Friday, June 26, 2015

Gifts from Afar, a Harmony Story, by Carol White


In 1992, 23 years ago now, the State of Colorado voted to pass something called Amendment 2 to the Constitution of our State, which said that gay and lesbian people could have no rights whatsoever, and whatever rights they already had in cities such as Denver and Aspen and Boulder would be canceled or repealed.

The Amendment 2 campaign and battle was vitriolic and pretty nasty.  We worked hard and thought we were going to defeat it, but when it passed, we were all stunned and devastated.  It is very difficult to explain the hurt that hung like a black cloud over our whole community in the wake of that election.

Amendment 2 passed on a Tuesday in November.  That Friday Harmony, a GLBT chorus that I was conducting at the time, went to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park for our usual retreat before an upcoming concert, where we normally rehearse and polish our music for the performance.  But on this occasion we were also crying and telling election stories and trying to support each other after having been knocked off our feet, so to speak, by the people of Colorado.

That same weekend there happened to be another retreat going on at the same YMCA for Methodist youth leaders from our jurisdiction, which covered four states.  One of the ministers who was leading that retreat happened to be the brother of one of the women in Harmony.  The brother and sister got together, and the brother minister through his sister invited Harmony to sing for the convocation of Methodist youth at their Sunday morning meeting.

She brought the idea back to the choir, and we accepted.

As Sunday morning came, we lined up outside the Chapel, which is still there but has later been remodeled.  At that time there were no pews.  And since there were over 100 Methodist youth, they sat on the floor in the middle of the chapel, and since there were over 100 Harmony members, there was no place for us to get except to surround them standing up.

So I went to a little stage at one end of the Chapel, and said that I had been a Methodist youth just like them, had received a Master's in Sacred Music from SMU in Dallas, and had served a large church as minister of music for four years before being fired because I was gay.  Then I said that Harmony was a GLBT chorus, and we would just like to sing a couple of songs for them.

I said, "This first song is dedicated to all of you who might be gay, or all of you who are struggling with self esteem for any reason."  I knew that most high school kids struggle with self esteem for a variety of reasons.  The song was:

"How could anyone ever tell you you are anything less than beautiful,
How could anyone ever tell you you are less than whole,
How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle,
How deeply you're connected to my soul.”

Then we sang a Holly Near song and taught it to them and they sang along.  It was:

“We are a gentle loving people, and we are singing, singing for our lives.
We are a gentle loving people, and we are singing, singing for our lives.”

Other verses said, “We are gay and straight together,” “We are a land of many colors,” as well as a few others. 

We were about to leave, and some of them said, "No, sing another song."

There was an old organ at the other end of the chapel, and our accompanist cranked it up and started playing the introduction to our theme song, and the choir started singing,

"In this very room there's quite enough love for one like me,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for one like me.
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power
To chase away any gloom,
For Spirit, our Spirit, is in this very room."

At the end of the first verse, one of the girls sitting on the floor got up and stood with Harmony in the circle.  They continued singing,

"In this very room there's quite enough love for all of us,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all of us.
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power
To chase away any gloom,
For Spirit, our Spirit, is in this very room."

During the second verse, several youth, in groups of two's and three's, stood up and joined Harmony in the circle.  They kept singing through their tears,

"In this very room there's quite enough love for all the world,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all the world,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power
To chase away any gloom,
For Spirit, our Spirit, is in this very room."

By the end of the song, there was no-one left sitting on the floor.  They were all standing arm-around-shoulder around arm-around-shoulder.

There was nothing left to say.  We had gone there to sing for them, and they had turned it around and helped us when we needed it most.  Harmony filed out of the Chapel knowing that we had been blessed.  They had given us a Gift from Afar.

A few years later Amendment 2 was repealed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

© 29 May 2015 

About the Author 

I was born in Louisiana in 1939, went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1957 through 1963, with majors in sacred music and choral conducting, was a minister of music for a large Methodist church in Houston for four years, and was fired for being gay in 1967.  After five years of searching, I settled in Denver and spent 30 years here as a freelance court reporter.  From 1980 forward I have been involved with PFLAG Denver, and started and conducted four GLBT choruses:  the PFLAG Festival Chorus, the Denver Women’s Chorus, the Celebration ’90 Festival Chorus for the Gay Games in Vancouver, and Harmony.  I am enjoying my 11-year retirement with my life partner of 32 years, Judith Nelson, riding our bikes, going to concerts, and writing stories for the great SAGE group.

No comments:

Post a Comment