A welcoming church

Thank you for Clarke Thomas' wonderfully positive and informative column "Glory to God and All God's Children" (Dec. 6). It is long overdue.

For the record, my church, Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on the North Side, is openly and assertively GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) friendly. Until now, though, we have not been very public with our views. This is about to change.

This year, our 100th, we are completing our denomination's official GLBT welcoming process and will soon be certified as a Unitarian Universalist Association Welcoming Congregation.

PETE McQUILLIN
Forest Hills

The PG's Clarke Thomas wrote a beautiful piece about increasing tolerance of LGBTQ families within the holiday season. 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men... -- Luke 2:14

Yes, but unfortunately, for many religious people that biblical highlight doesn't extend to an important segment of our fellow human beings -- gays and lesbians. Or their families. Unless, of course, they are willing to deny or to "convert" from their God-given sexual being.

Thomas describes in lovely detail the various manifestations of LGBTQ friendly faith communities, some exclusively gay and others part of mainstream communities.  He also identifies one critical new reason for this outreach -- the increasing number of LGBTQ families with children.

I refer to a U.S. Census statistic that, as of 2000, 34 percent of lesbian couples and 22 percent of gay male couples are raising at least one child under 18 in their home, a significant increase over the 1990 census. Add in gay/straight couples who remain married for the sake of their children, and the figure looms even larger.

One need only take a short stroll through PrideFest to note that changing demographic. There are twice as many strollers as scantily clad sunworshippers. 

The growing gay family phenomenon should prompt churches and church people in this season of goodwill compassionately to re-examine their attitudes toward the GLBT population. For maybe God's hand is at work here -- in the vein of another revered verse in Scripture:

God setteth the solitary in families. -- Psalm 68:6

Demonstrating once again that hate and intolerance have no room for compromise, a Floridian Presybterian minister is trying to re-start the case against her by gathering names to join him in filing charges -- again (Post-Gazette). 

The Rev. James Yearsley, who filed the complaint against her last year, is gathering the signatures of ministers and elders in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who want to join him in pursuing the case. It would not be double jeopardy since she was never tried, he said.

"I'm still accumulating names. This means that the whole process starts over," said Mr. Yearsley, who has served churches in Pittsburgh Presbytery but now works in Florida.

Previous charges against the Reverend Janet Edwards, who conducted a marriage ceremony for a lesbian couple in June 2005, were dropped last month due to a procedural violation.

Yearsley had also considered filing charges against the Presbytery itself for "mishandling the matter."  Does he imply they intentionally sidestepped the contextual issue?  Imply perhaps while acknowledging there is no evidence.  Imagine letting a little thing like evidentiary facts stand in the way of beating down the gay community!

Edwards has walked away from the process with a more subtle appreciation for the role of conflict resolution within the faith community:

"One thing I learned from the past 14 months is that the judicial process is not the best place in our church to work out our disagreement -- but it is one place where we do that," said Ms. Edwards, who is on the staff of the Community of Reconciliation in Oakland.

Here's PghLesbian previous coverage on Janet's story.