MIND needs you

Annual membership campaign underway

Thanks to hundreds of MIND members and supporters, 2011 was a truly transformative year for MIND. The launch of our marriage initiative – We do! Methodists Living Marriage Equality – gave people in the New York Annual Conference a way to extend our ministries to LGBT people on an equal basis with straight people and provided a way for faithful United Methodists to transcend the crippling effect of the UMC’s prejudice and discrimination against gay people. 

MIND is asking all of its supporters to renew their membership, or to join MIND if they haven't already. Our dues are $15 – more if you can, less if you need – so that everyone can be a member. We rely on those who can to fund our growing ministry.

We do! was just one highlight in a year filled with significant work and groundbreaking outreach to LGBT people. Just last week a blogger on “Queer Look at the Bible” described our work as “Real Methodism in Action!” Reaction throughout the LGBT community to We do! has been overwhelming, moving and at times heart-wrenching. “It’s a wonderful thing to find even a small dry spot to stand on when a tsunami of hatred surrounds you,” one man commented.

It took two years and a detour through the Judicial Council, but in 2011 MIND also passed the Ministry to the Marginalized: Welcoming LGBT People into NYAC resolution at annual conference. The resolution calls on the conference to take out ads in LGBT publications that state that our conference disagrees with the UMC’s prejudiced views and policies and that we are working to change them. It is another way that we are moving the conference from words affirming the inclusive gospel to actions living it. For the first time ever, the conference will reach out to LGBT people to tell them what we have resolved year after year in our legislative deliberations.

You can read more about We do!, Ministry to the Marginalized, our ongoing work with the My Brother’s Keeper: People of Faith Confront Hate Crimes coalition, Rev. Gregory Dell’s powerful speech at the annual MIND lunch and more in our 2011 annual report.

This past Nov. 5 marked MIND’s fifth anniversary. In just five years we have grown to an organization that has 500 members and a weekly newsletter that reaches almost 1,000 people. We have crafted and passed some of the most creative legislation anywhere in the UMC, legislation that makes a real difference in LGBT people’s lives. We have hosted inspiring speakers – this year’s annual conference speaker will be Rev. Amy DeLong – and mounted a powerful witness every year at annual conference. And with We do! we have found a way to take the New York Annual Conference’s long-standing commitment to inclusive ministry off the pages of our resolutions and into the lives of LGBT people.

All of this has happened because of the active involvement of hundreds of people. As we look ahead to 2012, we face significant challenges in meeting the organizational and financial needs of our growing movement. Covering our increased expenses is just one of those challenges, but it is an important one. We rely entirely on your donations to fund all of our work, and we  hope you will renew your membership or join MIND and give as generously as you can.