GLOBE Gays & Lesbians Organized for Betterment & Equality
GLOBE Gays & Lesbians Organized for Betterment & Equality
P.O. Box 56305
Hayward, CA 94545
ph: (510) 538-9722
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We at GLOBE mourn the loss long time board member Rev. Lee Williamson.
Lee has been a leader in the community and the Church, advocating equal treatment for gays and lesbians. He risked his pastorship by performing a same-sex ceremony, in defiance of the Methodist Church doctrines.
GLOBE sends our heart felt condolences to his family and friends.
Link for more information:
Remembering Lee Williamson
Rev. Lee Williamson (1939-2009):
A Nonviolent Life Lived with Passion, Humor and Grace
I have just learned that my good friend and colleague, Rev. Lee Williamson, has died.
I first met Lee at the Alameda County Jail in 1983, where we had landed after being arrested for engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
LLNL, some forty miles east of San Francisco, California, designed fifty percent of the US nuclear arsenal, and 1200 of us had decided to publicly withdraw our consent. Lee was one of 14 ministers arrested on that warm June day. There were so many arrestees that the authorities stashed us in two large tents, one for women, one for men.
A legacy of fearlessness, humor, and commitment to justice, peace and Gospel nonviolence
Prior to the demonstration, the organizers had received reliable information that the authorities planned to impose two years of probation on each of us, a move that could very well spell the end of the then-burgeoning anti-nuclear movement in Northern California. We were therefore encouraged to withhold our names until we were in front of a judge. The idea was to communicate that we were willing to stay in jail rather than accept long-term probation.
After two weeks, the government relented, and the thousand of us who had stayed put over that fortnight were released with time served — and no probation.
About a week before this breakthrough, however, Lee Williamson and another minister offered to test the waters: they would give their name and submit to arraignment in order to find out what the district attorney and the judge handling these cases actually had in mind. If they managed to receive a reasonable sentence — that is, without untoward probation — then the rest of the group could proceed in their footsteps.
After a brief trial they were sentenced to 40 days in prison, which they began serving post-haste in the jail’s general population. This reality check, I suspect, strengthened the resolve of the remaining arrestees to stiffen their solidarity — and helped make the more felicitous outcome a reality. As Lee’s long-time colleague Carolyn Scarr says, it probably also moved the judge. The willingness of two local pastors to take a 40 day sentence was likely a major factor in changing his mind about handing down heavy sentences.
After everyone else was set free, the judge ordered the two ministers released as well.
Lee’s act of courage and tenacity moved me deeply, and it sparked the beginning of a long and powerful relationship. Countless stories of Lee’s fearlessness, humor, and commitment to justice, peace and Gospel nonviolence crowd my mind tonight. The youngest of eleven children who, at mid-life, became a United Methodist minister, Lee was a powerful agent for nonviolent change and could be counted on to give everything he had to mend every broken circle. He modeled for us what a person of faith and conscience can be in this world.
I last saw Lee in May at a talk Fr. Louie Vitale gave in Hayward. Lee briefly got up and chided the peace and justice movement for singling out certain leaders for praise and attention. At the risk of offending Lee’s wishes, I join people everywhere in honoring Lee Williamson for who he was — and for all he did to re-weave the web of life.
Thank you, Lee.
Ken Butigan
July 30, 2009
For more on Lee’s life and work, click below:
Obituary in the online newsletter of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church
2009 Talbert Award Recipient Dies Suddenly
 enlarge>> The Rev. Lee Williamson posed with Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr. after receiving the 2009 Bishop Talbert Award for Racial Justice at Annual Conference Session in June. Photos by Spud Hilton. |
Written: 7/30/2009
The recipient of the 2009 Bishop Talbert Award, the Rev. Lee Williamson, died unexpectedly at his home, early yesterday morning (Wednesday, July 29, 2009). He was 70 years of age.
He is survived by his wife, Arlene Williamson, along with two adult children, son Roy and daughter V.J. and their spouses, along with other family and friends. A memorial service will be planned and announced at a later date.
A graduate of Pacific School of Religion, Rev. Williamson served at Alameda United Methodist Church, Pleasanton UMC, Park Presidio UMC in San Francisco, Melrose UMC in Oakland, South Hayward UMC in Hayward, Albany UMC, and Wesley UMC in Hayward before retiring on July 1, 2004.
In recent years, he served on the Retired Clergy Association Board of Directors (2006 to 2009) and at the time of his death was a member of the Commission on Religion and Race, which presented him with the Talbert Award for Racial Justice at this year's Annual Conference Session.
The award is given annually to a person within the California-Nevada Annual Conference who best exemplifies a proactive stance in addressing and working toward dismantling racism in the church and in society.
"He's one of those old warriors who found a way to stand up for what is right," said CORR Director Dr. Jeffrey Kuan. "He was not afraid to battle for LGBT issues and other [causes], as well as racial equality."
Williamson's involvement as an advocate for justice began in the early 1980s, according to the material prepared for the Talbert Award presentation. He served on the Conference Hunger Education and Action Committee, then on the Conference Missions Agency as Refugee and Immigration Committee Chair, then served as Chair of the Working Group on Central America Issues.
During the 1980s and 1990s his work included involvement with the Oakland Coalition for the Homeless, the peace movement, the Free South Africa Movement, and the faith-based Sanctuary Movement, seeking justice for refugees from Central America. He worked on behalf of Native American rights, and for freeing political prisoners. As president of the Ecumenical Peace Institute, he helped organize a National Council of Churches hearing on racism, held at Taylor Memorial UMC in Oakland.
In 1986, he traveled to El Salvador, and on his return began working with refugees who were seeking sanctuary in the United States. Many of those refugees were part of a collective that organized English as a Second Language and other classes at the Melrose UMC in Oakland, where he served as pastor. In 1989 he traveled to the Philippines as part of a delegation sponsored by the Northern California Ecumenical Council and the Council of Churches of the Philippines.
Williamson was Peace and Justice Co-Coordinator of the Conference Board of Church and Society from 1988 to 1996. He was active in the leadership of the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) at both the Conference and national levels, and served as president of the California-Nevada chapter.
A close friend, the Rev. John Chamberlin, said Williamson's social justice work reflected just one aspect of who he was, however.
"He was a loving husband and father, and a friend. He mentored all sorts of different people. He liked to joke around.
"He was a person of tremendous integrity. One of the ways I would sum it up is that he was someone who lived as though the truth of the Gospel were really true."
Throughout his years of ministry, Williamson himself said his work was guided by two things, learned from others: "To locate myself in venues and on issues that include folk with whom I might not immediately feel comfortable, [and] to listen and watch how folk are working for their rights and dignity - and, when possible, help to apply the Living Word of the Gospel in those situations."
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GLOBE presents the 16th Annual Celebration & Awards
When: Saturday, September 19, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM till 5:30 PM
Where: 130 Isabella Street, Hayward Ca
Music by Shari
The Community Service Award will be given to Jim Paramore of the Lighthouse Community Center
The "Pryor Conrad Service Award will be given to Richard James & Jerrold Castleberry
Both for Outstanding Service to the LGBTQI Community.
For more info and reservations contact Charlene Shores at (510)539-9722
Mail advance checks to:
PO Box 56305
Hayward CA 94545
The following photos are a sample of the event. A page later will be devoted to this years Celebration and Awards Garden Taco Party.
Mission Statement
This organization shall edeavor to educate and to inform the community regarding issues affecting it and the public in general and shall support or oppose legislation and ballot measures affecting lesbian, gay,bisexual and transgender people.
This organization will also support the appointment and election of public officals at all levels of government who support the civil and social rights of lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender people.
GLOBE will also identify the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Southern Alameda County including creating alternative social activities and supporting lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender youth.
Noun
GLOBE endorses KEVIN J DOWLING for Alameda County Supervisior District #2
In 2010
Mr. Dowling was a co-founder of GLOBE and it's first president.
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GLOBE Gays & Lesbians Organized for Betterment & Equality
P.O. Box 56305
Hayward, CA 94545
ph: (510) 538-9722
info
