It was Spring 2011. For two years our church had discussed, debated, and obsessed over whether to become an “RIC” congregation, one with a public welcome—and not just a welcome, an embrace—of LGBTQ+ people and what they bring to the life of the church. The church members were still split on the “issue” (a horrible way to describe a situation that so strongly affects real people’s lives). We’d be voting at the end of May about our RIC status.

Months before, I had seen this coming, and decided to enlist the help of the Oakland GMC (OEBGMC at the time). Our church has a concert series, and we scheduled a concert in April, one month before the vote would be taken. On April 30, OEBGMC presented a wonderful concert, “The Men’s Choral Tradition: Love Songs, Sea Shanties, Drinking Songs, and Folksongs,” to an appreciative audience that was comprised about half of members of our congregation, half folk from the surrounding community who just like to come to our concerts.

As we all know, it’s easy to demonize a group of people when we *think* we don’t know anyone in that category, and this is certainly true of straight folk who have “never” had an LGBTQ+ family member or friend. But that concert put a human face on the community for those who were ignorant of what LGBTQ+ means. The very ordinariness of the performers said “we are YOU” and the grace with which OEBGMC members interacted with our audience members during and surrounding the performance made an impressive impact.

I don’t know whether the concert affected our congregational vote, but I’d like to think it did. The month after the performance, our church voted with a very large majority in favor of full inclusion, welcome, and embrace of LGBTQ+ people, starting a trajectory of learning what that means. Each year now we have a “Pride Festival Sunday” the last Sunday of January, and OEBGMC has been our special musical guest at two of those celebrations.

Shortly after our RIC vote, OEBGMC asked me to serve on a search team for a new artistic director. It was my privilege to do so and it was a delight to get to know the other team members—Mel, Lyle, Sherwood, Richard, and Wally—a bit better.

Congratulations, Oakland Gay Men’s Chorus friends, on your twentieth anniversary. You have been for us, and I’m sure for others, not only a source of musical joy but also an irresistibly positive face of the LGBTQ+ community for the Bay Area.

Martin Morley
Director of Worship and Music
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church
Lafayette, California