Questions

How did you get into running? When I was in the army from 1983-85, I ran sporadically as part of our physical training. Around that time I also taught in Middle School and coached the Junior High boys track team. I started running with the Front Runners in 2005. I started off running three or four miles, then got up to six, and moved on from there.

Why did you join Front Runners? For health reasons: I stopped smoking in early 2005 and as part of that change I wanted to find a positive outlet for the extra energy I had. I wanted to run and felt that a group would help me to sustain my running better than doing it by myself. That has turned out to be true.

How has the club affected your life? It has brought a whole new group of good people, of friends into my life, which is wonderful. Being a runner is part of my sense of identity now and a way that other people identify me. It has also given me more confidence, especially for running longer distances.  

Has it widened your social circle? Yes. One of the first people I met was Tyrone [Swinton] whom I’d known already for about fifteen years. It was really helpful to have a friend to go running with in the group because, to be honest, it was intimidating at first. It takes me a while to get comfortable in any group. 

What is your favorite route to run? I like the Iwo Jima memorial run the best. It has a lot of variety, also sometimes the Marines are out. I enjoy the Mall too.

What do you most like about running? Being in better shape. The longer runs help me to relax. I like the social side. And I enjoy the sense of accomplishment gained from running races and being able to run faster that you did six months or a year ago.

Tell us a bit about your involvement in Dignity. We were founded in 1972 and have about 200 members. We meet for a mass every Sunday at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church north of Dupont Circle. We are not allowed to meet on Catholic property. We believe gay people are a natural part of humankind who are loved by God and who should be recognized by Catholic and other religious traditions and not criticized for their sexuality.

To turn Groucho Marx’s joke on its head, why do you want to belong to a club that does not accept people like you as a member? I don’t think that’s the point. The bishops are not the Catholic Church. For me there are things that are meaningful within Catholic tradition, not because they are Catholic but because they lead down a spiritual path. I mean certain meditation and prayer traditions, the communion of saints, the mass itself. There are certain forms of Catholicism that I want to claim. I would rather wrestle with things like being gay and Catholic within the tradition I know instead of going somewhere else to try to sort it out.

Why does the Catholic Church not let you meet on their grounds? A lot of Dignity chapters used to meet on Catholic property. Then in 1986, the current Pope - then Cardinal Ratzinger - wrote the ‘Halloween letter’ where he kicked us all out of Catholic churches.

Having served in the US military, what is your view of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’? That the sooner the policy is done away with, the better off everyone will be. When I served, I was actually never asked because during the physical the doctor skipped that question. When I was stationed in Stuttgart in Germany, there was a lesbian couple in the unit who were treated just like any straight couple. When they were caught in bed together they got – just like straight couples did - what were called ‘Article 15s’ where they were penalized but not discharged.

You recently ran the 200-mile long Ragnar Relay race with other Front Runners. What did you learn from that experience? I saw how because we were a team, relying on one another to get to the finish line, we were more willing to push ourselves. I also learned that it is always possible to find a more difficult place to run!

Do you think DC Front Runners is over-competitive? We do focus a lot on speed and longer distances. We have also gotten a lot faster on our Tuesday and Thursday runs in the past year. It is probably more intimidating now than it was a few years ago. The club has gotten a lot younger too but I think that is positive because it gives us a vibrancy and appeal that we will need to last as a group.  

What’s your motto in life? Pray and act.

 

Interview by Brian Beary, Design by Marcel Acosta

October 2010