Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church will host its annual Reconciling Service October 16th in the church sanctuary at 10:30 AM. Reverend Gregory Dell will preach. Ten years ago, the Reverend Greg Dell officiated at the union of two men who were members of his congregation, Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago. Reverend Dell was the former pastor of Euclid Ave. UMC from 1985 to 1995.
On September 26, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois, at the second awards event of Church Within A Church, the Rev. Greg Dell received the Gilbert H. Caldwell Justice Ministry award for his advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in the church and society — as well as his work for justice at the intersection of race, class, gender and orientation.
The theme of this year's service is The Great Cloud of Witnesses and the Reconciling Congregation is honored to present the annual Bruce Scott Award to Caroline Staerk.
Caroline is Equality Illinois's Field Director. Caroline manages various projects at Equality Illinois including the Allied for Equality project, founded by Equality Illinois and PFLAG Council of Northern Illinois and the Faith and Freedom Initiative as well as education and outreach across the State of Illinois.
Caroline brings grassroots organizing knowledge and passion to the field of LGBT rights. She is a self-described progressive who works tirelessly on the issues in which she believes, such as health care reform, women's rights, and worker's rights/
Bruce Scott was a government employee in Washington, D. C. in the nineteen fifties during the McCarthy investigations when gay and lesbian workers were fired from their jobs because they were considered a risk to national security. The fear was that homosexuals were in danger of being blackmailed by those who would pass on security information to be used against the United States in the Cold War against communism. Hundreds of homosexuals were dismissed and could not find employment in the private sector because of the false allegations brought against them by their own government. Many were so stunned that they committed suicide. Others found the courage, Bruce Scott among them, to pick up the Torch of Freedom.
David K. Johnson in his book, The Lavender Scare, tells us that Scott joined the Mattachine Society, so named for Matachinos, masked court jesters of the Italian Renaissance who were free to speak the truth. Even though unemployed, living on fifty cents a day, and heating his bedroom with a kerosene heater, he found financial and moral help through the Mattachines to bring lawsuits against those in the highest levels of government who perpetrated injustice against the gay and lesbian community. In 1965, the U.S. Court of Appeals, in Scott vs. Macy, ruled in Scott's favor requiring the Civil Service Commission to provide specific evidence rather than spewing vague labels concerning sexual orientation.
Johnson credits several sources concerning the 1965 Scott decision that 'a candle has indeed been lighted'" in the struggle for gay rights." Bruce Scott, along with other courageous souls, ignited a flame that has become a torch for Reconciling Congregations such as Euclid United Methodist Church to carry on the struggle for inclusiveness. The public is invited to join in the 10:30 AM service of celebration on October 15 at 405 South Euclid Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois.
