wfn.org | Gays Still Face Discrimination

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (2878 notes).

Note 2877 by SUSAN PEEK on April 19, 1996 at 15:01 Eastern (2612 characters).

SEARCH: United Methodist, gays, General Conference, reconciling

012 {2876}                                          April 18, 1996

General Conference '96

Gays still not welcome in church,
says Reconciling Congregations group

     DENVER (UMNS) -- In 1991, Steve Marlatt, a gay man, and his
partner were active members of a United Methodist congregation in
Southern California.

     Then a new pastor arrived. "Your type is not needed here," he
told the pair.

     Marlatt was among the speakers at an April 18 press
conference and rally sponsored by the Reconciling Congregation
Program (RCP). An independent United Methodist movement, RCP
counts 130 members -- churches, campus ministries, annual
(regional) conferences and others -- that welcome homosexual and
bisexual people into the church.

     The organization's "Open the Doors" campaign at the
denomination's 1996 General Conference, meeting here April 16-26,
supports legislative change that would ban discrimination in
churches based on sexual orientation.

     Placards at the rally displayed the names of more than 10,000
people proclaiming themselves as "reconciling United Methodists."

     Marlatt recalled the pain of his own dismissal by the church
pastor. "He was not antagonistic," he explained. "But his feeling
was church was no place for a sinner."

     Katherine Fuller of Willoughby, Ohio, lamented that her
daughter, Marjorie, cannot fulfill a long-time dream of being
ordained in the United Methodist Church because she is a lesbian.

     "I was and am fully able to support my daughter," she said.
"Now, if only the church would support her, too."

     A United Methodist pastor in New York State would not baptize
the son of Lynn Miller, a lifelong church member, because he is
being raised in a lesbian household. And Diana Chalfant, a coach
with a winning record, was fired from a United Methodist college
in Kentucky because of her sexual orientation.

     Chalfant does, however, take solace in her involvement with
Edgehill United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn., a
reconciling congregation. The church, its pastor and members "did
and still do give me the strength to get through the week," she
said.

     The Rev. Karen Oliveto, pastor of Bethany United Methodist
Church in San Francisco and chairperson of the RCP board, noted
that as long as such discrimination exists in the denomination,
"our fellowship is flawed and the body of Christ is weakened."

                              #  #  #
                                                     --Linda Bloom

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