Gay Jesuit priest Robert Carter dies in Bronx

Associated Press - March 5, 2010 2:05 PM ET

NEW YORK (AP) - Robert Carter, a Jesuit priest who helped found what today is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, has died. He was 82.

Gay activist Brendan Fay said Carter died Feb. 22. The cause was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Carter also founded the New York City chapter of Dignity with the Rev. John McNeill. The group was formed to help gay men and women integrate their spirituality with their sexuality.

Today, Dignity has 22 chapters across the country.

The National Gay Task Force, which became the NGLTF, was formed in 1973.

McNeill said after Carter came out he celebrated Mass in apartments for gay Catholic New Yorkers throughout the 1970s.

A memorial service was planned for March 22.

On the Net:
Dignity: http://www.dignityusa.org
NGLTF: http://www.thetaskforce.org

A correction: there are currently 47 Dignity chapters across the country, not 22 as in the AP story.

Gay Pioneer Robert Carter Dies

Gay City News - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 11:45 PM CST
By Andy Humm

Father Robert Carter, an out gay Jesuit Catholic priest who, in the early 1970s, co-founded both the National Gay Task Force (now NGLTF) and the New York chapter of Dignity, a gay Catholics group, died of a neurological illness February 22 at his residence at Fordham University in the Bronx. He was 82.

With the Father John McNeill, also a Jesuit, Carter hosted the first meeting of Dignity at the chapel of their Woodstock Jesuit community at 220 West 98th Street in 1972. Carter had an apartment there for decades in a community that also included Father Daniel Berrigan, the eminent peace activist.

In an unpublished memoir, Carter wrote of that initial Dignity gathering, “There were about 15 present. I remember walking to the meeting and wondering with some trepidation what I was getting myself into.” He became more comfortable as those in attendance shared who they were and what they hoped to accomplish.

Carter became one of the group’s board members and theological advisers, along with McNeill and, later, Father Bernard Lynch. “No longer was I just the professor of Early Church Studies and a research scholar. Now I was giving hope and new life to many gay Catholics,” he wrote.

After participating with Dignity in the 1973 gay pride march, he was asked by former City Health Commissioner Howard Brown, who had just come out publicly, to become a charter member of the board of the National Gay Task Force. He worried about being the first Catholic priest to come out so publicly, but recalled, “I was utterly convinced that the only way gays and lesbians were ever going to be accepted socially was if they made themselves known publicly.”

The New York Times ran a prominent story on the formation of the Task Force and listed Carter’s name and profession, causing the sub-provincial of the Jesuits to visit him. “It seems that they were afraid I had had a psychotic break or something,” he wrote. But despite calls for his expulsion by irate “Jesuits, parents, and alumni of our schools,” Carter was not disciplined after explaining how he believed he was acting in the true spirit of Jesus by coming out and working with people rejected by society.

Carter was a foot soldier for the early Task Force as well as one of its leaders, standing outside the Eagle Bar in Chelsea each Sunday to collect a dollar cover charge from each patron for the group. He marched in pride parades in his clerical collar and was noted at Dignity— where I was a member from 1975-82 and became his friend — for his inspiring sermons. While saying Mass, he often wore a denim stole. He testified for the city’s gay rights bill at tumultuous City Council hearings until it passed in 1986. Via email, McNeill wrote of Carter, “In many ways, he was the loving heart of Dignity’s ministry!”

Carter was a classics scholar and teacher, but earned a master’s degree in social work from Columbia in 1981 and became a psychotherapist, developing a specialty helping gay priests. In June 1985, he began work as a social worker for patients with AIDS at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx and later became a supervisor of the outpatient AIDS program at Bellevue.

When pressure from anti-gay Cardinal John O’Connor prompted the Jesuit-run St. Francis Xavier Church in Chelsea to expel Dignity from its premises in 1987, the group assigned Carter to read aloud the letter from the Jesuit provincial telling the group to leave. “The Catholic Church made public its rejection of gays and lesbians,” he wrote, “however much talk there was about loving the sin while hating the sinner.”

Lynch wrote via e-mail, “I shall never forget his brilliant and eloquent retort to Cardinal O`Connor from the pulpit of St. Francis during His Eminence’s opposition to Executive Order 50! [a 1985 mayoral order for city contractors not to discriminate based on sexual orientation] O`Connor had been going on and on about how we — the LGBT communities — were a threat to the family ‘as God had ordained… modeled by the Holy Family of Nazareth.’ Bob, with that disarming smile of his… I quote, ‘What model of family is His Eminence talking about? Mary a Virgin Mother? Joseph a Foster Father? Jesus their Son? I don’t know any family in New York like that. It would seem to me that straights are a far greater threat to this model of family, than we as Gays ever were or could be.”

When Carter was barred by his provincial from saying Mass for Dignity, he agonized over whether to accept the restriction; in Jesuitical fashion, he regularly traveled to Philadelphia to say Mass for the chapter there — outside his provincial’s jurisdiction.

Robert Carter was born in Chicago on July 27, 1927, and grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, and later Park Ridge, Illinois. He won a scholarship in 1943 to the University of Chicago where at the school paper, the Maroon, he wrote a review of a Tennessee Williams poem that got him invited in 1944 to the opening of a new play, “The Glass Menagerie,” by the then unknown playwright, with the great Laurette Taylor in the lead. A week later, he conducted the first interview ever published with the playwright. The two became lovers, sleeping together several times a week during the first three months of 1945. “He may have thought he seduced me, but he didn’t or at least gets only half the credit,” Carter wrote. “Later I was happy to read in his memoirs that he considered me a nightingale.”

Carter converted to Catholicism in 1946, earned a master’s degree in Greek in 1952, and then taught the classics. He entered the Jesuits in 1954 in New York. He became a leading scholar on John Chrysostom, a Church father, and was ordained in 1962.

Jeff Stone, secretary of Dignity/ New York, wrote in an email, “He understood the connection between spiritual beliefs and social action, and he put his convictions into action.”

Lynch wrote, “His courage and conscience were something I drew strength and inspiration from. I suppose it was the same courage and conscience that brought him to atheism. When he first shared with me that he was no longer a believer in God — anybody’s God — I was shocked and yet not surprised !!! I told him after a lifetime of searching — especially in Light of my HIV/AIDS ministry — I came to the opposite conclusion. We agreed to differ with that mutual and great respect we had for one another.”

Veteran gay activist Brendan Fay, who is making a film on McNeill featuring Carter, went to Carter for spiritual direction and therapy at Lynch’s suggestion when he first came to New York from Ireland in the 1980s. “Bob Carter helped me move from self-hate to self-acceptance and then to a place of gay activism,” Fay wrote in an e-mail.

Carter wrote, “To my knowledge, I was the first priest to [come out publicly]. This was the central event in my work for gay and lesbian liberation, the single most important action of my life.”

Fay is looking to put together a Month’s Mind memorial service for Carter later in March.

St. Patrick’s Day arrives early for Queens celebrators

New York POST - 7:50 PM, March 3, 2010
By Jeremy Walsh

Sunnyside is gearing up once more for the city’s gay-friendly St. Patrick’s Day Parade this Sunday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) were expected to be among the marchers at the 11th annual “St. Pat’s for All,” which starts at 1 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue and goes to 61st Street and Woodside Avenue.

Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) and Mary Lanning, chairwoman of the NYC Clothing Bank, are this year’s grand marshals. Dromm is one of the borough’s two openly gay Council members, along with Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), who will help kick off the festivities.

“Our St. Pats for All 2010 is a generous coming together of business, communities and musicians who for a few hours turn the streets of Sunnyside and Woodside into “Ireland of the welcomes,’” said parade Co-chairman Brendan Fay.

This year’s parade is to open with blessings by Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and native American leaders.

But new this year will be a contingent of Haitian musicians and groups hoping to raise some money to help the earthquake-stricken nation.

“Irish have known hunger, death and famine,” said Fay, who met the groups while working on a fund-raiser earlier this year.

And in the wake of the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 700 people in Chile last weekend, the parade’s Chilean contingent will be raising awareness of the need for charitable contributions.

Fay credited the owner of La Gaviota, a Woodside Chilean restaurant, for inspiring them to open the parade to groups outside the gay and lesbian sphere. Fay was in the restaurant with a friend discussing starting their own parade after the gay and lesbian Irish group Lavender and Green Alliance was barred from marching in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Manhattan in 1999.

The Gaviota owner showed them the picture of one of Chile’s first leaders, Bernardo O’Higgins.

“He said maybe we could put a Chilean group in the parade,” Fay said. “It was just one of those moments that became a transformative moment for the parade’s identity.”

Other new groups in the parade this year include Bolivian dancers, a Chilean group, the NAACP’s Queens chapter and the borough’s Mexican community.

Irish groups include the O’Donovan Rossa Society, Brehon Law Society, Rosemary Nelson memorial group and The Winged Fist organization carrying banners of Irish American sports heroes from the 1908 Olympics.

Gay community groups taking part in the parade will include the parents group PFLAG Queens, members of the Lavender and Green Alliance and Dignity NY, a group for LGBT Catholics, and SAGE, the senior citizen outreach program. The Red Cross will serve tea and hot chocolate.

Kathleen D’Arcy, the parade’s co-chairwoman, said that while the parade celebrates people young and old, the children tend to be the stars.

“The best part of the parade is watching the expressions on kids’ faces as they watch the giant puppets and hear the pipers,” she said.

Gay Catholics Call for Dialogue

The Irish Emigrant, July 7, 2009
pic: Fr. Dan McCarthy and Brendan Fay at the recent Dignity NY prayer and protest witness in New York

Irish gay catholic leaders have called for reform of church teaching on the subject of homosexuality at a recent prayer and protest witness outside the closed doors of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

The twenty-five priests, theologians and parishioners from Ireland, Indonesia and the United States sang hymns, prayed and unfurled a rainbow flag – the international symbol of LGBT pride. The prayer witness has been held outside the cathedral each gay pride Sunday morning for over 20 years and organizer Brendan Fay is confident that eventually their efforts will ensure change.

“Gay Catholics are here to take a stand for love and justice,” said Fay in a statement. “We honor the love of same-sex couples just as much as straight couples and we seek equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

The Catholic Church, which is deeply entrenched in its traditional view of marriage, has not signaled any intention to soften its view on the issue of gay marriage but Fay, who was joined by Dignity's Fr. Dan McCarthy on the steps of St. Patrick’s for the rally, believes that dialogue is the key.

“We invite church leaders to come out from behind the cathedral doors and join us for dialogue,” he said. “We invite our bishops to listen to gay Catholics, witness the committed couples in love and support youth, seniors and families of LGBT children.”

After the 30 minute rally the group joined the pride parade on 5th Avenue; made even more significant with the 40th anniversary commemoration of the famous Stonewall Riots – the 1969 incident that ushered the start of the modern gay civil right movement.

New NY Archbishop And Same-Sex Marriage

April 16, 2009

Dear Members and Friends of Dignity/New York

With the installation this week of Archbishop Dolan and Gov. Paterson's introduction of a marriage equality bill, we have had the opportunity to share our views in several media outlets. Dignity/New York and DignityUSA sent out a joint statement to the media on Wednesday, which follows below. We have worked closely with DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke and Ann Craig of GLAAD's Relgion, Faith, and Values program, who have been extremely helpful in developing our message and distributing it to the media.

Thank you for your continued support of Dignity/New York and DignityUSA, which allows us to continue with this vital work.

Jeff Stone
Secretary, Dignity/New York

Media appearances so far include:
Gay City News
New York Post
am New York
The Blade
WNBC TV News Broadcast

Gay Catholics Challenge Vatican Opposition to Decriminalization of Homosexuality by U.N.
Groups Say Vatican’s Stance Amounts to Condoning Anti-Gay Violence

Boston, MA, December 4, 2008

Leaders of the Catholic groups DignityUSA, New Ways Ministry and Call To Action spoke out today to condemn the Vatican’s opposition to a proposed U.N. declaration that would lessen discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people worldwide.

The U.N. proposal, which is sponsored by France and backed by 27 European Union nations, seeks to end the practice of criminalizing and punishing people for their sexual orientation.

The leaders of the Catholic advocacy groups said the Church’s official statement against the proposal amounts to condoning anti-gay violence. “For too long, there has been a terrible conflict between the official Catholic Church’s policies and pastoral practices as they relate to gay people,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA. “Despite the good work being done in so many parishes, Vatican policies lead to our entire Church being associated with discrimination and anti-gay violence. It has sad, even tragic consequences for lesbian and gay people and our families.”

“We are so disappointed that the leaders of the Catholic Church would object to protecting gay people from the often violent threats they face. Supporting the UN declaration against imprisonment or execution of gay people is exactly what the church should be doing,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry. “Our organization is committed to creating dialogue among members of the Catholic Church and I know from experience that the statements of the Church’s leaders do not reflect the views of the majority of Catholics, who favor protecting gay people from life-threatening violence.”

Call To Action, a group of 25,000 Catholics who seek to foster peace and justice in the Catholic Church and society, was equally surprised that the church would stand against such legislation.

“The Catholic Church should be committed to promoting the social welfare of all people worldwide and this official statement from the church flies in the face of that,” said Nicole Sotelo, acting director of Call To Action. “The church should be striving to promote peace, instead of supporting state-sponsored violence against gay people across the globe.”

During Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the U.S. in April 2008, DignityUSA held a prayer service outside the United Nations before the Pope’s address to the General Assembly. During the service, those gathered asked the Pope to call on all countries to end state-sanctioned violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

“There are nearly 70 countries where being gay is still a crime, and a dozen where being gay can result in the death penalty,” said Duddy-Burke. “We believe that our Pope, our Church, with its belief in the sanctity of human life, should be leading efforts to end this most egregious form of oppression. Instead, our leader has chosen to stand with countries that continue to name us as criminals.”

The groups plan events as the vote on the resolution approaches to urge the Church to reconsider its stance on the United Nations motion. They will also be contacting the U.S. State Department and leading international human rights organizations. The groups urged individuals to express their own objections to the Vatican position, as well.

DignityUSA is the nation’s foremost organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, as well as their families, friends, and supporters. Founded in 1969, the group has members and Chapters throughout the United States.

Call To Action (CTA) is a Catholic movement working for equality and justice in the Church and society. An independent national organization of over 25,000 people and 53 local chapters, CTA believes that the Spirit of God is at work in the whole church, not just its appointed leaders. Visit our website at www.cta-usa.org.

November 11, 2008
Source: DignityUSA

Last week's passage of Arizona's Proposition 102, Proposition 8 in California, and Proposition 2 in Florida amending these states' constitutions to prevent same-gender marriage was profoundly disappointing to all who believe in fairness and equality. However, I firmly believe that this represents a temporary setback in the ongoing work to ensure justice for all families, and want to point to some of the signs of hope which can serve as building blocks for future successes.

Particularly in California, DignityUSA and local Chapter leaders helped to build a coalition of Catholics who support marriage equality that included representatives from a number of organizations, as well as parents and friends of GLBT people. This group help press conferences, circulated a sign-on statement, confronted priests and bishops who distributed anti-equality material, and volunteered their time and money to No On 8 efforts. The Field Survey taken just prior to the election showed that 48% of California Catholics opposed Proposition 8, with only 44% in favor. Our California Chapters celebrated civil marriages for dozens of couples, and established wonderful guidelines for couples considering getting married at Dignity. In Florida, local leaders were very active in No On 2 efforts, as well as in national efforts to mobilize non-gay Catholics who support marriage equality.

I applaud all who were active in this work, and reiterate DignityUSA's ongoing commitment to affirming and celebrating the loving relationships of LGBT people. In the words of a Board motion affirmed by our membership in 2003:

Whereas DignityUSA believes that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have the right to full expression of their sexuality in ways that are consistent with Catholic/Christian values, including the right to enter into committed relationships; AND
Whereas DignityUSA is the only national Catholic organization that sustains a multi-faceted program of support for same-sex couples, including the blessing of their commitments; AND
Whereas the legal and spiritual recognition of same-sex couples is being debated by many legislative bodies and churches; AND
Whereas we know that civil marriage bestows important rights, protections and duties to the partners and their families and that religious affirmation of a couple's commitment honors the sacredness of their covenant;

Therefore be it resolved that DignityUSA declares the following position on same-sex marriage:
As Americans, we remind our fellow citizens of a foundational principle of our form of government: all are created equal. Consistent with the pursuit of liberty and justice for all, same-sex couples should have full and equal access to the rights and responsibilities bestowed by civil marriage.
As Catholics, we remind our Church of a foundational conviction of our faith: God is love and all that abide in love abide in God and God in them. The love that brings and binds two people of the same, or opposite sex, together has a divine source. It is therefore sacramental in nature and should be celebrated as such by our Church.

Finally, as the U.S. Catholic Bishops begin their annual meeting today, a number of Catholic justice organizations have issued a press release on marriage equality. The statement is reprinted here. I congratulate our sister organizations for their integrity and courage in making such a forceful and eloquent statement.

Marianne Duddy-Burke
Executive Director, DignityUSA

New York, April 20, 2008
by: Brendan Fay

pic 1: George Plagianos of Axios, Brendan Fay, Stanley Rygor :: pic 2: Barbara Mohr, Brendan Fay , banner and piper John Maynard pass Ground Zero on Church St. :: pic 3
photo credit: Gary Rissman

I joined other New Yorkers for a “Vigil of Hope” at Ground Zero on April 19 the eve of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the site. Our vigil honored Franciscan Fire Chaplain Mychal Judge, who died during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

John Maynard played slow airs on the bagpipes outside St Paul’s Chapel at Ground Zero on the corner of Broadway and Fulton, as Raymond Lefebre, Nicholas Cimato and myself reverently unfurled a seven foot painting by Brooklyn artist Ian Hart. The banner depicts scenes from the Fr. Mychal Judge's ministry, including: caring for Golden Venture Chinese immigrants, as a Fire Chaplain, at Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland,walking with his St. Francis AIDS Ministry in a gay pride parade and embracing Henry a homeless man outside St Francis of Assisi Church.

“Mychal Judge had a heart as big as New York. There was room for all. To all he met from the streets of New York to the White House he was a man of tender compassion,” I said “From Flight 800 to the AIDS crisis Mychal was a source of hope and healing in the midst of personal and national pain and tragedy.

“He was a witness for peace in Belfast and in Jerusalem. To his fellow firefighters he was father, priest and friend. He was a familiar face in metro AA meetings and counseled many like himself struggling with addictions. For the Catholic gay community he was family as well as our priest. We called on him during the darkness of AIDS crisis. When exiled and excluded by the institutional Church he provided the sacraments in our living rooms and community centers”.

Other shared stories and prayers. Jamie Manson offered a personal reflection as a lesbian Catholic excluded from ministry. She shared a prayer from St Theresa of Avila (God has no body but yours!) and challenged all of us present to work for change and become the church we want to see in world."

Barbara Mohr former nun of 18 years and parishioner of St Nicholas of Tolentine in Queens, who worked with Mychal in his AIDS ministry, read from Corinthians 13. Between stories and prayers they sang a Taize chant: Ubi Caritas et Amor – Deus ibi est! (Where charity and love are, there is God). Many of those passing by paused and others touched the image. Tom McLoughlin of Dignity NY gave out postcards of the image with Mychal’s prayer on the back.

Led by piper John Maynard the small vigil solemnly processed to the corner of Church and Vesey, where the Rev. Mychal Judge's body was placed on 9/11 and where firefighters and police officer Jose Rodriguez prayed the last rites.

After a moment of silence Sr. Ceilia recalled her days as part of Judge’s outreach to homeless persons with AIDS. Stanley Rygor, 83, choir member and traditional Irish musician traveled from Astoria to join the tribute to the Franciscan and in support of the gay community . He gave thanks for the service of priests like Judge, who helped Rygor’s family accept his gay son Robert before his death from AIDS in January 1994. Irish transgender woman Samantha Kavanagh also joined the gathering.

Quietly or together there were prayers for all who died on 9/11, for families in Iraq who have lost loved ones, for families of deceased service members, for the wounded and brokenhearted. We prayed for a change of heart, for an end to prejudice against gay persons, for understanding, for peace and reconciliation.

The humble and heartfelt Vigil concluded with an exchange of peace beneath the steel cross from ground Zero at St Peters Church on Barclay Street.

Pope Benedict visited and prayed at Ground Zero on Sunday morning. Dymphna Jessich sister of Mychal Judge was among the representative of 9/11 families personally greeted by the Pope.

Vigil organizer Brendan Fay is finishing an edited collection of stories, letters and photographs about Mychal Judge. You can reach him if you have one to share (718-721-2780 or brendan@stpatsforall.com)

Gay Catholics Demonstrate During Pope’s U.S. Visit, April 2008

Click here for more pics

Read media coverage:
ABC News, "Pope Benedict XVI Prepares for Trip to U.S."

"Many in the Catholic gay community feel they've also been demonized by the church. 'The doors to the Vatican are really quite closed to any authentic dialogue with our community and that's very sad, because Benedict should be our pastor and shepherd as he is to the rest of the Church,' said Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of Dignity USA."

New York CW11, "Catholics Abandoning Their Faith"

As some Catholics leave the Church in search of a more personal spirituality, others like Jamie Manson call for a reform of Rome's "overly pelvic" orientation. How likely are changes in the Catholic Church's approach to sexuality and church leadership in the near future?

March 28, 2008
For Immediate Release
Gay Catholics to Demonstrate before Pope’s Speech at U.N.

Group Will Focus on Global Impact of Benedict XVI’s Anti-Gay Campaign, Celebrate Advances Made by Gay Catholics

WHEN: Saturday, April 12
PRESS CONFERENCE: 11:30 AM, Location Details near U.N. to be announced
DEMONSTRATION: 12 Noon, Ralph J. Bunche Park, 43rd Street and First Avenue, Manhattan

New York, NY. DignityUSA – the nation’s oldest and most progressive organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics and their supporters – and one of its largest local chapters, Dignity/New York, will hold a press conference and demonstration near the United Nations on Saturday, April 12, just a few days before Pope Benedict XVI’s speech there on April 18. DignityUSA and Dignity/Washington will also sponsor several events in Washington, D.C., during the Pope’s visit there from April 15-17.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, DignityUSA’s Executive Director, said, “Our events will be peaceful, prayerful, and positive. At the same time, we are called by our faith to draw attention to the great harm that the Pope’s harsh anti-gay words and actions have caused countless individuals and families throughout the world. We witness on their behalf.”

Jeff Stone, a spokesperson for Dignity/New York, said, “We will focus on Pope Benedict’s strident campaigns against civil rights and civil marriage for gay people in many nations, as well as his opposition to the use of condoms to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. But we will also highlight growing support for gay civil rights and civil unions among Catholics in countries around the world.”

Besides Duddy-Burke and Stone, speakers will include Lourdes Rodriguez-Nogues, a Cuban immigrant and lesbian activist who also serves as DignityUSA’s Vice President; and gay Catholic activist and filmmaker Brendan Fay. Fay has recently been caught up in an international controversy involving the unauthorized use of images of his wedding to Dr. Thomas Moulton in a nationally televised speech by President Lech Kaczynski of Poland. Kaczynski views same-sex marriage as a threat to his overwhelmingly Catholic nation.

New York, Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza at 47th Street and 1st Ave, August 4, 2007
pic 1: from left to right: Brendan Fay carries image of Roger Casement, Kelebohile Nkhereanye (of Less AIDS Lesotho) carries wreath, Rev John Denaro (Episcopal Pastor, St Mark’s Church in the Bowery) holds image of Dag Hammerskold :: pic 2 :: pic 3
photo credit: GRCC

Human rights activists gathered at Dag Hammerskold Plaza NYC and led by piper John Maynard processed through the plaza and lay a wreath at the Raul Wallenberg Memorial outside the UN

"This vigil reflects a spirit of global responsibility among lgbt activists worldwide. We refuse to be silent when our families, our loves and our lives are treated as second-class across the world including Ireland. We stand together from New York to New Delhi from Baghdad to Belfast," said New York organizer and Irish gay activist Brendan Fay.

August 3rd also marked the anniversary of the execution of Irish humanitarian Roger Casement in 1916 (ensured with the release of his personal diaries). Casement, a gay man and human rights advocate, risked his life exposing colonial brutality and human rights abuses in Africa and Latin America.

Gay equality advocates concerned with the denial of basic human rights to lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) people held similar vigils of solidarity in cities around the world throughout the weekend- Caracas, Cologne, Mexico City, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Stockholm, Vancouver, Warsaw and Washington. The global solidarity vigils are a response to what organizers assert are a growing increase in violence and the denial of human rights worldwide against lgbt people.

"We refuse to be silent in the face of torture, discrimination and executions in Iran, of beatings on the streets of Moscow, of Lithuanian authorities preventing the rainbow flag from being carried on the streets of Vilnius. We refuse to be silent when many LGBT and HIV positive refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants arrive on the shores of the US only to encounter discrimination and closed doors," said Fay.

Organizers called for the endorsement and implementation of the Yogykarta Principles, launched earlier this year at the UN Human Rights Council’s session in Geneva.

"These principles establish basic standards for how governments should treat people whose rights are too often denied and whose dignity is too often reviled," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. The Yogyakarta Principles were a response to documented abuse because of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Fay and organizers are calling on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, to ensure the rights of LGBT persons are a "priority during the upcoming session."

"On the eve of Sweden’s National Pride Festival we remembered Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary General, gay man, and human rights pioneer," said organizer Gibert Baker. Baker is also creator of the Rainbow flag, international symbol of the LGBT civil rights movement.

"Today we will honor the lives of Barbara Gittings, Letty Russell, Roger Casement, Simon Nkoli and all lgbt human rights advocates," said Fay.

"We remember our lgbt brothers and sisters who suffered torture, discrimination, imprisonment and death. Dag Hammarskjöld once said 'Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible - not to have run away...' We honor those words today and trust that the United Nations will too," said Fay.

Among the participants and speakers were:
Kelebohile Nkhereanye, Less AIDS Lesotho
Rev.John Denaro, Pastor, St Mark’s Church in the Bowery
Brendan Fay, UN vigil organizer and Irish Gay activist
Rev. Edgard Danielsen-Morales, Assistant Pastor, MCC NY
Gilbert Baker, UN vigil co-organizer and creator of the Rainbow Flag
George Plagianos, Axios NY (LGBT Eastern Orthodox Christians)
Barbara Mohr, Dignity NY

New York, June 24, 2007
pic 1 :: pic 2 :: pic 3 :: pic 4 :: pic 5
photo credit: Gary Rissman

Outside the closed St Patrick’s cathedral doors members of Dignity/NY, a gay catholic group, held a prayer and protest witness. They stood against church teaching that renounces homosexuality as an "intrinsic disorder" and opposes same sex marriage and civil unions.

"Gay catholics are here to take a stand for love and justice," said Brendan Fay, organizer of the cathedral sidewalk witness. Irish born Fay, who lives in Astoria with his spouse Tom Moulton, said “We celebrate the love of same-sex couples and we seek equality for all including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons not just in civil society but within our catholic church. We invite our bishops to open their hearts and church doors to us” said Fay.

Ironically the witness at the cathedral was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Catholic War Veterans in 1983.The gay catholic group won the legal right to be present at the cathedral in 1986. That’s when police barricades first appeared.

Refusing to be dissuaded by the church's 1987 ban of the group from holding masses or meetings on church property, Dignity NY has gathered for a "prayer witness" outside the cathedral every morning of gay pride Sunday for over 20 years.

Co-organizer Barbara Mohr from Jamiaca Queens, a 74-year old former nun wearing her customary "straight but not narrow" button said, "We are one human family. When one suffers discrimination we all suffer." Mohr said, "I am here in memory of my dearest friend Peter Heslin who died from AIDS on Valentines day 1996. I told him I would never let his light go out."

Recently church leaders lobbied against New York’s marriage equality bill. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn and Queens asked parishioners to "Voice Opposition to Same- Sex Unions" which he said was an attack on the institution of marriage. Italian Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco earlier this month compared moves to give gay couples some rights to incest and child abuse.

Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton met at a Dignity sunday Mass 11 years ago and traveled across the border to Canada to legally marry in July 2003. They were active in helping successfully secure passage in the NYS Assembly of the marriage equality bill (Bill A08590) introduced by Governor Elliot Spitzer. "The vote in the NY assembly is wind in our sails to the shore of marriage equality, “ said Fay. The co founder of the Civil Marriage Trail Project brings couples to Toronto for legal marriage said “we continue to passionately pray and work for equal immigration and marriage rights for our families”.

The permitted 23 included priests, teachers, theologians and were from Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland and the US. They sang hymns, pray, lit candles, held flowers in memory of catholic gay friends, heroes and saints like Fr. Mychal Judge and unfurled a huge rainbow banner in celebration of Dignity’s 35th anniversary.

The flag was presented by Gilbert Baker who designed the Rainbow flag that has become an international symbol of pride and a celebration of the diversity of LGBT people.

Australian catholic leader Michael Kelly also joined the group celebrating his first gay pride in New York. He noted "we invite church leaders to come out from behind closed cathedral doors to join us in dialogue - to witness the joyful spirit of the committed couples in love, youth and seniors, and friends and family of LGBT catholics."

Rev. Victoria Rue who presided at the Dignity Liturgy in celebration of Gay Pride also led the group in prayer.

After 30 minutes the 23 joined other faith communities at the head of the pride parade on New York’s 5th Avenue. The parade commemorates the Stonewall Riots, the 1969 rebellion that is widely seen as having ushered the start of the modern gay civil rights movement.

New York, June 25, 2007

"We see that the opinion of ordinary Catholics is changing," he (Jeff Stone) said. "Eventually what happens at the grass roots percolates up in the church."

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Advocate

New York, June 18, 2007 – Dear Assembly Member O’Donnell,

I write today in support of marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers. I am writing on behalf of Dignity/New York, an organization of LGBT Roman Catholics, our families and supporters. We are a chapter of the national organization DignityUSA, founded in 1969, with offices in Washington, D.C. and chapters throughout the country.

For 35 years, we have ministered to the spiritual and social needs of thousands of LGBT Catholics from throughout the New York City metropolitan region by holding a weekly Mass, working for equal rights in the Catholic Church and society, and through many other activities.

Unfortunately, the bishops of the Catholic Church have been outspoken in their opposition to same-sex marriage rights. However, many polls in New York State and elsewhere show that everyday Catholics are increasingly supportive of such rights.

Our members include men and women from every conceivable walk of life. Some have been involved in relationships with their same-sex partners for decades, and many are registered as domestic partners in New York City. Those who wished to obtain greater legal recognition of their relationships have been forced to travel to Massachusetts, Canada, Vermont, New Jersey and other jurisdictions.

Surely it is time for New York State to honor its historic role as a leader in promoting justice and equality for all citizens by enacting legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Yours sincerely,
Jeffrey A. Stone
Secretary, Dignity/New York

New York, June 4, 2007 – Dignity New York, a 35-year-old group of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Catholics and their supporters, will have a Roman Catholic woman priest officiate at one of its masses for the first time. Rev. Victoria Rue will preside at the group’s annual Gay Pride Mass, which will be held at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South in Manhattan at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, 2007.

Rev. Rue was ordained a Roman Catholic womanpriest in the St. Lawrence River in 2005 by three Roman Catholic womenbishops – an event that was widely reported in the media. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and her Ph.D. from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is a lecturer in Women’s Studies and Comparative Religious Studies at San Jose State University in California. Openly lesbian, Dr. Rue lives with her partner of 16 years.

Since 2002, the Roman Catholic womenpriests movement has ordained dozens of women deacons and priests in rites seen as valid because their womenbishops were duly consecrated – in secret – by canonical male Roman Catholic bishops who stand in full apostolic succession within the Catholic Church. The womenpriests movement plans to hold additional ordinations in New York City and throughout North America in the summer of 2007.

Jeff Stone, a spokesperson for Dignity New York, said, “We have always previously had ordained Roman Catholic men as our priests. This is a bold move for our community, but one to which we believe the Holy Spirit has called us. Dignity has long believed that ordination should be open to women and men equally, without regard to marital status or sexual orientation. Now, the ordination of Dr. Rue and other highly qualified womenpriests gives us the opportunity to put that belief into action.”

Stone continued, “It is very clear that there will be no movement toward the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI. Surveys have shown for many years that most Catholics in the U.S. and elsewhere want to see ordination opened to women as well as men, and to married people as well as celibate men. Historians tell us that there were many women priests and bishops in the early centuries of the Church. Most theologians agree that there is no scriptural or theological obstacle to the ordination of women, and that this is simply a matter of church tradition. After long discernment, we have decided to undertake this act of ‘prophetic obedience’ – a term that Bishop Patricia Fresen has used to refer to the womenpriests movement.”

Dignity New York is expecting between 200 and 400 people at the mass, and hopes that it will help to build bridges to other groups and individuals who are seeking reform in the Catholic Church.

Dignity New York is a chapter of DignityUSA, the nation’s oldest and largest independent organization for GLBT Catholics, their families and friends. DignityUSA has chapters throughout the United States and offices in Washington, D.C.

Further information on Dignity, women’s ordination, and Dr. Victoria Rue is available at the following websites:
www.dignityny.org
www.dignityusa.org
www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org
www.womensordination.org
www.victoriarue.com

New York, February 21, 2007 – Dear Governor Spitzer and members of the New York State Senate and Assembly,

I am writing to urge the Governor and the New York State Senate and Assembly to protect families in New York State by extending the right to marry to same-sex couples.

On February 13, 2007, the Steering Committee of Dignity/New York, an organization that has been serving the spiritual needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning Roman Catholics in New York City for thirty-five years, unanimously passed a resolution in support of same-sex couples’ right to marry in New York State.

It is an important time in our state; with the significant changes in New York State government, we have an opportunity to move our state ahead. We urge you to protect same-sex families through marriage so that we can become the vision that we all share: a stronger, fairer New York.

Sincerely,
Daniel McCarthy
Liaison to Faith-based LGBTQ Organizations
Dignity/New York Steering Committee