Erman Louie Clay (né Erman Louie Crew Jr.) (1936–2019) was an American professor emeritus of English at Rutgers University. He was best known for his long and increasingly successful campaign for the acceptance of gay and lesbian people by Christians in general, and the Episcopal Church in particular. Biography Louie Crew was born December 9, 1936, in Anniston, Alabama. He has written about "Growing Up Gay in Dixie" Crew graduated from The McCallie School (1954), and received a B.A. from Baylor University (1958) a M.A. from Auburn University (1959) and a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama (1971). Crew taught at Auburn University, Darlington School, St. Andrew's School (Delaware), Penge Secondary Modern School, London, University of Alabama, Experiment in International Living, Claflin University, Fort Valley State University, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, Beijing International Studies University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Rutgers University. Louie Crew Clay died on November 27, 2019, 12 days shy of his 83rd birthday. Activism While teaching at Fort Valley State University, Crew founded Integrity USA, a gay-acceptance group within the Episcopal Church (1974). With Julia Penelope, Crew co-founded the LGBT caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English (1975). He served on the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1976 to 1978. After he moved to Wisconsin, he served on the Wisconsin Governor's Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues in 1983. When Crew first began working for the inclusion of LGBT people in the Episcopal church, he was widely denounced and dismissed, but today the Episcopal Church has come to agree with many of his views, while some churches and dioceses are strongly opposed. Crew sat on the Episcopal Church's executive council (2000–2006). He was elected by the Episcopal Diocese of Newark to serve as a deputy to six triennial national General Conventions (1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009). He was a devoted Anglo-Catholic and for many years a member of Grace Church in Newark. Crew maintained a comprehensive Web site with information about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. Professor Ed Rodman at the Episcopal Divinity School says that Crew's first and foremost contribution was that "he brought internet literacy to the church". Marriage Louie Crew married Flora Mae Friedrich on May 25, 1968. She was his freshman English student in the spring of 1967. The marriage ended 5 years later in divorce. Louie Crew married