Several area churches gathered Saturday in an interfaith coalition to discuss welcoming gays and lesbians into the religious community.

The seven-hour workshop at State College Presbyterian Church, 132 W. Beaver Ave., addressed topics about sexual orientation.

The churches participating were the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 780 Waupelani Drive, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, 208 W. Foster Ave., Friends Meeting of State College, E. 611 Prospect Ave., and University Baptist and Brethren Church, 411 S. Burrowes St. Members of several other local churches were also present at the workshop.

While the Presbyterian Church was not officially part of the coalition, it allowed the workshop to use their facilities.

Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, who is the minister at the University Baptist and Brethren Church, said it is important to use the right process to make everyone in the congregation feel comfortable with having gays and lesbians attend services.

Her church was asked to leave their denomination because of its stance on welcoming gays and lesbians.

"Outreach has different levels," Kline Smeltzer said. "The key is the process of inclusion."

Kerry Wiessman is a member of Gay Affirming Interfaith Network (GAIN) and helped organize the workshop with Mark Hayes, a minister at the Unitarian Church.

Wiessman said she had been working with GAIN for several years to help gays and lesbians become accepted in the religious community.

Hayes said he believes a church can welcome gays and lesbians, while the congregation maintains its number of worshipers.

"You won't suffer big losses to your congregation if you include everyone in the process," Hayes said.

He also talked about having a gay or lesbian pastor in a church. "You don't have to publicize your orientation, but you don't deny it either," Hayes said.

Robert Young, who traveled from Williamsport to attend, said he hoped to get more information about how other churches are trying to welcome gays and lesbians.

"I'm trying to see what other churches are doing," Young said. "I want to get a group going in Williamsport like this one."

Bob Passow, a member of St. Andrew's Church, said he hopes more churches will try to welcome gays and lesbians.

"We're hoping more of these churches will be welcoming of everybody," Passow said.

"My whole objective is to make sexual orientation a non-issue," he said.

Jen Sawyer is a student at State College Area High School, 653 Westerly Pkwy., and a member of the Presbyterian Church, who hoped to learn more about the issue of welcoming gays and lesbians in the religious community.

"I just wanted to talk about this with other people," Sawyer said. "I want to know what other people are thinking."

Ed Kobee is a member of the Interfaith Fairness Coalition in Adelphi, Md. He was invited by GAIN to conduct the workshop.

Kobee said he was pleased with size of the turnout. About 30 people came.

"This is quite a large size for one of these workshops," Kobee said. "I'm very surprised."