Episcopal Press and News
General Theological Seminary Trustees Adopt New Housing Policy
Episcopal News Service. January 13, 1994 [94003]
During its annual meeting on January 10, the board of trustees of the General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York City approved a comprehensive new policy that will allow committed same-sex couples to live in seminary housing. According to the new policy, heterosexual couples may live in seminary apartments only if they are married.
Reevaluation of the seminary housing policy was, in part, a response to a complaint filed last year with the New York City Commission on Human Rights by a member of the seminary faculty charging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The tenured professor had invited her domestic partner to live with her in seminary housing -- a violation, the seminary contended, of the school's existing housing policy.
As approved, the new policy stresses that all students and faculty "are expected to order their lives in accordance with the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church" towards the ends of "personal honesty and responsible sexual behavior." The policy states that the seminary is "... willing to make apartments available to committed same-sex couples." However, in the case of clergy and of students preparing for ordination, the policy requires the written approval of their diocesan bishop.
Bishop Craig B. Anderson, dean and president of GTS, said that the adoption of the policy is an important step in confronting some of the fundamental theological issues facing the seminary and the wider church. He emphasized that "while the policy does not solve all the difficult underlying issues, it does provide the seminary community with a realistic and open framework for living within the tension produced by the discontinuity between the teaching of the Episcopal Church and the experience of many of its members in the area of human sexuality."
Regarding the question of church and state, Anderson expressed a strong belief that the matter was one to be resolved within the church, in a manner consistent with the church's teachings and consistent also with the seminary's unique mandate as an institution founded by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
Anderson said that the new policy reflected the trustees' willingness "to face with honesty the changing patterns of life within the church while upholding the church's historic standards for accountability and commitment in personal relationships."
Anderson added that, in requiring the approval of diocesan bishops for same-sex couples to share an apartment, the seminary took a position of "shared responsibility" that reflected a respect for the diversity within the church. "We have prayerfully attempted to create a policy that is accountable to and representative of the church as a whole. In that regard, the seminary pledges itself to a leadership role in the ongoing discussion of human sexuality while remaining firmly within the church's decision-making process."
The new policy was drafted by an advisory committee comprised of students, faculty members, trustees, staff, alumni/ae and clergy appointed last September by Anderson.
Bishop Mellick Belshaw, chairman of the board of trustees, praised the work that produced the draft policy. "I know the deliberations of the advisory committee and board were long and difficult, representing considerable diversity of thought and theology," he said. "I strongly believe their efforts have enabled the seminary to exercise principled and compassionate leadership in the area of housing policy. For their good work they deserve the thanks of all the seminary's constituents."