I took these notes during the ULS community meeting at the Gettysburg campus at 5:30pm on February 27, 2018. Members of the Philadelphia campus were also present via live-streaming. These notes are not word-for-word or inclusive of everything said. If I put something in quotes, then I’m reasonably sure I captured the speaker’s words verbatim.

I gave President Latini and Bishop Dunlop the opportunity to review these notes and offer feedback on anything I may have misheard or misrepresented. President Latini offered clarifying notes and some additional sentences from her manuscript, which I clearly recollected her saying and therefore included. There is one place where my notes and hers diverge; this inconsistency is annotated below. I’ve also corresponded with Barry Hill (Chief Communications Officer) and at the seminary’s request, I’ve given ULS permission to refer people to this document as a summary of the meeting.

--Victoria Larson, LTSG class of ‘14

The meeting began at 5:30pm. Bishop Jim Dunlop (Lower Susquehanna Synod) led us in prayer, a prayer that included an element of confession and forgiveness. “We have spoken when we should have been silent. We have been silent when we should have spoken. We have moved when we should have been still. We have been still when we ought to have moved.”

He then introduced himself not just as bishop, but as the chair of the ULS transition team, a member of the executive committee of ULS, and also a board member. He framed the meeting as a chance to “chat about the information we have disseminated.” He emphasized the importance of creating a safe environment, and asked, therefore, that no audio or video recording be done, which would enable us to create “space to be honest.” He also asked that people who were not members of the community absent themselves.

He acknowledged the receipt of letters from a number of corners, and promised that the board was committed to creating opportunities for ongoing conversations. He offered that pastoral counselors were available to members of the seminary community, and that listening facilitators had also been tapped for ongoing work.

After outlining the flow of how the evening would go, Bishop Dunlop introduced the first speaker:

The Rev. Charles Miller—chair of the search committee that recommended Dr. Latini

Rev. Miller detailed the composition of the search committee—7 members each from the two predecessors bodies, including students, faculty, staff, etc., plus one ELCA Churchwide rep. They began their work in November 2016 and concluded it in March 2017 by submitting their recommendation to the board to call Dr Latini.

Rev. Miller shared that each candidate went through two rounds of interviews during which about 50 questions were asked (not including follow-up questions). Several of those questions had to do with how Dr. Latini would support and affirm the LGBTQ+ community at ULS and support its Reconciling in Christ commitment. He described the team as “excited” by Dr. Latini’s answers: “Dr. Latini’s responses to those questions were spot-on.” Committee members Googled her during meetings, he said, and didn’t see anything untoward.

Rev. Miller apologized for two specific shortcomings during his time: first, that the team did not conduct research deep enough into Dr. Latini’s background to detect her relationship with One by One. And second, that they did not end the interview with the standard question about whether there was anything in her past that risked potential embarrassment to the seminary should they call her. “It was just not done,” he said.

The committee enthusiastically recommended Dr. Latini to be president.

The Rev. Dr. Elise Brown—chair of the board of directors

Rev. Brown spoke next. In April 2017, she received a call from Dr. Latini telling her that she’d been associated with One by One. Rev. Brown called Rev. Miller and asked if this has been disclosed during the interviews. It had not, he said, and then he reaffirmed that Latini had handled the LGBTQ+ line of questioning very well.

Rev. Brown went back and checked the background checks done on Dr. Latini. Neither uncovered her work on One by One. Rev. Brown went online and did a cursory scan of the organization’s homepage. Noting that it looked defunct, she didn’t examine it closely.

Rev. Brown then reached out to Marvin Ellison, a Presbyterian professor of ethics whose reading and writing focus on sexual ethics, and an active advocate within the LGBTQ+ community. Dr. Ellison had not heard of Dr. Latini’s involvement with One by One, or even of the organization itself. He helped Rev. Brown reach out to others within the Presbyterian LGBTQ+ advocacy sphere. No one had heard of One by One. The younger people in the group knew of Dr. Latini, and saw her as an advocate to the LGBTQ+ community.

Rev. Brown was satisfied with the results of this research, and chose not to carry the news forward any farther.

In May and October of 2017, she was contacted by staff members and a faculty member about Dr. Latini’s association with One by One. Again, she chose not to move forward with it.

Finally, in December, she brought it to the board.

Rev. Dr. Brown apologized for two things: first, for not having done a deep dive into One by One. Second, for not bringing the full board into the conversation much earlier. “I am truly sorry for that judgment,” she said.

Bishop Jim Dunlop

“I first got the call on December 20th from a pastor in the synod where I serve asking if I knew anything.” Bishop Dunlop initiated the board meeting through Rev. Brown, and the board met on December 29th. It was agreed that they needed to begin to prepare communications relating to this news, and that work began in January.

On February 14th, Rev. Brown contacted him and let him know that the news was becoming more widely known, and asked him to write a statement, which he did.

Bishop Dunlop shared that one of the questions the board keeps fielding is, “Didn’t you realize what an impact this would have?” His answer: “No. We didn’t realize…that the reaction would be this significant.” And a bit later: “We felt like the history [of her transformation] was the most important history.”

Dr. Theresa Latini

Dr. Latini began with the statement she posted last week. She acknowledged that she had been the director of One by One, an organization meant to equip and educate the church to minister to those in conflict with their sexuality [a paraphrase of their mission statement]. She began as executive director in 1996, and held that position for about five and a half years.

She acknowledged that in that time, she presented a viewpoint that not only wasn’t inclusive, but was outright damaging. “I believed and taught that sexual orientation could be changed for some if not for many.^[1]  For this I am deeply sorry. It was wrong and damaging. I do not believe that one’s orientation can change, nor that one should ever try.”

She went on to tell us that while she had never performed or helped perform “reparative therapy” on anyone, she recommended that path as valid. “That was wrong. I have, and continue to completely reject reparative therapy. It’s wrong, and I renounce it. It’s violent.”

Dr. Latini here delved more deeply into her story, first laying out the context of the late-nineties in which One by One emerged as one of a cluster of evangelical organizations that enjoyed broad support in the PCUSA (a zeitgeist from which the ELCA was not immune—Dr. Latini referenced a 2001 article written by Princeton Seminary professor Jim Loder and published in Luther Seminary’s Word and World advocating for reparative therapy). “The power imbalances between me and that system were staggering,” she said. “I was their poster child, chosen and well-vetted.”  

“I became director when I was finishing my undergrad degree. At that time I had lost all family support. I was dependent upon a charismatic church for support, one that had an ex-gay support group. They were the only family I had.”

After undergrad, Dr. Latini went on to seminary, where her understanding changed profoundly due to many influences, including more robust biblical interpretations. She also noted that, ironically, part of this shift in understanding came through her work with One by One, which put her in touch with the wider Presbyterian church, including gay colleagues. “They knew I was the director of One by One, and they still met me as a human being.”

After leaving One by One, President Latini found the world of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Within this community, Dr. Latini felt as though “I were seen and known and held with care.” In the Presbyterian world, she was accustomed to being treated like a villain by the progressive side, and as a poster child by the conservative side. For the first time, outside the church, through NVC, she felt free of those identities. “There was no risk that my story would be taken and used.”

As Dr. Latini contemplated what confession and forgiveness might look like, she undertook the following actions:

• She asked One by One to take down everything she’d written. “They didn’t represent my beliefs. I didn’t want them circulating. I didn’t want them to be used to damage or marginalize LGBTQ+ people in the church.” But nothing ever disappears once it’s on the internet. “I’m so sorry you had to read those words.”
• She apologized and expressed regret to those with whom she was connected relationally. Those apologies were concrete and particular.
• She began teaching NVC and running restorative circle groups.
• 12 years ago, [in the school where she was working], she supported the first openly gay student there in coming out. Her office was known as a safe space in a place that was not safe.
• She worked at an institutional level to give voice to LGBTQ+ folks through diversity efforts.
• She served as pastor to a church known as a “safe haven” for LGBTQ+ people and that had LGBTQ+ members and ordained deacons and elders.

Dr. Latini acknowledged that she has never made a public statement about reparative therapy or One by One. She also stated that she had told people at each place she’s served about that piece of her past. On her CV, she includes everything since her ordination—One by One predates that.

“At no point did I imagine that the events of the last two weeks would be possible,” she said. “I know that you need trust, safety, and security, and you need it in this institution.”

[At this point, I shut my notebook at the request of Dr. Latini, who asked to be able to speak in confidence with those present in the room, and requesting that we hold that confidence once we left it. This request applied only to two particular questions.]

Questions/Comments
I was mostly listening instead of writing, and so I haven’t captured the full extent of each speaker’s comments here.

I’m including only questions/comments from people whose permission I’ve gained directly. If you spoke at either Gettysburg or Philadelphia and your comments aren’t recorded below, please private message me or email me (pastor_trinitysteelton@yahoo.com).

• Carla Christopher-Waid (student): Around the same time that President Latini was getting involved with One by One, one of Carla’s loved ones who was gay died by suicide. She then watched a second loved one, also gay, slide into addiction, contract HIV, and die of AIDS. “It was a long time ago…but they’re still dead,” she said, implicitly referring to the ongoing references to the length of time that had elapsed since Dr. Latini’s involvement with One by One. Carla then went on to emphasize that the conversation surrounding the harm wreaked by conversion therapy is at the forefront of LGBTQ+ dialogue right now, and that there is no excuse for the board’s not knowing that this would be a big deal. She asked what concrete steps would be taken to address the systemic issue, and educate the board, the faculty, the staff, etc. [Applause.]

• Bishop Dunlop, who was moderating, responded by saying that we’re still at the beginning of the process, but assured Carla that this would be part of their apology.

• Elizabeth Peter (student body president): Why were faculty and staff not informed sooner?

• This was directed to President Latini. Her response boiled down to: “In retrospect, I would have done many things differently.”

•  Karyn L. Wiseman, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Zooming in from the Philly campus, spoke next. She expressed her experience of not disclosing her own sexuality in the interview proceess due to fear and acknowledged the transformation of Dr. Latini. However, the failure of Dr. Latini and the Board to disclose the information to the ULS community when confronted over the past 10 months was devastating to many of us. She expressed deep disappointment and mistrust. “You can’t talk about us without us,” she said. “It can’t be just the board talking about this anymore, because we don’t trust you. You only disclosed when the story broke.”
• Rev. Lura Groen (alum): In what way do you think you’re a board competent to lead without a queer member?

• Bishop Dunlop: “There is a member of the board who is a homosexual.”

• Rev. Lura Groen: How are you, a person in power, asking students, who are powerless, to hold confidence for you in keeping with NVC?

• President Latini: I did ask, but they can choose whether or not to honor that.

• Elizabeth Peter: What’s the mission statement of ULS?

• Bishop Dunlop: We don’t have one yet.
• Elizabeth: I think you need to work to write one soon. Because our purpose is to prepare and educate students for ministry...and right now, this crap is getting in the way of my education.

The meeting ended shortly after this. Professor Mark Vitalis-Hoffman was surprised to be asked to pray by Bishop Dunlop, but did give the closing prayer.

Of note: Bishop Dunlop reported that the link whereby questions were submitted for this meeting would remain open, and questions can continue to be addressed to the president and the board through those means.