film

Call to Witness

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Producer(s)	Pam Walton Productions
Director(s)	Pam Walton Productions
Release Date	1999
Runtime	58 min
Youth Media	n

Film Description

Every mainstream Protestant denomination in this country is wrestling with same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay and lesbian pastors. Call to Witness documents that struggle within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. By focusing on the lives and trials of pastors who have taken a stand against their own church, Call to Witness explores the intersection of two communities of faith; those who support the ordination of openly gay and lesbian pastors and their committed relationships and those who don't.

Call to Witness tells the stories of three Midwestern Lutheran pastors � Rev. Steve Sabin in Iowa, who has been outed by his bishop, supported by his congregation, and “tried” by the national church because he refused to resign; Rev. Jane Ralph in Missouri, who was forced out of the ELCA with no process for recourse; and Pastoral Minister Anita C. Hill in Minnesota, who is working to be ordained as an openly lesbian pastor in the year 2000. Also included are two San Francisco congregations that defied the ELCA in 1990 by calling Revs. Ruth Frost, Phyllis Zilhart, and Jeff Johnson, openly gay and lesbian pastors not on the approved ELCA roster.

Philadelphia International Film Festival, 2000
New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2000
San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 2000
Outfest (Los Angeles), 2000
San Jose International Film Festival, 2000

“A human drama with universally significant stories and controversies�?�”

Film Fest New Haven

“Offering insight for all the current struggles over sexuality within organized religion, Walton skillfully unpacks the contradictions within a church that supposedly welcomes lesbians and gays, yet condemns them at the same time.”

New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

“What's going on in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is going on everywhere.”

Rev. Mel White, Author/Activist, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches

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Last Updated On:	February 08, 2012