Monthly News Bulletin Volume 19, No. 4 April 2010

DignityUSA works for respect and justice for people of all sexual orientations, genders and gender identities—especially gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons— in the and the world through education, advocacy, and support.

Contents: Justice-seeking People and Voices that Challenge • Justice-seeking People and Voices that By Mark Matson, President, DignityUSA Challenge – 1 • DignityUSA Statement on Boulder On March 14, 2010, DignityUSA took a pretty extraordinary Catholic School Issue – 3 step in our role as the voice for GLBT Catholics. We sponsored • DignityUSA Board of Directors to Meet in Philadelphia April 16-18 – 3 a full-page ad in the Sunday Denver Post and Boulder Daily • Chapter Leader Teleconference – 4 Camera newspapers challenging the decision of the Archdiocese • Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera of Denver to disallow the children of two Catholic lesbian par- Full-page Ad – 5 ents from enrolling in Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary School • Important Announcement – 6 • DignityUSA Board Nominations Now in Boulder, Colorado. The ad was co-signed by our partners in Open – 6 reform, Call To Action (CTA), New Ways Ministry, and Fortu- Mark Matson • Transitions – 7 nate Families. A copy of the ad appears on page 5 in this issue of • Gay Pioneer Robert Carter Dies – 7 Dateline. • DignityUSA Executive Director Quoted on DC Catholic Charities Ending Spousal Benefits – 9 I want to inform you how this came to be. It is a story that illustrates clearly why • “Going once … Going twice … Gone — there is a need for DignityUSA and that our organization is functioning well. Sold to the Cutie in the Third Row!” – 9 • Dignity/Honolulu News – 9 • Dignity/Washington News – 9 The decision by Pastor Bill Breslin and Archbishop Charles Chaput was immedi- • Letter to Cardinal Francis George on ately leaked by someone at Sacred Heart to KUSA Channel 9 television news in Den- the Occasion of James R. Green and ver. It appeared on the evening news on Saturday, March 6, 2010. Protests broke out William Diederich’s 40th Anniversary –10 in Boulder the next day in front of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. Parents pulled chil- • In Africa, A Step Backward On Human Rights – 12 dren out of the school to protest. Boulder Pride (an LGBTQ organization with website) • Call for Women to Share Their fanned the flames in a community known for its liberal values. (Boulder is home to the Stories – 12 University of Colorado). The story spread rapidly across various media channels. Our • Writer Seeks Assistance of Same-Sex Executive Director, Marianne Duddy-Burke, herself the mother of two children, imme- Couples – 13 diately released a statement from DignityUSA (see page 3) that was picked up by the mainstream media as the story got legs. Terry Mischel, a National Board Member and member of Dignity/Denver, was approached for radio interviews. Our Media Director in , Jeff Stone, was interviewed live by BBC Radio in London. Things were happening quickly. Easter Blessings Unfortunately, Marianne was hospitalized with kidney problems as this story broke, leaving us without our usual competent spokesperson. As we designed it when we created his position, Jeff Stone jumped into the fray in her absence. (Jeff frequently collaborates with Marianne, Peggy Hayes and others in formulating our positions for the media.) We were advised daily by staff at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in New York.

Your Board’s strategy includes an intention to build and leverage partnerships to extend our reach. Marianne has invested many years in developing a strong working relationship with GLAAD. Both the Board and chapter leaders have benefited from their media training. The Boulder situation was just one more test of our media savvy. (One of the things I have learned is that we have to move FAST when a media story breaks. We do not have time for telephone tag or extensive consultation to get every- one to agree on the message. That is why we have empowered Marianne and Jeff to act without prior Board approval.) Continued on page 2 Dateline April 2010 - 2 -

Justice-seeking People and Voices that Challenge Continued from page 1

On Tuesday, March 9, I was informed that a donor who wished to remain anony- DignityUSA Board of Directors mous would foot the bill for a full-page ad in the Sunday Denver Post and Boulder Executive Committee Daily Camera on March 14. The cost was $40,000! The donor deemed it very impor- Mark Matson – President tant that the message be to Catholic leadership from Catholics and wanted DignityUSA Lourdes Rodriguez-Nogues – Vice to place and sponsor the ad, along with appropriate co-sponsors. It had to be that President weekend or the offer would be rescinded. The ad deadline was the end of the day Lewis Tanner – Secretary Thursday. We had two days to come up with copy acceptable to the donor, get Greg Potosnak – Treasurer $40,000 to the Denver Post, establish a special web address registered in the State of At-Large Board Members Colorado for people to respond to, and coordinate with Dignity/Denver. This was quite Mark Clark a challenge with our Executive Director out of commission and the rest of us working Gene Corpuz full-time jobs. Leo Egashira Alice Knowles GLAAD was instrumental in helping us design the ad and determine its content. Honour Maddock They advised us to keep it simple, don’t use the words the Bishops use against us, don’t Terry Mischel attack the Bishops but appeal to the sense of fairness among the people — all good ad- Linda Pieczynski vice. We settled on the ad content by Thursday morning. In the meantime, Jeff Stone Ramon Rodriguez was contacting Call To Action, New Ways Ministry, and Fortunate Families to seek Tom Streeper Tom Yates their joint endorsement. This involved tracking the right decision makers down — all of whom had to act with lightning speed. Jeff was successful. I contacted our Treasur- er, Greg Potosnak in New Jersey, explained the situation, and asked him to arrange a National Office transfer of $40,000 to Denver before we would receive the money from the donor. DignityUSA Fortunately, we are now in solid financial footing and had the cash available to do this. PO Box 376 Peggy Burns, our Operations Manager, in Medford, MA expedited the money transfer. Medford, MA 02155-0004 The donor’s gift arrived in our account the next morning. (Whew!) I contacted Voice: 202-861-0017 or Georgeanne Bley, President of Dignity/Denver, who requested a delay of the ad until 800-877-8797 the next weekend to afford time to inform and discuss the matter with her members. Fax: 781-397-0584 Website: www.dignityusa.org Appreciating her concern, I relayed the request to the donor. It was denied as the donor E-mail: [email protected] felt that the timing was NOW. I worked with Georgeanne on a communication strategy to inform the members of the chapter before a full-page ad appeared in their paper. Staff This required fast work on the part of the chapter leadership. Meanwhile Ken Fitch of Marianne Duddy-Burke – Dignity/Denver was keeping us all informed on local developments in the media in Executive Director Boulder and Denver via the Internet. [email protected] Voice: 617-669-7810 A Dignity/Denver member purchased the web address www.ColoradoCatholics Concerned.com and registered it to his Denver address. We have been monitoring it Peggy Burns – Operations Mgr [email protected] since. We have received an outpouring of support throughout the Rocky Mountain area, and of course the usual dose of nasty criticisms. The responses offer Dignity/ Dateline & QV: Quarterly Voice Denver an opportunity to reach out to potential new members. Publications Team Leo Egashira – Publications While I cannot reveal the identity of the donor, I can say that it was not an existing Committee Chair member of DignityUSA, but rather someone who learned about our work in media cov- [email protected] erage of the story, investigated us, and was impressed with the record on our web-site. The donor wanted an organization with national clout and a local presence in Colorado, Bill Welch – Editor [email protected] and felt the investment would be well executed under our name. This was an easy decision for us as the message was entirely consistent with our work. We are often Peggy Burns – Proofreader hampered by the costs it takes to do something like this. Paul Keaveney – Proofreader This would not have happened without a national structure and presence. When the story broke, media contacted our national office because they have become condi- DignityUSA is a not-for-profit religious corporation organized tioned to do so about anything involving LGBT Catholics. Our Executive Director car- under U.S. Internal Revenue ries a cell phone with her at all times to field such calls, and does so quickly and Service Code 501(c)(3). competently — which reporters love. DignityUSA has been building coalitions with other national LGBT and Church reform organizations for years. These include Call To Action, New Ways Ministry, Fortunate Families, Human Rights Campaign, Nation-

Continued on page 3 Dateline April 2010 - 3 -

Justice-seeking People and Voices that Challenge DignityUSA Board of Continued from page 2 Directors to Meet in al Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and GLAAD. Those partnerships paid off quickly for Philadelphia April 16-18 us. We also had more clout because we had a local presence via our chapter in Denver. DignityUSA has long proved its ability to mobilize “ground troops” quickly in many DignityUSA’s Board of Directors cities across the country when needed. We also had money in the bank to act quickly will meet at the Radisson Plaza- because of good financial stewardship and the support from our members across the Warwick Hotel, 220 South 17th Street, country—most of whom make modest donations and belong to chapters. But those do- Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 735- nations add up. We have a team of impressive volunteer talent from coast-to-coast that 6000, Friday through Sunday, April we can mobilize as soon as they answer their cell phone. 16-18, 2010. This ad was a great example of what can be accomplished when all of us row in We encourage DignityUSA mem- the same direction—which doesn’t happen by itself. It is a legacy of decades of leader- bers to see the Board in action. You ship and hard work in an organization which has struggled and persevered through need not spend the entire weekend with countless challenges. us. As many of you know, my family lives in Denver. When they saw the ad and The Board meets for about 3 hours called me to applaud, I was very proud of what DignityUSA accomplished. I am proud Friday night. Work resumes by 9 a.m. that we stood up to Goliath on behalf of the lesbian parents and their children. I hope on Saturday and goes through the day you are feeling some of the same. Ultimately, it wouldn’t have happened without the until about 6 p.m. Sunday, the Board support of all our members. By the way, when is the last time YOU made an invest- wraps up its work in a 3-hour session ment in the work of DignityUSA? You can do so now via the JOIN/RENEW/ ending at 12 noon. DONATE button at the top, right corner of the homepage on our newly reconstructed web-site: www.dignityusa.org. DignityUSA members wishing to see the agenda, can contact Lewis Editor’s Note: Also see notes on page 4 with more on Boulder Pride. Tanner ([email protected]).

All Are Welcome To See the Board in Action! DignityUSA Statement on Boulder Catholic School Issue

Happy Anniversary Catholic School’s Treatment of Children of Lesbian Couple Protested by & Congratulations to: Many March 8, 2010 Sarasota (FL) - 6 years Ft. Lauderdale (FL) - 24 years Boston, MA. Leaders of DignityUSA join Catholic families in Boulder, Colorado in expressing extreme disappointment that two young children of lesbian parents have become the Archdiocese’s latest target in its attacks on gay, lesbian, and transgender people. The children have been barred from returning to Sacred Heart of Jesus School because of their parents’ sexual orientation.

“The Archdiocese of Denver has acted very unjustly in singling out these children for exclusion,” said DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke. “Until every students’ parents are tested on Catholic teaching, this action by Catholic officials cannot be understood as anything other than discrimination on the back of two chil- dren. At a tender age, they have learned that Catholic officials are willing to inflict pain on children and families. The public is learning that the Catholic hierarchy is willing to place this on the shoulders of children—and then defend such heartlessness by saying they are just following the rules and that Catholics are being persecuted for their be- liefs.”

“The Archdiocese has chosen to selectively enforce Catholic rules about families while trampling on core Catholic values of compassion, equality, and love. This is tragic for the family involved, and for all who turn to Church officials for moral guidance,” add- ed Duddy-Burke. Continued on page 4 Dateline April 2010 - 4 -

DignityUSA Statement on Boulder Catholic School Issue Chapter Leader Continued from page 3 Teleconference By Secretary Lewis Tanner “It is an inspiration that so many families from the school and the community turned out to protest the school’s decision. They know, like every parent knows, that DignityUSA President Mark loving families come in many forms, and that accepting all of our children—with all of Matson, Executive Director Marianne their differences—is a core value of both family and church. These parents embody the Duddy-Burke, and I hope you will join way that most Catholics feel. I applaud them for having the courage to be visible in the next chapter leader teleconference challenging the Archdiocese’s discrimination.” on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern / 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. “I am a Catholic mother who would like to have my children in Catholic school,” More than one member of the chapter Duddy-Burke said. “But, because I am lesbian, I feared that one day, after learning leadership can be on the call! their prayers, the liturgy, and the principles of justice, service, and faith every day, they would come home with a note saying they couldn’t come back because their mothers Please let me know if you can or are lesbians. It deeply pains me to see another family suffering through what we feared. cannot participate by responding to I sincerely hope they find a school that supports their family, and provides the good [email protected] with your things they want for their child.” chapter affiliation. I will provide a playback number after the call so those who were not able to join the call can catch up. “We are trying to live up to the promises we made to raise our kids as Catholics and now the church we The dial-in number is (712) 432- made the promises to is sort of undermining our 0180 with an access code of 890836#. attempts to do so.” At the beginning of the call, I will be taking a roll call. After that, please Comment by Boulder Catholic lesbian couple regarding their press *6 to mute your line and when Catholic baptized children. you need to speak, un-mute by pressing *6. Editor’s Notes: The following is an excerpt from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Thank you for your cooperation Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care” dated November 14, 2006. and support. “Similarly, the Church does not support the adoption of children by homo- sexual couples since homosexual unions are contrary to the divine plan. For this reason, Baptism of children adopted by such couples presents a pastoral concern. Nevertheless, the Church does not refuse the Sacrament of Baptism to these children, but there must be a well founded hope that the children will be brought up in the Catholic religion.” (emphasis mine)

Thomas C. Fox, Editor, National Catholic Reporter, interviewed the Catholic lesbian couple, parents of children in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School, and the pastor and parishioners of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Boulder, CO. Reports will be found in a series of articles for March 15, 17, 23-26, 2010, found on NCR’s blog-site at http://ncronline.org under the section heading Faith & Parish.

For more information and statements by the lesbian couple and parents of children in Sacred Heart of Jesus School please visit Boulder Pride web-site at www.boulderpride.org. Dateline April 2010 - 5 -

Full-page ad from March 14, 2010, Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera Newspapers Dateline April 2010 - 6 - Important DignityUSA Board Nominations Now Open Nominations are open for four (4) Directors-at-Large for a period of two years— Announcement October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2012.

We respectfully request that our Nominees for the Board of Directors “…must be current Regular Members of DignityUSA members confirm or up- DignityUSA,” i.e., “…any individual who pays any required Dues for Regular date their e-mail and USPS mailing Membership and endorses the Statement of Position and Purpose of DignityUSA.” addresses for use in the forthcoming 2010 elections to our National Board of Nominations may be submitted by nominee(s) or a third party using the MS Word Directors mentioned in the article Nomination Form for Board of Directors found on DignityUSA’s website at “DignityUSA Board Nominations Now http://www.dignityusa.org/httpdocs/docs/DUSA_Nom10.doc. Open” adjacent to this announcement. Completed forms should be sent to DignityUSA Nominations Committee, P.O. Please provide your name(s), Box 376, Medford, MA 02155-0004, or by Fax to 781-397-0584, or online to current mailing address, old mailing [email protected]. Nominations must be submitted no later than April address (if different), chapter affiliation 15, 2010. (if any), and e-mail address(es) (if any). Nominees are invited to submit digitized photos to be used in conjunction with If possible, please send the infor- election information and election ballots sent to the membership. Please submit the mation in an e-mail message to photos electronically to the Nominations Committee [email protected] no info@dignity usa.org with a header or later than April 15, 2010. subject: “Member Registration." If the information is not sent from your For information on the responsibilities of the Board of Directors, commitment, e-mail address, please state that fact. If skills needed, and becoming a candidate, please see “Serving on the DignityUSA electronic delivery is not possible, Board,” at http://www.dignityusa.org/serving-on-board. please send your information to Peggy- Burns, Operations Manager, P.O. Box Questions or comments concerning Nominations 2010 should be directed to 376, Medford, MA 02155-0004. [email protected], or to Operations Manager Peggy Burns at 800-877- 8797. For your privacy and security, information provided is treated as con- Peggy Hayes, Dignity/Boston and former DignityUSA Board member, has been fidential for use by DignityUSA ONLY appointed to serve as Nominations Committee Chair. and is not shared with other individuals or organizations. Election ballots will be sent electronically to those who have provided us with an e-mail address; otherwise, those without e-mail addresses will have ballots mailed via Please respond as soon as possible, USPS on or about May 20, 2010, to the address on our DignityUSA membership but no later than May 1, 2010. records. Please see the Important Announcement adjacent to this article. Special note to Dignity chapter leadership. Please ensure that this announcement is delivered to your chapter members without e-mail access or e-mail addresses.

Thanks to all for your attention, assistance, and cooperation. Dateline April 2010 - 7 - Gay Pioneer Robert Carter Dies Transitions Jesuit was convert, atheist, Dignity & NGLTF founder, Tennessee Williams lover In Memoriam By Andy Humm, Gay City News John Raftery, Dignity/New York Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 died in November 2009. Partner James Rescigna Father Robert Carter, an out gay Jesuit Catholic priest who, in the early 1970s, co- founded both the National Gay Task Force (now NGLTF) and the New York chapter of Births Dignity, a gay Catholics group, died of a neurological illness February 22, 2010, at his residence at in . He was 82. Adoptions With Father John McNeill, also a Jesuit, Carter hosted the first meeting of Dignity at the chapel of their Woodstock Jesuit community at 220 West 98th Street in 1972. Marriages Carter had an apartment there for decades in a community that also included Father Daniel Berrigan, the eminent peace activist. Holy Unions In an unpublished memoir, Carter wrote of that initial Dignity gathering, “There were about 15 present. I remember walking to the meeting and wondering with some Wedding/Union Anniversaries trepidation what I was getting myself into.” He became more comfortable as those in Jim Green and Bill Diederich, attendance shared who they were and what they hoped to accomplish. Integrity-Dignity/Madison (WI), cele- brated their 40th Anniversay on March 16, 2010. Carter became one of the group’s board members and theological advisers, along with McNeill and, later, Father Bernard Lynch. “No longer was I just the professor of Please send DignityUSA member Early Church Studies and a research scholar. Now I was giving hope and new life to name(s) of the affected person(s) and many gay Catholics,” he wrote. event to Operations Manager Peggy Burns by email to [email protected] After participating with Dignity in the 1973 gay pride march, he was asked by for- or by phone 800-877-8797. mer City Health Commissioner Howard Brown, who had just come out publicly, to be- come a charter member of the board of the National Gay Task Force. He worried about For example, in events such as being the first Catholic priest to come out so publicly, but recalled, “I was utterly con- births and adoptions, the name(s) of vinced that the only way gays and lesbians were ever going to be accepted socially was parent(s) and child or children, or if they made themselves known publicly.” number of girls or boys, and chapter affiliation or city and state. In events The New York Times ran a prominent story on the formation of the Task Force and such as marriage or holy union, the listed Carter’s name and profession, causing the sub-provincial of the Jesuits to visit names of the couple and chapter affilia- him. “It seems that they were afraid I had had a psychotic break or something,” he tion or city and state. wrote. But despite calls for his expulsion by irate “Jesuits, parents, and alumni of our schools,” Carter was not disciplined after explaining how he believed he was acting in the true spirit of Jesus by coming out and working with people rejected by society.

Carter was a foot soldier for the early Task Force as well as one of its leaders, standing outside the Eagle Bar in Chelsea each Sunday to collect a dollar cover charge from each patron for the group. He marched in pride parades in his clerical collar and was noted at Dignity— where I was a member from 1975-82 and became his friend — for his inspiring sermons. While saying Mass, he often wore a denim stole. He testified for the city’s gay rights bill at tumultuous City Council hearings until it passed in 1986. Via email, McNeill wrote of Carter, “In many ways, he was the loving heart of Dignity’s ministry!”

Carter was a classics scholar and teacher, but earned a master’s degree in social work from Columbia in 1981 and became a psychotherapist, developing a specialty helping gay priests. In June 1985, he began work as a social worker for patients with AIDS at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx and later became a supervisor of the outpatient AIDS program at Bellevue.

Continued on page 8 Dateline April 2010 - 8 -

Gay Pioneer Robert Carter Dies half the credit,” Carter wrote. “Later I was happy to read in his Continued from page 7 memoirs that he considered me a nightingale.”

Carter converted to Catholicism in 1946, earned a master’s degree in Greek in 1952, and then taught the classics. He en- tered the Jesuits in 1954 in New York. He became a leading scholar on John Chrysostom, a Church father, and was ordained in 1962.

Jeff Stone, secretary of Dignity/ New York, wrote in an email, “He understood the connection between spiritual beliefs and social action, and he put his convictions into action.”

Lynch wrote, “His courage and conscience were something I drew strength and inspiration from. I suppose it was the same (L. to R.) Fathers Dan McCarthy, Bernard Lynch, John McNeill, and Robert Carter lead Dignity in New York’s gay pride march in the courage and conscience that brought him to atheism. When he early 1980s. first shared with me that he was no longer a believer in God — (Photo Courtesy: BRENDAN FAY) anybody’s God — I was shocked and yet not surprised !!! I told him after a lifetime of searching — especially in Light of my HIV/AIDS ministry — I came to the opposite conclusion. We When pressure from anti-gay Cardinal John O’Connor agreed to differ with that mutual and great respect we had for prompted the Jesuit-run St. Francis Xavier Church in Chelsea one another.” to expel Dignity from its premises in 1987, the group assigned Carter to read aloud the letter from the Jesuit provincial telling Veteran gay activist Brendan Fay, who is making a film on the group to leave. “The Catholic Church made public its rejec- McNeill featuring Carter, went to Carter for spiritual direction tion of gays and lesbians,” he wrote, “however much talk there and therapy at Lynch’s suggestion when he first came to New was about loving the sinner while hating the sin.” York from Ireland in the 1980s. “Bob Carter helped me move from self-hate to self-acceptance and then to a place of gay Lynch wrote via e-mail, “I shall never forget his brilliant activism,” Fay wrote in an e-mail. and eloquent retort to Cardinal O`Connor from the pulpit of St. Francis during His Eminence’s opposition to Executive Order Carter wrote, “To my knowledge, I was the first priest to 50! [a 1985 mayoral order for city contractors not to discrimi- [come out publicly]. This was the central event in my work for nate based on sexual orientation] O`Connor had been going on gay and lesbian liberation, the single most important action of and on about how we — the LGBT communities — were a my life.” threat to the family ‘as God had ordained… modeled by the Holy Family of Nazareth.’ Bob, with that disarming smile of Fay is looking to put together a Month’s Mind memorial his… I quote, ‘What model of family is His Eminence talking service for Carter later in March. about? Mary a Virgin Mother? Joseph a Foster Father? Jesus their Son? I don’t know any family in New York like that. It This piece originally appeared in New York City’s Gay would seem to me that straights are a far greater threat to this City News and is reprinted with permission from GCN . model of family, than we as Gays ever were or could be.”

When Carter was barred by his provincial from saying Mass for Dignity, he agonized over whether to accept the restriction; in Jesuitical fashion, he regularly traveled to Phila- delphia to say Mass for the chapter there — outside his provincial’s jurisdiction.

Robert Carter was born in on July 27, 1927, and grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, and later Park Ridge, . He won a scholarship in 1943 to the University of Chicago where at the school paper, the Maroon, he wrote a review of a Tennes- see Williams poem that got him invited in 1944 to the opening of a new play, “The Glass Menagerie,” by the then unknown playwright, with the great Laurette Taylor in the lead. A week later, he conducted the first interview ever published with the playwright. The two became lovers, sleeping together several times a week during the first three months of 1945. “He may have thought he seduced me, but he didn’t or at least gets only Dateline April 2010 - 9 - DignityUSA Executive Director Please contact Jack F. at [email protected] with any and all donations, suggestions, and ideas. Every little piece counts Quoted on DC Catholic Charities in making a fun and exciting special event. Thanks! Ending Spousal Benefits March 8, 2010

On the eve of marriage licenses becoming available to same-sex couples in Washington, DC, the Archdiocese Chapter News announced it would no longer allow employees to enroll their spouses for health care coverage. Marianne Duddy-Burke Dignity/Honolulu News spoke with The Washington Times about this unjust decision. Dignity/Honolulu Sponsors February House Party http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/03/catholic- Dignity/Honolulu sponsored a House Party Fundraiser for charities-limits-same-sex-couple-benefits/ DignityUSA on February 13, 2010. Coordinated by Gene Corpuz, DignityUSA Board member, it was held in a Tea Editor’s Note: The URL address and Washington Times House on the grounds of Queen Emma Gardens Condominium article heading are misnomers. The rule applies to cur- in downtown Honolulu. There were pupus (appetizers), drinks, rent employees who have not enrolled their opposite and a silent auction featuring items such as a Seawind Travel sex married spouses by March 1, 2010, as well as all Certificate, Newt Aloha shirts, Hula’s Bar package, artwork , new employees of Catholic Charities, Washington, DC. jewelry, massage certificate, and Ala Moana Shopping Center Gift Card. The amount raised totaled $722.00 for DignityUSA. Although there were no bids for the Xbox during the silent auc- tion, Tim Earhart, chapter president, sold the item on Craigslist “Going once … Going twice … Gone — for $160.00, which contributed to the successful event. Sold to the Cutie in the Third Row!”

We may not actually hear those words at DignityUSA’s silent auctions, but the excitement is just as intense. If you Dignity/Washington News have been to any of the last five national conventions you know what I mean. They started in Chicago in 2001 and have been a Spanish-language Mass part of each convention since. In San Francisco we added the Dignity/Washington has started holding mass for the first DignityUSA on-line auction, which allowed non-conven- GLBT Latino community. The chapter’s Latino Liturgy Mass- tion goers to be part of the fun and excitement as well. In the es are being planned for every other month or as major feast fall of 2009 we had our first on-line only auction. Not only do days might dictate. The next Latino Liturgy is planned for Sat- these auctions add an element of fun and interest to the conven- urday, April 17, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center, 721 tion, but they add much needed funds to DignityUSA. Since 8th Street SE, Washington DC. For more information, please 2001, over $20,000 has been generated by our auction efforts. contact (202) 546-2235 or the Dignity/Washington website at www.dignitywashington.org. So what’s new? We are looking into a single-item, special-event auction this fall. It may be a special Opening Dignity/Washington hopes that as news of the group Night Hollywood package, a Broadway Show-NY trip, or a Las grows, a more regularly scheduled gathering can take place. Vegas vacation. We’re working out the details and that is where you come into the scheme: We need help from people Marriage Equality in Washington, D.C. with connections in the movie, theater, travel, hotel, and airline District of Columbia marriage laws changed in March industries. 2010 to allow for same-sex marriage. Dignity/Washington is currently looking into developing a policy to address the Specifically, we need to have items donated gratis or at requests for GLBT marriages that we are receiving. We are drastically reduced cost so we can put together a great package looking at DignityUSA, Dignity/Boston, Dignity/San Diego, that would appeal to a broad range of our members and sup- and other chapter policies to help develop a policy for the local porters. Maybe you know someone in those industries (perhaps chapter. a director, a travel agent, etc.) with connections who would be willing to help (and you can remind potential donors that their Catholics for Equality donation to DignityUSA is tax-deductible). Maybe you have Dignity/Washington participated along with DignityUSA airline miles or hotel points you could donate. Or maybe you at the foundation building meeting for Catholics for Equality have some other great ideas we can use to put together a fabu- (See March 2010 Dateline). This organization hopes to help lous package for the next Fall Fling. bring a strong, unifying voice to the GLBT Catholic comm-

Continued on page 10 Dateline April 2010 - 10 -

Dignity/Washington News Catholic families (all of whom have some GLBT mem- Continued from page 9 bers) are not waiting for “permission” to love and support their family GLBT members. They understand the sexual orientation unity by working with many national organizations such as of their family members and friends and the giftedness of those DignityUSA, New Ways Ministry, and others. members as also God’s children. Whether or not they are in a committed relationship, they understand God’s wisdom in cre- Dignity/Washington helped support the meeting by provid- ating some of us GLBT, while most others are heterosexual. ing lunch for the 25 leaders gathered during the two-day dis- cussions. With regard specifically to New Ways Ministry, you should be supportive of this ministry because they are doing With Mark Matson, DignityUSA President in DC for the God’s work in a truly pastoral and loving way. New Ways Min- Catholic for Equality meeting, Dignity/Washington was happy istry has always stated the “official” teaching of the Roman he could join several members of the DC chapter leadership Catholic Church. and members for one of our Tables for Six celebrations. Not only was it a useful discussion but an entertaining evening with The Catholic Church is gravely deficient in its understand- some very good food. ing and pastoral outreach to GLBT Catholics. My partner Bill and I have every right to expect God’s blessing on our loving relationship. The Roman Catholic Church is driving GLBT persons away by its ill-begotten rhetoric and lack of willingness Other News to listen to our lived experiences and our truth in faith. As the Church becomes more and more cult-like, I fear that Letter to Cardinal Francis George on you will continue to lose any pastoral credibility and must assume the responsibility of our continued exodus from the the Occasion of James R. Green and Roman Catholic Church, which seems to be retreating into a William Diederich’s 40th Anniversary pre-Vatican II orthodoxy.

March 16, 2010 I can only imagine how difficult it must be for your many gay priests to continue to be truly pastoral people in light of the Cardinal Francis George, OMI horrific language that continues to be used in the Roman Catho- Archdiocese of Chicago lic Church: “objectively disordered” and “intrinsically evil.” P.O. Box 1979 Chicago, Illinois 60690 Bill and I have maintained our Catholic identity within our souls. DignityUSA has been a stronghold of our maintaining Dear Cardinal George, that identity. We have nearly reached the point where we can no longer breathe, or recognize Jesus in this Church. This is the We can’t help but wonder if it does us any good to express sad reality that is coming to fruition each time an organization how we feel when we hear about an injustice imposed upon our such as New Ways Ministry or DignityUSA is condemned by dear friends who minister at New Ways Ministry. our hierarchy in the name of Christ.

My partner Bill and I have just celebrated 40 years of part- It may not be too late to bring back the promise of a John nered love together this March 16th. We have been blessed to XXIII or John Paul I, but it would take a tsunami of humility be in a committed (monogamous) and loving relationship all and love to pull it off. Meanwhile Jesus weeps for a Church He these many years. We are both Roman Catholics since birth can barely recognize. and have identified as such in spite of the many reasons we cannot any longer support a church that refuses to acknowledge Respectfully, and with Dignity, our love. James R. Green-William Diederich We have known and participated in New Ways Ministry Middleton, WI workshops and retreats and their outreach to families and par- ents of GLBT Catholics for 32 of their 33 years of existence. P.S. Our 40th anniversary Eucharist was celebrated with They understand the unconditional love of Christ, and are doing over 100 people, gay and straight together. The couples who the work of the Holy Spirit in a church which continues to attended had a total of over 1,100 years of committed love. demonize them. When a Church continually looks only at Now this was a banquet where Jesus was truly welcomed in all “tradition” and fails to listen to the lived experiences of its of our diversities and love. GLBT people and their families, that is a church that is suffo- cating in its own hierarchical/patriarchal model. Continued on page 11 Dateline April 2010 - 11 -

Letter to Cardinal Francis George on the Occasion of James R. Green and William Diederich’s 40th Anniversary Continued from page 10

Editor’s Note: Cardinal George is currently President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

(L to R) Bill Diederich & Jim Green

Group Photo from James R. Green and William Diedrich's 40th Anniversary Celebration Dateline April 2010 - 12 -

In Africa, A Step Backward On Human the name of God. Show me where Christ said “Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones.” Gay people, too, are made in my Rights God’s image. I would never worship a homophobic God. By Desmond Tutu - archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in “But they are sinners,” I can hear the preachers and politi- 1984. cians say. “They are choosing a life of sin for which they must March 12, 2010, The Washington Post be punished.” My scientist and medical friends have shared with me a reality that so many gay people have confirmed, I Opinion first appeared March 12, 2010, on now know it in my heart to be true. No one chooses to be gay. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ Sexual orientation, like skin color, is another feature of our article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103341.html?wpisrc=n diversity as a human family. Isn’t it amazing that we are all l_opinions made in God’s image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people? Does God love his dark- or his light-skinned chil- Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be dren less? The brave more than the timid? And does any of us excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern be- know the mind of God so well that we can decide for him who cause of race or gender, faith or ethnicity — or because of their is included, and who is excluded, from the circle of his love? sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, The wave of hate must stop. Politicians who profit from we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that exploiting this hate, from fanning it, must not be tempted by divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial clas- this easy way to profit from fear and misunderstanding. And sification and then denied many of them fundamental human my fellow clerics, of all faiths, must stand up for the principles rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world sup- of universal dignity and fellowship. Exclusion is never the way ported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity. forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.

It is time to stand up against another wrong.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are More Announcements part of God’s family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved con- Call for Women to Share Their Stories tinent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights By Patricia Esgate and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their commu- My name is Pat Esgate. I am a writer, working on a novel, nity have suffered. In Malawi, men have been jailed and humil- and am interested in talking with a few women who have con- iated for expressing their partnerships with other men. Just this tinued to hold on to their Catholic faith, even as they have come month, mobs in Mtwapa Township, Kenya, attacked men they to terms with their sexual and affectional preferences. suspected of being gay. Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counseling What you should know about me: I am a 58-year-old gay services to all members of that community, because the clerics woman, and have been out since 1970. I was politically active wanted gay men excluded. during the formation of Gay Liberation, serving as president of our local (Bloomington, IN) chapter for two years, 1971-72. I Uganda’s parliament is debating legislation that would am not a Catholic, or an active member of any organized reli- make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and gion, though I am a believer in a higher power. I do, however, more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda have two (heterosexual) brothers who have converted to and Burundi. Catholicism. Their deep belief in their faith is what inspired me to use Catholicism as my character’s spiritual guidepost. These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa. The protagonist of my novel, Bess Riley, is a devout Cath- olic who is coming to terms with her homosexuality in 1960. Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are The story is set against the rise of the civil rights movement. It living in fear. is my intention to cast a light on the very difficult transition gay people go through in order to live their lives. Bess holds on to And they are living in hiding — away from care, away her faith, though it is challenged. Her continued faith is a key from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and part of this story. I am determined to create a character that no away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, espe- one will be able to label “godless”. cially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. That this pandering to intolerance is being done by politicians looking Continued on page 13 for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. But it is a great wrong. An even larger offense is that it is being done in Dateline April 2010 - 13 -

Call for Women to Share their Stories Continued from page 12 Writer Seeks Assistance of Same-Sex Couples My desire is to offer readers a character they can under- stand as a person first and a gay person second. My goal is to Jenn Gibson is currently working on a new book that tells add another positive voice to the ongoing conversation regard- the story of same-sex couples at all stages of the relationship ing our emerging rights as gay people. process. The book is in its early stages.

I would very much like to hear from women who have Jenn is looking for couples to interview. If you are interest- been through this challenge, in order to paint the best picture of ed in participating or desire further information, please contact Bess that I possibly can. I would appreciate any help you can [email protected]. give me in contacting, or being contacted by, women who would be interested in sharing their story. Website: http://www.happythebook.com Finally, I urge you to do a Google search on “Patricia Esgate.” Facebook: http://tiny.cc/HappyTheBook I can be reached at [email protected].

Thank you, Patricia Esgate

Editor’s Note: Al Lieberman and Patricia Esgate are co- authors of The Entertainment Marketing Revolution published by Pearson Education, May 14, 2002. Patricia is the Executive Editor of Entertainment Management magazine and The Ezone newsletter.