Beyond Exclusion: Our Response to Lambeth

After venting some anger, grief, fear, etc. in small groups, the people talked about how to respond. Task forces were formed to follow up on suggested courses of action. The morning began and concluded with song and prayer. One onlooker commented that it was the largest gathering of lesbians and gays that they had ever been to in the Episcopal Church (They probably haven't marched with the Diocese in the Christopher Street West Parade!)

The local chapter of the American Anglican council circulated a flyer urging its members to attend, to "represent the orthodox faith," and to let the Bishop know that they were a force to be reckoned with. It also urged people to be there early so that they could park in the building. "Paranoia was rampant and we feared that our meeting was being hijacked," said Warren Nyback who conceived and moderated the event. Nyback wrote a letter to the Rev. David Anderson, the AAC/LA chair. Almost simultaneously, an anonymous mass-mailed fax was sent to dozens of parishes which, among other things, outed five priests of the diocese. Anderson immediately fired off a letter to the AAC/LA membership, denouncing the fax and urging AAC members not to attend the Beyond Exclusion conference, since the group had misunderstood the purpose of the day.

There were no confrontations at the conference. According to Nyback, the Commission learned a number of important lessons: "Some important learnings [included] how easy it is to demonize individuals or groups, especially when we ourselves have been demonized. How easy it is to mobilize when there is a sense of urgency. I've seen mornings like this take six months to finally happen. We were also reminded how fortunate we are to have a bishop and diocese where this kind of day can even take place."

>Beyond Exclusion Follow Up Meeting

On Saturday October 31, 1998, 70 people gathered at the Cathedral Center for a follow up meeting to implement the proposals made at the "Beyond Exclusion Conference. The Conference organizers had proposed five work groups to weigh and select among the five dozen proposals made. These groups were developed by the attendees into five task forces: Advocacy, Network/Coalition Building, Dialogue, Education and Political Action. The chairperson of each task force agreed to serve on the Commission, so the groups' efforts can be coordinated and supported.

At the follow up meeting, a consensus emerged that we need to build bridges to those who oppose full inclusion of gays and lesbians and recognition of their relationships, and bring about change through engagement. Two of the task forces are designing and producing events to dialogue and educate, such as panel discussions for frank and constructive dialogue between "conservatives" and "liberals." Another is building contacts and coalitions with other peace-and-justice groups within the Diocese; an e-mail network is being built. Two resolutions for Diocesan and General Conventions have been drafted. The advocacy task force is planning a rapid response team to help the commission and the Diocese to respond to breaking events like the murder of Matthew Shepard that happened that year.