1971 - In Unity - October

OCTOBER VOLUME

IN N ITY

DONATION

t

I

1971

II NUMBER FIFTY

9

CENTS

IN N ITY A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP OF METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCHES INC. CO-EDITORS PAT RARDIN CONN IE VAUGHN

TREASURER REV. LOUIS LOYNES

FOUNDER

CIRCULATION RUSTY CARLSON

FEATURE WRITERS C. SHAWN FARRELL PAT RARDIN

GRAPHIC DESIGNER BOB

THE COVER:

QUtNN

The UniversaZ

FeZlowship

STAFF MARTY SENECA KEN LOIHANA

Community

Churches

circle of Friends~

PRINTED BY M C C -

of the Metropolitan

L A

and Good Feelings

BOARD OF ELDERS OF UNIVERSAL -FELLOWSHIP OF METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCHES REVEREND REVEREND REVEREND REVEREND

snapshots

is truly a Happy Times like these

of MCC Happenings.

TROY D. PERRY JOHN H. HOSE RICHARD A. PLOEN LOUIS LOYNES

CHAIRMAN BOARD OF PUBLICATIONS UNIVERSAL -FELLOWSHIP

PSALM l33:l

DON HUGHES

BEHOLD~ how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together IN UNITY:

IN UNI1YMAQUINE OFFICES

1871. EDITOR

1

I

IN los

IS I'IIBLISHED ANGELES,

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OF IN UNI1Y.

MONTHLY BY THE UNIVERSAL

CALIFORNIA.

MAILING

REPRODUCTION

No ANONYMOtlS LETTERS

ADDRESS:

FELLI"I"II'

2201

IF METROI'OLITAN

SOUTH UNION AVENUE, Los

IN WHOLE OR PART WITHOUT PERMISSION OR ARTICLES

WILL

COMMUNITY CHURCHES. ANGELES,

IS PROHIBITED.

BE CONSI DERED FOR PUBLICATION.

CA.

90007.

E"TeRIAL COPYRIGHT

ADDRESS LETTERS

TO

FROM THE PEN OF: Reverend Perry

of Elders, wish to say IIThank you To all of you who sang, to the choirs that came from so far away, to those who submitted newsletters for the .publications awardS, we say II Thank you", To all of you who worked so faithfully and hard during the conference, to help it become the memorable event that it did. w~ say IIPraise the Lord for you We all look forward to next year on Labor Oay Weekend when again we will meet, for then the Third Annual General Conference of the Universal Fellowship of MetropOlitan Community Churches. ll

•

ll

•

~n~;o::~

Dear Friends: September the 3rd. 4th and 5th, are past now and it's history but we want to praise the Lord for all the wonderful things that happened during that weekend. In this issue of IIl!l Un i you w ill rea d re p 0 rts 0 f events at took place during the Second Annual General Conference of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. It is with j~y in our hearts, that we were able to see history in the making and we all felt a sense of belonging, as we worked with each other. I am thankful because we were able to meet so many new friends. -All of the people from Florida, from Washington D. C., from all of the East Coast, the Mid-West States from Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas and the South, to all of our friends in the Western United States, it was a time of rejoicing. I want to publicly thank those many people in the Los Angeles Church who opened their homes so all of the delegates could have housing for IIfree We estimated how much it would have cost if you had stayed in hotels, and the cost would have been unbelievable. It would have been more than we received during this past year for even our Fellowship work. But we are thankful. because the Lord smi led upon us,there wasn It any bad situations, everyone got along with everyone and, as I stated earlier, the Lord anointed and blesse d. To a 11 of th os e who preached .during the conference, we the Board

Yours

In Christ,

MOderator of the Board of Elders

if"

e

ll

•

~etropolitan . :2:201 S. UNION

QIommunitu

AVE. PHONE:

LOS ANGELES.

QIlyurtly CALIF.

90007

:213 - 746-01:23

Rev. Troy D. Perry, Pastor Rev. John H. Hose, Asst. Pastor Rev. Richard A. Ploen, Minister of Christian Education Rev. Lee Spangenberg, Minister of Vis itation

Sunday:

9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, & 7:00 PM Wednesday: 8:00 PM

2

~drllpolitan

OIommuniit! QIlyurtly MISSION Fresno

Mission

Los Angeles

of

Church

1362 "N" Street Fresno, Deacon

~dropolitan

California

Ray Cook,

Interim

Pastor

QIommunifu QIlyurtly

Mailing: Box 11303 Denver, Colorado 80211

Rev.

-3

I

Let me take time to see The rose beneath the grime, The hurt behind the smileDear God, let me take time! Let me take time to lend A sympathetic ear; When life's small triumphs come Let me take time to hear!

DENVER

Services: 1400 LaFayette Denver, Colorado

The Social Canrnittee gave a special dinner far our visiting ministers and their spouses or guests. The menuconsisted of prime rib, string beans, baked p0tatoes, and baked alaska for desert. It was a fantastic meal. The food was really outstanding and the service fran the Social Ccmnittee with their fine crystal and silver madethis formally set dinner with a relaxed mood, truly one of the highlights of the conference. It gave all of the ministers a chance to really get acquainted and knowhow wonderful and dedicated each one is. The fellowship and canradeship at this event was truly an eye opener for each one to discuss the work that each minister is doing in ther cln.n"Ch or mission. Love surely prevailed and the LDrdblessed us all real real good.

Street

Ron Carnes, Pastor Sunday: 7:30 PM

When storm winds snuff the flame That yesterday burned fair, And lay w'aste beauty's bloom. Let me take time to care!

Car/nip

Elders - Universal

Fellowship

Vau(7hn

Rev. Perry, Pev. Hose, Deacon Street

Pev. Green, Carlton,

Carnes Todd Mason

",

?

.~:::.: .

.'£,s,'. Center Table

Ted SvJeet, Rev. Spangenberg, Nan Pringle, Rev. Naur.loff

GENERAL

CONFERENCE

FIRST NIGHT OF 2ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE FRIDAY EVENING - SEPT. 3 It's all 0 v ern ow an d I"111 not sure if ~e'll ever have such a beautiful conference again -- I mean one where every thing seemed to fall so beautifully into place -- one where (from a personal point of view)there were so many people I've grown to 10ve.Peop1e who marched in our first Christopher St. West Parade,who were there again last June, men and women we marched with in Sacramento.Peop1e who, by this time, should logically be worn-out, tired and ready for the quiet of obscurity ••• But there they were, thei r fresh faces full of joy and enthusiasm. Rev. Troy Perry introduced visitors tonight from every church and mission in the Fellowship and some guests who are hopeful of founding a mission in Detroit. Michigan. New York City and Philadelphia. In addition, Rev. Perry announced that a donor had pledged $4.000 to the Universal Fellowship to establish a Church in St. Louis. Missouri. AwardS were presented by IN UNITY for the four best local church newspapers.The winners were THE PRODIGAL (San Diego) ,HARMONY DIGEST (Sacramento). MCC NE\4S (LA). THE WORD OF LI FE (Hawaii). Eleven news bulletins were submitted; the judges were the staff of the ADVOCATE. Board Member Don Hughes (who is Director of Publications) presented the awards. The Crescendos sang. One of their songs was an original composition written by David ROdde1l. They were followed by brief reports from three Seminary Students. as follows: Lee Spangenberg. who has been working with the Fresno Mission, announced that Fresnd ha~ signed a lease for their own church building enabling them to provide the Fr~sno congregation with a full-time community cente r as we 11 as a permanen t worsh ip center. Andy Hallum of Christ Chapel MCC in Orange County testified that his personal and his home life had been greatly enriched by attending Seminary classes. Hal Young of the 5

Mother Church testified that he had studied previously at i Roman Catholic Seminary; he left· by choice. finding it was just not for him. He hoped the Fellowship would find an assignment for him soon. Rev. Perry was the keynote speaker. Welcoming everyone, he announced that the Universal Fellowship of MCC 1I••• is well and happy.The Lord still lives and God is true.1I He spoke of the missions across the country, saying liThe Holy Ghost is moving across America today •••• We have Love in our midst ••• At MCC we're no longer Presbyterians. Catholics. or Episcopals. _ --we're Christians! And we're looking for the NEW way!" Quoting Corinthi ans , Chapter 12. he compared the human body as an example of organic unity, with the feet, hands, ears and eyes functioning as one body. liThe parts which do not look beautiful have a deeper beauty in the work they do. while the parts which look beautiful may not be at all essential to 1ife~" Con tin u in g. Re v , Per ry said IIWe are all members of the same body. too. There's room in this church for experimentation. We can't all be ministers. or preach,but we can be part of the same body.1I Members had a chance to greet our Brothers and Sisters from distant places after services and to arrange for lodging out of town guests. Rev. Rodger Harrfson of Christ Chapel MCC was present,. having just returned from a visit to Europe. SATURDAY

MORNING

- SEPT

4TH

REV. RON HANSON He was dressed in an open-collared whi te shi r t , whi te trousers wi th a red sash around his waist. white shoes and a lei of pale lavender flowers around his neck. His voice is clear and gentle; his eyes are kind; his general expression. that of a man who is completely at peace with himself.My lover and I had been particularly interested in hearing Rev. Ron Hans on of MCC - Hawaii. I'd never seen him before the Conference but Donn had met him at services in Honolulu. He'd also married 2 women Cont. page l6

SICK?NOT US! Speech at General Conference by Dr. Evelyn Hooker~ Hono~ary Homosexual Rev. Hose asked me to repeat what I had said at U. S. C., but I am not a repeater. I can never do two things twice in the same way. (laughter) I can see we're off to a good start. Years ago, whenmy husband was alive and I used to go downinto my study in the garden and prepare to make a speech about hanosexua.lity or whatever else I was going to talk about, I would come up fram the garden and I would have in my hands three, four or five cards and he would look at me and say "v,7hat - you don't mean that you are going to make a speech fran that?" I then used to say to him, "Well, EdwarU, yes I am, providing the spirit moves me." So if the spirit movesme as it already has, I want to talk to you tonight about tre scientific, social and legal aspects of hanosexuali ty •Noo it's obvious that to cover these 3 topics ~uld take at least 2 hours, but I have been given 1 hour to do it in. And then, I hope that you will be willing, despite the warmth that is in this audi tordum, I hope that you will be willing to ask questions, because the reward to me for talking like this is in finding out where it is that I haven't mademyself clear. Alright? There are 6 questions I ~uld like to talk about. The first is the questicn, and this is the most controversial question which psychiatrists and psychologists discuss and that question is"Is homosexuality a disease or a mental ilJness?" The position that it is a disease or a mental illness is as manyof you know (you knowI feel as if I were bringing coals to Newcastle somehoo - I feel as if all of you really ought to kneweverything I'm talking ~ut) so if I say things to you that are Just "old hat", that you knew, that bore you, will someoneraise your hand and tell me please to go on to something else alright?' In 1954 I had already been doing serne research and I think I ought to tell you how I got into doing this type of research. I can't see well enough in this audi tor-iim to see, but I suspect that there are some people in this audience who've kncwnme since 1954 and whowere original research subjects of mine. In 1954 I applied to the National Institute of Mental Health for a grant. The purpose cf the grant was to test the assumption which was made by

psychiatrists and psychologists, by government agencies, including the ArmedForces, "the F. B. I. and, well, you can name the rest of them, that haoosexuality is a symptomof pervasive psychopathology or it is a severe emotional disorder. Nowit so happened that I had sane students whowere gay and I had knoon them since about 1945 and they had urged me as I was engaged in doing experimental work at U C L A, I was teaching and doing experimental work and had a busy life, but they urged me, "Look" they said, "the psychiatrists and psychologists don't see people like us, all they see are patients". They said, "Nowyou've knowus" and as a matter of fact it was true, I had had a student whanmy husband and I knew and got to knowhis friends, we became friends and he urged me to do this research. Andhe said, "He will supply you with any number of people you want, who are not psychiatric patients." He went on to say, ''Youknewmore about us nowbecause we've let our hair downwith you.You have seen us as we are." Once I was at a NewYears Eve party (this being before I began doing the research) when a professor of English came in at about 1 minute past midnight with a trick he'd picked up and my student turned to me and said, "Well, Evelyn, I guess you know everything else . about us, you might as well see this too". (laughter) So I began. I had gathered a great deal of material through the years, but I have been trained as an experimental psycho'logfs't and as a clinician and have very rigorous standards about research. So in 1953 I decided that I would apply for a grant and if their study carmittee would agree I would get a new group of subjects, whan I didn't know, so they wouldn't be contaminated . by. personal knowledge of me and my personal knowledge of them. And I would get a control group of heterosexual men and I would try to test the assumption of thepsychiatrists and the psyChologists thathamosexuali ty is a symptan of psychopathology.The rest of this is history as I'm sure you know. I'm sure most of you knowwhat I found. I set out, and it was not easy, to find a group of homosexual subjects and a new group of heterosexual men and to canpare these 2 groups of men, using psychological tests and life history material. I found that when I used the appropriate scientific criteria of using judges who were all experts, who did not knowthe difference between the tests of these two groups of men, that my experts could not

Cont. page 20

B

~.etropolitCltt SAN

CC:ommltttitlZ QIqurrq FRAN CI

A transcontinental airliner 'vas in trouble about half way through its scheduled flight.As one engine went out, and another sounded weaker, the passenger in 7-A took some comfort in the fact that a minister was sitting next to him who seemed quite undisturbed. "Do you think we'll get down safely?" asked the passenger. "I certainly hope so," said the minister. "But what can we do if all the motors conk out," persisted the passenger. "I can't answer that," the minister admitted. "I'm not in administration; my department has always been sa 1es."

seo

Mailing: Community Center 1760 Market Street San Francis co, California

Gold Mine Drive & Diamond Heights Blvd. Rev. Howard Wells, Pastor Rev. Alice Naumoff, Asst. Pastor Sunday: 1:00 P. M.

LETTER From Pastor Paul Brad Wilson

M.C.C. Miami De arB ill. So you've become a Christian. That is wonderful to hear. I rejoice that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your own Lord and Savi or. But don't 1e tit en d th ere. Th e Ch r is t i an Life calls for gro~th. Begin to develop a prayerful 1 i f e , read the word of God daily, tell others what Christ means to you. But most of all, my dear friend, open your life to the total power of God. Even as you invited the Lord Jesus Christ futo your heart to dwell, now invite the Holy Spirit to come and take control of your very being. In your Bible study, read the book of Acts. You'll find out just how great the Holy Spirit is and how much He can do for you in giving you the power to live a life full of vi c t o ry , Ag a in Bill, I re j 0 ice th a t you have found Him~ who to know is to have eternal life. ~1y prayer is that you wi 11 g r 0\'1 in g race and know 1e dg e of the God-head. You.r Pas tor , 7

Brad

1

,\';~«t

.

"It's all right with me if women stop wearing bras-but if they stop manufacturing them, what about us transvestites?"

THE

CURSE

OF JEZEBEL

Book

Review

by Pat Rardin

Think how many years, although not so much today, the term Jezebel has been used. Other expressions, such as "good Samaritan", also 'come from the Bible. This Jezebel was worse than the term today implies, even in our permissive society. Jezebel was given in marriage at a very young age to King Ahab, to guarantee an alliance. Ahab was a good King, good statesman and good warrior, however; his only other interests were in gardening. He was not interested in women (and apparently not in men either). Jezebel was allowed to bring the worship of Baal with her to Israel and soon had a large following. On feast days of Baal, she took part in the ceremonies, playing the part of the living incarnation of Ashtoreth, Baal's wife. In these ceremonies she wore only a thin veil over part of her face. This is the story of God vs the Idol Baal, of Elijah (God's prophet) vs Jezebel, of sex and violence vs Love of God. If it was written toda~ you would probably have to buy it in an adult book store. Jezebel knew how to use man's lust and she also knew how to induce lust with drugs. Since she used drugs with her lovers, she probably used drugs in the temple ceremonies where sex was rampant; sex between male and female, male and male, female and female. In fact, it was the Baal worshiPll!rs who were first called Sodomites; not because they sometimes performed homosexual acts, but because of their general sexual ceremonies. These ceremonies includ-

ed sex with any and everyone,so incest was practiced and many times, on their way home, rape of non-Baal worshippers was committed. King Ahab had built the Baal temple for Jezebel and as a result, Israel had had a severe drought ever since. Finally Elijah decides the people have suffered enough and challenges the 500 or so priests of Baal to see which is more powerful, God or Baal. They go to Mount Carmel where two altars are made. one for Elijah and one for the priests of Baal. Wood and a bullock is placed on each for a burnt offering. The sky is clear except for one small cloud, directly overhead. Elijah tells the priests of Baal to pray to Baal and have him light their burnt offering. After se vr ral hours, during which time nothing happened, Elijah orders water brought and poured over the wood and bullock at his altar. After they are thoroughly soaked, he asks God to light them. (~ghtning comes out of the cloud over head and lights and burns the wet wood and bullock. After the people have killed the priests of Baal, Elijah promises it will rain and it does. Elijah makes two other prophecies. One is that dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel at the wall of Jezreel and that dogs shall lick the blood of King Ahab at the pool of Samaria. Both King Ahab and Jezebel ignore these prophecies, saying he just hates them. The battle of Karkar, which is not mentioned in the Bible, did take place. The Assyrians said they won it, but historical records show they retreated right after the battle so I agree with Or. Slaughter that it was actually an Israel victory. The biggest victory for Israel was the fact that King Ahab was able to form a confederation of twelve countries; this was probably the first time such a confederation ever went to war together, under one leadership. Later King Ahab is killed at a battle at Ramoth-Gilead. His body is taken to the Capitol (Samaria) for burial. After this his chariot is being washed at the pool, his blood being washed off. and dogs come to drink. So the prophecy does come true. B C~nt. page 27

KEYNOTEADDRESS Keynote address by Rev. Robert W. Wood, Pastor of Zion United Church of Christ, Newark, NJ at the 1st National Con f , on Religion & the Homosexual, Mar. '71, in New York Ci ty. In 1960" his book "Christ and the Homosexual" was published as the lst book in America to establish a dialogue between the liberal Protestant Church and the homosexual and remams the only book on the subject to have received 2 Awards-ot-Merit. Since then Mr. Wood has continued in the homophile mOVement as a counselor" writer and lecturer.

KOinonia. the covenant community realized, is often thwarted by the uncritical acceptance of inaccurate information, shopworn stereotypes, self-serving prejudices,or unexamined fears.It is to counter these negative forces too long at work whenever "homosexuality" has been considered by the Church that we meet here today and tomorrow. To put it in Biblical words, this Conference brings us together because " ••• God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfJ not counting their trespasses against them" and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:l9 RSV)

Lest there be any here who still do not realize the magnitude of the situation. we are talking about a minimum of 8,500,000 adult homosexuals in America today. Whatever can be said about why heterosexuals need o r wan tar e 1a t ion ship wit h 0 rg an ized religion can be paralleled for homos ex u a 1s , A f te r all, th e on 1y d iff e rence between them is a choice of their sex-love partner. In one sentence -- the concern expressed for those involved with homosexuality ought to be exactly the same as that expressed for heterosexuals.Both are children of God for whom Christ died, both need to know forgiveness and hope. Both will be anxious over the welfare of loved ones, both can be sinner or saint. They both laugh and cry, 1 0 v e and d re am, grow old and die.This is so despite the bad jokes of Rob Hope or the polemics of Teen Challenge. s

Nothing that is said or done here ought to imply that we seek to use religion on the homosexual where other tools have failed. We are not seeking to iron out a few kinks but to make it possible for the individual homosexual to receive the onrushing power of the Holy Spirit in his or her life just as much as the heterosexual; to open the way for the h 0 m 0 sex ua 1 to fin d that roc k upon which to build his or her life and from which he can follow Christ's way unto eternal life.And to do this as a homosexual, for we do not seek to have one's personhood subverted i n to s om e th ing itis not. Our range of concern must be br~ enough to extend from the Pepsi generation to the Geritol generation, from those who are part of the NOW age of Aquari us to those of us who were part of the age of Quaintance. vIe seek to be in dialogue not between gay and straight but rather between gospel and world. ~4e are here because homosexual expression is first of all a moral issue and only after that is it a psychological, legal. or sociological one and thus the rightful concern of those who relate to the Church, the living body of Jesus Christ. We are here because the Church, historically and hysterically, has been THE greatest antihomosexual force in the history of Western man. Once upon a time. in the 17th century of the Christian era, there lived a Lutheran priest by the name of Benedict Carpzov who was professor both of Church law and of criminal law. In his treat-ise "Practica Rerum Criminalium" he lists the results of homosexual expression: "Earthquakes, famine, pestilence, Saracens,floods, and very fat, voracious field mice." One could laugh in the face of the professor if it were not such a small step from his ignorance and anti-Christian position on homosexuality to the Penitentials and early New England church-state actirin. But at that he had made some progress since the days of t.hat enlightened law giver, Justinian, when homosexuality was punished by mutilation and castration and the dying body dragged th rough the streets. . We are here because "••• there aan~ Cont. page 29

THE LUTHERAN

CHURCH

IN AMERICA

Scientific research has not been able to provide conclusive evidence regarding the causes of homosexuality. Nevertheless, homosexuality is viewed biblically as a departure from the heterosexual structure of God's creation. Persons who engage in homosexual behavior are sinners only as are all other persons -- alienated from God and neighbor.However, they are often the special and undeserving victims of prejudice and discrimination in law, law enforcement, cultural mores and congregational life. In relation to this area of concern, the sexual behavior of freely consenting adults in private is not an appropriate subject for legislation or police action. It is essential to see such persons as entitled to justice and understanding in church and community." (Statement approved at the Fifth Biennial Convention of the LCA. July 2,1970).

••••••••••••••••••• UNITARIAN

UNIVERSALIST

ASSOCIATION

The 1970 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association: 1. Urges all peoples immediately to bring an end to all discrimination against homosexuals, homosexuality, bisexuals and bisexuality, with specific immediate attention to the following issues:

a. Private consensual behavior between persons over the age of consent shall be the business only of those persons and not subject to leg a 1 re g u 1 at i on • b. A person's sexual orientation or practice shall not be a factor in the granting or renewing of federal security clearance, visas, and the granting of citizenship or employment or term of employment in armed services. 2. Calls upon the UUA and its member churches, fellowships and organizations immediately to end all discrimination against homosexuals in employment practices, expending special effort to assist homosexuals to

find employment in our midst consisten t wit h the i r ab i1 i tie san d des ires. 3. Urges all churches and fellowships, in keeping with our changing social patterns, to initiate meaningful programs of sex education aimed at providing a more open and healthier understanding of sexuality in all parts of the United States and Canada, and with the particular aim toe n d all d is c rim in at ion ag a ins thomosexua1s and bisexuals. (Part of statement adopted at the General Assembly of the UUA, July 4, 1970).

••••••••••••••••••• THE COUNCIL FOR CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ACTION, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

•••• The Council for Christian Social Action believes that the time is long overdue for our churches to be enlisted in the cause of justice and compassion for homosexual persoos as well as for other socially rejected minorities.Clear1y there are profound pastoral responsibilities unmet by most churches for homosexual persons in their Own midst. Yet our particular concern as a Council is for the legal establishment of vicil 1iberties,for whose denial we in the churches bear substantial blame •••• The CCSA hereby de cl ares its opposition to all laws which make private homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime and thus urges their repeal. The CCSA also expresses its opposition to the total exclusion of homosexuals from public employment and from enlistment and induction into the arme~ forces, especially the dismissal by less than honorable discharges from the armed forces for homosexual practices with consenting adults in private •••• The CCSA also opposes, where they exist, police practices of entrapment in their attempts to enforce laws against homosexual practices and solicitation. Finally, the CCSA encourages the uce Conferences, Associ ati ens and local churches to hold seminars, consultations, conferences, e t c , , for honest and open discussion of the nature of homosexuality in our society." (Part of resolution adopted by the CeSA, April 12, 1969). 10

~.etropolihltt

ClIommuttitg ClIqurtq

HONOLULU Mailing: Hawaii

2449 Ala Wai Blvd.

#5

Services: 2500 Pali Highway Honolulu, Hawaii

Rev. Ron Hanson, Pa s t or Sunda y: 7: 30 PM

Ministers, Membersand Friends Metropolitan Canmuni ty Church 2201 So. Union Avenue Los Angeles, California 90007 My dear Brothers and Sisters

in Christ:

Peace and Love to all of you in Jesus Christ our Lord] Maythe Lord richly bless you for putting up with all of us this past weekendat the Second General Conference as He has so generously srowered all of us with so many wonderful Brothers and Sisters who were so kind and patient in extending their love and hospitality to all of us, The Holy.Spirit was moving'and working in Los Angeles this weekend, 'and I knoo that each of us, as we go back to our own hanes and churches, carry with us a spi!'i tua1 recharge that will aectrify this nation and the world in the caning year. I want to thank each and everyone of you for making our visit to Los Angeles such a glorious experience; to trose who prepared the meals. and especially those whomade the coffee; the ushers and greeters, whowere so warm, friendly and infermative; to Willie Smith, who did his best to exhaust the ministers and delegates so they wouldnf t talk too long at the business session; to the publication people, sound people musicians, choirs, secretaries',registrars ,cleaner-uppers, chair setter-uppers and taker-dooners, etc. , and 11

to all of you who opened your hearts and homes to us during our stay. If there is anyone I didn f t cover, it is only because there are so manyof you wonderful people doing so much that it is difficult to remembereach and every nal'OO or group who made our visit so memorable. Wehope that if you are ever downthis way that you will stop in and visit us so we can have a chance to return sane of the love and hospitality you have shownus. I am sure all who attended the General Conference are so convinced as I am that we shall rememberthe experiences we had at General Conference for the rest of our lives. Thank you all so very much for the love and hospi tali ty you have extended to us. I hope we shall soon have a chance to return sane of it. After all, when one has recei ved so muchtit is difficult not to' want to give. Maythe Lord bless you all real, real good,

With Love Your Brother in Christ Jesus Mark A. Drew, Delegate MCC-San Diego

8!RRY'$ W~LD,

"I f we weren't

------------:-:-:---, ,·.•t

so organized,

.11M ~'Vj.

we'd be 'Jesus Freaks.' . too!" .'. .

..

Se rm 0 n del iv ere d Sun. Se pt. 12, u p 0 n return from General Conference by Pastor Gi Ib e r t , Harmony Congregati on MCC, Sacramen to, CA. Luke, 24:30. When He was at table Mith them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they reaognized Him. We've used this text before in this congregation, but I thought it proper to share again this moment in the life of our Lord because some of us did not have the opportunity to commune with one another last weekend and also because those of us who went to Los Angeles last weekend did have that opportunity. And those of uS who did, HAD the opportunity to know Him in the breaking of bread. Troy Perry said it: "Oh, we had a

time." And ve had. I suppose ego was involved, but I felt that Sacramento was sort of a hit of the day. The smallest of missions took 2nd place in Publications ••• the smallest of chbirs got a standing ovation ••• Your Deacon Pastor was licensed to the higher ministry ••• 14 people became the 14th chartered church in the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. We all sang and sang and visited and visited. But most important we broke bread together •••• Friday I walked into the main sanctuary to find a few from Sacramento, a few from Los Angeles and a few from Washington, D.C. gathered around the altar •••• And their eyes were opened and they reaognized Rim. Saturday morning people from

ab o ut 10 or 11 ci ties joined Sacramentans in breaking bread •••And their eyes were opened and they reaognized Him. Early Sunday morning even more

of us joined the Pastor of Milwaukee in that same meal and then at 11 AM thousands came to share bread and a cup ••• And their eyes were opened and they reaognized

Him.

For everyone who was in Los Angeles last weekend the occasion was a hi gh water mark, thei r 1ives wi 11 be divi.ded •••• before General Conference and after General Conference. Because we were ONE in the Spirit. Not alone one with each other but ONE in the Spirit of the Living God. Some of uS will never be the same. And even the watchers and waiters could see and perceive genuine experiences of people who came to know Him that weekend. We possibly could not survive 1 iv in gat th ate mot ion alp e ak •••• but we must never forget our recent meeting w~th Him. For we must needs remember that before the Christ made Himselflnown to Ilis followers in the breaking of bread He had walked and talked with them on the 7 mile road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. He talked with them about His crucifixion, His rising from the dead and "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the things concerning Himself." And they knew Him not ••• until He made Himself known to them in the breaking of bread. to join We have the opportunity Him at Emmaus every time we Eucharist. continued

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MCC: We have the opportunity to commune with each other and Him every time 2 or 3 gather together to break bread in His name. nepending on what we bring to this mea1 ••• for instance love for God and man ••• or resentments against our brothers and sisters ••• we can or cannot find our liberation. So if we would take the road to Emmaus we can be reconciled with our brother or sister and then come and present our offering ••• bread and wine and know Him ••• in the breaking of bread. Harmony Congregation,Metropo1itan Community Church, Sacramento wishes to take this opportunity to give special thanks to Kevin and Herb and to Russell for their great assistance to members of this congregation in finding housing and transportation while at General Conference. When the first of the delegation arrived on Friday to find the Moderating Elder of the Fellowship setting up chairs (as he did last year) just like St. James preparing for that first General Conference in Jerusalem thousands of years ago we wondered where all the members were. But except for that we couldn't possibly complain about the quality of hospital i ty , Ag a in th a nk s • An d we'll be happy to help with chairs again next ye a r ,

2ffiletrnpnIitan

ClInmmunit~

ClI4urr4

SACRAMENTO Harmony

Cong r egat.ion

902 "J" Street Sacramento, Rev.

Joseph Sunday:

California H. Gilbert 5:00 PM

95814 Pastor

THE ANSWER

by Deacon

Jorge

I

CHRIST'S

R. Arocha,

PRAYER

Mi ami MCC

Jesus once prayed in front of His disciples. That prayer is recorded for us in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel. Part of it goes like this: "1 pray that they may all be one. may they be one in us ••• J May they be oneJ so that the world may believe that You sent me."

o Father

At the beginning, the Church founded by Jesus was one. Luke tells us that "The group of believers was one in mind and heart. "(Acts 4:32) Even so central a question as whether the followers of Jesus should obey the Law of Moses did not create asp 1itin the Ch u rch, but was qui ck1y solved at the Meeting in Jerusaem. During the first four centuries of the Church's existence, there were small groups which twisted the Good News, and separated themselves from the main body of believers. People like the Arians and the Manichaeans held to strange doctrines, like the belief that there is also a god of Evil, or that Jesus was not really a man, but just looked like one. Most of these groups died as time passed, but in the 11th century the Church of Jesus was split in two. Over a petty administrative issue mainly, the Church was divided into the Ch u rch 0 f the E as tan d the Olurctl of the West. . The Church of the West continued on its own way, adding traditions of men to the Command of God: Love By the 16th century it was in real need of reform. The reform movement started wi th a German t10nk, Dr. Martin Luther. He protested to the selling of indulgences, (the remission of the punishment sti 11 due for a sin after it has been forgiven) and offered some suggestions for Church reform. Church authorities answered back by excommunicating him, and this made Luther more radical. The end result was that the Church of Christ was on ce more di vi de d , the Ch urch of the West was divided into Catholics and Protestants. The latter group kept on dividing and dividing. It is true that there was much need for reform. Even the Dutch Catechism, a recent exposition of CaContinued

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th ol i c doc t r in e , say s t hat "Th e Cathol;c Church cannot do without the Reformation." (page 226) And we see that church little by little accepting the reforms first proposed by D~ Luther. But what was not necessary was all the hate that went on among fellow followers of Jesus, who gave just one command: Love one another. All those "religious" wars were not n e ce ss a ry, ne i the r was the "H 0 1y " Inquisitirn. So today, the Church presents to the world, not the Christian t1essage, but "The Christian Scandal." There ;s not one community of believers, like Jesus wanted, but a whole collection of denominations, fighting among themselves. Even today we hear of a "h o ly " w a r in Ireland. The Savior had said: "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. that you love one e n o th e r ;" (John 14: 35) But Christians consider their particular viewpoints and opinions about His teaching to be more important than His command. And, by the way, who is right? Coming from a Roman Catholic background, I always searched for the "true church. the one that Jesus of Nazareth had founded. Was it the Roman Catholic Church, one of the Protestant denominations, or one 'of the Orthodox communities? I studied the beliefs of many of these, and everywhere I found doctrine of men put forward as the teachings of Christ. All denominations claimed to have the original, or "true" Christian doctrine, but were really following their own v i ewp o i n t s in many respects. I found myself more and mor e in agreement with Charles Davis. He was England's foremost Roman Catholic Theologian. When he left his church, he wrote a book, A ~uestion of Conscience, in which-e explained~s reasons for leaving it. His case is interesting, because he left the Roman Catholic Church, but joined no other Christian denomination. His reason was that "What has happened is schism within the one Church, not just the breaking away of Christians to constitute a false church." (page 168) According to him, none of the churches that emerged from fue Reformation represents the fullness of the Christian Faith,and neither does ll

the Roman Catholic Church. All together they form the Ch urch of Ch ri s t , but not separately. He also thinks that the divisions among them are more the result ~ political,nation~. and social differences than of nifferences regarding the Christian Faith. Until re cen t lyc a l l these O1ristian bodies held on to their particular traditions a~d interpretations of Christ's teaching, disregarding His prayer to the Father:That all may be one. Their opinions about His teaching were more important to them than His wish for one Chruch. Christians would not even worship together, because they held different viewpoints on really minor issues. They attacked each other verbally and sometimes physica11y,killing fellow Christians because they didn't believe exactly like them. But that isn't the case anymore. Today there is a church which considers Christ's wish for unity among His followers to be more important than theological differences. It is a church composed of Christians from Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish backgrounds. It is the t1etropolitan Community Church. Finally, after all those centuries of wars, persecuti on s , and attacks ,Christi ans of all backgrounds come to worship together and say: We have ONE Fai th , ONE Lord. ONE Baptism. We each have our viewpoints. Some of our personal beliefs are different. But we do not let minor things separate us. The Love of God unites us, and this Love is above all differences.We all have the same Father, and the same Lord, Jesus. We have the same command: to Love. And this Love keeps uS ONE, like Jesus wanted. We hear the establishment churches talk about Ecumenism, and whether it can be done. We don't talk about the Union of Churches. \'Ie just live, worship and love ••• together. They discuss whether homosexuals can be saved, and whether they should be admitted in their churches;much in the same way that others before them discussed whether the Indians were human beings and had a soul. We don't waste time discussing about homosexuals. We just tell them that God loves them, and we.. :try to prove by our actions that ~~ love them too. Continued

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14

2ffil.etrnpnlitan

OInmmunitu

aIqurdr

MISSION San Jose

Mission

San Francis

0

The Story in the Bible: Mark 1: 14-18 Golden Text: AndJesus Comeye after me, and I becane fishers of men.

John 1: 35-42; said unto them, will make you to Mark 1: 17.

of

Church

5852 Meridan

Avenue

San Jose,

California

95118

2ffil'.etrnpolitan aIommunitu ~.etrnp nlitan

aIommunltu

aIqur.cq

aIqurrq MISSION

MISSION New Orleans, Tuscon

Mission

Phoenix Contact

of

Mission

Mailing:

Chur ch

of San Diego

P. O. Box 50081

New Orleans,

La.

70150

M. C. C. Phoenix

Tuscon,

Arizona

Services:

604 Iberville

New Orleans, Deacon A. Mros,

La.

Street 70130

Missionary Rev.

Sun. Semon. oonti,

MeC does not discuss why men are unhappy. suffering and persecuted. We let establishment churches discuss an d w r ite' w h i te pap e r s w h i ch will be later ignored. We don't emphasize the unhappiness in the Gay Culture. we try to do something about it.Meanwhile. establishment churches waste time discussing. MCC is the answer to their discussions. It is also the answer to Christ's prayer.

David E. Solom.on,

Mis sionary

2ffil'.etropolitan (!lommunHu

OIqur.cq

MISSION Milwaukee Mission Chicago Church Prince Services:

of Peach

Mailing:

Wisconsin 1114North

Milwaukee, Paul

Parish

2024 West Highland

Milwaukee,

Rev.

of

53233 21st Street

Wisconsin

W. Sydm.an,

Ave.

53233

Pastor

con», living in~ Honolulu who are 2 of our closest friends. "my ministerial attire may be different from what other ministers wear" said Rev. Hanson, "but then, Hawaii is different," Reading from Mark, Chapter 3, he observed that when Jesus chose the Apostles, he picked them from among men who were his closest friends. He then told how Rev. Perry made a visit to the Islands a year ago, founded the Hawaii Mission, ordained Ron Hanson a Deacon and gave him the responsibility of organizing a church in Hawaii. Quoting Will Rodger's words 'I've never met a man I didn't like' Ron Hanson added that unfortunately he couldn't say the same about himself. "In fact" said Rev. Hanson "There are some men I've met whom I've disliked a lot. \·Ihat I have learned from this church is that I've never met a man I couldn't learn to love. So many times when we join a church we start trying to change others ••• " Rev. Hansom suggested that perhaps we should seek changes in ourselves,saying "We need more of God's love." Describing changes brought about since the form a t ion 0 f M CC Rev. H an son s aid IIWh a t I've seen come about is a sense of community. In a time when family units are breaking down we have learned to like one another." Speaking of the problems encumbent upon the minister of any church such as MeC. he said IIThat phrase 'I'm not afraid anymore" keeps coming back to haunt me." First, when the ADVERTISER contacted him for an interview--his first public statement. "I saw this as an opportunity to let people know that Homosexuals don't all dress in women's clothing or go around acting effeminate." Church attendance increased and he was invited to speak at the University of Hawaii Community College and some local high schools. He recalled the uneasiness he felt until he realized that the fear the kids had of him was greater than the fear he had of them. He spoke easi ly to them, gradually making them realize that he was, in fact. a human not a sub-human. Once again the slogan 'I'm not afraid anymore' challenged him, this time at work when he was asked if he was gay and answered truthfully. Genel'a1. Confel'ence

"Now" said Rev. Hanson "I've finally found out what it means not to be afraid anymore. I lived for 31 years being two people. but now I'm relieved to say I'm one person." In one of the most personally touching moments of his sermon Rev. Hanson quoted a piece written by Emily Dickenson which had such a profound effect on m~ that I must get a book of her works and find it; all I can remember are the first 4 words: "Are you a nobody ••• " It des I can remember are the first four words: "Are you a nobody ••• " It described the peaceful pleasures of anonymity, after which he said "So many times I wish I could be a nobody •••• So many times I get tired of being a token faggot, answering questions about Biblical passages on radio and television interviews. But VIe, the Pastors of MCC, have to pave the way for the young people who will come after us. Lately, I find myself becoming a "Spiritual chicken queen'. I like working with young people who are having difficulty resolving their sexual identities. Our way of life brings us joy and pain. Sometimes our periods of joy are very short compared to our period~ of pain ••• But I wouldn't go back." Rev. Hanson's closing prayer said in part: "Dear Father, we're so grateful you have brought us together. We come from different backgrouns, but we are one in spirit. You have proved that Love is the greatest power of all." SATURDAY

EVENING

REV. ALICE

- SEPT

4TH

NAUMOFF

She appeared once before at the Mother Church. That was on May 9.'71 the following issue of MCC NEWS (No. 31, 5/15/71) describing her visit was the fi rst issue we completely sold out. She must have known that she made a powerful impression on uS for when she was intrOduced the congregation was so happy to have her back, she received an enthusiastic standing ovation. Who is she? Why, none other than MCC's Assistant Pastor in San Francisco, the Rev. Alice Naumoff. This Continued

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'IS

small, modest creature has so much logic and r.ommon sense t~at she could make me believe anything--even if I previously held conflicting views.I don't think of the word 'dynamic' right away when I see her,because, even though her sermons are heavy stuff, her delivery is so casual (almost as if she were just talking to one, or two friends) that it always carries a greater wallop; you forget that She's this good. I suppose, too, that her unique vernacular,and her particular humor disarms many into thinking they're just going to be amused. Rev. Alice began, this evening,by complimenting the choir members. "A good part of the time God reaches people through music." Speaking of the all-encompassing nature of our Church she said "I've always been convinced that MeC is the work of God," adding that " ••we believe even Straights have souls. But" she continued, "if you go to church that doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going through a tunnel makes me a Choo-Choo train." She then told us how she used to work for the Humane Society,"a crash pad for homeless pets where they get a meal and some sleep.I tried to get the animals into warm, loving environments. Well, why not? I come from a long line of Rabbis. I don't think any dog should live alone.At parties I'd .fin d my self g 0 in 9 up to a man and asking 'are you a Doctor? Have I got a DOG for you!!! "We could become a high class ASPCA •• God has given us two thousand verses regarding social changes, so you can't miss the message. If we do not show people the way out •••• freedom from true guilt, then we're only showing our Brothers and Sisters contempt and disgust, taking them in for awhile like strays. Every Christian has got to be concerned with the wh o le man." "Maybe the reason ministers don't always preach the message is a lack of 10ve ••• Yet MCC has more love than any other organization. The Christian never goes into any activity that is not meaningful and relevant." However, Rev. Alice cautioned us to examine our motives.Some of us might say 'If I am true to my own glorious 17

I

s elf, h ow can I be fa 1set 0 an 0 the r?' To this Rev. Alice hooted"Good Luck! Christ never said 'Be true to thine ow n self •• ' He sa id 'Be t rue toG 0 d .' I kn ow my own sweet feelings aren't there all the time--they're not even there half the time:/ That's why I need Calvary." One thing I particularly liked was her clear explanation of true charity, which she defined lucidly with a simple example. "I'm sitting at home having dinner and one of the family asks me to pass the ketchup," describing how she passed it over with no hesitation, or expectation of reward. It was received with no feeling of obligation. A common bond of love binds them. but all the resources at that moment happened to be at her end of the table. Rev. Alice covered more ground than I can remember and in no way can I duplicate her unique delivery. If you missed this delightful woman then this is the best I can serve up for you! Rev. Alice's closing prayer said "Father •••• help us to preach in a lost and dying world. Give us a desire to be committed ••• " I was so anxious to get to Alice that I suddenly realized I've ignored the rest of the service and there was some good stuff there too. Rev. Ron Carnes from Denver led us in Silent & Pastoral Prayer,saying "We're glad tonight that You are love and You love us. We thank You for help, strength and the enthusiasm which has permeated this conference. the spirit of harmony and unity. We pray that each may be strengthened. You know the needs of each person here tonight." Rev. Perry said "I want to tell you something. we felt the spirit of the Lord with us at this conference! " A choir competition followed,made up of the all-male LA Chancel Choir (20); the Sacramento Choir (3 men, 1 woman); San Diego (13 men, 2 women); and the all-male San Francisco Choir (24 members). Not in compe t i t t on tha ~ilent Choir performed this evening 1n honor of the Conference visitors. They have 9 members and performed 'The Lord's Prayer' in deaf sign language. Plaques were awarded to all choirs, although the simple modesty of the Sacramento Choir and their j

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A Response small number won everyones' heart. In honor' of Rev. Al ice Naumoff's vis it, a 11 Us her s ton 1 g h t we re \'1 0 men. The Women·s Action Committee hosted a reception for Rev. Alice after the service.

QIhriBt (!1~aprl c£ttetropoIitnu

OlommuuitlJ

COSTA

Ollrurt~

MESA

Mailing: 2232 Pacific Avenue Costa Mesa, California 92626

Services: 1259 Victoria Costa Mesa, California

Rev.

Rodger Sunday:

Street 92627

Ha r r i s on, Pastor 7:00 PM

DALLAS Mailing: Dallas,

P. O. Box 1344 Texas, 75221

Services: 4015 Normandy Dallas, Texas

Rev.

Richard Vincent, Sunday: 7:30 PM

Pastor

To

Editor~

THE PRODIGAL

M CC - San 0iego In my 47 years of life I have heard many sermons. Having been a churchgoer at one of the more wellto-do Congregational Churches in the N. J. suburbs of New York, I was exposed to many good minds speaking from the pulpit. I have also heard splendid music, bowed my head to smoothly worded prayers, sat and gazed at beauty created by man supposedly to glorify God, and been involved in the functioning of an influential 'proper' Christian church. None of it ever reached me spiritually. I gave it up as ineffective hypocrisy. Then came MCC. Suddenly all the words, the music, the prayer formulas, the man-created beauty had meaning. Why now and not then? I know why. Because the sermons, the prayers, the fellowship exist with ME in mind. Who am I? The society in which I live causes me to answer, "I am a homosexual". Jesus Christ DID come preaching love. His ministry IS to all people -- All human beings. A religion that is colorless, sexless, and nondiscriminating does not appeal to human beings. Therefore it is not and never w as , Alas we are not such perfect beings that we can respond to Him -spirit to spirit -- reaching out to us. We must feel Him within the context of our daily lives, within the framework of our imperfect selves as we do exist. Thus a religion must speak our language; it must be relevant to our daily lives. Jesus Christ did discriminate, not in whom He loved (have you loved a black, an Oriental, a cripple or any outcast in the way that reached them?) but in how He taught. When He talked wi1h the woman of Samaria (John 4, esp. Verses 21-24) He said, "Ye worship ye know not what: We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews". On the surface this is the rankest discrimination. Yet, Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew. He thought and taught as a Jew. But, as the Son of God, He offered everyone love and through belief in Him -- salvation. The Samarian woman, knowing Jews, Continued next page

18

appreciated, understood, then believed.Through her many were brought to Him. Jesus used the tribal differences here to teach. Read His parables and sayings. They all discriminate rather than generalize in that they relate to the daily experiences of His hearers. As for color: A colorless religion is a dead one. The words attributed to Jesus are full of glorious color.Then as now, black. white. brown. yellow.redare all beautiful; but the colors represent segments of humanity to many of whom L-O-V-E is a meaningless jumble of unfamiliar symbols.The Message must come ~ro~h the familiar symbols of their culture. Thus we see black Holy Families in African churches. while many of the churches of the Far East have a decidedly Buddhist oriental cast. Is the Good News less so for this? Then there is sex. Beautiful! A sexless religion would again be none. A religion appeals to people. They are sexed •••• again. beautiful! \~hat they do with that quality has been the topic of religion since man began to reflect. to think. Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another.He did not tell us to love only the opposite nex nor what to do wi th our bodies to express that love. By His commandment He transmuted the animal sex act to a spiritual coupling of normally island souls. Does i t not s till rem ain th e t as k 0 f His church to reach sexed humanity. especially homosexed humanity. how to transmut animal lust to an expression of His Love? The fact that He did not speak to or of gays as such only reflects their nonposition in the society of His time. The same for women. Position was tribunal and theological as well as educational and moneyed in ancient Palestine. Do you suppose He would refuse to talk to any group of our modern world. no matter what their label? And when he did. would he not teach His universal message in terms of that group's experience just as Troy Perry does. as John Hose does. as Ted Callaway does and the other ministers and leaders of MeC do in His name? No. my friend. "MCC is NOT a gay church. nor is it a church for gays '1S

alone." lt is. as you say. a church for ALL of His children. As such it must never discriminate. But its existence is in a real world. Its implied ministry is to the homophile community whose members have been cas t 0 u t by 0 the r g r 0 ups asp a ria h s--untouchables. Its mission IS related to what those members do in bed because this is the way that society has forced most of those members to think of themse1ves.One of its goals is to remove the distinction. Its method is a paradoxi ca l procl aiming of the difference until that difference by familiarity becomes unimportant thus joining us with the mainstream on the broad avenue of approach to God. If our method of proclaiming the Good News embarasses you. a gay. •• look within yourself for the cause. You may have a foot in the closet. --Charles David

G\Y~ US

YOUR NEWS

~etropoIitan


(fllmmunittl TAMPA

Mailing: Tampa.

3417 San Luis St. Florida 33609

Services: 2904 Concordia Tampa, Florida

Rev,

Lee

J. Carlton,

Pastor

Sick? Not Us! Cont. distinguish between the homosexualmenand the heterosexual men. Furthennore, I found, that the degree of psychopathology in these 2 groups of 30 men each did not differ. Noo let me be very careful in stating what that means. That does not mean that they were all in quote normal. What it does mean is that there were just as manyhomosexualmen whowere better than average adjusted as there were heterosexual men. That there were just as many hcmosexua.lmenwhowere psychopatho.Iog ica.l, on-th.e border of psychosis as there were heterosexual men. That there :was no difference between the degree of psychopathology - the fact that you're not in therapy today, you know, does not mean that you're nonnal. (laughter) In fact, I IDuld take it for granted as a therapist noo and I'm no longer a researcher, I would take it for granted, that to be able to live in our society, whether you are gay or straight, and cope . with it, necessarily means that you have to have some kind of neurotic problems. I don't see hCMit is possible (laughter-applause)I don't see hCMit is possible to live in this society with the kinds of pressures, and Godknows homosexuals have more than the straight people do, but I don't seehCM it's possible to live in our society and not have enormouspsychological problems. So I Just take it for granted that the fact that I had a sample of men who were not in psychiatric or psychological treatment, did not mean that they were necessarily well adjusted. In 1954, sheering that, note the words, there is no necessary connection between homosexuality and psychopath.ology• Let me repeat, there is no necessary connection between homosexuality and psychopathology. vlhether you are a well .[functioning, responsible, well adjusted, a person with integri ty , a person without crippling anxieties, does not depend upon whether you're gay or straight. It depends upon what you do with what youtve got, not with wether you're gay or straight. That is an enonnously important finding and it has been debated in psychOlogical literature since 1954, when I first made that discovery. And let me lust summarizethe findings since that time by telling you that there are psychiatrists and psychologists trying to verify my findings. Sane have verified them and same have not. And you would expect this, wouldn't you? It would depend on the sample you used. For example, very shortly after I did my original study in 1954, there was a study made

at an Air Force base in Texas. (laughter) Guess what? (laughter) Guess whothey used as homosexualsubjects? Menwho were in the disciplinary barracks, whohad been convicted of hcrnosexualoffenses and who were being put through the Armyinvestigatory procedures. Now,I ask you, would you expect that a man under thoses circum~ stances, whengiven a battery of psycological tests would be perfectly calm, relaxed. Well they weren't. There were and are a large numberof studies being done since I did that original study in 1954. They've used every psychological test in the book. Let me just suamani.ze the results this way by telling you that the results of the studies depends completely on the sample used. The problem is that the exper-imenters do not control the kind of circumstances in which they find the sample. HCMever,there is nowample evidence, despite what the government says, that there is no necessary connection between homosexuality and psychopathology or pervasive emotional disorder. (applause) Homosexuals are not necessarily sick. (applause) Now let me add to that, there are many whoare, as you know, and one would expect this to be true because it is inconcievable to me, as an honorary hanosexual, (laughter) it is inconcievable to me that the cost, the psychic cost which has to be paid for just being a homosexual in our society is great. And in my office, in private practice, I see manypeople who are paying that cost for being a homosexual in this society today. I thank God for this church, as I knCM frxm Dr. Martin .Field, that there are counseling services available for the people whodo have psychological problems, problems which arise both as a result of social pressures and which also arise as a result, in part, of their cwnpersonaki.ty dynamics. Alright, that's the first question, so let's get that straight. (laughter) You kno» I can't open mymouth without making a Freudian slip. (laughter) Alright! I recently read a book, a terrible book, a new book; it's written by Arnold Carlon and it talks about two camps.(laughter) It talks about the Beaver .campand the Hooker camp. (laughter) Andby that I meanthis. I have profound admiration for the kind of resiljence and integrity and strength that individuals have who are able , despite the pressures of our society, to live a homosexual life and live it in such a way that they makea profound contribution to society. (applause) On the other hand, all of Continued

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us - all of us, (and rememberI'm an honorary hanosexual too) all of us have to recognize that to live in our society as I indicated, with its pressures, it~ derogatory attitudes toward hanosexuality; that's why this church is such a great thing, where you can cane, hold hands, not feel or be ashamed. In a society which produces as muchguilt as our society produces in a manor wanan to be gay, then there's got to be a psychic cost and in that sense Beaver and I join forces (although he wouldn't recognize me if he saw me on the street and the reason he would not is that he's not willing to recognize that there are well adjusted, very healthy, very well functioning hanosexuals. (applause) The second question is sanewhat more lengthy. I propose to talk about our present scientific theories how homosexuality develops. Nowthe first of these theories (and let me try to do it rather quickly), the first of these theories is a theory which has long been held by many psychiatrists; it is the theory whi.chall of you are familiar with. The theory that homosexuality, whether male or female, grows out of a distorted parental relationship. Nowthe man whoput that to the test, he didn't do it very well, but he put it to test, is Beaver. WhatBeaver did was to conpare, unfortunately, 106 male homosexuals and 100 heterosexuals, all of whan were in psychoanalytic treatment. That meansthey're patients, that meansthey're psychOpathological to begin with. Andwhat he did was to comparethem with respect to the parental patterns under which they had been brought up. He cameto the conclusion that the predominant cause of hanosexuality in males is what he calls C. 1. B. A Close Intimate Binding Mother and an indifferent ,hostile , or rejecting father,or ineffective father. Nowremember"that: ne lS usang pa cren , }!uPulations, people whoare sick, whogo to psychiatrists because they are sick. Remember, also, that there is an overlap between these 2 groups of men, so that many of heterosexual men also had Close Intimate Binding Mothers and detached, ineffectual or distant fathers. Now,since that time, (and that's the greatest cr-iticism of the Beaver study) , since that time another study has been done, which using a non-patient population has confinned the Beaver findings. This is a study which was done in Southern California, using people at OneInstitute. It was 21

a study done by Evans and he used the Beaver criteria for a Close Intimate Binding mother and a detached, ineffectual or distant father and he confinned the Beaver findings. But, unfortunately, what Evans did not do was to use a control for the psychopathology in the population that he was using. Remember,as I said before, the fact that you are walking around on the street, you're not going to a psychiatrist or you're not in a mental hospital, doesn't mean that you do not have acute psychological problems. So that we have no guarantee that the psychopathology of the subjects whoEvans used and Beaver used, that the psychopathology of the parents bears any relation to the psychopathology in their hanosexual sons. In fact, I had a graduate student about 4 years ago, who was convinced that the Beaver findings were correct; that the origin of . female homosexuality and male hanosexuality lies in faulty Parental relationships. So under my guidance, he succeeded in getting a population of "normal" male hanosexuals and "normal" male heterosexuals, and guess what? There were no differences between the way they saw their Parents. No differences at all. The hanosexual sons saw their parents in exactly the sameway as the heterosexual sons. Someof them saw them as controlling, over-close, over-intimate, or detached and all the ways you vx>uldexpect people to see them. So let me surmari.ze by saying that there are 2 camps, the Hookercamp and the Beaver camp and let me say this, whenBeaver says that he has never met a hanosexual whohad a normal relationship with his father, a close relationship with his father, I've got news for him, I have. (applause) Let me surrmar-ize , There is no quest ion in my mind but that relationships wit~ parents in the early formative years and throughout adolescence for both men and wamen have a great deal to do with the formation of our psychic makeup. Scientifically, it is the problem of being able to isolate out those factors which have to do with parental background and try to detennine which of these are crucial. I have seen manysubjects for whom these patterns simply do not apply, so it's simply not true that this accounts for hanosexuality. Let me turn to a second theory which attempts to account for hamosexuality and this is the theory of imprinting. Imprinting is as yet not verified on the human level. It has been chiefly verified on the sub-hur..sn level with the use of primates. Continued next page

and also various other assorted animals. I suppose I have talked with at least 2,000 h~osexuals. I have not formally inte~ vf.ewed that many, but I have interviewed a large number and have talked with many, many more. Oneof the answers to the question which I always ask howlong have you known tha t you were hanosexual? Very often the answer is as far back as I can remember. (applause) As far back as I can rememberand sanetimes the subject can tell me of an episode which happenedwhen he or she was three or four. Now John Money,at Hopkins, believes that fo; sane people there is this phenanena called imprinting. Let me give you an illustration which is comparable - for the Gray Lag Go~se. It was with the Gray Lag Goosethat trus phenanenon zas first discovered, by Co~ad Lorenz, a very distinguished ethno~OglSt nowat the University of Cambridge In England. Whathe discovered was this. If th:= goose hatched from an egg and if on emergangfran the egg, the first person the goose saw was Lorenz, he followed Lorenz as if he were its mother. Andit was ir-reversible. He couldn't change it. There was no way to change that pattern if it happened within a few hours of th~ birth of, th:= ch~ck. NowJohn Money,whois a,very dlstlngulshe~ psychologist at Hopklns who works wlth homosexuality and trar.sexuality and transvestis~m, believes that although we can't verify it yet at the humanlevel, that there is a possibility that for samehomosexuals a c~ able phenanenongoes on and I must confess. that I have to agree with this. Fran my ownclinical experience I have to say that whenI see people whoappear to have perfectly normal parents, with good relations between parents and whenthey report to me that there is this very early rnemorv of being attracted to member-s of the same sex, I aminclined to believe that there are neurophysiological mechanismssuch that it is possible that for sane people (remembe~ I said somepeople) imprinting does go on. NovT the third theory. v..7hat about hormonal factors, biological factors. You know the question is often asked about hanosexuality being inborn. Nowhere we're dealirg with 3 sets of factors,biological hormonal,'. and genetic. Nowsince the lat~ ter part . of the last cerrturv +here have been thousands, maybe I'm-exa.ggeratin,g hundreds, at least hundreds of studie; done canparing the hormonal assav of hanosexuals with heterosexuals. All of these results have turned out to be negative.

Until recently, about 2 or 3 months ago, a report appeared in the Los Angeles Times, saying that for the first time somedifferences, honnonal differences had been found by a group of 3 doctors, between male hanosexuals and heterosexuals. I discovered when talking toD!"'. Richard Green,whois one of the co-authors of this research, that the results are not final and that one should not draw any conclusions from this yet. So, what I have to tell you is this, thus far there is no evidence that there are hormonal differences between adult male or female hanosexuals and a canparable group of male or female heterosexuals. Now,however, the field of molecular biology and of brain chemistry and of brain functioning is beginning to burst open. Weknowthat for primates, that is for chimpanzees, for example, or spider monkeys, that there are sane differences in the dominance brain centers of the brain. Kraft Ebbing, that early pioneer of hanosexuality, said that hanosexuality was due to a reversal in daninance of the section centers in the brain. People have laughed over this idea for over 70 years. These centers do exist in the primate level. There are great difficulties in pursuing this at the humanlevel and I can not speak of any results on the hunan level, but Dr. Frank Reach. who i~ an!'> ()f the foremost authorities on animal sexual behavi.or-, nowsays don't laugh at Kraft Ebbing, he maybe right. !t mayturn out to be true that there are differences produced by, in part, the effects of prenatal hormoneson brain centers which may resul t in the production of hana;exuality • But don't ask me how, we cbn' t know how; all I'm talking about is the theoretical possibility. I hope I live long enough to see someof the resu Its of these studies. Nowwhat about genetic factors? Is there any evidence that there are any chrcmosomal abnormalities in male hanosexuals? No. There is absolutely no evidence. There is a technique by which it is nowIX'ssible. as probatly many of you know, to eX> a study of the sex chramosanes by taking a smear of the tissues of the mouth. vlhen this method was first discovered, :imnediately manyscientists turned to the study of homos exuali ty thinking that nowperhaps they had a method of dicovering what the differences were. There are no gross hor-monal abnormalities in hanosexuals, up to the present day. NO\o7 there is a study, its a very questionable study , it needs to be repeated, but I should mention that there CC?ntinued next page 22

was a study done about 1950,as I remember, done of parental and identical twins by Franz Coleman, in NeH York. He found that whenever one identical twin was homosexual the other one was homosexual and to the same degree; whereas that was not true of parental twins. NCM if that study should be duplicated and those findings should be validated, that would be an enormously important finding, because it would ,shOO' that there are genetic factors operating in the production of homosexuality. NCM, finally in this second question that I'm talking about, I personally am very unhappy with attempting to trace homosexuality back to the first few years of life, as all of these theories that I have been talking about thus far do. And the reason I'm unhappy about it is that, as many people in this audience can verify, adolescence for many people is the period when their first awareness of hamosexua1itv occurs and when there are for many people mixtures of feelings about hetercsexual.i ty and homosexuali tv and when the final choice is made, I say choice, but in this society it is not really a choice, but I hope the day will came when, in a sense,it can be a choice.This church is one of the evidences of the fact that we are moving in that direction. (applause)There must be many people in this roam who at the age of ll} or 15, or maybe as late as 18, .had their first homosexual feelings. They do not go back to early childhood, they begin in adolescenc€ and I am convinced that the final dete~ination of whether or not an individual becomes predominantly homosexual in our socfety or not depends in part upon vlhatk.indsof peer group pressures are operating on him. NCM let me say one thing about this. If,we operate in the kind of society as we do nCM, when to discover at the age of anywhere between 13 and 17 that you're gay, or to have erratic attractions to~~ members of your own sex and not dare to speak of this to anybody hecause you're so ashamed of it. To be in that predicament is to re-inforce every chance that you're going to be gay and that you're not going to have a choice as to whether you are going to be gay or whether you are going to have the possibility of having some heterosexuality as well. My bias is showing, I kno» •And my bias is, as you will see frem this, that it seems to me that the essence of a democratic society, if we are really to believe in a democratic society, is that it ought to be related not only to politics, 23

I

but it ought also to be related to the nature of one's love life and one's sexual life. Pnd to confront the adolescent with the horror and shame and degradation of being a homosexual,which our society does, is not only to prevent him frem exploring other possibilities, but is also to condemn him to endless years of psychological torment. And that brings me now to the final thing I vlant to say about this second topic of mine and that is this: the last theory I want to talk about is a theory which vras developed by Ford and Beach, a cultural anthropologist and a biological psychOlogist. They believe,as they put it, that hamosexuali ty, as heterosexuality, is a part of our heritage and that whether we become homosexual or heterosexual, that we all have the potential for becaming one or hoth. And whether we became one or the other or both depends completely upon the kind of psychological and cultural conditions to which we are subject. And if I had time, I would talk about the kinds of evidence there is Ylhere hanosexuali ty is accepted in adult life along with heterosexuality as a normal part of human existence , but that I do not have time to do. f\;ow I want to say sane things about my 3rd topic. This is a very sore topic. I want to talk about the treatment of homosexuality. You agree that it is a sore subje~t? (laughter) At least touchy. Let me talk about 2 questions. TIlefirst question and the way the question is usually put by psychologists and psychiatrists, but not ty me, rut I must do it because they do i~ and it thus gives me a chance to say some of the things I want to say. The way that question is usually put is, can homosexualitv be cured? Noy] let's look at the evidence. There are very few well controlled studies.I could recite all of them to you, but I won't; I'll simply mention the primary results of them. Host of these studies of hamosexuali ty and its cure, that is the char~e into a heterosexual pattern, are, of course, studies of men and they are for the most part psychoanalytic or psychodynamic. There are a fevT studies which use benavior modification, do you KnOH what; that is? Let me see your hands hov.!many of you don't KnCM what; it is? Most of you don't. Put you all knOY7what psychoanalysis is, right? Didn't you Kn~l that Gay Lib invaded the behavior modification conference about a year ago?(applause) They invaded it and they insisted that the behavior modificationists Continued

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listen to them. Behavior modification is essentially (and I'm not a behavior modifier, let me go on record as saying that) (applause) a form of conditioning. I believe that a number of the things which the behavior modificationists do are valuable, I don't happen to think that its a valuable method to use on homosexuals and I'll tell you why. Behavior modification is a form of conditioning, there are many forms of it. For example, in the effort to cure a homosexual, one method is to present him with a picture of a nude male and when he looks at the picture to give him an electric shock in order to condition him against deriving erotic gratification fran looking at nude males. (laughter) Now there are other ways of doing it. One of the ways is to use a reward system, to gradually de-sensitize the person to males and.sensitize them to females so that thev gradually produce a sexual response toward a female. And there are many other variations on this, including the use of chemicals which produce nausea. Now let me surrrnarizeall ttd.s. There is a very strar~e thing about all of the studies which have been done and which claim to cure.And that is that they all have figures that turn out to be about the same, no matter what method was used. And that is very strange indeed. Now I would like to read to you, if I may, fran the Task Force report on homosexuality which I shared at the National Institute of Mental Health about treatment of homosexuals and it reads like this: "With respect to change in homosexual orientation the current literature suggests that perhaps 1/5 of those exclusivelv hanosexual individuals who present them:" selves for treatment are able to achieve serneheterosexual competence .and interest if they are motivated to do so".(laughter) Did you hear that? It didn't say cure - it didn't say that at all. This was written by Dr. J ercme Frank and he says they are able to achieve some heterosexual interests and competence if they are motivated to do so. Of predominantly homosexual persons having sane heterosexual orientation ar.dwho present themselves for treatment oh I'm sorry - that a much higher percentage, perhaps as high as 50% of hanosexual persons having sane heterosexual orientation and who present thems=lves for treatment can be helped to became pred~ inantly heterosexual. But that in court referred or parent referred cases where motivation to change is often lacking and

can't be engendered, treatment is much less successful. Now it seems to me and I am in private practice half time and most of my practice consists of people who have homosexual problems, both men and women, it seems to me and.it seemed to the Task Force that in view of the very l~~ted possibilities of changing the sexual orientation even for those who are desp erate desperii'teto becane heterosexual, that because the possL~ilities are so slight it isn't recommending it. Perhaps 1/5 c1 those who are exclusive can achieve same heterosexual canpetence. That doesn't say that they can even get rid of their homo- . sexualitY,it says that they can achieve sane heterosexual canpetenc(!. The greatest problem in treatment to my mind is the problem, and that is where this church faces its greatest challenge, I think, the greatest problem is the problem of helping confirmed homosexuals to find productive, more useful, more meaningful, more loving, more creative ways of life than they now have. (applause) How can we do this? Hell you are doing it, all of you are doing it, every time you come here you are doing it. But more is needed. Much more than this is needed. And we haven't the time to talk about the tremendous problems that there are in educating professional people in their attitudes about homosexuality. But to my mind one of the most pressdng problems today is this problem (And that is why, whenever I'm asked to speak I do so at the drop of a hat, especially if they are professionals). Psychotherapy is not a science , its an art, and the most fundamental aspect of the art of psychotherapy, although there are many skills to be learned, to be a good psychotherapist, whether you are dealing with homosexuals or not, is to let the patient know that you couldn't care less what his sexual habits are, that you value him as a person. The great problem which we face is the problem of being able to change the emotional attitudes of the therapists themselves so that they are not trourled and disturbed when they have hanosexual patients. I was going to talk about the world of the homosexual cammunity.(applause)I first started going to h~phile organizations in 1q52 , there aren't many of you old enough tc remember that. When people met in the old days in the Mattachine Society and One and in private homes, nobody knew anybody elses last name. I remember once I Continued

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went with Christopher Ishe~~ to a board meeting of the Mattachine Society and they v.7ere all dressed up. They had ties and coats and they looked as if they were an the board. of the Chase National Bank. And I sat there for about 112 hour listening to this very stuffy, you Know, Roberts Pules of Order and all of the rest of it, and finally I turned to them and I said my Godwhats happened? Have you forgotten what its like to be gay?(laughter-a~use) I CM tell 'lOU its a long, long road frxm 1952 to 1971. (applause)At that time, vmen one spoke of the hanosexual conmurri ty and I have written papers about this, what one talked about was where the gathering places were, the bars, the baths, the streets, the public rest roans. I can remember giving a paper in Copenhagen on the hanosexual ccmnunity, in which I talJ<:ed CL~utthe homosexualcommunityas a sexual market place. And it was, And it still is. (laughter) That is, certain parts of it are. Because our time is so short, let me just say this about the hanosexual community. Since that time, there not only are, of course, those institutions which I have just mentioned, the bars, baths, etc., but there is also Gay Lib, Daughters of Bili tis, and there is also Metropolitan Canmunity Church. There are more too, not too many, but there are a few other places where peole can go. The first problem is, as I see it, howcan we under the present repressive Iaws and the present repressive atmosphere of degradation, which thank God is changing, can we create institutions within the gay cammunitywhich will foster meaningful personal relationships between humanbeings, so that the obsessive concern with sexuality which constitutes such a large feature of what I have called the sexual market place in the gay world. So that that aspect can be dropped, because that is, in part, a function of the social pressures which says: If you are gay, you are different, "though it may be that the only respect in which you are different iF that you happen to love another man or you happen to love another wanan. But that is not what society says and when it elevates the problems of sexual choice to the level to vlhich it has leveled it, the chances are that what"is going to happen is that the individual is going to becameobsessed with sexuality. Hhat I want to see and what I KnCMis happening here and what I warrt to see happening other places, is to see sexuality placed in the proper prospecti ve in the meaning and dignity of the 25

rest of hunan life and in relation to all life. (applause) Now,if you'll give me 2 more minutes, I'll finish. I want to say same things about prevention. I'm often asked, would you prevent hanosexuality if you cOuld? If you had a magic pill, for example, ana vou collie just v.Tipeit out, would you do it? (NoD That is v.7hatyou say, you didn't even give me a chance to answer. (laughter) Jim Kepner asked me that once. I don't kn~7 if he is here tonight, but my answer to him was no, I wouldn't eradicate hamosexuali tv and the reason I wouldn't is that hcmosexua.Lshave made profound contributions and do make profound contributions to humanlife. (applause) Andit seems to me that in the area of hanosexual:ity and love that if you really believe in democracy and in the morality of existence, then we have to believe that hamosexuality can be a very valuable variation of humanbehavior and that I believe. Then the question is what dbweprevent? I war.t to prevent the tragedies that I se~ I want to prevent the forms of hamosexuali ty vJhichare psychopathological, because there are forms which are psychopathological, which are sick, which are destructive. Whena professor at U C L A, one of the most brilliant members of the philosophy department, is murdered and he was gay, the newspapers hush it up, and don't mention the fact that he was gay, but he have to face the fact that there are destructi ve aspects of homosexuality. And what I want to prevent are the destructive or the psychopathological aspects of hamosexuality. WhenI hear and you hear, and I knowthat you hear it because you can't be gay and not hear it, of the loneline(:?s the aleination, the lack of int:inacy, the longing to be loved which leads people to desperate suicidal measures in or society. Then you ask me if I would help a person who warrted to change, to becane heterosexual, if I could help him and he was desperate? WouldI do it? I certainly would. (applause) And I Hish to God that I knew better howto do it. One final thir.g, and this you would have taken for granted, but let me go on record. I had a telephone call yesterday frxm an attorney in Hashington who said that I was quoted in Newsweeka couple of weeks ago as saying that homosexuality is not just another sexual object choice, but for many it involves a whole way of life. find the reason he called me was that, for the AmericanCivil Liberties Union, he is Continued ne~t page

defend.ing an avowed homosexual wh? has been dismissed f'rcm his job. Tmearrt by that statement, that hanosexualityis not simply a matter of object choice, but that i t involves a whole way of life. I did not, of course,mean by that that it necessarily involves a 'derogatory way of life, in fact, I meant quite the opposite. I meant that sexuality, as I see it, is integrated with the total personality so that you cannot (and this is why I object to the behavior modificationists) change sexual object choice without changing thewhole person, the total person. The Task Force went on record as agreeing with the AmericanLawInstitutes recaranendations that horrosexuality between consulting adults in private is no longer a matter of concern to the law. It also went on record in recarrnending that the government examine its ownpolicy , its unfair policy of excluding hanosexuals fran government service simply on the grounds that they are hanosexual. It seems to me that the winds of change are movingmore swi.f'tly than any of us 15 years ago or even 5 years ago would have thought. I think there is every chance that soon there will be a change in governmentpolicy as far as discrimination against homosexuals is concerned and that there will be a change in the lawt but as you know,if you follow what has happened in Europe and England, for example, it is not enough to just have a change in the law. Whathas to happen? And I think that it is slowly t gradually happening, a change in public opinion. I am full of hope that the day is carning and I am not so old but that I will 1i ve to see it when it will be possible to stand up and say I am homosexual and to risk no consequence. So I am very glad to be an honorary homosexual. (applause) •

.Guard

me from sin, my hand

Lord Jesus,

Thou my heart

A home for Thee until The heavenly

Thou take,

~dropoHtan

(!lommunitt!

C!Ifrurrfr

MIAMI Mailing: Miami,

P. O. Box 5077 Florida 33101 .

Services: 7050 N. W. 4th Ave. Miami,

Florida

Rev. Brad Wilson, Pastor Sunday: 11:30 AM & 7:30 PM

"The white. hat means the guy's a virgin,"

~dropoHtan

(!lllmmunitu

WASHI N GTON

QIfritrcfr

D.C.

do make

I see

home prepared

for me.

705

7th Street,

Washington

Rev.

D. C.

S. E. 20003

Paul Breton, Pastor Sunday: 2:00 PM

26

The Curse of Jezebel: cone,

A MAN OF FAITH

With King Ahab's death, Jezebel takes his older son (by his first marriage) as hostage in an attempt to put her own son on the throne. She still doesnft believe the prophecy, since she is in Samaria and the walled town of Jezreel is many mil e saw a y • H ow eve r , w hat she forgets is that she is in the palace that King Ahab built and different parts of it are named after the towns that paid for its. building. She lives in a tower with a court below it and in this court she keeps vicious and always hungry dogs. These dogs are supposedly for her protection. Apparently her own conscience made her feel some of the people might try to kill her. The wall of this court was built by the town of Jezreel and so it is called the wa 11 0 f Je z reel • She is t h row n from a window and in fulfilling the prophecy, eaten by her own dogs. As Dr. Slaughter says, this book was easier to write than many of the Biblical stories he has done because historical facts have definitely backed up the Book of Kings in the Bible and that sometimes facts are stranger than fiction.

~dropolitnn

In the beginning there was a man. A man who had the call to serve Goo, but because he was a homosexual had put this call behind him. He still had the same love arid compassion for his fellow man, even for those who did not understand or like homosexuals. He also never lost his faith in Goo, his belief that Christ had died for all of mankind•. Whentold that even Goo and Christ forgotten and had no use for homosexuals, he set out to prove that it was man, the men in the church, not Goo and Christ. So this man went back to his calling, went back to serving Goo and Christ, went back to serving mankind. And so Metropolitan Camnuni ty Church was founded. It sounds so easy and so simple, this often told story. But was it so easy? Was it so simple? Howsimple and easy was it to knowyou are going to face a hostile and condemningsociety? Wasthe decision to do this easy? And not only Continued next page


Mailing: Phoenix,

P. O. Box 2357 Arizona 85002

Services: 1426 East Maricopa Freeway Phoenix, Arizona 85032 Rev.

27

Robert J. Cunningham. Sunda y: 1:00 PM

Pastor "And they say all men are created equal I"

courage for himself, but courage enough to get others to also stand up and be counted. Even to face a group of his CMl1 kind, a group of closet cases, must have taken an effort of will. Andeven today, three years later, he is still doing it. To get this courage he first had to accept himself far what he honestly was. Youmust start with sanething before you can build. To accept himself, not just his hanosexuality , but all of his weaknesses and strengths. Oncehe could do that, then he could build faith in himself and in turn give himself into God's care. Youcannot have real faith in God ar in anything until you first have faith in yourself. Fran this faith in God, he also received real faith in mankind. He was and is a minister of God, yes, but has any homosexualreally ever had this kind of faith before. Sane have tried, but failed because of discouragement and lack of any-real faith. There must have been discouragements for this mantoo, . there still are at times. But this man's faith is too strong for any manmadediscouragement to stop. This faith, which gave him just twelve people three years ago, is still grxwing as are the twentyone churches and missions. This faith in God, in Christ and even in his fellowman just won't let this man be a quitter. This man of true faith whose only real mission is in showing others their way to this faith. This man of faith, ReverendTroy D. Perry, tJ:1efounder of Metropolitan Community Church and an Elder of the Uniyersal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. .

~.etropolitatt

QIummunitu

aIqurdy

SAN DIEGO'

Weichel Hall North 47th Street San Diego, California <j06

Rev. John H. Hose. Deacon Howard Williams. Sunday:

Pastor Asst.

Pastor

7:30 PM

-

Sun. Sept.

.

l2th ~ont.

Mea culpa~ mea culpa~ mea maxima culpa. Conference got side-tracked

from a discussion of IN UNITY. In case you don't know, neither Don Hughes, the Board of Publications nor the entire staff of IN UNITY can make a NATIONAL publication out of it. OnlY'WE out in the field can do that by submitting material. This is my resolution to see that each month there is something about Sacramento and environs in our IN UNITY. Pastor Gilbert

~OBSI~HBE:, #IN OL£)£5T~«iEND'AND I ARE GOING CAMPING· .. " FOR A FewPA'IS, .' .. MOMMA 1, .-. -""

28

Keynote Address Cont. not be Gpeek and Jew~aipaumaised ~d unaipaumaised~ bapbarian~ Saythian~ e lav e , [pee men ••• " homosexual or heterosexual "••• but ch ri e t: is aZZ~ an din a ZZ." (C 0 Z0 esian e :5: ZZ R S V)

A significant point to note about this Conference is that it was not called by any segment, committee, instrumentality, or task force of the organized Church; but by a few' concerned indi vi duals, some" clergy some lay, some straight some gay, wh o had given up on those within the Church structure calling such a Conference. We hope there will emerge from within the denominational superstructure some who are ready to carryon what is begun here today and tomorrow. We do not want a repetition of the ill fated White Plains Conference of 1966, which rewarding in itself for those piesent, was buried the moment the Conference ended. I have a lw ay s wondered who within the Church structure did the burying and why. With the appearance of three new books on the subject, IS GAY GOOD?, CHANGING HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MALE, and SEXIIAL HERETICS: t~ALE HOr,10SEXUALITY IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, and the cover story in the t,1arch 3, CHRISTIAN CENTURY, plus LOOK magazine's including a gay couple in its article on American families it might seem that the organizers of this Conference have just jumped on a rolling bandwagon. That is far from the case, there are those present who have labored for nearly a decade to bring this Conference into being and it is their labors, combined with many others around the country, which have brought these other matters to pass into the light of day. Today the homosexual is no longer content to sit at the door of the Church reciting Psalm 88 while waiting for the leadership inside to make up its mind about him.Too often the Church structure has held draft counseling workshops but excluded the topic of counseling the draft age homosexual, too often has denominational leadership held marriage enrichment conferences that were 100 % hetero oriented, too long has homosexuality been neglected in Church circles as a valid way of opposing the population explosion, for far too long now has the Church family 29

s aid tot h e horn0 sex ua 1, you can com e and worship and receive our sacraments PROVIDED you can pass as a heterosexual. Dearly beloved •••• those days are past, and that is good not only for the religiously motivated homosexual but for the Church as we11.For that love which for so many centuries has dared not speak its name has come of age and is aware that it is part of the same love about which our Saviour spoke. Just as Church and society have begun to be aware of the contributions made by b1.acks to our cultural history so it is time we become aware of the contributions made by homosexuals to Church history and to Ame r i c an society. The Church has been glad to benefit from the labors of gay hymn writers, gay saints, gay artisans, gay contributors. Now let it recognize their participation with thanksgiving and equal treatment. Let the Church recognize that the Lord does have other sheep in his pasture that are not of the same fold, and let us put the First Jerus ale m Co un c ill n tom 0 dern t ime s by declaring that one does not have to be a heterosexual before he can be a Christian. If this be the new mora1i t v , sob e it. In these next 48 hours let meanin g fu 1 rap p 0 r t b e twe en Ch urch 1e a d:!rs and homosexuals be inaugurated. But there is another contact equally needed, that between denominational leaders and their own clergy who for yea rs h ave bee n a two rk wit h horn0 se xuals, often at great personal risk to career and family and with little support of any kind' from their respective church bodies. Indeed, if the truth be known, sometimes ill treated by their respective denominations. One of the shortcomings of many of the books written about homosexuals is that the authors tend to tM~ of only the middle of the road type of homosexual and neglect all the other life styles. There are as many varieties within homosexual expression as there are within heterosexual expression and we want to keep them in mind today and tomorrow lest we exclude others who are also waiting for expressions of concern from this Conference of Ch u rchmen and women. I Continued

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am thinking of the teenager and the grandmother, of the old auntie in a nursing home, the closet queen and his opposite the flaming queen. the militant and the self-help homophile. the diesel dyke and the ballerina. the draftee and the holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor. the sex slave and the hustler, the S&M boys and the fairy, the husband and the father, the celebrant at the altar and the heartbroken lover. the imprisoned and the matinee idol.Each of these needs to be part of our concern and understanding lest we find too easy answers and develop too narr 0\'1 anap pro ac h • Twenty-eight years ago in his ON REING A REAL PERSON, Fosdick called attention to the poor preparation of the clergy in dealing with homosexuality. But the Church preferred not to do anything about it, to wit the lack of books on the subject in most seminary libraries. Eleven years ago my own denomination, the United Church of Christ, in its mid-winter meeting heard the Rev. Dr. Herman Reissig, its elder statesman, raise the same question but it was a full decade before that liberal denominationeven began to stir itself. Whi le we have seen a we lc ome in.crease in Church activity in recent months in this area it has been mainly a case of segments of the Church and individuals within the homophile movement speaking AT each other rather than \>lITH each other. It is the latter we need now to pursue. Perhaps during the following hou~ others who stand here will enumerate s'ome of the sins of the Church in its relationships with homosexuals. Certainly one of its gravest has been its silence in the face of Obvious, often organized harassment and debasement of the homosexual person. The si lence of all our churches in Florida during the 2 years of purges of alleged homosexuals in academic institutions in 1962-64 is as disgraceful as thei r silence in the 30s and 40s concerning racial segregation. Likewise the churchs'collec-, tive behavior in Boise, Idaho, in: 1955. Shame. thrice shame! Too, the Church has been mute when for years various arms of the governmental structure have collected confidential

information on its citizens, much of which concerns homosexual expression. The Church will lose some of f't s best leadership if it prevents homosexuals from joining the ranks of its ordained clergy AS homosexuals. I cannot in clear conscience recruit young men and women for the ministry when I must say to them, "Of course this is only for heterosexuals." The Church's traditional anti-homosexual position but reflects the distorted thinking of contemporary society and is an area where our spiritual leaders must do serious re-thinking if they would reflect the spirit of the Master and the over-all well-being of both Church and homosexual. Maybe this is the place to pause and say to the Church superstructure that homosexuality is not contagious, it is not going to spread through the seminary dormitory because one or two students there happen to be so oriented. Heterosexuality is not going to be wiped out of your parish if several of its young men enjoy watching bottomless Go-Go boys at a local gay bar. If one is called to serve Christ through the ordained ministry, then no screening committee should dare say otherwise on the sole ground that the young man or woman is a homosexual lest the committee be playing the anti-Christ and find itself in op po s i t t on to the Holy Spirit. Let the Church recognize that homosexuality, per se, is as morally neutral as, say, left-handedness. Like one who is left-handed, so the homosexual can live a moral or immoral life, parti cipate in exactly the same degree of sin but also in forgiveness and beatitude. Likewise,the gay boy or gi rl man or woman is no more sick because of their homosexuality than'is the left-handed person nor is he any more a criminal. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken t

in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, Zest you too be tempted. Bear one anothers burdens, and 80 fulfiH the law of Ch ri 8 t." (Gal a tian s 6: l, 2 RS V) Sow e

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