A Letter From The President

From the February 2003 Newsletter

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on February 1, 2003

Those who attended one of this year's performances by the Pride Players gained greater understanding about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teenagers. For some, attending school each day truly takes courage.

In addition to having the privilege of working with this innovative and inspired group of high school students, PFLAG earned a profit of $765 from the group's benefit performance on Jan. 31 at the Rose.

Another example of courage: At PFLAG's support/program meeting on Feb. 13, we heard how the Rev. Jay Vetter and his wife, Maureen Vetter, got around the United Methodist Church's prohibition against conducting same-sex Holy Union commitment services.

Jay Vetter didn't want to put the United Methodist Church through another trial, and face the loss of his ministerial credentials. But he also felt a deep desire to not exclude anyone from his church's ministry. And so, when two gay men asked him to conduct a Holy Union service for them, he wanted to find a way to do that.

Jay conducted a preliminary service, and then Maureen--who isn't an ordained minister--took over, conducting the actual commitment ceremony. That has caused difficulties for the Vetters with many conservative members of Jay's congregation, Christ United Methodist Church in Lincoln. Still, they said, this has been a step forward, and they would do the same thing again.

Still another example of courage: The Rev. Barbara Sagat, pastor of Omaha's Metropolitan Community Church, and her committed partner, the Rev. Sharon Stover of Sioux Falls, S.D., applied for a marriage license at the Douglas County Clerk's office on Feb. 14.

Four other same-sex couples also applied for marriage licenses. All were turned down as they knew they would be. In 2000, Nebraska voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Barbara Sagat and Sharon Stover will not give up. "We will return every year until we no longer need to do so," Barbara said.

Barbara and Sharon met about a year ago. They have been a couple for about eight months.

At the March 13 PFLAG meeting, we will hear from Jon Lindgren of Fargo, N.D., who is director of the region in which Omaha PFLAG is situated. We are an organization of volunteers, and Jon's position is a volunteer task. He will talk about PFLAG and some of the issues it faces from his perspective as regional director.

PFLAG supports three bills in the current session of the Nebraska Legislature: (1) LB 441 introduced by Sen. Ernie Chambers which would change the Nebraska Fair Employment Act to include "sexual orientation" among the factors an employer can't consider in employment decisions. (2) LB 746 introduced by Sen. Dave Landis which would add prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in the rental of an apartment or house or the sale of a house and (3) LB 671 introduced by Sen. Nancy Thompson which would permit "domestic partners" to make the funeral arrangements and organ donor decisions for their deceased partner.

To correct an error from my president's message last month, my email address is: bobcdorr@aol.com