“We are under fire,” proclaimed Rev. Dr. Joan M. Martin at the opening session of Witness Our Welcome 2000. Knowing nods spread through the 1,000 or so attendees. As members of the Welcoming Church Movement whose goal is to move denominations to openly welcome GLBT
Grace to you and peace. I did not plan to join the protesters. Most certainly, neither Diane nor I intended to be jailed in Cleveland during the General Conference. But the Holy Spirit moved us and here I am in the Cleveland jail for the
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; God’s understanding is unsearchable. God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths
News release WASHINGTON — Responding to votes by leaders of the United Methodist Church that called homosexual relations “incompatible with Christian teaching,” forbade ordination of openly gay or lesbian clergy and prohibited same-sex union ceremonies, members of Dignity/USA expressed sorrow, and pledged to stand with
News release: Office of the Moderator, UFMCC The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches joins justice-seeking people within the United Methodist denomination and in the larger community in expressing profound sorrow and disappointment at the decision of the Conference delegates in Cleveland, Ohio to affirm
News release LONG BEACH, Calif. — Eighty-one people were arrested on June 25, 2000 during a peaceful protest by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) individuals and their families, friends, and allies outside of the opening worship service of the 212th General Assembly (GA) of the
In the climactic scene in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones and his girlfriend are tied to a pole to watch as the Nazis open the ancient Ark of the Covenant. This holy symbol of Israel’s religion has been captured and is
Trained in ungrace I guess I should count myself lucky. I mean, I live in a country where the rights of gays and lesbians are firmly entrenched within the constitution: South Africa — a testimony to the human struggle against injustice and prejudice. Why is
The following is an edited letter I wrote to a Roman Catholic priest who wrote a letter to me disagreeing with my views affirming gay marriage. My letter is designed to hammer home the “Good News” of the Gospel message that we are no longer
Your Excellency Pope John Paul II: In the darkness of caves, in the shelter of secluded forests and cottages, in the barren deserts, and on the desolate peaks of isolated mountaintops huddled the early Christians. A people, a faith community scorned, ridiculed, and persecuted by