People of Faith for Equality in Virginia

Photos, Rallies, Marriage, and Boy Scouts:
All in the Life of People of Faith

by Rev. Dr. Robin H. Gorsline, President

EV_Lobby_Day_2013_group_photo On Tuesday this past week, I spent considerable time in downtown Richmond during EV's Lobby Day. At midday, I stood with dozens of others on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol for a photo—we had been trudging the halls of the General Assembly Building visiting the offices of Senators and Representatives, and now it was time to have our picture taken. I enjoy this annual photographic ritual, especially in good weather (this year, we actually were very warm!).Of course, the picture is for us mostly, but the work of talking with legislators and their aides is truly important—as are the workshops in the afternoon, and the reception at the State Library in the evening.

Earlier on Tuesday, I joined about 150 folks at the Bell Tower on the Capitol grounds for a rally sponsored by the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, protesting many proposals and actions going on in the General Assembly right now, including issues of voting access and voting rights, reproductive justice, and redistricting. Many of these issues do not seem, at first glance, to touch on our focus as POFEV—equality for LGBT Virginians—but I spoke on behalf of People of Faith because I believe that the oppression of one is connected to the oppression of all of us.

I was especially concerned about the failure, so far, to enact the excellent proposal by Governor McDonnell to restore voting rights to non-violent ex-felons. You can read the prepared text of my remarks by clicking here (and please note that as a preacher I smoothed out the text a bit, as well as added a few phrases that I cannot remember now!).

But of course, our work is not limited to the General Assembly.

Happy_Valentines We will be working with many around the Commonwealth to conduct public witnesses for marriage equality on February 14, Valentine’s Day. Right now, it seems we will be having actions in Arlington, Winchester, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Hampton Roads. This is a larger number of locations than ever before, and I am very grateful for the active assistance this year of Equality Virginia in making this happen.

One other new thing this year in this work: we will be holding a press conference with Del. Scott Surovell (D-44th District) at 11:00 am that day. He is the sponsor of House Joint Resolution 665, which began the process for repealing the Marshall-Newman Anti-Marriage Amendment to Virginia’s constitution. We are so grateful to him for keeping the cause alive in the General Assembly.

We will have more about all this in a couple of days, and will be sending out alerts all the way to February 14. Please spread the excitement that is already building!

Find out what else is happening in Va....

Good News . . . and Hopeful Signs

vacapitol I am unaccustomed to receiving good political news in Virginia during the General Assembly session. So the word from our friends at Equality Virginia that the State Senate passed SB 701—with several votes to spare—was welcome.

What made it even sweeter is that I am in Atlanta attending Creating Change, the annual conference organized by the National Gay Lesbian Task Force—now known just as “the Task Force”—with 3,000 other LGBT and allied activists. I got to celebrate this victory with many other Virginia activists—something we might not have been able to do had we been home in our offices and communities.

And I want to tell you that this is not the only hopeful sign for us in Virginia.

Creating_Change_Conference Another good sign is the number of us who are here—not just folks I know from other statewide and local groups in Richmond but others, too.

And in some ways I think the most hopeful sign is that I am here. I don’t mean it’s about me, but rather that the fact that the Board of People of Faith for Equality in Virginia (POFEV) chose to spend almost $1,500 to send me here for five days of intensive training and networking. We have not done anything like this before.

POFEV is on the move, my friends. We are gearing up to hire our first full-time employee and to begin to build a real and powerful grassroots, statewide movement for equality.

I just came from a 90-minute panel discussion among faith-based activists from the four states where the marriage equality movement experienced ballot victories in 2012—Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, and Washington. Each of the speakers was inspiring and had an important message about some aspect of faith work that contributed to success at the ballot box.

I took a lot of notes, as I have done at other workshops as well. I am coming back to Virginia ready to begin “reving” things up.

They also all had this message:

This is about more than marriage and even more than just about LGBT rights & equality. It is about creating a new world where justice is the norm for all.

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Guest Blog: RVA Baptist Update

In October, we reported on the ruckus caused in the Baptist General Association of Virginia when Ginter Park Baptist Church ordained the Rev. Brandon Scott McGuire, an openly gay man. If you missed the story, you can catch up here. Rev. Jim Somerville of Richmond's First Baptist Church has been blogging on the controversy since it began.

KOH2RVA by the Rev. Jim Somerville

southern-baptist-convention Can you bring heaven to earth by making a motion at a Baptist meeting?

Well, no, apparently not.

I went to the microphone yesterday during the miscellaneous business portion of the BGAV annual meeting to ask if we could amend a recent decision made by the Executive Committee of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. You see, the BGAV—the Baptist General Association of Virginia—meets only once each year, and when we are not in session the Executive Committee of the VBMB makes our decisions for us. Recently the Executive Committee decided to sever ties with Richmond’s Ginter Park Baptist Church for ordaining an openly gay man.

I know, I know…that’s way outside the “norm” for Baptist churches. But when I stood to make my motion I simply asked if we could appoint a study committee to look into the matter and bring back a report at next year’s annual meeting. I said, “I don’t want to open the floor for a discussion of how we all feel about homosexuality, because we would be here for the rest of the week, maybe the rest of the year. And I don’t want to talk about whether this church had the right to do what it did. Of course it did. Baptist churches are autonomous. No, what’s at stake here is the question of whether or not we can maintain fellowship with a church that has taken such action.”

And that got things started.