In 1973, the UM California/Nevada Annual Conference Board of Ministry, the bishop, and cabinet (see Glossary) held a three-day meeting to discuss human sexuality issues, including homosexuality. The format of the meeting followed the sex education program developed by McIlvenna’s National Sex Forum (Moore, 2000a). The program included sexually explicit films and discussions (later widely known and presented by sexuality educators and professionals as SARs, or Sexual Attitude Restructuring; see Glossary) (Moore, 2000a). Another agenda item of this meeting was a discussion of "Sexual Orientation, Life Style, and The Ordained Ministry," a paper written by California UM clergyman John Moore (2000a).
That same year, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), stating that it was no longer considered a mental disorder (Hereck, 2002; ApsychA; APA, 1997; Francoeur, 1991, p. 442). In making this change, the American Psychiatric Association reported that they found that homosexuality neither regularly caused emotional distress nor regularly resulted in clinically significant impairment of social functioning, the two required criteria for determining mental disorders (APsychA; Francoeur, 1991, p. 442).
The key word in making that change was the word ‘regularly.’ When the diagnosis was first included in the DSM as a mental health disorder, the clients seeking mental health treatment for homosexuality were those whose condition caused them severe emotional distress and/or problems with social functioning. Researchers subsequently discovered that there was a significantly large population of healthy homosexual individuals who never presented for treatment for ‘homosexuality’ because it did not regularly cause them emotional distress and/or significant problems that interfered with their social functioning (Stayton, 1994; Francoeur, 1991).
In 1974, a sex education workshop was held for UM employees and their spouses at Scarritt College for Christian Workers (now known as Scarritt-Bennett Center) in Nashville. The SAR program developed by McIlvenna was used for this workshop (Hoyt Hickman, personal correspondence, September 2, 2002).
In other faith communities, another historic event occurred in 1974 when Beth Chayim Chadishm, a gay synagogue formed in 1972 by four Jewish participants at an MCC discussion session at the Los Angeles MCC, was chartered on July 19, 1974, by the union of American Hebrew Congregations. Beth Chayim Chadishm was not only the first gay and lesbian synagogue, but it was also the first gay religious organization of any kind to be officially recognized by a national body (GLINN).
By 1975, the pressures of the church relationship with the National Sex Fourm (NSF), founded by UM pastor Ted McIlvenna and housed in the Glide Urban Center of the Glide UM Church in San Francisco, had become so intense that the sponsorship of NSF was transferred to the Exodus Trust, a California nonprofit trust for educational, scientific, and literary functions relating to sexual, emotional, mental, and physical health (IASHS, 1995; McIlvenna, 1994, p. 311, lower half of first column; personal correspondence, February 6, 2002). The NSF subsequently became known as the largest supplier of professional educational material dealing with human sexual behavior (McIlvenna, 1994, p. 311).
McIlvenna says that the hierarchy of the UMC never did accept his conclusion that it was impossible to understand homosexuality without first understanding human sexuality (personal correspondence, February, 12, 2001). In spite of this, he says in the introduction to his book, Meditations on the Gift of Sexuality
It is to the glory of the Methodist church that at no time has there been any attempt by the church to censor me or interfere with my special ministry. My personal experience and freedom of the pulpit have been treated with the same dignity as if I were preaching from a ‘tall steeple’ church. (1977, page after dedication)
He reiterates this in personal correspondence and in a July 2002 letter to alumni , students, and supporters of the Institute,
I am thankful . . . that when they assigned me to find out what people in the helping professions needed to know about sex, they promised that, for political reasons, they would never support me financially nor would they agree with what I found out, and that as long as I always told the truth and got my reports in on time, they would never interfere with me. And they never did. (2002b; personal correspondence, August 28, 2002)
And in spite of the UMC’s differences with McIlvenna, he continues to receive referrals from the denomination when clergy and staff experiencing difficulties in the sexual arena need assistance and/or information (personal correspondence, August 28, 2002).
Sexuality issues and ‘church radicals’ (Heidinger, 1997) also attracted the attention of evangelical UMs.
In response to a doctrinal statement regarding "theological pluralism" (theological diversity) adopted by the UM GC in 1972 (a gathering described by Good News as "a disaster," the Good News caucus saw what James Heidinger II (1997), head of the Good News caucus, called "a proliferation of theological views, many of which far exceeded the boundaries of orthodoxy." In an attempt to defend the UMC against this theological pluralism it saw seeping into the UMC, the Good News board adopted "An Affirmation of Scriptural Christianity for United Methodists" at its 1975 Convocation of United Methodists for Evangelical Christianity at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina (Heidinger, 1997). (Because of the meeting location, the statement became known as the Junaluska Affirmation, Heidinger, 1997.)
The task force that wrote the Junaluska Affirmation was directed to create a document "which would remain faithful to the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren traditions" (Heidinger, 1997). The introduction to the document states that the declaration signers "recognize [the Creeds and Wesley’s standards] as the doctrinal standards of our denomination" (Junaluska). In addition, the Junaluska Affirmation is described as a "theological affirmation of Scriptural Christianity" (Junaluska). See Appendix K for text.
Prior to the 1976 General Conference, the stage for conflict and debate was set when The United Methodist Reporter (UMR) published a series of articles by Rev. Harvey Chinn championing the need to maintain the "incompatibility clause" in the Discipline’s Social Principles statement. Chinn, then pastor of Faith UMC in Sacramento, based his arguments on the views of a few medical psychoanalysts whose views had already been rejected by the American Psychiatric Association (RCP, 2000b, p. 9; Collen Kristula, 1991, unpublished, pp. 3-4). In the fourth part of the series, described by Kristula as "particularly homophobic," Chinn points out what he sees as the ramifications of ordaining homosexual persons:
(1) God will no longer bless the church; (2) affirmative action programs to make restitution to gays would "alter present employment policies"; (3) male couples or lesbians would inhabit the church parsonages; (4) pension protection would extend to same sex spouses; (5) our "sons and daughters" would be recruited "to replenish their numbers"; (6) the UM church would get the image of a "homosexual church." (Kristula, 1991, unpublished, p. 4)
Kristula went on to say that Chinn accurately described what UMGC wanted: "They are not asking for tolerance; they are demanding complete acceptance and total equality." To allow this, Chinn stated, would be "evil’s ‘ultimate triumph’" (p. 4). Kristula reports that following the Chinn series, the UMR surveyed its readers with a "Question Box" that resulted in 8600 replies that were predominantly disapproving of homosexuality and ordination of homosexuals (p. 4). She speculates that the UMR’s survey questionnaire could have been the source of the term, "self-avowed homosexual."
1972-1976