Category Archives: Cross-Generational Conversation: YAFS & OFFs

“Shattering” Quakerism In the Northwest – Continued

CEF: If eight meetings appealed the WHF expulsion, plus 230 individual Friends more who signed an unofficial appeal letter, what does this suggest about the state of thought and debate in NWYM on matters of sexuality generally, and LGBT inclusion in particular?

ANGELL: If you had asked this question two to five years ago, the answer would have to have been that the overwhelming majority of NWYM members opposed full inclusion of LGBT persons in their community, so the protests of individual Friends and individual meetings to the contrary would have availed little.

But you didn’t ask the question back then, at least to me; you’re asking it now. And the situation seems incredibly fluid. That eight meetings appealed the WHF expulsion, and 230 individual Friends also signed a letter of protest, suggests a growing groundswell of support for LGBT Friends within NWYM. I would predict that the groundswell will not be arrested soon.

The Day I Didn’t Help Bury Bobby Kennedy

When the others came back, hours later, I felt no regrets. The photographers, they said, were crammed onto a platform, where the scene was like an ongoing brawl. The veterans pushed, shoved & swore nonstop, wielding the huge long lenses of their Nikons like weapons, weaving this way & that to get better views as the family & dignitaries sweated in the heat and sleepwalked through their steps and genuflections a few dozen yards away.

All my colleagues were disgusted by the whole scene, and repeated their stories for my tape recorder.

Then we turned on the music, not quite as loud, and I was ready to hear the records all again.

Tom Fox And The Last Supper

Tom had grown up in Chattanooga, then did twenty years in the Marine band in Washington DC. He played bass clarinet – and was about as unmilitary a soldier as one could feature. He began attending Friends meetings during this time. My first memories of him was being at meeting in a khaki uniform.
After the Marine band, he became a baker and assistant supervisor at a health food supermarket. He was good at this, and his bosses wanted him to move up in management.

But Tom heard a “different drummer,” especially after September 11, 2001. With a war on, he felt called to “pursue peace” in a concrete way. After much prayer and reflection, he joined the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

CPT sets out to bring the “weapons of the spirit” into the front lines of conflict, places where death and life are often but a hair’s breadth apart. This was dangerous work, in a region where conflicts seem hopelessly intractable.

Appeal! Groundswell in Northwest Over A Welcoming Meeting’s Ouster

“When dealing with disciplinary actions involving individuals or regarding a crisis within a local meeting, confidentiality makes sense. However, when dealing with conflict and disagreement that has arisen between whole churches and that is likely to affect the whole of the Yearly Meeting, confidentiality can serve as a hindrance, leading to speculation and accusations that spread through a wildfire of whispers and rumors and leave us with an onslaught of unanswerable questions that only serve to fuel the fire further. The lack of transparency in this process has contributed greatly to the “shattering” experience for all and has created a growing mistrust not only of leadership but of each other—meeting to meeting, individual to individual. West Hills Friends Church was open and public with their lengthy discernment process and subsequent conclusion. Because of this, absolute confidentiality was not warranted, and we believe a different outcome was entirely possible had this process between the elders and West Hills been more open. . . .”

Two Unforgettable Profiles In Courage: 1969

David McReynolds on why he wrote the “Coming Out” article in 1969: “those of us who were homosexual hid this fact when we spoke of the Gandhian principle of absolute truth. Yes, truth and honesty about everything … except our own lives, which were in violation of the laws, and about which we had to keep silent in order to speak the truth about war and peace, racism, capitalism. Truth about everything… except the one thing that could destroy us.
My article was an effort to be honest at last.”