1. In Re “Is the Discipline of the Methodist Church a Book of Law?” Decision 96, United Methodist Judicial Council, 1953, http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=180&JDMOD=VWD&SN=1&EN=100. The Methodists' Book of Discipline goes back to the eighteenth century when John Wesley collected a body of material he called the “Large Minutes.” In 1744, the Minutes asked and answered such questions as “What is faith?” and “How many circuits are there now?” In 1792, the title became The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Frank, Thomas Edward, Polity, Practice and the Mission of the United Methodist Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006), 46–47Google Scholar.

2. Hankins, Barry, Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2002), 4–45, 226Google Scholar; Wilcox, Clyde, God's Warriors: The Christian Right in Twentieth Century America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 222–24Google Scholar; Leonard, Bill J., Baptists in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 239–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stricklin, David, A Genealogy of Dissent: Southern Baptist Protest in the Twentieth Century (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 4–8Google Scholar; and Luhr, Eileen, Witnessing Suburbia: Conservatives and Christian Youth Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 12–33Google Scholar.

3. Numerous scholars have used Anita Bryant, Jerry Falwell, and other individuals to explain the rise of the Religious Right. See, especially, Sandbrook, Dominic, Mad as Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right (New York: Knopf, 2011), 344–60Google Scholar; Deaderick, Sam and Turner, Tamara, Gay Resistance: The Hidden History (Seattle: Red Letter Press, 1997), 7Google Scholar; Lienesch, Michael, Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1993), 52–84Google Scholar; Kalman, Laura, Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974–1980 (New York: Norton, 2010), 257–58Google Scholar; Fetner, Tina, How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2008), 15–119Google Scholar; Wilcox, Clyde, Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics, 2nd ed. (Boulder: Westview Press, 2000), 3–5Google Scholar; Harding, Susan Friend, The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000)Google Scholar; and Diamond, Sara, Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right (Boston: South End Press, 1989)Google Scholar. Students of gay and lesbian history identify continuous resistance. See Chauncey, George, Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay Equality (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 38–41Google Scholar; Hekma, Gert, Oosterhuis, Harry, and Steakley, James, eds. Gay Men and the Sexual History of the Political Left (New York: Haworth Press, 1995)Google Scholar; and D'Emilio, John, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970, 2d ed., (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Scholars of religion point to cultural change, the suburbanization of conservatism, and the Christianization of popular culture. See, especially, Luhr, Witnessing Suburbia, but also Hart, Darryl G., That Old-Time Religion in Modern America: Evangelical Protestantism in the Twentieth Century (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2002)Google Scholar.

4. Canaday, Margot, The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009)Google Scholar; and Darnton, Robert, Poetry and the Police: Communication Networks in Eighteenth-Century Paris (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 139Google Scholar.

5. Pamela ____, Walnut Creek United Methodist Church Worship Response Form, June 2, 1992, Church Files, Walnut Creek United Methodist Church Office, Walnut Creek, California. “Pamela's” full name is on the form but to respect her privacy I am not including it here.

6. Interview with Douglas McPherson, February 7, 2011, digital recording, transcript; and Kuyper, Robert L., Crisis in Ministry: A Wesleyan Response to the Gay Rights Movement (Anderson, Indiana: Bristol House, 1999)Google Scholar, 213, 216.

7. Kelley, Dean, Why Conservative Churches are Growing (New York: Harper and Row, 1972)Google Scholar, 6, 9; and Frank, Polity, Practice and the Mission of the United Methodist Church, 25. Jenkins, Philip, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 122–24Google Scholar, 132, argues that America remains culturally Christian with only “limited” religious diversity.

8. Jenkins, The Next Christendom, 232–34.

9. Fannin, Bishop Robert E., “The Church – The Vow – the Witness,” in Staying the Course: Supporting the Church's Position on Homosexuality, ed. Dunnam, Maxie D. and Malony, H. Newton (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003)Google Scholar, 35.

10. The opponents of discrimination, in contrast, describe the Book of Discipline, their church law, as a confusing and contradictory document, “a living stream of personalities and relationships, crises and changes, ways of working and avenues for organizing, prejudices, assumptions, values, and beliefs.” Frank, Polity, Practice and the Mission of the United Methodist Church, 18.

11. Thomas C. Oden, “The Classic Christian Exegesis on Romans 1:22–28,” in Dunnam and Malony, Staying the Course, 86.

12. Jack Chambers, “Down the Wrong Road,” Good News, March/April, 43, quoted in Karen Phyllis Oliveto, “Movements of Reform and Movements of Resistance: Homosexuality and the United Methodist Church, a Case Study,” (PhD diss., Drew University, 2002), 137–38.

13. Green, John C. and Guth, James L., “United Methodists and American Culture: A Statistical Portrait,” in The People(s) Called Methodist: Forms and Reforms of their Life, ed. Lawrence, William B., Campbell, Dennis M., and Richey, Russell (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998)Google Scholar; Defense of Marriage Act, Public Law No. 104–199, 110 Stat. 2419; Tipton, Steven M., Public Pulpits: Methodists and the Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 70–75Google Scholar; Moon, Dawne, God, Sex and Politics: Homosexuality and Everyday Theologies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004)Google Scholar; and Gordon, Sarah Barringer, The Spirit of the Law: Religious Voices and the Constitution in Modern America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 169–297Google Scholar. I thank Sally Gordon for kindly sharing this with me before publication.

14. American Protestants tried their members in church courts for such sins as dancing, gambling, lying, going to another church, fighting, slander, Sabbath breaking, sexual offenses, liquor violations, or going to law. Ross, Richard J., “Puritan Godly Discipline in Comparative Perspective: Legal Pluralism and the Sources of ‘Intensity,’” American Historical Review 113 (2008): 975–1002CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Najar, Monica, “Citizens of the Church: Baptist Churches and the Construction of Civil Order in the Upper South, 1765–1815,” American Baptist Quarterly 16 (1997): 206–18Google Scholar; Cummins, Light Townsend, “Church Courts, Marriage Breakdown, and Separation in Spanish Louisiana, West Florida, and Texas,” Journal of Texas Catholic History and Culture 4 (1993): 97–114Google Scholar; Ericson, Kathryn, “Triple Jeopardy: The ‘Muus v. Muus’ Case in Three Forums,” Minnesota History 50 (1987): 298–308Google Scholar; Boyd, Lois A., “Shall Women Speak? Confrontation in the Church, 1876,” Journal of Presbyterian History 56 (1978): 271–296Google Scholar; Kuykendall, John W., “Martyr to the Seventh Commandment: John R. McDowell” Journal of Presbyterian History 50 (1972): 288–305Google Scholar; and Waldrep, Christopher, “'So Much Sin': The Decline of Religious Discipline and the ‘Tidal Wave of Crime’,” Journal of Social History 23 (1990): 535–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15. Interview with Bishop Jack Tuell, April 17, 2010, digital recording, notes; and telephone interview with Bishop Dan Solomon, January 25, 2011, notes.

16. Joseph Mitchell, “Ministers Charged with Performing ‘Ceremonies that Celebrate Homosexual Unions,’ A Parallel Situation,” folder 1, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. Interview with Bishop Jack Tuell, April 17, 2010, digital recording, notes; Schmidt, Frederick W. Jr., A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination, and the Church (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995), 53–54Google Scholar; telephone interview with Bishop Dan Solomon, January 25, 2011, notes; and Bishop Dan Solomon email to author, February 7, 2011.

17. Northern California Methodists had long been known for being more liberal than those in the rest of the country. In 1943, California's leading Methodist clergy had questioned the wisdom of placing American-born Japanese in internment camps. California Methodists denounced McCarthyism before it even took the name “McCarthyism.” In 1948, they warned against an erosion of liberties based on “the creation of an artificial emergency.” Arthur H. Wallace, ed., Journal of the Fifth Annual Session of the California Conference of the Methodist Church (1943), 482; Arthur H. Wallace, ed., Journal of the Sixth Annual Session of the California Conference of the Methodist Church (1944), 66–67; Arthur H. Wallace, ed., Journal of the Seventh Annual Session of the California Conference of the Methodist Church (1945), 238–39; Donald H. Baldwin, ed., Journal and Year Book: Tenth Session, the California Annual Conference of the Methodist Church (1948), 131; Donald H. Baldwin, Journal and Year Book: Second Session; the California Nevada Annual Conference of the Methodist Church (California Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, San Francisco 1950), 122–23 and; interview with Barbara Hall, February 8, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

18. John V. Moore, “The Gift of Law,” sermon, May 5, 1963, John V. Moore Papers, California Nevada Annual Conference Archives, United Methodist Church, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California (hereafter Moore Papers). Moore, “Autobiography,” Moore Papers; Moore, “Making San Francisco Home,” sermon, January 12, 1964, Moore Papers. The Methodists had nineteen churches in San Francisco when Moore arrived. Membership ranged from 75 to 875 for a total of 5685. “Statistical Report,” Journal and Yearbooks, 115 ^thSession, California–Nevada Annual Conference of the Methodist Church (California Annual Conference of the Methodist Church San Francisco, 1963), 218.

19. “Young Adult Ministry,” Documents, National Young Adult Project, 1964–1965, Records of the General Board of Discipleship, Methodist Collection, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

20. Interview with Robert Theodore (Ted) McIlvenna, December 4, 2009, digital recording, transcript. For McIlvenna in the secondary literature, see Sides, Josh, Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 99Google Scholar; D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities,192–93; Boyd, Nan Alamilla, Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 232Google Scholar; Stryker, Susan and Buskirk, Jim Van, Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco: Chronicle, 1996), 40–41Google Scholar; Marcus, Eric, Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights (New York: HarperCollins, 1992)Google Scholar, 140, 152; Sears, James T., Behind the Mask of the Mattachine: The Hal Call Chronicles and the Early Movement for Homosexual Emancipation (New York: Harrington Park, 2006), 285–93Google Scholar; Martin, Del, “Phyllis Lyon,” in Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context, ed. Bullough, Vern L. (New York: Harrington Park, 2002), 171–76Google Scholar; and Mixner, David and Bailey, Dennis, Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage (New York: Bantam Books, 2000)Google Scholar, 35, 36, 40.

21. D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities, 192.

22. Interview with Robert Theodore (Ted) McIlvenna, December 4, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

23. Moore, “Autobiography,” Moore Papers; interview with Robert Theodore (Ted) McIlvenna, December 4, 2009, digital recording, transcript; D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities, 192–93; Martin, Del and Lyon, Phyllis, Lesbian/Woman (San Francisco: Glide Publications, 1972), 38–39Google Scholar; Kuhn, Donald, The Church and the Homosexual: A Report on a Consultation (San Francisco: Glide Urban Center, 1965)Google Scholar; and Lewis E. Durham, Glide Foundation from 1962 through 1967 (San Francisco: Glide Urban Center, n.d.). For Ted McIlvenna's father, see “Robert (Bob) McIlvenna, Memoir,” Journal, Seventh Session of the Oregon–Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (Forest Grove: Times–Litho, 1975), 94.

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25. Moore, “Autobiography,” Moore Papers; and interview with Robert Theodore (Ted) McIlvenna, December 4, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

26. Keysor, Charles W., “Methodism's Silent Minority,” The New Christian Advocate, July 14, 1966, 9–10Google Scholar; Tipton, Public Pulpits, 107–14; and Oliveto, “Movements of Reform and Movements of Resistance,” 132–33. For Nixon, see “Nixon Declares ‘Silent Majority’ Backs His Speech,” New York Times, November 5, 1969, 1; Phillips, Kevin, The Emerging Republican Majority (New Rochelle: Arlington House, 1969)Google Scholar; Tom Wicker, “In the Nation: One Way to Bring us Together,” New York Times, September 14, 1969, E13; Bostdorff, Denise M., The Presidency and the Rhetoric of Foreign Crisis (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994), 117–18Google Scholar; Baldano, Michael P. Jr., “The Silent Versus the New Majority,” in Richard M. Nixon: Politician, President, Administrator, ed. Friedman, Leon and Levantrosser, William F. (Westport: Greenwood, 1991), 260–61Google Scholar; Bochin, Hal, Richard Nixon: Rhetorical Strategy (Westport: Greenwood, 1990), 61–62Google Scholar; and Mason, Robert, Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 71–72Google Scholar.

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29. “With God, all Things are Possible!” MCC Speaking Up 1 (1970): 1–2Google Scholar.

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31. Gordon, Spirit of the Law, 169–297; White, Heather Rachelle, “Proclaiming Liberation: The Historical Roots of LGBT Organizing,” Novo Religio 11 (2008): 114Google Scholar; and Earnest A. Smith, “On the Church and the Homosexual,” file Homosexuals and the Church, 1970–1975, Methodist Federation for Social Action, Methodist Collection, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

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36. Interview with Robert W. Moon, May 19, 2009, digital recording, transcript; First Methodist Church of San Leandro v. Russell C. Horstmann, 48 Cal. 2d 901 (1957); and Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513 (1958).

37. Gail E. Murphy-Goiss, “A Historical and Sociological Analysis of Three Centuries of Methodist Views of the Family,” (PhD diss., Hiff School of Theology, 2002), 137–38.

38. Daily Christian Advocate, April 28, 1972, 706.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41. John L Schreiber, ed. Journal of the 1972 General Conference of the United Methodist Church 1(1972): 458–59; and Kinsey, Alfred C., Pomeroy, Wardell B., and Martin, Clyde E., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1948), 610–66Google Scholar.

42. Daily Christian Advocate, April 28, 1972, 712. Shipps cited and quoted First Corinthians, Jude, and the first chapter of Romans.

43. Ibid.

44. Thomas C. Oden, “ The Classic Christian Exegesis on Romans 1:22–28,” in Dunnam and Malony, Staying the Course, 86.

45. McNeill, John J., The Church and the Homosexual (Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1976)Google Scholar; Doris Malkmus interview with Virginia Mollenkott, September 25, 2004, folder 9, box 4, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott Collection, Manuscript Collection, GTU Archives, Berkeley, California; and Scanzoni, Letha and Mollenkott, Virginia Ramey, Is the Homosexual my Neighbor: Another Christian View (New York: Harper and Row, 1978)Google Scholar.

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47. Scanzoni and Mollenkott, Is the Homosexual my Neighbor? 24.

48. George Foster, “Is the Christian My Neighbor?” Boston Gay Community News September 2, 1978.

49. Judy Weidman, Background Paper for Members of the Staff of the Division of Ordained Ministry in Regard to the Question of Ordination of Homosexuals which has Recently Surfaced as a Public Issue in the Church, April 11, 1975, Homosexuality and the Church, 1974–1975, Records on the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, Methodist Collection, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey; Michael to Huntly , September 21, 1978, Personal Correspondence Answered, 1977–1978, Records of Affirmation, ibid.; and Interview with Mark Bowman, August 27, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

50. Tipton, Public Pulpits, 111–14.

51. E. J. Dionne, Jr., “Small Gifts Allow G.O.P. to Outspend Foes in Fall,” New York Times, July 20, 1980, 14; Leslie Bennetts, “Conservatives Join on Social Concerns,” New York Times, July 30, 1980, A1; Kalman, Laura, Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974–1980 (New York: Norton, 2010), 24–26Google Scholar; and Critchlow, Donald T., The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), 128–31Google Scholar.

52. Dorothy J. Samuels, “A Coming Threat to Constitutional Values,” New York Times, November 23, 1980, E21.

53. Interview with Douglas McPherson, February 7, 2011, digital recording, transcript; and interview with Barbara Hall, February 8, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

54. Grmek, Mirko D., History of AIDS: Emergence and Origin of a Modern Pandemic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; and NGTF Questionnaire, not dated, carton 244, Alan MacGregor Cranston Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Despite the seeming resurgence of conservatism, there were troubling signs for traditionalists at the end of the 1980s. The Census Bureau and some courts had begun to redefine the meaning of family away from the traditional male/female adults with children model. Philip S. Gutis, “What is a Family? Traditional Limits are Being Redrawn,” New York Times, August 31, 1989, C1; and Miguel Braschi v. Stahl Associates Company, 74 N.Y.2d 201 (1989). Countries outside the United States had begun liberalizing their policies toward same-sex couples. Frank, David John and McEneaney, Elizabeth H., “The Individualization of Society and the Liberalization of State Policies on Same-Sex Sexual Relations, 1984–1995,” Social Forces 77 (1999): 911–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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58. Delegate Merlin Ackerson of Iowa, speaking on Majority Report on Issue of Homosexuality, Daily Christian Advocate April 26, 1996, 681.

59. Melvin R. Woodworth, “The Solemnization of Non-Marital Intimate Relationships,” (diss., San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1989), 182; Interview with Melvin Woodworth, July 20, 2010, digital recording, notes; and Douglas Dean, “Gay Marriage,” MCC Crosscurrents (Fall 1972): 6, 15.

60. Interview with Kathy McCallie, February 4, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

61. Interview with Leslie Penrose, February 16, 2011, digital recording, transcript; Bishop Dan Solomon email to author, February 21, 2011; and Penrose, Leslie, “The Integrity of Hope,” in Voices from the Heartland, ed. Taylor, Carolyn Anne, Dial-Driver, Emily, Burrage, Carole, and Emmons-Featherston, Sally (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 64–72Google Scholar.

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63. Interview with Robert Kuyper, January 10, 2010, digital recording, transcript; Kuyper, Crisis in Ministry; and Oliveto, “Movements of Reform and Movements of Resistance,” 131–40.

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70. Gregory R. Dell, speaking on Pastor Tells of Conducting Same Gender Covenant Services, Daily Christian Advocate, April 27, 1996, 780–81.

71. Delegate Philip Wogaman of Baltimore–Washington speaking on Explanation of Nature of Social Principles,” Daily Christian Advocate, April 27, 2009, 779.

72. For former homosexuals, see Book of Discipline (1996) , 94; for the ban on homosexual unions, see ibid., 87. For clergy independence in 1916, see Murphy-Goiss, “A Historical and Sociological Analysis of Three Centuries of Methodist Views of the Family,” 138.

73. Interview with Elaine O'Rourke, January 6, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

74. Interview with Kathy McCallie, February 4, 2010, digital recording, transcript; interview with Douglas McPherson, February 7, 2011, digital recording, transcript; interview with Leslie Penrose, February 16, 2011, digital recording, notes; Pat Gilliland, “Pastor to Leave Denomination,” Daily Oklahoman, April 1997; and Kathy McCallie, “Holy Unions,” October 21, 1996, Kathy McCallie Papers.

75. Leslie Penrose, “Reflections on Our Life Together as the Community of Hope,” June 18, 1997, memorandum to COH Advisory Committee, Penrose Personal Papers, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Leslie Penrose, “Reflections on Our Life Together as the Community of Hope,” February 12, 1998, Penrose memorandum to COH Advisory Committee, Penrose Personal Papers, Tulsa, Oklahoma; interview with Douglas McPherson, February 7, 2011, digital recording, transcript; and interview with Leslie Penrose, February 16, 2011, digital recording, transcript.

76. Jimmy Creech, “Response to the Judicial Charge by Jimmy Creech, Senior Pastor First United Methodist Church, Omaha, Nebraska, January 26, 1998,” folder 1, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

77. Ibid; Jimmy Creech interviewed by Mel White in The Trials of Jimmy Creech, produced and directed by Mel White, Soulforce Production, 1998, videocassette; Jimmy Creech testimony, transcript of proceedings, Nebraska United Methodist Conference v. Reverend Jimmy Creech, United Methodist Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

78. Allen O. Morris, “The Church in Bondage: Appendix O, Case Study: The First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska,” http://www.cmpage.org/bondage/appendixo.html

79. Nebraska United Methodist Conference v. Reverend Jimmy Creech, Transcript of Jury Selection, Michael D. McClellan law offices, Omaha; and Bishop Leroy C. Hodapp, “Reflections on the Trial of Jimmy Creech,” United Methodist Church Judicial Council Box 21 stack location 2207-3-7 File 2207-3-7:01 Correspondence Creech folder 1, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

80. Bishop Leroy C. Hodapp, “Reflections on the Trial of Jimmy Creech,” United Methodist Church Judicial Council Box 21 stack location 2207-3-7 File 2207-3-7:01 Correspondence Creech folder 1, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

81. William Jenks testimony, transcript of proceedings, Nebraska United Methodist Conference v. Reverend Jimmy Creech, United Methodist Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

82. The Reverend Dr. Douglas Williamson, Opening Statement, Nebraska United Methodist Conference v. Reverend Jimmy Creech, Transcript of Jury Selection, Michael D. McClellan law offices, Omaha.

83. Jimmy Creech testimony, transcript of proceedings, Nebraska United Methodist Conference v. Reverend Jimmy Creech, United Methodist Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

84. Kenneth Hicks testimony, transcript of proceedings, ibid.

85. Roy Reed testimony, transcript of proceedings, ibid.

86. Ibid.

87. Bishop Leroy C. Hodapp, “Reflections on the Trial of Jimmy Creech,” United Methodist Church Judicial Council Box 21 stack location 2207-3-7File 2207-3-7:01 Correspondence Creech folder 1.

88. Steve Johnson, “Methodist Schism Grows Rift,” San Jose Mercury News, May 2, 1998, 1B.

89. Judicial Council Decision No. 833, August 8, 1998.

90. Carolyn Smith to the College of Bishops of the South Central Jurisdiction, June 15, 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

91. Louis Victor Priebe to Judicial Council, June 19, 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

92. Members First United Church UMC of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, “Judgment and Tolerance,” May 31, 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

93. Ibid.

94. South Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, “A Brief: Submitted to the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church,” June 22, 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

95. The Reverend David O'Dell, A Brief Concerning Par. 65 of the 1996 Discipline, June 11, 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

96. In Re: “Is the Discipline of The Methodist Church a Book of Law?” Decision 96, Judicial Council Decisions http://archives.umc.org/interior_judicial.asp?mid=263&JDID=180&JDMOD=VWD; and Book of Discipline (1996), ii.

97. Peter F. Milloy, “Brief to the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church,” June 1998, folder 1, docket material, Creech, box 20, Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey.

98. Telephone interview with Bishop Dan Solomon, January 25, 2011, notes; telephone interview with Bishop Dan Solomon, February 3, 2011, notes; Bishop Dan Solomon email to author, February 7, 2011; and Judicial Council Decision No. 833, August 8, 1998.

99. Judicial Council Decision No. 833, August 8, 1998.

100. Interview with Sarah Hubinsky Phelps, January 11, 2010, digital recording and transcript.

101. Interview with Ellie Charlton, May 13, 2009, digital recording and transcript.

102. Interview with Don Fado, April 15, 2009, digital recording, notes; and interview with Alan Jones, August 26, 2009, digital recording.

103. The Reverend Betty Jo Birkhahn-Rommelfanger, chair, Committee on Investigation of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference, “In the Matter of Reverend Gregory R. Dell,” box 3, In All Things Charity Collection, Special Collections Northern Illinois University Library, Dekalb, Illinois; and interview with Gregory Dell, March 24, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

104. Interview with Gregory Dell, March 24, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

105. Joseph Sprague, Judicial complaint, October 12, 1998, box 3, In All Things Charity Collection, Special Collections Northern Illinois University Library, Dekalb, Illinois.

106. Dell email, October 13, 1998, file 4, ibid.

107. Stephen C. Williams, counsel for the church, “Judicial Complaint by the Northern Illinois Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church,” January 30, 1999, ibid.

108. The Reverend Betty Jo Birkhahn-Rommelfanger, chair, Committee on Investigation of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference, “In the Matter of Reverend Gregory R. Dell,” ibid.

109. Bishop George Bashore testimony, Record of Proceedings, re: The Matter of the Reverend Gregory R. Dell, box 3, ibid.

110. The Reverend Larry Pickens, opening statement, ibid.

111. Dr. Thomas Frank Testimony, ibid.

112. Ibid.

113. John McDermott Testimony, Record of Proceedings, re: The Matter of the Reverend Gregory R. Dell, box 3, In All Things Charity Collection, Special Collections Northern Illinois University Library, Dekalb, Illinois.

114. Record of Proceedings, re: The Matter of the Reverend Gregory R. Dell, box 3, In All Things Charity Collection, Special Collections Northern Illinois University Library, Dekalb, Illinois; and interview with Gregory Dell, March 24, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

115. Interview with Bishop Jack Tuell, April 17, 2010, digital recording, notes.

116. Interview with Gregory Dell, March 24, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

117. Don Fado, “The Ugliest Word in the English Language,” October 4, 1998, Don Fado Personal Papers, Sacramento.

118. Interview with Ellie Charlton, May 13, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

119. Interview with Don Fado, April 15, 2009, digital recording, notes.

120. Interview with Elane O'Rourke, January 6, 2010, digital recording, transcript.

121. Interview with Bishop Melvin Talbert, April 13, 2009, notes.

122. Interview with Ellie Charlton, May 13, 2009, digital recording, transcript; and interview with Ardith Allread, September 28, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

123. Interview with Douglas Hayward, February 8, 2009, video recording; and interview with Don Fado, April 15, 2009, digital recording, notes.

124. The Sacramento 68: Statements to the Committee on Investigation (n.p.: 2000).

125. Interview with Don Fado, April 15, 2009, digital recording, notes.

126. The Sacramento 68, 24–26.

127. Ibid., 126.

128. Ibid., 191.

129. Interview with Douglas Hayward, February 8, 2009, video recording.

130. ABC World News, January 16, 1999; “Methodist Mutiny,” Washington Post, June 30, 1999, A30; Rene Sanchez, “At Gay Wedding, Ministers Take a Vow against Church Ban,” Washington Post, January 17, 1999; Ernest Tucker, “84 Methodist Ministers to Conduct Same-Sex Marriage,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 15, 1999, 24; Hallye Jordan, “Celebration of Marriage, Gay Rights Lesbian Pair's Vow of Unity Divides United Methodists,” San Jose Mercury News, January 17, 1999, 3B; Lesbian Union Ceremony Divides Methodist Church,” CNN Sunday, January 17, 1999; Gustav Niebuhr, “68 Clerics Face Judgment over Same-Sex Union,” New York Times, June 11, 1999 ; Chauncey, Why Marriage? 45–47.

131. Don Latlin, “Methodists Divided by Lesbian Union Blessing,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 1999, B1; and Joe Hoover, “Crisis in the United Methodist Church,” The American Night Watch, October 22, 1999, http://www.amnightwatch.com/umcrisis.htm (October 3, 2009).

132. Minutes for the 65C Meeting, Epworth United Methodist Church, February 25, 1999, Don Fado Papers; and interview with Ardith Allread, September 28, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

133. Melvin Talbert to author, August 21, 2009; interview with Alan Jones, August 26, 2009, digital recording; interview with Ardith Allread, September 28, 2009, digital recording, transcript; and interview with Dave Bennett, November 11, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

134. Ardith Allread, David Bennett to Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, March 23, 1999, Don Fado Papers; interview with Ardith Allread, September 28, 2009, digital recording, transcript; and interview with Dave Bennett, November 11, 2009, digital recording, transcript.

135. “Notes of the Preliminary Meeting Held with the Respondents in the January 16, 1999 Holy Union Case, September 1, 1999, Don Fado Papers.

136. Nebraska Annual Conference v. Jimmy Creech, The Church Trial of Reverend Jimmy Creech, United Methodist Church Judicial Council Records, General Commission on Archives and History, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey; and Daniel R. Gangler, “Creech Found Guilty,” Coronet, November 18, 1999, http://www.umaffirm.org/cornews/creech59.html Creech published his statement, see Creech, Jimmy, Rise Above the Law: The Appeal to the Jury, the United Methodist Church's Trial of Jimmy Creech (Omaha: Swing Bridge Press, 2000)Google Scholar.

137. “Procedures for the Hearing of the Judicial Complaint Relating to the Holy Union Ceremony Held on January 16, 1999 in Sacramento, January 14, 2000, Don Fado Papers.

138. Don Fado to Ron, e-mail, not dated, ibid.

139. Steve Harper, “Acts of Holy Union Viewed in Relation to the Wesleyan Tradition,” ibid.

140. Ronald E. Swisher to Don Fado, February 8, 2000, ibid.

141. John E. Corson, “The Committee on Investigation Hearing, Reflections by John E. Corson,” February 8, 2000, ibid.