A Pearl Harbor kissing photo op, and a Honolulu Marriage Equality march, on the first day of the Supreme Court's Prop 8 hearings.

by Rev. Steve Parelli
March 27, 2031
Aqua Aloha Surf & Spa Hotel
Kanekapolei Street
Honolulu, Hawaii



Steve Parelli, right and Joe Ortiz, MO Battleship,
Pearl Harbor, March 26, 2013,
first day of Supreme Court hearing
on Prop 8.  Steve and Jose were married in
Sacramento, California, on March 25, 2008.

This is our first time to Hawaii, and yesterday was our first full day in the 50th state. 

Jose and I are here celebrating a milestone in my life. I turned 60 years old in January, and this week-long vacation in Hawaii is Jose's birthday gift to me.

We planned two activities for our first day:  Pearl Harbor in the morning and a tour of the Mission House in the late afternoon, a National Historic Site, the site where New England missionaries, in the early 1800s, lived and worked to introduce Christianity to the islands.

What we didn't plan was our participation in the Honolulu Inter-faith Equality March.  We stumbled onto that event.  Following our Mission House tour, we made our way to the huge grounds of the close-by historic Palace.

While walking the Palace grounds, a young man at quite a distance away, kept waving to us to come over. We could make out that he was with a small group with signs of some kind.

"Maybe," I said to Jose, "its a Marriage Equality march." After all, today was the first day of the Supreme Court hearing of Proposition 8, the California ballot box decision that repealed marriage equality in California. Jose and I were married in Sacramento, California, on August 25, 2008.

Honolulu Inter-faith Marriage Equality March,
March 26, 2013.

Throughout the day we had kept ourselves abreast of whatever news we could get on the Washington, DC, events around this historic day, reading articles on our cell phones, while coming and going on the public buses.

At Pearl Harbor, after touring the Missouri Battleship, we posed for a picture, kissing one another, alongside a famous statue of that WW II sailor spontaneously kissing a woman, also in uniform. We made the picture to celebrate, on this first day of the Supreme Court's Proposition 8 hearings, our August 25, 2008, California marriage. It was our way of connecting Hawaii (where the first Marriage Equality battle took place in state courts), with Sacramento (where we were married) with the Supremem Court initial hearings on Proposition 8.  It was our small symbolic way of support.

Honolulu Interfaith Marriage Equaility March,
Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kupono Kwong (center) of
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu,
with Rev. Steve Parelli (left) and Jose Ortiz
March 26, 2013

Little did we know, upon the taking of our symbolic photo of support at the Missouri Battleship, that before the day was over we would be marching in an Iner-faith Honolulu Marriage Equality march in support of overturning Proposition 8.

I wondered what our 1800 New England missionaries to Hawaii would think about Marrige Equality.  After all, our tour-guide said the missionaries did not approve of the Hawaiian hula and were instrumental in legally removing its practice from the islands. 

I felt I knew, however, what Eleanor Roosevelt would think about Marriage Equality.  Overlooking Pearl Harbor there is a quote in stone by the First Lady.  She said something like this that she must now, in view of all who give their lives for our freedom, ask herself if her life is worth dying for.  To live the Golden Rule, wherever we are, is a worthy life.
 

SUNY Benefit Concert for Other Sheep in Uganda

SUNY (State University of New York) student Sam Colbert:  "You can’t affect change politically if you can’t affect change socially and vice versa."

 

by Rev. Stephen Parelli

Executive Director of Other Sheep

March 6, 2013

Bronx, New York

 

Sam Colbert, perfroming
at the  March 2, 2013
benefit concert.
Photo by Steve Parelli

On March 2, 2013, Rev. Steve Parelli and Jose Ortiz of Other Sheep were the honored guests of a benefit concert put on by the SUNY (State University of New York) Geneseo faculty and students, and guest artists Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus.

 

Sam Colbert, the SUNY student who led in organizing the event, in an interview with Geneseo’s student newspaper The Lamron, reported that the proceeds of the benefit concert will go towards Other Sheep’s book distribution in Uganda.  Other Sheep distributes The Children Are Free, a scholarly lay-person’s guide to what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality.

 

Colbert told The Lamron, “I think it’s a really interesting project because it’s targeting a social root of the issues. “  He added, “You can’t affect change politically if you can’t affect change socially and vice versa. I think it’s really important to change people’s minds on a social level.”
 

From the event poster, by
artwork designer Raymond Ferreira,
SUNY student

 

"We've made a lot of progress in the gay rights movement [in the United States]," Colbert told The Lamron.  "We don't really focus on international issues as much and I think it's still important . . . especially in countries where it's illegal to be gay . . . to focus our attention there."

 

Assistant professor of music Pamela Kurau, who performed at the concert, help Colbert with organizing the Saturday eveing 8 p.m. benefit concert.

 

Held in the Wadsworth Auditorium of the Geneseo SUNY (State University of New York) campus, the benfit concert was preceded by a 4:30 p.m. lecture, also held in the Wadsorth Auditorium, delivered by Luzau Balowa, chairperson of African Rights Activists Group, a Nevada/Washington DC based organization.  Balowa, according to The Lamron, was incarcerated in the Congo and in Uganda for his pro-LGBT activism.  

 

Equality Uganda at Geneseo SUNY.  Left to right:  Rev. Steve Parelli of
Other Sheep, assistant professor of music Pamela Kurau,
organizer of the event Sam Colbert, Jose Ortiz of Other Sheep,
and Luzau Balowa of African Rigts Activists Group

The two events, the Balowa lecture and the benefit concert for Other Sheep, were billed “Equality Uganda” and was sponsored by the Provost’s Office, Music Department, Women’s Studies Department, Office of International Programs, Black Student Union Pride, and Pride Alliance.

 

The SUNY Geneseo campus is situated in western New York state, south of Rochester.

 

 

Parelli tells SUNY students about his Reparative Therapy experience with Joseph Nicolosi

Rev. Stephen Parelli, in a discussion group centered around 8 The Play, tells SUNY students he, too, was in Reparative Therapy with Joseph Nicolosi

by Rev. Stephen Parelli

Executive Director, Other Sheep
Bronx, NY
March 4, 2013

Click here for Parelli's paper on the fallacies of the "ex-gay" movement

8 The Play, March 1, 2013, perfomred by SUNY at Geneso students

In a discussion group following the March 1 presentation of 8 The Play, a staged reading dramatization of the May 4, 2010, ruling that overturned Proposition 8 in California, performed by The Women’s Studies and English Departments of SUNY (State University of New York) of Geneseo and directed by Rachel Tamarin, Rev. Stephen Parelli, a special guest for the weekend and who saw the performance, remarked that the actors who portrayed the defense – the conservative right in favor of Proposition 8, the amendment that limited marriage to same-sex couples – may have appeared “over the top” in portraying their respective conservative characters, but were in fact, in their portrayals, truly representative of the vehement, aggressive anti-gay spirit that so often characterizes those activists who oppose marriage equality.

 

Steve Parelli, left, with
Hunter Kane who played the
character in 8 The Play who, like
Steve, was in Reparative Therapy
withJoseph Nicolosi

Parelli, having noted that the play had a gay character who testified to his counseling experience with Joseph Nicolosi of NARTH (National Association for Research & therapy of homosexuality), shared with the SUNY students his own personal experiences as a former client of Joseph Nicolosi in 1996-1997.  Parelli offered to email his “ex-gay” paper, which discusses the fallacies of the “ex-gay” movement, to interested students.  

 

8 The Play, March 1, 2013,
perfomred by SUNY at Geneso students

 

 

In his discussion of Nicolosi, while he said he did not agree with the presuppositions of reparative therapy nor with the supposed possible outcome of reversing his homosexuality, Parelli did give a balanced view of Nicolosi’s overall ability to relate to his clients, citing specifics where Parelli felt the counseling sessions did help him in general.  Parelli related how Nicolosi’s permission to hold and be held, for days at a time, in the arms of another male, did in fact set the stage for the marriage he now enjoys with his husband Jose.  Parelli said he had asked Jose to hold him, telling Jose that his therapist had granted permission, and that holding would be part of the healing.  He said Jose asked him how much holding is enough holding. 

 

Steve Parelli and
Jose Ortiz on their
wedding day,
August 25, 2008
Sacramento, CA

Parelli, who has lived in New York City with his partner since 1997, told the SUNY students he and his partner Jose were married in Sacramento, California, in August of 2008.  He said Jose and he married for the legal protection and benefits that marriage would bring.  But, he said, upon leaving Sacramento City Hall as husband and husband, he was overcome with the sensation that, at last, he was now fully “American,” one with society, equal in citizenship.  He said it was a feeling he had not expected, that completely overtook him.

 

SUNY (State University of New York) Students Hear Other Sheep Presentation

At an Other Sheep presentation on LGBT Christians in Kenya and Uganda, SUNY (Statue University of New York) students of Geneseo hear an activist lawyer comment on how “human rights” is not grasped in developing countries where the Bible is believed to be the final authority in all things

by Rev. Stephen Parelli

Executive Director, Other Sheep

Bronx, NY

March 4, 2013

Rev. Parelli speaks on why "religion" is so important to the work of human rights for LGBT people in countries like Uganda
 

Rev. Stephen Parelli,  Executive Director of Other Sheep, speaking on the topic of religion and homosexuality in Uganda, told a group of thirty plus students attending the Pride Alliance February 28 meeting at State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo in western New York, that the rational for Other Sheep could be found in a quote taken from Religion, Conflict and Democracy in Modern Africa (2012):  “. . . what you fellows don’t understand is that you must get at a man through his religion and not yours” (emphasis is Parelli’s from his PowerPoint presentation).

Parelli, quoting from Gerrie ter Haar’s How God Became African (2009), said “The extreme attention to the Bible as the authoritative and infallible word of God is another notable point of distinction between African Christians and most of their Western counterparts.”   Parelli was quick to note, however, that according to Mark Noll, The New Shape of World Christianity, a “key mark of evangelicalism,” whether in the United States or Africa, is “the Bible as ultimate religious authority.”  Parelli remarked that the book The Children Are Free, the book that Other Sheep distributes which is on what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality, addresses the topic of homosexuality from the evangelical perspective, that is, that the Bible is the final authority in all that it addresses, and therefore speaks to the African through his religion.

Following Parelli’s presentation, a local activist lawyer from Rochester, who presented briefly about a film he is making on a developing country and homophobia, commented that “human rights” is not a principle that developing countries recognize when talking about equality for gays.  Instead, he said, you must talk to them about what God is or is not saying, referencing the Bible.  What God may or may not say about homosexuality trumps any idea of human rights, according the lawyer.  The activist lawyer went on to say that the ministry of Other Sheep, in countries like Uganda, is exactly what is needed.

David Kato (left) with Steve Parelli, Uganda, 2007.

Parelli commented that “liberty of conscience” addresses the idea of human rights in the specific context of religion, that is, that each person is at liberty to follow the dictates of his or her own heart in the matter of what the Bible does or does not say about homosexuality without the interference of the state or church.  Parelli commented that David Kato, when learning about “liberty of conscience” for the first time in a discussion with Parelli, asked Parelli, “Where can I get more information about liberty of conscience.”

Parelli’s presentation focused on Other Sheep’s work in Uganda and Kenya since 2007.  Other Sheep, which began in 1992 in Latin America, is an ecumenical Christian organization that empowers LGBT people of faith worldwide.  Parelli became Executive Director of Other Sheep in 2005 and since then, with his husband Jose Ortiz, has visited countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Jill McPherson and Sam Colbert of SUNY Geneseo Pride Alliance invited Parelli to speak to the SUNY students in conjunction with his being on campus as the honored guest of the March 2nd benefit concert for Other Sheep.

 

Yuri of Burma: His Other Sheep story and his song Fly!

Excerpt: I would like you to listen to one of Yuri's songs -- a song he composed himself. You can hear it here on the Other Sheep website, and (especially after) knowing his story (below), you will be deeply moved as you hear him sing his song Fly!.

 

by Rev. Steve Parelli

February 20, 2013

Bronx, New York

 

 

At last, all our Other Sheep 2012 reports are posted on our websites. The February 20, 2013 Other Sheep electronic newsletter (click here) will link you to those reports.

 

Personally, every report was an immense blessing to me. I would like, however, to point you to one report in particular and for one reason in particular.

 

Yuri Saw's report on the Burmese translation, and subsequent distribution, of The Children Are Free (what the Bible does and does not say about homosexuality) is of particular interest to me (and no doubt, of particular interest to all our volunteer Coordinators at Other Sheep) for this reason: Yuri independently, indigenously, and with finances he raised himself, took his first meeting with Other Sheep in 2009 and, through his oversight of the translation and distribution in Thailand and Burma of The Children Are Free, reproduced, in his local and regional context, the mission and vision of the full inclusion of LGBT people within the church.

 

(See the blog "Burmese Baptist Christians Translate, Print and Distribute book on the Bible and Homosexuality")

 

Jose and I have personally seen accounts like this happen in India, Nepal, East Africa and other regions where individuals who hear, perhaps for the first time, the articulation of the message of LGBT inclusion, reproduce that message in their context. (In their hearts, they already knew the message to be the truth.)

 

Yuri is a gay Christian gospel singer and human rights activist for LGBT people. His faith heritage is Burmese Baptist and evangelical. His mother, supportive of her son, teaches at a Christian college in Burma.

 

I would like you to listen to one of Yuri's songs -- a song he composed himself. You can hear it here on the Other Sheep website, and knowing his story, you will be deeply moved as you hear him sing his song Fly!.

Talking Points

Talking Points What you need to know and say when they say: “But the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality!” Compiled and written* by Rev. Stephen Parelli June, 2012, Bronx, New York   For this paper in word document format, click here

*Throughout this paper, the writing presented here is largely, but not entirely, in the words of the authors cited in brackets with some alterations in some instances, and in some cases the statement attributed to the author is actually a paraphrase or summary statement of what the author, cited in brackets, wrote.

Introduction

This paper is a digest (in kind) of what some theologians, scholars and other notables have written on the Bible passages traditionally used to condemn homosexuals: Genesis 19; Lev. 18 and 20; Romans 1; I Cor. 9 and I Tim. 1; and Jude 7.

The intended use of this paper is to provide “talking points” that serve to support the proposition stated under each of the six topics presented. The outline is in four parts and is repeated per text(s) discussed: (1) Topic (heading), (2) In Point of Fact (stated proposition), (3) Talking Points (in support of the stated proposition) and (4) Conclusion (summary).

The object of this paper is to equip the reader (or, seminar participant as the case may be) with “talking points” so that he or she can succinctly speak in support of each In Point of Fact.

Contents 

Topic #1: The erroneous use of the word “sodomite(s)” in the 1611 King James Bible (KJV; also known as the AV – Authorized Version)

 

Topic #2: “The Gen. 19 notorious story of Sodom and Gomorrah [is] irrelevant to the topic” of homosexuality

 

Topic #3: Modern Bible versions that use the word “homosexual(s)” or “homosexuality” in its translation of I Cor. 6:9 and I Tim. 1:10 are “driven more by ideological interests in marginalizing gay and lesbian people” than by scholarship

 

Topic #4: Romans 1, probably the passage most often used to condemn homosexuals, isn’t about homosexuality

 

Topic #5: Once the context is understood, it is clear that Lev. 18:22 and 20:13 – that a man should not lie with a man – is not a blanket condemnation of homosexuality

 

Topic #6: The reference in Jude 7 to Sodom and Gomorrah “going after strange flesh” is perhaps best understand in light of a first century legend

 

Books and Web Sites Cited

 

This paper was first presented in Kampala, Uganda, in July of 2012, by the author, at two separate conferences. Copies of the paper were made available to conference attendees

Gordon I. Herzog's Day of Remembrance: Full Circle -- From St. Louis to Africa and Back!

by Rev. Stephen R. Parelli

Executive Director, Other Sheep

Bronx, NY

February 8, 2013



Gordon Herzog, Other Sheep
board member,
1992-2013
Photo by Steve Parelli

Gordon Herzog was a founding director of Other Sheep and a member of the Other Sheep board since its inception in 1992 until his passing on January 29, 2013.  Since 2005, when I became the Executive Director of Other Sheep, I had the privilege of getting to know Gordon during my annual visits to St. Louis, staying days at-a-time in his home.

Gordon's humanitarian accomplishments were considerable.  He served as president, chairman or director of:  Council of Intercity Ministries, Grace Hill Council, Episcopal Church Foundation, Episcopal City Mission, and St. Louis Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy; and he was a founding director of Grace Hill Neighborhood Services, Charles Kilo Diabetes and Vascular Research Foundation, Missourians for Freedom and Justice, Water Tower North, and Other Sheep.

There was, evidently, in addition to Gordon's boardroom contributions, his personal one-on-one activism and the interest he took in others, especially in queer people like himself.

I'm talking about Adam Matthews, Gordon's hired help who cared for Gordon's yard, and helped around the house in other ways (photo at left, taken February 2).  Gordon had told Jose, who is my husband, and me about his "good looking" help, and the good work he did, but we had never met Adam.  The morning of Gordon's memorial service, Adam and I met for the first time.  Adam came over to watch Gordon's dogs while Gordon's son Jeff and I left to attend the memorial service.  Having flown in from New York the day before, I was staying at Gordon's house, my usual place-of-stay when in St. Louis.

Upon meeting -- there at Gordon's home in the front entrance -- and making our introductions, Adam, with quite a bit of excitement said, "You're Other Sheep!  Gordon talked about you and your husband and Other Sheep all the time!"

It felt good to hear, I must admit.  But Gordon wasn't talking up Other Sheep to Adam just because of his admiration for Jose and me (though Gordon was known to do that). He was talking Other Sheep because Adam is an openly gay high school student who,  like all of us who are gay, is empowered by meeting and knowing others just like us.  And because Adam had a spiritual side to him that he desired to nurture, Other Sheep, a faith-based ministry designed to encourage LGBT people of faith, would be of interest to Adam, so Gordon was sure.  "Every day Gordon would ask me if I had visited the Other Sheep website," Adam told me.

Tom Hanks, co-founder
 of Other Sheep, is a
contributing
author to The Queer
Bible Commentary:  He
wrote the section on
Romans and Hebrews
 

Adam sat for a while and talked.  He told me how Gordon had helped him immensely by directing him to a welcoming and affirming Episcopal church.  Adam, a Roman Catholic and gay, had become disillusioned with church, understandably so. Now he was happily at home in a church that validated him just as he is.  

Later that day, after returning from the memorial service and the reception that followed, Adam showed me the single volume Bible commentary The Queer Bible Commentary, a resource book Other Sheep distributes when funds permit.  Gordon had shown the book to Adam, and Adam was reading it.



Rev. Stephen Parelli, left, with
Adam Matthews
Photo by Steve Parelli

We talked some more and then I excused myself.  I had an appointment to keep and I needed to place a call to confirm it. An African theological graduate student, a straight ally, pursing his studies now in America and living in the St. Louis area, who learned of Other Sheep while in Africa from someone Jose and I had directly worked with while we were in Africa, had read on my Facebook that I was coming to St. Louis.  He emailed me and asked to meet.  I was exhausted, having slept little the previous two nights; Adam quickly agreed to drive when I asked if he would.  Over the phone the African theologian said he was more than glad to have Adam join in, and with that Adam and I were off to meet another "other sheep," this one from Africa, who told us during our meeting that he was positioning himself theologically, through education, to someday "explode!" with the message of inclusion.  Already he had made a stir back home in Africa.  As a student in an evangelical school, he had spoken out to professors and fellow-students alike for gay equality within the church.



The driveway to Gordon's home: 
The day after Gordon's
Memorial Service, a peaceful
white blanket of new fallen
snow
Photo by Steve Parelli

It was a remarkable day, for me, this day of remembrance.  How better to remember Gordon's twenty years of service with Other Sheep than to begin the day by hearing Adam tell me personally, at Gordon's dinning room table, how Gordon had impacted his life.  And then, at the end of the day, with Adam, to visit a theological student from Africa whose life is dedicated to the study of God and full inclusion. 

Jose and I introduced Other Sheep to Africa in 2007.  It was Other Sheep's first venture outside of Latin America where Other Sheep started.  It was a bold step.  More daring than I realized at the time.  Gordon was there for us, supporting us, when Jose and I went to Africa, as was all the board of Other Sheep.  Now, on Gordon's day of remembrance, in Gordon's American city, I was in the home of an African who was greatly influenced by an Other Sheep activist in Africa.  And with me was Adam who Gordon helped personally along the path of spiritual nurturing. 

A type of "full circle," I would say:  Adam, the gay high school student who knew Gordon, the African "other sheep" young theologian, and myself, all geographically in the area where Other Sheep was legally formed, meeting on the day of Gordon's memorial service. Kind of a tribute to the legacy of Gordon and all the Other Sheep board of directors who, since 1992, have served with Gordon.

The day after Gordon's Memorial Service:  A view of the Missouri River,
the stretch of river where Gordon's home is located, easily identifiable
by the double bridge at the left, the bend of the river at the right,
and the two relatively narrow water ways that snake and cut in
and out of the land mass.
(After taking this photo, I did a Google Satellite overlook to
confirm the sighting I had made from the plane.)
Photo by Steve Parelli