Description:
Oral history with Babs Miller, parish associate at St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Church (Austin, Tex.), on her career in ministry, including with Metropolitan
Community Church (Austin, Tex.) during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and as
an evangelist with That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) in the 2000s. Babs
Miller is a Presbyterian minister, ordained by Mission Presbytery in 2014.
Born in Victoria, Texas in 1942, she attended the Presbyterian School for
Christian Education (Richmond, Va.) in the 1960s, and worked as a Christian
educator, a social worker, and a high school teacher in Texas. She went to
Austin Theological Seminary from 1987 to 1990, came out as a lesbian, and
began work with Metropolitan Community Church (Austin, Tex.). From about 2004
to 2012 she was an evangelist with That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS). She has
served as parish associate at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Austin, Tex.)
since 2014, and continues advocacy for GLBTQ+ rights, in particular
protection of trans youth and their families threatened by Texas state law
codifying trans health therapies as child abuse. Starting in 2015, Miller was
part of the group at St. Andrew's, as part of the Austin Sanctuary Network,
declaring public sanctuary for migrants, and helped a mother and child, Hilda
and Ivan, seek asylum.
Creator:
Miller, Babs Ann, 1942- (interviewee), Staniunas, David. (interviewer)
Subject names:
Metropolitan Community Church (Austin, Tex.), That All May Freely Serve (Association), St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Austin, Tex.)
Topics:
Ordination of lesbians--Presbyterians., Sanctuary movement., Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Presbyterians., Church work with immigrants.