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Minister cleared in gay marriage casePresbyterian tribunal in Santa Rosa rules church law doesn't bar same-sex weddingsBy GUY KOVNERTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT Santa Rosa CA March 4, 2006 A Santa Rosa Presbyterian church tribunal on Friday rejected
charges against a minister who admitted marrying two lesbian
couples, issuing an unprecedented ruling that church law doesn't
prohibit same-sex marriages. |
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| The ruling capped a two-day church trial that attracted national
attention and, according to her backers, sends a message throughout
the 2.4 million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has
wrestled with the issue of gay marriage for 30 years. Spahr, 63, a lesbian activist, said she will continue to marry both homosexual and heterosexual couples. |
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Speaking of the gay and lesbian community she ministers to, Spahr said, "We've lost many things, but today is just a beautiful day for us." "This is a decisive moment," said Timothy Cahn, one of Spahr's two lawyers and a Presbyterian Church elder. Neither of the lesbian couples' marriages was recognized by civil authorities. Spahr was accused of violating church law for performing the ceremonies. Had she been convicted, Spahr, ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1974, could have been reprimanded or removed from the ministry. Spahr's attorneys said she won on two counts, as the tribunal of ministers and church elders ruled that the church constitution and case law do not "prohibit the performance" of same-sex marriages. The tribunal also endorsed Spahr's argument in ruling she was "acting within her right of conscience" in performing the marriages. The decision applies only to the Presbytery of the Redwoods, a regional body of the church that spans the North Coast from Marin County to the Oregon border. |
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| But it will be "instructive" to other presbyteries, said Sara
Taylor, Spahr's other lawyer. "We hope it's a signal of great things
to come." "This is going to get considerable attention," said the Rev. Robert Conover, who holds the title of stated clerk, a leadership position in the presbytery. "It is high profile." |
 The
Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, third from left, prays with supporters and her
lawyers Friday before a Presbyterian church tribunal rejected charges
against her for marrying two lesbian couples.Click to enlarge photo |
The local presbytery, which brought the charges against Spahr, can appeal the decision, but Conover said he could not predict "how the presbytery might respond." An appeal to a higher church body would be expensive, a factor the presbytery would have to consider, Conover said. "We don't have any money," he said. Conover said trial cost the presbytery about $30,000. Spahr's attorneys had said they would appeal any verdict against her. The tribunal, known as the Permanent Judicial Commission, deliberated for five hours, while Spahr and her attorneys and allies waited in the church library. "It's a beautiful, wonderful feeling to feel accepted in this church," said Barbara Jean Douglass of Rochester, N.Y., who was married by Spahr in 2004 to her partner, Connie Valois. "Today I feel like anyone else who's gotten married," said Sherrill Figuera of Guerneville, married by Spahr last May to Annie Senechal on the Sonoma Coast near Jenner. The two lesbian weddings were the basis for the charges against Spahr, which were prompted by an inquiry from the Rev. James Berkley, a Seattle Presbyterian minister. Redwoods Presbytery officials testified Thursday they were aware of Spahr's same-sex weddings. In his closing argument Friday, Cahn urged the commission members to use their heads and their hearts to reach a verdict. Because the church has not clearly ruled that marrying homosexuals is an offense, "there is a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of Reverend Spahr," he said. Two commissioners queried Cahn about the meaning of the word "proper," referring to a Presbyterian committee's 1991 interpretation that same-sex marriages "would not be proper." In its majority ruling, six commissioners noted the interpretation did not use "mandatory language." "Therefore, we find that no offense has been committed," the decision said in part. In a minority report, commissioner Janet Moor, a church elder from Benicia, wrote that same-sex marriages were forbidden by the church Constitution. She cited the section that says: "For Christians, marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship." In his closing argument, Stephen Taber, an attorney prosecuting Spahr, told the tribunal it was a not a complex case. "The rules are pretty clear," he said. Describing Spahr as "a great asset to the presbytery," Taber, a former member of the Presbyterian Church's highest court, said she nonetheless has "an obligation to subject herself to the discipline of the church." Spahr, a grandmother, said she is preparing to marry her son, Chet, and his fiancee, as well as a lesbian couple. Before the verdict, Spahr said she was grateful for the trial because it gave lesbian couples a chance to tell their story. "I think it's God's story," she said. "Any time marginalized people have a chance to speak." |
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