Originally appeared November 8, 2000, in the Chicago Free Press.
RALPH BLAIR dates the beginning of Evangelicals Concerned to almost exactly a quarter century ago, Nov. 2, 1975, the first time he seriously considered creating an organization for evangelical Christians who are gay or lesbian.
Blair tells the story this way. In 1971, after obtaining his doctoral degree, he established the Homosexual Community Counseling Center in New York to offer counseling and therapy for gays and lesbians who were having difficulty accepting or coping with their homosexuality.
Since Blair had also become known in evangelical Christian circles as one of the few people who argued that one could be gay or lesbian and a faithful Christian, the president of one of the major evangelical institutions and a leader in the evangelical movement suggested they have dinner to discuss Blair's "work with homosexuals."
Blair expected the man to try to dissuade him from his view on homosexuality. But to his surprise, during dinner the man told Blair that he too was gay, but married, deeply closeted and able to express his desires only on business trips away from home.
Blair says he realized the man was typical of many gay people in evangelical churches who live in isolation, confused and conflicted over their same-sex attractions but not knowing how to put their desires together with a committed Christian faith.
"During that dinner" Blair writes, "he and I discussed the need for an evangelical Christian ministry for gay men and lesbians, one that would affirm their sexuality and be a "ministry of reconciliation" for gay evangelicals as well as "for gay men and lesbians who could not hear the gospel from those who could not hear them."
Blair says he also recalled that in the early 1960s one gay activist, himself an atheist, said he thought gays were more concerned with feelings of religious guilt than with difficulties with discriminatory legal statutes.
Less than four months later, Blair held a founding meeting of Evangelicals Concerned in a hotel across the street from where the National Association of Evangelicals was holding its own convention. He distributed flyers during the NAE convention, much to the displeasure of the evangelicals.
In the nearly quarter century since then, EC (as it is usually called) has become an important if inconspicuous presence among gay Christians.
Each summer EC holds well-attended conferences on both coasts. Blair invites prominent gay-supportive evangelicals to speak on themes related to Christian discipleship and other biblical issues. Although the speakers are gay-affirming they do not have to address gay issues at any length.
"I have insisted all along that EC be an organization of evangelical Christians who happen to be gay or lesbian rather than an organization of gays and lesbians who happen to come from evangelical Christian backgrounds," Blair explains. He also helps organize local Bible study groups if people are interested.
Each quarter Blair writes a newsletter about current developments in issues of religion and homosexuality and sends it to his 2,000 subscribers at no cost. He pays particular attention to gay supportive theological shifts, the growing understanding of sexuality and the repeated failures of the "ex-gay" ministries.
Each quarter too Blair also writes a critical analysis of some recent book or article dealing with homosexuality and religion. And he publishes pamphlets containing his annual "connECtions" lectures.
Blair says that his most popular pamphlet though is a single sheet of paper folded in half. On the cover it says, "What Jesus Christ Said About Homosexuality." On the inside it is totally blank. Then on the back cover it says, "That's right. He said absolutely nothing about it."
That, in a way, is the heart of Blair's message both to gays and lesbians and to his fellow evangelicals.
Contrary to the general view, evangelicals are not necessarily fundamentalists. Although evangelicals tend to be conservative theologically, they also tend to stress the priority of the New Testament, particularly Jesus' (and God's) unconditional love and acceptance of all of God's children.
Blair recalls that as a gay youth in high school and college he came to understand Christian ethics to be summed up and lived out as the call to love one another as Jesus loved all humankind.
He says that even as a youth he realized that the New Testament promise that "everything is possible with God" included, as he says, "even God's love of a boy who has crushes on other boys."
Evangelicals Concerned may have little appeal for people from liberal religious backgrounds, for those who doubt the historicity of the bible or are skeptics and atheists.
But there is nothing about being gay that requires a disbelief in gods, even the Christian God.
So for gays and lesbian who have a strong religious background but feel rejected by their earlier faith community, or for gays who have not been religious but seek a deeper self-understanding in a firmly religious context, EC may provide a sort of guidance and a context for spiritual growth and self-awareness.
The website for Evangelicals Concerned is www.ecinc.org. The street address is Evangelicals Concerned, Inc., Suite 1-G, 311 East 72nd St., New York, N.Y. 10021.