Pride Evensong, prade participation to mark Pride Celebration for California Episcopalians - Dr. Lo

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - - - California’s Episcopalians are inviting lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people to "march with us in the pride parade, visit with us at our pride booth, and worship with us at Pride Day Evensong," Oasis President the Rev. John Kirkley said.

OASIS, as the GLBT Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California, is celebrating Pride 2005 to show that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are welcome in Episcopal churches across the Diocese of California.

"Media coverage often misses the point that moderate and progressive Christians do not share the views of some conservative Christians," Kirkley said. "Across the Bay Area, Episcopal Churches welcome LGBT folks to worship with us, sing in our choirs, and become full members of our congregations.

"Oasis affiliated Episcopal Churches make a special effort to welcome LGBT people," he added. "At these churches, LGBT folks can be sure their partners and their family will be welcomed and respected. Equally important, these congregations will welcome and nurture children with LGBT parents."

A list of Oasis affiliated Episcopal churches that welcome Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people is found at http://www.oasiscalifornia.org/list.html, he added.

The special Pride Day Evensong is set to start at 7 P.M. Sunday June 26 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, 1661 Fifteenth Street (at Julian). Dr. Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, USA will preach. San Francisco Symphony Organist Charles Rus will play the church's restored 1902 Moller Organ. A garden reception follows.

Oasis also invites its friends to:

· Visit our Pride booth in downtown San Francisco this Saturday and Sunday (located at space E10 on Larkin in between Grove and Hayes (http://www.sfpride.org/celeb/celebrationmap.html).

March with us Sunday (meet us around 11 A.M at Beale and Folsom Streets on Sunday morning, we are marching in Section L)..

· Stop by our Oasis Online Store (http://www.cafepress.com/oasis_ca) to see how our Pride 2005 logo looks on t-shirts, mugs, tote bags and other gift items. Your purchases at the Oasis Online Store helps increase our visibility and generate financial support for our work. So far our items have carried the Oasis message to Brooklyn and the United Kingdom – now we need your help to show them around the Bay Area.

An Emeritus Professor of English at Rutgers University, Dr. Crew founded Integrity in 1974 after arriving in Berkeley as an NEH fellow and calling Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to inquire, "Where can my gay spouse and I meet other gay Episcopalians while here?"

"For a moment the full switchboard seemed to short-circuit. Giving one inane excuse after another, each secretary transferred the call to another, so that every one could relish the occasion," he recalls. ""I expected such silly run-arounds in rural Georgia where we had lived openly as a gay and racially integrated couple, but not in the city most famous for its large gay population, and not in the most liberal of all Anglican houses, and not five years after the purported beginning of gay liberation,"

Today Integrity has grown to become a leading grassroots voice for the full inclusion of LGBT persons in the Episcopal Church and our equal access to its rites

The parish musician for the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, Charles Rus has given solo concerts throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. He is also organist for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and has played many soloist and ensemble roles with the orchestra in their home at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. He has also toured extensively with them.

Rus began his involvement with the organ by working with George Bozeman and Company Organ builders in Deerfield, New Hampshire. After receiving degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Folkwang Hochschule für Musik in Germany. His teachers include Russell Saunders, Robert Glasgow, John Ferris, and Gisbert Schneider. Rus has been Professor of Organ at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Additional information on Pride Day Evensong is available at www.oasiscalifornia.org and a list of Episcopal churches that welcome Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender is found at http://www.oasiscalifornia.org/list.html.