Helene Swanson, an evangelical Episcopalian, whose activism is an expression of her faith, started her 500-plus mile walk from the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY, on July 19, 2012. She plans on arriving in Washington DC on August 26, 2012, the 92nd anniversary of the 19th Amendment—the right for women to vote, the only right guaranteed women by the United States Constitution. Swanson is walking from parish to parish, as an expression of her faith, to bring attention to the need for an Equal Rights Amendment for the full inclusion of women in society and for LBGTQ Rights.

Seneca Falls has nourished abolitionism and feminism since the 1840s. Abolitionist Abby Kelly spoke against slavery at an outdoor rally there in 1843. One of her followers was later convicted of “disorderly and unchristian conduct” for arguing with the local Presbyterian minister about abolition. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Coffin Mott helped organize the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848. Frederick Douglas’ impassioned support helped the convention pass the Declaration of Sentiments, which proclaimed: “All men and women are created equal.” In 1923 the National Women’s Rights party celebrated the 75th anniversary of the 1848 convention. Alice Paul, imprisoned, beaten, and force fed for protesting President Wilson’s not supporting women’s rights, proposed the Equal Rights Amendment at the 1923 meeting in Seneca Falls.

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Six years ago, I found myself sitting in a cramped living room surrounded by the pastors and elders of my church.

The mood in the room was somber. I could tell that one of the church elders, a good friend of mine with whom I had traveled to China on a mission trip, had been crying. Being that our church was one of the largest evangelical churches in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley area, I didn’t personally know all the people in that room. But everyone there knew everything about me.

I suppose I should have felt ashamed for what I had done. But instead, I felt a strange sense of relief.

Like two defendants on trial, Susannah and I had been summoned to this private meeting in order to discuss our “situation.” A third party had informed the pastors on our relationship, and needless to say they were far from pleased to hear that two ministry leaders in their church were carrying on an illicit homosexual affair. Our head pastor launched into a biblical argument on how homosexuality is a sin, highlighting the usual clobber passages and telling us that we were committing a grave error. We could be saved though, he said, if only we would turn from our ways and end the affair.

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Jenni Chang works as a business manager for eBay Inc, the online marketplace site. Jenni’s international experience includes volunteering with community outreach groups in Taiwan, Cambodia, and China. Jenni is an LGBT activist who is involved in the Asian American and Christian LGBT communities in San Francisco.

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