LA's Gay Church Responds to End of Gay Marriage in California

In his sermon of Sunday, November 9, 2008, Rev. Dr. Neil G. Thomas, Senior Pastor of the fully-inclusive Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles (www.MCCLA .org) responds to the passage of Proposition 8 in California last week. 

He urges transgender, bisexual, gay and lesbian people to do the hard work of community-building, noting that the (temporary) loss of same-sex marriage in California shows that "we have so much more work to do.  We have so much more sacred conversation to have with one another.  We have so much more work to do in communities of color.  We have so much more work to do in our own community, in our own fears of reaching out to communities besides those that just look like us."

Over the past 72 hours I have spoken with you, cried with you, prayed with you, marched with you - sharing your pain, your frustration and your anger.

I have also had the opportunity to help shape the conversation that is being had post elections here in the United States and some of you have heard from me, on both local and national television and radio stations, as well as stood with me at the rallies that have been staged here in Los Angeles.

And I intend to continue to be as present as I possibly can be as the fight to bring about equality for all people continues in the coming days, weeks, months and years.  I sincerely hope that I have your support as your spiritual leader in our community.

Below you will find responses from the Moderator of our denomination, Reverend Elder Nancy Wilson as well as the leadership of the No on 8 Campaign to this week's outcome on the vote for Marriage Equality.  You will also find a letter that was sent out to the congregation of Kol Ami, one of our sister Jewish congregations here.  Rabbi Denise Eger is both a friend and a colleague and we have had the honor or standing together these past few days to help our community understand that not all religious peoples are against freedom and equality.

As LGBTQI people of faith it is important that we stand together at this time of increased persecution and discrimination.  It is imperative that we reveal the God that we know and understand who, in Jesus preached love and hope.  The Jesus who calls us to love one another as I have loved you - not just some of you.

In the coming days, in fact it is already happening, we will be tempted to blame one another or to point the finger at one group or another.  This is a symptom of grief and anger.  However, we must resist this temptation and instead, channel our frustration and disappointments to work for the good of the whole and to resist the polarization of our own community.  This does none of us any good and only further damages us a people.

My hope is that as a community of faith we can stand strong together.  Here at MCCLA, we have certainly learned that our diversity is a strength and that we can learn so much more from one another by being together.  Together, we are better!

Let us come together on Sunday in worship.  Let us hold one another.  Let us value one another.  Let us celebrate one another.  As we have done so many times before, we come to give thanks for this community of faith in its entirety and its diversity.

As the end of a wedding service the words, "What God has joined together, let no one put asunder" are often said.

Friends, we have been joined together:  people of all colors, backgrounds, ethnicities, age, ability, health status, economic status, Republican and Democrat, straight and gay.  That is our strength.  If we are faithful to the journey, no one can put us asunder.

On Sunday we will continue our theme of Sacred Conversations and I hope that you will be here to hear more.

Love and blessings, my friends,

The Reverend Dr. Neil G Thomas Senior Pastor

The last few days have been difficult ones. We've had to come to terms with the passage of Proposition 8 and all that it may mean for our community. We've also had to deal with our frustration, pain and anger. As we have often done throughout the history of our movement, we first came together at a rally on Wednesday night in West Hollywood. Afterwards, thousands of people were not ready to go home and several groups spontaneously began marching.

Yesterday we called a press conference at the Mormon Temple. In addition to over a dozen media outlets, more than 1,500 people showed up! After the press conference, we marched around the perimeter of the Temple grounds. Then, as had happened on Wednesday, people were not ready to go home after the "official" march concluded. So, they went off on marches of their own, reconvening at the Temple many hours later and staying long into the night.

The protests and rallies here are sparking actions all over the country. We are receiving calls and emails from LGBT people and our straight allies throughout the nation who are angry and want to show their support. Plus, hundreds of people are contacting us to find out what is happening next-people who want to express their feelings and take action.

Future Actions
Many events are being planned in L.A. and around Southern California. For example, some are planning a march tonight in Long Beach at 7:00 p.m. at the corner of Broadway and Redondo. Another group is planning a march tomorrow in Silverlake at 6:00 p.m., beginning at Sunset Junction. These are not Center-sponsored events, but certainly many of us will be there to show our support to make ourselves a visible part of this growing movement.
The Center is maintaining a list of actions that are being planned. To see that list, or to submit something, visit: www.lagaycenter.org/Prop8Actions.

So far, our marches have been peaceful. Only a few people have gotten carried away-and some have been the victims of Yes on 8 supporters who got carried away. We want to ensure that our actions remain peaceful. While marching, please keep in mind a couple things:

• The Mayor of Los Angeles is our friend. So are the heads of the police and sheriff's departments (and on those occasions when they don't act like that, we're the first to let them know). But over the last few days, almost to a person, police officers and sheriff's deputies have been extremely patient with protesters, and in many, many instances very supportive of our cause. They have blocked off streets and have tried to do their jobs to protect marchers and to protect the communities impacted. Please, please be respectful of them. If an individual police officer does not behave as s/he should, call our legal services department at 323-993-7670
   
• The media are not our enemy. I was disturbed to learn that there were verbal attacks yesterday against a reporter from KCBS/KCAL and Hal Eisner, a reporter from FOX TV. Hal has fairly and accurately covered LGBT issues for many years and is a trusted and highly regarded reporter. A few people, however, saw fit to verbally attack and confront him with vicious slurs. If you see someone confronting press, please do what you can to stop it.

Why the Mormon Church?
We rallied in front of the L.A. Mormon Temple yesterday because it is a symbol of the reprehensible role that the Church hierarchy played in directing members to fund the campaign of lies and deceit promoted by the Yes on 8 leaders. Please do not forget that there are many fair-minded Mormons who are with us - many have actually marched and rallied with us and they are appalled at the actions of their Church leadership and the Yes on 8 campaign.

Further, as I said at yesterday's gathering, the Mormons are not the only outside organization that has tried to strip us of our rights in California. While they funded the majority of the campaign, other groups also were involved, like Focus on the Family, the Knights of Columbus Headquarters, and more.

Next Steps
In addition to our rallies and protest marches, we've been taking other action. On Wednesday morning our legal groups (Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLU) filed suit in the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8 as an inappropriate revision of our state constitution. A similar action was filed by the L.A. City Attorney, San Francisco City Attorney, and others.

On Thursday, we launched www.InvalidateProp8.org. Let's show the President of the Mormon Church how many people are angry by their support of Prop. 8 and, in the process, raise money to support our community's efforts to invalidate the initiative and promote the freedom to marry in California. Please visit the site, make a donation, and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

We're also at the very early stages of planning a statewide action with colleagues from across California. We are bringing in some of the new leaders that are emerging in the aftermath of Prop 8 and inviting them to help us conceive and execute this plan. Stay tuned for more information.

The Big Picture
Finally, as badly as we all feel about the results on Tuesday, let's try to keep the big picture in mind. The LGBT community and our straight allies pulled together an amazing and powerful coalition of people to fight this initiative. We fought the most successful fight ever mustered against an anti-marriage ballot measure-we raised more money for television and radio ads, we built a larger field team, we got more mainstream support. As a result, instead of losing by 22 points as we did 8 years ago when prop 22 was passed, we lost by less than 5 points. That's enormous progress. No campaign against an anti-marriage ballot measure has ever won. We did everything we knew how to do, to be the first. But a slight majority still voted against us.

Sadly, some now want to play the blame game (usually people who did not choose to get actively involved in the No on 8 campaign but who now have a lot to say about it). They want to turn on our own community and each other rather than focusing our anger where it is deserved-the Yes on 8 campaign. What's important now is to learn what lessons we can from our efforts.

How can we ensure that other states under attack replicate the unprecedented successes we had? What lessons did we learn that could enable other states under attack to be more successful? Clearly, we all have work to do in our own communities to get our neighbors, friends and colleagues-and people who should be our allies--to support us and our full equality. That's what we must focus on now. This is a time for unity and focused action, not for division. As soon as the plan is formulated for the statewide action, we'll let you know. Until then, do not lose heart! Ultimately, the freedom to marry will be ours!
Fondly,

Lorri 

 

STATEMENT:

Tuesday's vote on Proposition 8 marks a sad day for California's LGBT families, and a sad day for justice and fairness.
 
By a narrow majority, the citizens of California voted to take away the legal right to marriage from gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons – a constitutional right the California Supreme Court ruled was guaranteed in this state. That right, misrepresented by some of our opponents as forcing faith communities to abandon their commitments or traditions, or robbing heterosexual couples of the sanctity of their vows, in reality left unchallenged the separation of Church and State as guaranteed in this nation's Constitution, and perhaps more importantly, made good on the promise we hold dear: that human equality is self-evident.
 
Though we lost this particular vote, our hope for the future remains strong. The number of Californians who support anti-gay laws continues to decline and the percentage of citizens who support fairness and equality continues to rise.
 
Even as LGBT people across California and this nation are experiencing pain and loss, sadness, grief, and even anger, we are also in touch with our strength and the legacy of our history and our pioneers --- leaders such as Rev. Troy Perry and Del Martin and Phyllis  Lyon --- who steadfastly held to the conviction that we shall, indeed, overcome.
 
I call on my LGBT brothers and sisters to honor that legacy and to do what we have always done in the face of every setback in our struggle for human rights: take our anger and grief and rage and channel it in ways that will advance equality for all people.
 
Our reality is this: the journey toward justice in this world is seldom an easy one; too often it moves too slowly. We may often encounter roadblocks and detours, but no permanent delays. We already know the heights of great achievement, including that pinnacle moment in May of this year when California's Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, and we know the depths of disappointment with Tuesday's outcome. Our struggle, like all human rights struggles, has always involved steps forward and occasional steps backward. Through it all, we have prevailed and we will do so again, for we believe in the prophetic vision of justice rolling down like a mighty river and human equality prevailing.
 
As a religious leader, I have been heartened by the way many of our ecumenical partners engaged deeply held disagreements with great civility and respect, and equally dismayed by the vitriolic way some colleagues in the faith used religion as a wedge to divide us. Misleading claims and the use of fear only serve to inflame bigotry and bias between those of differing sexual orientations, and among people of racial and economic divergences.  
 
In my faith tradition, I find strength in these words from the Christian Scriptures:
 
      "Let us not grow weary in well-doing
            for in due season
                we shall reap
                      if we faint not."
                               (Galatians 6:9)
 
We must not -- we will not -- faint or fail in our quest for equality!
 
Tuesday's vote is not the end of this story. Now, a new chapter opens. We will once again tell our stories. We will talk about this loss and what it means. We'll write letters; we'll talk to the media. We'll attend vigils. We'll renew our commitment to participate in political organizations and community groups, and we'll educate those who were swayed by a misleading campaign that promoted fear and hysteria at the expense of the truth. We will honor the legacy of leadership that brought us to this place in history, and "act up" and "fight back" in ways that promote justice and combat the strategies of division.
 
The English poet, John Dryden, wrote:
 
           "I am wounded,
                 but I am not slain.
                       I shall lay me down
                             and bleed awhile.
                                  Then I shall rise
                                        and fight again."

Tuesday, we lost a battle.
 
Now, we grieve our loss.
 
Tomorrow, we will "rise and fight again" until justice and equality prevail for all of us.
 
Momentum, time, the arc of history and hope are in our favor.
 
/signed/
 
The Rev. Nancy L. Wilson
Moderator
Metropolitan Community Churches www.MCCchurch.org <http://www.mccchurch.org/>  
 

Dear Friend, We had hoped never to have to write this email.
 
Sadly, fueled by misinformation, distortions and lies, millions of voters went to the polls yesterday and said YES to bigotry, YES to discrimination, YES to second-class status for same-sex couples.

And while the election was close, and millions of votes still remain uncounted, it has become apparent that we lost.

There is no question this defeat is hard.

Thousands of people have poured their talents, their time, their resources and their hearts into this struggle for freedom and this fight to have their relationships treated equally. Much has been sacrificed in this struggle.

While we knew the odds for success were not with us, we believed Californians could be the first in the nation to defeat the injustice of discriminatory measures like Proposition 8.

And while victory is not ours this day, we know that because of the work done here, freedom, fairness and equality will be ours someday. Just look at how far we have come in a few decades.

Up until 1974 same-sex intimacy was a crime in California. There wasn't a single law recognizing the relationships of same-sex couples until 1984 -- passed by the Berkeley School District. San Francisco did not pass domestic-partner protections until 1990; the state of California followed in 2005. And in 2000, Proposition 22 passed with a 23% majority.

Today, we fought to retain our right to marry and millions of Californians stood with us. Over the course of this campaign everyday Californians and their friends, neighbors and families built a civil rights campaign unequalled in California history.

You raised more money than anyone believed possible for an LGBT civil rights campaign.

You reached out to family and friends in record numbers -- helping hundreds of thousands of Californians understand what the LGBT civil rights struggle is really about.

You built the largest grassroots and volunteer network that has ever been built -- a coalition that will continue to fight until all people are equal.

And you made the case to the people of California and to the rest of the world that discrimination -- in any form -- is unfair and wrong.

We are humbled by the courage, dignity and commitment displayed by all who fought this historic battle.

Victory was not ours today. But the struggle for equality is not over.

Because of the struggle fought here in California -- fought so incredibly well by the people in this state who love freedom and justice -- our fight for full civil rights will continue.

Activist and writer Anne Lamott writes, "Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

We stand together, knowing... our dawn will come.

   
Dr. Delores A. Jacobs, CEO, Center Advocacy Project

Lorri L. Jean, CEO, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center

Kate Kendell, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights

Geoff Kors,  Executive Director,  Equality California 

Comments

[Brett]

Thanks for having so many letters from clergy. It is important for people to know that, despite some very loud words against Proposition 8 from some religious quarters, there are many Christians who believe the message of Jesus is inclusion for all (http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/religion).

[niki sister taylor youngest]

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