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Greetings from The Center for Lesbian
and Gay
Studies in Religion and Ministry!
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| Gay Parenting and Christian Churches |
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A Lavender Lunch with
author Brett
Webb-Mitchell
The first Lavender Lunch of the spring
semester will feature author Brett
Webb-Mitchell, a Presbyterian pastor and
former professor of Christian Education at
Duke Divinity School, who has published the
first book on gay parenting from a Christian
perspective--"On Being a Gay Parent: Making a
Future Together" (Seabury Press). Join us on
Thursday, February 7 at 12:30 on the PSR
campus (Mudd Building, Room 100) to hear
about the book and his perspectives on this
important topic! You can also purchase a copy
of the book! Bring your lunch and CLGS will
provide drinks and dessert. For more
information on the book, you can go to www.onbeingagayparent.com.
And for more information on the author, go to
www.schoolofthepilgrim.com
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| Transgender Summit: A Call for Roundtable |
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A diverse group of religious leaders,
activists, and scholars closed the second
national transgender religious summit with a
pledge to begin meeting regularly for a
first-of-its-kind roundtable on transgender
religious issues. The two-day conference,
Transgender Religious Summit II - Freeing
faith communities from gender conformity, was
co-sponsored by the Center for Lesbian and
Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at
Pacific School of Religion (CLGS) and the
National Center for Transgender Equality in
Washington, DC. Following the success of the
first Transgender Religious Summit held in
2007, Pacific School of Religion is the only
Christian seminary to have held conferences
exclusively focusing on transgender religious
issues. CLGS is pleased indeed to be involved
in this pioneering and urgently needed work.
For the full press release on the summit go
to http://www.clgs.org/4/press_releases.cfm?ID=47&display=expand.
For more information on the Transgender
Roundtable work at CLGS, contact the newly
appointed roundtable coordinator, Justin
Tanis (jtanis@nctequality.org).
For more information on the National Center
for Transgender Equality, go to www.nctequality.org.
You might also want to purchase the first
book in the CLGS Book Series, which is
devoted to transgender themes in theology and
ministry, written by Justin Tanis.
"Trans-Gendered: Theology, Ministry, and
Communities of Faith" can be ordered through
the Amazon.com portal on the homepage of the
CLGS website (and CLGS will receive a portion
of the purchase price!).
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| Inaugural Boswell Lecture: Professor Dale Martin |
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In 1983 John Boswell published his
path-breaking and agenda-setting work,
"Christianity, Social Tolerance, and
Homosexuality." Twenty-five years later CLGS
hosted a conference on the PSR campus to mark
that important work and to chart the future
of this important scholarship. On that
occasion CLGS was pleased to establish the
John E. Boswell Lectureship Fund, which will
support excellence in LGBTQ religious
scholarship by bringing pioneering scholars
to the PSR campus to share their latest
research. CLGS is pleased to announce that
the inaugural Boswell Lecture will be
delivered by Dale Martin, the Woolsey
Professor of Religious Studies at Yale
University. Professor Martin is the author
of, among other books, "The Corinthian Body,"
"Inventing Superstition: from the
Hippocratics to the Christians," and most
recently, "Sex and the Single Savior: Gender
and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation."
The lecture will be offered on Wednesday
evening, April 30. For more information on
the Boswell Lectureship Fund, go to http://www.clgs.org/8/boswell_fund.html.
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| Creating LGBT-Affirming Asian Pacific Islander Ministries |
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The CLGS Racial/Ethnic Roundtable Project
together with the PANA Institute's Civil
Liberty and Faith Project will coordinate a
training retreat for LGBT Asian/Pacific
Islanders and supporters from Friday, May 30
through Sunday, June 1 at the Mercy Center in
Burlingame, California (near the San
Francisco airport). This retreat grew out of
the felt need to deepen community and
strengthen regional connections among those
doing LGBT related work in API faith
communities, to strategize and offer training
on issues ranging from the Bible to cultural
differences. Topics considered during this
retreat include: understanding Evangelicals;
how different API communities view
homosexuality; transgender issues; and
queering the Bible. For more information,
contact Rev. Elizabeth Leung (eleung@clgs.org).
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| Summer Session Courses for the CSR |
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- Available on a course-by-course basis!
- Fulfills requirements for the PSR
Certificate in Sexuality and Religion
A new line-up of courses is available this
summer that will fulfill requirements in
PSR's Certificate in Sexuality and Religion
program. These courses are available on a
course-by-course basis and students do not
need to be enrolled in the Certificate
program to take these courses. Each of the
following courses is worth 1.5 credit hours
and is offered over one week. More
information on these courses and registration
procedures can be found online at http://www.summer.psr.edu.
The Week of July 14-18
1. Queer Religious Activists
Bernard Schlager, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The Week of July 21-25
2. Queering the Use of the Bible
Timothy Koch, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The Week of July 28-August 1
3. LGBT Religious Issues in Postcolonial
Perspectives
Elizabeth Leung, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
4. Sexuality in Sacred Art
Justin Tanis, 1:00-5:00 pm
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| Regional Events and Gatherings |
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- Radical Inclusiveness: The Ministry of
Jesus and his Followers Today
This retreat for lesbian/gay Catholics,
parents, and pastoral ministers is sponsored
by the Catholic Parents Network, a project of
New Ways Ministry. It will take place at the
Racine Dominican Ministries in Racine,
Wisconsin, May 23-25. The retreat leader will
be Rev. Anthony Gittins, the Bishop Francis
X. Ford Professor of Catholic Missiology at
that the Catholic Theological Union in
Chicago. For more information, go to www.newwaysministry.org
- Hearts on Fire: Lutherans Concerned
Conference
The biennial gathering of Lutherans Concerned
will meet in San Francisco over the July 4th
holiday weekend under the banner "Hearts on
Fire." This is an opportunity for worship,
workshops, training, networking and
socializing, as well as making decisions
about the future of Lutherans Concerned.
Bishop Gene Robinson is among the keynote
speakers. Reconciling in Christ (RIC)
congregations as well as prospective RIC
congregations and members are welcome! The
conference happens right after San Francisco
Pride week - so come for Pride and stay for
Hearts on Fire! For more information, go to
www.lcna.org.
- The Naming Project Teen Summer Camp
The Naming Project is a faith-based youth
group serving youth of all sexual
orientations and gender identities that
creates a safe space for youth to discuss
their faith in relation to sexuality and
gender issues. The Teen Summer Camp is for
youth 15 - 17 years old (or those who have
just completed 9th through 12th grades) who
are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or
allied. This is an opportunity for not only
discussing faith, spirituality and sexuality
but also for canoeing, swimming, hiking,
singing and doing arts and crafts - it's
summer camp! The dates for camp this year are
July 27 - August 1 at Bay Lake Camp in
Minnesota (youth from all over the US are
welcome to attend!). For more information, go
to www.thenamingproject.org.
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The work of CLGS depends on the
generosity of
individual donors. You can make a gift in
honor or in memory of friends or family,
which we'll include
on the Center's website "Honor Roll"! Click
here
to Donate Today!
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The Other "G" Word |
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"Gay" still receives the lion's share of
attention these days in both religious and
civic debates over sexuality. But at the root
of those debates is another "g" word -
gender. This is precisely what transgender
people are increasingly bringing into the
conversations, and for good reason. I have
become more and more convinced during these
last five years at CLGS that the
controversies over "homosexuality" have very
little to do with "loving and committed
relationships." Those fierce controversies,
are instead about the transgression of
culturally established gender roles, or the
"natural gender complementarity of men and
women." In theological language, this
transgression is understood as nothing less
than a violation of God's own intended order
of creation.
As an Episcopal priest, I have certainly
noticed a rhetorical shift of emphasis toward
this gendered ordering of creation since the
election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New
Hampshire. Rather than the usual handful of
biblical passages so many of us are
accustomed to hearing, critics of Bishop
Robinson have turned more explicitly to what
they argue is the general witness of the
whole of Scripture to the ideal of
male/female complementarity in marriage,
which Bishop Robinson's relationship with his
partner clearly violates.
All of this was on my mind, and on the minds
of all of us here at CLGS, during the second
national Transgender Religious Summit that
convened here at PSR last month. All of us at
CLGS are also very pleased that the summit's
participants called for and committed to
establishing a "Transgender Roundtable" to
continue the important work in this area that
has in many ways only just begun (see the
news article about the summit elsewhere in
this e-newsletter).
Transgender concerns are not just "add-on"
issues to lesbian, gay, or bisexual ones.
Gender lies at the root of all of these
concerns and all of our struggles (something
feminists have been arguing for decades). In
my own Anglican Communion this was only too
clear in the swift objections to the election
of Katharine Jefferts Schori in 2006 as the
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the
first woman to hold that position and the
first woman primate in the worldwide
Communion. This other "g" word - gender -
will only continue to stir up debate and
controversy in nearly every other religious
community as well.
As the work of the new Transgender Roundtable
gets underway, please consider supporting
this pioneering endeavor with a financial
gift. More than a "gift," this would be an
investment in the work that will make a
difference for all sexual orientations and
gender identities.
The Rev. Jay Johnson, PhD
Senior Director, Academic Research & Resources
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