Guide to the Ralph Carter Papers

Ralph Campbell Carter, Jr. grew up in Chipley, Florida. His family was active in the First Presbyterian Church of Chipley. He served as a Youth Advisory Delegate from the Florida Presbytery to the 116th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1976. At that time, he wondered if he was the only gay Presbyterian in his denomination. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering in 1979 from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. During his sophomore year, he attended Druid Hills Presbyterian Church on Sunday mornings and discovered the newly formed First Metropolitan Community Church that met Sunday evenings. He attended evening worship and Bible study with gay people at First Metropolitan, where he was offered the opportunity to explore the seven known anti-gay “clobber” passages with gay-affirming challenges to traditional interpretations.

In 1979, Carter moved to Rochester, New York and began working for the Xerox Corporation where he would spend the rest of his working career. He started as an Associate Industrial Engineer for two years and steadily progressed upwards to hold various positions until his retirement in September 2018. In 1991, he received a Master of Science degree in Manufacturing Systems from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.

After moving to Rochester, Carter started attending a joint Dignity (Roman Catholic) and Integrity (Episcopal) weekly gathering for LGBTQIA+ people. It was at a Dignity-Integrity meeting that he met his soon-to-be partner, Van Van Zanten, a member of Calvary St. Andrews Parish (Episcopal-Presbyterian). Carter also attended a monthly potluck supper sponsored by the Genesee Valley chapter of Presbyterians for Gay Concerns (PGC). He soon discovered Rochester's Third Presbyterian Church, a tall-tower church. He became a member in the fall of 1979. At the PGC gatherings, he learned that several group members were upset that the 1978 United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) GA completely overturned the recommendation from the two-year undertaking of its Task Force to Study Homosexuality, which focused on whether to ordain practicing homosexuals. The task force's majority report/statement, a recommendation to reaffirm the historic power of sessions and presbyteries to decide who to ordain, was rejected. Instead, the GA voted to approve the minority statement, which offered “Definitive Guidance” that homosexuals may not be ordained to any of the offices of the church. In response to the actions of the 1978 GA, the West-Park Presbyterian Church in New York City adopted a statement opposing the actions of the 1978 GA and specifically welcomed LGBTQIA+ people to full membership. Other churches followed suit. In 1979, PGC decided to call these congregations More Light Churches. By the end of 1980, there were 13 More Light Churches nationally, and four of them were in Rochester.

Carter learned that prior to his move to Rochester in 1979, the PGC chapter had identified and visited several congregations to speak with their sessions, including Downtown United, John Calvin, Third Presbyterian Church, Calvary St. Andrews, Twelve Corners, Westminster, and a few others. Each congregation was invited to formally welcome lesbian and gay members and to join other like-minded congregations around the country as More Light Churches. Third Presbyterian Church had committed to respond to the PGC (which was renamed Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns [PLGC]) by spring 1980.

Meanwhile, the Associate for Mission for the Genesee Valley Presbytery attended the PLGC chapter meeting in early 1980 to encourage the group to apply for mission project funding for the lesbian/gay community. From this evolved a Presbytery-funded project from 1981 to 1988: CREATE*: Justice for Lesbian/Gay Persons, an ecumenical LGBT civil rights advocacy network in Upstate New York. The proposal required the group to report to the Presbytery every six months. As the time approached for the first such report, one of the ministers in the group indicated he would lead a discussion regarding Scripture if another person would share a personal story. In order to ethically share his coming out story to Presbytery, Carter felt obliged to first come out to the four pastors of his Third Presbyterian Church congregation. All four accepted him.

In order to address Third Presbyterian Church’s 1979 commitment to PLGC to make the congregation more welcoming to lesbians and gays, the Session secretly authorized an undisclosed study group to consider issues of human sexuality from 1981 to 1982, specifically homosexuality, teenage sexuality, older adult sexuality, abortion and divorce. The person who agreed to chair the study group did so with the condition that a gay person be included in the group to assure some modicum of authentic consideration. Since Carter had come out to the pastoral staff by this time, he was invited to join the study group.

Carter gradually came out formally to the Third Presbyterian Church study group. The group convinced the Session to offer a Theologian-in-Residence weekend on the topic of human sexuality for the congregation. Reverend Dr. Peggy Way of Vanderbilt Theological Seminary led the congregation in a weekend conversation about issues of human sexuality, from which two primary issues emerged: homosexuality and divorce. The Sunday following Peggy Way’s visit, during the debrief meeting with interested congregants, two task groups formed: one related to support for families experiencing divorce, and the other on homosexuality. The Task Group on Homosexuality determined that in order for the congregation to fully discuss homosexuality, which could take a long time, a Gay and Lesbian Support Group should be formed for gay/lesbian members of the congregation and their families. The Session authorized the Support Group in 1983, with the understanding that the facilitator would report back to the Session periodically. The Support Group was active for several decades.

For the next several years, the congregation engaged in multiple study series, utilizing materials from PLGC and the increasing number of More Light Churches. In 1986, the Third Presbyterian Church Session authorized a group within the Session to lead internal discussion. The Session scheduled a vote in early 1987 on whether it should declare Third Presbyterian Church a More Light Church. The week prior to the Session’s vote, the Sunday Forum held a gathering. Members were asked for their input prior to the upcoming Session meeting. The next week, on January 13, 1987, the Session voted to adopt a More Light statement and authorized the formation of a More Light Committee of Session to oversee implementation of its commitment.

Carter has served at Third Presbyterian Church, first as an unordained “Deacon Assistant” and then as a Trustee. In 1990, he was included in the slate of Elder nominees to be voted on during the congregational meeting following worship. He was elected and ordained as an Elder in 1990. In August 2012, after 32 years together, Carter and Van Van Zanten were legally married at Third Presbyterian Church, the third same-gender couple to do so. Carter has served at the Presbytery of Genesee Valley as a Council member and as the chair of the Committee on Nominations from 1999-2005 and 2012 to 2018. In addition, he served as chair of the Committee on Nominations for the Synod of the Northeast from 2008 to 2010.

Carter was involved in many aspects of the More Light Movement within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PC(USA)) separate from Third Presbyterian Church. Besides his involvement with the Rochester chapter of PLGC starting in 1979, Carter was the first liaison from PLGC National to Presbynet in 1986. He served on the Steering Committee of the More Light Churches Network (MLCN) from its inception in 1992 to mid-1996, and then continued on as Resource Coordinator through 1998 at which point MLCN merged with PLGC to form More Light Presbyterians (MLP). Carter served on the board of MLP for two single terms, 1999 and 2000, and then for four additional three-year terms: Class of 2003, Class of 2008, Class of 2011 and Class of 2016, totaling 14 years of service. For both MLCN and MLP, Carter managed the mailing of information packets from the early 1990s to 2004. He also researched and maintained the MLP lending library of books, videos and study resources from 1999 to 2004. He was presented with MLP’s David Sindt Award at the Welcoming Presbyterians Celebration Dinner on June 26, 2004 at the 216th General Assembly meeting in Richmond, Virginia. In 2013, he served on the MLP Movement Study Task Force.

For a more extensive biographical overview of Ralph Carter, please consult the Index to the Ralph Carter Papers created by Barry Smith. The index is also available in Box 1, Folder 1 of the collection.