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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JANUARY 10, 1997
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GA. PROFILES CHRONICLE
Photo: Martin Ryler
PRIDE PROFILE
New minister looks forward to building a new church
by Doreen Cudnik
and Chris Wagner
Columbus-The Unitarian Universalist church has long been a leader among liberal religions in promoting the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons in their congregations and communities.
Rev. Susan J. Ritchie
So it came as no surprise when openly lesbian minister Rev. Dr. Susan J. Ritchie was installed on November 17 to become the spiritual leader of a Columbus area congregation.
The church she has been serving for the past few months is not located in the gay-friendly Short North neighborhood or the heavily lesbian populated Clintonville, but in Dublin, a suburb often thought to be intolerant of gays and lesbians due in part to the preponderance of white suburban nuclear families in the church as well as the community. Ritchie is the first out lesbian minister to serve at the 10-year-old church, whose membership consists mostly of married couples with children.
But past and present officers of the Dublin Unitarian Universalist Church are quick to point out that gay-unfriendly members of the church tend not to stay long, because they find little support for their intolerant attitudes. In addition to Ritchie, the church also employs an out gay man in its music program, and has an out bisexual woman teaching in its children's religious education program.
As one current board member puts it, “Unitarian Universalism includes among its stated principles a commitment to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. No one is turned away for their feelings here, but we also want to make it clear that we wish for ourselves and one another to work our way beyond both societal and personal homophobia." Church membership jumped from 90 to 101 in the first ten weeks of Dr. Ritchie's ministry.
A folklorist and writer, she was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1994 at First UU. in Columbus, where she was a ministerial intern. She received her master of divinity degree in 1995 from the Methodist Theological School and did her clinical pastoral education (chaplaincy) at Mount Carmel Medical Center. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from Ohio State University. She is president, program chair, and director of clergy training of the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and has written monthly columns in both The First Days Record: Journal of Liberal Religious Response and Epiphanies, a journal integrating traditional and emerging spiritualities.
Ritchie lives in Columbus with her partner Donna DeGeorge, manager of the OSU librarics book depository, and their four cats.
In addition to the continued growth of the congregation, Ritchie is looking forward to moving into the first actual church building for Dublin UU Church. “We're currently meeting in a middle school, but we've acquired a nice
plot of land, and we're beginning the process of studying the architectural plans," Ritchie said. "We hope to get cranking with that very soon, so it is an exciting place to be."
Doreen Cudnik: What person, living or deceased, gay or straight, do you admire most, and why?
Susan Ritchie: I'd have to say Margaret Fuller, the 19th-century transcendentalist. She was a great writer, thinker and teacher, and she hung out with all those 19th century transcendentalist folks-most of whom were great Unitarians-like Emerson and Thoreau.
She never made a huge name for herself, but she did what she wanted to do. She traveled a great deal, she married kind of a wild Italian radical, which was certainly not in keeping with what social convention would have asked of her. She was someone who really did not let society's restrictions stop her at all from what she wanted to do and what she wanted to say. I think she was an incredibly gutsy person who did a whole lot of very hard work to finally come up with a pretty life-affirming position. She led a very deep and engaged life, against all odds.
What was coming out like for you? Well, it's not exactly over. It's not a singular event. In some ways, I think I'm just about as out as you can be-I'm very open publicly and with the church-but on the other hand, there are daily decisions that have to be made about how to be oneself in an ever-changing and ever-increasing variety of situations. So I'd have to say it's far from over.
What qualities do you most admire and seek out in other people?
The ability and an interest in growing and changing.
What is your favorite Pride symbol? The rainbow, of course. It does such a wonderful job of expressing that we can have unity as gay people, but it doesn't necessarily make us all the same.
What do you think is the most important issue facing the gay and lesbian community today?
Well, I think it's finding that sense of unity and at the same time addressing real class differences within the gay community.
What would you like to see the gay and lesbian community achieve in your lifetime?
The things that are near and dear to my heart right now are so practical that I'm almost embarrassed by them. I really do want to see legal gay marriage. I really do want to see equal benefits, equal civil rights. I wish I had a dreamier dream, but I seem to be hung up on the practical things.
What's your favorite thing to do for fun and to just unwind?
I'm a pretty quiet person. My favorite things are a quiet dinner with my partner, a book, sitting down with the cats or having a conversation with just a few good friends.
When you look back on your life what event or accomplishment gives you the greatest sense of satisfaction?
I'm really glad I entered the ministry. At the time, it was a really strange decision to make, because I was perfectly happy with my profes sion at the time. I was teaching English and actually enjoying it, so I thought I had done a pretty crazy thing deciding that I wanted to change course and enter the ministry. But really, it's been so fulfilling and so challenging, I'm incredibly glad that I did it.
(Dublin Unitarian Universalist Church holds their services at 10:30 am on Sundays at Ann Simpson Davis Middle School, 2400 Sutter Parkway. Call the church office at 614 846-1299 for more information.) ✓
"Pride Profile" spotlights individual members of the Ohio lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community who have made a difference in our lives. If you know someone who has made a difference, contact the Chronicle at P.O. Box 5426, Cleveland 44101, or call 216-631-8646 (toll free 800426-5947), or e-mail ChronOhio@aol.com.