The Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) was a
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, California, United States-based organization founded in 1964 for the purpose of joining
homosexual activists and religious leaders.
Formation
The CRH was formed in 1964 by
Glide Memorial Methodist Church, as well as
Daughters of Bilitis
The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...
founders
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. It included representatives of
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
,
Episcopal,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
, and
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...
denominations.
In the early 1960s, as social change accelerated across the U.S., progressive clergymen increasingly took to the streets to minister to marginalized persons. The Rev. Ted McIlvenna, who worked for the Glide Urban Center, a private Methodist foundation in downtown San Francisco, witnessed the
oppression
Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination ...
and
violence
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...
homosexuals faced, and to improve the situation sought a dialogue between clergy and homosexuals.
With the support of the Methodist church, McIlvenna convened the
Mill Valley Conference from May 31 to June 2, 1964, at which sixteen Methodist, Protestant Episcopal, United Church of Christ, and Lutheran clergymen met with thirteen leaders of the homosexual community.
Following the initial meeting, the participants began plans for a new organization that would educate religious communities about gay and lesbian issues as well as enlist religious leaders to advocate for homosexual concerns. In July 1964, the participants, along with several other clergymen and homosexual activists, met and formed the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH), which was incorporated in December of that year. The CRH was the first group in the U.S. to use the word "homosexual" in its name.
Activities
1965 fundraiser
On the eve of January 1, 1965, several
homophile
Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, g ...
organizations in San Francisco, California - including the CRH, the
Daughters of Bilitis
The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...
, the
Society for Individual Rights
The homophile movement is a collective term for the main organisations and publications supporting and representing sexual minorities in the 1950s to 1960s around the world. The name comes from the term ''homophile'', which was commonly used by the ...
, and the
Mattachine Society - held a fund-raising ball for their mutual benefit at
California Hall on Polk Street.
[Miller, Neil (1995). ''Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the present.'' New York: Vintage Books. pp. 348. .] San Francisco police had agreed not to interfere; however, on the evening of the ball, the police showed up in force and surrounded the hall and focused numerous kleig lights on the entrance to the hall. As each of the 600 plus persons entering the ball approached the entrance, the police took their photographs.
Police vans were parked in plain view near the entrance to the ball.
Evander Smith, a gay lawyer for the groups organizing the ball including the CRH, and gay lawyer
Herb Donaldson tried to stop the police from conducting the fourth "inspection" of the evening; both were arrested, along with two heterosexual lawyers - Elliott Leighton and Nancy May - who were supporting the rights of the participants to gather at the ball.
But twenty-five of the most prominent lawyers in San Francisco joined the defense team for the four lawyers, and the judge directed the jury to find the four not guilty before the defense had even had a chance to begin their argumentation when the case came to court.
This event has been called "San Francisco's
Stonewall" by some historians;
the participation of such prominent litigators in the defense of Smith, Donaldson and the other two lawyers marked a turning point in gay rights on the West Coast of the United States.
Candidate's Night
In 1965, CRH held an event where local politicians could be questioned about issues concerning gay and lesbian people, including police intimidation. The event marks the first known instance of "the gay vote" being sought, which led lesbian activist
Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was a prominent American activist for LGBT equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladd ...
to say "It was remarkable. That was something that
aypeople in San Francisco were way ahead of the rest of the country in doing."
See also
*
List of pre-Stonewall LGBT actions in the United States
References
External links
California Hall at 625 Polk Street in San Francisco, site of December 31, 1964 CRH fundraiser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Council On Religion And The Homosexual
Organizations established in 1964
LGBT history in San Francisco
LGBT and religion
1964 establishments in California
Organizations that support LGBT people
1964 in LGBT history