Spahr convicted for gay weddings

Overturning an earlier ruling that upheld a lesbian minister's right to perform same-sex weddings, a Presbyterian appeals court decided last week that the minister had violated church policy.

The Pacific Permanent Judicial Commission, representing Presbyterian churches in California, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, ruled 6-2 August 23 that the Reverend Jane Spahr should be rebuked for marrying gay and lesbian couples.

"For me, this kind of decision again perpetuates a second-class attitude. It not only perpetuates myths and stereotypes, but some people will feel it gives them license to do violence," Spahr said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Spahr has served as a Presbyterian minister since 1974. Early in her career she founded the Ministry of Light in Marin County, which became Spectrum Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, in San Anselmo. More recently she started a national Presbyterian group for LGBT people called, That All May Freely Serve.

Although Spahr has officiated at hundreds of same-sex marriages, the case is based on two lesbian weddings she performed in Rochester, New York and Guerneville, California. It was initiated by a complaint from the Reverend James Berkeley, a conservative Presbyterian minister in Bellevue, Washington.