Spring 2003 Lady Liberty League Report Published in CIRCLE Magazine Priestess Sues County Board in Virginia More Challenges for Wiccan Chaplain Support for Pagan Families & Youth Prison Ministry Task Force Update Use this list to link directly to the article you wish to read, or simply scroll down for all articles   Priestess Sues County Board in Virginia The Board of Supervisors in Chesterfield County, Virginia begin their meetings with a brief prayer by local clergy who volunteer for this duty. However, when Wiccan priestess Cythia Simpson volunteered, her request was rejected by government officials who said that only clergy who were Christian or Jewish could do prayers for them. In December 2002, Cythia decided to challenge this. She filed a lawsuit in federal court with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and Americans United for Separation for Church and State. Selena Fox, executive director of LLL, has been among those supporting Cythia in her religious freedom quest. Please send blessings of strength, perseverance, and protection to Cythia. More Challenges for Wiccan Chaplain When Wiccan priestess Jamyi Witch became a Wisconsin prison chaplain in December 2001 (See Spring 2002 LLL Report), several state assemblymen crusaded to get her fired because she was Wiccan. Thus far, they have been unsuccessful in their efforts and Jamyi continues in her job. However, her challenges have not ended. In Summer 2002, Jamyi and her two daughters moved from Mt. Horeb to a community near the prison where she works. Anti-Wiccan prejudice emerged among some of the towns people and then intensified in October, when she and another prison chaplain, a Muslim, were ousted from the Waupun Clergy Association when this group decided to become a Christian only organization. This discrimination resulted in widespread media coverage and stirred up additional anti-Wiccan prejudice in the area, including more attacks on Jamyi and her daughters. Selena Fox of LLL has been among those providing support to Jamyi and Iman Ron Beyah. She has networked with clergy of other religions about their situation as well as the additional harassment Jamyi and her family has received in the aftermath of this incident. Please send prayers of healing, protection, and strength to Jamyi and her daughters. Also send well wishes to Community First, the new interfaith organization that has formed in Waupun. This new group has welcomed Jamyi and Ron and is composed of clergy from six Christian churches as well as prison chaplains. Support for Pagan Families & Youth Jerrie Hildebrand, LLL advisor, has assisted with a variety of requests for help in recent months. She reports: "Most of the support I find myself doing more often than not is counseling folks going the distance to stand up for their freedom or that of their children. This includes brainstorming possible resources available to them." Over the past couple of months, LLL has had contact with parents needing a variety of support. Some of this included support regarding custody issues and supporting children in the school with civil rights issues. Lady Allyn, LLL's child custody issues specialist, has also provided assistance. More and more often children are finding their religious rights being infringed upon in their schools and in after school programs, as well as programming that is coming in to schools that appear not to be religious in nature but is. LLL has been supplying the information needed to support parents in standing up for their children. Other types of support Jerrie has provided has included working with a Girl Scout leader in speaking to local councils about religious discrimination matters, and educating supportive non-Pagan parents about their children's religious choices. On the college campus front, some groups have been utilizing LLL services to support them in gaining status as recognized student religious organizations. There is now a trend towards the acceptance of Wiccan groups, but not necessarily more diverse Pagan groups. Prison Ministry Task Force Update Task force coordinator, Patrick McCollum, is involved in upholding Pagan religious freedom in court cases in several states in the US. One case seeks to win Pagan inmates the right to wear pentagrams as religious jewelry in a state prison system, just as Christian inmates are able to wear crosses as a religious practice. Another case is a class action lawsuit that seeks to win access to Pagan clergy for Pagan inmates on Death Row. At present, Pagans facing death can only have either a Christian minister or a Jewish rabbi escort them to execution. A third case seeks to win Pagan inmates access to religious books and other materials in a state prison system. Christian inmates are permitted access to Christian materials, but Pagans have been denied access to Pagan religious books and supplies. In addition to helping with court cases, Patrick has continued to serve as a resource on Pagan religious accommodation to wardens and chaplains in corrections. In recent months, he has been asked to provide diversity training on Wicca and Paganism to staff at three federal prisons and one state prison. Patrick will present prison ministry training to Pagan priests and priestesses as part of the Pagan Leadership Institute at this year's Pagan Spirit Gathering in Ohio in June (www.circlesanctuary.org/psg). Selena Fox of LLL also continues to be active in the Pagan religious accommodation work of the Prison Ministry Task Force. In addition to her work with the US Bureau of Prisons, she serves on the Religious Practices Advisory Committee of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and during its January 2003 meeting, she presented information about the Wiccan religion and its symbols. Patrick's LLL work has included networking with other organizations. He met with organizers of the Prison Kindred Alliance to discuss ways the LLL might collaborate. At the American Academy of Religion conference in Toronto in November, 2002, he networked and began collaborating with representatives of another Pagan prison ministry organization. At Samhain 2002, Patrick was on hand for Samhain celebrations at two prisons in California. He was at the new Folsom prison in Repressa and at the Federal Correction Institution for women in Dublin. Each of the celebrations included a ritual, a feast, and music, and were a result of LLL's intervention on the behalf of incarcerated Pagans. LLL's Prison Ministry Task Force continues to receive and respond to many requests for help. If you are interested in helping Patrick with the work of the Task Force, please contact him: ourladyofthewels@aol.com, with cc to liberty@mhtc.net. © 2003, Circle Sanctuary. LLL Report is published quarterly in CIRCLE Magazine. Click here for Subscription Information.