On the Question of Gay Clergy

I wanted to share a wonderful post about gay clergy with you all from the rm network blog I read. http://www.rmnblog.org/2009/03/standing-together-in-the-river.html

Wonderful post!

By Antony Hebblethwaite

I know the pain of exclusion from ministry because of my sexual orientation. I've seen the hurt written on the faces of United Methodist clergy who faithfully serve the church but need to keep themselves and their families hidden to survive in their careers. I wanted to mention this emotional landscape as I respond to "To Come Out or Not To Come Out" by expanding my comment to that post.

On Justice

As I think about justice for LGBTQ1 people in the sphere of clergy rights in The United Methodist Church, I see three justice statements:

* It is just for LGBTQ clergy to "come out", live authentically in the world and have a family.
* It is just for LGBTQ clergy to enter and sustain careers in the ministry in safety without the fear of loss because of their authenticity and/or family.
* It is just for congregations with LGBTQ clergy to be open and proud about the full personhood of their pastor without the fear of loss because of their pastor’s authenticity and/or family.

Paragraph 304.3 in the Book of Discipline, "Self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church", is a comprehensive attack on the dignity of having a career, being authentic and nurturing a family.

On Privilege

United Methodist policy results in loss of privilege for LGBTQ people excluded from ministry for being authentic and/or having a family. United Methodist policy also results in loss of privilege for LGBTQ clergy and congregations excluded from full authenticity to survive in ministry together.

When the Oppressed Oppress the Oppressed

In this very, very painful scenario in our movement, we need to be careful not to privilege our oppressed social locations and oppress others. There is a temptation for "out" LGBTQ people to criticize pastors who need to stay in the closet to survive in their careers. There is a temptation for pastors in the closet to criticize those excluded from ministry for mishandling their careers by "coming out".

In the magnificent essay in Christian Century titled “Righteous Resistance and Martin Luther King, Jr.”, John Raines writes:
The corruption of powerlessness is that the oppressed may come to envy and seek to emulate the oppressor, dreaming of someday taking the oppressor’s place.

When this happens a terrible silence and isolation opens up among the powerless. Dreaming of becoming like the mighty, they fear and flee the wounds of their oppressed fellows, because those wounds remind them of their own degradation. The deepest and most devastating injury of oppression is that it produces mute suffering -- suffering that cannot even name its own situation, cannot cry out, cannot say how things really are, cannot protest.

Martin Luther King, Jr., knew that clarity alone can bring community among the oppressed. And clarity comes when the downtrodden protest their oppression in the name of their own dignity, deciding not to dream of becoming someone else, but to stand together with their own kind.

In our dreams of the full measure of justice, ministry together as fully authentic persons in The United Methodist Church, in what ways do we fear and flee the wounds of our oppressed fellows?

* When LGBTQ people excluded from ministry interact with LGBTQ clergy privileged by the Methodist institution, how are we reminded of our own degradation?
* When LGBTQ clergy interact with LGBTQ people privileged by full authenticity, how are we reminded of our own degradation?

How do the wounds of our social location cause us to fear and flee the wounds of our oppressed fellows?

Bearing One Another’s Burdens and Doing Justice

For LGBTQ people who have experienced the justice of “coming out” and living fully authentic lives, can we bear the burden of clergy who cannot have this full measure of justice? In a letter signed by 100 UMC clergy persons:

We serve our beloved United Methodist Church at great cost. We have experienced personally the church's power to harm as it rejects an elemental part of who we are. The UMC's official policy has pushed us, as well as our families, into closets of fear and isolation. We are not deceitful people, but the church has given us no choice. To deny God's calling in our lives would leave a void in the Body of Christ.

For LGBTQ people who have experienced the justice of being pastors, can we use our privilege to work for change in The United Methodist Church for those excluded from ordination and marriage? The danger for LGBTQ clergy (and the congregations that protect them) is that their closets of fear and isolation constrain them from doing appropriate levels of justice for their oppressed fellows. When that happens, LGBTQ clergy and their congregations sustain the most deep and devastating injury of oppression:
The deepest and most devastating injury of oppression is that it produces mute suffering -- suffering that cannot even name its own situation, cannot cry out, cannot say how things really are, cannot protest.

Christ calls us to bear one another's burdens with the moral clarity of the downtrodden, to protest our oppression in the name of our own dignity, the very dignity given to us as creatures made in God's image.

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1 Stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Queer.