INTEGRITY URGES THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL PROPOSED IN UGANDA

Integrity USA joins the groundswell of international outrage against the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 currently before the Parliament of Uganda. The Board of Directors of Integrity USA calls on all leaders in the Episcopal Church to oppose this horrendous and blatantly homophobic bill. Integrity urges Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to speak out against the bill. We urge the Presiding Bishop to contact Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ask Clinton to work through diplomatic channels with the government of Uganda to quash this bill. We also commend the work by those in Executive Council in bringing forward a resolution speaking against the legislation and urge its passage at the special session called for December 7th.


“The Ubuntu vision the Episcopal Church shares with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and which we celebrated together in Anaheim does not allow us to stand idly by and let this bill go unchallenged,” said the Rev. David Norgard, President of Integrity USA.


"Our church has already spoken through Resolution D005 at General Convention in 2006 opposing legislation criminalizing homosexuality. This current Ugandan bill, if passed, would clearly be a direct violation of human rights, imposing draconian penalties on our LGBT brothers and sisters in Uganda. It is our moral imperative to take a stand. Integrity applauds all those who have spoken out so far, including the Anglican Church of Canada, and those who intend to do so in the future.”


Integrity has a long history of relationship with Uganda through its connections with Integrity Uganda allies but also through its Vice President of National & International Affairs, the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle’s work in Uganda on HIV-AIDS. "We cannot support laws that are internationally and locally criticized as ineffective public health policy that will only make the HIV situation worse for Ugandans in general, and to use religious values to deny human rights that run contrary to the Ugandan Constitution," said Ogle. He has written an important background paper and analysis shedding new light on the complexity in Uganda with special emphasis on the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. His paper will be released tomorrow, December 1st, World Aids Day, and posted on the Walking With Integrity blog (walkingwithintegrity.blogspot.com).


Integrity calls for prayers for all those living with HIV/AIDS and for those fighting to overcome the scourge of homophobia.

Integrity Leader Jon Richardson Gives Thanks

I’ve heard that there’s an objectivity principle in documentary filmmaking that states that the filmmaker should endeavor, whenever possible, to avoid influencing the events or in any way shaping the story surrounding the subject.  It is argued that whenever the filmmaker becomes a part of the story, even if that part is not seen onscreen, the story somehow becomes less true.

No one has ever sought to make a documentary about me.  I imagine that such a film would have a hard time selling!  But I did get a taste of that “objectivity principle” in action this summer while I was serving Integrity at General Convention.

Our Communications team set an unprecedented goal for themselves – to produce daily videos reporting on the news, history, and characters of the LGBT movement at General Convention.  As one of the co-Leads of the Legislative Team, I thought my days were long.  I had meetings at 7:00 most mornings and didn’t finish all of the daily briefings and planning sessions until after midnight many nights.  But my work was nothing compared to the hours that the Communications team put in!

For one segment Barbara Curry interviewed me about my leadership role with the Legislative Team.  One of the questions that I was asked was about my experience as an openly gay man in the priestly ordination process – how did my sexual orientation factor into my experience of answering God’s call to be a priest? That question was a huge gift.  It continues to play a role in shaping my story.

In many ways the answer is simple: to my knowledge, my status as an openly gay man had absolutely no impact on the decisions that were made in my diocese about moving me forward in the ordination process.  Instead, the decisions were based on my ability to articulate my faith, my spiritual, psychological and emotional fortitude for the challenges of serving God in the church, my ability to build significant relationships with colleagues and parishioners, the list could go on.  But sexuality isn’t anywhere on it.

Ever since that question was asked of me, it’s been sitting in the back of my mind.

I know that I have been blessed to have had an ordination process that honored my humanity and that never attempted to stifle it or to punish me for it.  My ordination process has allowed me to explore the ways that God lives in me so that I could allow my priesthood to bloom.  Never was I asked to be other than God made me.  I was only asked to be open to all that God made me to be.

It’s how the ordination process should be: always life-giving.  Never life-suppressing.

And I’m profoundly thankful to the ministry of Integrity for the role it has played in helping to make my story possible.  For longer than I have been alive there have been people in this organization working to make my sexual orientation a non-issue.

In a couple of weeks, when I am ordained a priest, there won’t be any reporters covering the story.  You won’t read a headline that says, “Openly Gay Man Ordained a Priest in the Diocese of Newark!”  I won’t receive hate mail or letters of commendation from dignitaries.  I’ll just kneel before my bishop, surrounded by the prayers and presence of my friends, family, and colleagues; and when I stand, I’ll be a bit more of the man that God made me to be.  And then I’ll be free to get on with the mission of the church as God has called me to perform it.

I also know that many others are not so fortunate.

I have friends and colleagues both here in the Episcopal Church and around the Anglican Communion whose ordination processes were not (and are not) so life-giving.  In some cases, they are people who live in fear of telling the truth.  In others, they are people who have actually been advised by clergy to lie if questioned.  And that is to say nothing of the scores of the LGBT faithful who live and worship in the parts of our church and our communion where honest LGBT priests are still not allowed.  They have never had the opportunity to see Christ re-presented in the form of priests so like themselves.

I have often heard women who were raised in the Roman Catholic church speak of the power of that first time they saw another woman standing at the altar.

I had a similar reaction the first time I met a priest who was gay and didn’t have to lie about it.  It gave me an unspeakable sense of belonging – the kind of belonging to which Christ invites us all.  Even when we don’t.

So I was glad that my interviewer interfered a bit.  She did change my story.  She made my story more deeply filled with gratitude than it could have been before.

My prayer is that we’ll keep changing people’s stories.  That we’ll keep opening up room for new gratitude and new thanksgivings as the church comes to know more and more the truth that all are within the reach of Christ’s saving embrace.

 ___________________________________________________________________

The Rev. Jon M. Richardson is a transitional deacon in the Diocese of Newark.  He will be ordained to the priesthood on December 12, 2009.  He serves as Interim Missioner for Youth & Young Families at The Episcopal Church of St. Paul in Chatham, New Jersey.  Jon has worked with Integrity's Legislative Team at the past two General Conventions and was a part of Integrity's staff at the Lambeth Conference in 2008.  Jon blogs at www.JonMRichardson.com

MA clergy may marry same-sex couples

Tom Shaw, Bishop of Massachusetts writes his clergy:

Advent I
November 29, 2009

Christian marriage is a sacramental rite that has evolved in the church, along with confirmation, ordination, penance, and the anointing of the sick, and while it is not necessary for all, it must be open to all as a means of grace and sustenance to our Christian hope.

I believe this because the truth of it is in our midst, revealed again and again by the many marriages—of women and men, and of persons of the same gender—that are characterized, just as our church expects, by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, and the holy love which enables spouses to see in one another the image of God.

In May of 2004 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court opened civil marriage in our state to same-gender couples. That ruling set up a contradiction between what civil law would allow and what our church’s canons and formulary state, which is that marriage is between a man and a woman.

And so, for more than five years now, while faithfully waiting for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church to act in response, we in the Diocese of Massachusetts have been living at some cost with an imperfect accommodation: Our clergy have not been allowed to solemnize same-gender marriages, but they have been permitted to bless them after the fact.

In July of this year, the 76th General Convention adopted resolution C056, “Liturgies for Blessings.” It allows that “bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this church.”

Your bishops understand this to mean for us here in the Diocese of Massachusetts that the clergy of this diocese may, at their discretion, solemnize marriages for all eligible couples, beginning Advent I.

Solemnization, in accordance with Massachusetts law, includes hearing the declaration of consent, pronouncing the marriage and signing the marriage certificate. This provision for generous pastoral response is an allowance and not a requirement; any member of the clergy may decline to solemnize any marriage.

While gender-specific language remains unchanged in the canons and The Book of Common Prayer, our provision of generous pastoral response means that same-gender couples can be married in our diocese. We request that our clergy follow as they ordinarily would the other canonical requirements for marriage and remarriage.

And, because The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage in The Book of Common Prayer may not be used for marriages of same-gender couples, we ask that our priests seek out liturgical resources being developed and collected around the church.

We also commend to you the October 2008 resource created by our New England dioceses, “Pastoral Resources for Province I Episcopal Clergy Ministering to Same-Gender Couples,” available here

We have not arrived at this place in our common life easily or quickly. We have not done it alone. This decision comes after a long process of listening, prayer and discernment leading up to and continuing after General Convention’s action this past summer.

Our Diocesan Convention recently adopted a resolution of its own expressing its collective hope for the very determination that your bishops have made. Even so, we know that not all are of one mind and that some in good faith will disagree with this decision. Our Anglican tradition makes space for this disagreement and calls us to respect and engage one another in our differences. It is through that tension that we find God’s ultimate will.

We also know that by calling us to minister in the context of this particular place and time God is again blessing our diocese with a great challenge by which we might enter more fully into that ethic of love which Jesus speaks to us through the New Testament.

It is an immeasurable love given for all. We are being asked to live it, all of us, children of God, each with equal claim upon the love, acceptance and pastoral care of this church, so that the newness and fullness of life promised through word and sacrament might be for all people and for the completion of God’s purpose for the world.

/s/ M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE

From Ekklesia: OPPOSITION TO UGANDA ANTI-GAY BILL IS CHANCE TO BUILD UNITY IN DIVIDED CHURCHES

From Ekklesia, an independent, not-for-profit think-tank which examines the role of religion in public life and advocates transformative theological ideas and solutions.

OPPOSITION TO UGANDA ANTI-GAY BILL IS CHANCE TO BUILD UNITY IN DIVIDED CHURCHES

London, UK - NOV 24, 2009 The religion and society thinktank Ekklesia is observing that opposition against the 'anti- homosexuality' Bill currently being proposed in Uganda is a prime opportunity for the churches to create some unity around issues of sexuality which so often divide them.

Ekklesia is proposing that Christian leaders should be able to speak with one voice on this issue, whatever their views on sexual ethics, and find common ground on which to build for the future.

The Bill being proposed in Uganda would introduce the death penalty for certain sexual activity between consenting adults. Whatever people's views on sexuality within the churches, says the thinktank, Christians should be able to join together to oppose the measures.

But Ekklesia also warns that continued silence from church leaders on the issue will also speak volumes. A failure to speak out will be widely seen as revealing the 'real' attitudes of many in the churches to gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

An online petition launched by Ekklesia urges the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who has so far remained silent on the issue, to speak out against the Bill. The petition has already brought signatories from priests, ministers and other church leaders around the world and those who, despite differing beliefs over homosexuality, have come together to expose the hollowness of the religious rhetoric used by the Bill's supporters.

Ekklesia's associate director Symon Hill said: "This is a rare chance for Christians of many views to stand united, whatever their beliefs about sexual ethics. Many Christian leaders and groups have already condemned this Bill. But those that refuse to do so run the risk of never being taken seriously in future debates on sexuality or human rights.

"Given the importance of Anglicanism in Uganda, it would be right and proper for the Archbishop of Canterbury to make a statement. It is all the more important given that the Archbishop of York, who grew up in Uganda, has said he has no plans to speak out against the Bill."

Christian organisations in Britain which have condemned the Bill include Accepting Evangelicals, Changing Attitude, Courage UK, Ekklesia, Fulcrum, Inclusive Church and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM).

The campaign against the Bill is led by Sexual Minorities Uganda.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The petition calling on the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Christian leaders to speak out against the Bill in public can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Uga nda_Christians/index.html

2.The Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill prescribes life imprisonment for any sexual activity between adults of the same sex, with the death penalty for anyone whose same-sex partner is disabled or is under 18. Ministers or priests would face three years imprisonment if they failed to report an incidence of homosexuality of which they became aware.

3. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is proposed by David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan Parliament who emphasises his commitment to Christianity. It is supported by the Minister for Ethics and Integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, a member of the Anglican Church of the Province of Uganda.

4. The office of the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, recently responded to a letter by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM), stating that he had no plans to comment on the Bill.

5. Formed in 2001, Ekklesia was listed by The Independent newspaper in 2005 as among 20 influential UK thinktanks. According to Alexa/Amazon, it has one of the most-visited religious current affairs websites in Britain. It runs a news and comment service, examining religion in public life, and raises £250,000 a year for peace & justice causes.

Contact Symon Hill Ekklesia associate director office@ekklesia.co.uk 020 8769 8163 /07920 037719

Grant M. Gallup, Integrity's first chaplain.

News from Louie Crew:

A friend just called to say that Grant Gallup+ died last night. He was a charter member of Integrity's first chapter, in Chicago, and served as chaplain to that chapter. For several years in the 70s and 80s he edited Integrity Forum. For many years he was vicar of St. Andrew's on the near Westside of Chicago, and since about 1988 he has been a missioner in Managua, Nicaragua, where he founded Casa Maria.

Grant wrote frequently for The Witness and other progressive journals.

In 1976 he was president of the Episcopal liturgists association. His liturgical reflections Homily Grits(2000-2007)) remains very popular.

He was known affectionately by his close friends as Sister Mary Rattle Beads, and rattle them he did. He was one of the first out priests in the USA, speaking on the Studs Terkel radio program.

I remember asking Grant how those at St. Andrew's were dealing with his openness. "The same way I deal with theirs." When someone's son was arrested for using crack, Grant was there to help the family cope. When someone needed groceries to make it to the end of the month, Grant was there for them. His larder was never empty. On some days half the block seemed to show up in his dining room for a meal. He had the gift of endless, joyful hospitality. He kept polished the silverware

Few people have influenced me as much as Grant. I loved him dearly. He taught me much about justice and about courage. He was a strong friend when I had few. He constantly pointed me to gospel imperatives. He eschewed pettiness.

For example; When we lived in Fort Valley, Georgia, Ernest was a hairdresser, and in our tiny apartment did the hair of some of the poorest women in Peach County. One of them called me down from my study to tell me that Dr. XXXXX, senior warden at my parish, was about to become a father again by his mistress. A couple of years before, Dr. XXXXX had collected vestry signatures for a petition asking me to "find some other place of worship more in sympathy with your concerns about gay people."

I called Mary Rattlebeads. "Shall I send Dr. XXXXX a Father's Day card?" I asked.

"You will do no such thing! A new life is coming into the world. If you say anything at all, you might call the mother and offer to sponsor the child at baptism, but only if you are prepared to meet the obligations of doing so. This is no time for pettiness!"

In the winter of 1978 when I was visiting him in Chicago, Grant was summoned to a shelter to comfort a wino whose Native American lover had committed suicide by drowning himself in the Chicago River. I went with him. The deacon who ran the shelter had a huge sign in gold gothic script: "Love your neighbor today: leave him alone".

After brief introductions, in a tiny office made into a parlor, Grant and I sat in silence with the grief stricken man for at least ten minutes. The man broke the silence: "It's a tough world for a girl these days."

"We two girls say Amen to that!" Grant said.

That passed the man's test. Then he trusted us and poured out his heart.

Pray for those of us who now pour out our hearts.

Louie, Quean Lutibelle

Louie Crew Queer Eye for the Lectionary

and more from The Rev. Canon Edward M. Copland, Rector, Saint Boniface Episcopal Church, Siesta Key, 5615 Midnight Pass Road, Sarasota, Florida 34242

I learned that Grant died of a heart ailment Thursday, November 26, at 6 in the evening. His body is still at home, and he will be buried today at 4 in the main cemetery in Managua, where for years he would take his walk to choose his "next home." We will pray for him at the Eucharists at St Boniface on Sunday. Ted

Aprendí que Grant murió de un ataque del corazón el jueves 26 de noviembre, en 6 de la tarde. Su cuerpo todavía está en la casa, y lo enterrarán hoy en 4 pm en el cementerio principal en Managua, en donde por años él tomaría su caminata para elegir su "hogar siguiente." Rogaremos para él en las eucaristías en St Bonifacio el domingo.

More here.

FROM EPISCOPAL NEWS ONLINE

Executive Council members call for special meeting on Uganda legislation


By Mary Frances Schjonberg,

[Episcopal News Service] A teleconference meeting of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council will take place on Dec. 7 to discuss a possible statement on Ugandan legislation that would imprison for life or execute people who violate that country's anti-homosexuality laws.

Sixteen members of the council requested the meeting with a handwritten petition that said a motion would be offered at the meeting "regarding the urgent human rights situation in Uganda."

Homosexuality in the African nation currently carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment. If passed, the proposed bill would extend prison sentences for homosexuals up to and including life imprisonment and introduce the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which includes assault against people under the age of 18 and those with disabilities. It also would give Ugandan courts jurisdiction over Ugandan citizens who violate the law "partly outside or partly in Uganda."

The Executive Council, an elected group of clergy, laity and bishops that carries out the programs and policies adopted by the General Convention, according to Canon I.4 (1)(a), normally meets three to four times a year. The next meeting is set for Feb. 19-22.

However, the Presiding Bishop as president of the council may call a special meeting and a minimum of nine council members may petition in writing for such a meeting under Canon I.4 (4)(a).

The last special meeting occurred April 13, 2005 when then-Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold called a one-day meeting in Mundelein, Illinois near Chicago to formulate a response to a request of the Anglican Communion's primates that the Episcopal Church voluntarily withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council until the next meeting of the 2008 Lambeth Conference. The minutes of that meeting are here and the response is here.


The 16 members circulated the petition amongst themselves at a Nov. 17-20 gathering in Chicago of the Episcopal Church's so-called interim bodies, the Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards (commonly know as CCABs). The members were at the meeting in their roles as council liaisons to the church's standing commissions. All council members who were approached to sign the petition, agreed to do so, according to Sarah Dylan Breuer, council member from Massachusetts and one of the signers.

The council members' request came on the same day that the Chicago Consultation, a group of lay and ordained Episcopalians, called on Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda to speak out against the legislation. None of them has issued any statements thus far.

Also that day, during at the CCABs meeting in Chicago, the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns agreed to a statement saying that the members discussed the Ugandan legislation at length, were "deeply alarmed" by it and urged the Executive Council to address the issue before its February meeting.

The commission offered "proposed language" for the council to consider as a resolution. In it the council would join with the Anglican Church of Canada in expressing "dismay and concern" over the proposed legislation, call upon the U.S. government to convey via the Secretary of State "a sense of alarm about this fundamental violation of human rights" and ask the Archbishop of Canterbury, other church leaders, and other appropriate leaders and bodies of the Anglican Communion to take similar action.

The Anglican Church of Canada's Council of General Synod on Nov. 15 expressed its dismay and concern about the draft legislation, saying that the proposed bill "would severely impede the human rights of Ugandan citizens both at home and abroad [and] impose excessive and cruel penalties on persons who experience same-sex attraction as well as those who counsel, support, and advise them, including family members and clergy."

Alexander Baumgarten, director of the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations, recently told ENS that "the Episcopal Church, like the Anglican Communion as a whole, is very clear in its support for the human rights of all people, including gay and lesbian persons."

"For us in the Episcopal Church, that means we oppose all abuses of human rights, whether in our own midst or in other parts of the world, and we seek to make that opposition known through our ministry of advocacy," he said.

Baumgarten noted that for the past several weeks, the Episcopal Church "has encouraged Episcopalians who have contacted us on this issue to be in touch with their own elected officials. As of the present moment, we are very encouraged by the engagement of the U.S. State Department, which has called the law a 'significant step backwards for human rights,' and has given public assurances that it is addressing the matter with the Ugandan government. It is our understanding that neither the Ugandan government nor the Church of the Province of Uganda (Anglican) has taken a position on this legislation."

The Anglican Church of Uganda on Nov. 6 issued a press release saying that it is studying the bill and does not yet have an official position on the proposed legislation. However, the release restated the Ugandan church's position that "homosexual behavior is immoral and should not be promoted, supported, or condoned in any way as an 'alternative lifestyle.'"

And AllAfrica.com reported Oct. 29 that the church's provincial secretary told the Monitor newspaper in Kampala, Uganda that jailing homosexuals was preferable to executing them. "If you kill the people, to whom will the message go? We need to have imprisonment for life if the person is still alive," said the Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, according to the website.

The 16 members who signed the petition are the Rev. Canon Tim Anderson, Hisako Beasely, Sarah Dylan Breuer, Jane Cosby, Martha Gardner, the Rev. Floyd "Butch" Gamarra, Bruce Garner, Anita George, the Ven. Joyce Hardy, Stephen Hutchinson, the Rev. Cristobal Leon, Katie Sherrod, the Rev. Terry Starr, Deborah Stokes, Anne Watkins, the Rev. Sandye Wilson.

Breuer told ENS Nov. 23 that the teleconferencing method meant that the council could meet quickly at less cost and provide "an opportunity for all of us to stand with our presiding officers (Jefferts Schori and Anderson) behind whatever conclusion the meeting comes to."

"I think the ability of Executive Council to respond to such a time-sensitive request in accordance with our polity and without burdening the budget is one example of what our Presiding Bishop has been saying: Perhaps a shrinking budget helped the process along, but embracing technology to meet over distances presents us with exciting opportunities too," she said.

The money available for the CCABs (of which the council is one) to meet face-to-face was reduced when the 2010-2012 budget was cut by $23 million from the current plan. It is anticipated that the most of the groups would primarily meet online or with telephone conferencing.

Breuer said that the conference-call meeting is "an opportunity to discuss an issue that the entire church is passionate about [and] to let people know that our response has been considered by clergy, laity and bishops, and has been considered carefully and prayerfully," Breuer said. She added that she hoped such a consideration will show "there's broad consensus" about whatever stance the council takes.


-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

INTEGRITY MEMBERS ATTEND VIGIL IN NYC & SPEAK OUT AGAINST HATE CRIMES

Today Integrity USA stands with all those who mourn the brutal murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado as we join in the call for an end to the hate motivated violence that targets LGBT people just for being who they are.



The Episcopal Church has been officially speaking out against hate crimes since 1988 when a resolution of our General Convention decried the increase of violence against homosexual persons.


Integrity stood with those who lobbied for the passage of the recent inclusive hate crime bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.


“Our God is one of love, acceptance and inclusion – and we trust that Jorge is now wrapped in God’s loving arms,” said Chap James Day, Integrity spokesperson [Astoria NY]. “We are called at bitter times as these to answer hate with love, violence with peace and despair with hope that out of such tragedy can come new levels of understanding.


"Our prayer is that the tragic loss of Jorge might melt hearts that have been hardened and open eyes that have been closed – and that we might ALL work together to end violence against any member of the human family.”


“May God's mercy be shown to those whose bigotry blinds them from seeing the unique beauty, dignity, and precious gift from God that is found in every human being.


“May Jorge rest in peace, rise in glory and may we all be inspired to work in his memory for a world that is closer to God's vision for us all as members of the same human family.”



For further information contact:

Louise Brooks, Communication Director

Integrity USA -- 626.993.4605

lebrooks@earthlink.net

INTEGRITY'S WORK IN ANAHEIM CONTINUES TO PAY OFF

FROM MATT HAINES, Integrity USA's Province VIII Coordinator

Diocese of Oregon elects Bishop, approves Same-Gender blessings

Integrity is happy to announce that the Diocese of Oregon has elected the Reverend Michael Joseph Hanley, on the second ballot, to become the 10th Bishop of Oregon. The bishop-elect is currently the rector of St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Roseville, Minnesota, an Integrity Proud Parish partner [P3].

We also celebrate the passage of a resolution, inspired by 2009 General Convention Resolution D025, humbly requesting that the bishop-elect offer pastoral generosity to clergy wishing to liturgically bless same-gender relationships in the Diocese of Oregon.

From our friends: Chicago Consultation Asks Anglican Leaders to Oppose Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

contact:  Rebecca Wilson, 330-524-2067, rebeccaswilson@sbcglobal.net

CHICAGO CONSULTATION CALLS ON ANGLICAN LEADERS

TO OPPOSE UGANDAN ANTI-GAY LEGISLATION

Group Sends Letters to Presiding Bishop, House of Deputies President,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and Archbishop of Uganda

CHICAGO, IL, November 20, 2009—The Chicago Consultation today asked the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; President of the House of Deputies Dr. Bonnie Anderson; and the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda, to speak out against draconian anti-gay legislation introduced in the Ugandan Parliament last month.

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and Jesus teaches us to care for the vulnerable and the marginalized. The proposed Ugandan legislation is as far from those commandments as it could be,” said the Rev. Lowell Grisham, co-convener of the Chicago Consultation. “The Anglican Communion has committed itself to the pastoral care of gay and lesbian people. At a time like this, we implore its leaders to speak out.”

Uganda’s so-called “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” proposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for touching another individual with homosexual intent. Belonging to a gay organization, advocating gay rights and providing condoms or safe-sex advice to gays and lesbians could result in a seven-year prison sentence. Failing to report violations of the law within 24 hours would be punishable by a three-year prison term. In contravention of international law, the new legislation would also apply to Ugandans living in other countries.

In 1998, the Lambeth Conference, a worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops passed Resolution 1.10, committing themselves to the pastoral care of gays and lesbians. The General Convention of the Episcopal Church passed legislation (D005) in 2006 opposing the criminalization of homosexuality.  

Seventeen human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have pointed out that the bill would criminalize their work and significantly diminish the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Even Exodus International, which promotes controversial therapies to change a person’s sexual identity, opposes this bill because it is so harsh.

“Across North America, Europe and Africa, people of goodwill oppose this draconian legislation,” Grisham said. “But within the Anglican Communion, only the Church of Canada has found its voice. We are eager to hear our leaders speak out on behalf of frightened, isolated and persecuted gays and lesbians in Uganda, and on behalf of all Anglicans who believe in the dignity of every human being.” Grisham said.

Spokesmen for the Church of Uganda initially supported the bill, but advocated that the death penalty provision and extradition provisions be removed. As the international backlash against the bill has intensified, the Church has retreated from its original position and now says it has no position on the bill. 

American evangelist Rick Warren, who has close ties to Archbishop Orombi and the Ugandan church, has refused to condemn the bill, saying he has no position on it.

The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. To learn more about the Chicago Consultation, visit www.chicagoconsultation.org.

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