Bishop Singh Speaks Out on LGBT Rights

On Wednesday, Feb. 26th, the Right Rev. Prince Singh, Bishop of Rochester, sent the following letter to the Anglican churches in Uganda and North and South India:

Dear brothers and sisters in the Anglican Church of Uganda and the Churches in North and South India,

My name is Prince Singh and I serve as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, New York, a member of the larger Anglican Communion. I write you because the recent passing of anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda weighs heavily on my heart. India, my country of birth, recently passed a similar bill criminalizing gay and lesbian people, deeming their lifestyle as a punishable crime. I write you because it is my moral obligation to express my deepest rue – that these children of God are being persecuted within my Anglican family. I implore you to stand with these children of God, now made even more vulnerable by this unjust bill that flies at the face of our common baptismal dignity.

Our hearts break for the people of Uganda. Why? In the United States, we have treated our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a similar manner in the past. At one stage to be gay was criminal here and we treated gay people with great prejudice, hatred and fear. These attitudes are still present in our own country, but more and more enlightened people are able to see that God made gay and lesbian people - just as God made me brown. We are learning of the damage we have inflicted on human beings by hateful attitudes. But just as damaging as the sin of persecution is that horrible sin of silence. We have heard story after story of the pain and deep wounding that we have caused gay and lesbian people simply by saying nothing. Worse still, we have abused Scripture to fuel hate!

We cannot go on hurting those we are called to love and protect. These are our children, our mothers, our fathers, our brothers and sisters.

We don’t have all the answers, but we want to build a world where all people are safe, protected and loved equitably. What country does not want this for its people? What kind of Church wants to be complicit in creating a community of people who are scapegoats, ready sacrifices to hatred and bigotry?

We plead with you, as fellow Christians, as people who are called to reveal the love and grace of God to please pay attention and speak up.

• Please protect those who are gay or work for gay rights.
• Please provide a genuine safe space to hear the real life and stories of the gay community. They are not what you have been led to believe.
• Please find ways as the Church to protect and advocate for those who are more vulnerable and marginal members of society. This includes not only gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, but also women, the poor, the unemployed, the outcaste and the hopeless.

We will be praying for you as you engage these issues of responsible discipleship. Please uphold us in your prayers as we strive to do the same in our context. Please tell us how we can be mutually helpful in this process since we are all interconnected in the web of life.

Your fellow servant in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, NY

NY's Bishop Decries Anti-Gay Violence, Will Participate in Pride

Bishop Dietsche at the 2012 Pride March

The Right Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche, the Bishop of New York, issued a powerful pastoral letter May 31st decrying the recent spate of anti-gay violence in the city, culminating in the brutal murder of Mark Carson on May 18th.

“Every word and action, every sentiment, that seeks to divide people from people or puts one people above another feeds a climate in which such violence can be seen by some as acceptable or excusable or even as the fault of the victim his- or herself,” the Bishop stated. “We grieve for the dehumanizing consequence of such violence that touches every one of us, and we grieve for the Body of Christ, into which the forces of violence and hatred continue to drive nails.”

Bishop Dietsche described efforts to eliminate prejudice from diocesan policy and culture, and reflected on progress made to remove barriers from full participation in the sacraments by LGBT people.

“There are many voices in our culture which insist that homosexuality is incompatible with the Christian life. We emphatically do not believe that.”

“There are many voices in our culture which insist that homosexuality is incompatible with the Christian life. We emphatically do not believe that,” Bishop Dietsche wrote.  He went on to urge all Episcopalians to “find a way in these coming weeks to grieve the fallen, to make your witness to the love of Jesus, to engage our godly call to justice, and to let the world see and know that there are countless faithful Episcopalians in the LGBT community, and that they are loved, embraced and respected by the larger body of the Church of which they are and have always been a part.”

Bishop Dietsche also announced that he will once again ride the Episcopal float in the city’s Pride March on June 30th.  This will mark the first time the diocesan bishop of New York has participated in the event. The Right Rev Cathy S. Roskam, retired Suffragan Bishop of New York joined in numerous times and led a street Eucharist for the marchers.  In 2008, the Most Rev. Carlos Touché-Porter, Presiding Bishop of La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico, and the Right Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of Newark, joined the march.  In 2009, the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Right Rev. Gene Robinson, then-Bishop of New Hampshire passed out water to the marchers along Fifth Avenue, an event captured in the documentary Love Free or Die.

Integrity will have a presence at Pride events across the country. We encourage all Episcopalians to take part in this visible witness to the wider culture.

Memorial offerings left at the site of the murder of Mark Carson. Photo Credit: Kate Tomlinson.
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