Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church will host its annual Reconciling Service October 11th in the church sanctuary at 10:30 AM. Rev. James Preston, Northwestern District Superintendent will preach.

The theme of this year’s service is The Great Cloud of Witnesses and the Reconciling Congregation is honored to present the first annual Bruce Scott Award posthumously to Mr. Scott’s long time partner, Mr. Larry Bloom. It is fitting that we become aware of those who have gone before and whose witness points us to the ongoing work of securing inclusiveness for all people.

Bruce Scott was a government employee in Washington, D. C. in the nineteen fifties during the McCarthy investigations when gay and lesbian workers were fired from their jobs because they were considered a risk to national security. The fear was that homosexuals were in danger of being blackmailed by those who would pass on security information to be used against the United States in the Cold War against communism. Hundreds of homosexuals were dismissed and could not find employment in the private sector because of the false allegations brought against them by their own government. Many were so stunned that they committed suicide. Others found the courage, Bruce Scott among them, to pick up the Torch of Freedom.

David K. Johnson in his book, The Lavender Scare, tells us that Scott joined the Mattachine Society, so named for Matachinos, masked court jesters of the Italian Renaissance who were free to speak the truth. Even though unemployed, living on fifty cents a day, and heating his bedroom with a kerosene heater, he found financial and moral help through the Mattachines to bring lawsuits against those in the highest levels of government who perpetrated injustice against the gay and lesbian community. In 1965, the U.S. Court of Appeals, in Scott vs. Macy, ruled in Scott’s favor requiring the Civil Service Commission to provide specific evidence rather than spewing vague labels concerning sexual orientation.

Johnson credits several sources concerning the 1965 Scott decision that ‘a candle has indeed been lighted’” in the struggle for gay rights.” Bruce Scott, along with other courageous souls, ignited a flame that has become a torch for Reconciling Congregations such as Euclid United Methodist Church to carry on the struggle for inclusiveness. The public is invited to join in the 10:30 AM service of celebration on October 11 at 405 South Euclid Avenue.