A lone rainbow-stole-wearing representative from More Light Presbyterians sat at one table, looking rather bummed out as he checked out the opposition. But OneByOne board member Ken Thomas was rakishly sporting a rainbow stole of his own, festooned with “EX-GAY IS OKAY” buttons. His smile announced his unwillingness to surrender the rainbow as a positive symbol.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The most despised people at General Assembly were sure having a great time at lunch on Tuesday! Enter the bar a couple of blocks from the convention center, go up a flight of stairs, and you find a noisy party room packed with convivial persons who have been through a lot, simply to witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ. You’re at the OneByOne lunch.

OneByOne was launched in 1995 and has been a brave and enduring presence at General Assemblies, providing testimonies of lives rescued by God from a homosexual quagmire, and offering prayer and resources for commissioners taking a stand against the social tide of homosexual immorality within the Presbyterian Church (USA). OneByOne bears much scorn from gay activists, who dare not ever admit even the possibility of Godly transformation of broken lives. Yet OneByOne members speak out and stand up — again and again — with a smile and with grace.

The luncheon was lively. The 80 or so gathered barely fit into the room and filled it with laughter. A lone rainbow-stole-wearing representative from More Light Presbyterians sat at one table, looking rather bummed out as he checked out the opposition. But OneByOne board member Ken Thomas was rakishly sporting a rainbow stole of his own, festooned with “EX-GAY IS OKAY” buttons. His smile announced his unwillingness to surrender the rainbow as a positive symbol.

Linda Harvey from Mission: America spoke on “The Impact of Same-Sex Marriage on American Children,” following lunch. Although born into a Christian home, Harvey described herself in earlier adulthood as “an agnostic cultural moderate liberal.” But then God got hold of her, she said, and then she “felt God calling me to this issue.” She asked God why her call wasn’t to feeding the poor or something like that, “where I wouldn’t be rejected by all my liberal friends.” But she has followed this call to speak out about gay issues from a public-policy standpoint.

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