Advisory Commitee
Advisory Committee members & staff at May 2010 meeting
Dr. James Anderson is Professor Emeritus of Library and
Information Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Anderson
earned his masters and doctoral degrees at Columbia University. He chaired
the National Information Standards Organization committee to revise the
U.S. standard for indexes and related information retrieval devices. His
book Information Retrieval Design was published in 2005. He was
national communications secretary of Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay
Concerns (later named More Light Presbyterians) for twenty years and
editor/publisher of its journal from 1980-2003.
Gabriel Blau is the founder of the God & Sexuality
Conference at Bard College and has spoken and written extensively on
homosexuality and Judaism. Gabriel holds a B.A. in theology from Bard
College and spent a year studying at the Conservative Yeshiva in
Jerusalem. He is editing and writing for the upcoming volume Homosexuality
and the World Religions: Traditional Views and Modern Responses.
Angel Collie serves as the coordinator of the Archive and Oral
History Project of the Metropolitan Community Churches. He is a student and spends
most of his time pursuing social justice through activism and social change. He
believes that the key to navigating our future is understanding our past, which
is what fuels his passion for history.
Rev. Dr. Neil W. Gerdes is Library Director and Associate
Professor of Bibliography at Chicago Theological Seminary and
Meadville/Lombard Theological School. He received masters degrees from
Columbia University and the University of Chicago, an S.T.B. degree from
Harvard Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry degree from University of
St. Mary of the Lake.
Nancy E. Krody is managing editor of the Journal of
Ecumenical Studies at Temple University. Krody has worked and served in
various capacities at the national, Association, and local levels of the United
Church of Christ and was one of the original leaders of the UCC Gay Caucus
(now Coalition for LGBT Concerns) in the early 1970s. Krody has been a leader
in several Philadelphia area organizations addressing religion and LGBT or
women's issues.
Dr. Joel L. Kushner is the first Director of the Institute for Judaism and
Sexual Orientation (IJSO) at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
where he also heads the Jeff Herman Virtual Resource Center. Dr. Kushner works
with students, faculty and alumni of HUC-JIR, consults with a variety of Jewish
organizations, locally and nationally and frequently lectures on LGBT inclusion
and Judaism across the country. He is the senior editor of a new book, Kulanu:
A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusion Guide for Congregations
published by the URJ Press.
Dr. J. Gordon Melton is Director of the Institute for the Study
of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California. He earned his masters
degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and a doctoral degree
in the history and literature of religion from Northwestern University.
Melton has authored more than 25 books on American religious history and
cults and new religions.
Dr. Kenneth Rowe has recently retired as Professor of Church
History and Senior Librarian of the Methodist Archives and History Center
at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. He received a doctorate from
Drew University and a M.L.S. from Rutgers, The State University. Member of
American Academy of Religion, American Society of Church History, American
Theological Library Association and many other organizations. Co-editor of
Perspectives on American Methodism (1993) and The Methodist
Experience in America (2000).
Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes is the Carolyn Williams Beaird
Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York
City and an American Baptist clergy. She is the author of several books
and is currently engaged in study of structural evil.
Dr. Heather R. White is a scholar of American religious history
with a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University. Her doctoral thesis investigates
the histories of lesbian and gay communities in the U.S. and the influential support
of liberal Protestant leaders for the early gay rights movement from the post-war
period through 1980. Heather's book based upon this research is (tentatively) titled
Mainline Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights.
Dr. Melissa M. Wilcox is a sociologist and historian of religion
who specializes in gender studies and sexuality studies. She is author of Coming
Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity, and Community (Indiana
University Press, 2003) and co-editor of Sexuality and the World's
Religions (ABC-CLIO, 2003); she has also written numerous articles on
LGBT studies in religion. She is currently working on a new book,
tentatively entitled Spirituality and Sex in the City: L.A. Identities
in Practice and Theory, which focuses on the spiritual and religious
identities of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women in Los Angeles. Dr.
Wilcox teaches in the Religion Department and Gender Studies program at Whitman College in Washington
State.