National coalition works for ordination of gays
The Layman Online, August 24, 1999
DENVER – A coalition of Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Mormons and Muslims met in Denver as the National Religious Leadership Roundtable Monday August 23 to counter religious conservatives who oppose ordination of self-affirmed homosexuals.
The New York Times reported that leaders of the Roundtable deliberately met in Denver because it is home to many conservative Christian organizations, including Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.
The round table, which includes representatives from People for the American Way and a few other secular liberal organizations, was organized in July 1998 as a project of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s policy institute and Equal Partners in Faith. The policy institute’s director, Urvashi Vaid, said the organization reflected a recognition that there was “this whole pro-gay religious movement in every denomination, in every faith.”
The Times reported that in a session that focused on same-sex marriage, Evan Wolfson, a lawyer with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said he expected the Hawaii Supreme Court to decide soon whether homosexuals should be allowed the right to civil marriage there. Wolfson said that religious groups that support gay rights needed to educate the public and also help “beat back the backlash” of political measures at the state level that bar same-sex marriages.
Other speakers at the meeting included Robert Miailovich, president of Dignity USA, an organization that supports gay Catholics; Laura Montgomery Rutt, national organizer of Equal Partners in Faith, a liberal religious organization that helped found the round table; and Urvashi Vaid, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s policy institute.
Members of the group spoke against positions taken by Presbyterians, United Methodists and Anglican bishops worldwide opposing ordination of homosexuals.
They also voiced general support for Rev. Jimmy Creech, a Methodist minister in Omaha, Neb., who was put on trial in 1998 for officiating at a same-sex union, although they decided to steer clear of debating internal Methodist politics and rules.