Illuminating the Past: More Light Presbyterians Records
--by Nick Skaggs and David Staniunas
This Spring, PHS received 48 cubic feet of original More Light Presbyterians (MLP) records from Rutgers University Special Collections and Archives. The records, which date back to the organization’s founding in 1974 are now processed and accessible to the public for the first time.
What were the records of the chief grassroots LGBTQIA+ advocacy organization in the PC(USA) doing at Rutgers in the first place? At the time of the records transfer, the PC(USA) at the national level was still hostile to queer Presbyterians. The 1996 ordination requirement known as Amendment B required candidates for ministry to “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”
At the time, PHS represented the national structure against which More Light was lobbying. We also held more than 30 cubic feet of Presbyterians United for Biblical Concerns (PUBC) records, amply representing the right wing of the church. So, looking for a home, the records’ steward James Doig Anderson gifted the material to his employer, Rutgers University. PHS got in touch with Jim in 2022 and he eagerly affirmed that material so fundamentally Presbyterian should be in the Presbyterian national archives. That same year, we started building a relationship with Rutgers, culminating in transfer of MLP’s records to PHS in March.
The earliest records in the collection are the first letters David Bailey Sindt sent in early 1974 when he sought out advocates for gay/queer concerns within the Church. These letters initiated the formation of a new Presbyterian LGBTQIA+ rights group, which met for the first time at the 1974 United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky. At that assembly, Sindt held up a sign that said, "Is Anyone Else Out There Gay?" From this action and Sindt's previous grassroots organizing efforts in the months prior, the Presbyterian Gay Caucus (PGC) formed.
In 1979, the General Assembly recognized the group's official status. PGC renamed itself in 1980 to Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns (PLGC). In 1984 PLGC participated in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)’s Consultation on Homophobia, where PLGC members Chris Glaser and the Reverend Janie Spahr presented. Video of this historic event, along with select letters written by David Sindt are now available in Pearl Digital Collections, the Society’s online archive.
In 1999, PLGC merged with the More Light Churches Network to become More Light Presbyterians. The More Light records, which can be accessed by visiting the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, intimately document the movement’s presence at each General Assembly, their annual conferences and regional gatherings, and their communications and advocacy efforts. They also reveal how LGBTQIA+ Presbyterians held together in the face of a series of defeats: the minority report of the Task Force to Study Homosexuality in 1978; the 1991 rejection of the open and affirming posture of the Special Committee on Human Sexuality; the 1996 passage of Amendment B; and the 1998 fall of Amendment A.
Amidst the hardships and perseverance, there were moments of joy and humor. Jim Anderson, who served as More Light’s Communications Director from 1993 to 2003, compiled letters, sermons, prayers, essays, news items, and photographs to help with the organization’s storytelling and outreach efforts. Anderson's collection often mixes intimate and professional spheres—in the files, one finds private lamentations, righteous anger, and in-jokes between friends. One of Jim’s correspondents routinely signs off as a celebrity. What a surprise to find “Clint Eastwood” telling Anderson about his summer travel.
PHS is honored that the More Light Records are joining the Pam Byers Memorial Collection, PHS’s effort to document all sides and perspectives on the forty-year movement for gay ordination and LGBTQ marriage rites in the church. This initiative includes over 25 sets of personal papers, organizational records, oral histories, audio-visual materials, and websites, many of which offer insights into the life, ministry, and witness of LGBTQIA+ Presbyterians in the PC(USA) and in society.
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Related Resources
Guide to the David Sindt Papers
Guide to the More Light Presbyterians Records
"Is Anyone Else Out There Gay?"
