1 of 3
Photo Courtesy of Joseph Tanasi
Castro and CAUSA
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (center wearing suit) thanks the members of the Coalition Allied for a United San Antonio (CAUSA) for their support of the city's updated non-discrimination ordinance. Some Travis Park UMC members participate in CAUSA.
2 of 3
Photo Courtesy of Joseph Tanasi
San Antonio City Hall
Supporters of expanding San Antonio's non-discrimination ordinance to include LGBT people and military veterans speak outside City Hall before the vote Sept. 5. To the right behind the speaker is the Rev. Monte Marshall, pastor of Travis Park United Methodist Church, which publicly supported the NDO.
3 of 3
Photo Courtesy of Joseph Tanasi
Travis Park Pride
Reconciling Ministries Team chair Joseph Tanasi (center) and other Travis Park UMC members participate in this year's Austin Pride Parade.
United Methodist Insight Exclusive
Some Christians often can be found to oppose civil legislation that upholds equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In the case of San Antonio's new non-discrimination ordinance that added protections for LGBT people and military veterans, however, a United Methodist congregation played a significant role among the citizens who successfully supported the new ordinance.
The effort to update San Antonio's non-discrimination ordinance became a public debate around April this year when a city employee informed his Baptist pastor of the changes proposed by Councilman Diego Bernal, according to the Texas Observer. Although Councilman Bernal "repeatedly pointed out that he’s doing little more than adding sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age and disability," religious opposition to the ordinance mounted immediately.
That's when Travis Park United Methodist Church in San Antonio became involved in the debate.
Travis Park UMC is no stranger when it comes to social justice stands that others consider controversial or even heretical. Founded in 1846 by John Wesley DeVilbiss of Ohio, the congregation is San Antonio's oldest Methodist church, with a racially diverse membership and a century-and-a-half history of helping those that Jesus called "the least of these." Among its most significant events, the welcoming response of Travis Park pastors to a repentant brothel owner in 1895 resulted in the founding of a home for "fallen women" that evolved into the Methodist Mission Home, known today as Providence Place. Today among other missions, the congregation has an extensive ministry with homeless people and provides transitional housing for women battling addiction and/or mental illness.
With this kind of social justice gene in its make-up, Travis Park's reconciling ministries team proved receptive when some members who also belong to a community organization asked congregational leaders for their help, said chairman Joseph Tanasi. Church members belonging to the Coalition Alliance for a United San Antonio (CAUSA) wanted to counter the misperceptions being spread by the ordinance's Christian-right opponents.
"The public wasn't necessarily aware that there are Christians who love LGBT people as they are," said Mr. Tanasi in a telephone interview with United Methodist Insight.
To balance one-sided assertions of "Christian" attitudes toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, Travis Park members and/or staff began to speak at the San Antonio City Council citizens' forums discussing the proposed non-discrimination ordinance. The forums drew hundreds of speakers.
"Being Methodists, we come from the school of grace," said Mr. Tanasi. "We didn't put anybody down or put people off; we were there to present our case. We simply told the City Council who we were, where we were from, and why we thought it was important to pass the ordinance."
The Rev. Monte Marshall, Travis Park UMC's senior pastor, told United Methodist Insight that he believed the congregation was on solid ground in backing the non-discrimination ordinance because of the denomination's Social Principles found in the Book of Discipline. A native of Beeville, TX and a graduate of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, Rev. Marshall had been appointed to Travis Park barely a year when his parishioners approached him to support the proposed non-discrimination ordinance publicly.
"Given our internal [United Methodist] divisions over the issue of LGBT persons, I think it's important, to remember that the Social Principles do affirm the civil rights of LGBT people," the pastor said. "That's what was at stake with San Antonio's non-discrimination ordinance."
In the months leading up to the San Antonio City Council's Sept. 5 vote, Travis Park UMC members and/or staff attended every Wednesday night citizens' forum, often speaking in favor the non-discrimination ordinance. Rev. Marshall debated a Baptist pastor, the Rev. Steve Branson, on public television station program, "Texas Week." He was among other San Antonio clergy to speak outside City Hall on Sept. 5 before the council was scheduled to vote on the measure. The Rev. Dale Tremper, Travis Park's associate pastor, was interviewed by local media as well as speaking in favor of the non-discrimination ordinance at public events.
Mr. Tanasi, who works as a hotel night auditor as well as in a home-based business, said he was particularly concerned about how the lack of protection could affect homeless LGBT youths and military veterans. Being a "numbers guy," he collected statistics about homeless people as way of describing the effects of housing discrimination.
"On any given night, there are some 620,000 homeless veterans across America," he said. "They suffer from a lack of affordable housing and they experience discrimination based on post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments. There are some 23,000 homeless people in San Antonio, and 25 percent of them are veterans.
"At the same time, there are some 1.7 million homeless youths across America, and 20 to 40 percent of them are LGBT youths whose families banish them when they 'come out.' Nationally one in three transgender youths are turned away from homeless shelters because of their gender expression. Here in Texas, all transgender youths routinely are turned away from homeless shelters. By these numbers, veterans and LGBT youths are the most marginalized people in America."
Opposition from right-wing Christians stiffened in public debates. Aside from the public resistance, however, there was no detectable backlash against Travis Park UMC or the individuals who spoke out, said both Mr. Tanasi and Rev. Marshall. "We haven't heard anything at church," Mr. Tanasi noted. "We've never been protested, and we had no [abusive] calls, letters, or emails."
Rev. Marshall agreed: "There has been no backlash at Travis Park that I'm aware of. I really expected that given the public nature of my speaking out – not just on Sunday mornings but on a TV show and a press conference and at City Council – there would be pushback from the community, but there have been no angry emails or nasty phone calls. I don't know if any of the other pastors that support the NDO received any of that. I don't know why."
The senior pastor added that there's no way to measure whether Travis Park's advocacy for the non-discrimination ordinance has brought people into the 1,000-member church. "Among the folks who were involved, though, [the effort] generated a lot of energy," Dr. Marshall said. "It brought people together working on this issue and that's a good thing."
Overall, Travis Park UMC's support for the non-discrimination ordinance has changed San Antonio.
"We've received a lot of recognition for helping to get it passed," Mr. Tanasi told UM Insight. "This was my first time in a public campaign. We think we've energized our congregation. People have seen [the Reconciling Ministries Team] and that has inspired other ministries."
Rev. Marshall said he sees passage of San Antonio's non-discrimination ordinance as a historic step. "I hope [the ordinance] will give a legal remedy for LGBT persons and veterans who experience discrimination in housing, public accommodation, contracts and the like," he said. "In terms of the [civic] ambience, LGBT folks are feeling like their rights are being acknowledged and respected. That's a big deal. The existence of the ordinance itself has been affirming; it will provide some avenues for people to seek redress."
Additional Resource:
San Antonio Non-Discrimination Ordinance Fact Sheet (PDF file)