General Conference 2008

Why I Stay. . .

As I prepare for General Conference, I am confronted with a question from many of my friends. "Why do you stay in the United Methodist Church?"  As a young(ish) (31) gay man who is not called to ordained ministry, it seems easy enough to walk away from this church that keeps telling me through both its actions and words that I am unwelcome and unwanted.  If I am completely honest, this is a question that I am continuously trying to answer for myself.  My list changes almost daily, but these are the big reasons why I stay. 

I stay in the United Methodist church because this is my church.  I was born into a United Methodist family that had been involved in our predecessor denominations for generations (mom was a ME and dad an EUB).  The UM church is my home and a part of my identity.  The anti-GLBT language that has come out of General Conferences the last 30 or so years is not indicative of our entire history (read Will's blog on this topic).

I stay in the United Methodist church because this is where I learned about a faith community that has a commitment to social justice.  It has been taught to me that we are a people that go out into the world to change it.  Our mission statement is to make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.  Our Reconciling Movement is firmly rooted within the Wesleyan heritage and our mission.

I stay in the United Methodist church because of the community.  I was lucky enough to have been in a wonderful faith community that has helped in in the tough times of my life, especially during my coming out process.  I cannot imagine what would have happened to me if it had not been for a church and campus ministry - both reconciling communities - that helped me through this journey.  We need for every United Methodist church to be such a place of support to our GLBT community.

I stay in the United Methodist church because of the Reconciling Ministries Network.  I have been a part of several reconciling churches and a reconciling campus ministry.  Through RMN, I have met wonderful, justice seeking people throughout this denomination.  I stay because of the wonderful welcome and vibrancy of this community, and out of a sense of commitment to this family.

I stay in the United Methodist church because I have been called for "such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).  I stay to work for the inclusion of all people in our church including the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community and our allies.  This General Conference is one opportunity for us to stand up and stop the continued assault on our community and turn the church around.

I stay in the United Methodist church for now.  I am committed to continuing as long as I can, but it is a personal struggle every day.  Check back with me tomorrow ...

I look forward to discussing why you stay in the United Methodist church.  Peace with Justice.

Transgender Intro: The UMC & Gender

Decades of debate about the place of gay and lesbian people in the UMC means that most United Methodists are aware of a range of sexual orientations: gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual.  But as our church prepares to gather for General Conference, we’ll likely be talking about a kind of diversity that is much less familiar: gender diversity.  It may seem pretty commonsensical that people are either male or female, so some may be wondering: What’s all this talk about “transgender” people? 

When we say “transgender,” most people think about a person who was raised male, but knows herself to be female.  She seeks out medical treatment that makes her body better match her feminine spirit.  Similarly, there are people who are raised female, but have received medical care that enables their bodies to better match their male identity.  We often use the somewhat cold, clinical term of “transsexual” to describe such people.  But “transgender” is a term that includes a broad range of people.  What they all have in common is that they don’t meet gender stereotypes and expectations.

I am SO proud to be a member of denomination that recognized a long time ago that gender discrimination is wrong, that it runs contrary to the good news that the transformative spirit of Jesus Christ moves through all of us.  In my church, the pastor and the two lay leaders are women.  I have been touched by their ministry, by their witness to God’s redemptive love.  Sometimes they wear high heels and makeup, sometimes they watch football games – and sometimes they do both at the same time!  My point is this: 50 years ago, we granted full ordination rights to women.  We decided that stereotypes about the “proper” role and place for women were outdated, were divisive, and – most importantly – ran counter to God’s work on earth.  We decided that God does not discriminate on the basis of gender.

Now, some may say that it’s just “different” when we’re talking transgender people.

They worry about:

1. Psychological diagnoses.  It’s true that the diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals includes the technical-sounding “Gender Identity Disorder,” with which some transgender people are diagnosed. Some people worry about ministers having mental disorders.  But there is a cure for this disorder, which is receiving medical treatment that matches a person’s body with their identity.  Don’t we want our ministers with mental health issues to receive treatment? Our ministers give pastoral care to people who are dying, being abused, and living in misery every day.  We shouldn’t be surprised if they sometimes suffer from depression.  Barring people from ministry on the basis of mental health diagnoses is wrong.  It stigmatizes all people with mental health challenges, and it could needlessly force many to avoid or delay treatment for curable conditions.
2. Genetics.  Do you know your genetic code?  When the International Olympic Committee instituted mandatory genetics testing, many women – people who were raised female and identified as women – were shocked to discover they were not the XX female they assumed themselves.  Some women are XY (the “male” chromosome set), and some people are born with atypical gender sequences – XXY, XYY, etc.  It can be tempting to hold onto male-or-female, black-and-white ways of thinking.  But the truth is, God’s creation is so much more diverse than that.  Look around you – God is too creative to be restrained by our two simple categories!
3. God’s creation.  We all were created in god’s image, male and female – not one or the other.  Some of us match gender stereotypes better than others, but all of us change our bodies.  We get circumcised, we pierce ears, we have breast implants or reductions, we may have a testicle removed when diagnosed with cancer, we dye our hair, we repair cleft palates, we receive cochlear implants.  All of these body modifications change us, in bigger or lesser ways.   

God is with us.  God is transformative.  Let us not be afraid when God is doing something new amongst us.

Doing my homework

I’m a General Conference delegate who is under thirty years old. “Under thirty years old” isn’t one of the first ways I usually categorize myself, but it seems to be appropriate in this context. I’ll turn twenty-eight during General Conference. You don’t need to get me anything; just don’t make it illegal for me to be a member of your church, that’s really all I want.

As part of my preparation to be a delegate, I’ve been picking up old Books of Discipline and Books of Resolution on Amazon and seeing where we’ve been in the not too distant past. It’s a good education, also I’ve always been impressed by pastors who have complete collections of old Disciplines on their shelf.
To summarize what I’ve found- the insides of those books is even more impressive than their handsome spines. In some instances it isn’t so much what is printed as what isn’t. For example, in the nineties there was no ban on me getting married, for a time in the eighties there was no ban on me being ordained and for the present (as alluded to above) there is no ban on me joining the church.

But it isn’t all just grace by omission. Today I was reading from the 1980 Book of Resolutions (that’s one year before I was born and baptized) and I’m a little shocked by the report on human sexuality. Would we be ready to affirm the following language today? - “Too often men and women who are genuinely struggling with problems in their sexual relationships or with ambivalences in their sexual orientation have had their concerns met with rigidity and simple moralisms, if met at all.” Wow, rigidity and simple moralisms were understood as bad things 28 years ago! Now it feels like people are trying to put them into our vision statement.

Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to turn back the clock. (I recently heard a keynote speaker claiming a new direction for the church say We need to turn time back to how things were in the 18th century. My Annual Conference had paid money for this person to speak to us.)

I’m sure there was plenty going on in the United Methodist Church of 1980 that was problematic, but I’m inspired by the trust and respect implicit in the study document on human sexuality. The tone is calm and caring, compassionate and concerned. Some of this is the special privilege of being a study document and not a resolution. We forget how hard it is to warm the heart when the word “whereas” appears fifteen times and we bring the good news home with the phrase Therefore be it resolved…

But for your own inspiration, read these words from our United Methodist tradition:

“Why do we do this to one another? What is it about our view of sexuality that causes us, more often than not, to approach it negatively rather than positively? Are our expectations and experiences about human sexuality bound up with a culturally restricted view of humanity, full of “holy negatives”? Often we are subject to distorted and misinterpreted biblical, theological, and ethical interpretation. We are called to examine the biblical and theological roots of our understanding of human sexuality. Careful consideration should be given to the context in which Scripture was written. The emphasis on sexuality as limited to procreation is particularly in need of examination. Additionally the biblical teaching must be related to understandings provided by the human sciences and both should be applied to personal and corporate experience of contemporary Christians.”

I could post a lot more of this document, maybe I will if people want to see it. It’s pretty much all this good. There’s nothing in these words that we can’t agree with. So why couldn’t we agree on these words today? I don’t want to suggest that we go back to the way things were. We can do better. But in Fort Worth, I’ll at least try to remember how good we’ve done in the past. I’m not even thirty yet, so I don’t know any better.