Black Churches' Attitudes Toward Gay Parishioners Is Discussed at ...

ATLANTA, Jan. 20 - About 150 African-American ministers and gay activists from around the country gathered here Friday to begin a two-day conference to combat what they assert is widespread prejudice against gay men and lesbians within black churches.

Though most black Christians are liberal on pocketbook issues, they are social conservatives, speakers at the conference said. Yet getting black churches to accept gay men and lesbians has gained particular urgency over the last two years, participants noted.

The high rate of H.I.V. infection among blacks stems in part, they said, from the unwillingness of black ministers to discuss sexuality. They contended that the Republican Party and white evangelical Christians attracted a small but significant number of black votes in the 2004 presidential election by arguing for a nationwide ban on same-sex marriage and appealing to their conservative mores.

"In 2004, the religious right was concerned about re-electing George W. Bush," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke at the conference held here at First Iconium Baptist Church. "They couldn't come to black churches to talk about the war, about health care, about poverty. So they did what they always do and reached for the bigotry against gay and lesbian people."

Ministers at the conference and some of their critics at other black churches agreed that getting black churches to embrace openly gay individuals would be a tough fight.

Conservative black ministers in Atlanta have so far not taken up invitations to discuss attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, said the Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory Church in nearby Stone Mountain. Moreover, ministers who are willing to preach acceptance of gay men and lesbians stand to lose many parishioners, Dr. Samuel and others said.

"This is a learning experience, and it has not been without costs," the Rev. Timothy McDonald, pastor of First Iconium, said of his decision to be host of the conference, organized by the National Black Justice Coalition, an advocacy group for gay men and lesbians based in Washington. "Have we gotten nasty phone calls? Yes. Do I have the marks to show for it? Yes. But I think Jesus took some unpopular stances, too."

Through 2004 and early 2005, black evangelical ministers worked with their white counterparts to muster support for a ban on same-sex marriage. That campaign's momentum may be flagging somewhat because of inaction by Congress and the president on a constitutional amendment to prohibit the unions, said Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., a proponent of the ban and pastor of Hope Christian Church in College Park, Md.

Still, black preachers like Mr. Jackson are crisscrossing the country, trying to draw more black members of the clergy to their cause.

This week, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of the evangelical Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash., raised the possibility of boycotts of companies like Microsoft, Nike and Boeing for their support of legislation in Washington State prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and insurance on the basis of sexual orientation.

Last year, Microsoft edged away from its support of the bill, a move for which Mr. Hutcherson took credit. Then, weeks later it reversed course again and backed the bill.

In his speech at the Atlanta conference, Mr. Sharpton implied that African-American clergy members who accept gay men and lesbians might have let crucial black votes go to the Republican Party in 2004 because of their unwillingness to confront conservatives in their midst. Ministers who do speak out may pay a steep price, if the experience of Dr. Samuel of Victory Church is any indication.

When Dr. Samuel began to preach forcefully on the acceptance of gay men and lesbians two years ago to his mostly African-American congregation, 1,000 of his approximately 5,000 parishioners left in protest. Their departure dealt a blow to Victory Church's finances, and for a time, its morale, but the church remains large by any standard. Pastors of smaller churches may be less inclined to preach tolerance in the face of such costs, ministers said.

The divisions among black Christians over homosexuality seem largely the same as those among other Christians. Conservative Christians of any race, many of whom call homosexuality an abomination as defined by the Bible, consider being gay a choice or a lifestyle.

Others say that sexual orientation is innate, and therefore gay men and lesbians are equally God's children. They also caution blacks against using the Bible to perpetuate injustice against gay Americans, recalling that whites used Scripture in the 19th century to defend slavery.

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