November 10, 2013
Ministers Back Colleagues at Pa. Same-Sex Ceremony
Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
About 50 ministers are giving their symbolic support to a colleague facing sanctions from the United Methodist Church by participating in a same-sex wedding ceremony.
The wedding in Philadelphia on Saturday was held about a week before the Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon faces a church trial for officiating over his son's marriage to another man.
The Philadelphia Inquirer says the clergy filled the front of a Methodist church in the city Saturday, blessing the marriage in defiance of church law.
A spokesman for the church's eastern Pennsylvania conference isn't commenting about whether any of the participants may face discipline. Most of the 50 are Methodist ministers.
Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
