White (Mel) and Lach (Daryl) Collection (CLGS), 1974-2015

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Summary

Title:
Mel White and Daryl Lach Collection (CLGS)
Dates:
1974-2015
Creators:
White, Mel (James Melville), 1940- Lach, Daryl, 1950- Nixon, Gary Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869-1948 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968 Soulforce, Inc. Metropolitan Community Church Lach, Daryl
Abstract:
James Melville "Mel" White is an influential author, filmmaker, spokesman and clergyman raised as an Evangelical Christian. In his fifties, he became an effective and outspoken advocate for gay rights. Lach was born in Chicago in 1950 and has lived in the metropolitan area most of his life. He is a veteran; having served in the U.S. Navy between 1969 -1973 as a Hospital Corpsman. In 1993 his paths crossed those of Dr. Mel White, an evangelical minister, author and seminary professor who was a prominent figure in the burgeoning gay civil rights movement. His best-selling book Stranger At the Gate—to be Gay and Christian in America (1993) sent out a clarion call for people who were willing to monitor the Christian right in America. Together they created this extensive collection of LGBTQ and Christian Right materials.
Extent:
22 linear feet (27 boxes)
Language:
Preferred citation:

The Mel White and Daryl Lach Collection, The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion.

Background

Scope and content:

Materials related to Mel White’s ministry and LGBTQ advocacy, particularly in relation to Fundamentalist Christianity, and supported by Daryl Lach’s extensive collection. These include sermons, correspondence, documents related to non-violent protest and direct actions, fundraising and other materials related to organizations both for and against acceptance of LGBTQ people in the Christian community, clippings, video cassettes, audio cassettes, DVDs and teaching materials. The bulk of the materials are from the 1990s and early 2000s.

Biographical / historical:

Mel White (1940- ) and Daryl Lach (1950- ) are significant figures in LGBTQ advocacy, particularly in relation to Fundamentalist Christianity. Mel White James Melville "Mel" White is an influential author, filmmaker, spokesman and clergyman raised as an Evangelical Christian. In his fifties, he became an effective and outspoken advocate for gay rights. White was born on July 26, 1940, in Santa Clara, California. White received a BA degree, Werner Pacific College; MA in Communications, University of Portland; additional graduate work, University of Southern California, UCLA, and Harvard; and Doctorate of Ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary. He worked as a minister, writer, teacher, and filmmaker. From the 1960s through 1980s, he was a ghostwriter for publications by Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. In 1994, he came out as gay, after years of trying numerous therapies to cure homosexuality. He became a minister with the Metropolitan Community Church and an activist. In 1998 he founded the organization Soulforce to support acceptance of LGBTQ persons through nonviolent actions, following the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Among a number of actions, a memorable campaign took place in October 1999 which resulted in a meeting of gay activists and Evangelical Christians at Jerry Falwell’s church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He married Lyla Lee Loehr in 1962. Of their two children, Mike White became an actor and screenwriter (School of Rock and others). Father and son were featured twice on The Amazing Race (2009, 2011). On June 18, 2008, White and his longtime companion Gary Nixon were married at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California. For additional details, see the autobiographical note on Religious Archives Network (http://lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=10) and his autobiographies. Daryl Lach Daryl Lach has extensively collected in the area of “Voices of the Christian Right in American Politics and Culture at the Turn of the 21st Century.” Begun in 2000, his collection--included in this archive—covers approximately 13 years of the William J. Clinton/George W. Bush presidencies and features 600 hours of video, 81 hours of audio, more than 2,500 pieces of print material, including mailings, magazines, booklets, and newspaper clippings, along with over 200,000 words of commentary contained in 76 notebooks. Lach was born in Chicago in 1950 and has lived in the metropolitan area most of his life. He is a veteran; having served in the U.S. Navy between 1969 -1973 as a Hospital Corpsman. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare and Biblical Literature from Olivet Nazarene College (now University) in Kankakee, Illinois and an Associate degree in Nursing from Excelsior College at the University of the State of New York, Albany, New York. Past retirement age, he continues working full time and has done so for decades as an LPN and RN, with ventilator dependent patients (mainly children), who suffered from chronic genetic diseases and accidents negatively affecting their respiratory systems. The biggest influence on his life has been The Salvation Army (SA); an international religious/social service organization (and church) from which he attributes having developed a strong sense of Social Justice. He began freelance writing articles for the group’s official organ The War Cry as a teen-ager; through the years, expanding his scope to several other SA publications in both the U.S.A. and abroad. In 1977, as a college senior, while working on a term paper for Pentateuch class titled ‘The Religion of YHWH vs. Canaanite Religion,’’ he acquired an overwhelming compulsion to understand the meaning of ‘Idolatry’ in our modern day and age. The compulsion never left. Yet he wasn’t sure why he was given it or what he was to do with it. Casual observers just thought he was ‘Looney Tunes’ whenever he would open his mouth about the subject—which was often and would literally come up from out of nowhere in conversations. In 1993 his paths crossed those of Dr. Mel White, an evangelical minister, author and seminary professor who was a prominent figure in the burgeoning gay civil rights movement. His best-selling book Stranger At the Gate—to be Gay and Christian in America (1993) sent out a clarion call for people who were willing to monitor the Christian right in America. Lach observes, “Many mustered up but few lasted for even short periods of time; not being able to handle the constant barrage of lies, distortions and condemnations promulgated by major media personalities of the Christian right.” Because of his “Idolatry” obsession, he continued to monitor and decipher the activities of the Christian Right. He comments, “I realized that I was dealing with people who were breaking anywhere from one to all three of the first three of the Ten Commandments on a daily basis. I was not afraid of their god (lower case intended) because their ‘god’ wasn’t God. They were worshipping an entity not all that different from the ancient, polytheistic, tribal, nature/fertility gods and goddesses who could be appeased and manipulated through witchcraft. The only difference was that in place of pagan rituals and oracles, the modern day right-wingers were misusing Christian symbolisms and a crass Bibliolatry as the source for their magic formulas.” What began as a short-term assignment led to Lach’s extensive and remarkable contribution to this CLGS collection.

Acquisition information:
“The Mel White and Daryl Lach Collection” belongs to the larger archival collection of The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion, a member school of The Graduate Theological Union. Materials received in 2013. The GTU Archives is the designated repository.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid created by Graduate Theological Union staff.
Date Prepared:
1974-2015
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:54 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection open for research except for correspondence marked “personal and confidential” and two confidential files, which are restricted for 25 years (2038).

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

The Mel White and Daryl Lach Collection, The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) at Pacific School of Religion.

Location of this collection:
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, CA 94709, US
Contact:
(510) 649-2523/2501
archives@gtu.edu
Website