The Revolution Will Not Be Webcast

The official word on the sensored streaming video is that it was unintentional– although it was exactly as long as the protest and kicked back in after the protest. “We thought they were going to take a recess.” Right. During recesses, they put up the logo slide, not the standby slide. That’s only shown before and after the day’s broadcast, in short, when there is no streaming signal.

So they uploaded the coverage of the protest here. You have to click the MPEG below “Homosexuality Witness.” For those who don’t watch the video, it shows maybe 200 people, dressed in black, lining the aisles of the convention space. They sing, “Were You There?” and drape the communion table in black fabric to signify the brokenness of the Body. A young woman speaks at the mic for a few minutes, declaring the the glbt community are the church and they are not going away. A Bishop speaks as well, comparing sexuality and gender identity-based exclusion to the racial exclusion not so long ago. Several other Bishops stand in prayer. Now what was so threatening about that? Except that the protesters were threatened with up to a year jail time if they didn’t leave the floor after their (literal) fifteen minutes.

My seminary colleague Will Green posted about his experience on the floor yesterday and being a brave, brave man (he came out to a thousand delegates and an untold number of internet viewers) over on the Cambridge Welcoming Ministries Blog. More conservative voices immediately jumped all over him. For shame.

Here’s Will, on his birthday, outing himself to the UM world, and taking the mic to implore that the United Methodist Church not use the glbt community as lambs sacrificed on the altar of false unity. Which of course we did. Bless you, my brother.

Shock and Horror

I know the United Methodist Church has a long way to go when it comes to human sexuality. Obviously, just because friends of mine drafted beautiful legislation that attempted to confess “we as a church are divided” and say that “we make no statements for or against homosexual practices as we seek peace in our body” doesn’t mean it was going to pass. The fact that the vote was as close as it was gives us hope. It keeps getting closer, depite the growing number of delegates from conservative areas. Maybe next time. Maybe the time after that. Our current policy won’t prevail forever; nothing will stop the tide of inclusivity and love.

I woke up this morning, looked at the pictures of my friends who are at General Conference, and cried. See them stand in solidarity and protest as anti-gay language is affirmed yet again. See them weep for themselves, their friends, their family members, their church. Witness the tears and wonder how this could be God’s work in God’s church on earth.

I’ve been watching most of this live streaming. I got a call this morning from someone on-site, who told me there would be a protest at 11:30. I tuned in, and sure enough, at 11:30 on the dot the presiding Bishop began to read a statement about the sensitive nature of what we’ve been discussing, and the people who have been spectators and who wish to express…

click.

A scrolling image, “Please Stand By. The Signal Will Return Shortly.”

They cut the feed.