Profiles
in Patriotism
A
CALL DENIED
Rev.
Lea Brown
By
Denny Meyer
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Lea
Brown was a good Southern Baptist girl from the
American Southwest. Her father served in the US
Air Force in World War II. Reared
in a loving home to be civically involved, she attended
Oklahoma Baptist University as a straight A
student. During
her time at
OBU she felt a calling to ministry - specifically,
the ministry of the
military chaplaincy. From college she went right
into
seminary and joined the Army Reserve where
she was commissioned as a Chaplain
Candidate (2nd Lt.).
This is
the kind of person our armed services seek, a pure
soul of the American soil. While
at basic training at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, alas,
she became clearly aware
of another
part of who
she felt called to be, at the age of 23.
Entering the military, it seems in case
after case, is the coming of age experience that
causes young people to realize their sexual
orientation. And in nearly all such cases it
takes a considerable period of introspection to clear
the confusion on what to do next. In
Lea's case, coming out to her church and denomination
would mean the end of her dreams to serve
as an Army chaplain, and so she continued on
with her studies, reserve duty, and interning
at a Baptist church as
she moved closer to the scheduled
date of her ordination.
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She
was at the start of realizing her young life's hopes
and dreams of becoming an ordained military
chaplain. And she knew that being out as a
lesbian would end all of that. She loved the
military and her faith. But
her integrity would not allow her to live
a lie. And
so, shortly before her scheduled ordination,
she told her
church about her realization that she
was a lesbian.
Her ordination was promptly cancelled and she
lost her Army-required endorsement from
the Southern Baptist Convention, and thus she
was forced
to resign her commission
as a chaplain candidate. |
All
of her plans and dreams were gone
simply for having discovered
the truth about who she was and for her
refusal to hide
that truth. The heartbreaking loss was
not only hers;
the troops she might have ministered
to lost a
potential spiritual guide who would have
understood the
needs and concerns of the thousands
of gay and
lesbian service members in combat today. |
Even though her
ordination had been cancelled, she
was able to finish her Master of Divinity degree
at the Pacific School
of Religion in Berkeley. However, it
took her many years to eventually find
fulfillment as an openly lesbian minister in
the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).
Yet, her calling to be a military chaplain abided,
never ceasing to be on her mind. For several years,
she worked with MCC to become the Army's first MCC-endorsed
chaplain. All communications that she and MCC
had with the Armed Forces Chaplains Board toward this
endeavor were cordial with
the shared understanding that providing for
diversity was desired. However, delays evolved
over three years while the Armed Forces Chaplains
Board revised its procedures for denominational
endorsement of chaplains.
Eventually, a technicality and age disqualified Rev. Brown from from
fulfilling her life-long calling
to serve military personnel of all sexual orientations
as an
Army chaplain.
Rev.
Brown understood very well how difficult it would be
to serve in silence on active duty, in accordance with
the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy requirements.
And yet she still feels strongly that lesbian and gay
service members, women, and others of minority faiths,
are being left underserved in their spiritual
needs. While all Army chaplains are charged with
being able to minister to those of all faiths and
circumstances; she feels that there is currently a
preponderance of more conservative clergy whose
guidance often fails those seeking help in
confidential matters of sexual orientation.
©
2007 Gay Military Signal
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