I've never been too interested in my cousin's job. While I know that she's a minister, I've never gone to a service at her church. Recently, I broke my self-imposed exile and attended a talk at her church about Homosexuality and the Church. She had arranged this talk as the first step in exploring whether or not the church would become a Reconciling Congregation. Basically, this means that everyone is welcome at that particular church, specifically gay people. Evidently the Methodist church has something in it's charter stating that 'self-avowed and practicing' homosexuals are not welcome in the church. The exact definition of 'self-avowed and practicing' is unclear, but it's something not unlike the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. This particular church is torn between becoming a Transforming Congregation, which means that if you're gay, you can come to church only if you try to not be gay, or being a Reconciling Congregation.

The audience was made up of upper-middle class, middle-aged heterosexual people. We came in as the talk was starting and sat in the back. When Bruce Hilton came in to talk about his book 'Can Homophobia be Cured?', he asked everyone to move into one section. The first few rows were completely full, as Andrea and I sat alone in the back row. His talk was interesting and heartwarming, but his anecdotes were not what the audience was hoping for.