Category Archives: LGBTQ & Gender

Northwest YM Leaders Kick The LGBT Expulsion Can Down the Road

Here is the message that has been sent out by Northwest Yearly Meeting leaders on January 22, 2016; it does not seem to have been made widely public yet:

“Regretfully, we are not able to come to unity to overturn or affirm the elders’ decision to release West Hills. Therefore, we’ve postponed the effective date of West Hills’ release at least until yearly meeting sessions.

At that time, the Board of Elders will report to the Yearly Meeting its summary of the state of the church, allowing time for prayerful consideration of issues raised by the report and by any attached judgments or interpretations offered by the Board of Elders.”

Pauli Murray – A Saint For Our Time (And My Neighborhood)

And who is Pauli Murray, a few of you may ask?
She was — and is — many things. One of them is my neighborhood saint.
Yes, she spent most of her childhood just a couple blocks from my place, in a house we’ll see in a moment.
But neighborhood bragging rights are only a small part of it. A major exhibit about her is up at a nearby place called The Scrap Exchange (a very interesting and unique project itself; but that’s another story), and yesterday I re-visited it, with some folks from my Carolina posse.

Scrap-Exchange-sign
The Scrap Exchange: google it and come visit!
We were all completely smitten by her, yet again. So let’s get a few facts out there:
Pauli Murray was born in 1910, in Baltimore, but soon afterward orphaned, she came to Durham NC and was raised by aunts and grandparents.
Thereafter, in her life she was, among other things (hang on to your hats!) —
— a pioneering civil rights crusader, who had a big hand in the behind the scenes work on the landmark 1954 Brown Supreme Court desegregation decision;

— a pioneering modern American feminist, even if many feminist-identified folks never heard of her (tsk tsk if you haven’t); she was even a founder of the National Organization of Women;

— a pioneering women’s lawyer, who helped put gender equality in the great 1964 Civil Rights Act;

Imp-Dude-Crusader-Cropped
“Imp”; ‘Dude”; “Crusader”; how was Pauli Murray to fit these identities together?

— a pioneer in bending and busting the boundaries of gender; kind of a lesbian, kind of not, kind of trans, kind of not, all and none of the above;

–and a pioneer in religion, the first black American woman ordained a priest in the Episcopal church; and

— yes, as of the summer of 2012, eighteen years after her death in 1985, she was declared a saint by the Episcopal church (her gender nonconformity notwithstanding).

That’s for starters. (Sorry if I said “pioneering” so many times, but that’s just what Pauli was for most of her life.)

Why Expel A Gay-Friendly Oregon Meeting? Here Are 8 Answers.

Part of Rosedale’s letter was what was now becoming boilerplate: “While no process involving human effort can ever be perfect (especially when the results create pain for some) we affirm the Board of Elders’ process and their conclusion to uphold current Faith and Practice resulting in West Hills Friends Church removal from fellowship.” They get an extra point for saying “removal” instead of “release.”

Rosedale-EFC-LogoMore revealing was a set of four questions, with answers, attached to their letter, summarizing their view of the authority relationships involved:

Questions concerning West Hill’s actions:

1. Are all members and local churches required to accept the Faith and Practice as prescriptive? Yes.

2. Does the F&P allow a local church to create or form doctrine?
No. The only body given authority to change doctrine is the Faith and Practice committee of the yearly meeting.

3. Does the F&P give Elders authority to oversee doctrinal disputes and to discontinue churches? Yes.

4. Does the F&P require the Elders to follow a particular procedure in declaring the issue is shattering to the Yearly Meeting, or in discontinuing a church, other than what is mentioned in [two sections of F&P]? No.

Note here that questions are only asked about West Hills actions; the Elders aren’t subject to interrogation. Further, the relationship described here is strictly top-down.

And from a liberal Friend’s perspective, it is remarkable how completely absent from this formulation is any notion of continuing revelation coming from anywhere except the top. However, this arrangement, and the theology underlying it, is consistent with the evangelical view of the church.

Breaking: Shattered! Big Idaho Friends Church Quits Northwest YM

We know this will come as a shock to many, however, maybe some of you knew this was coming. This was a very difficult decision for us to make that involved months of conversation and prayer. We came to full consensus at an Anthem Friends family meeting a few weeks ago and immediately notified the NWYM elders. We know that many will jump to conclusions with regards to why we have made this decision. Many will probably assume this has to do with the homosexuality issue. We want to clarify for everybody that this is not a homosexuality issue for us, this is an authority of scripture/interpretation of scripture/orthodoxy issue for us. We have come to find over the years that Anthem Friends (formerly Hayden Lake Friends Church) see things very differently than the NWYM. Instead of being a group that sticks around and continues to be frustrated or have the leadership of the YM frustrated with us, we honestly believe the Lord has used all that has shaken down over the last few years to show us that we don’t fit. In some regards we do wish that the group that has challenged the NWYM’s F&P over the past 5 years would have made this decision years ago. Instead of them trying to change F&P and challenge the convictions of many in the YM, we believe there would have been more integrity in them acknowledging that they saw things differently and would have chosen to leave on their own. This is the crossroads we have come to.

Many of you know that Anthem Friends Church (formerly Hayden Lake Friends Church) has never been extremely devoted to Quaker practices and principles. Over the past 50 years of our Church’s existence we have followed Quaker practices very loosely. We do not feel inclined to give our lives to Quakerism…we want to be about Jesus. We do not mean this negatively but we just don’t feel a conviction to uphold Quaker principles as much as we do to uphold the Word of God and to make much of Jesus.

“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.