Date: November 7, 2024
The Board was present as the results came in. They joined the VTS community in chapel on Wednesday morning. And then, they gathered as a Board. Conscious of just how much shock and fear there is in our community, they discussed our response as an institution. This was the Board resolution.
The Board of Trustees reaffirms the Seminary’s commitment to Gospel values, grounded in the dignity of all human beings, in our work to form lives for the service of God. We remain dedicated to LGBTQIA+ inclusion, we strive for racial justice, and we support the work of Episcopal Migration Ministries.
These positions are not new. Our commitment to the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ persons goes back to 1996. Our work in racial justice started under Dean Martha Horne and accelerated with a Carpenter Grant in the early 2000s. And our support for immigrants and their resettlement has been a constant for the last ten years. We are currently hosting a Muslim family who have applied for asylum in the United States. The Board took a lead. We will continue to affirm these Gospel values.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary
