Renewed Vision for Integrity USA

Making God’s Love Tangible Everywhere Integrity Vision Statement Max Niedwiecki Executive Director

Context

Since 1974, when Integrity began, the Episcopal Church has become much more welcoming to people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.  We just ordained our first openly lesbian bishop, after having ordained our first openly gay bishop.  Marriages between people who share the same sex or gender are celebrated in many diocese.  The Church is developing rites and pastoral resources for the blessing of same-sex relationships on a national scale.  The Church has spoken out in favor of equality in civil marriage, immigration, and other domains of public life.

But there is still much work to be done.  Episcopal congregations, the Episcopal Church, and our broader society do not yet give full witness to God’s love for all.

Twin Focus Areas Making God’s Love Tangible In and Through the Episcopal Church

Integrity will continue to be a leader in making “all the sacraments for all the baptized” a reality throughout the Episcopal Church so that all Episcopalians are able to serve God as they were born to do.

We can do this by:

• Providing resources and support to members, chapters, Proud Parish Partners and Integrity Believe Out Loud Congregations so they can be more effective on the parochial and diocesan levels

o   Believe Out Loud trainings on the diocesan and parish levels

o   Mentorship opportunities that link people on issues such as making parishes more welcoming

o   Educational materials on Integrity’s website, as well as materials that could be adapted to local needs (e.g., draft letters to the editor on various topics, draft resolutions for diocesan conventions, information sheets)

o   Opportunities to experience the links that bind us together as local, regional, and national communities

o   Partnerships with colleague organizations that support broader diversity aims that go beyond the LGBT community

o   Displays and encouragement to represent Integrity at diocesan conventions

o   Media training

• Serving as an information channel to enrich the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music as it develops resources for the blessing of same-sex relationships

• Encouraging partners to act on Integrity’s charge to “make God’s love tangible in and through the Episcopal Church”

• Advocating for positive change at General Convention 2012

o   Coordination with partners at General Convention

o   Opportunities for members to have their voices heard on priorities and strategies, and to demonstrate that Integrity is an authentic voice for LGBT people and their friends

o   Educational efforts for deputies and bishops

... and other activities not listed here 

Integrity will let the wider society know about God’s inclusive love for all – including LGBT people – as it is expressed by the

Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church is a leading voice for truth and justice in the world.  As a national body the Church has clearly voiced support for marriage equality, as well as equality in the immigration system and other domains of public life.  Because of this, the Church draws the ire of those who would seek to make the oppression of LGBT people permanent, and the admiration of many others.  We will provide a distinctively Episcopalian voice on issues of social importance, and we can do that by:

• Letting the world know that the Episcopal Church is on the side of justice when it comes to marriage equality, immigration equality, school bullying, and other issues

o   Model a “diverse” community that is motivated by inclusive love, within our own leadership and network

o   Work with partners to support civil rights initiatives like equality in marriage and immigration, especially in battleground states

o   Walking With Integrity blog and email list

o   Friday Flash

o   Face Book pages

o   Many other communications channels

• Supporting the capacity development of allied groups globally, as our resources permit

o   Continued engagement with Bishop Christopher Senyonjo and his colleagues in Uganda

• Letting LGBT people and those who love them know that there can be a spiritual home for them in the Episcopal Church

... and other activities not listed here 

Integrity’s Mission and Infrastructure Development Unity and Diversity

In order to effectively promote justice within and through the Episcopal Church, Integrity will concentrate on strengthening its infrastructure of members, Chapters, Proud Parish Partners, and Integrity Believe Out Loud Congregations.  Integrity will also invigorate its Stakeholders Council, increase and diversify its individual membership, and continue to develop its network of Provincial Coordinators and Diocesan Organizers.  The people who populate these roles will all be essential components and decision-makers in the fulfillment of Integrity’s renewed vision.

This infrastructure-building work will proceed hand-in-hand with Integrity’s mission-driven work.  We can best build infrastructure by working together within a common framework, adjusting the framework to our changing needs, and continuously drawing more people into our movement.

Our broad strategy will be to provide coordination and resources that help our members pursue the goals that they have for their church and society.  The communities we work with are different, and at the national level Integrity’s work will mirror that diversity: Some leaders and groups will want to focus on making their parishes more welcoming; others may want to focus on General Convention, speak out for marriage equality, and/or support LGBT rights within the broader Anglican Communion.

Integrity will be as much a “bottom-up” as a “top-down” organization.  At the national level, we will follow the lead set by our members, as much as seek to lead them; we will be attentive listeners, as well as persuasive speakers.  Our job is not to dictate, but to coordinate, cultivate enthusiasm, and make the national network that we call “Integrity” powerful as a single body composed of diverse, dynamic, interrelated parts.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori & Integrity Sign Call to Action, "No More Bullying"

CLERGY AGAINST BULLYING

CALL FOR ACTION AND TIME OF HEALING

IN WAKE OF GAY TEEN SUICIDES AND ANTI-GAY VIOLENCE

For Immediate Release: October 18, 2010 

Today, as leaders of Christian communions and national networks, we speak with heavy hearts because of the bullying, suicides and hate crimes that have shocked this country and called all faith communities into accountability for our words or our silence. We speak with hopeful hearts, believing that change and healing are possible, and call on our colleagues in the Church Universal to join us in working to end the violence and hatred against our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters.

In the past seven weeks, six young and promising teenagers took their own lives. Some were just entering high school; one had just enrolled in college. Five were boys; one, a girl becoming a young woman. These are only the deaths for which there has been a public accounting. New reports of other suicides continue to haunt us daily from around the country.

They were of varying faiths and races and came from different regions of the nation.

The one thing these young men and women had in common was that they were perceived to be gay or lesbian. 

Each in their own way faced bullying and harassment or struggled with messages of religion and culture that made them fear the consequences of being who they were.

In the past two weeks, cities like New York have seen major escalations in anti-gay violence. Two young men attacked patrons of the Stonewall Inn, legendary birth place of the LGBT rights movement in the United States, locking them in the restroom and beating them while hurling anti-gay epithets. Men on a Chelsea street, saying goodnight after an evening out, were attacked by a group of teens and young adults, again hurling anti-gay slogans and hurting one person badly enough to require emergency treatment. And nine young men in the Bronx went on a two-day rampage beating, burning, torturing and sodomizing two teenage boys and their gay male adult friend for allegedly having a sexual relationship. "It's nothing personal," one of the now arrested said. "You just broke the rules."

     

What are the "rules" of human engagement and interaction that we, as people of faith, want to teach our congregants, children and adults alike, to live by?

Many have responded from within and beyond the faith community offering comfort and support to the families and friends of Billy Lucas, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown, Tyler Clementi, Raymond Chase and Aiyisha Hasan. Our hearts, too, are broken by the too soon losses of these young and promising lives, and we join our voices to those who have sought to speak words of comfort and healing.

Many others, however, have responded by adding insult to injury, citing social myths and long-held prejudices that only fuel division, hatred and violence – and sometimes even death.

We, as leaders of faith, write today to say we must hold ourselves accountable, and we must hold our colleagues in the ministry, accountable for the times, whether by our silence or our proclamations, our inaction or our action, we have fueled the kinds of beliefs that make it possible for people to justify violence in the name of faith. Condemning and judging people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity can have deadly consequences, both for the victims of hate crimes and those who commit them.

There is no excuse for inspiring or condoning violence against any of our human family. We may not all agree on what the Bible says or doesn't say about sexuality, including homosexuality, but this we do agree on: The Bible says, "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God in them." Abiding in love – together – is the rule we must all preach, teach, and seek to live by.

People of faith must realize that if teens feel they will be judged by their church, rejected by their families and bullied by their peers, they may have nowhere to turn.   

Too many things go unspoken in our communities. It's time to talk openly and honestly about the diversity of God's creation and the gift of various sexual orientations and gender identities – and to do that in a way that makes it safe for people to disagree and still abide in love.

It's time to talk openly and honestly about the use and misuse of power and authority by those we entrust with our spiritual well-being.  It's time to make it safe for our clergy colleagues who are struggling to live what they preach, to get the help and support we all sometimes need.

The young people who took their lives a few weeks ago died because the voices of people who believe in the love of God for all the people of God were faint and few in the face of those who did the bullying, harassing and condemning. Today we write to say we will never again be silent about the value of each and every life.

To that end, we pledge to urge our churches, our individual parishes or offices, our schools and religious establishments to create safe space for each and every child of God, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. And we ask you to join us in that pledge.

Today, we personally pledge to be LGBT and straight people of faith standing together for the shared values of decency and civility, compassion and care in all interactions. We ask you, our colleagues, to join us in this pledge.

We want our children and the children of the communities we serve to grow up knowing that God loves all of us and that without exception, bullying and harassment, making fun of someone for perceived differences, and taunting and harming others is wrong. The Golden Rule is still the rule we want to live by.

We pray today that you will join us in being the faces of a faith that preaches and demonstrates God's universal acceptance and offers to one and all safe space to live, to learn, and to love and be loved.

In faith and solidarity,

HEADS OF COMMUNIONS

The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches

The Rev. Geoffrey Black, United Church of Christ General Minister and President

Elder Cynthia J. Bolbach, Moderator, 219th General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church

The Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, 219th General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator, 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary, Reformed Church in America

The Rev. Peter Morales, President, Unitarian Universalist Association

Bishop Yvette Flunder, Presiding Bishop of The Fellowship

The Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches

Bishop Tonyia M. Rawls, Vice President of the National Board and Regional Prelate, Unity Fellowship Church

Archbishop Carl Bean, Founder and Presiding Prelate, Unity Fellowship Church Movement

Carol Blythe, Alliance of Baptists President

Paula Clayton Dempsey, Minister for Partnership Relations, Alliance of Baptists

NATIONAL FAITH STAFF OF LGBT ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS

The Rev. Harry Knox, Director of Religion and Faith Program, Human Rights Campaign Foundation 

The Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, Director of Institute for Welcoming Resources, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force

Dr. Sylvia Rhue, Director of Religious Affairs, National Black Justice Coalition

Ann Craig, Director of Religion, Faith and Values, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)

NATIONAL STAFF OF FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS

The Rev. Michael Schuenemeyer, Executive Director of UCAN, Inc., United Church of Christ

The Rev. Robert Chase, Founding Director, Intersections International

Macky Alston, Director, Auburn Media, Auburn Theological Seminary

The Rev. Mark Hostetter, Chair of the Board, Auburn Seminary

Sung Park, Program Director, Believe Out Loud

The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of The Interfaith Alliance

The Reverend Debra W. Haffner, Executive Director, Religious Institute

Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, Executive Coordinator, National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN)

The Rev. Neal Christie, Assistant General Secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church & Society

The Rev. Cynthia Abrams , Program Director, General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church , 

Linda Bales Todd, Director, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church

The Rev. Dr. Cindi Love, Executive Director, Soulforce, Inc.

NATIONAL STAFF OF LGBT DENONMINATIONAL GROUPS

Emily Eastwood, Executive Director, Lutherans Concerned/North America

Lisa Larges, Minister Coordinator, That All May Freely Serve, Presbyterian

Dr. Michael Adee, Executive Director, More Light Presbyterians

Troy Plummer, Reconciling Ministries Network, United Methodist

Marilyn Paarlberg, National Coordinator, Room for All, Reformed Church in America
Rev. Thomas C. Goodhart, Co-president, Room for All, Reformed Church in America
Phil Attey, Acting Executive Director - Catholics for Equality

George W. Cole, Senior Vice President, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons
David Melson, President, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons

Dr. Joseph Palacios, Board Member, Catholics for Equality

Phil Attey, Executive Director, Catholics for Equality 

Yolanda Elliott, President, Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International  

Pastor Dave Ferguson, Church Relations Director, Adventist Kinship International

Rev. Marvin M. Ellison, Ph.D., Co-Convener,  Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, Maine

Anne Underwood, Catholics for Equality

Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D., Executive Director, Integrity USA

THEOLOGICANS AND ACADEMIC LEADERS

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University.

Mary E. Hunt & Diana Neu, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER)

How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth – Bishop Gene Robinson

From today’s Huffington Post:

An increasingly popular bumper sticker reads, "Guns Don't Kill People -- RELIGION Kills People!" In light of recent events I would add religion kills young people: gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender young people.

Perhaps not directly, though. And religion is certainly not the only source of anti-gay sentiment in the culture. But it's hard to deny that religious voices denouncing LGBT people contribute to the atmosphere in which violence against LGBT people and bullying of LGBT youth can flourish.

The news is filled with the tragedies of teenaged boys who were gay and decided to end their living hell by committing suicide. Maybe they weren't even gay, but merely perceived to be by their peers, who harassed, taunted, and threatened them unmercifully.

These were real kids with real names. Asher Brown, an eighth grader in Texas, shot himself in the head after endless bullying by classmates and despite attempts by his parents to get school authorities to take his harassment seriously. Seth Walsh hung himself from a tree in his California backyard after relentless bullying by classmates. Asher and Seth were 13-years-old.

Billy Lucas, a 15-year-old high school freshman from Indiana, was only perceived to be gay. But the unrelenting bullying ended with him taking his own life. Seven students in one Minnesota school district have taken their own lives, including three teens.

With the exception of Brown in Texas these suicides are not happening in Bible Belt regions of the country, where we might predict a greater-than-usual regard for religious thought. Instead, they are occurring in states perceived to be more liberal on LGBT issues: California, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

The case of Tyler Clementi is especially instructive about how far we have to go in accepting our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender children. Clementi was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University whose roommate secretly filmed a sexual encounter he had with another male student and then posted it on the internet.

Think about it. If Tyler had been heterosexual and instead filmed having sex with his girlfriend, it would still be an inappropriate invasion of his privacy and tasteless to post the video online. And it certainly would have been embarrassing for Tyler and the girl. But chances are he would have been the recipient of some congratulatory remarks from friends about what a stud he was. And if he was straight he likely wouldn't have contemplated -- not to mention successfully accomplished -- his own suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

No, Tyler was a victim -- not of an inner disturbance of depression or mental illness--but of an external and in part religiously inspired disdain and hatred of gay people.

Despite the progress we're making on achieving equality under the law and acceptance in society for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, why this rash of bullying, paired with self-loathing, ending in suicide? With humility and heartfelt repentance I assert that religion -- and its general rejection of homosexuality -- plays a crucial role in this crisis.

On the one hand, Religious Right hatemongers and crazies are spewing all sorts of venom and condemnation, all in the name of a loving God. The second-highest-ranking Mormon leader, Boyd K. Packer, recently called same-sex attraction "impure and unnatural" in an act of unspeakable insensitivity at the height of this rash of teen suicides. He declared that it can be cured, and that same-sex unions are morally repugnant and "against God's law and nature."

Just as many gay kids grow up in these conservative denominations as any other. They are told day in and day out that they are an abomination before God. Just consider the sheer numbers of LGBT kids growing up right now in Roman Catholic, Mormon, and other conservative religious households. The pain and self-loathing caused by such a distortion of God's will is undeniable and tragic, causing scars and indescribable self-alienation in these young victims.

You don't have to grow up in a religious household, though, to absorb these religious messages. Not long ago I had a conversation with six gay teens, not one of whom had ever had any formal religious training or influence. Every one of them knew the word "abomination," and every one of them thought that was what God thought of them. They couldn't have located the Book of Leviticus in the Bible if their lives depended on it yet they had absorbed this message from the antigay air they breathe every day.

Add to that the Minnesota Family Council's Tom Prichard recently saying that the real cause of the suicides is "homosexual indoctrination," not antigay bullying, and that the students died because they adopted an "unhealthy lifestyle."

Susan Russell from All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, points out how ludicrous these statements are in her "An Inch at a Time" blog:

Thirteen and fifteen year olds are not 'adopting a lifestyle,' they're trying to have a life! They're trying to figure out who they are, who God created them to be and what on earth to do with this confusing bunch of sexual feelings that they're trying to get a handle on. They need role models for healthy relationships -- not judgment and the message that they're condemned to a life of loneliness, isolation and despair.

On the other hand, what's the role of more mainline, more progressive denominations such as mainstream Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in these recent tragedies? Mostly silence. And just like in the days of the AIDS organization Act Up, "silence equals death."

It is not enough for good people -- religious or otherwise -- to simply be feeling more positive toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Tolerance and a live-and-let-live attitude beats discrimination and abuse by a mile. But it's not enough. Tolerant people, especially tolerant religious people, need to get over their squeamishness about being vocal advocates and unapologetic supporters of LGBT people. It really is a matter of life and death, as we've seen.

I learned this in my dealing with racism. It's not enough to be tolerant of other races. I benefit from a racist society just by being white. I don't ever have to use the "n" word, treat any person of color with discourtesy, or even think ill of anyone. But as long as I am not working to dismantle the systemic racism that benefits me, a white man, at the expense of people of color, I am a racist. And my faith calls me to become an anti-racist -- pro-active, vocal, and committed.

Some progressive religious groups -- the United Church of Christ, Unitarians, Metropolitan Community Church -- have long been advocates for LGBT people. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has recently made great strides in welcoming gay clergy. And my own Episcopal Church has put itself at great risk on behalf of full inclusion of LGBT people in electing two openly gay priests to be bishops.

Still, even in these progressive churches, there is much to be done.

Cody J. Sanders, a Baptist minister and Ph.D. student in pastoral theology and counseling at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, recently wrote on the Religion Dispatches website about how important it is for churches to act:

Ministers who remain in comfortable silence on sexuality must speak out. Churches that have silently embraced gay and lesbian members for years must publicly hang the welcome banner. How long will we continue to limit and qualify our messages of acceptance, inclusion and embrace for the most vulnerable in order to maintain the comfort of those in our communities of faith who are well served by the status quo? In the current climate, equivocating messages of affirmation are overpowered by the religious rhetoric of hatred. Silence only serves to support the toleration of bullying, violence and exclusion. In the face of what has already become the common occurrence of LGBT teen suicide, how long can we wait to respond?

As good Christians and Jews we must work to change the religious thinking, rhetoric, and practice that communicates to our LGBT children that they are despised by their Creator. We must learn to object to anti-gay jokes the way we learned to tell our friends that we would not tolerate racist jokes. We must demand that our schools not only have antibullying policies, but that they follow through on stopping the practice of bullying. We need to lobby our congressional representatives for the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA, H.R. 4530, S. 3390). And we must proclaim openly, loudly, and often that we love our children unconditionally in the way that God does -- always wanting the best and most healthy lives for them.

These bullying behaviors would not exist without the undergirding and the patina of respect provided by religious fervor against LGBT people. It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives.

“I call you in righteousness…to believe out loud.”

Meditation for the Holy Eucharist
Stakeholders’ Council Meeting at the Believe Out Loud Power Summit
10 October 2010
Orlando, Florida

By
The Rev. David Norgard

President

Integrity USA

It is amazing that we are here in a way. Episcopalians are not typically the type to say they go to church, much less really “believe out loud.”

We have an inclination for subtler, more classical expressions of our theology. We know the four cardinal virtues, for instance: prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude or courage. To our way of thinking, these are not “believe out loud” kinds of virtues. “Out loud” has an urgent, proactive ring to it. “Out loud” is the way those secular activists operate.

For those in a church that holds a deep respect and appreciation for tradition, prudence often translates into caution. Temperance means not rocking the boat – being “fair and balanced” (just like Fox News). To work for justice is to work for incremental progress. And fortitude is demonstrated by not complaining in the face of adversity.

…But then comes the news, fresh new lines in an all too long litany of lament. There are the stories of suicide, of murder, of torture, of harassment, of bullying. It did not end with Matthew Sheppard. It did not end with the Stonewall Riots.

And we know this news could have hit close to home. It could have been our brother, our son, our daughter, our mother. In West Hollywood, where I live today, a gay mecca, a friend of mine from school was beaten right on Santa Monica Boulevard, the “gay strip,” just last year. In Minneapolis, the city of the country’s very first municipal gay rights ordinance, I was attacked by a man with a knife just for walking down Hennepin Avenue.

In the face of danger and conflict, frankly it is tempting not to believe out loud…especially when we have settled into churches and neighborhoods and livelihoods where we can be comfortable most if not all of the time. It is tempting, as LGBT folk, not to be out loud.

Yet, I also believe we know in our hearts that the times do call for new expressions of old virtues…before it is too late. Could it be that prudence is about knowing when to stand up as much as when to back down? Could it be that temperance is as much about holding firm as it is about holding back? Could it be that courage is about speaking up and not letting the moment pass? Could it be that justice is not about improvement of the status quo but rather about creating a new status altogether?

I believe that is why we are here. We are called to new expressions of old virtues…not for the sake of individual halos but for the sake of moving toward a horizon shining brightly with the light of the dignity of every human being.

Believe out loud.

Amen.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

It’s unusual these days to find an Anglican American conservative leader saying anything outrageously anti-gay. Perhaps it’s because recent polls have shown it’s no longer so cool to be homophobic in the US, or because liberals are standing up to them and no-one wants to be lambasted across the internet. (As happened to Carl Paladino, Republican hopeful for governor of New York, this week.) Fortunately for them, the ACNA etc. have already passed the anti-gay baton firmly to the Africans.

At the All Africa Bishops’ meeting in August, Archbishop Orombi of Uganda reiterated his position, “Homosexuality is evil, abnormal and unnatural as per the Bible. It is a culturally unacceptable practice”. At the same event, Archbishop Okoh, the new Primate of Nigeria pledged allegiance to the anti-gay crusade, and also made the startling claim, “The Church in the West had vowed to use their money to spread the homosexual lifestyle in African societies and Churches; after all Africa is poor. They are pursuing this agenda vigorously and what is more, they now have the support of the United Nations.” Now the Archbishop-elect of Rwanda, Onesphore Rwaje, has confirmed that he and Rwanda are still onboard, "Anything that is contrary to God's family set-up is not acceptable; there is nowhere in the Bible where same-sex marriage is encouraged. God created a man and woman to be the basis of a family".

Given that the anti-gay standard is being carried high by Africans, the good people at home can be seen to be compassionate. If you can bear it, watch Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council giving the “Anglican Perspective” on the “Tragedy at Rutgers”. It’s mercifully short, but to spare you the trouble of watching it, here’s the gist: quoting from the Rite 1 eucharistic prayer, Ashey explains that Tyler Clementi’s death was a tragedy. Homosexuality is a sin but we all sin. The good news we can share is that Jesus died for our sins.

His statement completely ignores the question of why Tyler was so devastated at being exposed that he took his own life. Suppose for a minute that everyone who was recorded saying disrespectful things about their parents committed suicide. We’d have people dropping like flies. Yet honoring your parents is one of the Big Ten, and homosexuality isn’t.

One can argue that our understanding of relationships between parents and children today is very different from it was 4,000 years ago. But that’s even truer of homosexuality. Four thousand years ago (even two thousand years ago) there weren’t gay or lesbian people, just people who made “bad” sexual choices.

It is the social and religious prejudice of our day that made Tyler feel his “sin” exposed was more than he could live with. If Phil Ashey really wanted to offer a compassionate response to the tragedy at Rutgers, he would be asking his constituents to reach out to the gay people around them without expecting that they would change. He would be begging the African triumvirate to find something else to use as a symbol of American depravity, not encouraging them to play the “bad cop” so American conservatives can appear to be the gentle and compassionate “good cop”.

The Rev. Carolyn Hall is a frequent contributor to Walking With Integrity. She is the former VP of International Affairs for Integrity USA and she serves as priest-in-charge at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church in Los Osos, California.

Integrity President David Norgard's Letter to Members

13 October 2010


Dear Members & Friends:


Just back from Orlando, Florida, I write to report to you on the semi-annual board meeting which took place there in conjunction with the Believe Out Loud Power Summit. Over all, the meeting was extraordinarily productive and I want to commend all of my colleagues for their efforts on behalf of this ministry we share with you.

With the appointment of our first permanent Executive Director, Max Niedzwiecki, just two months ago, we concentrated on how we can serve the organization most effectively, both in our several individual roles and in our collective role as the Board of Directors. In these discussions we were guided by nonprofit management consultant Michela Perrone, who helped us design a working partnership with our new E.D. around all facets of our organizational life: program, development, administration, and governance. We are excited by the mutual ministry we envision and are already underway with making it a reality.

Of course, questions of structure serve the deeper question of mission – what is it that we are organized to do? – and on this question too we reflected deeply. There will be much more detail to share in the weeks and months ahead; however, I want to share our basic understandings and agreements without delay. First, we remain committed to working in and with the Episcopal Church to bring about the day when all the sacraments will be made available to all the baptized – in every province, in every diocese, in every parish and mission. Secondly, we recognize and commit to working with and through the church to advance LGBT moral and legal equality in the civic sphere. In short, we commit to “believing out loud.” And finally, we remain committed to engaging in international alliances wherever our involvement is welcomed and where we believe our participation can contribute significantly toward positive outcomes.

In addition to the board retreat, the Stakeholders’ Council held its annual meeting, and as I mentioned, our Integrity gatherings were just part of an even larger gathering of people and organizations from across the spectrum of the welcoming church movement. I leave it to Max and the Rev. Susan McCann, the Council’s Chair, to report on these other vital proceedings. Nevertheless, on a personal note, I must say that I always feel blessed when I have opportunity to be in the profoundly good company of the wider fellowship of Integrity leaders. My personal thanks go to the Provincial Coordinators and Diocesan Organizers who represent Integrity so capably day in and day out across the whole breadth of our church.

In closing, I hope you will join me and my colleagues on the board in recommitting to the sacred, noble, challenging, inspiring work that is our mission. And in doing so, I invite you to renew your membership in Integrity at as generous a level as you are able for the truth is…we are all partners in this ministry.

Peace,

David

The Rev. David Norgard
President, Integrity USA

Integrity NY Metro Believes Out Loud

A Message from Integrity NYC Metro on the 12th Anniversary of the Death of Matthew Shepard

The brutal murder of this young gay man (coincidentally an Episcopalian) in 1998 sparked a conversation with mainstream America about violence against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) people.

This past weekend, members of your Integrity NYC Metro Leadership Team had the privilege of meeting with over 300 Christians from more than 12 denominations at the Believe Out Loud Power Summit in Orlando, Florida. This extraordinary opportunity for worship, witness and networking is just part of an historic nationwide ecumenical inclusive church movement that is still unfolding. It was the birthplace of numerous local and regional initiatives about which you will be hearing in the next few months.

Our collective and individual joy was tempered by the continuing barrage of news stories about violence and prejudice towards LGBTQ persons, much of it in our own area. In just the past few weeks we have seen a number of suicides, three separate acts of anti-LGBTQ violence, and a string of hateful rhetoric by a high-profile political candidate.

None of these are new phenomena. LGBTQ people of all ages (and those perceived to be “queer” simply by the way they present themselves) are far more likely to commit suicide than other populations. Violence against our communities persists, in part, because it is still considered “okay” by many in our society to make hurtful and biased statements about us, and in many cases they do so without censure.

Much progress has occurred in the years since Matthew’s murder. Some feel the burst of violence we are witnessing be may be a reaction to that progress. Much remains to be done. To that end, Integrity, the leading voice for full inclusion within the Episcopal Church, has joined with its ecumenical partners in  Believing Out Loud  to create visible and intentional congregational welcome. An Integrity representative will be contacting congregations in the coming months to discuss this process and encourage you to consider taking part. We hope you will see this -- as we do -- as a witness of our baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human being.

Judge Orders International End to DADT

Integrity USA celebrates Federal Judge Virginia Phillips' order today to stop the enforcement of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the military. "We have long depended on our soldiers to be valiant protectors of America," said Max Niedzwiecki, Executive Director of Integrity USA. "With the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, gay and lesbian soldiers will finally be able to be open about their personal lives. It is through telling our stories and being honest about who we are that we are able to change hearts and minds. This is a great day for the American military and all of us who depend on them."

The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle, Integrity's Vice President for National and International Affairs, said, "We celebrate the order to end DADT.  This discrimination by the nation's largest employer has ruined the careers of over 13000 thousand gay and lesbian patriots who bravely served their country. Today's decision is another small but significant step to address the pervasive and deeply held institutional homophobia that still pervades every aspect of our national life, secular and religious."

Integrity USA is very aware that there might be appeals to this ruling. We commit to work with secular and religious groups, our legislators, and our communities to bring an end to all discrimination, wherever it lives, and make the radically inclusive love of God tangible everywhere.

Good News - Bad News

Integrity Executive Director Max Niedzwiecki Blogs on the recent teen suicides

First the bad news (and it’s really, really bad).

Over the past month at least four American teenagers have committed suicide after being convinced life was impossible because people said they were gay and made them feel less than human because of that. This comes as we approach the twelfth anniversary of the torture and murder of Matthew Shephard

• Asher Brown, age 13

• Tyler Clementi, age 18

• Billy Lucas, age 15

• Seth Walsh, age 13

May light perpetual shine upon them.

This weekend we learned more very bad news. Nine men stand accused of kidnapping and brutally torturing three men because they believed they were gay. Read the story here. I could go on, but thinking about just these stories fills me with anger, sadness, shame and other emotions I can’t name. Part of my shame comes from the fact that my religion – Christianity – bears a heavy burden of guilt for promoting the fear and hatred of people who are “different” because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Christianity has played a key role in shaping American culture and attitudes, whether we go to church or not. Many churches under the Episcopal umbrella and beyond still cultivate fear and hatred for people who are different.

Now for the good news

In the midst of this horrible suffering, which has been going on for untold generations, is the really good news that God is leading many Episcopalians and other Christians to start cleaning up the mess we spent so long making. God is leading many of us to a new realization of the fact that we are all God’s beloved children. In God’s Church, there are no outsiders – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

As I write this, I sit in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida, after a full day at the Believe Out Loud Power Summit. For a sample of what this has been like listen to a short part of this morning’s sermon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl_BiKxtqwo). Together with our colleagues from many other Protestant denominations and other traditions, about forty Integrity members are learning, planning, and becoming more inspired to make God’s love more tangible in the Episcopal Church and throughout the world.

As I work with friends and colleagues here I am often reminded of the prayer that we say at the conclusion of many celebrations of the Holy Eucharist:

Eternal God,*
you have graciously accepted us as living members
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As you say this prayer in the coming month, I invite you to join me in remembering Asher Brown, Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Matthew Shepard, Seth Walsh, the three men who were recently kidnapped and tortured, and other people who have been killed or brutalized because they are “different.” And I invite you reflect one of the greatest challenges that the Holy Spirit has brought to us: To make all people understand that we are all beloved Children of God.

"Believe Out Loud Power Summit: Day One"

The "Believe Out Loud Power Summit" got off to a great start in Orlando this morning with a rousing sermon by the Reverend Rebecca Voelkel, faith work director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“Too many times, religion has been used to demonize and persecute LGBT people, just as religion has and continues to be used to justify oppression of other communities. But we’re not standing for this and we’re not staying silent. The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to work for justice, inclusion and right relationship for all people, and all means all.”

Here's the conclusion, caught on YouTube:



Visit the NGLTF (National Gay & Lesbian Task Force) website for more about the conference which concludes on Monday. And stay tuned for further updates from Orlando!

"Believing Out Loud" in Orlando



Integrity Board members
Louise Brooks, Susan McCann & Neil Houghton
with BOL participant Rhea Copening from St. David's Austin



Members of the Integrity Board are joining hundreds of other LGBT leaders in Orlando this weekend for the "Believe Out Loud Power Summit" -- a conference designed to provide "advanced concrete skills-building for leaders in the pro-LGBT Welcoming Church Movement in key areas of organizing & movement-building."

Follow the conference on Integrity's Facebook page and watch for updates on this blog. And do keep the conference and its important work in your prayers as we continue to equip ourselves for the work and witness of proclaiming God's inclusive love to a world in desperate need of it!

A Note from Kampala

“Alleluia …Not as Orphans”

About twenty Ugandan women filled the tiny office that Integrity members in the USA have been renting for Bishop Christopher over the last decade. We listened to each tear-wrenching story of domestic violence, AIDS orphans, the need to earn a living to feed their children and send them to school. Esther Mbaziira graduated with a degree in Information Technology and is one of 5,000 local graduates who are struggling to find work. Only 800 of these graduate students will find work in Uganda this year, where a third of the country still lives on less than a dollar a day. Esther leads the women’s group and divides them into two groups, one to develop a budget and business plan for a potential catering business and the other a rural group to make bricks and raise poultry. The energy in the room was palpable. It moved from a cloud of despair and hopelessness to flooding with ideas and collaboration.

Poverty-the great equalizer

I visited many rural communities this week who want to help themselves enough so that AIDS orphans can attend school and eat while their teachers and parents might manage to make a living.


As we cris-crossed the country, Gay and straight, Muslims and Christians all worked and planned together under the auspices of Bishop Christopher’s “St. Paul’s Center for Reconciliation and Equality”.

Although the LGBT community has been particularly traumatized this past year with the proposed Bahati Bill, Uganda has an emerging progressive and inclusive community where straight allies are employing their LGBT friends and families and a powerful emerging network. In Kampala itself, we met some leaders of a local Coalition of about 30 human rights and religious organizations (including Integrity Uganda) and their work, against all odds, has been very successful. This is a remarkable “David and Goliath” story and the work of this Coalition got international attention and support right up to President Obama and most European governments. However, these courageous straight and gay allies are expecting another round of fighting when the government elections are over in early 2011 and another form of the Bill will be introduced, perhaps, as the Anglican church there recommends “ to make the promotion of homosexuality illegal”.

A new “Gay Straight Alliance”

It is an inspiration to hear Professor Sylvia Tamale, a distinguished Law Professor at Makerere University described the Bahati Bill as “A blessing in disguise”. She said “This dark cloud over us had a silver lining in that it had created a strong local movement that lobbied members of parliament, the local and international business community and policy makers to defeat this proposed legislation”. Dr. Tamale had just edited a book on “African Sexuality” that will be available in March that refutes many myths about sexuality in Africa, particularly the claim that homosexuality is a “Western import”. It has been an inspiration to see how this straight and LGBT Ugandan alliance has made progress against all odds.

“Where is the Church?”

Bishop Christopher’s office is in an economically deprived part of Kampala and his reach is deep into poor rural communities where family values and inclusion remain strong. We visited many rural communities this past week and it is a national tragedy that these communities have been largely ignored by the government and mainstream churches. These voiceless and under-represented populations are willing to work together to improve the economic and civil rights of all Ugandans. Pastor Joseph Tolton from Rehoboth Temple in Harlem, (an inclusive Pentecostal Church who recently hosted a program for Bishop Christopher) remarked how connected the issues of poverty, oppression and neo-colonialism from the western fundamentalists have deepened the divide between the “haves” and the “have nots”. The Church has been more vocal against homosexuality than about these neglected communities.

 Yesterday’s paper had a photo of President Musevene giving a $40,000 Pajero vehicle to a newly-consecrated Church of Ugandan bishop (the equivalent of receiving four times ones annual salary – a public bribe that would be inconceivable in any other democracy except here. The President, who is seeking reelection for his forth term in early 2011 gives a new vehicle to every newly consecrated bishop in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches (estimated to be over $2m worth of gifts to the church leadership in recent years).

The LGBT Community is the “canary in the coalmine?” First the gays then everyone’s civil rights are under threat.

In the two weeks we have been in Uganda, we have seen several major infringements of human rights for all Ugandans from alleged rigging of local primary elections for the government party (600 complaints have been filed in 1 week), to government clampdown on all public demonstrations in Kampala under the guise of national security. The churches are all silent about these obvious unconstitutional practices while continuing their chorus of anti-gay rhetoric. I wonder what our women’s group and many of the rural groups would do could do with a Presidential $2 million dollar windfall?

There is equality in poverty in that we have seen some of the most marginalized gay and straight Ugandans working together. One of the most successful anti-poverty programs that appears to be working most successfully in Uganda is to be elected a bishop! Following your enthronement, you are guaranteed a four-year salary bonus from the government! Meanwhile Esther and her twenty local women, squeeze into a 200 square foot office space, dream of a day when they can feed and clothe their children and work together with gay and straight neighbors.

Integrity USA is continuing to support Bishop Christopher and a new full time Program Manager and part time bookkeeper (we raised $32,000 on his recent tour for his work) but he now needs Esther to work full time full time if these programs are going to have a chance to grow and become a support system to full time work for these women. I hope you will respond to our appeal to raise the $3,000 he needs so the work prophetic Integrity began a decade ago by former President Michael Hopkins, can continue to courageously flourish. Click here to donate. Check the box for "Integrity Uganda" under "Purpose of Gift."

From The Reverend Canon Albert J. Ogle

Vice President for National and International Affairs

The church responds to challenge to "Believe Out Loud" for at-risk youth

Last week, Walking With Integrity addressed the heartbreaking reports of the increase of LGBT youth suicides with this challenge:

• We challenge our clergy in the Episcopal Church to take to their pulpits this Sunday to speak out against all forms of bullying and the systemic homophobia behind it.
• We challenge the people in our church pews and in our communities to speak out whenever our young gay brothers and sisters are attacked.

Today we want to share a few of the responses to that challenge as we encourage the whole church to continue to "go and do likewise" until no child is ever driven to end a life-barely-begun because of homophobia inspired bullying, harassment and violence.

From Wyoming and Ann Fontaine's Mustard Seeds of Hope at "what the tide brings in:"

In baptism we are asked, "Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?" and we answer with a loud, "AMEN." We can be communities of support and care for all people, we can teach one another to walking in Christ's loving footsteps. We can offer hope to those who feel alone and isolated.

Last week our church camp, that you support through the diocesan assessment and through sending kids to camp in the summer, was the site for a weekend with the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) in Casper. High school students who care and support for each other, especially for those who are gay or lesbian. They spent the weekend using the ropes course for team building and learning more about how to be community who is there for each other. You, Holy Communion, Rock Springs, have become a welcoming church for all who might come seeking hope. We can continue this work and exercise our faith together - so when a moment comes to stand up - we will not fear but step out in faith.

This is being the mustard seed of the gospel. We can be a small seed of faith and hope that grows to a large protective place of respite and renewal -- scattering our mustard seeds of hope to all who need a word of encouragement and knowledge that they are beloved of God, that life is worth living.

From the pulpit at Integrity Partner Parish All Saints Church, Pasadena:



And from Maria Evans in Kirksville, Missouri in this litany for children at risk from bullying:

O God of justice and mercy, we pray that no more daughters and sons in this world die as the result of bullying simply because of who they are; be it race, religion, sexual orientation, or social awkwardness.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

That our schools become places of nurturing and hope rather than shame and derision.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

That our teachers instill values of charity and acceptance in all children so there is no need for one child to feel superior over another.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

That parents can put aside what they were sometimes taught, in order to promote tolerance and diversity at home.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

That our communities support children who feel “different from the others” and show them lives that are theirs to claim, lives they cannot begin to imagine to see at home.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

That all children can grow up feeling self-empowered and truly loved simply as themselves, and not suffer beatings and psychological abuse at home or school.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Lord, you understand this above all others, for your only Son hung among thieves on a rough wooden cross on a barren hill, just as Matthew Shepard hung from a rail fence on a lonely road. Be our light in the darkness, Lord; protect our children and fill them with the love of your Holy Spirit; hold them in your Son’s loving arms in their most fearful hours, and be with them always. Amen.

This is what it means to "Believe Out Loud" -- to put our faith into action to be the change we want to see in the world! We would love to highlight other examples of those throughout the church stepping up to speak out for our children at risk. Send links or quotes to Integrity's Director of Communications for inclusion in future updates.

A Call to Action Against Bullying and Harrassment of Gay Youth

The recent suicides of five of LGBT youth this week is cause for grave concern. Integrity USA joins other LGBT advocacy groups to demand national action be taken to address bullying, harassment and the need for safety and inclusion for LGBT youth at schools, churches, colleges and universities across the country.

We challenge our clergy in the Episcopal Church to take to their pulpits this Sunday to speak out against all forms of bullying and the systemic homophobia behind it. We need to be reminded, over and over again, of the promise of our baptismal covenant: to respect the dignity of every human being.

We challenge the people in our church pews and in our communities to speak out whenever our young gay brothers and sisters are attacked. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 gay youth have been bullied and sadly, too often it goes unreported. It is time that we reclaim the rights of our young people to be safe in the context of who they are.

We challenge our politicians and government leaders to pass legislation to end any existing discriminatory laws or policies against the LGBT community.

We challenge each other to always be the face and hands of God in the world to spread love and acceptance.

Let us, one and all, unite to take action immediately so that no more gay youth see suicide as their only option.

We must not let these tragic deaths go unnoticed.