LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Profile |
by Fay Jacobs |
Rev. Dusty Pruitt: She Fought the Pentagon and Won!
Not only is our local Metropolitan Community Church hosting an experienced MCC interim pastor, but Rehoboth Beach now has the pleasure of having a pioneering GLBT civil rights activist in our midst. Rev. Dusty Pruitt, now happily ensconced in guiding MCC parishioners, brings with her a great story about perseverance and principlesand how she prevailed, along with other brave activists, including Col. Greta Cammermeyer, in fighting the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. And winningeventually. As Rev. Pruitt and I sat talking, laughing, and then getting serious in a meeting room at CAMP last week, I learned her remarkable story. Born into a "red state Republican family deep in Texas," says Dusty, "it was a good place to be from." Her father was a Baptist minister and she figured she'd grow up there and be a teacher. In fact, her family knew she'd be a preacher. "When I was five or six my family used to go to large church events where the adults would be outside at dinner and the kids would be running around inside the church. I would get up and preach and hold my own service." One day her grandmother came inside and heard the six year old preaching, and told her, "You have a call to the ministry." Dusty set her straight. "But God doesn't call women." But, as she would later discover, MCC did. After Dusty got her B.A. in 1970 from Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, the army beckoned and it turned out to be just the thing to make her closet smaller and more suffocating. The army took her to Alabama and "it was a strange time." says Dusty. "It was during the Vietnam War and anti-war people were claiming they were gay to get out of serving." In Alabama, Lt. Pruitt discovered MCC. She had already realized she was gay and she was grappling to reconcile this knowledge with the words in the Bible. A subordinate had asked permission to attend church, and Dusty, looking for a church herself, "thought that the woman looked gay," and thought that the church the woman attended might be welcoming. It was MCC and "It felt like home." But a transfer back to Texas meant leaving MCC behind. Back in the lone star state, the closet was "squeezing me," and Dusty came out to her family. "They were rigid and told me to pray. But I was lucky. They never said they would disown me, but they never ever approved or welcomed my partner, either." By 1976, Dusty left the active military, but, enjoying the hands-on work, stayed in the reserves, working in recruitment, and also getting soldiers ready to combat biological and chemical warfare. When she wasn't serving her military weekends, she went to the Illiff School of Theology in Denver, where, in 1980, she became the first openly gay or lesbian person to graduate with the Master of Divinity degree from that school. She began her pastoral career with the Metropolitan Community Church in Long Beach, California, all the while, remaining in the Army Reserves. In fact, in May of 1982 she got word that she would be promoted to major. However, a few months later, the L.A. Times interviewed Rev. Pruitt in a story about MCC and the reporter asked about her military status. She was truthful, but suggested that the reporter not print her answer. No such luck. The reporter kept the comment on the record and when the article came out, somebody sent a copy of it to her superiors. Not surprisingly, Rev. Pruitt's imminent promotion was put on hold for an investigation into her moral character, citing her for moral dereliction. The Army activated two men to follow her for three years and it was a harrowing experiencewiretaps on the phones making mysterious clicks, people following her everywhere, the works. At MCC in Long Beach there were many other folks in the military attending church. Dusty recalled a day when eight men burst into the church. "I don't know what they thought I would be doing." Rev. Pruitt told the men to sit down and that she would talk to them after services. She asked her assistant to let all of the other military folks in the congregation know that when they came up for communion she would guide them out the back door. Once the military investigators had all the information and proof they needed, the Army took away Dusty Pruitt's promotion to Major and discharged her from the service. That's when Dusty's inner activist kicked in. She decided to sue for reinstatement, challenging Army regulations requiring her discharge because of her acknowledged homosexuality. For the next dozen years, as she served her parishioners at the Long Beach MCC, she was embroiled in litigation. With the help of the ACLU and the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, Dusty fought to be reinstated in the reserves. Through decisions, reversals, court cases, and reams of legal documents the cases against Pruitt and Col. Cammermeyer proceeded. The name of the case? Pruitt v. Cheney thanks to the Reagan-Cheney doctrine which stated "If you are intimate with someone of the same sex, or if you intend to be, you can be discharged." "It was thought control!" says Dusty. Then came President Clinton and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. "He tried to help, but in the end all it did was hurt," says Pruitt. Throughout the legal battles there was recognition that hers was an important case revolving around the entire issue of gays in the military. The Advocate Magazine named her its first Woman of the Year in 1991, there were articles in Time magazine, she was interviewed on Good Morning America and much more. She was also featured in the Barbra Streisand-directed film Serving in SilenceThe Margarethe Cammermeyer Story. Finally, in 1995, the 12-year legal battle was resolved with Pruitt's being reinstated, accorded the promotion to Major, and then retired with the Army Reserves. She, along with Greta Cammermeyer, Keith Meinhold, and Mel Dahl, won the right to serve as openly gay in the military. The case had become a true GLBT equality landmark. Continuing with her ministry, after 15 years, Rev. Pruitt left Long Beach and served as pastor at MCC congregations in San Diego and Fort Collins, Colorado, among others, and, as of 2007, she serves as pastor of Safe Harbor United Church of Christ in Sussex County, a hospice pastor, and now interim pastor of MCC Rehoboth. So what brought Rev. Pruitt to Sussex County, Delaware, her first time east of the Mississippi? Family. Her partner has a twin living in Milton, and it seemed like a great idea to be close together and in such a gay-welcoming area as well. And? "Delaware has been very good to me," Dusty says. And we are delighted to have her here. You can never have too many GLBT pioneers as part of the community! The Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth meets for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m at the Cape Henlopen Senior Center, 11 Christian Street in Rehoboth Beach. For more information, call 302-645-4945. "I have been going to a Metropolitan Community Church for about 39 yearsmore than half my life. I started going to an MCC in Philadelphia in 1970 when I was studying to become a court stenographer. Approximately 12 years ago, I moved to Delaware where I began attending MCC-Rehoboth when David Patterson was the preacher. Bill Gordon, Tony Warren, Bob McCamley, and others made me feel welcome as we worshiped in the Odd Fellows Hall. I have been to MCCs in DC, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg, Florida. They have beautiful buildings. It is time for us to have a building of our own. To help with this, I am tithing $10,000 in the hope of reaching our ultimate goal sooner. Please join me in giving as you feel led." Photo: Terry Wilkerson presenting the Rev. Dusty Pruitt with a $10,000 check for the MCC-Rehoboth Building Fund. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 19, No. 04 May 08, 2009 |