Tag Archives: LGBT

Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act passes Senate

Retired Law Professor Howard Friedman has an interesting blog he calls Religion Clause. He posts several items daily, relating to court cases and legislative actions that impact the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

This morning, Professor Friedman reported on Congressional action on the so-called “Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Protection Act”. Matthew Shepherd was the young man from Wyoming who was brutally tortured then murdered for no apparent reason except that he was gay. His mother is now the leading advocate for the bill. Friedman reports,

On Thursday night, the U.S. Senate agreed to add the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. First by a vote of 78-13, the Senate agreed to an amendment clarifying that the hate crime provisions should not be construed or applied to infringe on First Amendment rights. Then the Senate voted 63-28 to invoke cloture on the hate crimes bill [overriding a Republican filibuster attempt]. Voice vote passage immediately followed.

The essence of the bill is to increase the juridical penalties when a defendant is convicted of a felonious act of violence against another and the act was proven to be motivated by:

prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim

What is most curious about the whole issue is the nature of the opposition.

Senator McCain pontificated his righteous indignation that the bill was attached to the National Defense Act. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the process of legislative wrangling, at least the Senator from Arizona had some rational basis for his opposition. The same cannot be said of the right wing rumor mongering that is downright false.

Pam Spaulding in her popular blog, Pam’s House Blend, lists the lies and their refutation, relying on talking points arranged by People for the American Way.

Lie number 1, which comes from James Dobson’s Focus on the Family:

Because the liberals in Congress would not define sexual orientation, we have to assume that protection under the law will be extended to the 30 sexual disorders identified as such by the American Psychiatric Association. Let me read just a few of them: bisexuality, exhibitionism, fetishism, incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, prostitution, sexual masochism, urophilia, voyeurism, and bestiality.

Indeed, some right wing organizations refer to the Matthew Shepherd bill as the “Pedophilia Protection bill.” Spaulding reports that the estimable Pat Robertson suggests the bill will “protect people who have sex with ducks.”

Here’s the truth:

Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation by anyone’s definition – only in the imagination of Religious Right organizations and political figures trying to derail the legislation with the most inflammatory charge they can come up with. As Rep. Tammy Baldwin pointed out during debate, sexual orientation is explicitly defined in the federal hate crimes statistics act as “consensual heterosexuality and homosexuality. And in spite of the Right’s claims about paraphilias, the American Psychiatric Association defines sexual orientation very clearly as homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.

Despite Dobson’s lie that the “the liberals in Congress would not define sexual orientation", the bill clearly does that. Secondly, “sexual orientation” is clearly defined by the American Psychiatric Association as “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality”. Pedophilia and the rest of Dobson’s list that rolls off his tongue so easily are not included in the definition of sexual orientation.

Lie number 2, the bill violates rights to free speech and expression and also violates the freedom of religion.

“if anybody speaks out about homosexuality, says it’s a sin, says its wrong, says it’s against the Bible, that individual would be charged with a quote, hate crime.”

These are Robertson’s words, but they reflect the false claims of a broad swath of the religious right.

Here’s the truth:

First, according to Professor Friedman, the Senate yesterday passed an amendment 78-13 that clarified that the act “should not be construed or applied to infringe on First Amendment rights.” According to the language of the act itself,

3) CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS.—Nothing in this division shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment and peaceful picketing or demonstration. The Constitution does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to commit, or committing an act of violence.
(4) FREE EXPRESSION.—Nothing in this division shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual’s expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual’s membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs.

Second, the act presupposes a felonious act of violence against another. In other words, it is not speech or thought or expression or association that is actionable – it is only a physical act of violence against another that rises to the level of a felony. The act does not criminalize behavior that was previously legal; it merely adds penalities to actions that are already criminal when that criminal act is motivated by hate against a protected group.

As an active member of a Christian congregation and a Christian denomination, I am galled at the self-righteous, judgmental, and deceptive actions of the self-appointed watchdogs of morality on the religious right whose behavior seems to me to be decidedly unchristian. One has to wonder about the religious right’s abject failure to follow the command, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Mr. Dobson, Mr. Robertson, and the rest of your ilk, you do not speak for me.

The Bishops did it!

In the bicameral legislative system of the Episcopal General Convention, the LGBT community has been holding its breath awaiting the action of the House of Bishops. Earlier, the House of Deputies voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that would effectively counter the 2006 resolution that put a halt on ordaining gay bishops. Now, the House of Bishops has done the same.

Here is the press release from Integrity USA, the Episcopal LGBT advocacy group:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANAHEIM, CA (July 13, 2009)–By a nearly 2-1 margin, the bishops of the Episcopal Church passed an amended version of resolution D025, which effectively ends the "BO33 Era" and returns the church to relying on its canons and discernment processes for the election of bishops. "While concurrence on the amended resolution by the House of Deputies is necessary before it is officially adopted by the church as a whole," said Integrity President Susan Russell, "there is no question that today’s vote in the House of Bishops was an historic move forward and a great day for all who support the full inclusion of all the baptized in the Body of Christ."

"It was a tremendous privilege to be a witness to the courage and candor of the bishops who spoke truth to each other and to us–and who called the Episcopal Church to speak our truth to our Anglican Communion brothers and sisters and to the world.

"The truth is we are a church committed to mission–we are a church committed to the full inclusion of all the baptized in that mission–and we are a church committed to creating as broad a place to stand as possible for ALL who wish to be part of this great adventure of being disciples of Jesus.

"In this carefully constructed and prayerfully considered resolution, our Presiding Bishop got what she both asked for and voted for: a positive statement about where we are as a church in 2009–a church striving to actually become the church former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning called us to be nearly 20 years ago now…a church where there are no outcasts."

"The debate on the floor of the House of Bishops made it VERY clear that our bishops knew exactly what they were doing when they passed this by a nearly 2-1 margin. The resolution passed today by the House of Bishops was another step in the Episcopal Church’s ‘coming out’ process–and it sends a strong ‘come and see’ message to anyone looking for a faith community where God’s inclusive love is not just proclaimed but practiced."

It’s a good day to be an Episcopalian. For watchers of LGBT issues within Christian communities, the next event will be the ELCA convention in MPLS in August. As I have noted previously, I will be present and will live blog the Lutheran gathering.

Episcopal mid convention report

Roughly half way through the Episcopal convention, excitement and tension is building as the repeal of the 2006 moratorium on gay bishops moves forward. As part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the proposed change faces resistance from without as well as within. When conservatives within the Church of England raised the suggestion that a conservative, breakaway group in the US (ACNA) might receive official recognition, the presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church warned that such action would only promote schism, according to an article in the Washington Times.

ANAHEIM, Calif. | The presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church warned the Church of England not to foment schism in America, responding to a threat made over the possibility that the U.S. church will start ordaining actively gay bishops.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Sunday, in response to questions from The Washington Times, that calls by conservatives in the Church of England for recognition of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) over gay-related issues would wound her church, already split by the secession of conservative dioceses and congregations to form the ACNA.

She urged Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to remember the "pain of many Episcopalians in several places of being shut out of their traditional worship spaces, and the broken relationships, the damaged relationships between people who have gone and people who have stayed."

"Recognition of something like ACNA is unfortunately likely only to encourage" further secessions, she said, reminding the Church of England that "schism is not a Christian act."

The parliamentary procedure of the Episcopal convention posits a bicameral approach. On Sunday, The House of Deputies passed Resolution D025 (70-31 in the lay order and 74-35 in the clergy order). Among other things, the resolution provides: “Affirm that God has called and may call partnered gay and lesbian people to any ordained ministry,” according to Walking with Integrity, the official blog of Integrity USA. The measure must also be passed by the House of Bishops to become official.

In her personal blog (An Inch at a Time), the President of Integrity, Pastor Susan Russell, speaks to both optimism and pessimism as the convention waits on the Bishops. The excitement is also palpable on a couple of weekend postings on the Integrity Blog: We Could have Danced All Night offers a glowing report of the Friday night Eucharist of 1200 LGBT Episcopalians and the stirring sermon of Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris (the first woman bishop in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion). The Integrity Blog also offers a daily YouTube update.

Of course, there are many other items of business at the convention, and the blog of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation provides daily updates on issues pertaining to poverty and hunger.

Full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments

I am following the Episcopal general convention through several RSS feeds, and one of the best is through Integrity USA’s blog, “Walking with Integrity”, which provides their own YouTube video updates entitled, “IntegriTV”. Integrity USA is the LGBT advocacy group within the Episcopal Church, and their motto is “full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments.”

Yet, what seems so simple, obvious, and Christ-like remains an unrealized ideal in so many settings.

An ELCA pastor friend of mine married a country gal from South Dakota whose father was the local county sheriff, and the family belonged to a Missouri Synod congregation. When the newlyweds first visited, elders within the church kindly informed the sheriff that his new son-in-law would not be welcome at the table. The sheriff and his wife did the right thing and promptly resigned their membership in the congregation they had belonged to their entire lives.

Years ago when I took graduate classes at St John’s School of Theology in Collegeville (a Benedictine Community), I was a welcome addition as a Lutheran. The students consisted of three categories a) candidates for the priesthood, b) nuns and other Catholic women, and c) miscellaneous protestants such as myself. One evening a week, the resident students invited the non residents to a meal in the dorm dining room followed by a prayer service and Eucharist. Protestants participated in the Eucharist until a couple of priest candidates objected, and with much pain on the part of most of the Catholic teachers and students, the practice ceased.

child of god
A blogpost this morning tells another tale of pain following rejection at the Lord’s Table. Blogger Sarcastic Lutheran reports an 11 am Sunday phone call:

Finally in a shaky voice, this came out: “I’m at my parent’s church….they are doing communion…..and I’m not allowed to take it.”

The blogger is the mission developer for “House for all Sinners and Saints” — “a group of folks figuring out how to be a liturgical, Christo-centric, social justice oriented, queer inclusive, incarnational, contemplative, irreverent, ancient – future church with a progressive but deeply rooted theological imagination.” She did the right thing and brought Eucharist to the young woman at the Denver airport.

The Rainbow Sash folks over in the Catholic Church seek to let the rest of their church know their pain of exclusion as LGBT persons.

When James, the brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem, sent word to Antioch that Peter must refrain from table fellowship with unclean Gentiles, Paul understood the pain of exclusion, left in a huff, and the mission of the Apostle to the Gentiles began in earnest. History reminds us that we must ever fight the good fight, even when church leaders warn against rocking the boat.

A word from the conventions, Part II: UCC, Episcopal, ELCA

An earlier post reported on the closing of the Mennonite USA convention and the opening of the United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod. Since then, the UCC has concluded its business; meanwhile, the triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church will convene in Anaheim on July 8.

Ballots

The main order of business for the UCC was the pro forma election of The Rev. Geoffrey Black to succeed the Rev. John Thomas as General Minister and President. Thomas was ineligible for an additional term. That Black was selected without opposition symbolized the unity and lack of divisive issues at the 27th General Synod. The UCC is one of the mainline Protestant denominations that welcomes gay clergy, and they appear to be at peace with the issue.

The Episcopal Church is also a denomination that ordains gay clergy, but the issue continues to roil. At the 76th General Convention since 1785, LGBT issues will dominate:

The Episcopal Church’s 45-year debate over human sexuality and the appropriate response to the desire of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people to participate fully in the church’s life will occupy General Convention’s attention once again as it meets July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.

Deputies and bishops are being asked to reconsider the 2006 convention’s stand that the church “exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

Episcopal News Service, July 6, 2009

The Episocopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican communion, and the 2006 resolution sought to mollify international concern with the episcopacy of gay Bishop Eugene Robinson of New Hampshire, in a classic “don’t rock the boat” expression of church polity over principle. As the 2009 General Convention approaches, the Episcopalian blogosphere is electric with anticipation.

Elizabeth Kaeton, a self-described “joyful Christian who claims the fullness of the Anglican tradition of being evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, orthodox and radical”, serves as Pastor of an Episocopalian parish in New Jersey. In her “Telling Secrets” blog, she has a telling video that addresses the perception that all African Anglicans have a negative attitude toward gay inclusion.

From the opposite coast, Pastor Susan Russell of California offers regular updates and a photo montage of the Integrity Team in preparation for the General Convention at her “Inch at A Time” blog. Pastor Russell also serves as President of Integrity USA, “a faithful witness of God’s inclusive love to the Episcopal Church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. We are working for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments,” and the Integrity blog also has frequent updates.

Meanwhile, ELCA members and churches continue their 50 day prayer vigil that points toward their 2009 Churchwide Assembly in Mpls that begins August 17 and which will consider the ELCA versions of LGBT resolutions. I plan to be present in MPLS to liveblog the daily events.

A word from the Conventions: UCC, Mennonite, NOW, ELCA

The United Church of Christ General Synod convened in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday, June 26, and will adjourn on Tuesday, June 30th. The 27th synod is graced with 3,500 attendees. Here are a few highlights, so far.

Trinity UCC in Chicago made headlines last year as the home church of Barack Obama and fiery Pastor Jerome Wright. Pastor Wright has retired, but the church was represented by Pastor Otis Moss III who delivered an impassioned sermon to the gathered on Friday night.

God says I am the Alpha and the Omega, COMMA, who is, COMMA, and who was, COMMA, and who is to come, COMMA.

In a mind-jolting, three-minute recitation of the history of Christianity, Moss shouted a COMMA between each event, all the way through to the 1957 creation of the United Church of Christ and the presence of John Thomas as General Minister, who introduced him Friday night.

Don’t get angry with the haters, the Rush Limbaughs. Next time you hear them, just say, ‘COMMA!’ When you see Dick Cheney, just say, ‘COMMA!’ Remember, there used to be a period on Pennsylvania Avenue. At Calvary, death wanted to place a period, but Jesus got up on Sunday morning. ‘COMMA!’

Official actions of the synod will include the election of a General Minister and President of the UCC, Conversations on Race (a theme introduced by outgoing General Minister John Thomas within the last year) consisting of various workshops and discussion centers, seventy new UCC congregations were highlighted and celebrated, journalists Eugene Robinson and Ray Suarez addressed the assembled, all punctuated with commas, shouts, singing, and dancing.

Daily digests of synod happenings are available at the UCC website.

As the UCC General Assembly closes on the 30th, the Mennonite Convention 2009 convenes in Columbus, Ohio and will run through July 5th. The theme is “Breathe and be Filled,” and a Youtube video provides the anticipation.

Daily happenings can be followed at the Mennonite USA website.

Meanwhile, at the National Organization for Women (NOW) convention that adjourned a week ago, a new leadership slate was chosen. Terri O’Neill’s team, which takes office July 21, includes Bonnie Grabenhofer of Illinois as Executive Vice President, Erin Matson of Minnesota as Action Vice President, and Allendra Letsome of Maryland as Membership Vice President.

Finally, many ELCA congregations nationwide are answering the Presiding Bishop’s call for 50 days of prayer in anticipation of the Churchwide Assembly that will convene in Mpls on August 17th. The much anticipated assembly will deal with major resolutions regarding LGBT issues including gay clergy and same-gender marriage.

I plan to be present at the assembly to provide live-blogging updates.

UPDATED: June 28, 1969: Where were you? Stonewall remembered.

Many of you probably weren’t born, so I guess this is a question for the baby boomers, like me. But, I encourage the young’uns to read along, anyway, to get a better understanding of who and where we are this Sunday, the fortieth anniversary of Stonewall.

Here’s my answer. I had just turned 21 and had just finished my army infantry training in the heat and amongst the snakes and spiders of Fort Polk, Lousiana, “Fort Puke, the arm pit of America,” we called it. Pilfered from www.imjinscout.com/fort_polk1.html “If’n one of them coral snakes bites ya, here’s the proper military procedure,” droned the drill sergeant. “Spread yer legs to a comfortable military stance, put yer hands on yer knees, bend down at the waist as far as you kin, and kiss yer sweet ass goodbye.”

A few weeks earlier, over Memorial Day weekend, our battalion received back to back three day passes, a rare treat toward the end of our training. We were all headed to Viet Nam to become “grunts”, anyway, might as well allow us a good time. My new girlfriend of less than six months drove down from Minnesota — along with my parents, brother Mike, and his girlfriend — and we all camped out at Aunt Carol’s place in nearby Lake Charles. In front of a sultry red sun of dusk, under the bearded Spanish moss that hung from the live oaks that leaned over a dusty country lane, I had proposed, but the girlfriend had turned me down.

But now, three weeks later, I was back in Minnesota on a 30 day leave before departing for my one year tour of duty as an infantryman in Viet Nam, and the girlfriend had finally consented under my relentless urgings, and she allowed me to purchase an engagement ring. I needed that lifeline, that sense of committment and belonging, that sense that there was a future beyond the jungles of Southeast Asia, and her assent to one day becoming my bride gave me that grounding. Lynn still wears that ring, today. I didn’t know then what a privilege it was to ask the one I loved to be for me; to hold my hand and keep my heart close; to send and receive trite, and silly, and melancholy missives; and to wait and to be there when I returned.

Bobby Dylan was singing and saying that the times were a’changing, but it wasn’t clear in what direction. Tricky Dick was in the White House. Dion was lamenting the losses of Abraham, Martin, and John: “but it seems the good, they die young,” and in my narcissism I knew the song was about me. I wasn’t much concerned about what was going on in Greenwich Village, NYC.

If there were any gay people in my life then, I didn’t know it. Oh, there was elderly Emil, a hapless figure who would buy the small town boys cigarettes, but we all knew not to go behind any buildings with him. Maybe some did, I don’t know. I suppose somebody had to be the source of the giggling about the comic old man. In hindsight, I know that an older cousin later died in alcoholic squalor, never fully able to come to grips with who he was, and I have a younger cousin who thrives in a long term relationship with Robert. Perhaps there is symbolism in the differences between the older and the younger. In a reunion with my younger cousin a few years ago, he laughingly recounted how he loved to come and spend time with us in Minnesota and with dear old Grandma Olga because she allowed him to dress up in girl’s clothes.

Queers were deviates, so said the medical and psychological establishment. Fags were outlaws and security risks, so said the FBI, State Department, US Postal Service, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies. Homosexuals were sinners who had chosen the wrong path and needed repentence, so said the word from Christian pulpits. And these others, whoever they were, were mostly invisible:

a secret legion of people, known of but discounted, ignored, laughed at or despised. And like the holders of a secret, they had an advantage which was a disadvantage, too, and which was true of no other minority group in the United States. They were invisible. Unlike African Americans, women, Native Americans, Jews, the Irish, Italians, Asians, Hispanics, or any other cultural group which struggled for respect and equal rights, homosexuals had no physical or cultural markings, no language or dialect which could identify them to each other, or to anyone else.

Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, as quoted in the Wikipedia article on Stonewall. Whatever you may think of Wikepidia generally, I urge to read the lengthy article about the Stonewall riots.

Stonewall Inn When the eight police officers knocked on the Stonewall door at 1:20 a.m., June 28, 1969, and announced “Police! We’re taking the place!”, they didn’t know they were about to make history, any more than the bus driver who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger 14 years earlier. Spurred by the successes of the civil rights movement, the bra burning feminists, and the college students protesting the war, the response of the gay community of Greenwich Village to the routine police raid on the Stonewell Bar of Christopher Street, said Dylan was right, the times were a’changin’.

We all had a collective feeling like we’d had enough of this kind of shit. It wasn’t anything tangible anybody said to anyone else, it was just kind of like everything over the years had come to a head on that one particular night in the one particular place, and it was not an organized demonstration…. Everyone in the crowd felt that we were never going to go back. It was like the last straw. It was time to reclaim something that had always been taken from us…. All kinds of people, all different reasons, but mostly it was total outrage, anger, sorrow, everything combined, and everything just kind of ran its course. It was the police who were doing most of the destruction. We were really trying to get back in and break free. And we felt that we had freedom at last, or freedom to at least show that we demanded freedom. We weren’t going to be walking meekly in the night and letting them shove us around—it’s like standing your ground for the first time and in a really strong way, and that’s what caught the police by surprise. There was something in the air, freedom a long time overdue, and we’re going to fight for it. It took different forms, but the bottom line was, we weren’t going to go away. And we didn’t.

Michael Fader quoted in the same Wikipedia article.

Will the occasion be noted from any pulpits this Sunday? Some, I hope, but only a few, I fear. Probably not in my own church, even though I know my pastor is willing, but the congregation isn’t ready. Not yet. But, someday, and sooner than you think. It’s blowin’ in the wind.

UPDATE:

Here is a list of links to other blogs or websites discussing the 40th anniversary of Stonewall.

Twin Cities Pride (including info about 2009 Pride Events)
Kate Clinton: Stonewall 40
The Gifts of Stonewall – 40 Years Later
Pride in the South Central Region
Stonewall, 40 Years Later, What Has Been Achieved?
Weekend Video Roundup: Why We Fight (Idaho Edition)
Stonewall Remembered

Schism is in our genes

Those of us in the Judao – Christian family tree have a long history of internecine struggle and splits. I suppose we could go back even earlier and talk about Isaac and Ishmael if we want to include the Muslims in this family history. The Pharisees disagreed with the Sadducees over Torah and the Temple, and the Essenes had enough of each and ran away to the desert. Paul split with Peter and started his own Gentile mission apart from the Jewish Jesus movement in Jerusalem. Later, the Christians and the rabbis disagreed over who could worship in the synagogues. First, the Coptics retreated to Egypt; then, the Greeks packed up for Constantinople leaving the Catholics in Rome; and a millenium later, Luther spewed nourishment to new nestlings.

So why should I be surprised when several blogposts come through my RSS reader today about schismatics in today’s christendom?

Several hundred former Episcopalians, meeting in a school gym near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, ratified a constitution Monday for the fledgling Anglican Church in North America as a direct challenge to the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada.

So says the Washington Times online.

Frederick Clarkson in Talk to Action blog points out that noted evangelical Rick Warren spoke at this meeting, inciting the schismatic sentiment.

The Presbyterians apparently have the same schismatic genes. According to Pastor John Shuck on his Shuck and Jive blog:

When the two main branches of the Presbyterian Church finally decided the Civil War had ended in 1983, they reunited. Ten years prior to reunion, some congregations of the then “southern branch” broke away and formed their own denomination. The larger church had become too liberal for their tastes.

Each of these two latter day stories relate to LGBT issues, and whispers of schism within my own ELCA waft on the breeze emanating from the direction of the WordAlone Network if the ELCA does what the Network fears this summer and allows a local option for gay clergy and gay marriage. Fear of defections from the ELCA causes some to wring their hands and advocate for the status quo.

Schism is part of our history and undoubtedly part of our future. When defections occur, we should grieve the losses and then move on, but we should not retreat from principle. We should not fear history, nor should we ignore it, nor can we stop it.

An ELCA sexuality statement and assembly primer: #CWA09

ELCA assembly On August 17, “1,045 voting members from 65 synods and 10,448 congregations serving on behalf of the 4,709,203 baptized members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” will convene in Minneapolis for the 2009 biennial assembly. I will be there, too, and I plan to liveblog during the six day event.

There will be worship services, workshops, and plenty more to keep delegates busy, but all eyes will be on the plenary sessions in which the ELCA sexuality statement and LGBT issues will be debated and voted upon. The following is an overview of players and constituencies likely to play major roles or have significant interest in the proceedings.

Bishop Hanson

Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson. In the ecclesiology of the ELCA, this is an elected position for a limited term. The presiding Bishop is largely an administrative position without significant legislative functions. The body of delegates at this and other biennial conventions have ultimate legislative authority.

Church Council (Council of Bishops). Each of the 65 synods has a presiding bishop. As a collective body, the bishops serve as the Church Council, which acts as board of directors and legislative body between biennial assemblies. When the Church Council met late in March, it voted to submit the ELCA sexuality statement to the churchwide assembly for consideration. Significantly, it also set guidelines in which voting decisions on the statement would proceed according to majority vote (opponents of the various measures prefer a 2/3 or supra-majority standard). Of course, since the assembly itself has final legislative authority, these standards could be changed, and early skirmishes over procedures are likely to be telling during the assembly.

Sexuality Study Task Force. At the 2001 biennial assembly, a resolution was passed to create a task force to study and report on a proposed social statement on human sexuality.
Although the composition of the task force has changed over time, it has consisted of 27 appointed persons, most recently under the leadership of Pastor Peter Strommen (formerly the bishop of the NE synod of Mn and a personal friend of mine). The proposed Sexuality Statement is the work product of this task force. Three general comments can be made about the Statement: first, it is generally favorable toward LGBT persons; second, it allows LGBT persons in a committed relationship to become rostered clergy based upon local, congregational option; and, third, it is silent regarding “gay marriage”, but that may also be subject to local congregational decision.

Of course, there are advocacy/interest groups on both sides.

Since 1974, a group called Lutherans Concerned has advocated on behalf of LGBT Lutherans. This group’s official posture regarding the proposed statement is mostly positive since gay clergy will be allowed according to local congregational option but also concerned that the local option rule will also allow pockets of dissent within the ELCA that will fester over time. But the biggest criticism pertains to the absence of “a means of public recognition of same-gender relationships, no rite of blessing or marriage. Unacceptable, but correctable inconsistency.” Press release Feb 19, 2009.

Another organization supportive of LGBT issues is The Lutheran Network for Inclusive Vision, and their website may be found at The Network.

Perhaps the most proactive, pro-LGBT group is Goodsoil, and they solicit assembly delegates and other volunteers to offer a full range of advocacy activities during the assembly. I have joined this group and will volunteer my services during the assembly.

On the right is the well-known conservative movement within the ELCA known as the WordAlone Network. Originally founded in 1996 to resist the ecumenical agreement with the Episcopalian Church, the group has continued over the years to offer a conservative point of view within the ELCA. They now claim a membership of over 6,000 ELCA Lutherans and 1,000 clergy. Their website includes the following statement:

WordAlone’s primary concern is that the ELCA is losing its Christ-centered focus. ELCA churches and members are turning to authorities other than the authority of God’s Word, revealed in his risen Son, Jesus Christ, and in his inspired Word in the Holy Scriptures. The other authorities – human experience, wisdom and tradition – are used to turn aside the authority of God’s Word.

As to the Sexuality Statement specifically, the WordAlone Network claims that the ELCA usurps divine authority.

The usurped authority resolution criticizes the ELCA for voting on matters governed by Divine Law when it has no legitimate authority to do so and for sending proposals that “explicitly reject Scripture’s clear, consistent witness concerning marriage and sexuality” to the churchwide assembly.

It will be an interesting summer in the ELCA, and I will keep you posted from my vantage point on the left side of Northfield, Mn.

Feminist News

Here are a couple of week-ending notes.

First, highly regarded author, theologian, and elder in the African Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. Renita Weems has an interesting blog post about Rabbi Alysa Stanton. Rabbi Stanton is apparently the first black woman to become a Rabbi. Congratulations to Rabbi Stanton and thanks to Dr. Weems for an excellent post.

Second, the popular GLBT website, Advocate.com notes that After coming out as a lesbian in 2006, Batwoman finally gets her own comic book series — and this time, she’s out, proud, and here to stay.

Third, Desert’s Child Blog reports on a speech by award winning actress Patricia Clarkson to the New Orleans gathering of the Human Rights Coalition. “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks,” she said, quoting playwright Tennessee Williams. The theme of her talk was the groundswell of support for gay rights and gay marriage breaking through the hard, the cold, the oppressive … by a force that is beautiful, natural, colorful, alive.

Finally, happy Father’s Day (to mothers, too). You are my child, my beloved; I am well pleased with you. This paraphrase of the gospels is my view on the most important attitude a parent can manifest to a child. Let us celebrate our parents, and our children, this weekend.