James Stoll

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Rev. James Lewis Stoll, M.Div. (January 18, 1936 - December 8, 1994) was a Unitarian Universalist minister who became the first ordained minister of any religion in the United States or Canada to come out as gay. He did so at the annual Continental Conference of Student Religious Liberals on September 5, 1969 in La Foret, Colorado.[1]

He led the effort that convinced the UUA to pass the first-ever gay rights resolution in 1970. He founded the first counseling center for gays and lesbians in San Francisco. In the 1970s he established the first hospice on Maui. He was president of the San Francisco chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1990's. He died at the age of 58 from complications of heart and lung disease, exacerbated by obesity and a life-long smoking habit.[2]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Oppenheimer, Mark (2003), Knocking on Heaven's Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture, Yale University Press, p. 30, ISBN 0300100248 
  2. ^ Bond-Upson, Leland (2005-01-09), My Greatly Human Hometown Minister—James Lewis Stoll, 1936-1994, <http://www.uupetaluma.org/sermons/sermon09jan05.html>. Retrieved on 2007-09-24 

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