Napa PFLAG Chapter Re-launch April 19

I got word today that the Napa Chapter of PFLAG is planning to relaunch on April 19th, 2pm at Covenant Presbyterian Church on Salvador Avenue in Napa. I don't know any other details yet (and nothing is listed on the North Bay PFLAG website), so please share if you know more.

How exciting to know that they're back in the Valley! I've been looking for "Napa" in the PFLAG contingent at SF Pride for years...

Napa religious leaders speak out against Proposition 8, call for relationships to be based upon love and justice

This "open letter" was published in Sunday, February 22's Napa Register, and is a great thing to reflect on this time of year, just before Lent and Passover and just before California's Supreme Court is about to hear oral arguments about the invalidity of Proposition 8's passing.

I acknowledge these courageous leaders for speaking up and speaking out when many--even those "on our side" fall silent in the face of fear. Thank you for showing us that love is an action and that you see same-sex couples as your neighbor.

If you're looking for an LGBT friendly religious community to become a part of, I'm sure these ministers, pastors and our new-to-be-installed Rabbi would love to talk to you:

As religious leaders, we opposed Proposition 8 and remain committed to promoting the well-being and spiritual integrity of all people in our community. We are moved to offer this open letter to the people and communities of Napa County.

There are strong civil liberties arguments for ending the exclusion of gay and lesbian couples from the legal institution of marriage. But marriage equality is about more than equal access to the legal protections of marriage. It's about our affirming intimate relationships between people. It's about respect for the new and richly diverse definitions of what it means to be a family. Our religious perspectives celebrate that humans are created in and for relationship and that sexuality is God's gift. And so we affirm the dignity and worth of all people and recognize sexual difference as a blessed part of what it means to be human. There can be no justification for discrimination solely on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. All people have the right to lead lives that express love and justice, mutuality and commitment, consent and pleasure; this includes both civil and religious marriage.

Marriage is about entering into a covenant with another person to share life's joys and sorrows. Marriage is to be valued because it creates stable, committed relationships; it provides a means to share economic resources; it is a source of nurture not only for the couple, but for their children. Good marriages benefit the community. We believe that where there is love, God is there also. What's more, marriage has always been evolving. In the past, it was primarily about property and procreation whereas today the emphasis is on egalitarian partnership, companionship, and love. At one point, neither the state nor most religions recognized divorce and remarriage, interracial marriage, or the equality of the partners. These understandings changed in greater recognition of our shared humanity and the importance of moral and civil rights.

We can't rely exclusively on scripture for understanding marriage today. There are religious texts that encourage celibacy, forbid divorce, and require women to be subservient to their husbands, but we don't give them the authority that they once had. But there are also scriptural models for blessed relationships that go beyond one man and one woman. These scriptures neither commend a single marriage model nor command that we all should be married; but do call that all relationships be based upon love and justice. Our faith calls us to justice and compassion (to love our neighbor as ourselves) and that provides the only mandate that we need for marriage equality.

No single religious voice should speak for all traditions on issues of sexuality and marriage.

The faith traditions that we hold sacred, challenge us to speak and act for justice for all people who want to express their love in the commitment of marriage. Some people of faith differ with us; others may be undecided. To all of them, we reach out and seek to promote what's best for the individuals and couples involved, for their families, for their children and for the sake of our community.

Our commitment, finally, isn't just for the legal rights of some people, but relational justice for all people.

Respectfully in faith,

The Reverend Bonnie Dlott
Unitarian Universalist Minister, (925) 256-4334

The Reverend Jonathan Eastman
Presbyterian Pastor, (707) 963-1255

The Reverend David Hamilton
Lutheran Pastor, (707) 226-8166

The Reverend Roger Kimble III
United Methodist Pastor, (707) 253-1411

The Reverend Douglas J. Monroe
United Methodist Pastor, (707) 253-1411

The Reverend Ken Micah Murdock
Unity Church Senior Minister, (707) 447-0521

Rabbi Oren J Postrel
Reformed Jewish Rabbi, (707) 253-7305

The Reverend Linda S. Powers
Presbyterian Minister, (707) 251-1577

The Reverend Dr. Deana Reed
Presbyterian Pastor, (707) 255-9426

The Reverend Jim Warnock
Lutheran Pastor, (707) 332-7516

The Reverend Julie Webb
Lutheran Pastor, (707) 226-8166

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, missing are any clergy or officials from the Catholic or Latter-Day-Saint (Mormon) Churches.

Group of pastors across State and Nation against Prop 8

It's good to hear news trickling in that groups of Pastors and leaders, religious and otherwise, are asking the State of California to vote No on Proposition 8.

As I shared yesterday, in spite of my good Catholic upbringing and urging from the Catholic hierarchy I believe that the best moral decision is to vote No on Proposition 8. A God of love would not be one that supports writing discrimination into our Constitution.

The Yes on 8 campaign has fairly convincingly spread the lie that to be religious--especially, to be Christian--means that you value traditional families and thus will vote yes on 8. On Saturday I stood on the corner of Jefferson and Lincoln to proclaim (by my presence) that I am a person of faith, a person that values families of love and commitment and that I am vowing to vote No on 8. Often I feel alone in walking the line of integrating religion with my homosexuality.

In Monday's news, I heard this:

More than a dozen pastors Monday stood on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, where the fight for same-sex marriage in California began four years ago, to urge Californians to reject a ballot measure that would make gay marriage illegal.

They also announced that more than 2,200 faith leaders from across the country have signed an open letter to religious leaders calling for the recognition of same-sex marriage.

Among those taking part in the event organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, were the Rev. Bishop Mark Holmerud of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Rev. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director of the California Council of Churches; the Rev. Mary Susan Gast, Conference Minister of the Northern California Nevada Conference, United Church of Christ; the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Episcopal Bishop of California; and the Rev. Lindi Ramsden, Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry.

The presence of the high profile clergy was meant to dispel attempts by evangelical Christians, the Roman Catholic Church and Mormons that people of faith support the proposed amendment.On Friday, a group of Mormons who support gay marriage delivered protest letters and bundles of carnations to church headquarters in Salt Lake City in an appeal to end the church’s support of the ballot initiative in California. [365Gay]

Thank God for their support and public witness! We know locally that the United Methodist Church, Covenant Presbyterian, and faithful from other religious communities in the Valley have been working to support their LGBTQ brothers and sisters here, including through phone banking for No on 8.

Additionally, today on Pam's House Blend, Pam wrote about Black leaders coming out against Prop 8.

For me, as a Catholic against Proposition 8, Father Geoff's story has been particularly inspiring. I wrote about him yesterday. As I said recently, I know I couldn't do this--this standing up, this speaking out, this coming out--alone.

After yesterday's post I got more than a handful of very kind emails and comments from folks offering their support and their company on this journey. Thank you, I was very touched by your unexpected reaching out. Together we can be strength for the journey.

Who for you has been the most inspirational or supportive in the battle for Prop 8 or in your journey of coming out?

LGBT Mass @ Berkeley Catholic Church

(Not in Napa, but of interest...)

In a previous post an anonymous commenter mentioned St. John's Catholic (in Napa) as a parish that might have some open gays in attendance.

Maybe this isn't surprising, but Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Catholic Parish in Berkeley is actually having an LGBT Catholics Community Mass on Friday, June 6, 2008 at 7:30 pm. According to an email we received, the LGBT Catholics group at Newman has been "an integral part of community life at Newman for over 25 years." Also,

"We encourage and affirm our sexuality, and our spirituality in the Christian Faith through the Catholic tradition." [via Email]

Click the attached image for the flyer with more info about the mass and the group (which meets twice a month). If anyone attends please bring back (and share) some of that openness and welcoming to our Napa churches (and, of course, let us know what you thought). Kudos again to Napa's Covenant Presbyterian.

Covenant Presbyterian welcomes and invites you

In response to yesterday's post asking about our reader's experiences with gay-friendly churches in the Napa Valley, we got a very inviting note via our tipline:

Covenant Presbyterian Church is a fully welcoming church which invites all to life and leadership regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other worldly condition. We pray, as those who follow Christ, for the capacity to envision life as it could be and, with the help of our loving God, to unite ourselves across our differences and to treat all with respect, dignity, love, compassion, understanding and justice.

Covenant Presbyterian Church is located at 1226 Salvador Avenue in Napa. They list their Sunday schedule as:

Choir Practice: 9:30
Worship: 10:30
Sunday School: 10:45
Coffee Fellowship: 11:30

The Valley's Other Fruit would love to hear more about anyone's personal experience with this or other inclusive churches, and we welcome any guest writers that would like to tell us about it. Use our comments section or, as always, our tipline.