Integrity / South Central Kansas

Thirteen Questions About Integrity

1. What is Integrity?

Integrity is a group of gay/lesbian/bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) Episcopalians and their friends. We are a family within the Church, a place to find close community and support. We offer an opportunity to find growth, education and prayer. We work with each other in service to the Church and to the GLBT community. We call the Church to greater faithfulness to the Gospel through the full inclusion of GLBT persons in the life of the Church.

2.Why did you pick that name?

Integrity means 1. A soundness of and adherence to moral principle and character; uprightness; honesty; 2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished. The primary goal of Integrity is to help us all discover and affirm that we can be both GLBT and Christian. Many GLBT people have been wrongly told that the two are mutually exclusive. We believe that it is possible to be GLBT and a Christian, and that faith and sexuality are integral forces which inform all human perception. Spiritual and mental health come when the whole person is involved in human activity.

3. Are you limited to GLBT people? Episcopalians?

No. Membership in Integrity is open to everyone. At least 10% of our members are non-GLBT persons.

4. Is Integrity intended as a substitute for parish life?

No. Integrity encourages members to be active in their respective parishes. Many GLBT people have been hurt by attitudes in their parish churches. They have been taught that their sexuality is sick or sinful and that they are inferior in the eyes of God and the Church. They have often been forced to hide their sexuality under a guise of celibacy or heterosexuality. Integrity hopes to be a liberating force to parishes and to enable GLBT people to be open, honest, practicing Christians within parish life throughout the Church.

5. Does the Church really oppress GLBT people?

Yes, in some dioceses and locales in the country. Sometimes the oppression is open hostility from individuals or a-tolerant compassion when institutions treat GLBT persons as clients. This oppression keeps GLBT people hiding, lonely and self-hating. The Church helps non-GLBT people celebrate their sexuality in many ways -- family-related celebrations, weddings, couples, groups -- but it asks its GLBT members to keep their sexual orientation secret or at best quiet. GLBT persons and their experiences are sometimes excluded from full participation in the Church's life.

6. Why do GLBT people feel a need to make an issue of their sexuality, when non-GLBT people don't?

But non-GLBT people do. In social situations, they make it a point to introduce their husbands or wives. They show pictures of their children. They wear rings on their fingers to convey information about their sexual life-styles. GLBT people also need the opportunity to speak affirmatively about themselves without being accused of flaunting their sexuality. In this way, stereotypes can be broken down and healthy, self-respecting behavior encouraged.

7. Does Integrity speak for all GLBT Episcopalians?

No. Although we are the only nation-wide organization of GLBT persons in the Episcopal Church, not all GLBT Episcopalians are members. Our membership includes a diverse group of people -- a situation common to any healthy church organization.

8. What is Integrity's theological foundation?

Our existence is a response to the Gospel of Jesus, we have heard the Good News and believe that we are Avery members incorporate in the mystical body of Christ. Through Integrity, we explore the meaning of salvation for GLBT people.

9. But doesn't the Bible say that homosexuality is sinful?

No, not if by the Bible you mean Scripture in its full depth and entirety. The seven passages which sometimes have been used to condemn homosexuality (Gen. 19:1-11, Lev. 18:22, Lev. 20:13, Deut. 23:17-19, Rom. 1:26-27, I Cor. 6:9-10, I Tim. 1:8-11) condemn only rape or idolatrous use of sexuality. Our understanding of the full depth and entirety of Scripture does not permit us to accept these passages as representative of the chief Scriptural message to us, the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The creation accounts in Genesis do not say that sexual relations between men and women are the key to understanding the Image of God in man. They teach that the image of God, found most clearly in Jesus Christ, is the key to understanding the co-humanity of men, women, and children, which includes all sexual orientations. As Christians, moreover, we realize that GLBT people are in no way excluded from this co-humanity and that heterosexuals do not always exemplify it. We understand sin, in its Biblical sense, as radical loveless ness and idolatry. We believe that perhaps the worst sin in the present context is the refusal of full love between heterosexuals and GLBT people and the idolatrous presumption that any sexual orientation especially embodies the will of God for God's people.

10. How does Integrity relate to the broader Gay Rights Movement?

Integrity is a part of the movement. Some of us regard the churches as one of the greatest sources of oppression, yet some of us -- both GLBT and Christian -- want to work within the Church to help it change, and to be helped by the Church in the liberation of all people from sexual oppression.

11. Do you seek converts?

We seek converts to the love of God, but we do not seek to change anyone's sexual orientation. We want people who are lesbian or gay to be the best people they can be, and we want the Church and society to appreciate the variety of human experience and to help all people be more creative, more loving, and more affirming.

12. What about young people?

No matter at what age people discover their own sexuality, they need a community of supportive people to help them grow into maturity, into the responsibilities and joys that their sexual orientation entails. Self-hatred for GLBT persons can start very early -- sometimes upon hearing the first queer joke. If a young person comes to a pastor, teacher, or parent to ask about sexual orientation, there is a much greater chance for health and happiness if that older person can help the young person direct that discovery in positive ways, and to refer that youth to the supportive community of Integrity people.

13. What is Integrity asking of the rest of the Church?

We're asking our sisters and brothers in the Church to listen to us, to speak with us, to ask us questions, and to, when it is all said and done, love us as children of God. We want to help them open up their accepting hearts and leave their own closets of misinformation and suspicion. Together, we can work and pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance towards a community inclusive of all of God's people -- a fuller celebration of our creation and redemption.

For information call (316) 683-5686 ext. 11

Email us here.

Home   Prayers   Links   13 Questions   Meeting Notes   Baptism Means