Prominent United Methodist Minister Elected to National Board of Directors of PFLAG

Prominent United Methodist Minister Elected to National Board of Directors of
PFLAG

Influential civil rights activist and religious leader adds depth to PFLAG's
outreach to faith communities and ethnically diverse groups

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PFLAG National--Parents,
Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays--is pleased to announce that the
Reverend Gilbert H. Caldwell of Asbury Park, N.J., has been elected to its
national Board of Directors. Caldwell, a straight, African-American minister
(retired) in the United Methodist Church, will focus his work with PFLAG on
outreach to faith communities and to LGBT people and their families in the
African-American community.

"I have always been committed to the freedom struggles of all people," said
Caldwell. "I hope that my experiences as a minister and as a person of color
will help me serve as a bridge between PFLAG and the communities where I have
done my life's work."

"Gil Caldwell is an exceptional straight ally and leader of change," said John
R. Cepek, PFLAG National President. "PFLAG is very lucky to have the support
and leadership of someone with Gil's history of activism and advocacy."

Rev. Caldwell is a founding member of United Methodists of Color for a Fully
Inclusive Church, Black Methodists for Church Renewal, and the Church Within a
Church Movement. He is also a member of the Board of Preachers and Scholars of
the Martin Luther King International Chapel at Morehouse College, and the
author of two books and numerous book chapters, newspaper, and magazine
articles. He was born in Greensboro, N.C., and is a graduate of North Carolina
A & T University and Boston University School of Theology, and did graduate
study at Harvard Divinity School.

A self-described foot soldier during the March on Washington in 1963, the 1964
Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, and the 1965 March from Selma to
Montgomery, Caldwell's activism in civil rights spans more than four decades.
In addition to serving as senior pastor for churches in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York (Brooklyn and Harlem), Pennsylvania, and Denver, Colo.,
Caldwell's leadership in the United Methodist Church includes work as a
District Superintendent in both Boston and West Chester, Pa.; Associate
General Secretary, United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race; and
Executive Director of the Ministerial Interfaith Association of Harlem.

In addition, he has served as adjunct faculty at Harvard Divinity School,
Boston University School of Theology, Yale Divinity School, University of
Massachusetts/Amherst, and New York Theological Seminary. He and his wife of
51 years, Grace, a retired public school teacher, live in Asbury Park, N.J.
They have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and one granddaughter.

Caldwell's connection to PFLAG extends back to 1997, when he became the first
African American Senior Pastor of multi-racial Park Hill United Methodist
Church in Denver. Among his parishioners were PFLAG National President Elinor
Lewallen and her husband Tom. Caldwell credits his understanding of LGBT
issues to Elinor Lewallen, and says, "I developed a deep appreciation and
respect for the parents of lesbian and gay people who, in many instances, had
to not only live with the prejudices of their families and friends, but also
had to wrestle with and overcome their own prejudices."

Lewallen sent her congratulations to Caldwell upon his election to the PFLAG
Board of Directors. "I am thrilled, both for Gil and for PFLAG," she said. "In
the years since I have known him, Gil has expanded his concern for all kinds
of discrimination and I can see him helping tremendously to inspire more
people of color to realize that PFLAG is a healing place for families, saving
lives over and over."

PFLAG promotes the health and wellbeing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with
an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and
advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents,
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue
about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society
that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. Learn more at www.PFLAG.org
today.

SOURCE Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)

Nikki Willoughby of PFLAG, +1-202-467-8180 ext. 214, Nikki@PFLAG.org