Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 14:44:10 -0400 From: Chris Ambidge Subject: *Integrator* files for 1992 INTEGRATOR, the newsletter of Integrity/Toronto volume 92-1, issue date 1992 01 15 copyright 1992 Integrity/Toronto. The hard-copy version of this newsletter carries the ISSN 0843-574X Integrity/Toronto Box 873 Stn F Toronto ON Canada M4Y 2N9 == contents == [92-1-1] TASK FORCE FORMED TO STUDY SYNOD MOTION ON INCLUSION OF LESGAYS IN CHURCH / by Chris Ambidge [92-1-2] FERRY TRIAL DATE SET FOR FEBRUARY 3 [92-1-3] REFLECTIONS ON BEING OUT AT SYNOD, AND IN CHURCH / by Chris Ambidge [92-1-4] POSTCARDS FROM THE MARGINS / An ongoing series of snapshots of the lives of lesgay people, in the Church and in Society. [92-1-5] PRAYER VIGIL [92-1-6] A FAT ENVELOPE THIS MONTH ... [92-1-7] QUOTE OF THE MONTH [92-1-8] DID SOMEBODY SAY DESSERT? ======== [92-1-1] TASK FORCE FORMED TO STUDY SYNOD MOTION ON INCLUSION OF LESGAYS IN CHURCH by Chris Ambidge The January 1992 issue of *The Anglican* reported that the diocesan Programme Resources Board (PRB) has been asked to set up a task force to study a motion from Synod that involves lesbians and gay men in the church. The motion, originally made at Synod by Nancy Whitla and myself, says that Synod requests the diocesan executive committee "to look into the position of lesbian and gay people within the diocesan family, with a view to making them feel more welcome by the church in this Decade of Evangelism" [the original wording, which somehow got lost in the shuffle was "... making them feel more welcome *in their* church...". I hope the latter emphasis is heard by the task force]. The executive committee considered the motion at its November meeting. The Rev Ansley Tucker, incumbent of the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto, and a member of the executive Committee, said "The issue has the potential to be very hurtful and divisive. It would be very important that the people who suggest a way to deal with the motion would have a really good idea of process." She argued for referral to the PRB, saying that the diocese's programme resources department has the skills to study the motion. After further debate, the executive committee voted 19-17 to refer the motion and its request for a task force to the PRB. The Rev Alice Medcof, incumbent of the Church of the Transfiguration in Toronto and Chair of the PRB said the task force will examine what process is needed to deal with the motion. "We're breaking new ground and I'm very excited about it," she said. She added that the task force will work in close consultation with the College of Bishops. The Board met on December 15, at which time the task force was formed. Five members of the PRB were named to the task force, which will meet on January 17. At that point each will set out what they believe will be a suitable process and, Medcof hopes, come to a consensus. When I phoned Alice to talk about the task force, she asked me to pass along this comment to *Integrator* readers: "I have celebrated for Integrity for over eight years and have valued my association with Integrity. It has always been easy to discuss innovative liturgies, and I have appreciated Integrity's intentional use of inclusive language. [In terms of the Synod motion and the task force] I would hope that each congregation would respond to this initiative on the part of Synod by thoughtfully considering the place of gay and lesbian people in their midst." ======== [92-1-2] FERRY TRIAL DATE SET FOR FEBRUARY 3 The Bishop's Court which will try the charges laid against the Rev James Ferry will convene at St Matthew's Church, Islington [3962 Bloor St West in Etobicoke] on Monday 3 February. At this time, the five judges will hear evidence from both sides on matter between Bishop Terry Finlay and the Rev Jim Ferry. Jim Ferry had his priesthood inhibited by Bishop Finlay in June. He went to the bishop when threatened with blackmail over his sexual orientation. At that time, he told the bishop that he was in a loving relationship with another man. Two weeks later, the bishop asked for his resignation, and when Jim refused, inhibited him and (in essence) fired him. Two months later the matter was referred to Bishop's Court. Two months after that, nineteen weeks after the initial inhibition, charges were laid. They accuse Ferry of canonical disobedience. It is these charges that the Court will hear. The trial is open to the public. St Matthew's is on the north side of Bloor Street, at the corner of Bloor and Shaver Ave North, between Islington and Kipling. It has a large parking lot, and is accessible by TTC: take the subway to Islington, and the Bloor bus from there. We encourage everyone who can, to attend as much of the trial as they can. In this way they can support Jim, and can see at first hand how the diocese deals with gay members. ======== [92-1-3] REFLECTIONS ON BEING OUT AT SYNOD, AND IN CHURCH by Chris Ambidge I have been persuaded for some time that the only way for gays and lesbians to convince the rest of their church that homosexuals are NOT envoys of Beelzebub is for us to tell our stories. It was for that reason, and because I could not in good conscience leave Jim Ferry alone as the only declared gay person in the Synod hall, that I outed myself during Members' Hour. I was glad to hear Bishop Terry say in his charge that he would not tolerate homophobic witch-hunts or gay-bashing, and that he is committed to a continuing dialogue in the Church on the position of lesbians and gays within the Church. He expressed hope that the church could be a safe place for dialogue to take place. I too am committed to continuing that dialogue, and it was in hope of such a dialogue that I co-sponsored the motion that now sits before the diocesan Programme Resources Board. I think that the Members' Hour discussions were a valuable part of that dialogue. I realise that all points of view must be heard. However, those discussions took their toll. It was hard enough to come out in front of 700 people (and a CBC camera). It was much harder to sit and listen to the Rector of Trinity East compare my love to incestual rape, and it was painful to sit and listen to the Rector of Bobcaygeon refer to my love as fornication. Hardest of all was listening to the applause that followed their statements: it was as if those people clapping were throwing stones at me. They were not disapproving of faceless people, they were expressing the opinion that real people, specific people, Jim and I, were sub-standard. To this gay, it felt like gay-bashing. This sort of reaction will work against the dialogue that Bishop Terry envisions in the Church, and I am not sure how "safe" a place, to use his phrase, that lesbians and gays will expect their parish churches to be. That is the sort of rejection we are all afraid of; that is the very reason for the closet. It was made painfully clear to me at Synod that many in the Synod hall (and by extension, in the Church at large) do not realise that the only intimate love that those of us who are lesbian or gay can have is for another of our own sex. We are seen as ones who have made a wilful and perverse choice. If we are to remain in our Church, that mistake must be corrected. Shortly after the coverage of Synod appeared in *The Anglican*, a letter arrived at my parish church for me: Smalltown, Ontario 12 November 91 Dear Chris: I too am gay. My hat is off to you for standing up at Synod for our freedom in the church. I have to remain in the closet because of my parent's views regarding gays. I have to watch what I say when in their presence and often lie because of my own church activities with Metropolitan Community Church Toronto of which I am a member. My parents are members of your Church. I would love to be able to bring my lover home with me to my parents. He has no parents and would like to be part of a family; but I will not put him through the sarcasm, slander and rejection we would receive from them. I'm sure in their hearts they know I'm gay but they don't want to accept me as I am -- only as they want me. I am not a flaming queen, but a law-abiding, hard working gay man who supports gay and lesbian freedom. "If Christ shall make you free, you're free indeed" Thanks for your support for us gays and lesbians, and our friend Jim Ferry. Yours in Christ, Alan Alan is not his real name, and I cannot reveal his true address because, despite the Bishop's warning, I'm sure that a witch-hunt would ensue. Alan is a real-live gay man, though, just like me; and he lives somewhere in the diocese of Toronto, a long-distance phonecall from downtown. As Alan says, I am free indeed. Although I have received considerable static for wearing a pink ribbon in church, I have not had the rejection that I feared. Now that I'm out, I've been able to go to church of a Sunday with my boyfriend -- celebrating a kind of relationship that heterosexuals take for granted. I wouldn't want to say that everything is easy for all lesgays, however -- witness the case of Alan. I've been at my parish for 23 years, and I'm at home there. Many lesgay people don't have that advantage, and certainly NO homosexual person is going to feel at home in a parish where the rector tells them that they are sick and bad to their very core. Until all parishes welcome gays and lesbians in what is, after all, their church too, the reconciling work of Jesus will remain to be done. ======== [92-1-4] POSTCARDS FROM THE MARGINS An ongoing series of snapshots of the lives of lesgay people, in the Church and in Society. [This postcard is from MICHELLE CRAWFORD who describes herself as a spiritual person, and a lesbian feminist. She is persuaded that Jesus does indeed want her to be a sunbeam.] This is a story that is both funny and sad. All of the events are true and no names were changed. My partner and I find ourselves sometimes pushing the limit of society's acceptance of lesgay people; we are not always happy to sit back and wait for change to happen. We're not seriously involved in any organised "gay liberation organisation" but want society to become accustomed to seeing lesgays in every facet of life so they no longer react out of ignorance and surprise when they see us. We try every day to live our life together as two people in love and not to stop public displays of affection just because "someone might see". And so begins the tale. Bonnie and I were coming home after a cold lesgay demonstration at Queen's Park. It was a very dark night in a questionable part of downtown but we were feeling buoyed up by our activism and skipped happily down the steps to the subway and onto a train. We sat on the rock-hard, orange plastic seats and congratulated ourselves for a job well done. We held onto each other's hand and talked about how brave we were to face police harassment (they had out eight mounted officers and at least 30 officers on foot for a crowd of 300 people). We switched trains at Yonge/Bloor station and settled in for the bumpy ride east. A young man in a baseball hat and peace signs sat across from us, and a couple in their fifties got on as the doors were closing and sat down diagonally from us. Holding hands we returned to our verbal back-patting session. Seconds later we were aware of stares and looked up: the woman and her husband were watching us, and so was the young man. We returned the woman's gaze and even offered a reassuring smile, but she only looked aghast and clutched her purse tightly to her trembling bosom. Her husband smiled gently at her and then turned his Mona Lisa-like smile on Bonnie and me. The young man was drinking in this interaction and smiling. This continued for three or four stops, until the couple got up to leave. She headed for the door nearly tripping over the teenager's feet so as to avoid coming any closer to us. Her husband turned as he stepped off the train to smile at us again. As the train left the station we smiled ourselves, remembering the horrified look on the poor lady as she realised she was nearly face to face with "real live" lesbians. The young man interrupted our reverie by saying "You're really brave, holding hands in public". Bonnie answered that we weren't trying to be brave, but we felt it was important that people see us and realise that lesgays are everywhere. He replied that when he got a lover he hoped they could be as brave. He left the train at the next stop. Bonnie and I rode the rest of the way home talking about hope and progress. ======== [92-1-5] PRAYER VIGIL A Prayer Vigil has tentatively been scheduled at St Matthew's Islington, site of the Bishop's Court, from 7:30 to 9:30 pm on Sunday February 2 and 8:30 to 10:00 am on Monday February 3. All are welcome. At press time, arrangements have not been finalised. To confirm these times, and for more specific information, please call 941 9213 the week before the Vigil itself. ========= [92-1-6] A FAT ENVELOPE THIS MONTH ... There are several enclosures in [the paper edition of this] issue of *Integrator*: o a membership renewal form for 1992. Yes indeed, it's that time of year again; so please take time to send in your membership fees (which include a subscription to this newsletter) in the enclosed envelope. If you would like to make a tax-receiptable donation to the ongoing work of Integrity, now is a good time to do that, too. o a leaflet from the *Friends of Jim Ferry*. These people are raising funds for Jim's legal expenses. His costs will run somewhere in the neighbourhood of $40 000 per week of Bishop's Court. The diocese has deep pockets, Jim is a private individual. We commend this leaflet to you. o a piece of pink ribbon. People are wearing these as a sign of prayer and concern for Jim, for the Bishop, and for the Holy Spirit to make whole the broken-ness of the church. People who wear a pink ribbon are concerned for justice within the Anglican communion. ======== [92-1-7] [QUOTE OF THE MONTH] In the words of one priest of the diocese... "I had to pray for two solid weeks before I could come to terms with the Jim Ferry situation. I eventually came to an acceptance through my theology of priesthood -- priests are called from among the people of God, a certain percentage of whom will be gay; so the priesthood as a whole should reflect that, just as the priesthood should not all be male, and should not all be lily- white." ======== [92-1-8] DID SOMEBODY SAY DESSERT? The *Friends of Jim Ferry* invite you to attend a pot-luck dessert gathering on Thursday January 30th at 7 pm in the parish hall at St Thomas' Church (383 Huron St, south of Bloor). At this social evening, we will wish Jim well as he prepares for Bishop's Court, scheduled to begin February 3. The evening will also offer an opportunity for people to make a donation to the Jim Ferry Defence Fund. Please bring a dessert for four people if you can. Tea and coffee will be provided. For further information, please call 921 6643. ======== End of volume 92-1 of Integrator, the newsletter of Integrity/Toronto copyright 1992 Integrity/Toronto comments please to Chris Ambidge, Editor chris.ambidge@utoronto.ca OR Integrity/Toronto Box 873 Stn F Toronto ON Canada M4Y 2N9