Monday, January 14, 2008
Dr. Louie Crew, Founder of Integrity, to speak in Fort Worth
Some people are threatening to split from The Episcopal Church because of its full inclusion of gay and lesbian Episcopalians in the life and ministry of the church. But many Episcopalians agree with the move toward full inclusion of all the Baptized, or want to learn more about it.
One of the most articulate voices on this subject is Dr. Louie Crew, founder of Integrity. Integrity is a nonprofit organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] Episcopalians and straight friends. Since its founding by Dr. Crew in rural Georgia in 1974, Integrity has been the leading grassroots voice for the full inclusion of LGBT persons in The Episcopal Church and equal access to its rites.
On Saturday, March 1, 2008, Integrity Fort Worth will host Dr. Crew, whose topic will be “Exceedingly Glad in Times Like These,” at Celebration Community Church, 908 Pennsylvania Avenue, Fort Worth, TX. Dr. Crew will speak at 3:30 PM after the Holy Eucharist at 2:00 PM, led by the Rt. Rev. Sam Hulsey, retired bishop of Northwest Texas. Registration will begin at 1:30 p.m. There will be a reception in the parish hall following Dr. Crew’s address.
A native of Anniston, Alabama, Crew holds earned degrees from Baylor University (BA, 1958), Auburn (MA, 1959) and the University of Alabama (PhD, 1971) and honorary doctorates from three Episcopal seminaries: EDS (Cambridge, 1999), General (NYC, 2003), and EDS Pacific (Berkeley, 2004). He has held fellowships at UCal Berkeley, the University of Texas (Austin), and the University of Chicago. He is the author of more than 1620 publications.
An emeritus professor of English at Rutgers University, Crew taught there from 1989 to 2001 and served two terms as Chair of its Senate and a member of its Board of Governors. At other times during his 44-year career, he was a prep school master and a professor of black higher education in the rural south. He also taught for five years in rural Wisconsin and four years in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Dr. Crew’s contributions to the Church have been many. A five time deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Newark, he chaired Newark’s deputation in 2006. He has served two terms on the Standing Committee of his Diocese, twice as its President, and is now clerk of the vestry at Grace Church, Newark. He is also the secretary of Province Two of the Episcopal Church as well as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Nominations. He recently finished his term on the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, the body that governs the church between General Conventions.
Louie Crew and Ernest Clay entered a life partnership in February 1974.
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This event is free if attendees pre-register online at http://integrityfortworth.org.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Vote for Obama!
A link to Obama's responses to the Human Rights Campaign's questionnaire. Not 100%, but as close as any Democratic candidate gets. And, you gotta love his positions on economic justice, health care, education, Iraq, restoring our international reputation, women's rights, civil rights, and much more.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Below is the letter to the editor my Integrity chapter recently sent to our local newspaper:
To the Editor:
We members of *** Integrity read with interest ***'s report on the recent meeting at the Episcopalian Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, aimed at forging a coalition of North Americans with Anglican roots upset by the Episcopal Church's "liberal" direction.
*** Integrity is the local chapter of a national grassroots organization advocating the full inclusion of lesbian and gay people in the Episcopal Church and our equal access to its rites. In Jones' report, Bishop Ackerman, one of the organizers of this new conservative coalition, states that one of its goals is to encourage "Episcopalians who have felt there's no place left for them." We certainly know what that feels like.
Among the group signing this letter we include a couple whose life became untenable at the parish where they had been active members for years after one stood up at a diocesan convention to give a human face to the gays and lesbians being denigrated there. One is a mother whose gay son has been alienated from the church by the bigoted policies of the local diocese. Another is a man whose faithful partner of thirty-five years recently died without their ever having been able so much as to go forward in the church to which they had actively contributed for decades for a commonplace anniversary blessing. One of us is a former Episcopal seminarian whose bishop abruptly withdrew sponsorship for his candidacy to the priesthood when he asked for a church blessing on his relationship with his partner, though he had consistently been frank with the bishop about his orientation. Another is a father who has left the church in which he was baptized, raised and confirmed, because he found no way to answer his daughters' questions about why others were married in their church, but their father and his partner could not be. Our group is not allowed to meet at even the most "liberal" of our local Episcopal churches, due to the rector's concern over the reprisal he fears would occur from Bishop *** and his supporters.
Our stories are only the tip of the iceberg. Among our friends and acquaintances, we count others, be they gay, lesbian, or their friends and family, who have left the Episcopal Church in this diocese because they found "there's no place left for them" there. Of course, we vocal ones are a small minority. Larger is the number of local gay and lesbian Episcopalians who remain in fearful silence, including the youth subjected Sunday after Sunday to the message--often subtle, too often overt--that their capacity to love is an abomination in God's eyes. Forgive us if we remain unmoved by the complaints of our bishop, ***, and his fellow-travelers, who would rather split from the Episcopal Church than grant us full inclusion within the life of the church.
[Seven signatures]
To the Editor:
We members of *** Integrity read with interest ***'s report on the recent meeting at the Episcopalian Cathedral in Bedford, Texas, aimed at forging a coalition of North Americans with Anglican roots upset by the Episcopal Church's "liberal" direction.
*** Integrity is the local chapter of a national grassroots organization advocating the full inclusion of lesbian and gay people in the Episcopal Church and our equal access to its rites. In Jones' report, Bishop Ackerman, one of the organizers of this new conservative coalition, states that one of its goals is to encourage "Episcopalians who have felt there's no place left for them." We certainly know what that feels like.
Among the group signing this letter we include a couple whose life became untenable at the parish where they had been active members for years after one stood up at a diocesan convention to give a human face to the gays and lesbians being denigrated there. One is a mother whose gay son has been alienated from the church by the bigoted policies of the local diocese. Another is a man whose faithful partner of thirty-five years recently died without their ever having been able so much as to go forward in the church to which they had actively contributed for decades for a commonplace anniversary blessing. One of us is a former Episcopal seminarian whose bishop abruptly withdrew sponsorship for his candidacy to the priesthood when he asked for a church blessing on his relationship with his partner, though he had consistently been frank with the bishop about his orientation. Another is a father who has left the church in which he was baptized, raised and confirmed, because he found no way to answer his daughters' questions about why others were married in their church, but their father and his partner could not be. Our group is not allowed to meet at even the most "liberal" of our local Episcopal churches, due to the rector's concern over the reprisal he fears would occur from Bishop *** and his supporters.
Our stories are only the tip of the iceberg. Among our friends and acquaintances, we count others, be they gay, lesbian, or their friends and family, who have left the Episcopal Church in this diocese because they found "there's no place left for them" there. Of course, we vocal ones are a small minority. Larger is the number of local gay and lesbian Episcopalians who remain in fearful silence, including the youth subjected Sunday after Sunday to the message--often subtle, too often overt--that their capacity to love is an abomination in God's eyes. Forgive us if we remain unmoved by the complaints of our bishop, ***, and his fellow-travelers, who would rather split from the Episcopal Church than grant us full inclusion within the life of the church.
[Seven signatures]
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Letter to the Editor
Here's the letter to the editor I wrote them in response, and which they published the week after the article appeared:
To the editor: I wish that I’d had the opportunity 16 years ago to read Eric Griffey’s strong, even-handed report on the damage done by those seeking to offer a “Gay Cure” (June 13, 2007). It might have dissuaded me from over a decade of painful and misguided efforts to “pray the gay away.”
Groups like Arlington’s “Living Hope” seek to reconfirm, under the guise of pseudo-scientific, professionally discredited theories and methods, the bigotry amid which we allow many of our young people to be raised. Young gay men and lesbians who read Griffey’s report will be much less likely to place themselves at the mercy of such quackery. It is unlikely they can appreciate, without the hindsight of those who fell prey to these groups, what reports like Griffey’s may have done for them, or thank him for the effort. So let me do it for them.
To the editor: I wish that I’d had the opportunity 16 years ago to read Eric Griffey’s strong, even-handed report on the damage done by those seeking to offer a “Gay Cure” (June 13, 2007). It might have dissuaded me from over a decade of painful and misguided efforts to “pray the gay away.”
Groups like Arlington’s “Living Hope” seek to reconfirm, under the guise of pseudo-scientific, professionally discredited theories and methods, the bigotry amid which we allow many of our young people to be raised. Young gay men and lesbians who read Griffey’s report will be much less likely to place themselves at the mercy of such quackery. It is unlikely they can appreciate, without the hindsight of those who fell prey to these groups, what reports like Griffey’s may have done for them, or thank him for the effort. So let me do it for them.
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