BEHIND THE SCENE
Perspectives on local arts and culture
Shower of support by ANGELA CHAMBERS
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TulsaPeople MAY 2015
Evan Taylor
O
klahomans for Equality (OKEQ) is collaborating with a traveling national exhibit to demonstrate how some faith communities have excluded LGBTQ individuals, while others have welcomed them. “It is very painful to be excluded, and that is very important to show, but especially in a state like Oklahoma, I think it’s even more important to see who is standing for you,” says Spencer Brown, OKEQ volunteer and exhibit organizer. After viewing “Shower of Stoles” in Oklahoma City this past summer, Brown and others decided to bring the display to Tulsa. Tulsans can view 100 stoles from the collection at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center through the end of May. “Shower of Stoles” started with Martha Juillerat, who worked for years as a closeted Presbyterian minister in rural Missouri. When she experienced threats after coming out in 1995, she chose to set aside her ordination. Juillerat asked friends to send her liturgical stoles, which are shawl-like cloths worn primarily by Christian clergy. She planned to display the stoles as signs of support when she officially announced her decision. Expecting to receive a couple dozen stoles, Juillerat was sent 80 overnight. The stoles kept coming, and by the following spring, she had more than 200. Now comprised of more than 1,000 stoles from around the world, the collection became the basis for the “Shower of Stoles” exhibit loaned by the Minneapolis-based Institute of Welcoming Resources, part of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Each stole is decorated by the donor to represent how an LGBTQ person or ally was excluded from a faith group.
TOP: Geoff Brewster, Phillips Theological Seminary; Fred Turner, East Side Christian Church; Spencer Brown, Oklahomans for Equality; Amy Venable, Methodist minister; Kelli Driscoll, Bethany Christian Church; and Todd Freeman, College Hill Presbyterian Church; BOTTOM: Jennie Wachowski, United Campus Ministry at the University of Tulsa; Nathan Mattox, University United Methodist Church; and Chris Moore, Fellowship Congregational Church. The ministers are holding or wearing items donated in support of LGBTQ inclusion. In summer 2014, OKEQ formed Paths of Reconciliation, a program that attempts to address issues of belief or faith and sexuality. Paths contributed to the “Shower of Stoles” display by soliciting donated stoles, banners and other items from Oklahoma leaders of Christian, Buddhist, atheist and other belief groups supportive of LGBTQ people. The Rev. Chris Moore, senior minister at Tulsa’s Fellowship Congregational United Church of Christ, donated a hand-woven rainbow stole he has often worn during worship. It was made for the reverend by a member of his congregation to whom “justice on this particular issue is very personal and important,” he says. Boston Avenue United Methodist Church also plans to donate a stole and has already loaned a statue that honors the congregation’s former minister Mouzon Biggs, who advocated for interfaith and reconciliation work. The statue shows Muslim,
Christian and Jewish young people dancing together. “We believe that the gay community is very much part of the whole Tulsa community, and we celebrate diversity in our church,” says the Rev. Dr. Bill Crowell, Boston Avenue’s associate minister for adults, reconciliation and spiritual formation. Another Paths donor is Tulsa’s College Hill Presbyterian Church. Members gave a cherished print of Kathleen Morrison’s painting, “A Vision of More Light,” which depicts a diverse group of people, including the LGBTQ community, gathered at a communion table. The church displayed the artwork in its congregation to represent its commitment to inclusiveness during a time when the Presbyterian Church (USA) did not accept ordination of LGBTQ people. In 2011, the denomination changed its constitution to allow ordination regardless of sexual orientation.
Although the 100 stoles from the national display will return to the Institute, the collection that Paths of Reconciliation has created will become a traveling exhibit here in Oklahoma. “The goal is to show how you are surrounded by people who are supportive,” Brown says. tþ
May 7-31 — Shower of Stoles: Paths of Reconciliation Noon-9 p.m., Monday-Saturday; noon-6 p.m., Sunday; 6 p.m., May 7, opening reception. Free and open to the public. Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, 621 E. Fourth St. Visit www.okeq.org.
Angela Chambers has experienced Oklahoma culture for most of her adult life but adds to the Sooner perspective from her time living, studying and traveling around the world.