Williams, raised a
Southern Baptist was a graduate of
Hardin–Simmons University in
Abilene, Texas, and subsequently worked as a journalist in
Dallas. He founded a branch of
IntegrityUSA, a gay and lesbian Episcopalian organization. He took a Masters of Divinity at
Episcopal Divinity School, graduating in 1988. He was ordained on December 16, 1989, by
John Shelby Spong, Bishop of Newark, having publicly stated that he was in a sexual homosexual relationship with James Skelley, a divorced father of two. He was appointed as founding head of
The Oasis, an outreach for homosexuals at All Saints’ Church
Hoboken,
New Jersey. The appointment caused a great deal of controversy, and in January 1990 Williams stated 'Monogamy is as unnatural as celibacy. If people want to try, O.K., but the fact is, people are not monogamous. It is crazy to hold up this ideal and pretend it's what we're doing and we're not', adding that
Mother Teresa would have benefited from having sex. He said of his exposure to heterosexuals that "in my pastoral relationships I find that very few people are monogamous individuals" and "I can't say anything good about celibacy. I think it comes out of a sex-negative philosophy." Williams was forced to resign from his ministry as a result of his comments. He embarked upon a study of human sexuality at
New York University, moving to
Provincetown, Massachusetts when he began suffering from the complications of
AIDS. He sought to establish an Episcopalian healing ministry there in June 1991, but was denied a license by the Rt Reverend David Johnson, Bishop of Massachusetts. He chose to run his healing ministry independently. He died in hospital in Boston on December 24, 1992, from AIDS, being survived by his partner Kevin McKowen. ==Bibliography==