Out in the Mountains

Progress Among Episcopalians

The Reverend Jane Garrett
Deputy from Vermont

“Gay Cause Wins Three” trumpeted the
headline of the July 18 issue of United
Voice, the newsletter of Episcopalians
United, an evangelical and conservative
group. From the perspective of the many
gays and lesbians at the Episcopal
Church’s triannual General Convention
in Phoenix, July 11-20, it was progress
not a win. Though most of the same bat-
tles will have to be refought in 1994,
hopefully more gays and lesbians will
have made themselves known in the
Church and thus be harder to dismiss.

The Church has been openly struggling
over the theological acceptability and
role of homosexual persons since 1976.
Liberals have come to have no difficulty
accepting homosexuality as just another
God-given aspect of human sexuality,
but conservatives see it as a terrible sin
that should be purged from both in-
dividuals and the whole Church. Before
each General Convention the battle be-
tween the extreme groups becomes in-
tense. This year the conservatives poured
more energy and money than ever before
into a campaign that grew increasingly
angry, and even hate-filled. Many, in-
cluding this correspondent, feared that
the Church was being torn apart.

Until the voting began, no one knew how
much strength the conservatives had. In
the House of Bishops debate became so
heated that onlookers were asked to
leave, and the Bishops went into ex-
ecutive session. Many Bishops were par-
ticularly upset that a lesbian and a gay
man, both in committed relationships,
had been ordained recently. In the House
of Deputies, where each Diocese is repre-
sented by four lay people and four cler-
gy, the debate was less vituperative than
in previous years, and for the first time a
lesbian woman and a gay man spoke
openly about their committed re-
lationships. When the votes began to be
tallied it was clear that the liberals and
moderates would not only stem the
feared conservative tide but would be
able to begin to speak and act pro-
phetically.

Legislation that would have canonically
dictated celibacy for all unmarried clergy
(which would include all gays and les-

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bians since the Church does not rec-
ognize same-sex union) was rejected. The
Bishops put forward a compromise plan
affirming the Church’s traditional teach-
ings about marriage (exclusively hetero-
sexual) but acknowledging “the dis-
continuity between this teaching and the
experience of many members.” Dialogue
on these matters will continue for another
three years.

Amendments in the House of Deputies
added that the Bishops, with the help of
some deputies, are to prepare a Pastoral
Teaching prior to the next Convention,
using learning from Diocesan dialogues
and insights from “theologians, ethicists,
social scientists, and gay and lesbian per-
sons.” This is the first time that such in-
put has been officially sanctioned. An-
other resolution called for the
appointment to the Church’s Standing
Commission on Human Affairs of repre-
sentatives “from the groups and com-
munities most affected by the agenda for
the triennium.” In short, in the future gay
men and lesbian women will not be
“studied” by the Church without voice
and vote in the resulting recommenda-
tions. This is indeed progress!

The House of Deputies also voted that
“all members shall have equal access to
the selection process for ordination.” The
Bishops did not concur. Several amend-
ments to specifically prohibit the ordina-
tion of sexually active lesbians and gays
in the coming three years failed in both
Houses. An effort by some bishops to
reprimand the two bishops who recently
ordained a gay man and a lesbian to the
priesthood also failed.

We may yet live long enough to see the
Episcopal Church put into practice a res-
olution from 1988: that “stable, loving
and committed relationships between ho-
mosexual persons... whether lay or or-
dained, provide a wholesome example for
the Church.” Amen. V