Texas pastor is speaker, honoree at gay-lesbian dinner
by Midge Mack

DENVER, May 24 -- Three groups working for the full inclusion of gay
and lesbian Presbyterians in church leadership --More Light
Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve and the Shower of Stoles
Project -- celebrated the lives and ministries of homosexuals in the
Presbyterian Church (USA) at a dinner meeting at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel.

Jim Rigby, the pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, of Austin,
TX, a More Light congregation, spoke on "Turning the Page from Pain
to Hope," relating how he and a family in his congregation worked
together for the passage of a Hate Crime Protection Law in Texas.

The family is that of James Byrd Jr., an African-American who in 1998
was the victim of one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S.
history. Three white men picked him up in downtown Austin, beat him
severely, then tied him to the bumper of a truck and dragged him
along a country road until he was dead.

James Byrd Sr. appeared with Rigby in a room festooned with more than
200 colorful stoles symbolizing the inclusion of gays and lesbians
and other minorities in the church.

A new annual award established in the memory of the Rev. Howard B.
Warren, a founder of the Presbyterian AIDS Network, was presented to
Rigby.

Warren, a former director of pastoral care at the Damien Center in
Indianapolis, IN, was a long-time General Assembly advocate for
people with HIV/AIDS. He died on March 14.

Another award was presented to Mitzi Henderson, an elder at First
Presbyterian Church, of Palo Alto, CA, in recognition of her service
as a co-moderator of More Life Presbyterians.

Another More Life leader, Rosemarie Wallace, of Mesa, AZ, was the
recipient of the annual David Sindt Leadership Award.

Thirteen churches in Hudson River Presbytery who have dissented from
PC(USA) policies on gays and lesbians in church leadership were
presented Inclusive Church Awards for 2003.

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