More churches 'welcoming' openly homosexual members

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

The Rev. Vaughn Beckman says the "welcoming" church movement, in which congregations open their arms to homosexuals, is booming. Beckman is a senior pastor with the First Christian Church. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Open and affirming • Churches with predominantly gay congregations: Ke Anuenue O Ke Aloha, Makiki Our Family Christian Church, Makiki • "Welcoming" churches*: Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran, East Honolulu Church of the Crossroads, a United Church of Christ church in Mo'ili'ili Honolulu Lutheran, Makiki Kana'ana Hou-Siloama, UCC, Kalaupapa, Moloka'i Recently joined by: St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Waikiki Trinity United Methodist, Pearl City First Christian Church, a Disciple of Christ, Makiki *"Welcoming" churches have voted to be open and affirming to homosexuals in their congregations.

He studied under the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Baptist preacher and televangelist, and attended Falwell's own church for seven years. Yet all the while Beckman felt an attraction to men.

With enough faith, he believed, "God would solve my problem."

Eventually, after working in a Baptist church and trying to squelch his feelings through an "ex-gay" ministry in Northern California that attempted to switch his sexual orientation, he gave up trying.

He joined a Disciple of Christ church in California, and later was ordained by that denomination.

Few gays find open acceptance in the churches they were born into, but the tide seems to be turning. In Hawai'i, three churches have joined four others here in what's termed the "welcoming" movement: More than 1,600 congregations nationwide have declared themselves willing to affirm and open up their arms to homosexuals.

Ken Miller of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center here said no comprehensive study has been done on the number of homosexual, bisexual or transgendered people in Hawai'i. He estimates that 3 percent to 10 percent of the general population is homosexual. There are also no calculations for the number of openly gay people here. Last June's Gay Pride festival drew 2,500 people, but some of those were heterosexuals showing support for their homosexual friends, Miller said.

Two churches with predominantly gay congregations, Ke Anuenue O Ke Aloha and Our Family Christian Church, each estimate that their numbers dropped below two dozen. The reasons are numerous, including a decline in the economy and the loss of some members to AIDS.

However, it's good news to Beckman to hear that three churches have joined the "welcoming" church movement.

Beckman — who serves on the new seven-member national board of the welcoming ministries movement for 10 denominations as well as on his own denomination's Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples Alliance board — wrote his personal story for the spring issue of Open Hands, the quarterly newsletter of the welcoming movement.

"The movement is booming," he said Sunday, addressing his 75-member congregation at the church in Makiki.

Many denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, welcome homosexuals as members but condemn homosexual activity.

LDS president Colin White, who oversees 14 stakes, or about 55,000 LDS members in Hawai'i, said his church "doesn't condone same-sex attraction."

While people may have those feelings from a tender age, "they need to suppress or overcome them, keep them under control," White said. But, he said, the church encourages gay people to take part in activities of the church.

Beckman said this kind of message has damaged many gay people.

"Most (gay) people I know say they have been spiritually violated by churches," he said.

Wayne Akana, an investigator with the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission, also was invited to speak at last weekend's service at the First Christian Church. Akana noted that while employers can't discriminate against someone based on his or her sexual orientation, that protection doesn't extend to other areas, such as housing, for example.

And churches share the fault in discriminating, he said. "The loudest voices to reject homosexuals are churches," Akana told the congregation, which is predominately "straight," with a small number of gay members.

In the crowd was John Borneo, a 50-year-old retired writer who regularly attends St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church in Waikiki.

He intends to continue attending Sunday Mass, though he takes issue with Catholic teachings on homosexuality, the sacrament of confession, "lots of things," he said.

"My thought is, you don't leave the church," Borneo said. "You stay from within and try to have some dialogue, make them understand, let them know you're present and you do believe in the doctrine but not in their opinion, which is not what the religion is based on."

Gene Corpuz serves as the president of Dignity Honolulu, a group of Catholic gays that meets weekly for worship service and potluck at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Waikiki. His group is among the fellowships and support groups that members of the gay community have created, though many, like Dignity, are not officially recognized by their churches. Others are: Affirmation (LDS) and Integrity (Espiscopal).

As a rule, Dignity and Affirmation groups are not allowed to meet on church property, and the members are, by being openly gay, in violation of the tenets of the church. They may attend church services but not participate in sacraments or other monitored observances.

Corpuz said he has seen positive steps since Dignity's annual Solidarity Sunday celebration in October 1998, when they were shooed off the steps of Sacred Heart church for handing out rainbow ribbons.

Last October, in a move that Corpuz calls small but significant, the Rev. John Berger at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on Bishop Street even mentioned the group from the pulpit.

"He welcomed and acknowledged us," Corpuz recalled.

That is significant, said Beckman.

"What I'm seeing is a tremendous growth in the U.S. for 'straight' churches (to welcome homosexuals)," he said. "More and more people are saying, 'I don't have to leave my denomination.' "

Correction: First Christian Church has 75 members. A previous version of this story had a different number.