Beginning our series of speakers from HRC’s Clergy Call for Justice and Equality today is Rev. Dr. Stephen Sprinkle who in his opening prayer underscores why this legislation is literally a matter of life and death to our community. His biography and transcript follows.
Rev. Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle
Rev. Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBT person to be tenured there. Author of two books, his current project is a book in process on the lives and untimely deaths of 25 LGBT hate crimes murder victims, Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memory of LGBT Hate Crimes Murder Victims.
“O God, whose passion for justice calls us here today, we pray for the thousands of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender persons who have lost their lives to irrational hatred, and for the many tens of thousands more who have lost jobs, housing, and healthcare because of embedded prejudices against them. Put faces for us, dear God, on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, faces like Angie Zapata, 18 year old transgender woman from Greeley, CO, murdered with a fire extinguisher by a young man who declared with malice that “Gay things need to die.” Put faces on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act for us, as well, faces like Jacqueline Thomas, a 42 year old African American lesbian, who lost her job at a law firm because of “rumors” that she was gay. Open the hearts of America to the better angels of our nature, so that justice may roll down like mighty waters, and every American may know the blessings of liberty, security and peace. And, until that day comes here in Washington, and around the nation, grant us spiritual strength to keep on working, and telling our stories of hope and change, for, God, we who believe in justice cannot rest! We who believe in justice cannot rest until it comes!
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Rev. Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBT person to be tenured there. Author of two books, his current project is a book in process on the lives and untimely deaths of 25 LGBT hate crimes murder victims, Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memory of LGBT Hate Crimes Murder Victims.
