We had a wonderful evening in Greensboro yesterday as the Human Rights Campaign and a number of other sponsoring organization joined about 250 community residents at the Faith and Fairness Town Hall meeting.

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.