Silverfoxesclub-digest
Wednesday, January 3 2001
Volume 01 : Number 096

In this issue:

-Seeing a Liturgical Loophole, Minister Defies a Ban on Same-Sex , Unions -It's me again... -Re: Silverfox: After Doing it in a Hammock (5) -Gay couples fathering children together? -Favor -Re: Silverfox: Dad's unit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Edward eho01@alumni.poly.edu Subject: Seeing a Liturgical Loophole, Minister Defies a Ban on Same-Sex , Unions From today's NY Times. Edward - ---------------------- January 2, 2001 Seeing a Liturgical Loophole, Minister Defies a Ban on Same-Sex Unions By THE NEW YORK TIMES CHICAGO, Jan. 1 - A United Methodist minister who was suspended in 1999 for blessing the union of two gay men has returned to his North Side church and is once again celebrating same-sex unions. This time, though, he has found a way for his Broadway United Methodist Church community to hold the service without breaking the laws of the parent church. The minister, the Rev. Greg Dell, had his church homecoming in July after a yearlong suspension, the first under a 1996 church law that forbids pastors to officiate at same-sex unions and bans the ceremony from occurring on church grounds. Now, Mr. Dell says, he has found a loophole in the rule. Mr. Dell's new church policy on same-sex unions slips through the "order and discipline" law by changing the who and where of the ceremony. What his church has done, Mr. Dell said, is simple. "We hold the ceremony away from church grounds, and I don't preside over the union," he said. "That's all it is." One recent ceremony was held at a home, where the couple exchanged vows with friends and Mr. Dell present. The next day a service of celebration was held in the sanctuary of the church, where the couple received communion and repeated their vows. The new policy, introduced by the Broadway church in September, is the latest in a series of alternative actions taken by Mr. Dell and other ministers across the country in an effort to allow same-sex unions within the confines of the United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination after the Southern Baptist Convention. The United Methodist Church has 8.5 million members and maintains a wide spectrum of ideologies. There has recently been a surge in the number of Methodist congregations opposing the ban on same-sex unions. This opposition is part of a movement by religious organizations across the country to recognize and administer faith services to gay and lesbian parishioners. Since September, Mr. Dell said, his church, which has a racially, socially and sexually diverse congregation, has celebrated a handful of same-sex unions, a ceremony he says he cannot ignore if he is to minister to his 200-member congregation, 35 percent to 40 percent of which consists of gay men and lesbians. In Mr. Dell's view, the union is a covenant blessed by God, not by the minister. Following this interpretation, vows are shared between the couple and God, and the minister and the community are mere observers and celebrants of the union. By removing the pastor and the church setting, the Broadway congregation has provoked reactions running the gamut from praise for a groundbreaking principle that others may follow to criticism that the policy disregards church law. "It's really been something of a spectrum," Mr. Dell said. "Those in the religious right are really enraged. They see it as something of a disobedience. And those in the middle have comments ranging from `Isn't that clever?' to `They are walking close to the line.' " One of Mr. Dell's critics, James V. Heidinger II, president of the Good News Caucus, an evangelical renewal movement, contends that the removal of the minister from the service "trivializes the ceremony by virtually removing the pastor's role." "This is not a tangential issue," Mr. Heidinger said. "It goes right at the heart of what we believe about marriage. It seems to us that what the church has done is to find a clever way to circumvent the Book of Discipline and its standards. To do it outside in a courtyard or away from the church and to let them go into the church and celebrate it seems like they are clearly ignoring and evading the letter, and more so the spirit, of church policy." Within the Broadway church, support for the policy is widespread. "The sense of unity around the policy has been very strong," said Eva Dahm, a lay leader. "It is not the ideal situation, of course, but it's all we can do right now, and so everybody is taking it in stride." At the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Cleveland last May, when the denomination's governing body affirmed the ban on same-sex unions within the church, Mr. Dell was one of several members of the clergy who staged a protest and were arrested. On his return to his congregation two months later, Mr. Dell said, he decided that creating the new union policy was the best short- term answer for his congregation. The policy "is something of a compromise without violating the integrity of the ceremony," he said. Others within the denomination say Mr. Dell and the Broadway church are clearing a new path. "It's interesting to me that they've adopted this," said Jack Tuell, a retired bishop who presided at Mr. Dell's 1999 trial, "and perhaps it will provide a model that others may greatly appreciate." Although no formal complaints have been brought against his church, Mr. Dell admits that the policy may be challenged in the future - that future being the next General Conference in 2004. "I'm not expecting we'll have a complaint filed against us, but I wouldn't be shocked," he said. "They could tighten the loophole, and already this policy is something of a compromise, but a compromise of practice, not of integrity." ------------------------------ From: TexasPenguin@AOL.COM Subject: It's me again... Greetings and salutations to one and all, I would like everyone to know that I sincerely appreciate all of the help and the emails that I have received thus far. I am going to share some requested information to elaborate on the situation further. I am 22 years old, my lover turns 52 this month. His daughter is not the same age as I, she is six years older. There was no physical tension between his daughter and myself when we first met or at dinner last night. What bothered me about her was something that I couldn't pinpoint. Her presence just bugged me and perhaps it could be that I just need to adapt to her presence in our life. I think there will always be tension between his daughter and myself, at least for now. She has promised to keep in touch with him and this statement just made me on edge. After I sent my email last night to the list, my lover and I sat down and we have talked about what is going to happen. He has told me that he loves me very much and does not want me to leave because she is now back in his life. We are very happy together and although this has changed things, he has told me that it doesn't have to change what the two of us have together. I realize that his daughter is a different part of his life and that I am another part. I always expected the two parts to remain separate and now they have all come together and like pouring a can of soda into a glass, things have become agitated. But like the soda in the glass, if given enough time, things settle. I have attached a picture of the two of us together. This was taken New Year's Eve, one day after his daughter came back into his life and one day before the tension would really build up... Once again, I do want to thank each and every person who has responded and given advice. I love each and every one of you for it and I am taking all of the advice into account to analyze how I feel. Sincerely, Peter/The Penguin - ------------------- Work as if you don't need the money. Love as if you've never been hurt. Dance like there's nobody watching. Here endeth, The Penguin's email. ------------------------------ From: "Digital Artistry" deusex@earthlink.net Subject: Re: Silverfox: After Doing it in a Hammock Boston Bill wrote: Most Spanish nouns and adjectives used as nouns are quite specific about the gender...el gordo = the fat man...la gorda = the fat woman. - ----------- But BB, could you ever explain to the world why Taco Bell sells a food product called a Gordita? (Little fat lady) That one always made me go Hmmmm???? - -Mike ------------------------------ From: Leo Bear leobear00@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Food & restaurant names Gordita nothin, what about the Mexican restaurant called Chi Chi's? ------------------------------ From: jc jkatt@specent.com Subject: Boston Bill Boston Bill is a cutey!!! ------------------------------ Ben Boxer agrees: He sure is! Take another look at and also take at peek at what else he did in Yucatan besides buy that queen-size hammock: ------------------------------ From: TexasPenguin@AOL.COM Subject: The Unexpected - Part One.. (When complete, this story will appear in the Silverfoxes Library at the Clubhouse.) ------------------------------ From: Ben Boxer Subject: Gay couples fathering children together? Ben Boxer asks a question: How do you feel about the kind of experimentation in this article? Headline: Cloning experiment may lead to gay couples fathering own children (The Advocate, 01/02/01) Text: Japanese scientists have been able to grow sperm in a laboratory, opening the possibility of redirecting male cells into producing eggs, The [London] Sunday Times reports. Such a breakthrough would allow gay men to be parents together, the paper notes. The scientists have been able to clone embryo cells in mice and turn them into sperm. The researchers plan to begin experimenting on human cells shortly. While Japan outlaws cloning, the experiment would skirt the law by producing only the egg and sperm to make a baby. The scientists use embryonic stem cells to determine which have the genes that allow for sperm production. When they find the genes, the scientists then use them to produce sperm, which appear genetically normal. We have no reason to doubt that these sperm are viable, Poshiaki Nose, of the Mitsubishi Kasei Institute, told the paper. The stem cellderived sperm are exactly the same as those produced by the testes, and we are now seeing if we can make them fertilize normal eggs. ------------------------------ From: "carlos bracho" ------------------------------ From: RogueKC@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Silverfox: Dad's unit No fair! Posting such a gorgeous man with such a beautiful body, without any contact information... How am I to go on? ;-) Thanks, Uncle Ben... At least I can fiddle my flute while looking... ------------------------------

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