This is the first in a three-part series of articles about the Human Rights Campaign Clergy Call 2009.
For coverage of the Capitol Hill lobbying day and press conference, click here.
“In this road to LGBT equality, we get to meet God.” –Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Controversial Episcopal bishop and homosexual activist Gene Robinson opened the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) second Clergy Call conference on May 4, saying that “ninety-five percent of the oppression we feel in our lives comes from religious institutions.” The conference, sponsored by the largest gay rights organization in America, aimed to raise the profile of leftist clergy who tout a pro-homosexual and transgender agenda under the motto “Moving from Acceptance to Advocacy.”
The event was conceived when officials from HRC identified that public resistance to many pro-gay initiatives was rooted in religious communities. Harry Knox, Director of the Religion and Faith Program at the HRC Foundation, and a member of President Barack Obama’s newly convened council on Faith Based Initiatives and Neighborhood Partnerships, introduced Robinson. Saying that the New Hampshire clergyman stood against “the idol called the unity of the church,” Knox welcomed Robinson to a standing ovation from the nearly 300 registered clergy and laity attending the conference.
Robinson first emphasized that clergy ministering to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons need to properly take care of themselves in order not to become “spiritually ungrounded.” Secondly, Robinson strongly compared current gay rights efforts to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
“The last thing that I want is for my enemies to think that they are getting me down,” Robinson said to the assembled clergy. But, he said, “It’s okay to speak about how hard it is. This is really hard.”
Robinson recalled that a New Hampshire State Police had stopped a driver who was discovered to have MapQuest instructions to Robinson’s home, photos of him and his partner, a sawed off shotgun, and writings scribbled with “save the church, kill the bishop.”
Robinson also referred to his controversial invocation at a Presidential Inaugural concert, directed to “God of our many understandings.” (Click here to read Anglican Action’s coverage of that event.)
“I received more hate mail from ‘good Christians’ – well, Christians at least,” Robinson said, adding in that other religious groups told him the invocation was the first public prayer of its kind where they did not feel excluded.
On the point of clergy care, Robinson advised that ministers put together a “spiritual tool kit” for when they begin to feel spiritually ungrounded. The toolkit could include a Psalm and items of personal inspiration.
“The ministry you and I are involved in is feeding the sheep,” Robinson said, referring a conversation between Jesus and the Apostle Peter. “If you and I don’t care for ourselves as shepherds, we will eat our sheep.”
“We can feel put upon and victimized, bemoan our lot in life, complain, give fault, feel like victims, or we can believe what we are doing is what God has always called us to do, which is lay down our life for one another,” Robinson said. He also urged thanking God for the gay rights movement: “We are privileged to do this work. Something is not being taken away from us.”
The personal item in Robinson’s “spiritual toolkit” was a piece of calligraphy given to him during a difficult time: the consent and election process of his episcopate, when he was identified with a gay youth organization that had links to pornography on its web site. While Robinson said he was confident of his innocence, he was unsure if the timing of the charges would derail his consent by the Episcopal House of Bishops.
The calligraphy, brought by a friendly priest, said “sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms his child.”
“We can’t get to that calm place ourselves, only God can,” said Robinson.
Robinson also talked about discerning when God is speaking versus the human ego speaking.
“Mine is masterful at sounding like God,” Robinson said to laughter. He asserted that when the voice says something he’d rather not do, it might be from God. When it was something he’d like to do, it was often his own ego at work. Robinson also said that as an extrovert, he talks too much and a friend once told him “your prayers are full of many words. Why not shut up and listen? Why not just let God love you?”
“If being used to speak by God makes you feel powerful, then be careful. If it makes you feel humbled and small, that’s probably him.”
“We ought to have the gumption to speak God’s truth as best you can discern it. It’s the one special gift that we can bring to this movement.”
Robinson drew upon the example of Jesus’ baptism for inspiration, quoting the Father’s words to Christ: “You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
“You and I need to marinate in that in order to continue this work,” Robinson said, not distinguishing between the Father’s words to Christ and the rest of humanity. “In this road to LGBT equality, we get to meet God. The loving God will show up when we do justice work.”
“The most important thing we can do is bring God to this work. Anyone can work for equality, but only we can bring God.” “When you are asked to speak, what can you say on God’s behalf?”
Robinson continually compared current gay rights efforts to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Describing a civil rights monument that he viewed in Memphis, TN, Robinson spoke of how the monument portrayed a large number of people standing on each other’s shoulders.
“You and I stand on the shoulders of drag queens in Stonewall bar who had enough, [San Francisco politician] Harvey Milk and Dr. King,” Robinson said. “It will be enough to have others stand on our shoulders” and “enough to be in the parade.”
Robinson acknowledged that most religious people in the U.S. did not yet see the gay rights cause as a justice issue.
“We haven’t turned that corner yet,” Robinson said, stating that many gay-friendly clergy were still “concerned about upsetting a congregant, especially if they are a big giver.”
At times, Robinson embraced eschatological language to describe the idea of an imminent destiny, saying that “God’s Kingdom” was coming. “Even though we won’t live to see it to completion, it is enough that we are part of this fight.”
“We all know how this will end,” he said. “Full LGBT inclusion as God’s children. We are not arguing over if, but when.”
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