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Rebel Church Grows in Brooklyn

October 20, 2006

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chat_gaymarriage_320x240.jpgBrad Pitt claims he won't get married while gay marriage contiues to be illegal. Meanwhile the federal government continues to enforce heterosexual marriage in exchange for benefits. The debate is raging.

Which is why this weekend, we were thrilled hear about The Park Slope United Methodist Church. They’re a small congregation in Brooklyn, New York, that have made a bold and radical decision: They’ve hung a sign out side their fence that reads: “Until all can be married within these walls, none shall be married within these walls.”

Having at least one “Church Gay” on the staff here at OUTzone, we sat down and spoke with Pastor Herb Miller, to find out just what is going on.

Your statement is that no one can get married in your church until gay marriage is allowed. How did that policy come into being?
It’s been in place for about five years. There was an individual in the congregation who was concerned about the church’s rules on marriage policies. The rules had just been hardened by the “General Conference” (sort of a ruling body) of the United Methodist Church, and this individual felt that we needed to make some kind of response to that.

He brought it to the Church Council, who decided it was an important thing to look at, and they formed a task force that spent a considerable amount of time, exploring the issue. They brought several options to the congregation to vote on. And that’s what they chose -- that the church won’t perform a marriage there until everyone can get married there.

Why is that important to your parishioners in particular?
The church is very interested in furthering the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, and they felt that to not take a stand would be complicit in the church’s policy. The only viable option pushed was to go ahead and do (gay) weddings. The problem with that is that it would put the miinister here at the time in jeopardy.

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