See news clip from local TV station. Click here.

Thanks goes to the Human Rights Committee for bringing this event to Greensboro and special thanks to Lee Carter, an HRC board member who resides in Greensboro and spearheaded the event. A very special thanks to all those who worked to make this happen.

Left to right, Rev. Susan Parker, Lee Carter, Rev. Dr. Arnetta Beverly, Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De LanTorre, Rabbi Fred Guttman and Harry Knox.

The keynote speaker was Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre who obtained his Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Joining Rev. Torre for the evening’s discussion were panelists Rev. Dr. Arnetta Beverly, Rabbi Fred Guttman and Rev. Susan Parker. (Their bios below)

The one personal observation I would like to share with you and one I find most exciting is how two of those speakers explained how they had journeyed from a place of misunderstanding to where they are today.

Torre told how his attitude was typical of the conservative evangelical community he belonged to at the time. He believed homosexuality was a sin and that a person had to leave “that lifestyle” in order to have a relationship with Christ – that is what he had been taught, he said.

But then he shared about how he learned one of his conservative evangelical friends was gay. He said together they prayed, fasted and proclaimed the demon of homosexuality to leave this person.

But the person’s sexual orientation wasn’t converted to heterosexuality – rather Torre said that was when his attitudes begin to change.

Rev. Beverly also spoke about a person who once had come to her years ago who was struggling with the sin of homosexuality. Beverly said she did not offer the person any answers because she had never been given those answers herself. Today she regrets that and today she offer those answers as part of her ministry.

I spoke with two other ministers at the event who told me privately they also had held to the same attitudes that gay and lesbian individuals lived lives that displeased God and that they today also regret the harm they caused.

Of course, I also share that regret as one who has been liberated from religion – based bigotry and prejudice.

But I’m encouraged everyday by what I see as a monumental shift among the everyday people of faith who are making the same realization that Torre, Beverly, other clergy and many the people of faith like myself are making – the harm to LGBT people, especially youth, from religion – based bigotry and prejudice must end.

Rev. Torre said he lost track of the person he referenced in his personal story and doesn’t know where he may be today. Unfortunately, Beverly knew what happened to the person she referenced – he committed suicide.

And we do know the whereabouts of the many gay kids and other LGBT individuals who have been oppressed at the hands of church teaching – they are all around us. One somewhere is thinking about whether he or she would be better off dead than growing up gay in America.

We all know what the answer is – the church has failed you most miserably and most terribly. But the church’s day of reckoning – just as it had to reckon with the prejudice and mistreatment of others in the past – is near.

For our youth and others, that day must be today.

Bios of speakers:

• Rev. Torre completed his doctorate in social ethics at Temple University in 1999. Rev. Dr. De La Torre has been a commentator on ethical issues for an array of media outlets, served on several civic organizations, authored numerous articles and published over 20 books, including the award – winning Reading the Bible from the Margins (Orbis, 2002). He presently serves as associate professor for social ethics at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO, and is a member of HRC’s Religion Council.

• Rev. Dr. Arnetta Beverly, who was born in Greensboro and grew up in Lexington, N.C. She has served congregations across North Carolina for over two decades. In 1992, she received her Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School and in 1999 she obtained a Doctor of Ministry from Drew University in Madison, NJ. Rev. Dr. Beverly was the first African – American female in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church selected to serve as the Director of Nurturing and Ethnic Ministries, Director of Connectional Ministries and appointed to the Conference Cabinet serving as its Northeast District Superintendent. Additionally, she is the first African – American female to pastor St. Matthew’s Church.

• Rabbi Fred Guttman has served as the rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Greensboro since 1995. Prior to coming to Greensboro, he was the associate rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Chesed in Jacksonville, FL. He currently serves on the boards of the Greensboro Jewish Federation and the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Commission on Social Action and Mid – Atlantic Regional Board. Rabbi Guttman has previously served the boards of the National Conference of Community and Justice and the URJ’s Commission of Sacred Music. He was ordained by Hebrew Union College and in 2004 the college awarded him a Doctorate of Divinity.

• Rev. Susan Parker is a pastor at Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston–Salem, where she has been on staff since August 2003. Rev. Parker has served on numerous boards and committees in support of LGBT equality and has received awards for her work from PFLAG of Winston – Salem and the Human Rights Campaign. She received her Master of Divinity degree from the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University and will receive her Doctor of Ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary this May.

If the Texas State Board of Education moves to include mention of Phyllis Schlafly and Jerry Falwell in school textbooks, Faith In America hopes they will document how harmful their anti-gay actions have been to millions of gay and lesbian youth.

The Texas State Board of Education in a 10-5 party line vote approved some controversial alterations to what most students in the state and other areas of the country will be studying as history. After a public comment period, the board will vote on final recommendations in May.

According to an Associated Press story, it would mean not only increased favorable mentions of anti-gay activist Phyllis Schlafly but also more discussion about the anti-gay Moral Majority and Heritage Foundation.

“The bigotry, prejudice and violence that has been justified and promoted by these so-called conservative groups has inflicted a horrific toll on the lives of gay and lesbian individuals, especially youth,” said Brent Childers, an evangelical Christian who serves as executive director Faith In America. “It’s unimaginable that millions of kids across this nation may now be taught that people who espouse and promote religion-based bigotry are to be looked upon as favorable.

“History, time and time again, has judged such religion-based bigotry as harmful and unacceptable, whether such bigotry and prejudice was perpetrated toward American Natives, women or African-Americans. Apologies have been issued by the church and others for their role in promoting religion-based bigotry toward a minority group.”

Childers said that he recalls how his own past bigotry and prejudice toward gay Americans was fostered and reinforced by Falwell and other anti-gay figures who for years used the religious and political arenas to promote the attitude that it’s OK to be prejudiced and hostile toward gay and lesbian individuals.

“Now, the Texas Board of Education is poised to use public school textbooks to give a stamp of approval to the religion-based bigotry and hostility that has been promoted by groups like the Moral Majority or Heritage Foundation. To put a positive spin on those group’s prejudice and hostility toward gay Americans is no different than if someone proposed to rewriting history to portray segregation, racism or looking upon women as inferior in favorable terms.”

Faith In America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to educate Americans about the harm caused when religious teaching is misused to justify prejudice, discrimination and violence against people based solely on their sexual orientation. Brent Childers, a straight evangelical ally, serves as executive director. In September 2008, Faith In America founder and longtime civil rights advocate Mitchell Gold published “Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay In America”. The book, a not-for-profit venture, has been used in community forums across the nation to bring awareness and understanding to one of the greatest moral failures of our time: Misusing religion in a way that subjects gay teens to traumatic depression, fear, rejection, persecution and even physical violence.
www.faithinamerica.com

Meyer joined Faith In America as a supporter after hearing founder Mitchell Gold talking about his book CRISIS on a PBS radio show in December. He recently met with Mitchell to discuss our work and a presentation he has developed as a clinical social worker that addresses the topic of “prejudice masquerading as science”.

Meyer has served on the faculty of North Carolina’s Duke University in the Department of Psychiatry for nearly 30 years. Last spring, he made a presentation at the Duke Grand Rounds weekly lecture series, entitled, “On the diagnosis and ‘treatment’ of homosexuality: When prejudice masquerades as science.” In the presentation, he detailed much of the history (up to the present) of the relationship between mental health professions and homosexuality to demonstrate how professional organizations have hurt people and have been used to promulgate social bigotry.

Last August, he received an invitation to present on this topic before the U.S. Army’s Department of Psychiatry.

Since then, he has presented for Grand Rounds in Departments of Psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in N.Y.; Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the Departments of Psychiatry at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and Virginia Commonwealth University; before a group of 300 mental health professionals in Pinehurst, N.C.; the North Carolina Chapter of the American Psychological Association in Charlotte, N.C.; and the N.C.Society for Clinical Social Workers.

Conversion therapy: When the ‘cure’ becomes a curse

Prejudice and violence. We recognize it at its extremes.

We recoiled when we recently learned that the Ugandan parliament had proposed a bill that could put people to death for being homosexual. Many are unaware that the death penalty for homosexual acts already exists in seven other countries. Several years ago we were reminded of this fact by an AP photo of two slender young men, not much more than boys, really, as ropes were being placed over their heads in Iran. Fortunately, there were blindfolds over their faces, so we didn’t have to look them in the eyes.

Today, homosexuality remains a crime in 93 countries. In 2003, United States courts declared that private consensual behavior between adults was not a crime. In England, anti-sodomy laws were repealed in 1967.

Prior to this, one Brit who was found guilty in 1952 was code-breaker Allan Turing, a man some consider to be the father of computer science. Turing, like Oscar Wilde many years prior, was convicted of gross indecency.

Unlike Wilde, Turing was given a choice about his punishment and he chose chemical castration over imprisonment. Turing became so despondent about the outcome of these treatments that he took his life at the tender age of 42. Several months ago, Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized.

“It is no exaggeration to say that, without [Turing's] outstanding contribution, the history of the Second World War could have been very different,” he said. “…I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was convicted, under homophobic laws, were treated terribly.”

While homosexuality is no longer a crime, it was for many years considered a mental illness.

In the late 1960s and early ’70s, the scientific community joined forces with gay-rights activists to compel the American Psychiatric Association to examine how their nomenclature was hurting people.

When the APA classified homosexuality as mental illness, they were allowing their professional organization to sanction what was little more than social prejudice.

In 1973, homosexuality as a category of mental illness was officially deleted from the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, the American bible of psychiatry.

This year, I have been giving lectures to departments of psychiatry about how mental health providers have historically treated homosexuals who came for help. Most in attendance have been shocked and then saddened when they learn that in America and Great Britain, up through the early 1970s, psychiatrists and psychologists sometimes used electric shocks and nausea-inducing substances in an ill-fated effort to convert gay men and women into becoming straight.

In addition, many patients spent years and enormous sums of money in psychoanalysis and intensive psychotherapy with the hope that such sacrifices would “cure” them of same-sex attraction. Well-known practitioners of these treatments proclaimed cures by the hundreds and even thousands. Virtually every such report — including a now wholly discredited book by the venerated William Masters and Virginia Johnson — was found to be unsubstantiated, non-replicable and fraudulent.

Today in America, we have advanced to the next rung of civilization. Now that gays and lesbians are no longer criminals and no longer officially sick, large segments of our society still regard them as sinners in need of healing and redemption. A number of organizations encourage people with same-sex orientation to seek treatment through what has variously been called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy.”

Every major professional health and mental health organization denounces such therapies and clearly states that therapeutic attempts to change an individual’s sexual orientation are not only ineffective, but carry significant potential for harm. Yet, this has not stopped many religious leaders and their parishioners from foisting such treatments on vulnerable individuals who feel guilt-ridden or confused about their feelings.

While they are often sincere in their attempt to help, I doubt they would continue such efforts if they really knew the costs.

Imagine the emotional and psychological effect on teenagers who are told that if they act on their feelings then they have committed “an abomination” — therefore they must deny who they are, condemn themselves for what they feel and live with the shame of what they cannot change. Is it any wonder that suicide and suicide attempts remain at such high levels for gay youths?

It matters not, if punishment or condemnation is inflicted by the state, the doctors or representatives of the church. The consequences of such actions rest on all who inflict such harm and all should be called upon to atone for its damaging effects and the lives that are taken — even among those who believe they are delivering a message of holiness.

William S. Meyer, MSW, is an associate clinical professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Ob/Gyn at the Duke University Medical Center.

william.meyer@duke.edu

By Dean Hamer and Michael Rosbash

There was an elephant in the San Francisco courtroom where lawyers contested the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California law that prohibits the marriage of same-sex couples. One key issue should influence every aspect of the Perry vs. Schwarzenegger proceedings yet remained unspoken: What makes people gay? Is it a choice or is it innate?

Most geneticists consider sexual orientation a phenotype — namely, an observable set of properties that varies among individuals. Although physical phenotypes like height and weight are easier to quantify, behavioral phenotypes are intensely studied in animals and humans. Research from many directions leads to a strong conclusion: Human sexual orientation has deep biological roots.

Moreover, the empirical evidence for the role of genetics in human sexual orientation has been quietly but steadily mounting over the last 15 years. Studies of twins — the mainstay of quantitative human genetics — have been conducted on large populations in three countries. The results unambiguously demonstrate that heritability plays a major role in sexual orientation and far outweighs shared environmental factors such as education or parenting.

During the early 1990s, there was an unfortunate flurry of less-than-convincing findings on specific genes and sometimes over-hyped media announcements. Indeed, critics of sexual orientation inheritance are fond of pointing out that there is no single identified “gay gene.” However, they fail to mention that the same is true for height, skin color, handedness, frequency of heart disease and many other traits that have a large inherited component but no dominant gene. In other words, sexual orientation is complex, i.e., many genes contribute to the phenotype.

Gay genes appear paradoxical at first blush. From the perspective of natural selection, how could they persist in the population if they lead to fewer offspring? Recent research has uncovered several plausible explanations. For example, one set of studies found that the same inherited factors that favor male homosexuality actually increase the fecundity of female maternal relatives. By balancing the number of offspring, they would contribute to maintaining these genes over the course of evolution. This explanation may not be exclusive but serves to illustrate that the Darwinian problem is not necessarily overwhelming.

There have been other surprises. One is the importance of epigenetics — changes that alter gene expression without a change in the DNA code of an affected gene. This is evidenced by the lopsided number of maternal versus paternal factors in male sexual orientation and by unusual patterns of DNA modification in mothers of gay men. Epigenetic changes may also explain the finding that a male’s probability of being gay is increased by his number of older brothers.

Although these factors are neither genetic in the traditional Mendelian sense nor fully understood, they are still biological and affect phenotype in an involuntary manner. Who chooses his number of older brothers?

All of these findings demand the conclusion that most gay people no more choose their sexual orientation than most heterosexuals. (”Most” is used here to indicate that — like almost everything biological — these are statistical data and do not apply uniformly.) This conclusion is also consonant with our memories: Most of us were stunned as unsuspecting adolescents to discover our sexual orientation — heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.

Biology cannot be avoided in determining whether fundamental rights are protected under the equal protection clause of our Constitution. This is because “immutability” is one of the factors that determine the level of scrutiny applied to possible violations and that determine whether gays are awarded “suspect class” status, which would give them more constitutional protection. Heritability is not necessary for immutability or suspect class status (religion is the usual counter-example), but it should be sufficient; we do not choose our genes, nor can we change them.

The court of public opinion may be the ultimate arbiter, and here there is cause for optimism about what education can achieve. Recent studies in college classrooms show that exposure of students to information on the causes of homosexuality has a direct influence on opinions about gay rights. This fits with polling data showing that people who believe that gays are “born that way” are generally supportive of full equality, whereas those who believe it is “a choice” are opposed.

The importance of education is also underscored by the extent to which a lack of education is problematic. One national survey found that 70% of those who think being gay is a choice favored the re- institution of sodomy laws. This would turn some 15 million Americans into common criminals for simply being who they are. Science education must help people understand that phenotypic variation, including sexual orientation diversity, is an immutable feature of human biology.

Dean Hamer is a molecular biologist who works on human genetics and HIV prevention and is the author of scientific books, including “The Science of Desire.” Michael Rosbash is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor at Brandeis University who studies circadian rhythms.

This event is free and open to the public. Students, educators and church members are especially invited to attend. Advance tickets are not required.

Soledad O’Brien has worked on CNN special reports including “Black in America” and “Latino in America” and is currently working on a “Gay in America” special report for the network.

“Crisis” describes the personal, social and religious pain of growing up gay in America. It is told through essays contributed by 40 successful and well-known professionals as well as not-well-known younger people. The foreword is written by tennis great Martina Navratilova.

Gold is co-founder of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, a nationally recognized furniture manufacturer headquartered in Taylorsville, N.C. He is also the creator of Faith in America, an organization dedicated to educating people about the harm of religion-based prejudice against the gay community.

“I’m looking forward to interviewing Mitchell about a topic that is at the very heart of America’s culture war,” O’Brien said. “Mitchell does it in a manner that shows compassion for all sides.”

Gold published the book, co-edited with Mindy Drucker, in response to what he calls a silent mental health crisis among the more than 1.6 million gay young people in America. “They are at significant risk for suicide, addiction, depression, and violence, and yet those who should be helping them may very well be contributing, if not causing, their heartache and confusion,” he said. “There are teenagers all over the world today in crisis mode because they fear what will happen if others discover their sexual orientation.”

Like the other contributors to the book, Gold has lived through this experience. As a gay teen, he was suicidal. Eventually, with the help of a psychiatrist and support from his friends, he learned to accept himself.

Gold now calls upon others, especially those in the religious community, to take the lead in creating an accepting atmosphere for young people experiencing this same crisis.

Some of the book’s contributors include the Right Rev. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay man ordained by the Episcopal Church; acclaimed actor Richard Chamberlain; U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), chair of the House Financial Services Committee; and Hilary Rosen, a political analyst on MSNBC and political director for The Huffington Post.

The book also includes essays by two mothers of gay young people who died as a result of their sexual orientation. Another contributor to the book is former Reverend Jimmy Creech of Raleigh, N.C., who set out on a journey to study the Bible and science after one of his congregants came out to him more than 20 years ago.  He was defrocked by the United Methodist Church for performing a same-gender marriage ceremony.

Proceeds from the sale of “Crisis” are donated to non-profit organizations that help young people struggling with issues related to their sexual orientation.

The Visiting Writers Series is free to the public thanks to the support of sponsors. This year’s sponsors include Catawba Valley Community Foundation, UNC-TV, Hickory Public Library, United Arts Council of Catawba County, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Crowne Plaza hotel of Hickory, and WFAE 90.7 FM, Your NPR News Source.

For more information about the Visiting Writers Series at Lenoir-Rhyne University, go to http://visitingwriters.lr.edu or call 828-328-7077.

Established in 1891, Lenoir-Rhyne University is a private, coeducational university located in Hickory, N.C. It is affiliated with the N.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is open to students from all religious backgrounds. Undergraduate degrees include bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and bachelor of music education in more than 60 majors and concentrations. Graduate degrees are offered in business administration, counseling, occupational therapy and athletic training. The Web site is www.lr.edu.