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Burton Bagby-Grose

Page history last edited by Brian Riedel 13 years, 10 months ago

Burton Bagby-Grose was interviewed in 2010 by Kevin Kong and Ruby Li.

Bagby-Grose agreed that the students could mount a Wikipedia entry about him. The original Wikipedia entry is provided below.

Informed consent, a video, and extended paper documentation for the interview are available at the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Return to the SWGS 201 interviewee list.


 

Burton Bagby-Grose (born August 7, 1964) is a seventh generation Texan, licensed American Baptist minister and a seminarian at Andover Newton Theological School.

He is openly gay and was legally married to his husband at the historic First Baptist Church in Newton (Massachusetts) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts[1]. Together, they are raising their 11-month old adopted daughter. Burton Bagby-Grose is currently the primary caregiver. He also preaches regularly at Houston area churches.

Burton Bagby-Grose received the Hammer Award for Reinventing Government from Vice President Al Gore.

Other notable points in his career include his service as congressional campaign manager for Sheila Jackson Lee, who is currently serving in the United States House of Representatives as a representative to Texas's 18th Congressional District.

He has also been a national board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.

 

 

 

Personal Life and Education

Given the name Clarence Burton Bagby at birth, he has recently legally changed his name to Burton Bagby-Grose.

A seventh generation Texas, he grew up in Sharpstown, Houston, Texas and attended St. Mark's Episcopal School and Sharpstown High School. He majored in Journalism with a sequence in public relations at Howard Payne University where he was a Jesse Jones Scholar. His family immigrated to Texas during the days of the Republic, farming the land and founding a Baptist church.

The grandson of an American Baptist Churches USA pastor, he is attending Andover Newton Theological School with a major in practical theology.

In an article found in OutSmart Magazine, Burton Bagby-Grose shares his personal views of his past education, the growing acceptance of homosexuality in the community, and his future aspirations to become a minister. He shares his goal to reach out to the members of the GLBT community who "feel disenfranchised from their churches" and his hope that with God's help he will eventually be able to provide an "open and affirming experience in their faith life". In the same article, Burton Bagby-Grose emphasizes his personal perception of the openness and acceptance of his homosexuality by his pastors and teachers at all levels of education[2].

Burton Bagby-Grose and his husband have been together since 1989 and have an adopted daughter. They married in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

 

Career

Bagby-Grose has always been an avid GLBT activist. After attending college, Bagby-Grose served as a Congressional Aide[3] for a year before co-chairing the Houston Federal Club of the Human Rights Campaign for two years. Afterwards, he served as a campaign manager for Sheila Jackson Lee for six years. He then served as a national board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force[4] for four years before serving as a board member for Parents, Families, and Friends for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)[5] for two years. Since then, he's worked as a free lance writer for OutSmart Magazine, a national council member for the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. In 2008-2009, he worked as the student minister at First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain in Boston and as the postmaster at Andover Newton Theological School, where he also served at head of the Evangelical Fellowship at Andover Newton.

Bagby-Grose also served as the President of the Old Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association in 1991[6] and 1994;[7] the Founder and President of the Old Sixth Ward Community Development Corporation[8] (now Avenue Community Development Corporation); as a Founder of what was then the Houston Lesbian and Gay Community Center in 1996; the President of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus[9] [10] from 1998-1999 (he led the effort to change the mission statement to include bisexual and transgender people). He also worked as the executive director of the Old West End Association[11] and as the President of the Houston GLBT Community Center (he introduced the change to the mission statement and name to include bisexual and transgender people as president) in 2003 [12]. He was elected treasurer of the Houston GLBT Community Center in 2010.

 

Honors

Bagby-Grose has earned a variety of honors, including the Houston Community Service Award from Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, and the Hammer Award for Reinventing Government from Vice President Al Gore for his work on the executive committee of Houston's federal Enterprise Community Board.

 

References

  1. ^ See interview on file at Rice University, March 2010
  2. ^ Outsmart Magazine Article: Outsmart Magazine Article
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ [4]
  7. ^ [5]
  8. ^ [6]
  9. ^ [7]
  10. ^ [8]
  11. ^ [9]
  12. ^ [10]

 

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