Gay magazine spotlights PCUSA ordination battle
The Layman Online, March 3, 1999
The March 1999 edition of Girlfriends, a magazine for lesbians, says “the Presbyterian Church’s bitter warfare over the issue of homosexuality threatens to rip the church apart.” Although it doesn’t present compelling evidence that break-up is imminent, Girlfriends lobs a few grenades into the battle.
The five-page story by Erin Findlay exalts gay activists in the Presbyterian Church (USA), mildly criticizes the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which is pro-gay-ordination, for insufficient passion and activism and denounces The Presbyterian Laymen (sic) for “reporting all of the scandals of the church’s liberal organizations.”
The heroine of the article is Presbyterian clergyperson Janie Spahr, a divorcee who emerged as a lesbian after her marriage. The magazine quoted Spahr, who works as an “evangelist” to promote gay activism and inclusion, as saying, “It’s certainly true that I’m an avowed homosexual, but I am not a practicing one. I’ve got it down cold.”
Moderator Douglas W. Oldenburg was also featured in the story. He was upbraided for not mentioning the words “gay” or “lesbian” during a speech to the Covenant Network. “How disappointing,” wrote Findlay, who quoted Oldenburg as saying, “Remain united and turn your eyes to the Lord. The solution will come … eventually.”
“In the meantime, all of us were acutely aware of the need to do something-anything-fast,” Findley wrote.
Girlfriends magazine
cover headline
The five-page
story denounces The
Presbyterian Laymen (sic)
for “reporting all of the
scandals of the church’s liberal organizations.”
The article quoted “one critic (who asked not to be identified)” as saying that The Presbyterian Layman is a.k.a. “the Presbyterians’ National Enquirer.”
As evidence of The Layman’s scandal coverage, Girlfriends cited the newspaper’s reports about the National Network of Presbyterian College Women’s web site with links that led to hard-core pornography and an analysis of PCUSA membership changes reflecting large losses in regions that tended to favor ordination of people who engage in sex outside of marriage.
The article suggested that the growing congregations are those that cater to gays and lesbians.