CT Same-Sex Couples First Must Find A Willing And Able Cleric
Posted on November 24, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized
The Rev. Edward Horstmann has officiated at hundreds of weddings over the years, but the one he presided over Thursday afternoon will remain in his memory perhaps longer than any other.
It was the marriage of Angela Fischer, 40, and Tami Schmidt, 41 — who came to Hartford because their plans for a California wedding fell through when voters there outlawed gay marriage on Nov. 4. The two women, who live in Arizona, know their marriage won’t be recognized in their home state, but that didn’t really factor into their plans — or their joy.
As they knelt on the altar in the soaring main sanctuary of Immanuel Congregational Church, Horstmann married them with the “blessing of Christ’s church” — words they never thought they would hear — and said their wedding day reminded him of the words of the Benedictine nun, Joan Chittister.
“She said, ‘Who knows which snowflake it is on the branch that causes the branch to eventually fall. But I want to be there when it does,’” Horstmann said. “But today, something hasn’t so much broken, but has started to soar, or fly. This is a remarkable day.” n Horstmann, Fischer and Schmidt found an unwavering supporter, but it won’t be quite so easy for every same-sex couple wanting to marry in a Connecticut church. Just because the law says homosexual couples can marry, it doesn’t mean clergy have to perform the ceremonies, or even have the authority to do so.
United Church Of Christ ministers like Horstmann belong to one of the few mainline Christian denominations that are allowing their clergy to choose how they respond to the new law, along with Reform and Conservative Jews.
Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical Lutherans, Orthodox Jews and a variety of other denominations have clearly stated policies that clergy are not permitted to perform marriage rites for same-sex couples.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/11/ct-same-sex-c…
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