Integrity USA was a nonprofit organization affiliated with the

Episcopal Church in the United States The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...

. It was founded in 1974 to promote the inclusion of Q members and their

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

for equal access to Episcopal

rites Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...

, but dissolved in April 2022 following misconduct allegations concerning the conduct of its board of directors.

History

Founding

Integrity was founded in 1974 by

Louie Crew Erman Louie Clay (né Erman Louie Crew Jr.) (1936–2019) was an American professor emeritus of English language, English at Rutgers University. He was best known for his long and increasingly successful campaign for the acceptance of gay and l ...

in rural

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, US. Crew, who was on a teaching fellowship in

San Francisco, California 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 ...

, telephoned the reportedly progressive Grace Episcopal Cathedral, asking if they could help him and his

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

meet other gay

Episcopalians Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

. The derisive laughter he heard in response prompted him to start a newsletter to help LGBTQ members of the Episcopal Church support each other in a hostile ecclesiastical environment. Crew wrote in the lead editorial:

Integrity derives from integer, Latin for 'entire.' All Christian wholeness demands affirmation of God ordained sexuality; and gays and straights alike are Charged with the responsibility of using their sexuality in healthy human sharing rather than perversely trying to change or exchange the Gift of God.

Often working in coalition with both

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and other faith-based groups, Integrity worked for

equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

and opportunity for LGBTQ Episcopalians. Integrity USA 2018 Episcopal Church General Convention Eucharist

Integrity sponsored the Integrity

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

at the

General Convention of the Episcopal Church The General Convention is the primary governing and legislative body of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. With the exception of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Constitution and Canons, it is the ultimate authority ...

, which was one of the most well-attended related events to take place during each General Convention. In 2010, the group lobbied the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...

in support of the

Employment Non-Discrimination Act The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender ...

(ENDA), and in 2021 declared its support for the Equality Act.

Financial mismanagement allegations

A 2019 report by Egan Millard of the Episcopal News Service described the President's leadership as marked by "instability and uncertainty," and reported Integrity had $516,152 in

net assets Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

at the start of 2013, and was taking in over $200,000 per year for the preceding several years. By 2015, the last year it filed a full

tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one of ...

to the US

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

, the group' reported net assets were reported to be $134,029. The

Illinois Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary of State keeps the state records, laws, libr ...

dissolved Integrity USA's incorporation status in 2019, which Integrity's president said was due to the board's failure to file the nonprofit's annual financial report. Once the report was filed, the group was reinstated. Between March 2019 and June 2019, three Integrity USA board members resigned, leaving only one elected board member, and by October 2019, Integrity USA was described by Millard as "a shadow of its former self, beset by struggles with leadership, finances, and communication," and the board's term was reported to be defined by "instability and uncertainty." In June 2019, Integrity announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that two employees of the

Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States that covers most of eastern North Carolina. The diocese was formed from the existing Diocese of North Carolina on October 9, 1883, by action of the ...

had been appointed to the board, and Integrity USA's address changed to

Kinston, NC Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of e ...

, the seat of the

. In December 2019, amid allegations of mismanagement, Integrity USA's president resigned, citing the need to spend more time with her family. Integrity USA Founder Louie Crew Clay died two days later, on November 27, 2019.

Final board election

In early 2020, Egan Millard of Episcopal News Service reported that Integrity USA's board election was "plagued by controversy." Integrity USA's board declined to name who would be voting in an election for the nonprofit's next president, and "did not include an opportunity to write in an alternative candidate, which is mandated by Integrity's bylaws – an omission that further frustrated some members." According to Millard, Integrity USA's Secretary Ellis Montes nominated Ron Ward, who had no prior history of involvement with Integrity, as candidate for president of the group. Integrity members raised concerns about Ward’s lack of experience with Integrity and The Episcopal Church, as well as an incident in 2012 when he was kicked off the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Democratic Town Committee for "a pattern of behavior that included personal attacks and a history of absences from monthly committee meetings". No votes were cast for the candidate running for President of Integrity USA. Instead, multiple former Integrity USA presidents publicly called for the nonprofit's dissolution. At the March 17, 2020 board meeting, the chair of the stakeholders' council of the board of Integrity asserted that he did not recognize Ward as its President. As further appointments to the organization's board were made in what some members felt were in contravention of the nonprofit corporation's

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

s, the legitimacy of Integrity USA's leadership and future elections were placed in doubt by some remaining membership. In April 2022, the group was formally dissolved.

References

External links