Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International
Type | 501 (c)(3) |
---|---|
Legal status | non-profit |
Purpose | LGBT supprort |
Services | Information, Advocacy,Support |
President | Floyd Poenitz |
Subsidiaries | The Intercollegiate Adventist GSA Coalition, Building Safe Places, We are Seventh-Day Adventist |
Website | http://www.sdakinship.org/ |
Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International is a support organization that provides a spiritual and social community to current and former
History and organization
Seventh-day Adventist Kinship, International, Inc. (Kinship) grew out of a 1976 meeting in
SDA Kinship is managed by a volunteer board and was incorporated as a
This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (January 2024) |
Member services
Kinship exists to ease the initial distress of Seventh-day Adventists when they realize that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, and to facilitate the reconciling of their spirituality with their sexual orientation by offering suggested reading materials, personal dialogue, professional counseling referrals, and a network of supportive members.3
Media services
Kinship enables communication among members by publishing a free quarterly magazine, Connection Magazine. With the advent of social media, Kinship has Facebook groups for "members only" as well as public groups. SDA Kinship can be found on most social media platforms at @sdakinship and on YouTube at @sdakinshipint. Official accounts are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as a Twitter account from the president: @KinshipPrez.
Kampmeeting
Since 1980, Kinship has organized an annual week-long conference called Kampmeeting where members can meet and renew friendships. Worship, lectures, music, group activities, and good food, including vegetarian fare, are all part of the program. Spiritual ministry is provided by supportive church leaders and gay former pastors. Communion service is conducted on Friday evening and is the only communion received by many members who have been alienated from the church. In recent years (as of 2008), similar gatherings have been held in Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world.[4]
Regional services
In order to communicate with and serve its diverse membership, Kinship is organized by regions, with nine United States regions and eight overseas regions: Australia-New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, Central-South America, Europe, Germany, The Philippines, and the British Isles. Regional coordinators communicate with members, sometimes by newsletter, and often sponsor meetings for social, recreational, educational and worship purposes. The frequency and type of activities depend largely on the number and proximity of members living within each region.
Special interest group services
Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International has groups within Kinship called Family and Friends of Kinship, KinWomen, KinYouth.
Actions taken to inform and sensitize the Adventist Church
Information packets
Kinship has mailed thousands of information packets to Adventist pastors, teachers and counselors and to every Adventist academy and college in North America. Information about
Church leaders invited to Kampmeeting
In 1980 Kinship held its first national gathering called Kampmeeting (similar to a typical Adventist camp meeting). Three professors from the Adventist Theological Seminary and two pastors were invited to participate. They received permission from the General Conference, with the stipulation that SDA Kinship would not claim that this indicated the church's acceptance of homosexuality and that Colin Cook also be invited to present his ideas about helping homosexuals find healing. The invited theology professors, after the first in-depth research into what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, came to the conclusion that it was silent about persons with a homosexual orientation, and that its proscriptions against sexual exploitation, promiscuity, rape, and temple prostitution apply equally to heterosexuals and homosexuals. After hearing the traumatic stories of growing up gay in the Adventist church, the clergy were deeply moved and drew up a list of recommendations in their report to church leadership.[5] However, protests from conservative members prompted church president Neal Wilson to instruct Adventist college, hospital, and church administrators to prevent anyone from meeting with Kampmeeting attendees the following year. Nevertheless, certain pastors and church leaders have continued to attend and speak at the annual Kampmeetings.[6]
AIDS conference
In 1989 a pastor at
Kinship Advisory Council
In 2000, a group of supportive church leaders was invited to form an advisory council to guide Kinship in bringing the Adventist Church to a more loving and redemptive attitude. This Council was instrumental in organizing a workshop on homosexuality and publishing a book resulting from the workshop.[7]
Workshop on homosexuality
In January 2006, a workshop on homosexuality, held in
Media activities
A book, My Son, Beloved Stranger, written by the wife of an Adventist minister about her family’s experience after learning their youngest son is gay, was published by Pacific Press in 1995. Another book, Christianity and Homosexuality: Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives, consisting of the papers presented at the 2006 Workshop on Homosexuality and six responses, was published by Adventist Forums in May 2008. Complimentary copies were mailed to 500 pastors, administrators, and thought leaders of the Adventist Church.[9] In 2005 SDA Kinship produced a DVD, Open Heart, Open Hand. It records three conversations with leaders in the Adventist Church who are parents of gay and lesbian children. It is introduced by an Adventist theologian whose brother was a gay man. It was filmed by Dr. Harry and Janice Wang, who also have a gay family member.[9] SDA kinship also produced Seventh-Gay Adventists, which started as a kickstarter project created by Daneen Akers and Stephen Eyer[10][11] who also produced Enough Room at the Table.
Exhibits at church conferences
Beginning in 2000, at the quinquennial
Relations with Adventist Church
In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, homosexual relations are considered a violation and members engaging in such relations are subject to discipline.
Church sues Seventh-day Adventist Kinship, International over use of church name
The name "Seventh-day Adventist" (SDA), which the General Conference (GC) has been using since its official foundation in 1863, was trademarked toward the end of 1981.
The Adventist church has sent a cease and desist over film name Seventh-Gay Adventist
"Your use and modification of the SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST mark in this manner is without permission of the GCCSDA and/or the church, and is likely to cause dilution by blurring the distinctive qualities of the SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST mark and by tarnishing the reputation of the mark. Your use of the mark in this manner is also likely to cause confusion among consumers who may mistakenly believe that the Church has authorized or approved your use of the SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST mark."[16][17] However, there is no evidence that it went to court.
The name Seventh-day Adventist is generic and not protected by trademark law.[18] The reason why the Seventh-Day Adventist is not protected by trademark law is because the adherents of the Seventh-Day Adventist Religion existed before the Seventh-day Adventist Church and in the film it is protected by the first amendment of the U.S Constitution[19]
Intercollegiate Adventist GSA Coalition
Intercollegiate Adventist GSA Coalition is a support organization for Adventist students who are LGBT+ it has been founded by Eliel Cruz[20] current GSAs are AULL4ONE, PRISM, Gay and Straight People, SHIELD, Students For Equality, Q&A, and Beacon. it is supported by Seventh-Day Adventist Kinship International And by individual Seventh-Day Adventists who support LGBT rights the GSAs are currently on some Adventist campuses, Andrews University, La Sierra University, Pacific Union College, Southern Adventist University, Walla Walla University, Washington Adventist University, Union College. Intercollegiate Adventist GSA Coalition is not endorsed by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church nor any of their official ministries[21]
- LGBT-welcoming church programs
References
- ^ "Home - Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International, Inc".
- ^ "The History of Kinship - Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International, Inc". Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International, Inc. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
- ^ a b "Welcome to SDA Kinship". 2009-01-31. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ See also "Kampmeeting Supports Gay Adventists Archived 2009-09-03 at the Wayback Machine" by the editors, Adventist Today 3:6 (November 1995)
- ISSN 0890-0264. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-12. Retrieved 2008-06-18. See also the other two articles in the same issue Archived 2008-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Adventist Forums, 2008
- ^ Bylaws of Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International
- ^ Connection: The Journal of Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International, Inc., February, 2006, Vol. 30, No. 2
- ^ a b "Home - SDA Gay Perspectives".
- ^ "Seventh-Gay Adventists - Buy Now". buy.sgamovie.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "Seventh-Gay Adventists: A Film About Faith on the Margins". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "someone-to-talk-to.net".
- ^ "March, 1991: When the General Conference Sued SDA Kinship". Adventist Today. 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ "March, 1991: When the General Conference Sued SDA Kinship". Adventist Today. 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ Peter Freiberg, "Gay Seventh-day Adventists Sued by Church," The Advocate, April 12, 1988, Issue 486
- ^ "Film About Gay Adventists Faces Legal Challenge from the Church". spectrummagazine.org. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "Seventh-Gay Adventists | A film about faith on the margins - Blog - When Your Church Sends You a Cease and Desist". www.sgamovie.com. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "Adventist Suit Won By Gay Group". Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^ Cruz, Eliel (2016-01-14). "The Seventh-day Adventist Church's Complicated History with the LGBTIQ Community". Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^ "Bio". Eliel Cruz. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
- ^ "IAGC Adventist". IAGC Adventist. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- Christianity and Homosexuality: Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives, edited by Fritz Guy, David Ferguson, and David Larson (Roseville, California: Adventist Forums, 2008)
- Gay religion by Scott Thumma and Edward R. Gray