Out Of The Shadows IV

A pioneer in gay rights
Published: October 9, 2007

By DEE MOORE
Of the News-Register 



Bernie Turner is committed to social justice. A Baptist minister, he has taken to heart this admonition from Jesus in John 13:34-35: 
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 


So when a young mother came to him in the mid-1980s and asked to join the church, her lesbian sexual orientation gave him no pause.

"Gay, lesbian is just a part of the fabric of that," he said. 


When Turner came to McMinnville to pastor First Baptist Church in the 1970s, he brought with him strong social justice convictions and an activist streak to go with them.

"In some ways it was a very lively time - a time when everybody had to come to terms with how they thought of this issue," he said. 


As Turner came to know his congregation, as any good pastor does, he became increasingly aware of its secrets. And one of those secrets was that some of the children from longtime church families were gay or lesbian. 


"No one talked about it," he said. "Sad to say, even the families who knew a son or daughter was gay spent very little time discussing it." 


Turner decided there should be a support group for them. He felt called to minister to the needs of this segment of the congregation - indeed, this segment of the larger community. It had nowhere else and no one else to turn to, he reasoned. 


He hoped to foster dialogue and open minds to the fact that these were God's children, too. 
Out of that hope grew Together Works. And it altered the church forever. 


"We were one of the first churches to do so in the American Baptist Convention," he said. And even though Ronald Reagan was president and AIDS was on an alarming rampage at the time, he said, the convention was both affirming and welcoming. 


Not everyone was so supportive.

Local reaction was mixed at best. 
Homosexuality remained deep in the closet in Yamhill County, and many parishioners saw no reason to bring it into the open. But Turner was determined to move forward.


"I did it out of pastoral concern," he said. "I had no reservations about it. 
"I am deeply convinced in my mind and soul that one's sexual orientation changes nothing in the eye of God. It's a tragic thing people have to spend their lives hiding." 


So Turner led his church in a new direction. And in the process, he got all of the dialogue he could ever want. 
Panel discussions were held. Close examinations of the Bible were conducted. Religious experts were called on, along with experts in sexuality and psychology from the Oregon Health & Science University. 


Some members of the congregation could not or would not follow Turner down this new path. They left the church and found new outlets for religious expression elsewhere. 


Criticism and backlash also came from outside.

Opponents of the church's embrace of the local gay and lesbian community led to the staging of a protest demonstration out front one Sunday. 
That did nothing to deter Turner, who dismissed the protest as a couple of people pacing the sidewalk with placards. 


He went on to perform commitment ceremonies for gay couples, stirring more controversy. 


But looking back, he wouldn't change a thing. He pronounces himself "very happy" with his role in the groundbreaking developments. 


Though he retired in 1993, he remains in touch with many members of his former flock. And the church has continued to embrace both heterosexual and homosexual members, without fear or favor, under the stewardship of the Rev. Kent Harrop.

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