LESBIAN AND GAY INTERFAITH COUNCIL OF MINNESOTA:

The Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council of Minnesota was originally established in 1976 by four Twin Cities religious groups ministering to the gay community as the Gay Interfaith Coalition. In 1980 the group was renamed the Ecumenical Coordinating Council and in 1981 it became known as the Twin Cities Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council. In 1983 the name was finalized as the Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council of Minnesota. The records in the collection primarily center on the Council's religious, educational, and social activities and relations with its member organizations during the first half of the 1980s. The Council disbanded in 1987.

Among the more prominent activities documented in the records are the Council's sponsorship of a series of panel discussions on the Bible and homosexuality (1982), its consultation with the American Lutheran Church on helping congregations minister to gay and lesbian members (1982); participation in the constituting convention of the North American Lesbian and Gay Religious Congress (1982); the work of the Council's legislative task force; and a number of liturgies developed by the Council for religious observances it sponsored. The Council's change in format from a representative council to a forum of interested persons centered around a series of monthly forums on topics and issues relevant to the lesbian and gay religious community (1986) is also documented.

Most of the records generated by the council's member organizations are newsletters providing an overview of events and issues relevant to the Twin cities gay and lesbian religious community during this period.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession Number: 15,248

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank P. Hennessy, May 1998

Catalog ID number: 990017347100104294

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Additional records of the Lesbian and Gay Interfaith Council of Minnesota are in Leo Treadway's records related to the gay rights movement in Minnesota which are also in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Church and social problems -- Minnesota.

Church work with gays -- Minnesota.

Gay liberation movement -- Minnesota.

Gays -- Minnesota -- Religious life.

Homosexuality -- Religious aspects.

Jewish gays -- Minnesota.

Organizations:

All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Evangelicals Concerned/Twin Cities (Minn.).

Lesbian/Gay Interfaith Alliance (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Lutherans Concerned North America. Twin Cities Chapter.

Minnesota Affirmation.

North American Lesbian and Gay Religious Congress.

Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns of the Twin Cities Area (Minn.).

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