NEXT UPDATE: Gay marriage & Ordination Court Cases GETTING READY FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY Housing, Events, Booth, Volunteers, etc. Lots of Overtures Controversial Reports MLP MATTERS MLP Board Meets in Santa Fe, A report by Jim Tiefenthal Our Nominees OUR ALLIES: MLP + TAMFS + Shower of Stoles ANOTHER ALLY: MLP and the Covenant Network, They Need Each Other, by Gene Huff CALLS AND POSITIONS TAMFS Baltimore Calls the Rev. Donald Stroud TAMFS Chicago Calls Thomas Hickok Inclusive Church Positions Inclusive New Church Development: Outgoing PLGC Board Member Susan Leo Leads Bridgeport Community Church REQUESTS Coming Out Young, Coming Out Faithful EVENTS More Light Presbyterians Annual Conference, and many others RESOURCES Ex-Gay Movement Exposed A Prisoner's Guide FEATURE STORIES How and Why I Became a Straight Ally (in the movement to create a fully inclusive church), by Gene Huff Twenty Years of More Light: Reflections by Rodger M. Wilson Mom, by Chris Glaser Mourning the Murder of a MLP Pastor and Friend Tom Otte's Memorial Service PC(USA) Press Coverage Commentary on Coverage MLP OFFICERS AND CONTACTS MLP Board of Directors MLP National Liaisons MLP Chapters MLP State Liaisons PRESBYTERIAN ALLY ORGANIZATIONS MASTHEAD (Publication Information) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *We limit not the truth of God To our poor reach of mind, By notions of our day and sect, Crude, partial and confined. No, let a new and better hope Within our hearts be stirred: for God hath yet more light and truth To break forth from the Word.* -- Pastor John Robinson, sending the Pilgrims to the New World, 1620; paraphrased by the hymnwriter George Rawson, 1807-1889. For all ministers, elders, deacons, members and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) More Light Presbyterians (Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns) James D. Anderson, Editor P.O. Box 38 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University) FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers University) Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu) Email discussion list: mlp-list@scils.rutgers.edu (to join, send email to: Majordomo@scils.rutgers.edu; in body of message put: subscribe mlp-list; to leave list, put: unsubscribe mlp-list) MLP home page: http://www.mlp.org Masthead, with Publication Information at end of file. Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHANGES Our co-moderator Laurene Lafontaine has a new address and phone number: 3128 Vallejo St., Denver, CO 80211, 303-561-4722. James R. Foster has joined the ranks of MLP state liaisons, serving North Carolina from Chapel Hill. He may be reached at: 500 Meadow Run Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8022. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OUR COVER The wonderful Reverend Howard Warren, God's wildly inclusive lavender rainbow gadfly, celebrates a life-time of ministry as he looks forward to a second retirement on January 1, 2000. The Presbytery of Whitewater Valley elevated him to the rank of "honorably retired" minister on December 7, 1996. He is now stepping aside from his pastoral ministry with persons with HIV/AIDS and their families and also his leadership on the MLP Board. All More Light Presbyterians celebrate with him, and we thank God for his faithful and provocative witness. We plan to continue our celebration of Howard and his ministry in the next *Update*. Join us! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OOOOOPS! *Update* Will Continue to Go to Everyone -- For the time being The MLP Board has delayed the implementation of its new communications policy until it finds an editor for its new newsletter. The idea is that a new, brief newsletter, perhaps called "The More Light Beacon" or the "The More Light Spark" will go to everyone on the mailing list, while the bimonthly journal *More Light Update* will go only to members, contributors, subscribers, and organizations who exchange publications. So, for the time being, everyone continues to get the *Update.* We hope everyone will choose to join the categories that will continue to receive the *Update* by using the membership form inside the back cover. -- JDA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WE NEED YOUR PHOTOS Hey folks, we are running out of photos for the *Update*. We need your photos! Please send us all your MLP-related pictures. We can use colored pictures just fine, but we need actual physical photos. We're not yet ready for digital photos via the internet -- sorry! We especially would like photos of More Light Churches! The photos in this issue were provided by Bill Moss, Chris Glaser, Gene Huff, Ken Wolvington, Carol Holland, Rick Fisher and Randy Hite, and Sonnie Swenston. We regret that these wonderful pictures are NOT in the electronic version! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR THE NEXT UPDATE We had lots of stories that we wanted to include in this *Update*, but ran out of room, so we are saving them for next time. These include the marriage controversy in Hudson River Presbytery and the important church court case over the installation of an openly gay elder in Connecticut. The Connecticut case is especially important because it is the very first test of the new "fidelity and chastity" amendment to the *Book of Order. There is a great summary of the case in *The Christian Century,* March 24-31, 1999, page 337. The opening paragraph reads: "A church tribunal has upheld the right of the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, CT, to elect an openly gay elder to its governing board. In a 4-1 decision, the judges ruled that the governing board could not press a man who admitted to being in a same-sex relationship on whether he is sexually active. Such questioning would lead down 'a slippery slope that ends in inquisition,' the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Southern New England Presbytery said." The PJC also quoted the 1978 policy statement (now an "authoritative interpretation"): "It would be a hindrance to God's grace to make specific inquiry into sexual orientation or practice of candidates ... when the person involved has not taken the initiative in declaring his or her sexual orientation." By extension, this principal was applied in this case to sexual activity. This case has now been appealed to the Synod of the Northeast PJC, so stay tuned. It will probably wend its way all the way to the PJC of the General Assembly, our church's top court. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GETTING READY FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY The 211th General Assembly of the PC(USA) will be meeting in Fort Worth, TX, June 19-26, 1999. We hope lots of MLP folk will be there. If you don't have registration, housing, and special event ticket order forms, call the Office of the General Assembly to request them: 1-800-210-9371, or fax 1-502-569-8642, or email: assemblyservices@ctr.pcusa.org Give them your name, address and phone, and they will send you a packet. Housing We are encouraging all MLP folk and friends and supporters to stay at the CLARION HOTEL in downtown Ft. Worth. On your G.A. housing form, write "member of the More Light Presbyterians contingent!" The deadline for housing requests is May 10 (for which the print version of this *Update* will be too late, but this information will also be going out in electronic form!). The Clarion is a smaller hotel about three blocks from the convention center and will be easy walking distance to wherever our hospitality suite will be. Lour evening briefings will be at the Clarion in Salon A. If you would like an evaluation of other hotels in the Ft. Worth area, you can contact our MLP meeting planner, Brian Cave at: bcave2@juno.com, 704-358-1964 home, 704-335-3577 work. Events Here are some events of interest to MLP folks. All tickets may be ordered in advance from the Office of the General Assembly. A ticket order form is included in the G.A. registration packet. Some tickets may be available on-site at the G.A. ticket booth. Thursday, June 17, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Semper Reformanda Pre- Assembly Conversation (Hempill Presbyterian Church). $35.00. Speaker: Douglas F. Ottati, Professor of Theology at Union-PSCE. This conversation continues the emphasis on biblical and theological reflection as the basis for addressing systemic injustice in church and society. Pamela Byers of the Covenant Network will be present as we build on our connection with other progressive groups and look at the new policy paper "Building Community Among Stranger." Lunch and dinner provided. Saturday, June 19. 8 a.m.-12 noon. Witherspoon Society Pre-Assembly Event (Radisson Hotel). $11.00. Through various speakers and discussions, commissioners and observers will have the opportunity to gain perspective on issues and concerns before the assembly and to better understand committee and General Assembly procedures. Continental breakfast. 2:00-4:00 p.m. More Light Presbyterians Orientation to the work of the General Assembly (Radisson Hotel, Texas Ballroom A & B). An overview of the work of General Assembly, issues facing the 1999 GA, and how to effectively participate in the process. 5:30-7:15 p.m. More Light Presbyterians Celebration Dinner (Ramada Plaza Hotel). $26.00. Speaker: Mel White, author of *Stranger at the Gate* and former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, speaking about the dangers of ex-gay ministries. Sunday, June 20. 7-9 a.m. Women of Faith Breakfast (Radisson Hotel). $12.00. Speakers: Recipients of the Women of Faith Awards. According to reliable sources, the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr received a letter informing her that the Women of Faith Award "selection committee has chosen her as one of the three to receive the award. The letter listed the names of all of us who nominated her." But, "Later that same week she was called and told that someone in Louisville had told the Women's Ministry Unit that she could not receive the award." So stay tuned, and do everything you can to make sure this magnificent Woman of Faith is recognized and honored for the model of Christly evangelism that she continues to give to the church. -- JDA. 9:00 a.m. Public Witness for an Inclusive Church outside the Ft. Worth Convention Center. 12:15-2:30 p.m. Witherspoon Society Luncheon (Ramada Plaza Hotel). $19.00. Speaker: J. Philip Wogaman, Foundry Methodist Church, Washington, DC. Pastor to the Clinton family, founding director of the Interfaith Alliance. 6:00-7:00 p.m. More Light Presbyterian Worship Service, St. Stephen Presbyterian Church (10 minutes from downtown), Shuttle service provided to and from the convention center. Preacher: Marco Grimaldo, Elder, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC. Monday, June 21. 7:00-8:30 a.m. Voices of Sophia Breakfast (Clarion Hotel). $17.00. Speaker: Johanna W.H. Van Wijk-Bos (MLP's liaison for seminary chapters), Professor of Old Testament, Louisville Seminary, author of *Reformed and Feminist: A Challenge to the Church* and *Reimagining God: The Case for Scriptural Diversity.* Noon-1:30 p.m. Covenant Network of Presbyterians Luncheon (Worthington Hotel) $17.00. Speaker: Rev. Peter J. Gomes, openly gay Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University, minister of The Memorial Church at the university, and author of *The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart* and *Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living.* 6:30-7:30 p.m. PHEWA Event (Clarion Hotel). Speaker: Eugenia A. Gamble. Tuesday, June 22. 8:30-9:15 a.m. Morning Worship (Convention Center). Preacher: The Rev. Sheila C. Gustafson, 1st Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, NM. 9:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. Witherspoon Society Dance Party (Radisson Hotel). $15.00. Same-gender and mixed-gender dancing and celebration for everyone. Wednesday, June 23. 8:30-9:30 a.m. Ecumenical Service of Worship (convention Center). Preacher: The Rev. Jim Forbes, Riverside Church, New York, NY. 10:00 a.m.-Noon. Covenant Network Open Form: Pastoral Implications of G-6.0106b (Convention Center). How is the so-called fidelity and chastity amendment affecting congregations and presbyteries? How can it be faithfully interpreted or implemented? Also throughout the assembly, nightly briefings, Monday through Friday 9:30 p.m., Clarion Hotel, Salon A. And visit the MLP Hospitality Suite (location to be announced). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP Exhibit Booth The MLP booth will be #618 in the Exhibit Hall of the Convention Center. Come by and say hi, and get the latest up-to-date information. Also volunteer to help out (see "Volunteers" below!). Hours are: Saturday, June 19: 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, June 20, 2-7 p.m.; Monday, June 21: 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.; Tuesday, June 22, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Wednesday, June 23, 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m.; Thursday, June 24: 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday, June 25: 9:30 a.m.- 12 noon. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Volunteers Solicited MLP solicits MLP folks to help out with our many GA activities. The best way to sign-up for MLP work is to contact the coordinators for major projects, or come to our Saturday afternoon orientation session, or stop by at the MLP booth in the exhibition hall. We need dedicated volunteers to: (1) help staff the MLP booth, greeting visitors and commissioners and discussing issues with them (contact Jim Anderson, 732-249- 1016, email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu, PO Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038); (2) monitor G.A. committees, testify at hearings, and help with advocacy and education (contact Tricia Dykers Koenig, PNet: Tricia Dykers Koenig, email: tricia_dykers_koenig.parti@ecunet.org, 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44121, 216-381-0156); (3) help out in the MLP office and/or the MLP hospitality suite (contact Rob Cummings, 724-475-3285, email: robcum@toolcity.net, P.O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133- 0394). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lots of Overtures The main business of every assembly is responding to overtures from the presbyteries. This year there are lots of overtures of special interest to More Light Presbyterians. You can see the full text of each overture at: http://www.pcusa.org/ga211/ovt99/index.htm For lack of space, here we only list some of the interesting ones. Hate Crimes and Hate Crimes Legislation (two different overtures from Giddings-Lovejoy and Western Reserve Presbyteries). Anti-Gay Violence Including Attempts to Alter Sexual Orientation (Genesee Valley Presbytery, New York City Presbytery, Detroit Presbytery). See Jim Tiefenthal's story of the passage of this overture by the Genesee Valley Presbytery in the MLP website: http://www.mlp.org Domestic Partner Benefits (Twin Cities Area Presbytery Chastity, Etc. -- otherwise known as Amendment B. This requirement is now in the *Book of Order* (G-6.0106b), demanding that: "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacraments." So far there are three overtures addressing this policy: 1. Delete it! (Milwaukee Presbytery). 2. Change it (St. Andrew Presbytery). "Obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards" would become: "Obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and instructed by the historic confessional standards of the church." The fidelity and chastity sentence remains. The final sentence would become: "Candidates for ordained office shall acknowledge their own sinfulness, their need of repentance and their reliance on the grace and mercy of God to fulfill the duties of their office." 3. Change it (Philadelphia Presbytery). Use the same language as St. Andrew Presbytery, except that in the first sentence "instructed by" is changed to "continually guided by," and a new final sentence is added: "Persons refusing to repent of any self- acknowledged practice which *departs from the essentials of the Reformed faith and polity* shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament" (new phrase emphasized). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Controversial Reports The General Assembly also receives reports from various standing and special committees. One of the most disappointing reports is from the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy: ACSWP Cuts Sexual-Orientation Section from its Report on Building Community by Jerry L. Van Marter Presbyterian News Service LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Trying to salvage a tortured report on rebuilding urban community life in the United States, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) has removed a section on the issue of sexual orientation. The committee, which met here Jan. 14-17, relegated the divisive issue to a section near the end of its 70-page policy statement, adding it to a list of issues that must be addressed at some point in the future. The document, "Building Community Among Strangers," and recommendations growing out of it, are to be presented to the upcoming General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas. The committee voted unanimously to eliminate a brief section that concluded: "To build community, we will need to do a lot of listening inside and outside the church: to gay and lesbian persons, and to those among us who are pained at challenges to their understanding and interpretation that scriptures condemn homosexuality." Committee member Laverne Feaster, of Little Rock, Ark., argued, "This document is so important that we shouldn't let this issue dominate it." Feaster, an African- American, added: "We went through this with race issues. We have to decide what we can do. Save this issue for another time." The Rev. Donald Shriver, the ACSWP chair, concurred. "I agree that we should gently push aside this section of the report," he said, "but lift it up as an issue the church still needs to face." .... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Some MLP Commentary Shall the Baby Be Split in Two? From the MLP-list on the Internet The posting about the ACSWP report has troubled me greatly from the moment it came into my mailbox. It has taken me a couple of days of pondering, much of it subconscious, for a perspective to float to the surface that seems to me to identify the source of my discomfort. Laverne Feaster, an African-American committee member, is quoted as saying, "This document is so important that we shouldn't let this issue dominate it. We went through this with race issues. We have to decide what we can do. Save this issue for another time." Part of what troubles me is that I'm old enough to remember when similar things were said about issues of racism in the 60s and 70s. "This is divisive; this is inflammatory; this is too controversial, and will distract from important issues (i.e., this is NOT important); let's save this and deal with it another time." Presumably when it won't be divisive, inflammatory, distracting, controversial. Blacks rightfully challenged such thinking back then with the response, "Just how long do you think we should wait?" Justice delayed is justice denied, indeed. Lorraine Hansberry, the black woman who wrote the play "Raisin in the Sun," dramatized the issue unequivocally. It is ironic that today, a black woman who probably owes much of her opportunities for service and advancement to the challenging and overcoming of such reasoning 30 years ago, now draws the same sharp edge from the scabbard and wields it against another oppressed minority. Who should be more clear-eyed about the fallacy of such argument than Ms. Feaster? What issue is more germane to the church's problems in "building community" in these times than its harsh scapegoating, its rigid insistence on second-class status, of its LGBT members? I suggest that "This document is so (too) important that it cannot be taken seriously unless it does deal with this issue," and not just superficially. "Community" in the church is a naked hypocrisy, so long as it maintains bars against full LGBT acceptance, affirmation and participation. In my several days of pondering, what rose to the surface from my history, experience, study and church teaching was the story of Solomon considering the appeals of the two women who each claimed a child as theirs. LGBT people have worked through the system, observed polity, followed procedures, petitioning for their humanity, for their equal and just recognition as God's beloved creations, more than a quarter century in this denomination. I am keenly aware that other disenfranchised groups -- women, racial and ethnic minorities -- have had to wait even longer for their place at the table, and are still not fully recognized or empowered, but is it unreasonable to expect that the church might learn from those struggles, those past mistakes, that it might become more deeply rooted in the love and justice of Jesus' example, and thus turn from its sin and error more swiftly when similar cases of injustice are brought to light? We have the specter, now, of the LGBT-negative faction shouting at Solomon, "Yes! We would rather see the church divided than grant any justice to the claims of the other woman (LGBT Christians and their allies)." And the Covenant Network and many LGBT leaders within the church respond, "No, Solomon, we will soften our claims, we will withdraw our insistence, we will not press the issue for now, so that the church may continue whole." I do not wish to advocate in favor of carving up babies; I do want to suggest, however, that there will be no sort of acquiescence or compromise from the forces of fundamentalism. There will be no *ex cathedra* Solomonic ruling that the baby rightfully belongs to those who would rather see it whole and in the wrong hands than watch it brutally cut apart. I suggest that the only way to protect and preserve the life of the baby may be to take it away from the arena of conflict. And because no analogy is perfect, we can resign ourselves to the idea of two babies again trying to "grow up" separately. Said Covenant Network co-moderator Robert Bohl to the assembled hopeful in Denver last November, "There is room in this Presbyterian family for all of us, and we just have to learn to love each other," very much in the tradition of the woman willing to give up her child rather than see it hacked in two. But Robert Bohl has not stood in the shoes of LGBT Christians and felt the oven blast of hatred and adamant, implacable hostility toward ever accepting LGBT people as full sisters and brothers in Christ. There are tens of thousands of LGBT Christians (and, sadly, former Christians), who can hardly imagine loving the church as it has been constituted, much less the church that the Lay Committee is determined to enforce for the future, with or without the Presbyterian Coalition. Martin Niemoeller is credited with another perspective which I find illuminating toward this difference of vision in the church today, one we should still be able to appreciate, even at 60 or more years' remove, for it grew out of the greatest Holocaust of hate in this century. Remember, "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up .... " I do not suggest that no one is speaking up, but I do report, from my personal perspective, that most of the speaking up by those who are not "Communists, Jews, trade unionists, Catholics," has been so accommodating, so appeasing, that they may wonder, when the chains of fundamentalism draw tight around THEIR chests, how their strategy could have failed. Then they may remember Neville Chamberlain, who came back from negotiating with the Nazis at Munich in 1938 to proclaim "peace in our time ... Go home," he told the British public, "and get a nice quiet sleep." I am told that Joanna Adams' sermon at the Covenant Network Conference in Denver included the following exhortation to optimism: "We rejoice together over the new world that is surely, subtly, slowly, surprisingly overthrowing the old world, through the grace of almighty God and the power of the cross of Jesus Christ ... Of course, the old systems, the ones that the Church and society cling to, have not yet vanished, to be sure. But of this we can be sure. They no longer possess any sort of ultimate power, because this world is even now being transformed into the kingdom of heaven." She, of course, has been to the mountaintop; so far as I know, she is not barred from ordination, from parish service. And it is a lot easier to preach that message when you're not behind the barrier, when you're not the one in chains, when your calling is not being denied, demeaned, distorted, delayed or destroyed. The old systems may not "possess any sort of ultimate power," only the power to abuse, enslave, cripple and kill, both spiritually and mortally. But God is our champion, and will deliver us from the unreasonable, the unspiritual, even the un-Christlike, we are told. I humbly suggest that God looks to see what kind of champions WE will be for reason, spirit, justice, grace and love -- that is, for Christ. Surely, God will ultimately prevail. If I did not believe that, I would no longer be in any church, no longer be practicing a ministry of Christian outreach to those wounded and alienated by institutional religion. Whether there is a Presbyterian denomination (or any other) still around to be part of that victory is open to serious question. And I would not be asking the question, how many of our LGBT daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, fellow children of God's grace, will be carved and crucified under the sword of fundamental "righteousness," while we, in our nice quiet sleep, await ultimate victory? Grace, peace and light -- Lawrence Lawrence A. Reh First Light Ministries, Alameda CA And a Letter to an Editor -- Gently Pushing Aside the Truth Submitted as a letter to the editor of *The Christian Century* The irony was a bit thick in the *Century*'s story of the Presbyterian social witness group abandoning its advice about listening to both sides in the church's struggle over how its lesbian and gay members are to be treated: "PCUSA committee wary of sexual issues" (March 3, 1999). That call had appeared in the draft of the study document "Building Community Among Strangers," a well intended effort to address the church's future. But as the *Century* points out, the report has been under attack from the right over its confessional and biblical basis and sent back for reworking. The tragedy is that the committee allowed that unpleasant experience to hold it back from a prophetic voice which both sides in the gay and lesbian conflict should endorse, if they are truly concerned about their church's future -- the need for continued honest dialogue about the issue that is today's elephant in the Presbyterian living room. Admittedly too long in preparation the study has sought new clarity on how the church should address the vastly changing social environment as it plots its course for the coming century. Among its words of advice was the paragraph now removed: "To build community, we will need to do a lot of listening inside and outside the church: to gay and lesbian persons, and to those among us who are pained at challenges to their understanding and interpretation that scriptures condemn homosexuality." The ironies reek when committee members explain their reluctance to continue the forthright call of their own original words. "This document is so important that we shouldn't let this issue dominate it," said one. The nationally prominent theologian who chaired the group concurred, no doubt with considerable personal agony: "I agree that we should gently push aside this section of the report, but lift it up as an issue the church still needs to face." Protestants in this century have long put great faith in the production of study documents and public statements on salient social issues. No one surpasses the Presbyterians in that regard. But is a study document ever so important in the life of a denomination that its receiving the church's approval is more important than whether it speaks the whole truth? Anyone familiar with the current struggle in the PC(USA) (and of course most other mainline church bodies) well understands that what the removed passage urged is seen by many as the single most critical need Presbyterians face at this time in terms of their future as a denomination. Yet good people allow the pressure of their personal investment in writing a trenchant and relevant report -- and their fear it might not receive approval -- outweigh their commitment to addressing a central issue because of its contentiousness. It should be noted that reports of this sort always reach the church in printed form whether or not they are eventually endorsed by a General Assembly. One assumes that in its own conversations the committee had indeed recognized the vital need for continued dialogue on an issue admittedly very tough for the church to deal with. After all they did come up with the text which was eventually removed. Why could it not be allowed to stand? Because there is too much controversy over the issues surrounding gay and lesbian participation in the church. So the matter gets sidetracked once again; put on a list for future consideration. It is really unfortunate the committee did not have the courage to let the chips fall in regard to their well stated commentary, rather than assuming the church is incapable of receiving such advice without serious backlash. Another irony is that this could be a case where a drafting committee needs to recognize that in order to say what it truly needs to say to the church, it can't pay so much attention to churchwide approval. It is a strange notion that community can be built by writing wise statements and then abandoning them out of fear for whether the community can stand to face tough realities. What was called for was not gently pushing aside, but courageously speaking the truth. -- Gene Huff, San Francisco * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP MATTERS MLP Board Meets in Santa Fe A report by Jim Tiefenthal As MLP webspinner, I attended the MLP board meeting at lovely Plaza Resolana Presbyterian Conference Center in the center of Santa Fe, NM, February 26-28, 1999. I came away with the impression and belief that your all-volunteer board is operating effectively in the interim until the MLP board is elected in May, 1999, at our annual meeting. (The boards of the predecessor organizations have merged to function as the interim board.) Most of all, I'm impressed with the way the board members affirm and support each other. Key action and discussion points at the February meeting included: Strategy; General Assembly; So called "Change Ministries"; and Presbytery, regional, and local activities. MLP Staff MLP received over a dozen applications and serious inquiries for the new Field Organizer position. The board anticipates announcing the successful candidate by the annual conference. Jeanne Meyer, who joined the staff as a part-time volunteer bookkeeper, is based in suburban Minneapolis. Board Nominations The Nominating Committee presented the following nominations for the new MLP Board. (I) indicates a representative of individual members; (G) indicates a representative of governing body members. See candidate bios below. Board members will be elected at the annual MLP meeting during the MLP Conference in Oklahoma City, May 21-23, 1999. For terms expiring in 2000: Scott Anderson (I); Tammy Lindahl (I); Joanne Sizoo (I); Ralph Carter (G); Lisa Larges (G). For terms expiring in 2001: Jim Anderson (I); Bill Moss (I); Mitzi Henderson (G); Tricia Dykers-Koenig (G); John McNeese (I). For terms expiring in 2002: Rob Cummings (I); Gene Huff (I); Mary Charlotte McCall (I); Bear Ride (G); Donna Riley (G). The new board plans to meet just following the annual conference in Oklahoma City. MLP Database and Communications The board approved my proposal and allocated an initial budget to further consolidate the predecessor organizations' records. This includes information in support of our lobbying and development strategies. A brochure reflecting the merged organization will be ready at the annual conference. Cathy Blaser accepted the responsibility for writing proposals to organizations willing to allocate grant money for inclusive purposes. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Our Nominees Scott Anderson currently serves as one of the four co- moderators of the More Light Presbyterians transition Board. He is a former Presbyterian minister who set aside his ordination in 1990 [after being outed! -- JDA] and currently is the Executive Director of the California Council of Churches. Tammy Lindahl has been a board member for PLGC for the last 6 years. She is a parish associate at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Wyzata, Minnesota. The Shower of Stoles project is managed out of her home by her partner, Martha Juillerat. Tammy and Martha just received the Lazarus Award from the Lazarus Project of West Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Joanne Sizoo, current MLP treasurer, is a pastor in Cincinnati. She writes: My participation in MLP is part of my faith journey that started long ago and far away, which has deepened along the way. At one point in the journey, I realized that since I take the Bible seriously, I needed to admit that there was more in it about not ordaining women than about not ordaining gay and lesbian folks. I had done the Biblical work about women's ordination, so to keep my integrity intact, I had to give up my ordination or work to ensure the possibility for LGBT folks. I chose the latter. Ralph Carter has served the More Light Churches Network for many years as its resource coordinator. Recently he has worked on the merger of the MLP databases. He is a member of Third Presbyterian Church, a More Light congregation in Rochester, NY. Lisa Larges organized the Witness for Reconciliation Project which promoted meaningful dialogue about the lives and faithful witness of LGBT Presbyterians in San Francisco Bay Area Congregations during the three year (1993-1996) General Assembly call for dialogue. She works as a massage therapist and is a member of Noe Valley Ministry, a More Light Church in San Francisco. She graduated from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1989 and is a "out lesbian" candidate for ministry in the San Francisco Presbytery. She and her partner Angie will celebrate their Holy Union in December of 1999 about which Lisa says, "Hurray!!!!" She has served on the board of PLGC since 1993 and writes occasional pieces for the *More Light Update*. Jim Anderson has been an officer and/or board member of PLGC since 1980, when he became national communications secretary and began putting out the *More Light Update,* soon to celebrate its 20th year of regular publication. He teaches at Rutgers University, where he pursues battles similar to those in the PC(USA) -- he and four other faculty members, along with the ACLU and the American Association of University Professors, have been suing the State of New Jersey and Rutgers University since 1993 for equal benefits for the life partners of lesbian and gay employees. He has also maintained the PLGC mailing list since he inherited 300 or so names in the early 1980s. He can't wait to pass the current 5,000 entries on to a new database administrator! Bill Moss has been chair of the PLGC development committee for some year, completely revamping our fundraising efforts. He continues this vital task for the MLP transition board. He currently maintains our donor database. He loves living in San Francisco with his partner Chris (a great designer!), and he helps lead one of our favorite government agencies there. Mitzi Henderson is an elder at First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, CA. National president of PFLAG from 1992 to 1996, she was one of the founders of the More Light Churches Network. "The ordination debates have diverted our beloved Presbyterian church from sharing and celebrating the immense gifts of her LGBT members. MLP believes the power of the gospel can break down the barriers that divide us and transform us into a new, dynamic, open community of faith." Tricia Dykers Koenig is co-pastor -- with her partner, Mark Koenig -- of Noble Road Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a More Light Church since 1994. Her call to More Light ministry -- which she considers to be a gospel imperative -- began with her experience as a very disgruntled commissioner to the 203rd General Assembly (Baltimore, 1991), developed with her participation in the Unity Through Diversity project, and has deepened steadily since then. (More of that story is published in *Called Out With*). She is a graduate of Duke University (and a very proud Blue Devil basketball fan) and McCormick Theological Seminary, and is currently the Moderator of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve. One of the great joys of her life has been getting to know the wonderful people in the More Light movement. John McNeese writes: I was born, a gay babe, into a family of Presbyterians with a lineage all the way back to Scotland; was baptized in 1944, and participated in Sunday school, youth choir, evening youth groups and vespers, Boy Scouts and Explorers; and was ordained a Deacon in 1976. I am presently a member of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, am an ordained elder, and participate in presbytery. I believe we are here to confront evil in church and society, to follow the path that Jesus began, and to bring about God's commonwealth for all people, including LGBT folks. Rob Cummings is active in three MLP Chapters: Cleveland Area, Pittsburgh Area, and Lake Erie Presbytery. He writes: On Sunday mornings when I'm not making myself available as a resource to churches exploring the More Light Movement, I either worship at one of the two local More Light Churches -- Noble Road (Cleveland) & Sixth (Pittsburgh) or I just go off promoting More Light Presbyterians to area gay friendly churches. In my spare time I: Present HOMO 101 as part of our speakers bureau; serve as Secretary of More Light Presbyterians; serve as Office Coordinator at General Assembly; Participate in More Light Presbyterians Conferences; serve as Board member of the Shower of Stoles Project. Gene Huff is a retired Presbyterian minister member of San Francisco Presbytery; formerly executive presbyter for San Gabriel and Western Reserve presbyteries; served 1964-72 on General Assembly staffs with the Board of National Missions and the Program Agency (UPCUSA); spent fifteen years as a pastor in IL, NY, CA and OR; became a member of PLGC executive board in 1996, serving as chapter liaison. He was co-founder of Central Indiana PLGC chapter with Howard Warren. He joined the movement after being in a 1984 seminar led by Janie Spahr and sees the cause primarily in terms of its justice elements. Gene and his wife Joan have two twenties-something sons and from his earlier family he is now a great-grandfather. Mary Charlotte McCall writes: I am straight. I'm an ally for the same reasons that I do all my work, namely, that I am committed to justice and I believe oppression and discrimination are wrong. When the church engages in it, I am especially wounded and called to resist. I was able to learn about the church's work by serving for six years on the GA Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy and for a year on the GAC. I am happy to use what I learned in the service of MLP's efforts. I work as an attorney, mostly in poverty law and on civil rights issues. I've done some ecclesiastical cases as well. For fun, I play with my critters (John Carey, Bishop the Rottweiler, Sophia the parrot, William Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzwilliam the peacocks, Sugar the Yorkie, and others), and sometimes refuse to answer the phone at night and on weekends. I also read late at night when I can stay awake, and dream about Ireland. Bear Ride writes: Native of Los Angeles. Lifelong Presbyterian. Educated (sort of) at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and San Francisco Theological Seminary (M.Div and D.Min). Ordained in '78. Have served a variety of churches in Southern California. Currently the Director of the Peace Center at United University Church (a ML Church) and Coordinate the Program of Service Learning at Santa Monica College. I have two kids -- son Whit age 17 and daughter Cait age 11. Partner Susan Craig is pastor at United University Church. We live in Pasadena. Hobbies include Presbyterian polity and attending committee meetings. Donna Riley served as PLGC's webspinner from 1995-1998 and is a member of the transitional PLGC/MLCN merger board, serving as communication secretary. She was ordained as an out deacon by Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA in 1997 and is currently a member of Jan Hus Church in New York. She is also a member of the Presbyterian Gay Committee, the group that produces the Web humor 'zine *The Presbyterian Gayman*. In her spare time she works at Princeton University as a postdoctoral fellow in environmental science and policy. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OUR ALLIES MLP + TAMFS + Shower of Stoles (The following statement was adopted by the More Light Presbyterians (MLP) Executive Board at its meeting, February 27, 1999. It has the concurrence of the leadership of That All May Freely Serve (TAMPS) and the Shower of Stoles. It responds to various inquiries which all three groups have received in recent months.) Objectives and Relationships Three organizations of Presbyterians carry forward strong efforts to promote full inclusion within the life and ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). More Light Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve and the Shower of Stoles share a common vision for changing the exclusionary policies of the denomination in order to achieve the full and open participation of its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. **More Light Presbyterians** is a national churchwide membership organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual Presbyterians and congregations working toward an inclusive church. Its mission, in following the risen Christ, is to transform the church into a true community of hospitality, by making visible and concrete the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the church. MLP is an organization of individual Presbyterians and congregations. As a network in the church, it carries out a wide range of programs including educational and strategic efforts to change the manner in which the PC(USA) responds to the Christian faith commitment of its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. It maintains a strategic presence and action at meetings of the General Assembly. It sponsors an annual national conference and provides a resource center dealing with inclusiveness issues in the church and society. It also fosters ministries of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians as they struggle to overcome oppression in the church and in society. As a movement of individual members and member congregations MLP encourages its members to form local chapters to further the objectives of the organization. **That All May Freely Serve** also strives to be a catalyst for change in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Education and dialogue are its hallmarks. Its program, as its name makes clear, is focused on educating the constituency of the PC(USA) regarding the misunderstandings and prejudices which have resulted in legal barriers to the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the ordained and employed leadership of the church. TAMFS has chosen to assist locally organized groups in employing individuals called to serve as evangelists (or ministers of outreach or justice) for specific geographical regions. While providing staff support for local TAMFS organizations, these persons meet with Presbyterians and others in a variety of educational forums and opportunities for dialogue, working closely with those who support opening the ministry of the PC(USA) to all who are called by God to serve. This approach provides an opportunity for the employment of qualified lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons who are excluded from serving because of present church policies. The goal of TAMFS is to develop regional partnerships which become the employing organizations in a selected but limited number of areas of the country where there is strong interest and support. **Shower of Stoles** is a visible witness of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith who have not been able to serve due to church policies which forbid their service or who have served or continue to serve but are silenced by those policies. Its gathering and sharing the collection of stoles honoring the gifts of those excluded from serving the church has become a vividly effective way of educating and advocating for a just and inclusive church. As these three organizations work together toward similar objectives, their presence in the church provides a variety of organizing opportunities for Presbyterians in working to transform their church into a more inclusive faith community. At this time they are not formally or financially related, but enjoy collaborative relationships. Supportive persons and congregations need to determine their own levels of commitment to each of them. Individual Presbyterians and congregations are encouraged to participate in any or all of these organizations based on local needs and opportunities. More Light Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve and the Shower of Stoles are fully committed to working in a cooperative and strategic way as long as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) continues to deny full membership to its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ANOTHER ALLY MLP and the Covenant Network They Need Each Other by Gene Huff Following the November 1998 Denver conference of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians (CNP), comments appeared on the (Internet) MLP-list charging the CNP as being too lukewarm to our cause and wondering when the muddled middle in the church will learn what really needs to be done. What follows are excerpts from a response which I offered. Without trying to defend CNP's leaders' choice of words or phrases in public statements, I think we need to avoid assuming lukewarmness where it does not necessarily exist. One needs to take the full text of statements into consideration. The intent of the statement in question was to promote further dialogue looking toward eventual constitutional change in the church rather than schism. Far from failing to learn about what is required to achieve change in the church, the so-called Muddled Middle has now learned enough to know that it needs to do some organizing. And that is by and large what the Covenant Network represents. This is evidence that a growing number of Presbyterians who consider themselves moderates are now (finally!) moving in a direction that should eventually help to achieve the inclusiveness gays and lesbians and their supporters have long worked to secure. We who have struggled with this critical aspect of inclusiveness in the church now for more than two decades will not likely be successful in the long run without their active support. We probably need to be more patient with the ways they sometimes express their growing support. It is one thing to complain and make fun, and I am no less guilty than others in that regard. But this whole enterprise is far too important for us to risk the loss of important new support in a quarrels over words. It should be noted that the leadership of More Light Presbyterians and the former Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns and More Light Church Network by and large has seen the development of the Covenant Network as a very encouraging development in in the PC(USA)'s struggles over gay and lesbian issues. Ways are already being found for MLP and CNP to collaborate in strategic ways, although it is essential that each maintain its distinctive place in the struggle. Each is better off having the other also at work. While in the long run we have much the same objectives, achieving them is much more likely with both groups fully at work. More Light Presbyterians need to continue to be who we are, fully expressing our pain and distress at the treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians as we work for change. The Covenant Network needs to be who it is as progressive moderates pushed finally toward a deepened concern at seeing the church begin to slide down a slippery rightist slope. As Frank Baldwin of Philadelphia has pointed out, at their recent Denver conference the leaders of CNP found themselves boldly reassured by those present that there is real need and strong support for moving forward with vigor toward ending the exclusionary policies of our denomination. The eventual changes we all seek will come when the Covenant Network and its supporters, continually goaded and encouraged by More Light Presbyterians, succeed in convincing enough moderates to join the cause. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CALLS AND POSITIONS TAMFS Baltimore Calls the Rev. Donald Stroud That All May Freely Serve: Baltimore is delighted to announce that it has extended a call to the Rev. Donald Stroud, an ordained PC(USA) minister, presently interim pastor of the Stony Point Presbyterian Church in New York, to be its new Minister of Outreach. The appointment concludes a several-month search by the Board of Directors. The Board is delighted with its choice, and looks forward to working with Don in the coming year. His service will begin in April. The appointment caps a year of fundraising effort to raise sufficient funds to guarantee the first year of employment. The continued success of the ministry will depend on additional support from churches and individuals. That All May Freely Serve: Baltimore consists of individuals as well as churches who covenant to be a fully inclusive community. There are presently five covenanting churches: Brown Memorial Park Avenue, First and Franklin Street, Govans, Light Street, and St. John United Methodist Presbyterian Churches. Don's ministry will be to the churches of Baltimore Presbytery and to the surrounding community to foster an inclusive church and community. The job title of Minister of Outreach is tentative, and the Board expects to consider alternative position titles jointly with Don. -- Charles Forbes, for the TAMFS:B Board of Directors * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TAMFS Chicago Calls Thomas Hickok The Chicago chapter of That All My Freely Serve has been in existence for about 18 months and has been raising funds to support a staffperson to lead its efforts in advocacy and outreach toward the goal of moving the Presbyterian Church toward a more inclusive place. TAMPS-Chicago is pleased to announce that after a national search, a staffperson has been hired to begin by April 1 as Minister of Outreach and Justice. His name is Thomas Hickok, and although he currently lives in Baltimore, MD, he grew up in Oak Park, IL, and is a product of the First United Church. He is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary (as is also Don Stroud! -- JDA). -- from the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church *Update*, March 1999 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Inclusive Church Positions For the most up-to-date listing of positions, check the MLP website: http://www.mlp.org Here is a sample! ASSOCIATE PASTOR -- San Francisco Bay Area congregation with 350 members plus 100 additional active participants known as "Friends of the Family." Our congregation celebrates with eclectic music, drama and family participation in a thought- provoking, nurturing, festive atmosphere. We are an open, inclusive community, emphasizing social action, justice issues and environmental and global concerns. We seek an associate pastor to take charge of and promote these important aspects of our mission work. Come Celebrate and work with us! Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Drive, Oakland, CA 94611, (510) 339-1131. Please reply at your earliest convenience and before May 30. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Inclusive New Church Development Outgoing PLGC Board Member Susan Leo Leads Bridgeport Community Church Dear More Light Friends, Five years ago, during the same weekend as the Re-Imagining Conference, I was taken under care as a Candidate for the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament by the Presbytery of the Cascades -- as an out lesbian. It was an amazing event, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit herself. I have been content for years to fight the fight with the Presbyterians, passing ordination exams and dutifully making my annual reports to a CPM (Committee on Preparation for Ministry) that grew more and more rancorous each year. I have a great job with the ACLU of Oregon, a wonderful partner, a son who is growing up splendidly, a life that is rich and full -- a life that could support me in the on-going struggle with the PC(USA) for the full inclusion of out lesbian and gay folks in the life of the church for years; a life that had almost everything -- except a church home that really felt like home -- and except for having a call that would not let me go. Last spring, about the millionth person asked when I was going to have a church -- and I just had to up and start one: a church where I -- and anybody else who cared to -- could worship God in a feminist / liberationist / Reformed tradition / "low-church" environment. Bridgeport Community Church started off -- not with 5 or 10 or even 20 people, but more than 40 people from babies to octogenarians, men & women, gay & straight, white people & people of color, churched and unchurched. These folks came the very first Sunday and came back the next month and brought friends with them. A noisy, independent, smart, and congenial bunch, we were growing both in size and in passion for a faith community -- despite only meeting once a month. Well, by October, people were clamoring for more worship time, for adult education, for classes for their kids, for a choir, and for more of my time. I began to feel even more overwhelmed than I had been feeling -- and so I did the only thing I could do. I prayed. For I had started Bridgeport on a prayer and the belief that there was a need in Portland's progressive political community for a Christian faith community that would empower folks and enable them to sustain the life-giving work they did in their jobs or in their "volunteer life." But I was unprepared for the whirlwind in which the Holy Spirit swept me up. So I prayed about what I could do to sustain this church that was growing in such an incredible way. And when I fielded a call at work at the ACLU from a local United Church of Christ (UCC) pastor, I told her about Bridgeport and asked her what she thought I should do. She suggested I talk with the folks in the local UCC Conference office. So much has happened over these past 3 months. Worship continues to be amazing. We had a special Visioning Sunday where we articulated our hopes and dreams for a 5-year plan. Folks have committed time and money. The choir is astounding. Kids love coming. More people call me every day to get on the mailing list -- now more than 100 households. And the United Church of Christ wants to support Bridgeport as a new church development, and pay me to be the full-time pastor. And they want to ordain me. So what do I do? I have a congregation that is growing like wildfire and wants and needs me. And there is a denomination that is willing to walk with us and see where the call is heading. And I am mind-boggled by the intensity of the Spirit and the steadiness of the direction and suddenly, suddenly I am being called out of the Presbyterian Church to minister to a community I have dreamed of for years. So after a great deal of prayer, discussion and soul-searching, I am leaving the Presbyterian Church. Not because I couldn't wait for the Church to change, but because I am being changed. Not because I don't love the Church, but because I am being loved into my own wholeness. Not because my call to ministry to the Church has diminished, but because I am being called out of the Presbyterian Church, the church of my childhood, the church I have loved and dreamed of serving. I am deeply loyal to the PC(USA) and to you and the More Light Presbyterian community. So I am deeply torn about this dramatic shift to which God is calling me. I do not do this because it is simply convenient nor do I do this with any bit of attitude. I do not do this because I want to, but because a congregation wants me and a denomination is willing to help make it happen. I fervently hope and pray for the day that the Presbyterian Church opens its hearts and its doors to all who are called to leadership as ministers, elders and deacons. And I pray for the day I can somehow serve with the PC(USA). But until then, I will serve my congregation -- the men, women and children of Bridgeport Community Church -- with love, passion and integrity, and I will serve the United Church of Christ with appreciation, joy and commitment. I urge you all to follow your heart and your call wherever it takes you. Hang in there & keep up the good fight. Dare to struggle, dare to win. Believe me, you will never leave my heart. -- In the loving hands of God, Susan Leo. Charles Forbes has responded for all More Light Presbyterians: An open letter to Susan: Go with God. It is clear she is calling. Remember that we are now in full communion with the UCC, so you aren't going far. And as an ordained UCC pastor you can serve in any Presbyterian pulpit. Maybe you are just positioning yourself to come in the back door! Better yet, maybe the Presbyterians will get the message and invite you in the front door! But do your thing where you are! -- Charles Forbes, Baltimore. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * REQUESTS Coming Out Young, Coming Out Faithful We are seeking submissions of coming out stories from a faith perspective written by youth to age 21 for a collection to be published by United Church Press. Stories may be from any faith tradition and should reflect on the relationship of one s faith community, tradition, and experiences, and the coming out process. Tell us your coming out story, particularly as it relates to your faith journey. Questions writers may wish to address include: Is religion and/or church or synagogue involvement important to you? to your family? Are you or have you been a part of a denomination? Which one? Is your faith community a "Welcoming Congregation?" Has your faith experience helped you or harmed you in your coming out process? How? Has involvement in your faith community become greater or less since coming out? What was your image of God before coming out? Has it changed since coming out? How? How has your faith/spirituality been affected by your coming out process? Do you believe that you can be a person of faith and be a self- affirming LGBT person? If so, from whom/where did you get that message? If not, from whom/where did you get that message? What do you want people to know about LGBTQ youth? How can faith communities be most helpful to LGBT and questioning youth? Do you have any specific ideas? Submissions should not exceed 1500 words. Intent to submit must be received by May 1, 1999, with final submissions due June 1, 1999. [NOTE: This will be too late for readers of the print *Update*. Contact the sponsors to see if the deadline has been extended! -- JDA] Earlier submissions are encouraged. Final selection for inclusion rests with Rev. Leanne McCall Tigert and Timothy Brown, Commissioned Minister. Submissions may be edited. Writers must be 21 or under at the time of writing. Writers under 18 must have a parental consent form signed. Writers may use a pseudonym. Submissions will not be returned and become the property of the Rev. Leanne McCall Tigert and United Church Press. Those whose submissions are selected will be notified ahead of time, and will receive a complimentary copy of the book. Direct all questions, correspondence, and submissions to: Timothy Brown, Commissioned Minister, Youth & Young Adult Program Coordinator, United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, P.O. Box 428, Greeley, Colorado 80631, Electronic submissions or inquiries may be submitted to: gayyouth@ecunet.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EVENTS May 21-23, 1999. More Light Presbyterians Annual Conference, Oklahoma City. See information and registration forms in the January-February 1999 *More Light Update*, or contact John McNeese, 405/848-2819, email: john33@ix.netcom.com May 21-23, 1999. Gay and Single: What Keeps Us Out of Relationship? Led by Rob Bauer, clinical social worker and body- centered psychotherapist. Rowe Conference Center (affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association), Kings Hwy. Rd. Box 273, Rowe, MA 01367, 413-339-4954 or 4216, fax 413-339-5728, email: Retreat@RoweCenter.org June 10-13, 1999. Gay and Christian: Bringing the Conversation Home to Rural America, Missoula, Montana. With special attention to helping rural congregations participate in this conversation. Cosponsored by Lutheran Student Foundation of Montana and the Northern Rockies Institute of Theology. Contact Lutheran Campus Ministry, 538 University Ave., Missoula, MT 59801, email: jlhurd@mssl.uswest.net, 406-549-7821. June 10-13, 1999. Gay, Lesbian and Christian: That They All May Be One. Led by Fred A. Davie, Jr., John McNeill, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, and Nancy Wilson. 6:30 p.m. Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch. $305 ($150 registration deposit). Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610- 588-1793, fax 610-588-8510, www.kirkridge.org June 19-26, 1999. General Assembly, PCUSA, Fort Worth, TX. See our special section: Getting Ready for GA! July 11- 17, 1999. Cultivating the Inner Voice of Love: Discerning and Cultivating Our Spirituality, A Retreat for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered People and Our Families, Friends, and Advocates from a Christian Perspective. Led by Chris Glaser. Sorrento Centre is a conference and retreat centre located in the interior of British Columbia and is associated with the Anglican church of Canada. It is ecumenical in its programming, and inclusive in its welcome to all. Contact Wayne McNamara, Sorrento Centre, P.O. Box 99, Sorrento, B.C. V0E 2W0 Canada, 250- 675-2421, fax; 250-675-3032, email: sorrento@jetstream.net, web: www.sorrento-centre.bc.ca August 13-15, 1999. Behold We Do a New Thing: Rites of the Gay Male Spirit. Led by John Linscheid and Ken White. 7 p.m. Friday dinner through Sunday lunch. $235 ($135 registration deposit). Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610-588-1793, fax 610-588-8510, www.kirkridge.org September 3-6, 1999. Labor Day Retreat for Gay & Bisexual Men: A Multicultural, Multigenerational Celebration. Led by psychotherapists Joe Fitzgerald, LCSW, and Ken Page, CSW. Rowe Conference Center (affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association), Kings Hwy. Rd. Box 273, Rowe, MA 01367, 413-339- 4954 or 4216, fax 413-339-5728, email: Retreat@RoweCenter.org September 17-19, 1999. Sisterly Conversations, the annual gathering with Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, focusing on current concerns among Lesbians of faith. Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610-588-1793, fax 610-588-8510, www.kirkridge.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * RESOURCES Ex-Gay Movement Exposed **Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy.** This is the name of a report released in October, 1998, describing how the Christian Right is promoting the ex-gay movement as camouflage for a "kinder, gentler" offensive in its long-running campaign to deny civil rights protections to lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons. The report was jointly sponsored by Equal Partners in Faith, Political Research Associates, and The Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Below is an article about the report, written by Greg Kubiak, a syndicated writer and a board member of GLAD (Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples) -- a LGBT rights group within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Following the article you will find order information, links to the report, and additional resources. In Our Interest by Greg D. Kubiak "Ex-Gay Movement Exposed" [BOX: Greg D. Kubiak, public policy analyst, author and activist, writes "In Our Interest" for several Gay publications. He can be reached by e-mail at GKubiak@aol.com.] A detailed report has recently been released declaring what many of us have alleged about the ex-gay movement for some time. Primarily, the movement "provides political cover for a significant new phase in the Christian Right's long-running anti- gay campaign." The three-year study declares that "the Christian Right has now shifted to a strategy of emphasizing personal salvation for homosexuals -- through the Ex-Gay movement. Behind the mask of compassion, however, the goal remains the same: to roll back legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and enforce criminal laws against them." The report was jointly sponsored by the only gay "think tank," the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, along with Equal Partners in Faith (a multi-faith network), and Political Research Associates (a Boston-based non-profit research center). Unlike a typical interest group press release, this 30-page report is a footnoted study of how a marriage of convenience has occurred between the Christian Right and a fledgling ex-gay movement. The height of the relationship's success came on July 13, 1998, when the national newspaper ad campaign began in *The New York Times* with Anne Paulk, a "former lesbian." Two other ads and $206,000 later, the effort, according to the report "sparked a media firestorm which resulted in the largest exposure that the ex-gay movement has ever received." *Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy* was prepared by reviewing source material, interviewing ex-gay and Christian Right leaders, and attending two ex-gay conferences. Work on the report began in 1995, well before the exposure of the developing public partnership of the two. The partnership might not have been necessary, except that the divisive tactics of the Christian Right against gays was failing. The report notes that the Christian Right continued their attacks on gay men and lesbians into the 1990's "by painting the 'gay lifestyle' as unhealthy and obsessed with sex." Their political and fund-raising efforts included propaganda like "The Gay Agenda," a twenty minute video featuring sensational scenes from pride marches and interviews with homophobic doctors. The purpose was to enrage the base of the Right, so their political efforts to fight pro-gay legislation could be bolstered. "For years the Christian Right has used homophobic rhetoric to raise money and recruit followers." A tip-of-the-iceberg example is a 1992 fund-raising appeal by the Concerned Women for America, in which they declare, "We are at war in America today .... We don't want our children taught that the sin of homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle choice." By inciting fear within their donor base, these groups found success in raising money to fight the "activist, militant, homosexual agenda." Yet, the report notes, not only has public opinion on gay rights improved, but many mainstream religious denominations are sympathetic to the plight of Gays. A number of Protestant churches are open and affirming, or at least tolerant, of Gays. And in 1997, a U.S. Catholic Bishops' public letter stated that "God does not love someone any less simply because he or she is homosexual." Further, an April 1997 Human Rights Campaign poll shows by 3 to 1, "Christians believe that Americans should be protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace." These elements have harmed the efforts of the Christian Right to grow their movement, raise money, and advance their agenda against Gay Americans. Thus, the idea of working with the ex-gay movement as compassionate "political cover" was born. "Calculated Compassion" notes several examples of coordination in sharing people and resources between the camps: * James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" hired ex-gay leader John Paulk as their legislative and cultural affairs analyst; * The Family Research Council (FRC) has given organizational and financial support to Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (P-FOX); * FRC's cultural director sits on the P-FOX board of directors; * The architect of Colorado's anti-gay Amendment 2 is also the co-author of a recent ex-gay book, *Not Afraid to Change*. The report sums up the political result of this cabal. "The Christian Right has a new tool, the logic of the ex-gay movement, to persuade the right wing of the Republican Party that gay men and lesbians do not need legal protections because their homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not an immutable trait." Theirs is an unholy alliance. And as long as the Christian Right manipulates the myth of conversion therapy, the quest for Gay civil rights and acceptance will continue to elude us. Complementing the report is *Challenging the Ex-Gay Movement, An Information Packet* with a range of educational and organizing resources. These include: an analysis of the ex-gay movement's links to the Christian Right; fact sheets on leading ex-gay organizations, listings of secular and faith-based organizations opposing the ex-gay movement; organizing tips; and reprints of selected articles. You may see *Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement Serves The Right's Attack on Democracy* at http://www.ngltf.org/press/exgayrpt.html (Acrobat pdf file) or at http://www.publiceye.org/pra/equality/x- gay/Calculated_Compassion_TOC.htm (html file) The materials are also available from: Political Research Associates, 120 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143. The cost is $6 each for individual copies, including shipping and handling. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery (rush orders are $5 extra.) Discounts for bulk orders are as follows: $5 each for 10-99 copies; $4 each for 100-499 copies; $3 each for 500 or more. Add $5 for shipping and handling for orders of 10-50 copies. Please call PRA at 617-661-9313 for rates on larger orders. **Equal Partners in Faith** is a multi-racial network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity. Our diverse faith traditions and shared religious values lead us to affirm and defend the equality of all people, regardless of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation. As people of faith, we actively oppose the manipulation of religion to promote exclusion and inequality. Equal Partners in Faith is helping mainstream and progressive people of faith promote a more inclusive vision of religion and society. Please join us in this important work. Write, call or email us for more information. To learn more about Equal Partners in Faith, you can contact EPF at: 2026 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, 202-296- 4672, fax 202-296-4673, e-mail epf1998@aol.com, website:www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4497/EqualPartners.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Prisoner's Guide Houses of Healing -- A Prisoner's Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, by Robin Casarjian. Boston: The Lionheart Foundation, cl995. xiv, 256 p. ISBN 0-9644933-0-6. Reviewed by Jud van Gorder, More Light Presbyterians Liaison for Prison Ministries. In reviewing this book, I was revisiting familiar territory: Developing Self-awareness; Discovering the Inner Child; Dealing with Anger and Resentment; Learning to Express Grief; Practicing Forgiveness; Healing Shame; Relaxing, Meditating; Spiritual Awakening. I have personally been through most of these popular therapeutic approaches and exercises which the book comprises. They can be effective for anyone, but the author has applied them to the special condition of being incarcerated. The text is based on the "Emotional Awareness/Emotional Healing" courses she developed and has taught in Massachusetts prisons for a decade. She also founded the Lionheart Project to promote emotional literacy by distributing copies of the book to as many prisons as possible in the U.S.A. A number of endorsements from inmates and corrections personnel are quoted. This is a valuable and needed contribution to the under-served mission field of prison ministries. I place it along with the work of Bo Lozoff, Sister Helen Prejean, The Fortune Society, The Open Door Community, and others with whom I have had some contact. So, pragmatically, I endorse this volume for its intended audience and anyone whose life is locked up in some way. But as to the principles on which it is based, I have a couple of demurrers. One is its view of human nature, which I find too Gnostic or "New Agey." The author speaks of our True Self as a Light which radiates fundamental goodness from childhood on. This Lamp can be buried but never altered. We each wear different lampshades, partial selves; and the problem is in focusing on our shades and those of others, rather than on the Light we have in common. Sort of sounds like Jesus, but I don't believe it's the same. Matters of Sin and Evil are never broached here. Genetics, Psychology, and Theology, as well as experience in and out of prison, raise serious doubt to the theory of an Autonomous Soul. The other concern I have is the reality of her concept of prison. The promo brochure says, "The greater goal of the Lionheart Foundation is to play a decisive role in initiating a new era in prison rehabilitation ... re-defining and re-creating prisons as houses of healing -- places where the cycle of neglect, abuse, and violence can be interrupted and stopped, and where self- esteem and dignity can be restored." Hallelujah! But can this be sold to the Prison-Industrial Complex, one of our fastest-growing businesses, fed not by increasing crime but political and media pressure, with vested interest in locking up more people longer? The therapy in this work is nitty enough, but the presentation falls short of gritty. Harassed corrections officers in overcrowded warehouses (what prisons are now) will be happy if inmates follow the book and become assertive rather than aggressive, accepting rather than rejecting. But when and how will this inner power and freedom break through to citizens outside the walls, so they may join in social action to fulfill the author's hope? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FEATURE STORIES How and Why I Became a Straight Ally (in the movement to create a fully inclusive church) by Gene Huff During much of the mid-part of the 20th Century, eyes were upon the year 1984 due to George Orwell's provocative novel by that name. Now that the year in question has come and gone, and indeed a whole new decade-century-millennium beckons, most of us probably can hardly recall any particular watershed event of 1984. But I can! Awakening at Asilomar Joan and I were Associate Pastors of Stone Church of Willow Glen, a progressive Presbyterian congregation in the heart of San Jose, California. Our boys were ten and eleven and always pressing us to do fun things during our summers. Joan lobbied for attending the area Presbyterian family conference at Asilomar, knowing Joel and Mark would love playing on the beach and joining other preachers' and elders' kids in creative activities. She had chosen a peacemaking seminar and I needed to select a workshop from the list of offerings. As I perused the brochure one opportunity grabbed me by the ... well it grabbed me! Sexuality and Spirituality was the title. Leading it were Jane Adams Spahr and Jackie Spahr. I had met Janie but did not know her well. Jackie I was soon to learn is Janie's very good friend now married to Jim Spahr (Janie's former husband). I was also to learn what a remarkable teaching team they were. I signed up. And indeed since the summer of 1984 my life has been quite different. There were about a dozen of us in the group. We represented a full gamut of life backgrounds: a couple of older gay men who had been together for over twenty years; a young mother struggling with her sexual orientation and its impact on her marriage; several other gay and lesbian persons struggling to be their true selves within the church and a number of straight folk like myself, by and large sympathetically curious about the whole thing of homosexuality. Remember this was 15 years ago! When More Light Presbyterians get discouraged today -- and with good reason they do -- it is important to look back and see that, in all fairness, progress has been made. We in the class spent the week sharing our stories and studying the Bible together, especially what I soon learned are referred to in the gay community as the "clobber passages" -- the six or so verses which are used to clobber the whole idea of accepting gays and lesbians for who they are. We reviewed the scientific take on homosexuality and its origins. We also examined how and where our attitudes about gayness come from and how much we need to remain open to newly emerging understandings about the whole subject. But the heart of the experience, as the seminar's name implies, was exploring together how deeply the understanding of our sexuality relates to our spiritual health and development, regardless of our orientation. At that point 56 years old, I had accumulated at least a modest reputation for being a social liberal Presbyterian, having spent most of the Sixties on the staff of the old Board of National Missions of the UPCUSA and a stretch as a presbytery executive in what was at that time a fairly progressive presbytery of Southern California. I had attended the San Diego General Assembly in 1978 and been disappointed in the triumph of the minority report which resulted in the definitive guidance that we should not ordain our gay and lesbian members. I joined the public protest outside the hall and added my name to the protest petition. But I did little else at that time or in the six years following to express support for making the church truly inclusive. I am not sure I even knew any gay men or lesbian women personally, though of course that was my blindness, not their absence. As you have guessed I came away from the week at Asilomar with a whole new perspective about how sexuality and the things of the spirit fit together in our lives; or at least how they should. I also emerged with a determination to learn more -- to learn to know more gays and lesbians personally; to study those infamous Bible passages thoroughly and to examine more thoughtfully the human phenomenon of homosexuality. Janie had of course provided a thorough bibliography which became the road map for my study. Teaching and Pastoral Care in San Jose Upon returning to the congregation I was serving I quickly found opportunities both to carry out my commitment to study and to share my new insights through pastoral care. After doing my homework on the biblical material I saw what a charade was being carried forward by those who oppose homosexuality on biblical grounds. I soon discovered several parents whose children had recently come out to them. Mom and Dad were desperately asking for help. I then launched an adult education series on the passages that purport to deal with homosexuality, building a syllabus which would eventually be used in several classes in the coming years. Among the new friends who joined the church around that time were a lesbian couple active in Evangelicals Concerned, a group with an conservative theological emphasis founded by Ralph Blair of New York. The local group, largely young gay and lesbian professionals, met regularly in homes for study, prayer and support. Both Joan and I were deeply moved during our times spent with them. I was invited to teach my biblical course when the local group hosted a regional conference at a nearby retreat center, during which I had a memorable conversation with Blair. Contacts with other new friends in the area contributed immeasurably to my understanding of how viciously unjust the exclusionary policies of the Presbyterian Church really are. This included seeing one of our elders, Marcia Ludwig, become an active leader at the national level of PLGC and being present when Mitzi Henderson gave her famous address to the Presbytery of San Jose as a parent of a gay son, perplexed at the absence of her church's help for her and her family. That speech launched her stellar leadership in the movement at every level (national president of P-FLAG and now one of our MLP co-moderators). With a PLGC Chapter in Cleveland In 1986 I became the executive presbyter in the Cleveland area. Western Reserve Presbytery has long been a fairly progressive governing body with a record of strong urban ministry and commitment to contemporary mission endeavors. Its votes on key issues before the church have usually been on the liberal side, though not without a responsibly-led evangelical voice also present. But it was a venue where I could comfortably express liberal views so long as I gave dutiful pastoral attention to those who did not agree with me. It was about 1989 that an elder at one of the churches, in his coming out to himself and his family, attempted also to come out to his church. I found ways to be supportive of him in that struggle and as a result he brought a group together which became the Northern Ohio chapter of PLGC. They met monthly for a potluck, worship and program and Joan and I became regular members of the group. That was our first real involvement with the national churchwide movement which has become More Light Presbyterians. It wasn't all that bold a step. I believe most knowledgeable people in the presbytery were aware of it, but there was not much fuss about it. It did however contribute considerably not only to my circle of gay and lesbian friends but to my awareness of the need to organize both grass roots and national support for the inclusive church cause. My eyes were opened further and my circle of gay and lesbian friends widened substantially when I attended the annual More Light Conference in Louisville in 1990 at the invitation of one of our young pastors whom I had come to know as a privately proud gay man, there joining old friends Bob and Evelyn Davidson and meeting a wonderful new friend Howard Warren. Struggles in Indianapolis After my retirement in 1991, we spent another year in Cleveland while our younger son Mark finished high school. Joan was then called as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian in the inner city of Indianapolis. Upon arriving -- actually we had of course noted it in their church information form -- we learned that the church was involved in a study about possibly becoming a More Light Church. A good committee had indeed been gathering information and holding meetings and educational events for quite some time, although there appeared to be considerable reluctance to bringing the More Light matter to a decision at the session level. Upon learning of our interest and background, the committee invited Joan and me to present a several week adult education course on "What the Bible Says About Homosexuality." We did this, using and expanding the syllabus I had developed earlier, and the class was well attended with lively discussion, mostly positive. The committee also brought a well-known physician expert on the medical aspects of homosexuality to town for a useful workshop. Several other events were scheduled including hearings on the More Light possibility. At one point, in order to be balanced, they invited a rabidly anti-gay pastor in the Presbytery whose presentation almost made some people physically ill. Becoming a More Light Church might well have been pushed through the session, but not without risks which it was felt the church ought not to take, "at this time" as the phrase usually goes. There was fear of alienating some of the older members known to be liberal on most every cause but worried about getting political on this one. The matter never quite came to a head and when we left after four years it was still at least brewing on a back burner. But Acting More Light Meanwhile, however, Westminster church was indeed -- like so very many Presbyterian congregations -- acting like a More Light Church. Session instructed the nominating committee to pay scant attention to the so-called definitive guidance and several lavender people became church officers. When the new PLGC chapter asked the session for permission to meet regularly at the church, there was certainly no problem. But many of the ambiguities faced in so many churches as they try to deal with the inclusiveness issue were obviously present at Westminster during our time in Indianapolis. Birthing a Chapter It was in 1993 that Howard Warren -- who was worshiping regularly at Westminster and often guest preaching at Joan's invitation -- and I organized the Central Indiana Chapter of PLGC. The group met monthly for a potluck followed by worship, usually an educational program and personal support time. Attendance ran from half a dozen to twenty five or so and about evenly gay and straight. In several instances it became a significant support mechanism for several young life-long Presbyterians now coming out to themselves and their families and seeking affirmation from their church. The chapter became extremely important also for a small cadre of straight allies. In March of 1996 the chapter hosted the Midwest mid-winter conference with Chris Glaser as retreat leader. Joining the PLGC Board At General Assembly in 1996 -- due largely to my having organized that Midwest conference -- I was elected to the national executive board of PLGC and began my service with that movement at the churchwide level. My chief assignment has been to serve as chapter liaison, working to coordinate chapter development around the country -- a capacity I now continue as PLGC has been folded into More Light Presbyterians. It seemed to be the kind of task which few had wanted to take on, yet which a retired presbytery executive can really get his teeth into. In the More Light Presbyterian community I have found what I consider a true representation of what God has called us to be as the Church of Jesus Christ. First I have discovered as strong a commitment to Christ as I have ever seen elsewhere in the church. This includes no less a seriousness about biblical authority and scholarship than elsewhere albeit resulting in radically different conclusions from others. It includes a profound moral basis for personal conduct that makes a mockery of the conventional stereotypes which are promoted purporting to deal with what is referred to as *the gay lifestyle*. I have come to know individuals so obviously gifted with spiritual depth and leadership competence that their being prevented from offering those gifts in the ministry of the church is one of the most severe of tragedies. It has been a high privilege to be able to work along side of such lesbian, gay and bisexual leaders as Howard Warren, Scott Anderson, Laurene LaFontaine, Chris Glaser, Janie Spahr, Tony de la Rosa, Jim Anderson, Lisa Larges, Bill Moss, Donna Riley, Susan Leo, Lew Myrick, Chuck McLain, Tammy Lindahl, Martha Juillerat, Ralph Carter and others too numerous to mention. It has been a joy to join other straight folk who have contributed so much to the movement, including Virginia Davidson, the late Bob and Evelyn Davidson, Dick Lundy, Johanna Bos, Tricia Dykers Koenig, Hal Porter, Lindsay Biddle, Joanne Sizoo, Ken Wolvington, Mitzi Henderson and Mike and Sylvia Thorsen Smith. If Only ... Given the situation in the church today, this issue stands out as a major impediment to the faithfulness of the Presbyterian Church. I have been a Presbyterian since birth. Forbidding the full participation of all its members is out of character for the church I grew up in and served for many years -- the Presbyterian Church in the USA prior to 1958 and the UPCUSA, 1958 to 1983. As church historians are now reminding us, the battles fought out in the early years of this century proclaimed a Presbyterian Church that was committed to openness and tolerance and that held off attempts to put into concrete lists the particular conservative theologies that were urged upon it by J. Gresham Machen and his colleagues. Although it sounds uncharitable and is admittedly too late to matter, I firmly believe that the UPCUSA would have probably allowed the ordination of gays and lesbians by about the year 1993, had it continued. At least there would have been a different sorting out of Presbyterians. Those unhappy with that move could have joined another Presbyterian body, while other progressive Presbyterians could have moved to the UPCUSA. So much for wistful nostalgia! That's How, Now Why? When the MLP board met recently in Santa Fe I also visited one of my daughters, Rebecca, a nurse at St. Joseph Medical Center in Albuquerque. Upon learning what had brought me to New Mexico, she asked me to explain again why I was involved with a gay and lesbian group in the church. I had to agree that it is a fair question and probably good for me to reflect on it from time to time. First off of course MLP is not a gay and lesbian group. It is a national and churchwide organization of Presbyterians -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual working to transform the church into the fully inclusive community of faith they believe God intends it to be. Heterosexual members are usually referred to as straight allies. Their number is I think equally strong in the membership as are LGBT people. This fact usually gets lost in the rhetoric of anti-gay sentiment in the church. So what did I tell Rebecca? Well, first in these past fifteen years I have come to know so many sister and brother Presbyterians who are indeed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and have learned both how ordinary and how special they are; ordinary in that they do not fit the tragically prejudiced stereotype that anti-gays viciously promote; special in that so often their personal and spiritual gifts are so outstanding I want to cry and I do cry out against the ignorant opposition to their full participation in the church's life. My basic rationale for involvement with this group is one of Christian justice. When you take apart the pieces of the puzzle of anti-gay sentiment in the church it simply is not a responsibly fair position to say that LGBT members ought not be treated as full fledged members. The biblical interpretations that are used to support this prejudice are disgraceful and most of the conservatives who hold those positions really do know better. A few are fundamentalist literalists and may be in the wrong pew. But most are better Bible students than their positions on this issue indicate. I am not sure Rebecca understood all I was saying, but I know she felt my passion. It is a passion. It needs to be a passionately held position far more widely in the church. I am grateful that God sent me off to Asilomar in 1984 and that I have been given a personal mission as a straight ally in the movement to create a fully inclusive Presbyterian Church. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Twenty Years of More Light Reflections by Rodger M. Wilson It is hard to believe that nearly twenty years has passed since Rev. Bob Davidson told a small, but dedicated, gathering of PLGC folk meeting during the joint General Assemblies in Kansas City, Missouri over a long and hot Memorial Day Weekend, about the decision his congregation of West Park in New York City had made in response to the actions of the previous 1978 UPCUSA General Assembly meeting In San Diego. West Park had decided to commit "ecclesiastical disobedience" by going forward and electing, installing, and ordaining "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" persons as deacons and elders of their congregation in direct rejection of the "definitive guidance" that such persons were not fit for ordained office. He referred to their statement as a "More Light declaration," referring to the text of John Robinson's hymn from the seventeenth century (quoted at the head of page 3 in every issue of the *Update*!). And so West Park became our denomination's first "More Light" congregation. Within a week of my return from General Assembly to Dallas, I was on the phone with the pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church, Rev. Wes Lackey. Even though I was not then a member of Bethany, or even attending because I was serving another congregation as music director, I knew about Bethany's ministry, and the year before they had willingly contributed to a special conference on the "Church and Homosexuality" hosted by the local Gay/Lesbian Alliance. Wes Lackey invited me to come and visit with the Bethany Session the following week at their regular June meeting. And so I did. I was greeted in the church breezeway by a woman who, it turned out, had been my counselor at church camp many years before and who is still a close friend today, Ann Jacob. The elaborate process that I was presented with was that I would make a brief presentation to the Session about making a "More Light Statement." All I did that evening was share my report of Bob Davidson's and the West Park announcement. I did not even have the text -- the whereases and therefores -- of the West Park statement to share; all I had was my oral report. Fortunately, Bethany was small and was used to taking stands quickly without a lot of fuss or process. And, because Bethany, as they said, had been acting as a "More Light" congregation for some time, there was no need for much debate. They just passed a brief statement saying so, and that they intended to continue acting in a truly inclusive manner, and that that could be communicated through the PLGC newsletter and to the local media. Not much came of the action, but it was enough to encourage West Park and PLGC with clear evidence that a new part of the movement was under way. The growth of the More Light Churches Network was slow but steady as at each General Assembly, various persons reported on congregations going through study processes and drafting a variety of statements indicating commitment and intent to elect, ordain, and install openly Gay and Lesbian persons to the offices of their congregations. More Light congregations started getting together during the year to share experiences, concerns, strengths and ideas. I remember at least two early conferences in Boston and then at Bethany itself. It was a challenge for these small congregations to produce quality conferences, but somehow, they managed to bring us all together in one place and time to grow stronger with the support of others sharing the Light. Some congregations were even visited by "missionaries" from other More Light congregations who shared their experiences and the apparent benign neglect on the part of presbyteries to prosecute any charges against the "ecclesiastically disobedient" congregations. Bethany sent representatives to visit a church in New Mexico, and I visited two congregations in the Houston area. Nothing came of those visits right away, except a committed effort to continue dialogue and study as recommended by the General Assemblies of 1978, 1979, and many subsequent assemblies. I was personally "summoned" to participate in the More Light study process at St. Luke's Presbyterian Church in Wayzata, Minnesota. As a volunteer, I gladly took the time and made the trip to share our experiences, to lead worship, to witness to the value of "More Light" in my life and in the life of the Bethany Congregation. Part of the witness that Bethany had to share at several Network meetings, was that we had experienced a "baby boom" following our More Light statement. As just a part of our socially active program, the congregation became more attractive to young professionals (especially artists and musicians) who were looking for a community of faith in which to raise families, but which were also open to the wider "families" that made up our professional lives. Bethany's baby glut was small but it bore fruit: This year four children born at that time were confirmed to full membership. Other congregations reported similar effects and whether or not they are causal, many More Light congregations saw a revitalization of child and youth programs at the same time as they learned the practical ways of living out the "wildly inclusive Gospel." And this coming June, Bethany Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas will celebrate its 20th Anniversary of More Light. During the past year, Bethany has been energized in its More Light ministry as More Light Presbyterians was founded in the local area with many participants from around Grace Presbytery. This new energy confirms Bethany's long held commitment to the work of PLGC and the More Light Churches Network. Plans are still fuzzy, but the anniversary just happens to coincide with the meeting of the General Assembly in Ft. Worth and the 25th anniversary of the founding of PLGC which is now one with the MLCN as MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS. The progress of the movement is like that of the denomination itself -- growth, division, reunion, more growth, More Light! [Rodger Wilson has been a PLGC'er (and now an MLP) from the very beginning. He was with David Sindt, the founder of PLGC, at the very first General Assembly (1974) where PLGC began its ministry of presence. -- JDA] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mom by Chris Glaser Copyright (c) 1999 by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-profit use and duplication. [Photo of Chris' mother, Mildred, on her 84th birthday, just a few weeks before her death.] Mommy can't kiss it and make it better. On February 18, the day after Ash Wednesday, my brother Steve called to ask if I'd spoken to Mom that day. "No," I said, immediately recalling our last conversation the evening before, which ended with our saying "I love you" to one another, our frequent way of ending a conversation. He hadn't heard from her either, and she kept him apprised of her schedule, that is, if she were going to be out of the house. "I'm going over there to see if she's okay," he said, and I asked him to call me as soon as he knew anything. I immediately got on my knees in prayer, not my usual position, but my penitential and imploring or profoundly grateful posture. I prayed that Mom would be all right, that, at best, she was outside with her beloved beagle Schultze each time my brother had called, and at worst, that she had fallen and injured herself, preventing her from answering the phone. I fought off the thought in the back of my mind that indeed, if she were dead, this was exactly the way she would have wanted it -- no medical Frankenstein horror stories of electric paddles shocking her to life, no stays in the hospital, for which she had developed phobias in youth with her mother's frequent hospitalizations and ultimately reinforced traumatically with my father's losing battle with lung cancer eight years ago. Upon my arrival at her home directly from the airport during my second visit last fall, in October, she informed me that she was getting ready to go to the doctor's; that Steve was on his way over to take her there, having made the appointment two days before. Though my brother and sister always said I could get Mom and Dad to do things they couldn't, it was my brother who had pulled off the miracle of persuading Mom to begin going to a doctor for checkups a few years ago. Up until then we had all bragged that she hadn't seen a doctor for herself (though countless times with us, her children and husband) since the day I was born. But my brother persuaded her to begin visiting "Dr. Joan," as she is known, who respected my mother's limits permitting only non-invasive tests. I was surprised the doctor had delayed seeing Mom for two days when Mom explained to me she had been having chest pains! But at the office, this became clear. As my brother listed her symptoms, it was I who had to add, "*And* she's having chest pains!" Steve turned to me, saying with wide, surprised eyes, "She never told me that!" Typical Mother, not wanting to worry anybody. Typical Brother, upset by the news. Steve is more of a Christian than I am, not by belief so much as by behavior. He was the caregiver to his dying friend Luis, whom he moved into his home, renting a hospital bed, and changing his IV's. He was the primary caregiver of my father (next to my mom, of course) and subsequently, my aunt. And now he had taken to checking Mother's blood pressure daily, as well as the sugar level of Mom's diabetic dog. An EKG showed that Mom had had a slight heart attack, and we were immediately sent to a cardiologist who, though he wanted to hospitalize her, was sensitive to her fear and gave her medications to make it better. Mom was distressed that she couldn't fry me chicken for my birthday that visit, her best dish. Our compromise was a turkey which I lifted in and out of the oven, which she seasoned (her secret: a lot of salt!) and basted. Her medication proved too strong in subsequent weeks, causing an ulcer and internal bleeding, so Dr. Joan reduced her meds and she was feeling better within weeks. Her energy level, while lessened, greatly improved. When I returned for her 84th birthday on February 1, I took her to the shore; specifically, the cliffs overlooking the beach of Santa Monica, my favorite walk. At most I thought she would walk to a bench and perch there overlooking the coast, but she was feeling pretty spry and wanted to walk. When I suggested lunch, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she requested a vanilla malt. I crossed the street to an ice cream parlor and brought back two vanilla malts, which we savored, sitting on a park bench side by side. Of course we had many meals together during that time, but once, when my brother and I thought of having lunch at a Mexican restaurant and wanted to include her, she declined, saying, "You have to get used to doing things together on your own." Clearly she wanted her children's relationships with one another not to be dependent on her. The family got together children, grandchildren, great grandchildren at my sister Sharon's home on that Sunday, the day before her actual birthday. She and my father shared a birthday, so, on Monday, I took her to Father's grave to place flowers, and, as always, she said, "Wayne, I miss you!" and wondered aloud how long before she would be with him again. (The flowers, now dried, would still be there when we arranged her burial.) Steve joined us for lunch; that night my former lover George and his partner Louie and I took her out to dinner. One week later another gathering would include her middle grandson and his family, who had not been able to attend earlier. Mom insisted on fixing the turkey. She always cried at the end of my visits to L.A. I had taken to praying with her as I was about to depart, and thus we prayed our blessings on one another before I returned to Atlanta. Now, a few days following that second family gathering, my brother phoned me with the heartbreaking news. "Mom's passed away," he said, and I could tell his whole being was cracking under the strain. Practical joker that he is, like my mom, I wanted him then to say, "No, she's fine." I wanted him to "take it back," say it wasn't so. But I knew in my heart of hearts that she was gone, and I threw myself on the floor, screaming and heaving and sobbing and crying. My dog Calvin leapt to my aid, licking my face, desperate to help. I was otherwise alone; my lover, Mark, ironically, was in L.A. for a meeting. I was rather glad to be alone; I didn't have to hold myself in check, but could scream my grief and sob uncontrollably. Mommy couldn't kiss this and make it better. Eventually we pieced together what might've happened. She had awakened, perhaps began getting ready to attend the funeral of a church member. Her friend Lucy Biaz called to see if she felt like going, planning on giving her a ride. Mom said she felt too tired to go, and must've laid back down on her bedcovers (the ones she sprinkled with my father's talc so the bed smelled like him) and suffered another heart attack. My brother found her with her left hand over her heart, her eyes open, as if she were looking at someone at the foot of the bed, he said. We hoped my father. Or Jesus. Dr. Joan left a wonderful message on my brother's answering machine, which he played for me: "The last two visits, all your mom talked about was wanting to be with your father. Now she is. She's happy with your father." In the days and weeks that have followed, among the many gifts that I am grateful my mom gave me, I realized that there were three offerings that were central: feelings, faith, and words. It's from her I gained access to my feelings. She loved passionately and unconditionally; she cried compassionately hearing someone's pain, whether in person, in films, or on the news; she flew in anger at any who would do harm; she laughed heartily at a joke, spoken or "practical"; she sighed deeply, glum and melancholy when she got what she called "the blues"; and she rejoiced vigorously when she or one of her family or her friends or her church or her generation or her kind (teachers) was honored. It's from her as well as Dad I gained my faith. A lifelong Baptist, she had absolute faith she would join Father in heaven; that Jesus would be there, too; though she wistfully said to me last fall she had thought Jesus would return in her lifetime. When she couldn't attend church, Dr. Charles Stanley of Atlanta's First Baptist Church proclaimed the gospel on television in a way she could hear it. On her last visit to Atlanta in the fall of 1997, she was overjoyed to hear him preach in person, to meet him, to be photographed with him, and to have him sign one of his books to her. Most significantly, she told me just this past fall that his preaching had led her to a realization she had never experienced before: "For the first time, I've realized that God loves me *personally*. I had always believed that God loved all of us generally, but now to believe that God loves me individually is new and wonderful." Of course I couldn't help but chide her a little at the time, "But Mom, what do you think I've been writing about in all of *my* books!?" And I could have added, "What do you think I learned held lovingly on your lap as a child?" And, speaking of books, it was my mom who taught me to read; more than that, taught me the love of reading. We had recently discovered the new world of LARGE PRINT books. So many more books are available in this format than I had thought, and with her failing eyesight, such editions were Godsends. By the time of her death, she had already read three lengthy books I'd given her for her birthday, and had read 170 pages of Tom Brokaw's book on *The World War II Generation* which I had sent her for Valentine's Day. I had sent her that book because she had been thrilled that the gifts of her generation were being recognized and valued. And, just as reading comforted her in her loneliness, reading comforted me in my severe grief. A new biography on Henri Nouwen, another writer she had loved to read and met twice, was my reading material on the flights to and from her funeral. Of course, she also was my first reader, the one who encouraged me when I wrote stories as a child. She confided a little life- wish during the previous fall that I'd never been aware of: she had always wanted to be published in something -- not a book, necessarily; just a small story in *Reader's Digest* or something like that. I reminded her that she *had* been published in my first book. Her and my father's wonderfully supportive and loving letters to me after I came out as gay to them received more comments from more readers than anything I had written in *Uncommon Calling*. I thus kidded them that I wouldn't let them upstage me again in future books! But what they wrote is so much what every gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered child wants to hear from his/her parents that their words touched us all more deeply than anything I've ever written. On my last visit, I set up my old electric typewriter for her to begin writing some of the stories that she blessed us with. But she was just learning to "tame" its rapid responses to her fingertips. Feelings, faith, and words all came together in scripture. My mother had said more than once that she wanted her funeral service and arrangements to be identical to Dad's. For Dad's service, I had selected scriptures in his spirit which I read to the gathering. But for Mom's, last fall I asked her what scriptures she would prefer. The very first she listed was Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." When I was working on the daily devotional, *The Word Is Out*, she had phoned and asked me to include that verse. So, in the service, I read the entry in the book that resulted from her prompting, plus a psalm she prayed for us her family daily. I also read excerpts of a letter she had written her children and grandchildren last fall that I discovered in her Bible, urging us to keep faith or find faith: "... as I get closer to the end of this life I know the best life is yet to come. And how wonderful it will be when we all get to Heaven and see Jesus. ... I'm not afraid to die because I love my Lord and Saviour." It was not until my return to Atlanta that I remembered what had happened during my September visit, when I was preaching at MCC/Los Angeles, and Mom came to the service. To introduce me, Rev. Nancy Wilson had read that day's entry in *The Word Is Out*, which just happened to be the one in which I reflected on my mother's life in relation to Philippians 4:13 (September 20). Thus the "mother church" of a gay and lesbian Christian denomination celebrated my mother's gifts to me; honoring her with recognition and applause. She smiled proudly in response. Mommy can't kiss it and make it better. But Mom kissed my life and made it better. [Box: A memorial fund to minister to Baptist parents and gay/lesbian children has been established with Welcome & Affirming Baptists in the name of Wayne & Mildred Glaser. If you wish to contribute, please make checks payable to AWAB, with "Glaser" in the memo area and send to: Rev. Judson Day, AWAB Treasurer, 12 Pepperidge Lane, Groton CT 06340-6023. Donations are tax-deductible.] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mourning the Murder of a MLP Pastor and Friend Presbytery of Southern New England Thomas Otte Old Saybrook, CT. Friday, March 5, 1999. The Rev. Tom Otte, a minister member in good standing with the Presbytery of Southern New England and a brother in Christ, was found murdered on Thursday in his Hartford home. He was an advocate for justice and reconciliation, and will be sorely missed. Rev. Otte was ordained in 1975 by the former Connecticut Valley Presbytery. In years past, Tom was a Parish Associate at First Presbyterian Church in Hartford, CT. Early in his ministry, he served as a chaplain in the armed forces. He had also served on the Candidate's Committee in prior years. In 1997, Rev. Otte was a commissioner to the 209th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Syracuse, NY. His last position was that of stated supply pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Holyoke, MA. At the time of his death, he was a member at large and served on the Presbytery's Council. He was predeceased by his wife, Wilma, who died in 1997, and has surviving children and a granddaughter. ... Donations in memory of the Rev. Tom Otte may be made to "More Light Presbyterians of the Presbytery of Southern New England." Mail to the Presbytery of Southern New England, 44 Pond Road, Suite 1, Old Saybrook, CT 06475-2152. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tom's Memorial Service About 700 people gathered for a memorial service for Tom Otte on Sunday, March 7, at the Center Church in Hartford on Sunday afternoon. Tom was a Presbyterian minister, but his family seems to have been connected to this United Church of Christ congregation: they referred to other Otte services that had been held there. Tom Otte was an especially open person, who had led many members of his family and friends into an honest look at human vulnerability and its implications for all of us involved in growth or pilgrimage or finding ourselves in community or even the church. He was murdered (stabbed and mutilated), apparently early on the morning of March 4. He was nearly 58 years old, and openly gay, although he had continued to live with his wife, Wilma, until her death of cancer last year. The murder is being treated as possibly gay-related, but not as a hate crime, since there is at least the possibility that the murderer had been living in Tom's house for several days, either as a sexual partner, or as a street person Tom had hosted for a short time. The service was dignified and appropriate. A model for memorial services, with good music, the right readings from Isaiah, Psalm 139, Revelation, and from the Gospel of John. It included the testimony of friends, and Tom's brother and sister and son and daughter. There was wonderful music, and it spread across many traditions. The service opened with "Abide with Me," (the hymns were printed in the bulletin -- no confusion about where, in what book, to look, which even for a New England congregation half filled with professional persons is a tough call). One of the tributes from friends was a skilled soprano singing Gounod; a small group sang "By the Waters of Babylon" and "This little light of mine." And a folk singer with guitar led the congregation in the final chorus of "Will the Circle be unbroken?" The other two hymns were "Lord of the Dance" and "Amazing Grace." The many readers introduced their selections with short memories. Things like, "I had a very special supervisor in CPE training. His name was Tom Otte." Or, "I knew him as a friend and as a colleague." The presiding ministers included the Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Chaplain of Trinity College, and assistant bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut; the Rev. Laura A. Westby, Interim Minister of Center Church (the First Church of Christ in Hartford), and the Rev. John Merz, a Presbyterian Minister who directs the Aids Ministry for the Council of Churches, and who represented the Presbytery of Southern New England. Steve Charleston pleaded with the members of the congregation to continue to work proudly, as Tom had done, to register more light upon the grayness of all the denominations today. "Let those who have ears, hear; let those with eyes, see." It was a moving and very special occasion. The Otte family, which is large, and well-known in the Hartford area, hosted a reception for the persons who had attended the service in the church's parish house after the service. I thought members of the extended MLP family would be interested in hearing some details. -- Tom Nissley. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PC(USA) Press Coverage Openly Gay Presbyterian Minister Stabbed to Death in His Own Home by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service Louisville, KY. 11 March 1999 -- The Rev. Thomas E. Otte's ministry to ex-convicts and other troubled souls turned deadly on March 4 when he was stabbed to death by a man he had counseled and befriended. Otte, a Presbyterian minister who had worked as a pastoral counselor for 25 years, was found dead in the living room of his condominium in Hartford, Conn. Police said he was found naked and had suffered numerous stabbing and slashing wounds to his upper body. "It was violent, very violent," said Sgt. Norberto A. Huertas, who supervised the investigation for the Hartford Police Department's major crimes division. News of the grisly murder left church officials and Otte's friends and colleagues in shock. Stewart Pollock, stated clerk of the Southern New England Presbytery, which includes Hartford, said he was troubled by "questions about how it happened -- and why would someone do that? ... Thoughts about how much we're going to miss his particular gifts and insights." Felix Pagan Jr., a 27-year-old felon whom police described as a friend of Otte's, was charged with one count of murder after confessing to the crime. Pagan was arraigned on March 8. Police said the murder took place shortly before 3 a.m. on March 4. A large knife was recovered at the scene. Superior Court Judge Howard Scheinnblum ordered Pagan, who has past convictions for robbery and larceny, held in lieu of a $1 million bond. A memorial service organized by Otte's family was held at Center Congregational Church in Hartford on Sunday. "He had quite a varied ministry in his life, and he has meant a lot to people around here," said Sharon Mackwell, executive director of the Interfaith Refugee Ministry in New Haven, Conn. Otte once worked for the program, recruiting people to sponsor refugees. Pollock said another memorial is in the offing. "The next meeting of the presbytery is our annual meeting," he said, "... and there's a possibility that we may try to do something special around Tom in that service. I'm not sure what else I would be adding at this time. ... The presbytery is still trying to figure out what we want and need to do." Huertas said Otte, 56, was killed after he and Pagan had a heated argument in the minister's home. The investigator said Pagan and Otte are believed to have met in April 1998, although it was not clear Monday how their paths crossed. According to Pagan's older brother, Alberto Rodriguez, Otte initially called Pagan to offer counseling and to try to find work for him, but the two became friends and started getting together for late-night partying at Otte's condo. A neighbor of Otte's told police that Pagan was a frequent late- night guest at the minister's condo in recent weeks, and that loud music often blared from the condo until the wee hours of the morning. On the night of the slaying, however, the condo was silent. At 7:15 a.m. Thursday, a neighbor found the door ajar and discovered Otte's body in the living room amid overturned furniture and broken glass that suggested there had been a violent struggle. Detectives found an identification card in the name of Felix Pagan Jr. in the pocket of one of Otte's shirts and recovered a bloody 6 1/2-inch kitchen knife from the condo's attached garage. By Saturday afternoon, detectives had apprehended Pagan and his girlfriend, Maria Lozado, 28. In a sworn statement, Lozado said she heard a knock on her apartment door around 3 a.m. Thursday, opened the door and saw Pagan, covered with blood. While Lozado told her story in one interview room, Pagan was confessing to the homicide in another. Otte's friends told police that the minister, whose wife died in 1997, had been living a more openly gay lifestyle in recent months. Otte was an interested observer Feb. 26 in Hamden, Conn., at the ecclesiastical trial of the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, which was accused of violating church law by electing an openly gay elder to its governing board. He was active with the Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns, and with "More Light" churches, a national network of Presbyterian congregations that make gays welcome. Police declined to say whether Otte and Pagan were lovers, but they said the murder doesn't appear to involve "gay bashing." For several years, Otte had split his time between Hartford, where he worked as a self-employed pastoral counselor, and Holyoke, Mass., where he was stated supply pastor of First Presbyterian Church for seven years until he resigned in 1998. A 1972 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, he had worked as a counselor and chaplain at Hartford Hospital Correctional Center, Hartford Hospital and Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford. In the mid-1980s, he was supervisor of lay ministries for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. (Information for this story was also gathered by *The Hartford Courant.*) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Commentary on Coverage Dear Mr. Silverstein, I must object to the tone of your article about the minister slain in Connecticut. The headline, "Openly Gay Presbyterian Minister Stabbed to Death in His Own Home" itself betrays prejudice. The Presbyterian News Service wouldn't run a headline that read "Straight White Presbyterian Minister Stabbed to Death in His Own Home." The comment that he had begun to live a "gay lifestyle" is at best irrelevant and at worst a suggestion that it brought on the murder. The phrase itself is meaningless, as "gay" is a sexual orientation, and gay people lead many different kinds of lives. I would suggest instead that Rev. Otte lived a Presbyterian minister's lifestyle, an urban pastoral counselor's lifestyle. As someone who worked as a professional journalist in the secular press, you should know better than to use (or reprint from the *Courant* article) such slanted phrases and prejudicial presentations of what is a brutal, tragic, and unjustifiable crime against a pastor who dedicatedly served the Lord in his ministry. No amount of speculation about his sex life can obscure that fact. -- Donna M. Riley, MLP Communications Secretary. Mr. Silverstein: I cannot agree more with Ms. Riley's reaction and comments regarding the "slant" of your article and headline. One expects this kind of "matter of fact" bias from secular newspapers; one would expect a little more thought going into our Presbynews approach to such reporting. I recall an ongoing tragedy in Indianapolis where a "Straight White Presbyterian Minister [was] Stabbed to Death in His Own Home." Such a headline fits the bill but no one would think about such a headline there. What I ask of you and your colleagues is to THINK about the ongoing effects of your writing. If it is not your intent to support and promote ongoing bias and prejudice against gay and lesbian people with your writings then don't do it. If it is your intent, then continue and be ready to face the music. You wield much power with your words and your "slant." Many Christian clergy and laity have much to account for in their setting up of gay and lesbian people which encourages the continuing events such as has happened recently in Wyoming and Alabama. The press, and in particular the Christian press, has similar responsibility. Please, I ask, think about this. There are people dying out here; your words can promote the bloodshed or promote Christian love and inclusion of all God's children. -- John Rhodes. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Response to Donna Donna, I've spent the day pondering your email to Evan Silverstein regarding the reporting of Tom Otte's death. At the risk of being a minority of one here, I have a different view. I am fully sympathetic to the attitude that sexuality should not be the primary focus of such coverage, especially when the central figure demonstrated a full, complex and varied life and ministry, as Tom certainly did. But I can't get past the very strong concern in my own mind that Tom's sexuality may have been a factor in his death -- not necessarily because of any fault of his own, but because his openness and outreach to marginalized people may have contributed to a vulnerability that may have been exploited by his killer. If that line of inquiry helps to identify person(s) responsible in such deaths -- and at the same time puts on guard the rest of us who are similarly vulnerable (not just because we are LGBT ourselves, but may simply be perceived as LGBT or "abnormally" and objectionably supportive or identified with the community), I think that has positive value. We should not allow it to dissuade us from our ministry, but we may be well-advised to take reasonable precautions. If a doctor who performs abortions is targeted by those who object to her/his professional activity, that is a legitimate, even necessary aspect of news coverage which ensues, and it is to the benefit of the entire community for that aspect to be explored. I do not know for sure if Tom's ministry or his sexuality figured in his death, but I do think the possibility should not be ignored. In fact, I was disturbed -- here on the opposite coast -- by the attitude of news organizations that Tom's death was NOT newsworthy because there had been no suggestion that it was a "hate" crime (as opposed to just an "ordinary" brutal murder!) It received no play here in the Bay Area, where any news with an LGBT connection elsewhere in the country can ordinarily be expected to receive major attention from mainstream media. I spent ten years in professional journalism and covered news stories of both very parochial and nationwide import. In my opinion, sexual orientation is as much a legitimate, even necessary part of telling this story as it is in coverage of the deaths of Matthew Shepard, Billy Jack Gaither, and Henry Northington. Of course it should be handled with sensitivity, not sensationalism. In that vein, I do find one paragraph questionable in Mr. Silverstein's story: "Police declined to say whether Otte and Pagan were lovers, but they said the murder doesn't appear to involve 'gay bashing.'" At least the first clause in this sentence is speculation unsupported by anything else in the story. Between heightened media awareness of hate crimes, and the heightened rhetoric of anti-gay hate from Washington and various statehouses, as well as from reactionary fundamentalists, we can expect to hear a lot more of this in the coming months. We may well be seeing the escalation of a campaign of terror against LGBT people similar to what blacks have experienced from "night riders," the KKK, et al., or that which currently threatens pro- choice advocates. Dozens of non-fatal attacks on LGBT people occur daily across the country, many of which are not reported to police because of fear of exposure and an assumption, as with racially-motivated crimes in the past, that victims won't receive sympathetic treatment from law enforcement in many local communities. In widely differing communities, I have seen a variety of law enforcement situations involving potential LGBT angles where presumptive perpetrators were viewed more sympathetically than their victims. And some incidents of threat or violence which are reported are not taken seriously by police, or are denied as hate crimes and downplayed to avoid community stigma. All of that contributes to LGBT vulnerability, and the "power" of society to further marginalize us by denying that we are deliberately targeted simply because of our sexuality. Unless sexual orientation is a legitimate area of reportage in such cases, our invisibility, marginalization and vulnerability are reinforced. This, of course, is my opinion. Anyone else out there with other perspectives? Grace, peace and light -- Lawrence A. Reh. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And a Response to Lawrence Lawrence -- Your points are fearfully & wonderfully wrought. Indeed, methinks I detect a fellow graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary ... at least, one from a previous, more liberative era! ;-) And yet: if, as the story states, authorities do not believe that the murder involves "gay bashing" ... why mention that the Rev. Otte is gay in the headline, at all? Certainly, as you suggest, the openness of his outreach to the vulnerable in turn may have made him more vulnerable. And yet, until it is shown otherwise, can we say that his sexual orientation was seen as such a threat to another that it led to his murder? Who knows? Until then: stating that he was "openly gay" in the headline is sensational, & most likely homophobic, speculation ... just as the line you cited, "Police declined to say that Otte and Pagan were lovers ..." {good catch, btw}. -- GRACIA y PAZ, Chuck Booker-Hirsch * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP OFFICERS AND CONTACTS MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, http://www.mlp.org CO-MODERATORS: Scott D. Anderson (1999), 5805 20th Ave., Sacramento, CA 95820-3107, 916-456-7225 h., 442-5447 w., email: Scott_Anderson.parti@ecunet.org; Mitzi Henderson (1999), 16 Sunset Lane, Menlo Park, CA 94025-6732, 650-854-2598, fax -4177, email: MHenderson@pcusa.org; Laurene Lafontaine (1999), Laurene Lafontaine has a new address and phone number: 3128 Vallejo St., Denver, CO 80211, 303-561-4722, PNet: Laurene Lafontaine; email: Lafden@aol.com; Dick Lundy (1999), 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 612-470-0093 h., email: dick_lundy@pcusa.org COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY: Donna Michelle Riley (1999), 271 Varsity Ave. #6, Princeton, NJ 08540, 609-720-0954, dmriley@alumni.princeton.edu RECORDING SECRETARY: Rob Cummings (1999), P.O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133-0394, 724-475-3285, email: robcum@toolcity.net TREASURER: Joanne Sizoo (1999), 5901 Cleves Warsaw Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH 45233, 513-922-8764 h., email: joanne_sizoo@pcusa.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP Board of Directors Officers listed above are also MLP Board Members James D. Anderson (1999), P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932- 6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu Cathy Blaser (1999), 350 West 85th St., New York, NY 10024, 212-595-8976 h. Ralph Carter (1999), 111 Milburn St., Rochester, NY 14607- 2918, 716-271-7649, email: rcarter@rpa.net Tony De La Rosa (1999), 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 90042, 213-256-2787, PNet: Tony De La Rosa; email: tony_de_la_rosa.parti@ecunet.org or tonydlr@ix.netcom.com Tricia Dykers Koenig (1999), 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44121, 216-381-0156, PNet: Tricia Dykers Koenig, email: tricia_dykers_koenig.parti@ecunet.org Gene Huff (1999), 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415- 668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked.net, or Eugene_Huff.parti @ecunet.org; PNet: Eugene Huff Lisa Larges (1999), 565 Mountain View #2, Daly City, CA 94014, 650-994-1815, email: LLL@igc.org Susan Leo (1999), 3401 SE 36th Ave., Portland, OR 97202-1817, 503-235-6986, email: sleoclu@aol.com Tammy Lindahl (1999), 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-2191 h., PNet: Tammy Lindahl, email: tammy_lindahl.parti@ecunet.org Chuck McLain (1999), 932 E. 28th St., Oakland, CA 94610, 510- 261-4696 h., 451-8639 fax, email: mcpresby@aol.com William H. Moss (Bill, 2000), 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, email: WHMoss@aol.com Harold G. Porter (1999), 4160 Paddock Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45229, 513-861-5996, email: hgporter@hotmail.com Mike Smith (1999), 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236- 7955, PNet: Michael D Smith; email: Michael_D_Smith.parti@ecunet.org Richard Sprott (1999), 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610, 510-268-8603 h., email: richard.sprott@pcusa.org Howard Warren, Jr. (1999), 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632-0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. Ken Wolvington (1999), 118 Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401-2658, 802-862-6605 h., email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP National Liaisons MORE LIGHT UPDATE, James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu CHAPTERS: Gene Huff -- see Directors. SEMINARY GROUPS: Johanna Bos, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1044 Alta Visa Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-1798, email: jbos@lpts.edu RESOURCES: Dick Lundy -- see Officers: Co-Moderators. ISSUES: Mike Smith -- see Directors. JUDICIAL ISSUES: Tony De La Rosa -- see Directors; Peter Oddleifson, c/o Harris, Beach and Wilcox, 130 E. Main St., Rochester, NY 14604, 716-232-4440 w., 716-232-1573 fax. BISEXUAL CONCERNS: The Rev. Kathleen Buckley, 2532 Rosendale Rd., Schenectady, NY 12309-1312, 518-382-5342; Skidmore College chaplain 518-584-5000 ext 2271, email kbuckley@skidmore.edu; Union College protestant chaplain, 518-388-6618, buckleyk@gar.union.edu TRANSGENDER CONCERNS: Carla T. Pridgen, M.Div, M.Ed., 5 Delano Rd., Asheville, NC 28805, 704-285-9752, CarlaP@worldnet.att.net STOLES PROJECT: Martha G. Juillerat, Director, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-8792, PNet: Martha Juillerat, email: stoleproj@aol.com; Martha_Juillerat.parti@ecunet.org PRESBYNET: Dorothy Fillmore, 7113 Dexter, Richmond, VA 23226, 804-285-9040 h., 804-828-8420 w., 804-274-0874 voice mail, email: dfillmore.parti@ecunet.org, dfillmor@atlas.vcu.edu, PNet: dfillmore WEBSITE: Jim Tiefenthal, 370 Barrington St., Rochester, NY 14607, 716-271-2885, Jim@Tiefenthal.com ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330, 541-753-6277, hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu THAT ALL MAY FREELY SERVE: Chuck Lundeen, Session of Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 N Fitzhugh St., Rochester NY 14614, 716- 325-4000, PRISON MINISTRIES: Jud van Gorder, 915 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060-3440, 831-423-3829. PRESBYTERIAN AIDS NETWORK (PAN): John M. Trompen, 48 Lakeview Dr., Morris Plains, NJ 07950-1950, 201-538-1655 PRESBYTERIAN ACT-UP: Susan Leo -- see Directors; Lisa Bove, 1037 N. Ogden, #10, West Hollywood, CA 90046, 323-650-2425; Howard Warren, Jr., 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632- 0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. EUROPE: Jack Huizenga, Voice of America, 76 Shoe Lane, London EC4A 3JB, U.K., email: jwhuizen@dircon.co.uk, tel: (171) 410- 0960, preceded by 011-44 if calling from the U.S. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP Chapters Just as our predecessor organization, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, had benefited from having local and regional chapters around the church and the country, More Light Presbyterians is continuing that practice. Chapters provide an opportunity for local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians and their straight allies to come together regularly to carry out a variety of functions and tasks which are seen to be important and appropriate for a particular area. Some are large; others are small. Most meet monthly, some less often but are always on call for taking on strategic tasks. All are able to provide strong personal support for their members for the individual journeys they travel at this point in their lives and in the life of the Presbyterian Church. Chapters themselves decide what specific tasks and roles they wish to take on, based on the stated mission of MLP. For information about organizing a chapter, please refer to our brief statement called "Tips for Organizing a MLP Chapter." It is found on our web page (http://www.mlp.org) or can be secured along with other advice from our current Chapter Liaison, Gene Huff, 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415-668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked,net. Corrections and other changes in the chapter information listings should be sent to Gene. Chapter List Persons listed are moderators or contact persons for each chapter. See also our state-by-state list of MLP liaisons! BOSTON AND NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St. Montpelier, VT 05602; 802-229- 5438; email: garyire2@aol.com; Ken Wolvington Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401, 802-862-6605, email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Jack Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. NEW JERSEY: James D. Anderson, P. O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu GENESEE VALLEY: Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-6632; Ralph Carter, 111 Millburn St., Rochester, NY 14607-2918, 716-271-7649, email: ralph.carter@pcusa.org PITTSBURGH: Verna Robinson, 131 Saylong Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15235, 412- 371-2904. LAKE ERIE: Evon Marie McJunkin, 5440 Washington Ave., Erie, PA 16509, 814-864-1920. BALTIMORE: Joan Campbell, 3401 White Ave, Baltimore MD 21214- 2348, 410-254-5908, email: ThomCAM96@aol.com DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Dana vanBever, 3500 Russell Road, Alexandria, VA 22305, 703-683-2644, email: jdvangreen@aol.com; Jeanne MacKenzie, 725 3rd St., SW, Washington, DC 202-554-8281, email: jmackenzie@execware.com EASTERN VIRGINIA: Carol Bayma, 4937 Olive Grove Ln. Virginia Beach, VA 23455-5218, 757-497-6584, email: AliceAndCarol@prodigy.com ATLANTA: Victor Floyd, 2480 Briarcliff Rd., NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, 404-633-6530, RUVic@aol.com NORTHERN OHIO: George Smith, 13349 Spruce Run Dr., Apt. 103, North Royalton, OH 44133, 440-230-1301, email: GeoEMSmith@aol.com; Carole R. Minor, 339 St. Leger Ave. Akron, OH 44305. CENTRAL INDIANA: Howard Warren, Jr. 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-253-2377. DETROIT / SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid, 269 McKinley Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms,MI, 48236, 313-885-9047, email: pointetox@copmpuserve.com MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Dick Myers, 549 West Manor Circle, Bayside, WI 53217- 1735; 414-228-7466, email: dmyers@execpc.com; John Gregg, 1018 South 28th St., Milwaykee, WI 53215-1612, email: jgregg@aero.net McCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENT CHAPTER: Jon Bassinger, 5555 South Woodlawn, Chcicago, IL 60637, email: JBassinger@aol.com CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, HEYWARD/BOSWELL SOCIETY: Marilyn Nash, 5757 South University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, email: mnash100@aol.com LOUISVILLE PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENT CHAPTER: Johanna Bos, 1044 Alta Vista Dr., Louisville, KY 40205, 502-8985- 3411, email: jbos@lpts.edu CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR, 72205, 501-224-4724, email: sgadams@Aristotle.net LOUISIANA: Ellen Morgan, 2285 Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 504-344-3930. OKLAHOMA: John McNeese, P. O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, OK 73154- 1606, 405-848-2819, email: john33@ix.netcom.com GREATER HOUSTON: Lynn Johnson, 1625 Harold, Houston, TX 77006, 713-523-5222, tilj1@aol.com; Sara Jean Jackson, 4383 Fiest Lane, Houston, TX 77004, 713-748-4025, sjackson@netropolis.net; Pat and Gail Rickey, 13114 Houston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 281-440- 0353, patrickey@aol.com GRACE PRESBYTERY (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX): Don Grainger, 4606 Cedar Springs, #1227, Dallas, TX 75219, 214-528-6278, email: harcourtbrace.com; Jean Martin, 1220 Brookside Dr., Hurst,TX 76053, 817-282-7449 OREGON: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330-3904, 541-753-6277, email: hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MLP State Liaisons This listing is intended for the use of persons wishing to be in touch with local MLP churches, chapters and friends. The persons named for each state stand ready to answer questions about what is going on in their areas and to assist those who wish to join MLP's campaign for a truly inclusive Presbyterian Church by working in their local communities. See also our geographical listing of chapters. ALABAMA: Marianne Forbes, 617 Briarwood Dr., Auburn, AL 36830, 334-502-0650, email: RevM4bz@aol.com; James M. Wilson, 100 Kelly Creek Dr., Odenville, AL 35120, 205-640-1763, email: jmrjmw@mindspring.com ARIZONA: Rosemarie Wallace, 710 W. Los Lagos Vista Ave., Mesa, AZ 85210, 602-892-5255. ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR, 72205, 501- 224-4724, email: sgadams@Aristotle.net CALIFORNIA: Richard A. Sprott, 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610-1908, 510-268-8603, email: sprott @cogsci.berkeley.edu; Tony DeLa Rosa, 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 900402, 213-256-27878, email: tonydlr@ixcom.com; Lisa Larges, 565 Mountain View, #2, Daly City, CA 94014, 650-994-1814, email: LLL@igc.org; Bill Moss, 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, email: WHMoss@aol.com COLORADO: Laurene Lafontaine, 1260 York St. Apt. 106, Denver, CO 80206, 303-388-0628, email: lafden@aol.com CONNECTICUT: John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. DELAWARE: Patrick Evans, 101 West 18th St., Wilmington, DE 19802, email: pevans@UDel.edu; Jeff Krehbiel, 500 W. 8th St., Wilmington, DE, 19801, 302- 656-8362, email:Jeff_Krehbiel.parti@pcusa.org DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Dana vanBever, 3500 Russell Road,Alexandria, VA 22305, 703-683-2644, email: jdvangreen@aol.com FLORIDA: Laurie Kraus, 5275 Sunset Dr., Miami, FL 33143, 305-666- 8586, email: madam@gate.net GEORGIA: Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404- 633-6530 h., email: RuVic@aol.com IDAHO: Jean Mixner, 524 Almond St., Nampa, ID 83686, 208-467- 1326, email: Jmixner@aol.com ILLINOIS: Mark Palermo, 6171 N. Sheridan Rd. #2701, Chicago IL 60660-5839, 773-338-0452; Charles Sweitzer, 809 S. 5th, Champaign, IL 61820, 217-344-0297; Chicago Area: John Hobbs, 2970 N. Lake Shore Dr. #18B, Chicago, IL 60657, john@icnetco.com; Judith Foster, 32B Marento Ave., Forest Park, IL 60130, email: jfoster@kodak.com INDIANA: Howard Warren, Jr. 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46249, 317-253-2377. IOWA: Robin and Rick Chambers, 907 Fifth Ave, Iowa City, IA 52240, 319-254-2765; email: RChamb2912@aol.com; Mike Smith, 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236-7955, email: Michael_D_Smith@ecunet.org KENTUCKY: Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct., Apt. 2, Louisville, KY 40208, 502-637-4734, email: michael_purintun@pcusa.org LOUISIANNA: Ellen Morgan, 2285; Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 504-344-3930. MAINE: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802- 229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com MARYLAND: Joan Campbell, 3401 White Ave, Baltimore MD 21214-2348, 410-254-5908, email: ThomCAM96@aol.com MASSACHUSETTS: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802-229-5438; John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. MICHIGAN: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid, 269 McKinley Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms,MI, 48236, 313-885-9047, email: pointetox@copmpuserve. com MINNESOTA: Tammy Lindahl, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-2191, email: tammy_lindahl@ecunet.org; Dick Lundy & Lucille Goodwyne, 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 612- 470-0093, email: dick_lundy@pcusa.org MISSOURI: Jeff Light, 4433 Campbell, Kansas City, MO 64110, 816- 561-0555, JeffLight@aol.com; Peg & Doug Atkins, 747 N. Taylor, Kirkwood, MO 63122, 314-822-3296, email: peganddoug_atkins@pcusa.org NEBRASKA: Cleve Evans, 3810 S. 13th St., #22, Omaha, NE 68107- 2260, 402-733-1360, email: cevans@scholars.bellevue.edu NEW HAMPSHIRE: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802-229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com NEW JERSEY: Jim Anderson, P. O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ, 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu NEW MEXICO: Linda Manwarren, 7720 Browning Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-5303, 505-858-0249. NEW YORK: Charlie Mitchell, 56 Perry St., #3-R, New York, NY 10014, 212-691-7118; Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-6632. NORTH CAROLINA: Brent Bissette, 11 Colton Ct., Durham, NC 27713- 8885, 919-544-9932. OHIO: Tricia Dykers Koenig, 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Hts. OH 44121, 216-381-0156, email: tricia_dykers_koenig@ecunet.org; Hal Porter, 4160 Paddock Rd.,Cincinnati, OH 45229, 513-861-5996, email: hgporter@hotmail.com OKLAHOMA: John P. McNeese, P.O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, 73120- 1404, 405-848-2819, email: mcneese@theshop.net OREGON: Dick Hasbany, 2245 NW Hazel, Corvallis, OR 97330-3904, 541-753-6277, email: hasbanyd@ccmail.orst.edu PENNSYLVANIA: Rob Cummings, P. O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 15133-0394, 724-475-3285, email: robcum@toolcity.net; Eleanor Green (Pittsburgh Area), P.O. Box 6296, Lancaster, PA 17603, 717- 397-9068; David Huting, (Philadelphia Area) 215-735-4139, email:David_Huting@vanguard.com RHODE ISLAND: John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698. TENNESSEE: Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217-2152, 615-361-9228, PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: glyndon.morris@vanderbilt.edu TEXAS: Jay Kleine, 1108 Toyath St., Austin, TX 78703-3921, 512- 477-7418; Gail Rickey, 13114 Holston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 713-440-0353, email: patrickey@aol.com; Don Grainger, 4606 Cedar Springs, #1227, Dallas, TX 75219, 214-528-6278, email: harcourtbrace.com VERMONT: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802- 229-5438, email: garyire2@aol.com; Ken Wolvington Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401, 802-862-6605, email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org VIRGINIA: Marco Antonio Grimaldo, 2848 Fairhaven Ave., Alexandria, VA 22303, 703-960-0432, email: mgrimaldo@juno.com WASHINGTON: Lindsay Thompson, P.O. Box 2631, Seattle, WA 98111- 2631, 206-285-4610, email: LThomp6394@aol.com; Richard Gibson, 4700 228th St., SW, Mount Lake Terrace, WA 98043, 206-778-7227, email: RKGibson@juno.com WASHINGTON, DC: See District of Columiba. WISCONSIN: Richard Winslow, 111 E. Water St., #100, Appleton, WI 54911-5791, 414-731-0892. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PRESBYTERIAN ALLY ORGANIZATIONS This is a list of other organizations working for a truly inclusive Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Please send me additions and corrections. -- Thanks! Jim Anderson. Covenant Network of Presbyterians CNP is a network of Presbyterians who care about our church and its witness, considering what it means to be faithful Presbyterians in a time of challenging controversy. How can we and our congregations live with the new ordination standard, G- 6.0106b, in our Book of Order and still be faithful to our own understanding of the Gospel. Pam Byers, Exec. Director. Administrative Office: c/o Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2515 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115, 415-351-2196, fax 415-351- 2198, www.covenantnetwork.org Hesed (Hebrew: The Covenant of Steadfast Love) Hesed is an informal coalition of PC(USA) ordained and lay church leaders dedicated to the affirmation -- in obedience to Scripture and within the Reformed Tradition and Presbyterian polity -- of the inclusiveness of God's Grace and of the love of Jesus Church for all his followers. Virginia L. Lewis, Moderator/Webmistress, 600-B Hedgewood Dr., Georgetown, TX 78628, 512-863-1802, 512-863-1846 fax, email: lewisv@southwestern.edu, website: http://www.southwestern.edu/lewisv/Hesed/Hesed.html The Lazarus Project "A Ministry of Reconciliation," The Rev. Donn Crail, Director, West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, 7350 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90046. Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) PAN is one of 10 networks of the Presbyterian Health Education & Welfare Association (PHEWA). PHEWA is a related ministry of the National Ministries Division, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). PHEWA provides resources to individuals, congregations, and middle governing bodies in the fields of social welfare and justice ministries. PHEWA also works to make the church more responsive to the needs of the excluded and suffering. Alice Davis and Phil Jamison, co-moderators; Bob Gillespie, treasurer; Marge Marsh, secretary; Daniel Kendrick, at large member to the Executive Committee and PHEWA board; James Hicks, Annie Long, Dora Carrera, Marco Grimaldo, Lorna Jean Miller, Howard Warren, leadership team members. Address: c/o PHEWA, Room 3041, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians Caring for Each Other: A support group for parents. PPGL groups are being established on a nationwide basis. A web site and support telephone line offer help to parents and direction to those interested in organizing a PPGL support group in their specific locale. Identities of parent participants are closely guarded and meeting locations are not publicized. This nonprofit ministry welcomes and now includes parents, grandparents and siblings of all faiths, beliefs and backgrounds. There are no dues or membership fees. PPGL is not involved in: political or social activism; professional guidance, counseling or therapy services; HIV/AIDS caregiving ministries; or efforts or ministries to elicit changes in sexual orientation. For more information, interested parents may call PPGL's support line at 972-219-6063, or contact Margaret E. Gurecky, Director, PPGL, Inc., P.O. Box 600882, Dallas, TX 75360-0882, 972-436-5237; Board President: The Rev. Dr. Roger T. Quillin, 214-827-5521. -- PPGL press release, Jan. 1, 1999. Presbyterian Partnership of Conscience (P.P.C.) P.P.C., a partnership project of MLP, That All May Freely Serve, the Witherspoon Society, Semper Reformanda, Voices of Sophia, the Stole Project, and friends, helps coordinate faithful action and statements of conscience and supports *pro bono* legal counsel in defense of individuals, congregations, and governing bodies targeted for judicial action in the courts of the church. Contact Bear Ride Scott, Coordinator, c/o United University Church, 817 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007, 213- 748-0209 ext. 13, PNet: Bear Scott Presbyterian Welcome "Inclusive Churches Working Together," Cliff Frasier, Coordinator, Jan Hus Church, 351 E. 74th St., New York, NY 10021, 212-288-6743. Semper Reformanda Semper Reformanda (Always Being Reformed) is a network of groups and individuals within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) formed to share information and develop support on current issues of liberation, justice, and the integrity of creation. We are called by God's spirit to renewed commitment to, understanding of, and witnessing for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, open to new expressions of our faith. We welcome those who are committed to compassion, mutual respect, and continuing reformation, moving toward shalom. Kenneth R. Smith, Moderator, 16240 N. Park Dr., #102, Southfield, MI 48075, 248-569-1223; June Ramage Rogers, Vice Moderator, P.O. Box 23, Hanover, IN 47243-0023, 812-866- 3334; John N. Gregg, Secretary/Communicator, 1018 S. 28th St., Milwaukee, WI 53215-1612, 414-385-0311, PNet: John Gregg; Mae Gautier, Treasurer, 4242 Elmwood Rd., Cleveland, OH 44121, 216- 691-9558. That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) TAMFS focuses on a national effort to give voice to those disenfranchised by the Church's policies toward ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and to educate others regarding biblical and theological connections supporting full inclusion. Contact the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Lesbian Evangelist, P.O. Box 3707, San Rafael, CA 94912-3707, 415-457- 8004, 454-2564 fax, website: http://www.tamfs.org Send Contributions to: Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614, 716-325-4000, -6023 fax. TAMFS has local chapters around the country. Two of them have called their own ministers of outreach and justice, the Rev. Don Stroud in Baltimore (TAMFS: Baltimore, 5828 York Rd., Baltimore, MD, 21212), and the Rev. Tom Hickok in Chicago. Voices of Sophia Voices of Sophia is a community of women and men in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that affirms feminist / womanist / mujerista theologies and seeks to be faithful to God's Spirit in our lives. We call the church to reclaim the fullness of God's image, embrace the diversity of the world, work for justice and inclusiveness in church and society, and celebrate the voices and gifts of women. Voices of Sophia sponsors national and regional gatherings, as well as an annual breakfast at General Assembly. Ecumenical partners are invited to join. Membership is $20/year and includes the newsletter *Illuminations*. Contact Voices of Sophia, 223 Choctaw Rd., Louisville, KY 40207. The Witherspoon Society The Witherspoon Society is a society of justice-seeking Presbyterians ... advocating for peace, justice, the integrity of creation, and the full inclusion of all God's people in church and society. The Rev. Dr. Eugene TeSelle, president, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, 615-297-2629 h., 322- 2773 w., PNet: Eugene TeSelle, email: Eugene_TeSelle.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Robb Gwaltney, vice president, 5303 Indian Woods Dr., Louisville, KY 40207-2079, 502-895-2079, PNet: Robb Gwaltney, email: Robb_Gwaltney.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Jean Rodenbough, secretary/communicator, 313 S. Market St., Madison, NC 27025, 910-548-6158 h., PNet: Jean Rodenbough, email: Jean_Rodenbough.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Hank Bremer, treasurer, 4355 Kenyon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066, 310-397-6916 h., 435-1804 w., 495-2223 fax, email: 72066.543@compuserve.com The Rev. Chris Iosso, issues analyst, 191 Revolutionary Rd., Scarborough, NY 10510, 914-944-8070 h., 941-1142 w., PNet: Christian Iosso, email: Christian_Iosso.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Tom Heger, membership coordinator, P.O. Box 1359, Manchaca, TX 78652, 512-282-7586 h., -6200 w., PNet: Tom Heger, email: Tom_Heger.parti@ecunet.org Ray and Betty Kersting, membership secretaries, 305 Loma Arisco, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 505-982-4548, PNet: Ray and Betty Kersting, email: Ray_and_Betty_Kersting.parti@ecunet.org The Rev. Doug King, newsletter editor, 7833 Somerset Cir., Woodbury, MN 55125-2334, 612-731-4885 h., PNet: Doug King, email: Don_King.parti@ecunet.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MASTHEAD (Publication Information) MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 19, Number 4, March-April 1999. ISSN 0889-3985. Published bimonthly by More Light Presbyterians (Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns), an organization of Ministers, Elders, Deacons, Members, Congregations and other Governing Bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Elder James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University), fax 732- 932-6916 (Rutgers University), Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu), DeWitt House 206, 185 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Editorial Associate: Lindsay Thompson; Printer: Ken Barta, Brunswick Typographic Inc.; Production Associate: Caridad de las Mercedes Catala. Electronic version available via email. Email Discussion List: mlp-list@scils.rutgers.edu (To join, send email to: Majordomo@scils.rutgers.edu; in body of message put: subscribe mlp-list; to leave list, put: unsubscribe mlp-list. MLP home page: http://www.mlp.org Send materials marked "For publication" to the editor. PUBLICATION DEADLINES: 6 weeks prior to issue months. Most material appearing in MORE LIGHT UPDATE is placed in the public domain. With the exception of individual articles that carry their own copyright notice, articles may be freely copied or reprinted. We ask only that MORE LIGHT UPDATE be credited and its address be given for those who might wish to contact us. Suggested annual membership contribution to MLP: $50.00. Annual subscription (included in membership) to MORE LIGHT UPDATE: $18.00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * corrected version 4-18-99