Spring 2002 Lady Liberty League Report Published in CIRCLE Magazine Wiccan Becomes State Prison Chaplain Camp Gaea Legal Battle Continues Boston University Pagans Update New Military Reference Booklet Lady Liberty League Prison Task Force Update Our Freedom Announces Formalization of Coalition Use this list to link directly to the article you wish to read, or simply scroll down for all articles Wiccan Becomes State Prison Chaplain On Monday, December 3, 2001, Wiccan priestess Rev. Jamyi Witch began work as a Wisconsin state prison chaplain at Waupun Correctional Institution, where she ministers to inmates of many religions. Jamyi is the first Wiccan minister in the US to become a full time salaried state prison chaplain. Jamyi received years of interfaith and multicultural ministerial training and experience through Circle Sanctuary and is an ordained Wiccan priestess. She also is High Dame Commander with the Fellowship of Isis Lyceum Canada. Prior to becoming a prison chaplain, Jamyi worked for more than two years in eight Wisconsin prisons. She also has been active in community service for many years, including being a Girl Scout leader, reading program teacher and volunteer parent aide in the Mt. Horeb school system, and a Hospicecare volunteer. Although Jamyi was selected because she was the best qualified of those who applied, several Wisconsin lawmakers have been crusading against her and the Wiccan religion, through press releases, media interviews, and most recently, political maneuvering to eliminate her job position under the guise of dealing with Wisconsin's budget problems. Bias has also emerged within the prison system itself. According to Jamyi, “I am continuing to have the support of Department of Corrections administrators. However, because of continual discrimination and bias against me, including by many of the other prison chaplains in the system, I am filing complaints with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal agencies.” The news of Jamyi's hiring and the crusade against her has generated much media coverage (press, radio, television) statewide, nationally, and internationally. Pagans from many paths and places have rallied to Jamyi's support. At Winter Solstice time, a series of workings supporting Jamyi and Pagan religious freedom were held, including at Circle Sanctuary's annual public Winter Solstice on Sunday, December 23 in Madison. Camp Gaea Legal Battle Continues Camp Gaea, the 168-acre campground and retreat center that hosts some Pagan events near Tonganoxie, in Leavenworth County, Kansas, is continuing their legal battle to obtain a special use zoning permit. The camp's previous permit, which they had since 1995, expired last year. In October, Camp Gaea's permit renewal request was denied by the Leavenworth County Planning Commission and later by the County Board of Commissioners. The permit denial seems to be more about the alleged behavior of some of the people who attend events held at the camp, rather than actual land-use issues. Camp operators feel that the county is trying to bankrupt them, thus making them lose the property, which ultimately would make the county's problem go away. The camp's operators have now filed suit in District Court seeking to reverse the permit denial decision. The trial is scheduled for March 5, 2002. Currently, Camp Gaea is operating as usual and moving forward with plans for the upcoming camping season. Should they lose in March, they then plan to go to Federal Court with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union. Donations designated for their legal fund are being accepted at: Earth Rising, Inc., PO Box 696, Tonganoxie, KS 66086. Further information can be found on their website at http://www.campgaea.org or you may contact Gendah3@aol.com. Boston University Pagans Update As part of her work with Lady Liberty League, Jerrie Hildebrand has met and been in communication with the Pagans in the Boston University Pagan student group in their quest to get recognition as a religious group on campus and to counter anti-Pagan prejudice among the administration (see LLL REPORT in our previous issue). The Religious Life Council is currently reviewing the application and has been in discussion regarding the issues. Ms. Hildebrand and their campus advisor accompanied the students to their meeting in December 2001 with the Council. The Council is made up of appointees of the College which include students, chaplains from a variety of religious traditions, and others designated by the president of the university. The students have applied to have Paganism/Nature Religions recognized rather than just focus in on one specific tradition or doctrine. If they had applied under one specific tradition such as Wicca, the approval process would not have been so difficult. Since the group is comprised of many different Nature-centered traditions, there is a broader base of concerns and questions from the council. There is more integrity for the group to apply with a broader faith orientation description than with a more specific denominational description. We applaud the students for the courage to stand for what is true for them. Those with major city media contacts interested in religious liberty issues and Pagans with ties to Boston University who are interested in helping should email Jerrie: kishhilde@earthlink.net with cc to: liberty@mhtc.net. New Military Reference Booklet Spiritual Philosophy and Practice of Wicca in the U.S. Military is the title of a new reference booklet available for distribution to the public. Ronald W. Schaefer, Lt. Col. USAF, announced the availability of the book, stating that Part I covers “Wicca 101” and Part II deals with related constitutional mandates, civil laws, and military regulations, and offers tips on leadership styles, techniques, responsibilities, and expected standards of conduct. The publication is applicable to civilians as well as military groups. You may request a copy of the manual by contacting: dma@sacredwell.org or edu@sacredwell.org. Lady Liberty League Prison Task Force Update Over the last few months, Lady Liberty League has made significant progress in fighting religious discrimination in the prison systems. Recently, Patrick McCollum made a trip to Huntsville, Texas to meet with the Director of religious services for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). There he joined with local Pagan clergy members Charlayne Denny and Marie Macdonald, and started negotiations to get religious rights for Pagan inmates in Texas institutions. Initially, Texas took the position that they wouldn't provide religious services for Pagans, so Patrick made a proposal that the whole matter be reviewed by the Board that oversees all services for Texas inmates. He then contacted the General Council for TDCJ, and made his case there, providing the legal department with significant documentation validating Pagan religious requirements and practices. At the same time, he also spoke with the Governor's office, and the Speaker of the House for the State of Texas, gaining their support. Around the middle of January, Patrick was contacted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and informed that a new Pagan Religious program will go into effect as soon as possible. The particulars, including the celebration of eight holidays, group study, access to ritual implements, access to Tarot cards, and access to books and Pagan periodicals, are currently being worked out with our input, and new regulations are being drafted as we speak. One issue that was partially resolved but still in process has to do with forms of Norse Paganism, such as Asatru. Initially, the Department took a strong stand, making it clear that they would not allow practice or participation in any way by practitioners of these forms of Paganism. This stance was based primarily on some problems created in some prisons across the nation by inmates calling themselves Odinists or Asatru. After much discussion, the Department came to realize that Asatru on the outside is non-violent and that within prison settings non-violent members of Asatru should be able to practice their religion. The department agreed to allow a classification named “Norse Pagans” to be added to the regulations. They will allow inmates to practice under this heading for a period of time under close scrutiny to verify that they are indeed non-violent. If this is the case, the Department may include the name “Asatru” in the regulations at a later time. Patrick also successfully negotiated on behalf of Laurel Owen, a Pagan clergy member in Tennessee, with the Director of Religious services for that state, to initiate a Pagan religious program. Laurel is now performing services there as a result of these negotiations, and things are going well. Another significant event which has taken place as a result of Lady Liberty League's work was a recent seminar in Virginia, where several hundred Christian Fundamentalist Chaplains, who oversee religious services in many of the country's institutions, were required to learn how to work with, and meet the needs of, Pagan inmates. Currently, Patrick is in negotiations with several new states to resolve religious discrimination issues in prisons, and those negotiations, while trying, are also going well. Overall, Patrick resolved twenty two individual discrimination complaints in the last two months, covering five states, bringing the total of successful cases to 181 over the last year. Lady Liberty League would like to thank all of the individuals who shared their wisdom, lent their support, or donated items to the cause during these difficult negotiations, including but not limited to: Tom Canfield, Tony Gatlin, Drema Baker, Marie Macdonald, Charlayne Denny, Dr. David Oringderff, Laurel Owen, and Darla Kaye Wynne. We would also like to offer thanks to the many Government officials, Directors, and correctional staff who worked their way through many difficult issues, and in some case overcame personal religious prejudice, to do the right thing. Lastly, Patrick would personally like to thank Selena Fox, and the outstanding members of Circle Sanctuary staff, for the hundreds of hours of phone conversations, faxes, deliberations, and moral support. Our Freedom Announces Formalization of Coalition Members of a long-time informal coalition announce the formation of Our Freedom: A Pagan Civil Rights Coalition. LLL is one of the participating organizations. Our Freedom grew out of eight years of networking and cooperative activism among many national Pagan organizations, publications, and certain key individuals. After many years of working together on an ad hoc basis, participants decided to formalize their relationship through the adoption of a name and the publication of group goals, achievements, and processes. That information is available at: http://www.PaganEdNet.org/ourfreedom/.