the struggle continues, love endures

The passage of Prop 8 in California has felt deeply painful, we were inspired Friday evening along with thousands of others to join in protests and leaders from our faith community the Episcopal Diocese of California and Grace Cathedral have recently made strong, supportive statements. I am particularly grateful for these two paragraphs, from Alan Jones, dean of Grace Cathedral in his open letter to the community distributed to the congregation yesterday,

"Many years ago, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, I was asked by a reporter from the BBC whether we tolerated Gay people at Grace Cathedral. I answered with an emphatic “No!” I said, “We don’t tolerate gay people. Gay people are us! We are all together here, friends and colleagues – straight and gay.” So, we will continue to strive for justice and inclusion. The journey continues, and the progressive faith community has a profound responsibility to reach out to our brothers and sisters on the other side.

The Grace Cathedral community has benefited mightily from the steadfast love, commitment, service, and compassion of our LGBT members. It is fair to say that we would not be as prominent, dynamic, creative, or faithful a community without you/them. We stand in solidarity with you and your families, and look forward to running with perseverance the race that has been set before us."

Susan Russell beautifully chronicles much that is happening in California in response to the passage of Prop 8, read all about it here.

We have a long way to go for equal rights, the struggle continues and love endures.

There's also enormous gratitude in our hearts for the movement of change, hope and progress that continues to grow.