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When the UCC approved a resolution in support of same-sex marriage, I sent a thank you note to the pastor of the UCC across the street from my apartment. I've never met the pastor, but I wanted to thank him for being part of a denomination that supported my people. I never heard a response from the guy, and later heard from someone else who had met him that he is a rather pompous gentleman and most likely would not support gay marriage. That's ok. At least he knows there are people in this town paying attention to what his denomination does, even if they don't attend his church.
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Glad you sent that note! A lot of churches are living in fear over the amendment. Some conference officials and local pastors would rather talk about
anything else than gay issues because it has been such a contentious struggle for so long. This has ended up having a chilling effect all over the UCC.
It has been weird since July '05 when the resolution was passed. The StillSpeaking ads have been rejected by a lot of major networks -- even by LOGO, the supposedly gay channel -- and it seems like some of those who supported the resolution ran and hid. None of this was predictable from my vantage point. When the resolution passed, I thought, "Good, now that we've got that out of the way, let's move toward educating on LGBT issues."
Economic pressure and threats of leaving the denomination (a few already have) has scared the heck out of the UCC it seems. The funny thing is, those of us who have been doing this work of gay inclusion for awhile (I have since 1992!), know that you lose a few and you gain a bit more. Currently there are a lot of congregations looking at or in the process of uniting with the UCC.
Still, when you try to talk openly about this, a chill falls over the room. Maybe local congregations need a lot of thank-you notes to help them understand that it's gonna be OK!
