More Light ‘sadomasochist’ on presbytery committee considering pulpit candidates
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, Posted Tuesday, August 17, 2004
The attempt by the former lay moderator of the Presbytery of San Francisco to become a candidate for the ministry of Word and Sacrament has had its twists and turns, costing the presbytery an estimated $100,000 in legal fees.
In its second ruling in the case, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission upheld the presbytery’s decision to remove Georgette Huie, the former moderator, from consideration as a candidate for ministry.
Almost immediately after the court’s decision last week, Huie’s associates disclosed that one of the members of the Committee on Preparation for the Ministry is a homosexual sadomasochist. They provided evidence that Dr. Richard Sprott is a participant in and advocate for flogging and other sadomasochism and provided links to Sprott’s Web columns.
As a member of the “SF Leathersex community,” Sprott writes explicitly about homosexual sex acts that include flogging, the use of needles and electric shocks.
Sprott, who says he has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, is an elder at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland. Montclair is affiliated with More Light Presbyterians, a special-interest organization that advocates for the ordination of practicing homosexuals in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The More Light Web site has identified Sprott as a liaison for the San Francisco area. It does not identify him as a sadomasochist – just as it does not say other More Light Presbyterians are involved in kinky and dangerous sexual behavior.
Dr. Richard Sprott’s photo posted on Web site for sadomasochists Sprott’s columns have appeared on a homosexual Web site – Leatherpage.com – that advocates macho and painful sex among multiple partners. At the bottom of those columns, which he copyrights, he describes himself as “a developmental psychologist and active in the leather community of the San Francisco Bay Area.”
Karl Shadley, pastor of an English-Mandarin Presbyterian Church in Berkeley and chairman of the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, said Huie’s associates disclosed Sprott’s involvement in sadomasochism in an effort to discredit the presbytery’s decision not to accept Huie as a candidate for the ministry.
Shadley and others in the presbytery said Sprott’s sadomasochism was previously unknown. But they also said Sprott did not influence the committee’s unanimous decision not to accept Huie as a candidate for the ministry.
Her attorney in two cases that have risen to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission – the highest court in the denomination – suggests otherwise. As a psychologist, albeit unlicensed, Sprott recommended one of three psychologists who questioned Huie and made his own recommendations about her fitness for ministry, the attorney said.
But Shadley described Sprott’s role during the committee’s private deliberations as essentially explaining technical language in the psychologists’ reports. He emphasized that the committee, while knowing that Sprott was a homosexual, didn’t have an inkling about his involvement in sadomasochism.
Because of Sprott’s sadomasochism, Shadley doesn’t believe he should serve on the Committee on the Preparation for the Ministry – or any presbytery committee. “But that’s not up to the committee to decide,” he said. “That’s a presbytery decision, or it should be dealt with by his session.”
While serving as a member of the committee, Sprott has written at least four columns for the Leatherman Web site, all since June 10, 2004: “Hungry for Leathersex Initiation,” “Earlier or Later in Life,” “Ritual of Initiation” and “The Dark Side.” They explicitly speak of his involvement in sadomasochism sex activities and offer encouragement to others to join in.
Webster’s dictionary defines sadomasochism “as the derivation of pleasure from the infliction of physical or mental pain either on others or on oneself.”
In “The Dark Side,” Sprott writes about the danger of sex that focuses on inflicting pain. “If I am going to be a responsible player, I have to admit to my partners and to others that what I am doing sometimes has a high risk of danger,” he says. “I do dangerous play. And it gives me a thrill to do it. I run the risk of putting out an eye or taking off an ear, exchanging blood through a needle prick, or causing brain damage. I work hard to minimize these risks, through training and practice and safety precautions, because I don’t want to harm another person unintentionally or harm them permanently. Notice I didn’t say ‘I don’t want to harm them.’ If I was really after safety as the most important factor, I wouldn’t play in an SM scene.”
In “Hungry for Leathersex Initiation,” Sprott describes his 14-year involvement in the “SF Leather scene” and tries to coax other homosexuals into the activity. “Especially coming out into leather, becoming kinky, exploring the edges and the darkness of our sexuality and spirituality – very, very few people in our everyday lives accept this aspect of our growth, or in fact celebrate it,” he says. “Nobody else will, so we better do it ourselves.”
In “Ritual of Initiation,” Sprott says, “It is clearer to me at a new level that SM is not just play, not just a weekend hobby, not just a game or theatre. SM is a deeply symbolic act – it is play, a game, theatre, but it points to something deeper than all that, and that deepness of experience and longing deserves to be recognized and respected by all of us, both in the leather community and outside the leather community.”
In “Earlier or Sooner in Life,” Sprott says that “leathersex gets its power because it touches the dark, forbidden, disgusting and dangerous parts of myself. Sometimes it scares me. Leathersex is fun in itself, but it also stands for something deeper, more meaningful, for me. And as I enter my late 30s and early 40s, this dangerous and symbolic part of leathersex gets more and more powerful.”