GAY TRUTH

JANINE AND JIM EDEN/FLICKR A same-sex marriage ceremony at a United Methodist Church in New York The trial of a United Methodist Church (UMC) minister who performed a same-sex marriage ceremony has been halted by a bishop before it began. Meanwhile, a retired UMC bishop may face a trial of his own for a similar ceremony. Bishop Martin McLee of New York committed this week to stopping all such trials in his region. The New York Times has the details . Meanwhile, Religion News Service reports on the latest (and highest-ranking) dissident to potentially face punishment , and assesses how geography is shaping the "emerging dynamic that allows some pastors in the country's second-largest Protestant denomination to skirt rules banning clergy from performing same-sex wedding , while others risk costly church trials and the loss of clergy credentials." "The just resolution provisions of the Book of Discipline are clear in voicing just resolution as the pref

The Rev. Frank Schaefer did not hesitate for a moment when asked by his gay son, Tim, to preside at his wedding in Hull. The Methodist minister was honored — and overjoyed. Last week, six years after the ceremony, Schaefer was convicted at an emotional church trial in Pennsylvania for breaking church laws that forbid United Methodist clergy from performing same-sex weddings. The jury imposed a 30-day suspension, and told Schaefer that if he could not comply with church law, he must surrender his credentials as a clergyman. “Absurd? Prehistoric?” said the Rev. Robert Coombe, who represented Schaefer in the trial, searching for words to describe his view of the proceedings. “Nobody wants a trial. It’s very painful to everyone involved, and it’s costly to the church, so why are we doing this?” Schaefer’s is one of a number of similar cases making their way through the legal system of the United Methodist Church, exposing a sharp rift within the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomi

GRIMES, IA, August 12, 2013 ( LifeSiteNew s.com ) – A Christian couple is facing a state complaint, business cancellations, and vulgar, harassing, and threatening e-mail messages after refusing to rent out a business facility for a gay “wedding.” Dick and Betty Odgaard said they could not in good conscience allow a homosexual couple to use their business, the Görtz Haus Gallery, to conduct the ceremony itself. Betty Odgaard “To us, [marriage] is a sacrament,” Betty Odgaard said, that exists only “between a man and woman.” She told Billy Hallowell of  The Blaze  their rejection was “totally a faith-based issue,” adding the couple would be happy to serve the homosexuals “in any other way,” besides being the site on which they traded vows. The couple quickly filed a legal complaint before the Iowa Human Rights Commission, saying that state law forbids any public venue from denying the use of its premises on the basis of sexual orientation. As the story of their deni

TAMPA, FLORIDA , May 7, 2012,  –  Members of the nation’s largest mainline Protestant church voted to maintain the doctrine that homosexual actions were “incompatible with Christian teaching” on Thursday. The United Methodist Church voted down  two proposals to water down its stance  on homosexuality on Thursday. One proposal called homosexuals “people of sacred worth” and acknowledged differing viewpoints on the issue, while another said humans did not know enough about human sexuality to prefer one lifestyle over another. The Religion News Service   reports   after delegates defeated the pro- LGBT proposals, “gay rights activists flooded the assembly floor and disrupted the session by singing the hymn ‘What Does the Lord Require of You?’” They refused to honor Indiana Bishop Michael Coyner’s request to stop singing, forcing him to curtail that morning’s session. Hillary's views conflict with those of her denomination. The church’s position, enshrined in its  Book of Discipli

Image via Wikipedia SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, March 9, 2012, ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – The Diocese of Sacramento has withheld funds from a non-profit organization whose leader publicly supports abortion and same-sex marriage. Diocesan spokesman Kevin Eckery said that Bishop Jaimo Soto personally approved the decision to defund  Francis House Center  because of the outspoken stance of its leader - United Methodist Rev. Faith Whitmore - in opposition to Catholic teaching on key moral issues. Whitmore  told  Sacramento’s News 10-TV that a priest personally explained to her in January that the diocese would no longer collect funds for the organization because of her strong “support for Planned Parenthood , because I believe that Planned Parenthood is the foremost educational health care provider to women, especially to poor women.” While serving as pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church , she  conducted same-sex “marriage” ceremonies  in defiance of  her denomination’s ban on doing so

Image via Wikipedia OCEAN GROVE, New Jersey , January 13, 2012, ( LifeSiteNews.com ) - A New Jersey judge ruled against a Christian retreat house that refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony to be conducted on its premises, ruling the Constitution allows “some intrusion into religious freedom to balance other important societal goals.” The Boardwalk Pavilion that the lesbian couple wanted to use for their ceremony On Thursday, administrative judge  Solomon A. Metzger ruled  that religious liberty did not exempt the seaside retreat, which is associated with the United Methodist Church , from renting its facilities out for purposes that violate its moral beliefs. In March 2007, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association   declined  Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster’s request to rent its Boardwalk Pavilion for the ceremony. The couple sued, claiming they had been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. In December 2008, the state Division on Civil Rights f