By D'Anne Witkowsk
i
CLAWSON – Anyone who has ever driven by St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Clawson and wondered whether or not the church was gay friendly need wonder no longer.
The church has made their support of the LGBT community explicit by flying a rainbow flag outside the church. The pole on the church's front lawn now includes three flags, the other two being the Episcopal flag and the American flag.
St. Andrew's vestry voted to allow the flag in April.
"I want people when they see the flag to know that we are a GLBT welcoming church and it is a place where people who have GLBT people in their family can attend and not sit in the pews and hear their loved ones being bashed from the pulpit," said Charlene Genther, whose partner Gloria Beaune is a member of the vestry. The couple have attended St. Andrew's since November 1994. Last year, Genther lost job her at Marion High School because she was a lesbian.
Pastor Harry Cook said the flag is "merely an outgrowth of what our church has believed forever."
"It was a decision of our governing board to make clear that St. Andrew's is an open and accepting parish and the rainbow symbol, as you know, is a sign of that," he told BTL. "It's a part of the parish's strategy to make sure everyone knows that GLBT people are welcome there and not only as visitors but as essential a part of the parish family as they wish to become."
In a May 10 email to Genther and Beaune, Pastor Cook further explained his thoughts on the new flag. "I think the three flags up there say exactly what we want to say about ourselves: 1) We are American, even though it's sometimes tough to admit it; 2) we are Episcopalians despite the ignorance of the guy in Nigeria, and 3) we are (as the Baptismal covenant says) 'striving for peace and justice among all people' and 'respecting the dignity of every human being,'" he wrote. "And I'll fight anybody who says otherwise."
"We wouldn't raise our family in any place that denied people or separated people," said vestry member Mike Kramer.
If you truly believe in religion it can't be any other way," added Beth Kramer. The couple attends the church along with their two children, Charlotte and Patrick.
On Sunday, May 13, the church had its first visitor as a result of the new flag.
"He'd been driving by for years and when he saw the flag he decided to come in," said Genther.
