Jeanne Barnett (May 28, 1930 – October 1, 2003) was an American activist and a California state employment official. She was active in the United Methodist Church for the inclusion of LGBT members and clergy, and her 1999 "holy union ceremony" in Sacramento was a well-publicized protest against denominational policies.
Jeanne Barnett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Velma Jean Barnett May 28, 1930 Waynoka, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | October 1, 2003 (age 73) |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, state official |
| Spouse | Ellie Charlton |
Early life and education
editBarnett was born in Waynoka, Oklahoma, the daughter of Ernest I. Barnett and Faye Ann Hudson Barnett. She graduated from the University of Tulsa in 1952, where she played varsity basketball and earned a bachelor's degree in music.[1]
Career
editBarnett worked in California's Employment Development Department from 1959 to 1991; her career culminated as Chief of the Employment Data and Research Division, based in Sacramento.[1]
Barnett was active in United Methodist Church work at the local, regional, and national levels. She was involved in National Affirmation: United Methodists for LGBT Concerns, and the California-Nevada Reconciling Conference Committee, both bodies working for greater inclusion of LGBT members and clergy in the Methodist community. She was the only lesbian member of the denomination's national United Methodist Committee to Study Homosexuality, in 1998.[2]
In 1999, Barnett and her longtime partner Ellie Charlton were married in a union ceremony at the Sacramento Convention Center,[3][4] with more than a hundred Methodist ministers officiating together, as a show of "ecclesiastical disobedience"[5] against the denomination's ban on ordained clergy performing same-sex weddings.[6] The event was widely publicized, and covered in the national news media,[7][8][9] the LGBT press,[5] and in the Christian press.[10][11]
Personal life
editBarnett and Ellie Charlton became life partners in the early 1980s, and married in a religious ceremony in 1999.[12] Barnett had a stroke in 1995, and she died in 2003, at the age of 73, from a heart attack.[13] A large collection of Barnett's papers are housed in the Drew University Methodist Library,[14] with smaller collections in the Center for Sacramento History[15] and at the GLBT Historical Society of Northern California. In 2004, she was honored posthumously at a reunion event marking what would have been her fifth wedding anniversary.[16]
References
edit- ^ a b "Jeanne Barnett". LGBTQ Religious Archives Network. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ "United Methodist committee begins to study homosexuality". The Bangor Daily News. 1989-02-18. p. 69. Retrieved 2024-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ostling, Richard N. (1999-01-15). "Same-sex blessings have United Methodist Church aboil". The Times Recorder. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Ness, Carol (1999-01-11). "Pastors back lesbian blessing". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Where Others Stand" Out (November 1999): 97.
- ^ Rowe, Kenneth E.; Richey, Dr Russell E.; Schmidt, Jean Miller (2010-08-01). The Methodist Experience in America Volume I: A History. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-1-4267-1937-0.
- ^ Lattin, Don. "Marriage of Convictions; Methodist ministers plan to defy church ruling by officiating en masse at lesbians' wedding" SF Gate (November 9, 1998).
- ^ Sanchez, Rene (2024-01-09). "At Gay Wedding, Methodists Take a Vow Against Church Ban". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Stammer, Larry B. (1999-01-16). "Defying Their Church's Stance on Gays". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Lindelof, Bill (1999-03-01). "Lesbian 'Blessing' Rekindles Tensions". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Cagney, Mary (1998-12-07). "Same-Sex Ceremony Leads to Charge". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ "Eleanor (Ellie) Louise Charlton" Asheville Citizen-Times (December 6, 2021).
- ^ "Velma Barnett Obituary". Sacramento Bee, via Legacy.com. October 10, 2003. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Powers, Jeanne Audrey; Fado, Donald; Dell, Gregory; Talbert, Melvin George. "Guide to the Velma Jean (Jeanne) Barnett Personal Papers". United Methodist Archives and History Center, General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ "Jeanne Barnett and Ellie Charlton papers". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Garza, Jennifer (2004-01-10). "A Call to Remember". The Sacramento Bee. pp. E1, E10. Retrieved 2024-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.