Area congregation is accused of discrimination
Predominantly gay church says Woodbridge church refused rental
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff The Rev. Durrell Watkins of Metropolitan Community Church of Christ the Liberator in North Brunswick, prays at Sunday services.

Members of a North Brunswick church with a predominantly gay and lesbian congregation claim they have been victims of discrimination by a church in Woodbridge.

The Rev. Durrell Watkins, of the Metropolitan Community Church of Christ the Liberator (MCC/CTL), said his congregation experienced discrimination when the congregation of the First Congregational Church of Woodbridge, part of the United Church of Christ, voted against renting its basement to MCC/CTL because the majority of its congregants are gay and lesbian.

The FCC parishioners were concerned that Watkins would perform gay and lesbian commitment ceremonies in their basement, Watkins said.

"One of their concerns was that we might conduct same-gender commitment ceremonies in the space, which of course we would," Watkins said.

With 80 members and limited space for new parishioners, Watkins said he began looking in February to move the church from its loft above Ms Asbury Locksmithing on Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick to a larger space to accommodate a growing congregation.

"Our church meets in a loft. It’s not an ideal place. You have to climb up stairs. The space is not handicap-accessible, and it offers limited room for growth," Watkins said.

Watkins employed the services of Rochelle Ellis to locate a new space for the church. Ellis is a member of MCC/CTL and a state-licensed Realtor with Keller-Williams Realty, Princeton.

"I went online and looked up [the listing] on the [Multiple Listing Service]. There was nothing unusual about it," Ellis said.

The MLS lists the First Congregational Church, 539 Barron Ave., as a commercial space offered through Barron Realty Inc., Woodbridge.

The remarks section of the listing states the church is looking for a nonprofit organization to rent the lower level of the church.

In March, after MCC/CTL congregants had looked at the Woodbridge church’s basement, the FCC’s Realtor, Sandy Meisner, requested that Ellis submit a proposal.

Ellis said she did but did not hear back from the church or the Realtor for a month.

"I assumed the church was busy. I called their Realtor to ask what was going on. She told me the people from the church would like to meet with us," Ellis said.

Ellis said she assumed the meeting would entail a discussion over rental technicalities.

"I thought we were just going to hash out the rental issues. We were all excited about the meeting," she said. "We got there and a woman there said renting to a church that was predominantly gay was causing a rift within the church."

Ellis said she and Meisner, as Realtors, could not enter into the discussion if it entailed discriminatory language regarding the rental of the basement.

"I don’t have a beef with the Realtor," Ellis said. "I don’t want to insinuate in any way anger toward the Realtor. She did the job she was supposed to do. She never once said anything about not renting to us. She only facilitated the meeting. I don’t believe she would mislead us. She was straightforward with me."

There would be a problem, said Bill Heine, a spokesman for the state Department of Banking and Insurance’s Real Estate Commission, if Barron Realty is still listing the property on the MLS if it has knowledge that the Woodbridge church is discriminating against another group.

Jeffrey Meisner, a broker at Barron Realty, said Tuesday he is in the process of canceling the contract with FCC, and removing the MLS listing for the rental.

As a congregational church, the FCC’s Rev. L.L. DuBreuil said, the congregation may take a vote on any issue. The vote determines the direction the church will take.

DuBreuil, who said that although the United Church of Christ is an open and affirming church, meaning open to gays, lesbians, transgendered and bisexual people, the First Congregational Church of Woodbridge is known as a conservative and traditional church. She said it is not open and affirming.

The traditionalists within the church, DuBreuil said, enlisted lesser-involved, conservative church members to vote with them, resulting in a decision to cease negotiations with the MCC/CTL.

DuBreuil said it was the smaller but more vocal conservative faction of the group who wanted to deny the space to the MCC/CTL.

"This gives me profound sadness," said DuBreuil, who said she has been a civil rights and peace activist since the ’60s.

DuBreuil said she supports gay marriage and has been vocal in that support but has been criticized by the conservative members of her congregation for her public support in that realm.

"I was absolutely delighted to see the Christ the Liberator congregation coming in," she said. "But no one person speaks for the whole church. I can only speak for myself."

Several members of DuBreuil’s church are gay, she said.

"Both congregations have been hurt by this," she said. "No one has left the church, but I do understand if people cannot come back. I love my congregation, but sometimes I look at them and say, it’s not the right thing that they’re doing."

Ellis said she is still looking for a space for her church.

"I know lots of people would totally agree with what the church did," Ellis said. "If that’s the way they want to run the church, that’s their business. They should have been clearer in the advertisement.

"It’s odd. I lived 50 years as a black woman and 25 years as a married woman. When I was a married woman I was fine, but now [since I’m gay] I’m damned to hell," she said. "We’re just a regular church."

"We don’t want to fight anyone," Watkins said. "We just want a place to be. We want people to know discrimination is still happening. It still exists, and there is a real need for churches like us."