Early History (Refs To Be Added)
On June 16 and 17, 1974, five people gathered at the invitation of Pastor Jim Siefkes at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Cell phones didn’t yet exist; the only computers in existence were massive mainframes controlled by “priests and attendants” in government and large corporations; and there was only postal service mail and long-distance phone calls for not-in-person communication.
The Rev. Jim Siefkes, a straight ally, then Director for Discovering Ministries in the American Lutheran Church (ALC), had been given a grant by the ALC to hold a national meeting of homosexual persons and resource persons for the purpose of discussing their sexual orientation and its affect on their relationship with society and the church. The ALC’s purpose was to open a dialogue so that the church would become “less a source of oppression,” according to Siefkes.
At that meeting were Allen Blaich (student, University of Utah in Salt Lake City), Howard Erickson (Reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune and contributor to The Advocate), Diane Fraser (Assistant Professor at Gustavus Adolphus University), Marie Kent (Instructor in a Minneapolis home for the mentally-challenged) and the Rev. Jim Lokken (American Bible Society, New York). Erickson, Kent, and Lokken have since died.
By the end of the meeting, the group had founded Lutherans Concerned for Gay People (LCGP), run by a Steering Committee under bylaws typed out ad hoc in twenty minutes by Erickson on a typewriter he found in the next room. The organization’s name was Blaich’s idea. The first two Coordinators were Blaich and Fraser. Marie Kent became the Treasurer. Dues were three dollars. There would be a newsletter, The Gay Lutheran, that Erickson would edit, of which the current quarterly, Concord, is the latter-day descendent.
Shortly thereafter, as the ALC intended, representatives of LCGP found themselves in dialogue with officials in the church. LCGP had an information table and provided hospitality at the ALC Convention in Detroit in October 1974.
And just as quickly, LCGP came under persistent and vociferous attack from conservatives, particularly the Lutheran News run by Herman Otten, founder of the current Christian News. The effect of his attacks was somewhat contrary to his presumed intent, like the proverbial increase of sales resulting from “banning a book in Boston.” Membership in LCGP rose partly because of the wide distribution given by Otten’s publication and the fact that he re-published the entire LCGP newsletter in order to foment about it, including the cut-out coupon for joining LCGP.
The first logo was the Lutheran Rose, cut from a book by Erickson. The first assembly of LCGP was in 1978. By then, there were twenty-two LCGP Chapters across the United States, in places like New England, New York City, Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, San Francisco, Fargo, San Diego and Los Angeles, among others.
At the 1978 LCGP Assembly the decision was made to shorten the name to just Lutherans Concerned because, among other reasons, some thought the longer name was cumbersome. Late in 1978, the United States Post Office granted non-profit status to Lutherans Concerned.
The name of the organization was further changed in 1980 to Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA), to make visible the continental reach Lutherans Concerned had achieved through its programs and influence. The shortened name, Lutherans Concerned, continued to be used as the working name except in more formal documents and press releases.
The 1980 name change reflected the international nature of the organization, with members, chapters and movement building within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Lutherans Concerned in Canada (LCIC) is independently-led, with its own board and officers, and also, continuing to the prsent, voting representation on the main board of ReconcilingWorks.
The “fish” logo was created by Steve Broin and adopted by LC/NA in 1982 to replace the Lutheran Rose. Elements of this logo are incorporated in the current logo of ReconcilingWorks. Steve also created the logo for the RIC program.
In 1983, the Internal Revenue Service recognized LC/NA as a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Read more about this topic: Lutherans Concerned/North America
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