Fortunato Elected to Lead Integrity
Episcopal News Service. September 10, 1981 [81238]
SANTA MONICA, Calif.-- John E. Fortunato, a Washington-based psychotherapist, was elected president of Integrity/International during the seventh annual convention of the organization of gay Episcopalians and their friends held at St. Augustine's by the Sea here Aug. 19-23.
Fortunato has been active in the gay movement for eight years and has served on the District of Columbia Mental Health Advisory Council as well as the board of Integrity/Washington, a chapter of the organization he helped found and whose newsletter, Gayspring, he edited for a number of years.
He is the author of numerous articles and a forthcoming book, Embracing the Exile: The Healing Journey of a Gay Christian, to be published in 1982 by Seabury Press. He replaces John C. Lawrence of Boston, Mass., who had served as president for more than three years.
Elected as treasurer was William B. Giles of Pasadena, Calif. Re-elected were Connie Cohrt of New York City as vice president and the Rev. Richard C. Younge of Seattle, Wash. as secretary.
The convention featured three principle speakers, all dealing with aspects of gay ethics. Younge spoke on maturity; the Rev. Malcolm Boyd, noted author and speaker, on mutuality; and the Rev. Carter Heyward on fidelity. Workshops were held on a wide spectrum of topics from "Channeling Gay Anger" to "Gay Spirituality," from "Shakespeare's Sexual World" to "Clergy Out of the Closet."
The convention welcomed and certified five new chapters this year. It also affirmed its affiliate, "The Campaign for a Free Future," an interlocking corporation which hopes to raise $500,000 for Integrity by 1983. The campaign will endow several of Integrity's programs, including: Integrity's presence at the Episcopal Church's triennial convention; the Kibbey Operating Expense Fund; a grants program; a scholarship program for seminarians; programs for development of Integrity's presence in Canada and among women; a national headquarters; and the Integrity Institute for Pastoral Development, a second corporate affiliate whose goal is the education of clergy on sexuality at the diocesan level.
The convention further decided to move its 1982 convention next September from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans so that it can be in close proximity to the Episcopal Church's triennial convention which is being held there at that time. And finally, the convention committed itself to achieving gender parity on its board of directors. There are currently four women and six men.
At its banquet on Saturday night, the annual integrity awards were presented to Christopher Isherwood for his ongoing contribution to furthering the cause of gay/lesbian people through his writings and also to Heyward, an openly avowed lesbian priest on the faculty of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. who has done much to speak out for justice for gay/lesbian people in the Church and elsewhere. The awards were presented by Dr. Evelyn Hooker, progressive research psychologist in the field of homosexuality and Boyd, respectively.