Integrity USA was a nonprofit organization affiliated with the

Episcopal Church in the United States The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

. It was founded in 1974 to promote the inclusion of Q members and their

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

for equal access to Episcopal

rites RITES Ltd, formerly known as Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, is an Indian public sector undertaking and engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure. Established in 1974 by the In ...

, but dissolved in April 2022 following misconduct allegations concerning the conduct of its board of directors.

History

Founding

Integrity was founded in 1974 by Louie Crew in rural

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, US. Crew, who was on a teaching fellowship in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, telephoned the reportedly progressive Grace Episcopal Cathedral, asking if they could help him and his partner meet other gay

Episcopalians Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Prot ...

. The derisive laughter he heard in response prompted him to start a newsletter to help LGBTQ members of the Episcopal Church support each other in a hostile ecclesiastical environment. Crew wrote in the lead editorial:

Integrity derives from integer, Latin for 'entire.' All Christian wholeness demands affirmation of God ordained sexuality; and gays and straights alike are Charged with the responsibility of using their sexuality in healthy human sharing rather than perversely trying to change or exchange the Gift of God.

Often working in coalition with both

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

and other faith-based groups, Integrity worked for

equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pr ...

and opportunity for LGBTQ Episcopalians. Integrity USA 2018 Episcopal Church General Convention Eucharist

Integrity sponsored the Integrity

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which was one of the most well-attended related events to take place during each General Convention. In 2010, the group lobbied the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in support of the

Employment Non-Discrimination Act The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender i ...

(ENDA), and in 2021 declared its support for the Equality Act.

Financial mismanagement allegations

A 2019 report by Egan Millard of the Episcopal News Service described the President's leadership as marked by "instability and uncertainty," and reported Integrity had $516,152 in

net assets Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

at the start of 2013, and was taking in over $200,000 per year for the preceding several years. By 2015, the last year it filed a full

tax return A tax return is a form on which a person or organization presents an account of income and circumstances, used by the tax authorities to determine liability for tax. Tax returns are usually processed by each country's tax authority, known as ...

to the US

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

, the group' reported net assets were reported to be $134,029. The

Illinois Secretary of State The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...

dissolved Integrity USA's incorporation status in 2019, which Integrity's president said was due to the board's failure to file the nonprofit's annual financial report. Once the report was filed, the group was reinstated. Between March 2019 and June 2019, three Integrity USA board members resigned, leaving only one elected board member, and by October 2019, Integrity USA was described by Millard as "a shadow of its former self, beset by struggles with leadership, finances, and communication," and the board's term was reported to be defined by "instability and uncertainty." In June 2019, Integrity announced via

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that two employees of the

Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States that covers most of eastern North Carolina. The diocese was formed from the existing Diocese of North Carolina on October 9, 1883, by action of the ...

had been appointed to the board, and Integrity USA's address changed to

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 19,900 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the ...

, the seat of the

. In December 2019, amid allegations of mismanagement, Integrity USA's president resigned, citing the need to spend more time with her family. Integrity USA Founder Louie Crew Clay died two days later, on November 27, 2019.

Final board election

In early 2020, Egan Millard of Episcopal News Service reported that Integrity USA's board election was "plagued by controversy." Integrity USA's board declined to name who would be voting in an election for the nonprofit's next president, and "did not include an opportunity to write in an alternative candidate, which is mandated by Integrity's bylaws – an omission that further frustrated some members." According to Millard, Integrity USA's Secretary Ellis Montes nominated Ron Ward, who had no prior history of involvement with Integrity, as candidate for president of the group. Integrity members raised concerns about Ward's lack of experience with Integrity and The Episcopal Church, as well as an incident in 2012 when he was kicked off the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Democratic Town Committee for "a pattern of behavior that included personal attacks and a history of absences from monthly committee meetings". No votes were cast for the candidate running for President of Integrity USA. Instead, multiple former Integrity USA presidents publicly called for the nonprofit's dissolution. At the March 17, 2020 board meeting, the chair of the stakeholders' council of the board of Integrity asserted that he did not recognize Ward as its president. As further appointments to the organization's board were made in what some members felt were in contravention of the nonprofit corporation's

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some othe ...

s, the legitimacy of Integrity USA's leadership and future elections were placed in doubt by some remaining membership. In April 2022, the group was formally dissolved.

References

External links