Dignity-Integrity Rochester Records

Dignity-Integrity/Rochester was chartered in 1975 as the first combined ecumenical chapter of the national organizations of Dignity/USA (Roman Catholic) and Integrity, Inc. (Episcopal). Dignity/USA is a national organization that has focused on LGBTQ+ rights in the Catholic Church since 1969. Integrity, Inc. (later Integrity USA) advocated for LGBTQ+ rights in the Episcopal Church from 1974 until its dissolution in 2022.

Dignity-Integrity (D-I) held its first joint service on Easter Sunday, March 30, 1975. The group regularly met at St. Luke and St. Simon Cyrene Episcopal Church for worship services and social gatherings. For much of its history, D-I alternated between Roman Catholic and Episcopal liturgies led by presiders and homilists recruited from local religious communities.

In 1976, Dignity/Rochester secured pastoral services of Father John Forrest Robbins of the Congregation of St. Basil and Sister Dorothy Loeb (Sister Mary Claude) of the Religious Sisters of Mercy. Sister Loeb remained actively involved with Dignity-Integrity throughout its early years. Reverend Walter "Walt" Lee-Szymanski served as Integrity/Rochester's first Episcopal chaplain. Reverend Gayle Elizabeth Harris supported Dignity-Integrity while serving as the rector of St. Luke and St, Simon Cyrene's Church in downtown Rochester from 1992 until her election as Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts in 2002.

In 1977, 85 clergy members in the Monroe County area issued a statement in support of gay and lesbian civil rights, including 41 Catholic priests. The Diocean Sisters Council issued a resolution in support of gay ministry and for full participation of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church the same year. In 1979, a liasion relationship was created between Dignity/Rochester and the Catholic Diocese of Rochester. Dignity/Rochester regularly communicated with Bishop Matthew H. Clark and the Roman Catholic Diocese through the early 2000s.

In 1980, Dignity/Integrity (D-I) donated $250 in seed money to support the creation of a Rochester chapter of Parents and Friends of Gays (later Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays, PFLAG), which was chartered by D-I members Horace Lethbridge and Tim Sally. D-I members remained involved with PFLAG and other Rochester-area LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (GAGVB), the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus, the Rochester Women's Chorus, the Lesbian Writers' Group, Gay and Lesbian Educators (GALE), ImageOut, AIDS Rochester, and the Rochester Lesbian and Gay Political Caucus, among others. Members of Dignity-Integrity participated in the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, Rochester Pride marches, and campaigns for the passage of the New York Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) and other political movements for LGBTQ+ equality.

In 1994, D-I switched its leadership structure from elected officers to a council formed through an annual endorsement process. In 1996, D-I adopted a new constitution and updated its bylaws.

In 1998, D-I underwent a revisioning process in response to declining membership following actions by Bishop Clark restricting Roman Catholic priests from presiding over the Mass and Eucharist service at Dignity-Integrity in response to inquiries from a papal nunzio. D-I chaplain Michael Nicosia created a special Liturgy of the Stones as "a testament to both the pain and perserverance of our community" in response to the Diocese's actions. The revisioning and re-assessment process continued into the early 2000s.

The Dignity-Integrity website defined the community "As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexed persons of faith, together with our families and friends, we form a small faith community with regional and national connections in the struggle for justice in church and society. [...] Many of us call D-I home, feeling unwelcome, unsafe or un-affirmed in our home churches. All of us belong as a prophetic challenge to those in authority and as a ministry to those who have felt wounded or abandoned by organized religion. Our fellowship is a vital witness to all that our lives and loves are whole and holy."

In the fall of 2024, the members of D-I began the process of dissolving the organization. Rev. Daryl Powell, a Baptist minister and long-time friend of D-I, facilitated the initial day-long meeting to determine the future of the organization. The community celebrated its 50th anniversary on Easter Sunday, March 30, 2025. Dignity-Integrity/Rochester held its final service on May 4, 2025.