An Official Statement from the CPCSM Board
On Civil Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

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The Message CPCSM Is Intending
to Send in Its Political Action

We need to be clear, the proposed marriage amendment endorsed by this summit is not about protecting sacramental marriage – which owing to the separation of church and state, needs no protection; it is about discriminating against families. If passed, it would deny same-gender couples and their families the 1138 protections afforded to families headed by mixed-gender couples. If passed, this amendment would mark the first time in history that the Minnesota Constitution would be amended to enshrine discrimination, rather than extend rights to people.

As people of faith who respect the distinction between church and state, we come together to express our concern and outrage that certain churches have entered the political arena so as to deny the constitutional rights of GLBT people. Furthermore, we denounce the reactionary, authoritarian, and anti-democratic understanding of religious faith reflected in these churches’ efforts to deny human and civil rights to citizens based on their sexual orientation. We are religious people who recognize that when these churches talk about the “sanctity of marriage,” they are referring to the religious or sacramental aspect of matrimony, not the civil aspect of marriage. It is this civil aspect of marriage that we are seeking to protect and ensure for all American citizens – including GLBT citizens.

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Public Statement at 2006 World Marriage Day Rally
On the Front Steps of the Cathedral of St. Paul
on Behalf of Catholics for Equality
by David J. McCaffrey, Cofounder of CPCSM
February 12, 2006

We, the members of Catholics for Equality, are outraged by the position and actions taken by the Minnesota Catholic Bishops in actively endorsing and advocating for the discriminatory and anti-Christian "Marriage Amendment" -- both from the pulpit and through official Catholic publications.
Not only do we believe that such actions violate the separation of Church and State guaranteed by the United States Constitution, we further hold that Minnesota Bishops' position and actions are diametrically opposed to their ordained roles as pastoral leaders who have been called by God to welcome, unite, and minister to all God's people -- not to ostracize, exclude, and spiritually abuse with their language those whom they do not understand or agree with.

Catholics for Equality are taking this and other proactive positions and actions to urge the Minnesota Bishops to withdraw their support of the Marriage Amendment and are using all avenues open to them as citizens and people of faith to oppose this amendment and urge all other Minnesota people of faith and citizens to do the same. This amendment, should it pass, would mark the first time in Minnesota history that discrimination would be enshrined in the Constitution, especially at the urging of the Catholic hierarchy.

We will not wait the 350 years that Galileo's descendants had to wait until the Vatican acknowledged that his life experiences and his science spoke the truth. When will the Vatican and other members of the Catholic hierarchy listen to the tens of thousands of stories of gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender (GLBT) persons and our families -- stories of love for our Church, stories of our wanting to do God's will in the only way that our consciences direct us - by being true to our God-created natures of same-gender sexual or affectional orientations - and seeking union with God through a committed relationship with another person of our same gender.

When will the Vatican and the Bishops of Minnesota listen to the tens of thousands of our stories of oppression at the hands of those who fear and misunderstand us, often urged by Church leaders who are violating their sworn public trust to minister to all God's children. Listen to the tens of thousands of our stories about our periods of depression, our suicide attempts, our stories of terror about being rejected by our parents and our friends, and our stories of harassment, assault, and sometimes even murder by those whom the Church has not done enough to educate or encourage to love us and accept us as brothers and sisters?

How long, Pope Benedict and Archbishop Flynn, will it take for you to look into the telescope and once again see that for us the sun is the center of the universe, that our earth does truly revolve around the sun? Listen to the vast majority of today's biological and behavioral scientists, to the majority of today's mental health professionals and sexologists. GLBT persons are created, just as they are, by God -- it is not a choice and it is not an illness. It is a natural variation of God's creation. Our orientations do not need to be changed and cannot be truly changed. We are good and holy just as God created us.

And our civil marriages are good and holy. And the children we raise, if we show them proper love, respect, and upbringing and are supportive of them in their lives, do at least as well as those raised by our opposite-sex counterparts. We are citizens of the US and of Minnesota. As citizens, we vote, we pay taxes, we join the military to defend our country. Therefore, our committed relationships deserve all the same rights and privileges granted to other citizens in opposite-sex marriages; and our children deserve the same rights, privileges, and protections granted to those raised by opposite-sex parents.

Look into the telescope, Pope Benedict and Archbishop Flynn, and Bishops of Minnesota and see the truth. Tens of thousands of lives, tens of thousands of souls could be in the balance!

Top of Page

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• The 1138 rights and legal protections of civil marriage that are given to mixed-gender couples and families should also be extended to couples and families who are headed by same-gender couples, who are also tax-paying citizens. These include the rights of survivorship, inheritance, insurance, joint income tax filing, and a myriad of rights that many mixed-gender couples take for granted.

• Denying equal rights and protections to same-gender couples also harms and threatens children who may depend on a family headed by a same-gender couple for insurance benefits, social security, and/or emergency hospital care.

• Freedom of religion guarantees that each faith and religion can define the religious ritual of marriage within their institution as they see fit, and this is true regardless of what the government decides about civil marriage rights. The distinction between civil marriage and religious ceremony/ritual will not change when the government grants equal civil marriage rights to all consenting adults.

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How You Can Support
Equal Civil Marriage Rights
for GLBT Persons in Minnesota

• Sign Outfront MN's Just Fair Petition that reads:
  "Please count me among the fair-minded Minnesotans who support the civil rights and the inherent dignity of Minnesota's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens and their families. We call on our legislators to preserve our state Constitution as a document guaranteeing the 'security, benefit, and protection' of all its citizens. In Minnesota...Fairness Counts!" (Click here to sign the petition, which will be sent to your state legislators.)

• Come out to your relatives, families, coworkers, fellow parishioners, and neighbors, as a GLBT person, family member, or friend and tell others what their "yes" vote would mean for the lives of your family or the family of your loved ones or friends. Give them a copy of the above talking points and ask them to educate themselves about the amendment and the harm that it will bring to you, your loved ones, or friends.

• Contact your pastor or other parish staff and share with them your feelings about the amendment, and ask that the parish not advocate that parishioners vote "yes" for the amendment, as the Archbishop is asking parishes to do.

• Join us as a volunteer at CPCSM, in our campaign to educate Catholic leaders and lay people about the amendment and to urge them to vote against it. (To volunteer or for further information, email us at cpcsm@ourtownusa.net or call us at 612-201-4534.)

• Contact Outfront MN for more information about their upcoming campaign against the amendment, called "Together Minnesota," which is still being developed. Ask to be placed on their email alert list for future updates about the amendment and political actions that they will be planning.

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Theological Commentary
about Same-Gender Marriage

History Reveals Unsavory Mix of Religion, Constitutional Law
By Rev. Michael Tegeder
St. Paul Pioneer Press
January 10, 2006

The Call to Wed: Why Catholics
Should Celebrate Same Sex Marriage
(Written for DignityUSA, 2004)
by Patricia Beattie Jung

A Gay Catholic Theological Response to
Vatican's Statement on Gay Marriage
by Daniel Helminiak (Psychologist and Theologian)
Bondings, Spring 2005


Bible’s Views on Homosexuality
Aren’t So Easy For Us To Decipher
By Vincent M. Smiles
College of St. Benedict/St. Johns University
St. Cloud Times
November 27, 2005

The Minnesota Pastors Summit has thrown its religious weight behind a state constitutional amendment that would ban not only same-sex marriage but even same-sex civil unions and thus deny health and other benefits to the lifelong partners of gays and lesbians.

Hopefully, the pastors will back away at least from this latter aspect of the amendment. Although, whether they ought to support such an amendment at all is open to considerable question. Using the state constitution to legislate morality is a dubious procedure at best.

The logical next step would seem to be an amendment that will curtail the rights of those found guilty of adultery or other immoral acts.

They have not so far proposed any such ideas, but the logic of this campaign suggests that they ought to do so. After all, adultery is a proven threat to marriage, whereas homosexuality is not.

Speaking as a Catholic theologian, I find the pastors moral certainty about homosexuality quite puzzling.

Informed theological debates in recent years have demonstrated only one thing clearly: There is no basis for absolute certainty on this issue. To be sure, the Vatican has made an amazing number of pronouncements on homosexuality in recent years, all of them condemning homosexual acts while emphasizing the obligation of compassion toward homosexuals.

Nevertheless, careful theological analyses, whether examining the biblical texts or wider issues, have been far less dogmatic than either the Vatican or the pastors.

In 1977, for instance, the Catholic Theological Society of America, responding to the Vatican’s text Persona Humana, which dealt with various sexual matters (premarital sex, masturbation and homosexuality), published a lengthy study (Human Sexuality, Paulist Press, N.Y.), which far from fully endorsed all of the Vaticans conclusions.

On homosexuality the study said, for instance: “It is difficult to say anything about homosexuality that is not of a provisional nature. ... Simply citing verses from the Bible outside of their historical context and then blithely applying them to homosexuals today does grave injustice both to Scripture and to people who have already suffered a great deal from the travesty of biblical interpretation.”

When they turn to pastoral guidelines, the authors warn that persons involved in pastoral ministry need to examine their own attitudes toward homosexuals, because unconscious prejudices resulting from biased education or societal attitudes do serious injustice.

Given the long-standing ignorance about homosexuality and negative attitudes toward it, which of us can claim to be totally free of such prejudices?

The study goes on to suggest that homosexuals in stable, loving relationships should be left in peace by pastors.

This is recommended not simply as a lesser of two evils but as a positive good. The study even goes on to say that prayer, even communal prayer, for two (homosexual) people striving to live Christian lives, incarnating the values of fidelity, truth and love, is not beyond the pastoral possibilities of a Church whose ritual tradition includes a rich variety of blessings.

The study is well aware, however, that social repercussions might make such blessings inadvisable.

Perhaps the pastors might profitably read this and other studies before they deliver their promised sermons to their congregations about this issue. Such a lengthy and careful study, endorsed by a large number of thoughtful theologians, ought to give pause to those — whether the pastors, the Vatican or anyone else — who proclaim the truth on this matter.

For most people, the Bible constitutes the primary source, and the text that almost everyone imagines as settling the matter is Genesis 19, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Unfortunately, very few people examine the text carefully.

It is clearly not a story about homosexuality in the sense of same-sex couples being lovingly committed to one another. It tells of the men of Sodom wanting to force themselves on Lot’s divine visitors — in other words, it is a story about attempted gang rape.

If stories about rape could truly provide divine teaching about human sexuality, then what lessons should be drawn from Shechem’s rape of Dinah (Genesis 34) or Amnon’s rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13)?

Do these stories teach that there is something wrong with men being attracted to women? Surely not! No more can any conclusions about homosexuality be drawn from the Sodom story of violent rape.

When Jesus referred to Sodom, he interpreted its sin as a refusal to accept visitors sent by God (Matthew 10:15); there is no word from Jesus condemning homosexuality.

The usual interpretations of Genesis 19 bespeak not accurate reading of Scripture, but prejudice against homosexuals. As voters decide whether they wish to support the pastors’ campaign, hopefully they will examine all sides of the issue.

This is the opinion of Vincent M. Smiles, who teaches theology courses at CSB/SJU that include study of the issue of homosexuality. He is married with three children.

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Supportive Churches and
Other Religious Organizations

Many religious organizations, including some that do not recognize religious same-gender marriage, either directly support civil marriage for same-gender couples, support equal rights for same-gender couples, or are opposed to the denial of equal rights for same-gender couples. These include ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, American Friends Service Committee, California Council of Churches, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Church of Religious Science, Ecumenical Catholic Church, Hawaii Council of Churches, Interfaith Working Group, Pacific Congress of Quakers, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Unitarian Universalist Association, and Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.

The reasons religious organizations support equal rights for same-gender couples are varied. But it is fair to say that most see it as a matter of love, justice, basic fairness, and civil rights. Many agree that legal recognition of same-gender marriage would make very positive moral and social points--that we as a people value committed, caring relationships and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or religion.

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Scientific Findings and Publications
and Professional Statements,
about Same-Gender Marriage

Study: Same-Sex Parents Raise Well-Adjusted Kids
Researchers Say Children Who Grow Up in Households
With Gay Parents Have Normal Self-Esteem
By Linda Little
WebMD Medical News
(Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Wednesday, October 12, 2005)

Oct.12, 2005 (Washington) -- Children growing up in same-sex parental households do not necessarily have differences in self-esteem, gender identity, or emotional problems from children growing up in heterosexual parent homes.

"There are a lot of children with at least one gay or lesbian parent," says Ellen C. Perrin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. She revealed the findings at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference and Exhibition.

Between 1 million and 6 million children in the U.S. are being reared by committed lesbian or gay couples, she says. Children being raised by same-sex parents were either born to a heterosexual couple, adopted, or conceived through artificial insemination.

"The vast consensus of all the studies shows that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way," she tells WebMD. "In some ways children of same-sex parents actually may have advantages over other family structures."

Study Results

Researchers looked at information gleaned from 15 studies on more than 500 children, evaluating possible stigma, teasing and social isolation, adjustment and self-esteem, opposite gender role models, sexual orientation, and strengths.

Studies from 1981 to 1994, including 260 children reared by either heterosexual mothers or same-sex mothers after divorce, found no differences in intelligence, type or prevalence of psychiatric disorders, self-esteem, well-being, peer relationships, couple relationships, or parental stress.

"Some studies showed that single heterosexual parents' children have more difficulties than children who have parents of the same sex," Perrin says. "They did better in discipline, self-esteem, and had less psychosocial difficulties at home and at school."

Another study of 37 children of 27 divorced lesbian mothers and a similar number of children of heterosexual mothers found no differences in behavior, adjustment, gender identity, and peer relationships.

Equitable Division of Chores

Two other large studies involving more than 100 couples found that same-sex parents also had contact with extended family, had social support, and had a more equitable division of labor in the home.

"Lesbian couples share household responsibilities and chores more equitably," Perrin says. "And, the children of lesbian couples are less aggressive, more nurturing to peers, more tolerant of diversity, and more inclined to play with both boy's and girl's toys.

Children seem to adjust better when there is a more equal division of labor in the home and the parental relationship with the children had a higher rating, she says.

The combined data presented by Perrin showed that children whose parents are lesbian have no more problems than the rest of the children and actually may be more tolerant of differences, she says. There was suggestive evidence that there were more stresses due to the gender of same-sex parents, but the children also reported greater well-being, more nurturing, and a greater tolerance for differences.

What is striking is that there are very consistent findings in these studies," Perrin says.

Ryan Malone, who works in public relations in Washington, D.C., says after his parents were divorced he was reared by two "lesbian moms," while still staying in contact with his father.

"We lived in a small town," he says. "While I was open about my family, I didn't broadcast it."

At times he felt isolated because he didn't know any other families at the time headed by a same-sex couple, Malone says. "My parents overparented because they felt like the whole world was watching."

Emotional Topic

While further study should be done, this is important for pediatricians to know so they can learn more about variations in families and give appropriate advice in optimizing the child's development, Perrin says.

Carol Berkowitz, MD, former president of AAP, says this analysis is important in that it combines evidence-based studies.

"This subject evokes a lot of emotions," she says. "Some of the studies on this subject in the past have been weighted and biased, based on nothing more than the researcher's views."

Evidence-based studies are important in helping pediatricians in their practices and creating policy for the future, she says.

SOURCES: American Academy of Pediatrics Conference and Exhibition, Washington, D.C., Oct. 8-11, 2005. Ellen C. Perrin, MD, professor of pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston. Carol Berkowitz, MD, former president, American Academy of Pediatrics.

Canadian Psychological Association
Publicly Voices
Its Support of Same-Sex Marriage
Brief Presented to the Legislative
House of Commons on Bill C38 by the
Canadian Psychological Association, June 2, 2005

Same-Sex Marriage Gets Boost
Psychiatrists' Proclamation Is First
for a Medical Association
By CHARLES YOO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5/23/05

Click here for full statement.*

The country's leading mental health organization voted Sunday in Atlanta to support marriage for same-sex couples, the first major medical association to do so in the polarizing debate.

Representatives from the American Psychiatric Association took up gay marriage as an issue at their 158th annual convention this week and approved a proclamation to support legalizing such marriage.

"The American Psychiatric Association supports the legal recognition of same sex civil marriage," according to the approved statement. "Heterosexual relationships have a legal framework for their existence through civil marriage. Same sex couples therefore experience several kinds of state-sanctioned discrimination that can adversely affect the stability of their relationships and mental health."

The vote was taken by the association's Assembly, an advisory group made up of 250 representatives from each state and region. A clear majority said yes to supporting gay marriage. The psychiatric organization's board of trustees is expected to adopt the measure in July.

The newest statement surpasses the organization's public support for civil unions in 2000.

In the wake of Vermont's adoption of civil union and Massachusetts' same-sex marriage, it became clear that the two notions are not equal, said psychiatrists who voted for gay marriage.

Same-sex marriage supporters say a civil union is tailored by each state, comes with fewer benefits and is not recognized by other states with the same measure. Marriage, theoretically, is recognized universally even though states do not accept Massachusetts' approval of gay marriage at the moment.

"Civil unions are more restrictive to strengthening the couple and family. They're not transportable. Marriage is transportable from state to state, from country to country," said Jack Drescher, a New York City psychiatrist in charge of the assembly's committee on gay issues, adding that the APA is the first medical organization to endorse same-sex marriage.

Progressive history

The psychiatrists said discrimination is toxic to mental health, and as medical professionals, condoning it collides with the ethics of their profession.

"Folks who choose to seek same-sex marriage should be afforded the same rights," said Dr. Stephen McLeod-Bryant, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry at Medical University of South Carolina.

But those who voted against the issue said the organization should not butt in on a political issue.

"Marriage has a lot of Judeo-Christian connotations" attached to it, said F. Joseph Whelan, a psychiatrist from Beckley, W. Va., who has been a member for four decades. "Many of us did not see it was appropriate for APA to be a vanguard to change that."

Nearly 36,000 doctors belong to the APA. The group has a history of progressive policies that helped society transform views on sexual minorities. In 1973, the group removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses, a milestone event at a time when popular culture perceived gays as psychologically deranged.

Sunday's vote was ironic because Georgians overwhelmingly voted for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between only a man and a woman, Drescher said. Some members had opposed the convention being held in Atlanta because of the state government's anti-gay politics.

'Certainly applaud APA'

Just as it did three decades ago, the medical group's support will help mainstream society peel off stigmas associated with gay relationships and accept them, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay rights organization.

"We certainly applaud APA for taking the stance they did today," said Seth Kilbourn, a Human Rights Campaign marriage project coordinator. "Our family, that is gay and lesbian families, need the same protections that other families have."

Forty states currently prohibit gay marriages, barring same-sex couples from the legal protections that heterosexual couples are entitled to, including the application of health insurance and other benefits with their partners.

Teenage Kids of Same-Sex Parents Fare Well
WebMD Medical News, 11/15/04

APA SUPPORTS LEGALIZATION OF SAME-SEX CIVIL MARRIAGES AND OPPOSES DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTS
Denying Same-Sex Couples Legal Access to Civil Marriage
is Discriminatory and Can Adversely Affect
the Psychological, Physical, Social and Economic
Well-Being of Gay and Lesbian Individuals

Press Release
American Psychological Association

Date: July 28, 2004
Contact: Pam Willenz
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5700

HONOLULU – Prohibiting civil marriage for same-sex couples is discriminatory and unfairly denies such couples, their children and other members of their families the legal, financial and social advantages of civil marriage says the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Council of Representatives in a resolution adopted today. The APA also opposed discrimination against lesbian or gay parents adoption, child custody and visitation, foster care and reproductive health services.

Both policy positions were adopted at the recommendation of an APA Working Group on Same-Sex Families and Relationships. The Working Group, appointed by the APA Council of Representatives in February 2004, was charged with developing policy recommendations for APA that would guide psychologists in the current public debate over civil marriage for same-sex couples. The Working Group was directed further to base its policy recommendations on the research on same-sex relationships and families.

This seven-member team of psychologists with a combination of both scientific expertise in family and couple relations and professional expertise with lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations summarized the research that discrimination and prejudice based on sexual orientation detrimentally affects the psychological, physical, social and economic well-being of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, that same-sex couples are remarkably similar to heterosexual couples, and that parenting effectiveness and the adjustment, development and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation.

"The APA recognizes the importance of the institution of civil marriage which confers a social status with important legal benefits, rights and privileges," said psychologist Armand R. Cerbone, who is a private practitioner in Chicago and chair of the working group. "Discrimination of all kinds takes a toll on people's health and psychological well being. In the context of the huge social and political debate that is currently going on, APA and psychologists had to grapple with the issue of what psychology believes is in the public interest in this controversy.”

Given what research tells us about the impact of discrimination and given that the research further provides no justification for discriminating against same-sex couples in marriage or in parenting, the Working Group strongly recommended that APA support states in providing civil marriage to same-sex couples and fully recognizing the parental rights of lesbians and gay men. As a benefit for human welfare, it is important to point out that permitting same-sex couples to marriage may especially benefit people who also experience discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, disability, gender and gender identity, religion and socioeconomic status, said Cerbone.

According to the United States Accounting Office (2004), over 1,000 federal statutory provisions exist in which marital status is a factor in determining a person’s eligibility to receive various benefits, rights and privileges.

APA Working Group on Same-Sex Families and Relationships: Armand Cerbone, Ph.D., Chicago, Illinois; Beverly Greene, Ph.D., St. John’s University; Kristin Hancock, Ph.D., Graduate School of Professional Psychology at John F. Kennedy University; Lawrence A. Kurdek, Ph.D., Wright State University; Candace A. McCullough, Ph.D., Bethesda, Maryland; Letitia Anne Peplau, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Full text of the resolutions is available at http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/policy/marriage.pdf (Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Marriage) and
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/policy/parentschildren.pdf (Resolution on Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children).

Reporters: Armand Cerbone, PhD can be by phone at (773) 755-0833 or by Email, and Anne Peplau, PhD be reached by phone at 818-990-2688 or by Email

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

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Media Reports About Same-Gender Marriage

Clergy Rally for Same-Sex Marriage
Jeff Diamant, The Star-Ledger, Oct. 14, 2005

Worried that conservative Christians hold the upper hand in religious and political debates over same-sex marriage, increasing numbers of liberal pastors and ministers are trying to publicize biblical interpretations more permissive to gay people.

About 200 of them—mostly mainline Protestant—will come to New Brunswick for a conference Sunday where speakers will say same-sex relationships are neither sinful nor against God’s will, despite Christian conservative claims to the contrary.

The goal is to show that Christian clergy are not monolithically against gay marriage but are divided like the rest of the country, said the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park. The church is an organizer of the gathering, which is titled “Holy Relationships: A Conference on Theology and Sexuality.”

Conservative opposition to same-sex marriage increased in volume in 2003, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing sex between consenting adults of the same gender, and the Episcopal Church USA approved a gay bishop.

“That caused a shift in the political culture, and because of that there are a lot of resources being thrown behind the conservative voice,” said Richard McCarty, a conference organizer.

The conference also will try to galvanize support for interpretations of the Bible that are tolerant of same-sex relationships.

Religious opponents of same- sex marriage generally cite about a half-dozen Bible passages condemning homosexual sex, including verses from the books of Leviticus, Romans and First Corinthians. Two Leviticus verses, for example, call sex between men an “abomination.”

But liberal clergy say the passages are less relevant to modern life and political debates than conservative Christians believe.

In one New Testament passage, Kaper-Dale said, St. Paul appears to be criticizing gay sex between heterosexual males, and not, Kaper-Dale said, between men who are gay.

“I don’t think Paul had any notion that there was anything such as sexual orientation,” Kaper-Dale said. “He’s concerned that people are giving themselves up to unnatural passions. (He didn’t) have a notion there were some people whose God-given passion was for the same sex.”

“When I look at Scripture in a more broad way, I can find all sorts of support for same-sex relationships,” Kaper-Dale said. “The mutuality, respect, compassion and give-and-take of love—there’s all sorts of stories and teachings that talk about such things.”

It is hard to know what percentage of clergy support gay marriage.

About 100 ministers from the Reformed Church in America signed a document Kaper-Dale circulated this summer that said homosexuality is not a sinful choice, he said. And last month, almost 450 people—179 of them clergy—attended a rally in Montclair to call for the state Supreme Court to allow gay marriage in a pending case.

A competing Trenton rally a week ago, against gay marriage, drew a smaller crowd.

The Rev. Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and a vocal critic of same-sex marriage, acknowledged that many mainline Protestant clergy support gay marriage, but he said most Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, African-American and white evangelical pastors oppose it.

“It depends whose clergy we are talking about, and which church. (Clergy support) really is restrictive to the more elite denominations” like the mainline Protestant groups that are losing members, he said.

Harmon said biblical readings like those being discussed at this weekend’s conference display a liberal theological arrogance.

“What we can’t do is embrace a new insight which sets the Bible aside and moves away from the whole teaching of the church in history and worldwide,” he said.

The conference is sponsored in part by New Brunswick Theological Seminary, which gained attention in January for reprimanding its then-president, the Rev. Norm Kansfield, and not renewing his contract after he officiated at his daughter’s wedding to a woman in Massachusetts.

Asked if the seminary’s participation contradicts that action, trustee Larry Williams said it is in keeping with the board’s interest in “continuing conversation” and dialogue on the subject.

The seminary is affiliated with the Reformed Church of America, which disciplined Kansfield in June.

Spanish Parliament legalizes gay marriage
USA Today, June 30, 2005

Canada Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage Bill
Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2005