Can The Church Repeal Its Own DADT Policies?

by Rev. Gilbert Caldwell

President Obama in his State of the Union address, expressed his commitment to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the military that prohibits Gay Americans from being open about their sexual orientation as they serve in the military. His open declaration of "working with Congress and the military..." to repeal "DADT" prompted these thoughts:

1. I remembered, as I have done before, my relatives who in their efforts to avoid the legally enforced stigma of being black, "passed" as being white. The attitude of a society that limited the rights of persons because of their racial history caused indescribable trauma among those who were "passing" and family and friends who were expected to be silent accomplices to their deception. As the military begins its process of ceasing to exit persons because of their sexual orientation, will the UMC be led to do the same? Why does the Church keep denying persons when it says denying persons is wrong?
2. I thought of comic strip character Popeye, who said of himself; "I am what I am, and that's all that I am." How foolish that our society and our military would impose a Popeye-like limitation on military personnel who are Gay by suggesting, "That's all that they are and no more". Popeye may have self-limited himself, but how could a society, a military or a Church, deny themselves the opportunity of being enriched by the multiplicity of gifts of persons, by excluding and/or limiting them because of their sexual orientation?
3. And, I dare to remember those words in Exodus 3: 14, 'I AM THAT I AM", words ascribed to a God who provides a definition of Self, that is beyond debate.

The section of the State of the Union address that launched the official challenge of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by President Obama brought forth a memory of racial history, a remembering of a comic strip that brought joy to many of us, and a continuing awareness of a God who must weep and sometimes laugh, in response to our human foolishness.

Many Congresspersons and others applauded enthusiastically when the President expressed his intentions. Many, many United Methodists are ready to applaud with enthusiasm when our denomination rids itself of our "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Book of Discipline language. What new voices will join the voices of those of us who year-after-year have said with our words and our actions; "It is time for the United Methodist Church to stop 'passing' as being OPEN, when it is not?"

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The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister who lives in Asbury Park, N.J. He was active in the Massachusetts unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and participated in the civil-rights movement throughout the nation. In 2000, he, with others, organized the RMN Extension ministry United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), an organization committed to the full inclusion of LGBT people in every aspect of church and society. His recent book, Something Within: Works by Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is available from Church Within A Church.