Palo Alto congregation co-sponsors series supporting homosexuals
The Layman Online, January 18, 2000
Online First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto, Calif., is one of 18 San Francisco Bay-area congregations that will sponsor a four-week series of public education events in support of gay and lesbian people.
“We’re pleased to be a sponsor of this project,” said the Rev. Diana Gibson, pastor of First Presbyterian, which will host the series.
The four-week series is titled “Homosexuality and Christian Faith: New Visions for the New Century.”
The series will begin with lectures by Derrick Kikuchi and Bruce Hahne discrediting Biblical injunctions against homosexuality. “Most people are surprised to find out that what they’ve always believed the Bible says about homosexuality isn’t actually in the Bible at all,” Hahne said in a news release announcing the four-week series.
The series was designed to help spawn a public effort against the Knight Initiative, or Proposition 22 on the California ballot in March. The Knight Initiative is named after state Sen. Pete Knight, who wants California to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
On its web site, First Presbyterian of Palo Alto defines itself as a More Light congregation with a purpose “to integrate gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons and their concerns into the life of our congregation.”
In the past, the congregation spearheaded “a communitywide advertisement welcoming [TV actress] Ellen Degeneres out to the gay community and the world.”