VENTURA : Church Member Loses Voting Rights

The board of a predominantly gay church in Ventura has revoked the membership of the director of a gay and lesbian social services agency in Camarillo, a sign of a growing split among leaders of Ventura County’s gay community.

The Metropolitan Community Church board of directors has discontinued the church membership of Claire Connelly, 57, president of the Gay & Lesbian Resource Center. The action strips Connelly of her right to vote on church issues, though she may still attend services.

Church board member Greg Devlin said the board voted 5 to 0 with one abstention to revoke Connelly’s membership, in part because she has made public statements linking the church to a new group called the Lesbian and Gay Alliance. He said the only connection between the groups is that church Pastor Judy Dahl is on the alliance board.

The matter will come up for a vote by the entire 65-member congregation in early April.

Connelly has been active in the county’s gay community since at least the early 1980s, when she founded a telephone referral service for gays and lesbians that eventually evolved into the resource center.

Connelly said Wednesday that several church members are active with the alliance and that church leaders have backed a move by the alliance to become the leading organization for gays in the county.

But Devlin said the church is not involved in the dispute between Connelly and the alliance.

Dahl, who abstained on the board vote on Connelly, said church leaders have had other disputes with Connelly over a period of years.

“We finally decided enough was enough,” Dahl said.