When celebrating Pride Month, we recall the major milestones, such as the June 25, 2015 decision that made gay marriage legal. But perhaps lesser known are the hard-fought struggles that led to that moment in history. One such monumental struggle began on April 7, 1973 at the Old West United Methodist Church, in Boston’s West End, when Rev. Dr. William E. Alberts performed the marriage of Bob Jones and Harry Freeman.

The marriage was a well publicized event, covered by the Boston Globe and attended by over 200 people from the Church and the larger community. Before everyone, Bob and Harry gave this Prayer of Confession that expresses not only their own struggles in an anti-gay Christian denomination, but the struggles of many others in our society:

I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.
I was naked and you left me exposed.
I was in prison and you didn’t care.
I was old and you denied me my dignity.
I was young and you feared me.
I cried for learning and you fed me rules.
I was a woman and you denied me my power.
I was a man and you denied me my tenderness.
I was a lover and you shamed me for my love.
I was a dream and you left me for another day.

Bob and Harry’s marriage triggered a response within the Methodist Ministry that led to Dr. Alberts’ forcible retirement and defamation of character. The United Methodist Bishop and the Conference Board of Ministry voted to put Dr. Alberts on disability leave for mental illness, specifically “paranoia of the self-destructive type.”

When Dr. Alberts responded with evaluations from two psychiatrists and one psychologist, all of whom stated unequivocally that there was no evidence of mental illness nor any reason why he would be unfit to serve as a pastor, the Bishop and Board disregarded these evaluations. Instead, they came up with eight “reasons” why Dr. Alberts should be removed, “reasons” that related to the very kind of inclusive, activist ministry for which Dr. Alberts was known.

Dr. Alberts’ ministry challenged the Methodist hierarchy — a hierarchy that was actively denying the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons and beyond. Even before Bob and Harry’s marriage, Dr. Alberts was working to address racism within the ranks of the Methodist church, helping to investigate racist acts by the very Methodist leadership who later labeled him mentally ill and had him removed from the Methodist Church, based on “reasons.” Had they been “charges” instead of “reasons,” Dr. Alberts would have been given a formal Church trial. Instead, he was forcibly retired from the Methodist ministry through a single vote.

In the same year as Bob and Harry’s marriage, Dr. Alberts held a press conference announcing he would be filing a lawsuit against leadership within the Methodist Church — a lawsuit that would span 13 years. During those years, Dr. Alberts struggled to find employment to help support his family and to enable the lawsuit to move ahead. Being labeled “mentally ill” and contending with headlines such as “Cleric deemed unfit to serve, paranoid, self-destructive,” Dr. Alberts faced monumental challenge. At one of the press conferences, a reporter asked the Methodist Bishop, “What do you mean he’s paranoid?” The Bishop replied, “He thinks everyone is out to get him.” To which the reporter queried, “Now, if everyone were out to get him, it wouldn’t be paranoia, right?” There was no reply. And if one puts themselves in harm’s way (the definition of self-destructive) because they believe it is the right and just thing to do, is it not an act of courage, and not of self-destruction?

The job search was long and painful and filled with rejections. Dr. Alberts was forced to file for bankruptcy and relied on welfare assistance. He was then hired by the board of a particular social agency, only to arrive on his first day and discover that the employees opposed that he was hired. They refused to work with him because of what they had read about him in the papers, and so he resigned. He worked in a court program for juveniles for close to a year, until the judge realized that Dr. Alberts was the same man who had appeared before him several times in the past after being arrested for non-violent acts of civil disobedience. The judge declared, “I don’t want anyone with such disrespect for authority working in my court,” and he had Dr. Alberts removed. Finally, five years after his forced retirement, he was unanimously accepted by the congregation of The Community Church of Boston to become their minister.

All the while, the lawsuit proceeded, but at an excruciatingly slow pace. Eight years after the lawsuit had been filed, and a few days before they were to go to trial, the attorneys for the Methodist leadership presented a motion for the defendants — the Methodist leadership — to be dismissed from the lawsuit, using the First Amendment’s “separation of church and state” clause to argue that the state had no right to interfere in the business of the church. They relied on Paragraph 331 of the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, which states that ministers “offer themselves without reserve to be appointed and to serve as their superiors in office may direct.” The Superior Court Justice agreed with them and not only dismissed the lawsuit, but also granted their motion to suppress all the evidence that had been obtained from The United Methodist Church. The Superior Court Justice then took eight months to put her ruling into writing before Dr. Alberts could appeal it to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, where it was unanimously overturned. The long-awaited trial could finally go forward.

In 1986, however, 13 years after Bob and Harry’s marriage, the Methodist Church agreed to settle the case to avoid a trial. The United Methodist Church’s governing body recently lifted the ban on LGBTQIA+ clergy and on pastors performing same-sex unions. They also removed the language that stated that homosexuality was “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Bob and Harry’s Prayer of Confession alluded to a number of liberation struggles that are all interrelated and whose origins rest in our failure to see one another’s full humanity. Justice moves very slowly and only when we all come together and demand that no one’s “dream” be “left … for another day.”

Eva Alberts is the widow of Dr. Alberts. She joyfully participated in the events of April 7, 1973 and shared in the 45 years of Dr. Alberts’ ministry that followed. She is the proud mother of Dr. Amy Warren. Warren is an applied developmental scientist and practitioner.  Her expertise centers on human relationships, especially within the family system and to nature and spirit.  Warren has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, handbooks, advanced textbooks, and white papers, as well as outreach publications, encyclopedias, and online newsletters.  She is co-author of “Visualizing the lifespan” (Wiley, 2015) and co-editor of “Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth” (Wiley, 2012) and “Current Directions in Developmental Psychology” (Prentice Hall, 2004). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Clark University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in child development from Tufts University.