2022 battleground election See also: Texas' 15th Congressional District election, 2022 (May 24 Democratic primary runoff)
Department of Labor, served as a congressional aide to U.S. Alvarado was a director at South Texas educational service center Region One, worked for the U.S. Vallejo studied political science and history at Columbia University. Sundays, 2420 Tuolumne St.Michelle Vallejo was born in Alton, Texas. “Just come and worship as you are - as you are - not as the way someone wants you to be,” Rico said.Īscension Episcopal Church has worship services at 10 a.m. Once Andrew Rico finds the time, he hopes to link up with local LGBT resources in order to let people know that there is an option for those who wish to worship in Vallejo. Before he left Vallejo, Huish had hoped to establish a local chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) at the church - something that may still be realized. Like the experiences of Andrew Rico, Huish and his husband said no one at the Vallejo church has ever tried to change them, or judge them for being gay.
The couple moved to that city about a year and a half ago, though still feel strongly tied to Ascension. “He blessed our marriage,” Huish said, noting that the couple’s new parish in Auburn did not. Huish was also part of the search committee that ultimately chose Rico to lead Ascension. Huish was an openly gay member of the church who married his longtime partner John Mathewson in 2008, when same-sex marriage was briefly legal in California before being banned by the narrow passage of Proposition 8. The ordination of a gay bishop in 2003 caused a major rift within the larger Anglican community. Still, that acceptance has not been without controversy. Offering the blessing is the choice of individual priests and their dioceses. Last year, the church’s general convention in Indianapolis voted to offer religious blessings to same-sex couples. The Episcopal Church in the United States, part of the worldwide Anglican Church, has had a long history of accepting the LGBT community, including the ordination of openly gay priests beginning in the 1970s. His son is the church musician.īut the inclusiveness of the congregation predated Rico’s tenure, Thomas Huish said. In 2007, Bayani Rico was chosen to lead Ascension Episcopal Church. That was a decade ago, when the reverend was a pastor at a Daly City church. I love you as you are,’ ” the younger Rico said of the conversation he had with his father. “He told me, ‘You’re my son, first and foremost, and will not change. Adding to that anxiety was the fact that his father was a Christian minister - a religion that has traditionally rejected homosexuality and homosexual acts as sinful. Like many young gays or lesbians, Rico feared what his father would say when he found out he was gay. “It’s a safe haven,” said Andrew Rico, 27, of the church his father has headed since 2007.īased on the acceptance he and other gay members of the congregation felt, Rico hopes to let other members of the LGBT community know how accepting Ascension is. It turns out that neither Rico nor his son Andrew had anything to fear. “I don’t want to pastor a church where my son will not be welcome,” Rico recalled telling the search committee for the 144-year-old congregation. “Where do you stand on the LGBT issue?” Rico said of the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people’s roles in American churches.įor Rico, the question wasn’t one of abstract theology or church doctrine - it was personal. Bayani Rico could take the reins of Ascension Episcopal Church in Vallejo, he asked his interviewers a simple question.
(Lanz Christian Banes/Times-Herald)īefore the Rev. The church is openly accepting of gay and lesbian congregants, including Andrew. Bayani Rico stands with his son Andrew at Ascension Episcopal Church in Vallejo.