About Dan Hooper

Dan Hooper has been active in the gay/lesbian/Christian movement since 1970 when, as a seminary student at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California, he helped to organize a covert ecumenical association of lesbian and gay seminary students in the first year after the "Stonewall" events in New York City.

Ordained in the former American Lutheran Church in 1974, Hooper served for 14 years in pastoral ministry to Lutheran congregations in Arizona and California and several specialized ministries including Lutheran Olympic Ministry 1984--a ministry of hospitality and emergency preparedness for the Olympic Games.  During this time he was also instrumental in forming the Lutherans Concerned/Phoenix chapter, and in reviving Lutherans Concerned/Los Angeles.

In a spiral-bound notebook, Hooper began journaling in 1983, later switching to a computer keyboard because his typing speed and thinking speed were closely matched.  Journaling and writing led to a stronger confidence that we need to speak up, give our testimony, and defend the hope that is within us.

In 1985, at the request of Lutherans Concerned/North America, Hooper co-authored LC/NA’s first significant public theological statement, “A Call for Dialog.” About 15,000 copies of this 12-page paper were distributed.

In 1988 Hooper was forced to resign from his parish call in Inglewood, California, and accepted it as a sign of the Spirit that it was time to exit the closet and close that door behind him.  After being dropped from the official Clergy Roster of the ELCA, he was employed in a secular career while keeping a sense of spiritual vocation alive, apart from institutional support and compensation. Throughout these years, Hooper continued to study and write on various theological issues affecting LGBT Christians.

During the preliminary studies running up to the publication of the ELCA’s first draft of its Sexuality Study, Hooper was invited to address the full commission in 1990. He released a major paper for Lutherans Concerned/North America, “Building, Blessing, Living in Relationship” in 1992.

In 1999, at the behest of the late Rev. James Lokken, Hooper began work on a draft of a theological update with the working title of “A Call for Dialog – II.”  (When posted here, please note that it bears no approval or imprimatur from LC/NA or any other organization.)

In 2002 he began work on the monumental Reconciling Ministry Planner 1.0, a CD-ROM-based program of resources for the Reconciling in Christ program.   This resource of more than 500 pages took more than a year to write, and has been widely distributed by Lutherans Concerned/North America.

Hooper served on the Bisexual and Transgender Task Force of LC/NA which published its statement “Being the Body of Christ” in 2003.

In June 2002, Hooper was accepted on the Roster of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project in the Lutheran church, and became available to serve under call. The ECP is a professional examining and certification process which closely parallels the certification process of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with one significant exception: The ELCA presently demands celibacy of its lesbian/gay clergy and lay professionals, and so precludes same-sex partnered men and women from professional or ordained service. The ECP does not require celibacy.

In the midst of being considered for a pastoral call in Hollywood, in February 2004 Dan and his partner Carl, along with two dear friends, traveled to San Francisco, waited in the rain overnight outside City Hall, and the next morning were united in marriage.  For better or worse, their exchange of vows made it onto the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.  The California Supreme Court "is still out" on the validity of those unilaterally issued marriage licenses.  (More than a year later, Mayor Gavin Newsome personally autographed our marriage license.)

In March 2004, Hooper was called by an overwhelming majoriity of voting members of Hollywood Lutheran Church to serve as their Pastor, even under the threat of ecclesiastical sanctions against the congregation.  He was installed in a festive service with the Rev. Jeff Johnson, President of the ECP presiding and Bishop Emeritus Rev. Dr. Paul Egertson preaching.

as duly noted in The Advocate

Rev. Hooper continues to serve as the Pastor of Hollywood Lutheran Church, a Reconciling in Christ congregation, as well as a member and officer of Lutherans Concerned/Los Angeles, for whom he edits the occasional newsletter The Light of Christ. 

Another brief biographical profile of Dan may be found at www.lgbtran.org

Also see:  "Two Gay Lifestyles"

Contact Information

You can contact Dan by e-mail below or at Hollywood Lutheran Church. 

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BLOG

For Dan's theological blog, see:  www.indwellingspirit.org