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Rev. Beth Stroud discusses at a February 9, 2003 dinner with her FUMCOG Support Committee the reasons that contributed to announcing her sexual identity. “Some of the timing is personal. Chris and I have been together for two-and-a-half years. Another piece of the story that's important for you all to know is that in October of 2000 Chris and I did have a commitment ceremony and it was at Chris's church, Tabernacle United Church in West Philadelphia. It was a beautiful time with lots of family and friends from all over. It was something at the time that I felt like I needed to be really quiet about at FUMCOG because we were in the middle of this transition and we didn't have a senior pastor. It was something that at that point I didn't feel like I could lay on the congregation. We did that and it was in the middle of the stewardship campaign and I was back at work the following weekend. But where we are in our life as a couple and a family.... We are starting to think about possibly adopting children and my status in the church feels to us like a very big question mark and something that we feel needs to be resolved before we can take the next step in growing as a family. So that's the personal piece of it. And probably most important is the spiritual piece of it. The craziest factor to me in all of this is that damn Disciple Bible Study thing I led for two years. Every week I was reading all of these assigned readings in the bible and reflections on what these were all about and how to apply them to your life and questions for reflections. Almost every week there was some question along the lines of "is anything holding you back in your Discipleship?" Is there anything that gets in the way of following Jesus completely?" And every week I just had to sit there and look at that question and say, yeah, there is something holding me back. I think the more I move towards what I feel like is the right time the clearer it is to me about Discipleship. It's about following Jesus. We had a little ceremony at FUMCOG when I was ordained a deacon and one thing I will always remember Ted Loder saying in that service that Jesus chose to be rejected for who he was rather than loved for who he wasn't. I sort of wondered if through the ordination process a time would come where I would have to answer a direct question about my sexuality or when I would feel that it is time to come out. And that just didn't happen, but the timing really feels right and ripe now. And it feels that way for a couple of reasons: one piece of the timing is FUMCOG and being at FUMCOG. This is my fourth year at FUMCOG and the United Methodist Church does not keep young associate pastors in one place forever, but eventually moves them around. So being at FUMCOG is a really wonderful opportunity where I can come out. I can be a witness in the United Methodist Church and I can do that with the support and the care of the congregation that I serve which almost at any other place I might be sent that wouldn't be the case. When the timing was right I could come out but if I was serving a congregation that had not dealt with the issue of homosexuality or hadn't talked about it or didn't know where it stood, it would be so unfair to that congregation. It would just throw that congregation into an uproar and create a big mess that they weren't ready to handle and FUMCOG is ready to handle something like this. So that's one piece of the timing.
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Beth Stroud in which she explains her reasons for making this announcement: Q. Did you take into consideration the timing of your announcement and the fact that the congregation is struggling with the transition of a new minister? Reverend Stroud: I think for some things there’s never a perfect time. My first year in ministry, I was in a church with a senior pastor who was new, we were both new at the same time and going through that transition. The congregation had never really talked about the issue of homosexuality in any depth and they weren’t ready so that wasn’t the time. My second year in that congregation, it was already becoming clear that you know, that I needed to make a move for my own well being and so I was going to be leaving and that wasn’t the time and then when I was first at FUMCOG it was, you know, the final 6 months of Ted Loder's ministry and the focus needed to be on him and on saying good-bye to him and on what would come next and that wasn’t the time and then we had an 18 month transition period and that wasn’t the time and then we had Fred’s first year and that wasn’t the time and you know, finally I didn’t want to be 60 and still be waiting to take this step. I just had to — I had to decide that the time was good enough.
Her "Walking In The Light" sermon (including video excerpt) Bishop Weaver's interview about Rev. Stroud's decision The United Methodist Book of Discipline's stance on homosexuality Essay by Jamie Stroud, Ph.D. (Rev. Stroud's mother) Additional links for gay, bisexual, lesbian & transgender rights activism Visit Beth Stroud's own website (bethstroud.info) Copyright © 2004 Video Vérité. All rights reserved
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