Gay Activists The Church: Seventh-Day Adventist Kship Internatnal, Inc – Ronald L. Lawson Ph.D., Profsor Emer, Queens College, CUNY

Contents:

• SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS
• “SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS”
• I AM A SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTIST
• A GAY MAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADVENTIST CHURCH
• THE MISSG STORY "SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS"
• SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST ANTI-GAY SUMM HELD AI THIS MONTH

SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS

How many people who claim the mantle of ex-gay have bought to the notn that simply a matter of "pray the gay away" and you will somehow miraculoly bee straight, only to fd out after years of livg nial that they have been brawashed to a cel hoax when realy of all crashg down on them. I gus what I'm tryg to say is this, while I agree the Bible do not sanctn immoral behavr of any kd, why is that an entire group of people are wrten off by the church at large and stigmatized bee ant gay activists have given them the imprsn that gays are not worth the time or effort to evangelize.

It's only others they fd ntemptible, but is impossible to look at that child that bore and watched through childhood and now disver he is gay, your whole attu will change–unls you ci to disown that child and that is so spible that is unthkable for any parent to even nsir. Why is that whenever I hear a story of a person that was born gay, who overme that and went on to a happy celebate life or a happy life wh a member of the oppose sex, those people are met wh rolled ey are ments such as "they are jt livg a lie" or "they were never tly gay to beg wh"? Hansen, I agree wh Tom that the kd of rhetoric you've been g this discsn is precisely the kd of rhetoric that ph our same-sex attracted young people towards what you label as "the gay muny" — those sectns of our large ci that abound gay bars wh open arms to wele searchg young people.

I still thk you should read Andrew Mar's "Love is an Orientatn" to get a broar perspective on this, FYI Mar is a nservative christian who is not an apologist for the gay liftyle, who cid to take up rince Chigo's "Boys Town" and mix wh the gay muny to try and better unrstand gays and set up a mistry for them. The discrimatory and homophobic polici and practic that we see all around have their roots our church, which is eply ironic, given that J' entire life and missn was about love, a love so profound that he was willg to die to monstrate s, I believe that 's time for Christiany to e out of the closet of close-mdns. **Seventh-Gay Adventists is currently screeng at LGBT film ftivals (cludg the Southwt Gay & Lbian Film ftival, the Seattle Lbian & Gay Film ftival October), and 's also g to New York Cy on October I appreciate most is that this film is helpg bridge the gap between the fah and LGBT muni.

“SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS”

It's helpg gay people of fah see stori of others who also have to rencile their fah and sexualy, and, even more importantly, 's helpg nservative church start realizg that they have people like me stg their a young Adventist, I envisn a day where, not jt the Adventist church, but Christiany as a whole, will wholeheartedly participate an actual dialogue where we listen before judgg. He says 's well done and that we are "skilled storytellers", that the tone of the film is gentle, that the people featured the film are jt people who happen to be gay, that their stori are ronatg eply wh dienc, and that many Adventists are startg to wonr how a God of love uld ask people not to have the blsg of a lovg relatnship their liv.

On the other hand, if this is the very bt that the Adventist Church n officially say about s LGBT members, 's no wonr many of them never darken church doorways, and 's no wonr that every sgle gay Adventist who has ever e to one of our story booths has admted to serly ntemplatg or attemptg suici. When LGBT youth are four tim more likely to m suici than other youth their own age, and when that number doubl to eight tim more likely to m suici if they e om a rejectg fay (as opposed to jt a rejectg society or church), we mt hold our church lears and lumnists to a higher standard of re when to choosg how they scribe gay dividuals who are lovg relatnships.

" He spends a lot of real tate toutg the webse and platform of Wayne Blakely, whose story appeared the Review a uple years ago, and whose self-scribed "gay liftyle" prised 37 years of promiscuy, brokenns, and addictn that anyone would agree was need of remptn whether he was gay or straight. If you want to journey wh gay and lbian Adventists wrtlg wh qutns about their fah and sexual orientatn; if you want to enter a listeng space; if you want to lgh at haystacks, Pathfrs, and the quirks of our Adventist herage that make this muny of belongg about so much more than a set of beliefs, email Daneen at about a screeng your area. Sermons and church publitns praised the nuclear fay as God’s ial for human begs while largely ignorg the needs of the substantial number of sgle Adventists and portrayg the creasg visibily of homosexuals society as an ditn of moral y and a sure sign that the end of human history was at hand.

I AM A SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTIST

When, ocsnally, a homosexual was disvered pulp or pew – perhaps followg an arrt rultg om police entrapment — he2 was ually disfellowshipped as rapidly as possible, beg regard as a pariah who had brought disrepute upon the church rather than as a brother who was sperately need of passn and support sce he had probably lost fay, job, and reputatn one fell swoop.

The tobgraphi vividly illtrated that beg raised as an Adventist had signifintly exacerbated the trma of growg up gay both for the persons ncerned and also for their fai, who equently rejected their children or found themselv alienated om them and had to live wh a belief that they were eternally lost.

Much of the material wrten by scholars of other Christian nomatns proved to be enuragg (McNeill, 1976; Snzoni and Mollenkott, 1978; Horner, 1978; Bart, 1979; Borhek, 1979; Boswell, 1980), and mutual support allowed Kship members to exame their own experience and to realize that they were ed both gay and Christian no matter how ngo this seemed the light of what they had been tght church and parochial school.

A GAY MAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE ADVENTIST CHURCH

The package ntas, among other ems, a booklet discsg homosexualy and the Christian and troducg Kship, another alg wh what the Bible says and do not say about homosexualy, an article ntag a selectn of the personal stori of growg up gay and Adventist (as told at the first Kampmeetg), and an annotated biblgraphy. The mistry of the people to Kship members has also been enormoly important: to fd that some Adventist clergy re about gay Adventists, to hear them affirm the Christian experience of the members, to have them raise poted qutns and then participate the fdg of answers – all have had a val impact on the anizatn.

Sendly, fear of disvery a church notor for s wispread gossip works: many potential members on Adventist mp rea om jog bee they are aaid to receive mail; many of the members, cludg most of the church employe, attempt to protect themselv by g psdonyms; and Kship knows that some of those most outspoken agast gays wh the church hierarchy are themselv closeted homosexuals tryg to protect themselv. And thirdly, negative and misleadg unter publicy released by church thori and passed readily along munitns works: unselors at Adventist lleg have claimed that Kship “endors the gay liftyle” (which undoubtedly njur up imag of promiscuy and alhol the mds of hearers), while iativ by the stunt prs on var mp to prent more balanced reports have sometim been severely censored. The token qualy of the program is shown by the fact that elsewhere the church old practic, such as the bad unsel given to stunts needg help wh homosexual problems at Adventist high schools and lleg, ntued the nomatnal role fancg and publicizg the Qut program had helped make church members more nsc of the existence of homosexual Adventists.

THE MISSG STORY "SEVENTH-GAY ADVENTISTS"

Church lears were nervo durg the first ntacts ncerng how the might be perceived by vol members: they sought assuranc that the participatn of the clergy the ial kampmeetg would not be ed as an opportuny to claim the prs, once they had agreed to Kship’s requt, that the General Conference had accepted homosexualy. When, after the kampmeetg, the clergy brought a number of remendatns to the church hierarchy, the latter explicly rejected suggtns that two of the clergy be appoted as chaplas to Kship and that “the church regnize Kship as a vehicle by which other young Seventh-day Adventists, disverg that they have a homosexual orientatn, may fd the help they seek” bee they felt imperative not to be seen as regnizg Kship.

Consequently, a key mtee voted that the church’s rponse to homosexualy should be to offer “healg, ” that uld not ndone practicg homosexuals, and that they uld not negotiate wh anized groups who ll themselv SDA gays and lbians nor even engage “diplomatic relatns” wh them, for this would be terpreted by church members as “regnn and endorsement of a viant philosophy and liftyle;” ed “unsel will be sought as to what appropriate actn n be taken to prevent such groups om g the name of the church” [Mut, North Amerin Divisn Commtee of the General Conference of SDAs, 4/9/1981]. However, the first draft of the ial overview paper, which was wrten by an ethicist the relign partment of one of the church’s universi, received a chilly receptn om the totally heterosexual mtee when nclud that while homosexualy was not the ial, the church should enurage homosexuals to form and mata monogamo relatnships sce their orientatns uld not ually be changed (Larson, 1984)3.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST ANTI-GAY SUMM HELD AI THIS MONTH

It ed the fact that the personal experienc of homosexual Adventists show “the almost total absence of people – mistry and lay alike – who seem pable of treatg homosexuals wh passn”; took note that “pable scholars” had put forward “alternative terpretatns to many of the biblil passag that for years have been ed to nmn homosexual behavr, ” before assertg – advance of any ser Adventist study of the matter – that “the overwhelmg weight of evince still nmns such practic.

” While admted that “to ask that a person wh a homosexual orientatn eher change — which may or may not be possible (which was self a nsirable admissn) – or rema celibate may be askg a lot, ” nclud that “the offenr, stead of seekg jtifitn for unacceptable behavr, mt reach out for dive power to nquer the problem. They took the iative at the ququennial nference of the world church to revise prevly vague language the Church Manual, the document that erns the operatns of the church, to classify “homosexual and lbian practic” wh adultery, sexual ab of spo and children, ct and btialy as “obv perversns of God’s origal plan” and as “grievo ss for which members shall be subject to church disciple. ” The su, which did not mentn that Kship members are homosexuals and Adventists, claims that by g “Seventh-day Adventist” or s acronym as part of s name, Kship is likely to e nfn and so attract funds which donors thk are gog to the church and to harm the church’s bs activi.

For example, Dunn Eva, former Vice-print of the General Conference and Special Assistant to the Print and now chair of the Qut board, a letter to church and school officials throughout North Ameri picted Kship as prentg a theologil challenge to tradnal Adventism: “Perhaps there is no greater challenge to our fah and our preachg of the gospel of the grace of God than the challenge which homosexualy and those who teach as an acceptable alternative Christian liftyle prents to our church today. The greatt impediments to progrs towards treatg gay Adventists wh unrstandg and passn are the fears of rockg the boat held by persons learship posns and a misplaced nfince that they somehow have the answers and that their polici are for the bt when fact they are very poorly rmed and their attus reflect societal prejudic.