Press Conference:
Asian Faith Leaders Speak Out in Support of Lesbian and Gay Families and Equality
May 31, 2007
San Francisco, CA

The event was held at Chinese for Affirmative Action and marked the first time a coalition of Asian American faith leaders spoke out in support of lesbian and gay families and equality.

Present were:

• Rev. Cal Chinn

• Rev. Jeffrey Kuan

• Rev. Lloyd Wake

• Rev. John Oda

• Rev. Deborah Lee

• Rev. Elizabeth Leung

• Rev. Michael Yoshii

• Rev. Rodney Yee

The press conference came three years after Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco.

Since then, many Asian American faith leaders and congregations have affirmed the dignity and spiritual wholeness of lesbian and gay people and have recognized the importance of equal marriage rights for their families.

“Throughout history, the Christian church has often condemned and excluded people because of race, culture, age, gender, and sexual orientation,” said Rev. Michael Yoshii, Pastor at the Buena Vista United Methodist Church in Alameda, California. “While the church has made progress in being open and affirming to many groups, there continues to be condemnation of lesbian and gay people from leaders and members of the church. I believe that such actions are inconsistent with Christ’s Gospel of unconditional love, and I call upon all Asian Christians to welcome their lesbian and gay brothers and sisters with open arms.”

Statements by supportive API clergy:

My name is Rev. Deborah Lee, United Church of Christ minister and program director at the Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific Asian North American Religion.

I would like to explain why we are here today and introduce my colleagues who will also be speaking.

We are speaking out today as Religious Leaders, specifically Christian Clergy from Asian American congregations- to express our support and affirmation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.   They are an integral part of our community, our churches, and our Asian family. The time is long overdue when they ought to be able to live free of fear, discrimination, prejudice, and isolation.  We believe they are no less than any other child of God.

We are speaking here today as church leaders because we recognize that at times Christianity and Asian American churches have contributed to the rejection of LGBT people through harmful words, actions, and painful silence.

So for this reason, we would like to express a different voice here today – to offer a word of welcome, a word of love and acceptance- and a message that ALL are blessed and wonderfully made by God.

As the press conference headline states, we are also in support of LGBT families.  By this I mean, LGBT individuals who may wish to marry the person they love, raise children, and be recognized as a family.  But I also mean something bigger – a more expanded understanding of LGBT families.  For as Asians, each of us as individuals is always part of a larger extended family that crosses generations.  Family includes mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, but also grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and even second cousins.  Family connections are very important to us.  As pastors, we know that parents and extended family members of LGBT people also suffer when LGBT people are treated with hatred, exclusion, and silence in our churches and society.  I think if we are all very honest, we all have a family member, a loved one or a friend who is LGBT.  I think if we are very honest, we are all part of an LGBT family. 

I would like to introduce my fellow clergy who like me are part of the Network on Religion and Justice for API LGBT people.    I would to especially acknowledge someone special who is here with us today.  Retired United Methodist minister Rev. Lloyd Wake is a pioneer and a prophet who was the first Asian American minister to conduct commitment ceremonies for same-gender couples beginning back in 1975.   Speakers today who collectively they have over 100 years of service and ministry in the Church will be:

Rev. Calvin Chinn, retired Presbyterian Minister, served many  years here in SF Chinatown
Rev. John Oda, Sr. pastor at Pine UMC
Professor and pastor Jeffrey Kuan, scholar of biblical studies at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley
Rev. Michael Yoshii, Sr. pastor at Buena Vista UMC in Alameda
Rev. Elizabeth Leung, United Church of Christ pastor and coordinating minister of the Network on Religion and Justice for API LGBTs

 

API Faith Leaders Speak Out in Support of LGBT Equality
From the Nichi Bei Times Weekly
June 7, 2007

By Ben Hamamoto

On May 31, to coincide with the end of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the beginning of Gay Pride Month, several prominent San Francisco Bay Area Asian American faith leaders held a press conference to announce their support of lesbian and gay families and equality.

Speakers included Reverends Calvin Chinn of the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, Jeffrey Kuan, John Oda of Pine United Methodist Church, Deborah Lee of the United Church of Christ, Elizabeth Leung of the Graduate Theological Union, Michael Yoshii of Buena Vista United Methodist Church and Lloyd Wake of Pine United Methodist Church.

“(This movement) started in 2005, as a response to the organized protests by anti-gay churches,” Rev. Lee said. “It made us realize API people of faith (who support LGBT families and equality) needed to be a more out there and visible voice.”

The coalition of API ministers noted that, though many Asian American faith leaders have come out and “affirmed the dignity and spiritual wholeness of lesbian and gay people,” the May 31 press conference was the first of its kind.

“True community is not about being the same, true community is about how we accept and affirm each other’s differences,” Rev. Chin added. The reverend went on to add that it was not just his faith, but his upbringing and cultural background that helped shaped his belief that including LGBT persons in the church is important.

Rev. Oda, in a statement of support, mentioned that his Pine United Methodist Church would be holding its first “Gay Pride Sunday Service” later that week.

He voiced disapproval at other Christians who interpret the bible in a way that presents homosexuality as a sin.

“Christian opposition to homosexuality is based often on selective biblical interpretation, that takes the few verses of scripture that may or may not refer to sexual intercourse between people of the same gender out of its social, cultural and historical contexts,” Rev. Kuan, an associate professor of the Old Testament at the Pacific School of Religion, explained.

While he does concede that in the Bible there are texts that refer to homosexual acts as an “abomination,” he explains that the term refers to practices that were unacceptable in Israelite culture of the time, which includes divorce and remarriage. At the time, however, Kuan said there were several practices that were accepted, which are no longer accepted now. He gave examples that included the practice of marrying a widow to her late husband’s brother, so that they could procreate and carry on the same lineage, and the practice of marrying a woman to a man who has raped her.

Marriage, he added, is a civil matter and, according to Kuan, Christians did not regard it as a religious ceremony until the 13th century.

Rev. Leung encouraged discussion of these issues within the church and mentioned the documentary, “In God’s House,” directed by San Francisco Bay Area activist and filmmaker Lina Hoshino, as a good tool for sparking such dialogue.

Rev. Lloyd Wake, who says he has been a pastor in San Francisco since 1950, says he has seen change in his time and is hopeful that future generations will continue to question the prejudices of the generations that precede them.

“(At last year’s Chinese New Year’s parade), I was proud to march under the banner created by Janine Kuan — who was 10 years old at that time — which simply said, ‘it’s okay to be different,’” Rev Wake said. “Thank God we have raised a generation that is coming along and being more open and more accepting of people who are different.”

Rev. Lee went added that she believes there is perhaps more sexual diversity within the churches, and more acceptance from the congregations, than there might appear to be at face value.

“One of the main things that people ask is ‘how many API Christians are in our churches? It seems like just a few,’” the reverend said. “The numbers (of out LBGT persons in the church) are low because of the shame. If we look at the API population, there are probably over a million API LBGT persons, and in our churches there are probably half a million.”

Rev. Yoshii pledged his support for LGBT persons and their families as well. He said that the issue is a personal one for API clergy.

“We know about laws that have been used against us, to exclude us to, marginalize us, to not grant us civil rights,” Rev. Yoshii explained. “That’s why we come and stand in support of (the marriage rights) of same-sex couples.”

Asian Faith Leaders Voice Support for LGBTs
From Asian Week
June 8, 2007

By Angela Pang


A large banner featuring same-sex couples with their children flanking a church and the message "God Loves All Families" served as a backdrop for eight Bay Area Asian American reverends who announced their public support of lesbian and gay families in San Francisco on May 31.

The event, held jointly by Asian Equality and the Network on Religion and Justice for Asian American and Pacific Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People, marked the first time in California that prominent APA faith leaders voiced their open support of the LGBT community.

The event coincided with the end of APA Heritage Month and the start of LGBT Pride Month and comes three years after Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco in February 2004.

The reverends preached acceptance, spoke about their own personal experiences with the topic, and tackled the interpretation of homosexuality in the Bible.

"We're speaking here as church leaders because we recognize at times Christianity and Asian American churches have contributed to the rejection of LGBT people through harmful words, actions, and painful silence," said Rev. Deborah Lee of the Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion. "For this reason, we want to express a different voice today — to offer welcome, love and acceptance. We also wanted to be a bridge for the two month long celebrations."

"LGBTs are an integral part of our community, churches and families," Lee continued. "The time is long overdue when they ought to be able to live free of fear, discrimination, prejudice, and isolation."

"Everyone of us is touched by someone in our family or friends who has come out or is waiting to come out," said Rev. Calvin Chinn, a retired Presbyterian minister. "I truly believe the Christian church is a place of sanctuary, where people can be loved, honored and accepted in all our diversity as a human family."

But Rev. John Oda, senior pastor at San Francisco’s United Methodist Church disagreed with Chinn's claim of the church being a "sanctuary" for the LGBT community. "I've heard many horror stories of Asian Americans coming out and then being kicked out of their churches," Oda said.

Rev. Jeffrey Kuan, professor at the Pacific School of Religion and member of the Chinese Community United Methodist Church in Oakland, argued against references to homosexuality as a sin.

"Nowhere in the Bible do you find the statement that homosexuality is a sin," said Kuan." Christian opposition to homosexuality is based on selective biblical interpretation that takes a few verses out of scripture that may or may not refer to sexual intercourse between people of the same gender. Our modern understanding of sexuality is also worlds apart from the understanding of sexuality in the ancient times."

Other speakers included retired Rev. Lloyd Wake who last served at Glide Memorial Church, Rev. Elizabeth Leung, coordinating minister for the NRJ-API-LGBT, and Rev. Michael Yoshii, senior pastor at Buena Vista United Methodist Church in Alameda.