A still shot of the D/W community members gathered for the It Gets Better video shoot.

For several months Dignity/Washington members had been quietly discussing a community response to the alarming rise in bullying in schools across the nation.  Finally the idea crystallized that a YouTube “It Gets Better” video could be produced from the personal testimonies and words of hope of any and all community members who would want to sit before the camera. Promotion of the project quickly won community support and filming began six months ago.  Credit is due to member Tom Yates who led the production and filmed the people sharing their experiences and to co-member Blake Bergen who did the final editing.  The eight-minute video was put on YouTube right before the Easter Vigil Service held jointly between Dignity/Washington and Dignity/Northern Virginia. Says Dignity/Washington President Allen Rose: “It was a great way for us, as individuals and as a community, to provide a healing outreach in a new and different way.  If it helps prevent one LBGT teen suicide, then it will be a huge success.  Also, we benefited from sharing who we are with others.”  Allen also related the following reflection:  “I believe that putting together and sharing this video is a modern day example of the gospel story of the Visitation — people intimately sharing their struggles and joys with one another.  As a mystery that is part of the rosary, the Visitation exemplifies a sense of friendship and mutuality that is basic to who we are as a Catholic and Christian community.”  See the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewtTZJxoykQ

Board and community members of Dignity/Washington gather at the chapter's Dignity/Center for a day of strategic planning.

Twenty-five members were present, evenly divided between Board and non-Board members. Building on the Final Presentation of the Hilltop Consultants from Georgetown University’s School of Business, delivered in December 2011, and new input from those present, the group saw the community’s top priority as expanding and enlarging the community through a concerted campaign to women, racial/ethnic minorities and young adults.  The motivation and impetus for this ambitious enterprise was clearly the common desire to introduce and share the joy and the support of Dignity/Washington’s community life with a wider audience.  In the months ahead the campaign will draw on resources and expertise from community, and non-community, members, will utilize a multi-pronged marketing and media strategy, and programs and events targeted to the various under-represented groups.  Stay tuned for more details.

by Henry Huot, Dignity/Washington Board member

Pictures from the annual St. Joseph’s Day Dinner and celebration held Saturday, March 10, 2012.

Dignity/Washington is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year.  We are among four Chapters celebrating in 2012 forty years of bringing good news and renewed life to the Catholic Church and LGBT community.  Our plans include several events throughout the year.  We welcome individuals from other Chapters who might wish to join us. Our theme will be to embrace our history, honor our present activities, and look forward to our future.

Right now we are creating a brochure and a banner to be used throughout the year.   The design for the banner will be revealed at our St. Joseph’s Day dinner on 10 March.  Since our first Mass as a Dignity Chapter was held on Pentecost in 1972, we will be commemorating this milestone on May 27, Pentecost Sunday, with a special liturgy.   Then, on the weekend of June 9-10, we are participating in DC’s Pride events as a Community Partner.  We’ll have a float and large contingent in the Saturday parade and a booth at the Sunday festival.   Please check the D/W website for more details as the year proceeds.

On Saturday evening, December 1, we will be having a gala dinner celebration at a panoramic dining room on The George Washington University.  This will be a home coming of sorts as the chapter had its first regular meetings at the Newman Center on the GWU campus.  There will be a Mass, cocktail reception and silent auction, and then we’ll gather for dinner and entertainment.

John Fegan and Tom Bower are co-chairing these events with much help from other Chapter members.  Please contact John at (202) 291-2277 or at johnfegan1@verizon.net  or contact Tom at (202) 986-0917 or tom1545@verizon.net for more information

We hope to see as many of you as possible at these events.

Saturday, February 11, 2012 saw the gathering of Dignity/Washington with some Dignity/Northern Virginia community members for a Potluck Celebration hosted by long-time Dignity members Rodney Johnson and his partner Henry Huot, as well as Robert Miailovich, in the Party Room of their condo building in Arlington, Virginia.  Love was certainly in the air, in the music, in the friendly laughter and in the plentiful food and drink that was cordially and warmly shared.

Theresa and Ellen at D/W's 2012 St. Valentine's Celebration

All set for the celebration

Dignity Washington members celebrate St. Valentine's Day

More chapter members enjoying the celebration.

Dignity/Washington President Allen Rose

My name is Allen Rose.  I am the president of Dignity/Washington.  25% of our members live in Maryland.  We are a community of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Catholics, our families and friends.  Dignity/Washington serves the spiritual and religious needs of LGBT Catholics in a manner that affirms God’s love for LGBT people, by providing a variety of activities, including a Gay-affirming Catholic Mass every Sunday.  

I am here today to testify on behalf of the 45 Dignity/Washington members who are citizens of Maryland who are currently unable to marry the person they love.  Some of our members have been in committed relationships for 15 or 20 years, and see in this legislation the opportunity to receive the same rights, benefits and recognition of their relationship that their parents, married siblings and married friends in opposite-sex relationships were easily granted when they decided to marry.   I look forward to the day when any of these 45 citizens who so choose, will be able to marry the person of their choice just like any other loving couple.  Our members in Maryland live in Takoma Park, Baltimore, the Eastern Shore and many other places around the state.

Since I am here representing a community of LGBT Catholics, I want to speak in support of civil marriage equality from a Catholic Perspective.   We are disappointed that the Catholic bishops of Maryland are opposed to this legislation, We know they do not speak for all of the Roman Catholics in Maryland.  As a matter of fact, on this issue, they do not even speak for most of the Catholics in Maryland.  More Catholics support marriage equality than oppose it. 

For an ordained Catholics to speak in favor of this legislation carries professional risks.  Therefore, it is generally up to those of us who have no ordained standing within the Church, but who claim our Catholicism by virtue of our baptism, and who draw strength and support from Catholic traditions and practices, to do our best to attempt to represent those many Catholics who support marriage equality.  A large majority of American and Maryland Catholics now see marriage equality as an issue of social justice.

Since I have been speaking as a Catholic in support of civil marriage equality, I have been talking freely about religion and religious belief. This bill, however, is about civil marriage, not religious marriage.  This bill has strong provisions that protect religions, so that clergy are not required to marry same gender couples.  We at Dignity/Washington agree with, and strongly support this provision of the bill.  This provision further protects private church ceremonies and practices.

Part of our mission at Dignity/Washington is to speak truth to power by giving prophetic witness to the truth that we are all born in the image and likeness of a loving God, and that Gay men and Lesbians are a natural part of God’s plan for humanity.  We preach this message to our own church’s leaders and to society at large.

Dignity/Washington urges the members of these committees, and all of your colleagues in the House of Delegates, to support The Civil Marriage Protection Act of  2012.  It is right and just.

Want to testify?  Can you, and if possible with Catholic family members – as a family, join Dignity/Washington and testify with us at the hearing? If so, please email our friends at Catholics for Equality immediately at admin@catholicsforequality.org.  Make sure you let them know you’re with Dignity/Washington!

Show your support.  We also need to fill the audience with pro-equality Catholics. Whether you hope to testify or not, if you can attend the hearing, we need you there. Please let Marylanders for Marriage Equality know you’re planning on attending.

Anti-equality Catholic groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Maryland Catholic Conference are sure to be there, attempting to scare legislators into voting against loving and committed families. It is crucial that our voices are there to assure our policy makers that Maryland Catholics support fairness and equality, including civil marriage equality. This is one of the most important times we as Catholics can make a difference on this issue.

The Maryland coordinated campaign for marriage equality is especially hoping pro-equality African American Catholics who live in Maryland will come forward to testify.  If that is you, or anyone you know, please do what you can to help.

See you in Annapolis!