Private Email from Misty Irons to the Moderator of the OPC Discussion List

January 2, 2003

Hi [W--],

I just picked up your emails tonight, since I am only on my AOL address about once a week these days, so I apologize for this late response. There are only a couple of things I thought I should comment on. Regarding my final post and the issues I had said I was reconsidering as of March 7, 2002: I did make changes on my civil same-sex marriage article wrt my second reconsideration in my post, namely, that I advocated that "the church" support civil same-sex marriage. I have reworded that part of the article so that I do not make that claim any more. I have also made a few other changes to the article in response to some off-list criticisms, which I did not mention in my 3/7/02 post. The reason my post date for the article has remained the same is that I simply thought the changes were not significant enough to the overall thrust of the article to warrant updating the post date. However, getting back to the statements I made in my final post, I did not end up changing the term "civil same-sex marriage" to "civil same-sex union" as I was contemplating doing on 3/7/02. I was actually very close to making that revision, and then I came across some further reading which persuaded me back to my original terminology, and so that is where I am at right now. I have already discussed this particular issue with my session last summer. In fact we have been having an ongoing discussion about these things since March 2002. I have also kept them informed of all the changes and additions that I have made to my website since March.

As I peruse the parts of the discussion you have sent me, and also the snippets that I am receiving from others as well, it appears to me that there are many speculations that directly relate to what is taking place between me and my session. According to my understanding of my responsibility to my session, I would be out of line to relate such matters on a public discussion forum (and, I suppose, so would my elders), and yet sometimes it seems like that would be the only way to address some of the on-list speculations in order to defend myself, my reputation and my actions thus far. So while I plan to remain silent out of respect for my session, it does make it awkward for me as I read some of the remarks that have been made by list members these past several days. All I can say, without feeling like I said too much, is that my interaction with my session is still ongoing, and I think it would be unwise for even me to speculate where it will end up. I have simply entrusted myself to their love, care and wisdom, and am leaving it up to them what the time schedule will be.

Thanks for keeping me updated. I hope you and your family have emerged from the holiday season relatively stress-free and are looking forward to the new year. Please send my greetings to [L--].

Misty Irons