MEDIA ADVISORY - LLGM PRESS CONFERENCE

DATE: Saturday, January 15, 2005, 2:30 p.m.

LOCATION: St. Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church Street,

San Francisco

CONTACT: Mark Pritchard

E-MAIL: mark.pritchard@gmail.com

CELL: (415) 412-4556

A press conference will be held Saturday, January 15 at 2:30 p.m.

with lesbian and gay Lutheran clergy and representatives of

organizations that support them.

The press conference will precede a worship service in the

sanctuary of St. Francis Lutheran Church to celebrate the

15th anniversary of Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministries.

The day will begin at 12:30 p.m. with several panel discussions

on the history and future of the movement for full participation

of LGBT people in the church.

A full schedule of the day’s activities is below.

The press conference will feature:

Statement by Greg Egertson, Co-Chair, Lutheran Lesbian

& Gay Ministries

Statement by Mari Irvin, Director of Candidacy for the

Extraordinary Candidacy Project

Available for questions: ECP pastors and those who have

been disciplined or otherwise affected by the ELCA’s

policies of discrimination.

Schedule of activities for Saturday, January 15, 2005:

At St. Francis Lutheran Church, 152 Church St. in San Francisco:

12:30 p.m.: panel discussions with gay clergy and lay people

discussing the movement for full participation of LGBT

people in the church

2:30 p.m.: press conference with lesbian and gay Lutheran

clergy and organizations supporting them

3:30 p.m.: worship service to celebrate the 15th anniversary

of LLGM

At the Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco:

6:30 p.m.: Banquet to celebrate the 15th anniversary of LLGM

8:00 p.m.: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom receives

the Voice of Distinction Award for his work on behalf of

civil rights for LGBT people.

Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM) --

committed to the tangible support of openly

identified sexual minority persons called to

ministry. Through its individual donors, LLGM

provides financial, pastoral, legal, and

professional support to sexual minority pastors

and to those congregations who support them.

Visible ministry of sexual minority people gives

witness to the ELCA that its policies cannot and

will not stop those called by God to ministry.

www.llgm.org

The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) -- opposed to the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) policy of mandated

celibacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) persons

who seek ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry. Founded in

1993 as a movement of "ecclesial disobedience," to this unjust rule,

the ECP certifies the credentials of openly identified sexual

minority pastors and seminarians who no longer wish to keep their

sexual orientation a secret from their congregations and ELCA

church officials.