Announcement of Special Election

Dear Members:

It is my duty as Chair of the Stakeholders’ Council of Integrity to inform you that I have received notice from the Board Secretary, Mel Soriano, that the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall has informed him that she has resigned from her duties as Board President.

Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 4, Section 5, Paragraph C of the Bylaws, I will work with Mel and the Council Vice-Chair, the Rev. Deacon Carolyn Woodall, to prepare a call for nominations for a special election for the office of President to serve out the current term, which concludes on 1st October 2015.

Pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 1, Section 3, Paragraph A, only Integrity members whose dues are paid and current at the time of issuance of this letter are eligible to be nominated. We will share a job description for the office and instructions for nominations next week.

As described in Chapter 3, Article 1, Section 1, members of the Stakeholders’ Council with seat, voice, and vote are eligible to participate in the special election. These include:

• Chapter Conveners (chapter must be active and up-to-date with requirements)
• Diocesan Organizers
• Congregational Circle Moderators (up-to-date with requirements)
• Partner Representatives (P2 Organizational Partners & P3 Congregational Partners) (up-to-date with requirements)
• Lifetime Members

I will work with Director of Development, Sam Peterson, to verify the pool of eligible voters. These people will be notified individually with instructions for reviewing the candidates and balloting.

Interim Leadership

While the election process is underway, the Board has agreed that the following responsibilities be in effect:

• The Rev. Jon Richardson, VP - National Affairs will chair board meetings and be the point of contact for concerns related to the Board.
• Matt Haines, VP - Local Affairs will support the staff and be the point of contact related to concerns related to the staff, as well as continuing to support the local network of Provincial Coordinators and Diocesan Organizers.
• I will continue to support and be the contact for the Stakeholders not listed above, which include Chapter Conveners, Life Members, and Partner Representatives.

If you are unsure as to the best point of contact for your concern, please contact our office and they will assist you.

The Board thanks Dr. Hall for her dedication and service and respects her decision to resign. We wish her abundant blessings in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

Christian M. Paolino

Chair, Integrity Stakeholders' Council

Archbishop of Canterbury Links Attacks on African Christians to Pro-LGBT Churches

The Most Rev. Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury

PHOTO CREDIT:  Catholic Church
in England & Wales (flickr.com/catholicism)
Used under Creative Commons License

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby,  today claimed on LBC radio in England that he had stood by the grave of more than three hundred Christians in Africa who had been killed as a result of "something that had happened in America." One is likely to conclude, as the interview continues, that "something" referred to the growing acceptance of LGBT people and our relationships by American churches, with the Episcopal Church the largest among them.

This is a very serious claim. Clearly Christians are being killed in religious and ethnic violence in many parts of the world, but this is for many complex reasons. To claim that these people died specifically because of same-gender marriage in America requires significant documentation. Who said that this was the motive? Was it the murderers? Or was this an interpretation offered by the relatives of those who died?

During the Middle Ages, half the population of Europe was wiped out by the Black Death. Jews were accused of poisoning the wells. A moral panic took hold amongst the remaining Christian population and Jews were massacred.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall preaches at
Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd
in Philadelphia in 2013.

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Paolino
Used with permission

Is it possible that the Archbishop is being caught up in a moral panic? Accusations that Muslim believers will kill Christians who are associated with a "gay church" have been with us for many years, but we have yet to see clear evidence that this is so. To blame deaths in South Sudan, or Nigeria or the Congo solely on our weddings is to ignore the many other reasons that hatred and civil war exists in those places.

By promulgating the view that it’s all "the gays" fault, the Archbishop is actually feeding the wave of homophobia that is sweeping other African nations which have strong Anglican presences – Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

Welby said that he was told when he was visiting South Sudan, "Please don’t change what you’re doing [not marrying gay or lesbian couples] because if you did, we couldn’t accept your help and we need your help desperately." Yet, the Church of South Sudan IS accepting help from the Episcopal Church, despite our very public progress on LGBT inclusion, including the blessing of same-gender relationships.


If the Archbishop is as keen on listening to the experience of gay and lesbian people in his own country and throughout the Anglican Communion as he says, then he needs to reconsider the effect of such remarks, both on those who leave the church and turn their backs on God because they are not fully welcome, and on those in Africa and other countries who have no doubt that their sexual orientation or gender identity is the reason they are meeting with violence and death, while the church looks on.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, President of Integrity, is a native of Great Britain. She serves as Rector of St. Benedict's: Los Osos in the Diocese of El Camino Real and is the author of A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church.

Sorting Out Phelps

It’s been a few days since Fred Phelps died, and I still can’t sort out my feelings. I don’t know whether to throw a party and dance on his grave, thanking God for finally ridding us of that pernicious hate-monger or whether to cry with compassion for his family and sorrow that in this life he never saw the face of the God who is Love.

Students of Siena College counter a Westboro Baptist
Church demonstration in Albany, N.Y. on Mar.  6 2009
PHOTO CREDIT:  Sebastien Barre
Used under Creative Commons License

I can only imagine that his life was fuelled not by the living waters of grace, hope and forgiveness but by anger, resentment and fear and so he made a god in his own image - a god who hates fags. He represented the hatefully distorted face of Christianity to such an extreme that he made the average right-wing bigot look moderate. I am glad that he is gone and I hope that with his passing, his family church the Westboro Baptist Church will lose steam and go quietly into the night. But that which he represented is still among us. Hatred and prejudice have many faces. They are alive and well in the hearts of liberals as well as conservatives. They are alive and well wherever people feel misrepresented, overlooked and impotent as well as in places where people feel more powerful and better than the average Joe.

Forgiveness and gentleness are the marks of God’s people, which doesn’t mean that we need to be doormats, but that even as we resist the evil that enslaves us and our society, we do so with a peaceful, creative non-violent resistance that emulates the example of Christ. 

I hope that when Fred Phelps arrived at the pearly gates, St Peter met him dressed in drag and all the angels wore their best gender-bending outfits and waved rainbow flags. And I hope that even as he discovered that he was wrong and that God loves fags and queers, he also found that God loves very mis-guided Westboro Baptists too. And I hope that he found true repentance and finds a way, even from beyond the grave, to right some of the wrongs he perpetrated and perpetuated.

Back here on the earthly plane, it will not do our souls any good to harbor anger and resentment, so here is a blessing for Fred Phelps, taken from "For the Dying" by John O’Donahue.

May your spirit feel

the surge of true delight

when the veil of the visible

is raised, and you glimpse again

the living faces

of departed family and friends.

May there be some beautiful surprise 

waiting for you inside death,

something you never knew or felt,

which with one simple touch

absolves you of all loneliness and loss,

as you quicken within the embrace

for which your soul was eternally made.

May your heart be speechless

at the sight of the truth

of all your belief had hoped,

your heart breathless

in the light and lightness

where each and every thing

is at last its true self,

within that serene  belonging

that dwells beside us

on other side

of what we see.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall is the President of Integrity, author of  A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church, and Priest-in-Charge at St. Benedict's: Los Osos in the Diocese of El Camino Real.

Segregation in the Guise of Religious Freedom

It seems to me that at the core of all the major world religions is the principle of compassion. Yet we humans have funny ways of showing that compassion to those with whom we disagree. Fundamentalists of every faith seem to turn away from the fundamental of compassion to its opposite, legalism and judgmentalism.  In this country we are seeing a marriage of both Catholicism and evangelicalism with right-wing politics, an unholy alliance which came into being in the 1970s and continues to be supported by right-wing political organizations fueled by fear of lesbian, gay and transgender inclusion. The newest manifestation of this is the proliferation of “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” being introduced in state legislatures around the country.

These acts seem to be benign attempts to make sure that everyone has freedom of religion but in fact they are thinly disguised attacks on the LGBT community. The attempt in Kansas was quickly brought up short, but Arizona’s more draconian bill has made it through both House and Senate and will likely be signed into law by the governor in the next week.  This would allow anyone to use religious conscience as a reason to refuse service of any kind to anyone. (I encourage you to sign a petition asking the governor to veto it.)

Since 1976 The Episcopal Church has been committed to fighting discrimination against LGBT people, and we need to continue this work wherever discrimination surfaces.  The Very Rev Troy Mendez of Trinity Cathedral, Phoenix urges us to see this work in the context of Jesus’ call for us to be peacemakers in his statement issued jointly with the Right Rev Kirk Smith, Bishop of the Diocese of Arizona.

We LGBTQ folk, our loved ones, and allies have a right to be angry that these laws are being introduced apparently to promote freedom but actually to introduce a new form of apartheid. We are right to be angry about this concerted backlash against the increasing freedom we are enjoying federally and in some states. But if our anger fuels our hatred against those who are acting out of fear and ignorance, then they have won. If our anger leads us to turn away from involvement in public life, disengaging in disgust from a process that seeks to exclude us, then they have won.

Jesus gave us the supreme example of non-violent resistance. So, as his followers let us be fired by our anger to take action but action which continues to recognize that even those who seek to exclude us are also beloved of God.  Please take note of the bills being introduced to the legislature in your state and start working now to make sure that, as in Kansas, they are defeated by the pressure of public opinion.

Our work is not done until we have created a world where compassion underlies every action.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall is the President of Integrity and author of A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church.

Church of England Takes Another Backwards Step

Archbishop Justin Welby

Photo by "Messiah Lutheran (Mechanicsville, VA)"

Used under Creative Commons License

The Church of England has an interesting system of alternating evangelicals and Catholics when appointing the Archbishop of Canterbury. It seems that they are adopting a similar system for the control of their (possibly) unruly LGBT members. The Pilling Report published at Thanksgiving offered some (small) hope that attitudes were shifting, with its recommendation that clergy could be allowed to offer a service to mark same-gender unions. This pleased liberals and annoyed conservatives. But just a day after St. Valentine’s Day, the Church of England House of Bishops made it quite clear that that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Responding to the fact that same-gender marriages will happen in the UK starting next month, they issued a pastoral statement saying once again that marriage is only for a man and a woman. Consequently, CofE clergy, already banned from performing such weddings, may not offer a service of any kind – merely "informal prayers." Not surprisingly, this is annoying liberals and pleasing conservatives.

It wouldn't all be quite so baffling if the same House of Bishops hadn't stated just last month, "We are united in welcoming and affirming the presence and ministry within the Church of gay and lesbian people, both lay and ordained. We are united in acknowledging the need for the Church to repent for the homophobic attitudes it has sometimes failed to rebuke and affirming the need to stand firmly against homophobia wherever and whenever it is to be found."

Why then, do this pastoral statement and its accompanying guidelines make it very clear that gay Anglican clergy may not marry and married gay people need not apply to become clergy?

"Marriage" is socially defined. A quick survey of the history of marriage shows that it has meant different things at different times and in different places. The only difference the CofE seems to make between civil partnerships (which it allows for gay clergy) and marriage (which is reserved for heterosexuals) is gender. Is banning people from being able to live their lives fully and joyfully just because of gender "standing firmly against homophobia?” I don’t think so.

The fact that the statement was sent to bishops and archbishops throughout the Anglican Communion makes it seem as though this statement had a particular audience. Whereas the Pilling Report, which seemed to open the door of equality just a chink, was directed at the Church of England, this missive was directed at the Anglican Communion. Just as the Most Rev. Rowan Williams found it politically necessary shortly after his appointment to declare Lambeth 1.10 the "standard of teaching” of the Anglican Communion, thus promulgating the notion that homosexual activity is incompatible with Scripture, so now the Most Rev. Justin Welby may be finding it necessary to show that he’s not going "soft” on gay marriage.

The day before the statement was published, he told the General Synod of the CofE "There is great fear among some, here and round the world, that [special services for gay couples] will lead to the betrayal of our traditions, to the denial of the authority of scripture, to apostasy, not to use too strong a word,”… "And there is also a great fear that our decisions will lead us to the rejection of LGBT people, to irrelevance in a changing society, to behaviour that many see akin to racism."

It seems that once again the Archbishop of Canterbury is choosing to bow to those Anglicans who insist on a traditionalist view of Christian teaching rather than daring to boldly re-interpreting God’s grace for contemporary times.

My heart goes out to those in England who will pay the price.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall is the President of Integrity and author of A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church.

Goodbye to David Cupps

David Cupps

The new year is always an exciting time. We get to look forward to new futures and new possibilities. This New Year's is a little bittersweet though. After more than three years of excellent service on the staff of Integrity, our Operations Manager, David Cupps, will be moving on to new opportunities.

We are sad to see him go. He has served as the core for many systems and groups that have not only served Integrity well, but that have served the Episcopal Church well. “During the year when we had no Executive Director, David really kept the organization going, and I depended on him for his wisdom, knowledge, and leadership as well as for doing everything it takes to make Integrity run smoothly,” said the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, president of Integrity's Board of Directors.

Among David's major contributions to Integrity during his tenure was the development, in collaboration with former VP-Local Affairs Neil Houghton and our ecumenical partners at the Institute for Welcoming Resources, of the curriculum for the many Believe Out Loud congregational workshops which hundreds of people have been attending across the country. 

After experimenting with a 'virtual' office for several years, with David based in his hometown in Kentucky and our Executive Director first in New Orleans and then in Georgia, the Board decided, with advice from a consultant, that having the Executive Director and the main administrative team in the same geographical location creates an important synergy. This led to a restructuring of the staff and a move away from Kentucky. It was not an easy decision, knowing that David would not personally be able to make the move.

From providing structure to our operations center at General Convention 2012 to managing the logistics of so many Believe Out Loud trainings to getting the Friday Flash out every week, David was there time and time again. We are deeply grateful for the work he has done to make the transition to Executive Director Vivian Taylor and Office Administrator Katie Omberg as smooth as possible.

Dr. Hall continued, “David stepped in to take on Integrity's administrative and program management when we needed a knowledgeable person at short notice, and did a wonderful job. He has been the eye at the center of the storm for many years, answering all inquiries with gentle efficiency, remaining on call even on vacation, and managing a zillion priorities at once. I will miss his calm voice at the other end of the phone and his gentle optimism in the face of difficulties.”

Goodbye and best of luck, David. Thank you for everything you have done for us. God bless all your future work and life.

Integrity President Caro Hall to Lead Retreat in San Joaquin

Evergreen Conference
Center

On January 24-26, Integrity San Joaquin will hold its second annual Winter Retreat for LGBT people and allies at the beautiful Evergreen Conference Center (ECCO) in Oakhurst, California.  The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, Integrity's President, will facilitate.

A native of Great Britain, Dr. Hall lived for a time in the 1980s in the Findhorn intentional community in Scotland, where she met her spouse. She has lived for the past 20 years in Los Osos in the Diocese of El Camino Real, where she is now priest-in-charge at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church.  Her background, however, is in non-profit management and social work.  She particularly enjoys helping those who have felt excluded from faith communities because they "don't fit the mold" to see that Christianity is a lot bigger and broader than they thought and that God's abundant love is available to everyone.

 The retreat begins Friday evening,January 24th as we arrive at ECCO and gather for fellowship, snacks and a movie.  On Saturday, Dr.  Hall leads our retreat program, entitled the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge, throughout the day. On Sunday, after morning Eucharist (joined by our friends from St. Raphael's, Oakhurst) and free time, we enjoy lunch together before departure.

The Rev. Dr.
Caroline Hall

Last year, Dr. Hall published a book entitled A Thorn in the Flesh, which explores the societal changes both inside and outside the Episcopal Church that led to its evolving stance on the inclusion of LGBT people.  She also serves on the board of People of Faith for Justice on the Central Coast, and is a founder of the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations.

Accommodations at ECCO are $119 per person/double room and include 2 nights lodging and 5 meals. Registration deadline is January 6th.  For questions contact the Integrity - San Joaquin Diocesan Organizer, Jan Dunlap at 661.201.2630 or jan@kerncomputer.com.

The Witch Trials Continue

It’s a searing reminder that even though we have nearly achieved full inclusion in the life and all the rites of the Episcopal Church, there are still many Christians who have to keep quiet about their identity and their loved ones or lose their faith community. Frank Shaefer, a Methodist minister, today stands trial in Pennsylvania for marrying his gay son.

Seventeen years ago, my sister, a lay reader in the Church of England, preached not at our wedding but at an MCC church the day after our holy union and returned to England to find she was no longer welcome in the parish she served. So many allies like Shaefer and my sister Sue have had their lives devastated because of their acts of courage on our behalf. I am reminded of Jesus’ words, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

We are grateful for the nearly forty years of prayer and activism that has made the Episcopal Church a (relatively) safe place and in many places an openly welcoming one. It has not been an easy journey, as I discuss in my book A Thorn in the Flesh, and this trial will make many of us remember the Trial of Bishop Righter in 1996. At that point the court decided that there was no "core" doctrine that prevented the ordination of gay or lesbian individuals.

But the Methodist Church does have specific rules, and "Conducting ceremonies which celebrate homosexual unions; or performing same-sex wedding ceremonies" are still chargeable offences. Any optimism that things might be changing seems to have been demolished by Friday’s statement from the Methodist Council of Bishops actually urging two of their members to take action against Bishop Melvin Talbert for celebrating the wedding of two gay men. 

 

There are many more within the Methodist Church who are taking the risk, who are engaging in civil disobedience in order to create a church where all people are welcome. You can read some of their stories here. Last Saturday, November 9, Bill Gatewood, and Rich Taylor had their union blessed by 36 Methodist ministers in Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love. Will their bishop take action against all of them?

 

We salute the courage of our brothers and sisters in the United Methodist Church and hope that our journey will be a source of hope for them. Please pray for Pastor Frank Shaefer, on trial today, that his witness and the witness of so many more may bear great fruit.

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall is the President of Board of Directors, Integrity USA

Integrity Announces Executive Director: Vivian Taylor

Integrity USA is pleased to announce its new Executive Director, Sarah Vivian Gathright Taylor. Taylor will be the first openly transgender woman to lead a major mainline protestant denominational organization in the US.

 “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to serve both Integrity USA and the wider Church. Working together in the love of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can prevent us from opening the full Love of God to all people regardless of their orientation or identity,” she said.

Vivan Taylor

Currently residing in Somerville, Massachusetts, Taylor is a North Carolina native who enlisted in the United States Army at age 18. She served as a Chaplain's Assistant in the U.S. Army National Guard from 2003 to 2010. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Religious Studies, she deployed with her unit, the 1/130th Aviation, to southern Iraq from 2009-2010. 

Taylor has also worked as a freelance writer since 2009, and her work has been featured in newspapers and other publications across the country including the Huffington Post, Charlotte Observer, Chapel Hill News,  and others. She writes about being a solider at war, veteran life, LGBTQ issues, trans and genderqueer life, body positivity, Christianity, and her adventures in the world.

Taylor has worked since 2004 to promote a greater understanding of gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and queer people in the Episcopal Church, and has worked with both Integrity USA and TransEpiscopal to advance diversity and acceptance in the Church. She testified before the Episcopal General Convention in 2012 in favor of adding gender identity and expression to the Church's nondiscrimination clause and was a member of our communications team, helping to produce the daily news briefings we provided.

In September of 2012, Taylor was invited to the White House to meet with Vice President Joseph Biden and a number of other national leaders. She used the opportunity to advocate for full inclusion in the U.S. military of all transgender people willing to serve.

Taylor is also among the first trans women to enter the Episcopal ordination process. She is an avid Sung Compline promoter and participant, and is currently working to develop a new intentional community in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

Integrity's President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall commented, “We are delighted to have Vivian taking up the helm of Integrity. Her appointment is in line with two of our strategic goals: to bring more young people into leadership, and to increase our diversity. She was an integral part of the Communications Team at the last General Convention and has the leadership skills and ability to think strategically which are vital as we move into a new organization in a very different, more inclusive church. The future is looking very bright.”

Two of 'Our' Young People Heading Abroad for Study, Missionary Work

Two young adults who have served as Integrity interns will be heading overseas in the months ahead.  Alan Yarborough, who graduated from Clemson University with a degree in Economics last month, is off to Haiti with the Young Adult Service Corps.  Jonathan York, a religion student at Duke University, is heading to Scotland in September to spend a semester at St. Andrew's University.

Alan Yarborough

Yarborough, who worked as an intern with us on various projects, also represented Integrity at this year's Creating Change conference in Atlanta.  He will be doing economic and leadership development work in the area around Cange, which has a special relationship with the Diocese of Upper South Carolina.  While at Clemson, Yarborough attended and worked as a campus ministry peer at Holy Trinity Church, which has been doing missionary work in Haiti for over four decades.

"Alan is a very bright, energetic and motivated young man who understands both prophetic ministry and servant ministry. He sees the world and the issues facing LGBT folks with new eyes that look for a vision of full equality in both our church and society," said  Province IV Coordinator Bruce Garner, with whom Yarborough worked at Creating Change. "He is very clear about who he is in the eyes of God and where he is being called to participate in God’s ministry on earth. Giving of himself and his talents is second nature to him. I see him in leadership positions in the church in the near future and hopefully the church will have the good sense to listen to his voice."

Jonathan York

York attended General Convention 2012 as part of the Young Adult Festival (about which he wrote here), and his eloquent testimony on several resolutions gained him national attention.  One woman, representing the opposing view on a particular issue, began her rebuttal by calling York "a credit to your school." He also served as an Integrity intern at Convention.  He hopes to study under the Right Rev. N. T. Wright, Ph.D., the former Bishop of Durham who is now Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Andrew's.

"I was so impressed by Jonathan's courage and confidence as he spoke at General Convention hearings," said Integrity's President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall. "He always spoke from his heart, and with passion. Jonathan is a great leader and I look forward to seeing how God uses and blesses him in the future."

In September of 2012, Yarborough and York both were among a leadership retreat in Pasadena, where we laid the plans for what became Integrity's new mission, vision and strategic plan for the future.

Both men will be blogging about their experiences.  You can follow Jonathan and Alan at their blogs. Integrity is very proud of them and hopes you will join us in praying for their endeavors.

Integrity Welcomes Supreme Court Rulings; Our Work is Not Done

Integrity USA welcomes today’s decision by the Supreme Court to strike down section three of the Defense of Marriage Act.  This means that lesbian or gay couples must be treated fairly by the federal government and so, for the first time, married same-gender couples will receive the same 1,138 benefits, rights and protections provided to heterosexuals on the basis of marital status. This removes the inequality that had been enshrined in federal law and will provide greater protection for married same-gender couples and their families. At the same time it increases the inequality between those gay couples who live in the thirteen states that have marriage equality, and those who do not.

"I am delighted to learn that the Supreme Court has determined this law to be unconstitutional,” said the Rev. Jon Richardson, Integrity’s VP for National Affairs.  “While I am confident that this is good news for LGBT people across the country, I look forward to learning the many ways that this development will be implemented in the months and years to come.  While there is great cause for celebration, we know that the work for full equality must continue."

Regarding California’s Proposition 8, Integrity USA is saddened that the Supreme Court has declined to rule because it determined that the proposition’s proponents did not have standing in the Court. This is good news for all Californians because it means that once again marriage licenses will be issued to same-gender couples, and once again wedding bells will ring in the state. California rejoins the other twelve states which currently enjoy marriage equality. However it leaves the basic question of whether states can constitutionally maintain bans on gay marriage untouched and unanswered.

Since 1976 the Episcopal Church has been committed to working for civil rights for gay and lesbian people. Its work, together with the work of other churches, allied organizations and thousands of dedicated individuals has resulted in this enormous leap forward for equality in our country. “I am so grateful for all the people who have worked, and will continue to work for true equality in this country,” said Rev. Caroline Hall, President of Integrity USA, “this is a day Californians have dreamed of for so long, and one which can bring hope to all LGBTQ Americans that gradually equality is coming.”

Rev. Richardson said  "While I rejoice that marriage equality is returning to California, I remain disappointed that the Supreme Court has failed to act as broadly as they could have in spreading marriage equality across the country.  We continue to pray for an end to discrimination in all its forms, both in our laws, and in the hearts of all people.  The Episcopal Church has been a growing beacon of hope for LGBT Christians for 37 years - leading the way for our wider society.  We believe that above all else, the Christian call is for all people to act with love.  Today we are closer to realizing that dream, and we will not stop working until it is a reality for all people."

Integrity's President to Attend Michigan Gathering June 27, Discuss Book

On Thursday, June 27th, Integrity's President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, will participate in an event at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Lansing, Michigan, which is being offered to Episcopalians statewide.

The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. with Evening Prayer, after which Dr. Hall will read from her recently-published book, A Thorn in the Flesh.  The book examines the causes and effects of the LGBT movement within the church and the wider society.

A session of Q&A and a general discussion will follow.  This will be an opportunity to explore next steps for the welcoming movement across Michigan.

The evening is being organized by C. William Westerfield, a Lifetime Member of Integrity.  Sponsors include St. Michael's Church: Lansing, the OASIS: Michigan, the Canterbury ministry at Michigan State University, and the Dioceses of Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Northern Michigan.

St. Michael's is located at 6500 Amwood Dr., Lansing, MI; and is barrier-free.

CALL for ACTION: Equal Immigration Rights

by The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

When I immigrated, a little over twenty years ago, I was well-educated, white and had a British accent. Even with those advantages it was hard for me to get a green card. I lined up early one morning at the Arlington INS office in order to be one of the few people who would even get an interview. There was a couple ahead of me – they were there so that a non-American wife could get to live here with her husband. I was there alone. Even if we had been legally married, the INS would not have accepted our lesbian marriage as valid for immigration purposes.

We all know there’s an immigration bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee right now. We also know that it’s not fully comprehensive – it leaves out a very specific segment of the population – gay or lesbian families. Family reunification has always been an important plank of this country’s immigration policy, but once again we are being told that our families are less important, our families are not “real” – we don’t count.

It is estimated that there are 32,300 bi-national, same-sex couples residing in the United States today, more than 45% of whom are raising children. We believe that these families share the same right to dignity and fair treatment as other families, and therefore deserve to have their status as a family recognized and protected by our nation’s immigration laws. That is why Integrity worked hard at last year’s General Convention to help pass D011 “Reform Unequal Immigration Law” through which the Church pledged to support legislation that would expand our nation’s definition of family under immigration law to include the same-sex permanent partners and spouses of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
 
This resolution also committed our dioceses and congregations to renewed advocacy on behalf of families and individuals of all sexual orientations who are facing unwanted moves, deportation or separation due to our nation’s immigration laws. We know from experience that getting a resolution passed by General Convention is only the first step – in order for it to have teeth, we have to do the hard work in our dioceses and congregations to make it valid on the ground.

The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations is working on our behalf to support two amendments proposed by Senator Leahy. The first would allow Americans in same-sex relationships to sponsor green cards for their foreign-born partners. The second would provide the same protection to legally married bi-national same-sex couples that is afforded to others under existing immigration law. We can do our bit by asking our Senators (or members of the Senate Judiciary Committee) to “support the inclusion of same-sex partners and spouses in comprehensive immigration reform by supporting Leahy amendments 6 and 7.”

Please make the call or send an email today.

You can get more information about the Immigration Bill at

• The Immigration Equality Action Fund
• Human Rights Campaign

Caroline Hall is President of Integrity USA and serves as priest-in-charge at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church in Los Osos, CA.

Wrap-Up & Photos from Integrity President's NYC-Area Visit

Integrity USA's President, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, had a busy week recently as she made her way around the New York area to meet with folks and talk about the work of LGBT inclusion in our churches.

Participants in a Believe Out Loud Workshop at St. James': Hackettstown

On Saturday, April 27th, she spent the afternoon at a Believe Out Loud Congregational Workshop at St. James' Church in Hackettstown, N.J.

She was up early again the next day and headed north to Christ Church in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., home of the Mid-Hudson Dignity-Integrity Chapter. There, she offered the sermon and led a forum afterwards.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of Newark,
and the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

On Tuesday, April 30th, Dr. Hall met with the Right Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of Newark. They explored the history of LGBT inclusion in the area, which began with the ordination of Robert Williams back in 1989 and the formation of The OASIS as a diocesan ministry to gay and lesbian Episcopalians. We also discussed possible ways we could work together to promote mission work in the LGBT community.

That evening, Integrity NYC-Metro hosted an "open house" event at St. Paul's Church, Chatham. After reading excerpts from her new book A Thorn in the Flesh, Dr. Hall participated in a spirited conversation with the multi-generational audience about the ways Integrity's focus is shifting and how we can continue to be an asset to the church.

Mr. Greg Newton of the BGSQD Bookstore
introduces the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall

On Wednesday, Dr. Hall took lunch with students and faculty at General Theological Seminary in New York. That evening, she hosted a "meet the author" event at the Bureau of General Services: Queer Division, a new pop-up LGBT bookstore and gallery in the trendy NoLiTa district. It was interesting to take this subject matter into a secular space, where those less familiar with our movement's history within the church could bring different contexts and perspectives to the conversation.

Finally, on Thursday, May 2nd, Dr. Hall led an adult form at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in the West Village, unofficial "mother church" of the NYC-Metro Chapter.

Integrity extends its profound thanks to the Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats, the Rev. Mary Davis, the Rev. William Blake Rider, the Rev. Caroline Stacey and their congregations, The Rev.  Lang Lowrey III and the faculty and staff of General Theological Seminary, as well as Mr. Greg Newton at the BGSQD Bookstore for their hospitality and assistance in making these events possible.

Dr. Caroline Hall addresses an adult forum
at St. Luke in the Fields in NYC, May 2nd, 2013

Dr. Caroline Hall addresses an adult forum
at St. Luke in the Fields in NYC, May 2nd, 2013

The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall: Whom, Then, Shall We Hate?

 The following is the text of the sermon offered by Integrity's president, the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall, at Christ Church in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Sunday, April 28th.

THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN EASTERTIDE

• Acts 11:1-18 
• Revelation 21:1-6
  
• John 13:31-35

What wonderful readings we have today – the vision of a New Jerusalem – a new way of living - where Jesus’ words, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another” are fully lived out. And the reading from Acts which shows us what a challenge loving one another was for the early church, just as it continues to be a challenge for us today.

Humans are not very good at loving one another. In fact, some theorists have suggested that the main function of civilization is to stop us murdering each other out of envy and rage. So Jesus’ new commandment was truly revolutionary, and it’s still revolutionary two thousand years later.

When Gentiles began to be welcomed into the new community of Jesus it created problems – the religious Jews had always kept themselves carefully separate from non-Jews, but now some of them were crossing the boundary. They were breaking the traditional purity laws.

We still have purity codes today, but ours are much less conscious, in fact we usually think of them as just common sense, or the way things are. In times of social upheaval purity codes get challenged, usually accompanied by controversial debates and political battles. Interracial marriage is an example in recent memory. For a white person and a black person to marry was to offend against the purity code of the time. Similarly, gay relationships offend against the purity codes of many people today. In the last thirty years we have seen this gradually changing until today a majority of Americans support marriage for gay couples.

It has always been part of the role of religion in society to protect purity codes and to uphold social arrangements around marriage and family organizations, so it’s not surprising that the Church has struggled with these questions, just as the early church struggled with the full inclusion of Gentiles. In the reading from Acts we heard that Peter was criticized for his acceptance of Gentiles, and so he had to explain to them step by step that first God had told him to defy the purity laws, and then secondly he found that God was already blessing these people.

Our experience as Episcopalians has been similar. We have found that God has been blessing us through the ministry of gay, lesbian and transgender people – and we have gradually realized that God blesses all of us - people of different ethnicities, people of different abilities, people of different skin tones, people of different sexual orientation, of different gender identity – even, dare I say it – people of different religions.

Which leaves us in a very difficult position.

Who is there left to hate?

If there is no-one left to hate, what will politicians and media pundits do? Love and good news never sold papers. If there is no one for us to hate, no one we are willing to blame and scapegoat, then politicians will have to find an entirely new strategy for getting us to support their agendas. No longer will we be willing to demonize foreign leaders, no longer will we be willing to mobilize to try to prevent one party or another from gaining power. No longer will we be willing to put up with partisan gridlock or with policies which give more power to the already powerful and more money to the already rich. Our whole financial and political system would have to change.

Can we imagine a world without hate? It might begin to look just a little like the New Jerusalem, the city where God makes all things new…

But let us not get too carried away. Hatred is very subtle. It isn’t always in your face. In fact, very often, especially for those of us who have grown up knowing that Jesus told us to love one another, it can be very hard to get a handle on. It comes out in little ways, in jokes made at someone else’s expense; in holding grudges and nursing grievances. It turns anger at injustice into a desire for revenge on the perpetrators. It turns grief into a demand for retribution. It infiltrates our minds in such a way that it seems quite reasonable. Hatred, fueled by fear, leads quite nice people to sanction violence and even torture – provided it happens at a distance.

Hatred allows us to justify striking back when we are hurt. Which is exactly what Jesus did NOT do. When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane he didn’t strike back. When he was in front of Pilate he didn’t cooperate but he didn’t resist violently. In fact, Jesus was the model of non-violent resistance. And he went one step further… he didn’t just avoid violence, Jesus forgave those who betrayed him, those who persecuted him, those who killed him.

Jesus and hate simply do not belong in the same sentence.

As disciples of Jesus, we get to obey his commandment to love, and that means we have to forgive and to do that we have to give up our habit of hatred.

It’s not going to be easy, because our society is riddled through and through with hatred, anger and violence. It’s in our newscasts, our TV programs, our facebook posts…It’s inside our minds.

But taking up love and giving up hatred is what it really means to be an inclusive church.

Inclusive sounds warm and wonderful but that’s only part of the picture. If we are to be truly inclusive, if we are to build the reign of God on earth, if we are to follow Jesus then we have to find a way to change, and to change radically. Which means hard, careful work. It means examining the way we do things to make sure that we are not leaving groups of people out in the cold, that we are not disempowering someone else in order to empower ourselves. It means welcoming people who really are different from us.

It’s not going to be comfortable. If you think being an inclusive church is going to be church just like it’s always been but with more people, then you need to think again. Because those people whom God blesses just like she blesses you, may want to sit in your seat; they may want to change the hymns; they may even, heaven forbid, decide to change the prayer book.

The early church wasn’t at all sure that they wanted to include Gentiles and the debate went on for quite a while -  just like the Episcopal church today still isn’t quite sure that it wants to include women, latinos, gays, lesbians, African-Americans, Cubans, bisexual people, transpeople, deaf people… I could go on and on.

But if we take Jesus’ words seriously, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” If we get serious about being Jesus’ disciples; if we get serious about replacing hate with loving and forgiving, then we will be doing more than creating an inclusive church, we will be building the new Jerusalem.

“And the home of God will be among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God herself will be with them; she will wipe every tear from their eyes.”