Marin minister cleared of marrying gay couples
Tad Whitaker
Marin Independent Journal, March 04, 2006

SANTA ROSA - A San Rafael minister accused of violating the Presbyterian Church's constitution by willingly marrying gay couples was vindicated Friday by a church judicial commission, allowing her to continue performing same-sex marriages and setting a precedent for other church organizations around the world.

The Rev. Jane Spahr, a lesbian, broke into tears and hugged the four women whom she married after the verdict was read at a Santa Rosa church where the two-day trial took place.
 

Spahr, who faced sanctions that included banishment from the church, said she plans to carry on with plans to marry a lesbian couple.

"There was an honoring of who we are," she said. "I can't tell you what that means to us."

Stephen Taber, a church attorney who prosecuted Spahr but was not present for the verdict, has the option to appeal the decision.

MOMENT FOR PRAYER: Rev. Jane Spahr (third from left) of San Rafael prays with supporters and her lawyers Friday in Santa Rosa. The Presbyterian minister who was the first of her faith to be tried for officiating the weddings of gay couples, was found not guilty of misconduct Friday for violating the denominations position on same-sex marriage.
Click on photo to enlarge - PHOTO by Chad Surmick Press Democrat.

While the ruling does not bind other church judicial commissions regarding same-sex marriages, Spahr's attorney, Timothy Cahn, said it sets a favorable precedent for half a dozen other ministers who are being prosecuted for performing such nuptials.

"This will be an example to others around the country," he said.

Spahr, 63, became an ordained minister in 1974 while married to a man, but was allowed to maintain her status as a minister after coming out as a lesbian in 1978. Although she was barred from fronting a church in 1991, she became a "lesbian evangelist" for the church.

The church's national organization charged Spahr with two counts of violating the constitution - for a same-sex marriage in 2004 and for another in 2005 - after a minister from Washington state complained she had violated the church's constitution, which defines marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. Under a ruling by the national church's highest court in 2000, Presbyterian ministers may bless same-sex unions as long as they do not equate the relationships with marriage.

During the two-day trial before the tribunal of the Presbytery of the Redwoods - which oversees 52 churches from north of San Francisco to the Oregon border - Spahr testified that she performed both ceremonies, considered them marriages and wrote about them in her annual reports to the church despite knowing the church's constitution defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

She said her conscience told her that treating gay couples differently than heterosexual couples was no different than defining them as second-class citizens, and the church's history of progressive stances against slavery, racism and banning women from becoming ministers backed that up.

"I'm so grateful," she said after the ruling. "People have honored that."

In their majority ruling, the six judicial members said the church does not explicitly prohibit marriage of same-sex couples; Spahr "acted within the normative standards" of the region; and Spahr's action is affirmed by "the fundamental message of the Scriptures and Confessions" that "is a message of inclusiveness, reconciliation, and the breaking down of barriers that separate humans from each other."

"We find that Spahr was acting within her right of conscience in performing marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples," the majority wrote.

In her dissenting opinion, Janet Moor, a church elder from Benicia, said ministers pledge to be governed by the church's constitution and that considers marriage between a man and woman.

"I agree with the prosecution that the beliefs of the accused are to be respected, but that the actions of the accused must still be constrained by what is prohibited by the constitution," she wrote.

Barbara Jean Douglass, a former San Rafael High School student body president who asked Spahr to perform her same-sex marriage in Rochester, N.Y., and testified Thursday with her partner, said she feels her relationship is validated by the ruling.

"It's a beautiful, wonderful feeling to be accepted by the church," she said.

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