Students and community members filled the room wall-to-wall to hear former the Rev. Jimmy Creech speak Jan. 31 at the culmination of Ally Week. Creech’s speech was the best-attended event of Ally Week, attracting nearly 70 people from religious groups and queer activism groups both on- and off-campus.

Creech, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told of his experiences as being a straight ally in the United Methodist Church in a time when the church was not very welcoming to those outside the heterosexual norm. Creech was an ordained minister who eventually lost his ordination when he refused to follow the church’s orders against marrying same-gender couples.

Creech said his queer activism began when a friend and fellow minister came to his office in tears because he felt oppressed and rejected by the church. This friendship with a closeted gay minister served as the catalyst for Creech to investigate homosexuality in the Bible – a quest which led him to the conclusion that being gay was condemned in neither the writings of the Old nor the New Testament.

Creech began to preach a message of inclusiveness and acceptance in the different positions he held at churches throughout North Carolina and in Omaha, Neb. The message was not always welcomed and caused discontent within several of the congregations. His ordination was revoked in 1999 for continuing to marry same-gender couples after the United Methodist General Assembly passed legislation in 1996 stating that ministers were not to marry same-gender couples.

After being forced to leave the denomination to which he had devoted much of his life, Creech joined a peaceful queer activism and protest group called Soulforce. While with Soulforce, he has focused his energy on spreading a message of acceptance to conservative and traditionally homophobic religious sects. Although his protest is always peaceful, Creech has been arrested several times for bringing a message that is not welcome at venues like the Southern Baptist Convention and other conservative Christian conferences.

“Bigotry against gay people is rooted in religion,” Creech said. “(Being gay) was not socially condemned before the church said it was wrong. That is why as a former minister, I feel it is my obligation to speak out on this issue.

“It is vital not to be silent about these issues,” he continued, commenting on the theme of Ally Week. “You are wonderful people of great honor and integrity. Do not let the church let you feel morally inferior, because you are not.”