August 25, 2007
Rochester NY

A judicial body of the Presbyterian Church has ruled that a minister who performed a wedding ceremony for two Rochester women violated church law.

The Rev. Jane Spahr, 65, a lesbian who for 15 years served as a minister with the "That All May Freely Serve" ministry based at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church, married a Rochester couple, Connie Valois and Barbara Jean Douglass, in Rochester on Aug. 21, 2004. The ruling also applied to a ceremony Spahr officiated for a California couple.

A church commission's earlier ruling found that Spahr committed no offense in marrying the couples.

But Friday, a higher church judicial body, in a 6-to-2 vote, reversed that finding, saying Spahr "had acted with conscience and conviction, her actions were contrary to the (Presbyterian Church USA) Constitution as it is authoritatively interpreted."

Douglass said Friday that the decision doesn't change her relationship with Valois at all. "We believe in an all-loving God and an all-inclusive God," Douglass said. "We feel that our church is progressing toward equal marriage for all. We feel that the Presbyterian congregation is ready for change. It's our hope that the church leadership will follow."

Spahr received a written "censure of rebuke" from the church, which is the least severe ramification of the decision. She could have been suspended, suspended pending rehabilitation or removed from ordination, said her lawyer, Sara Taylor.

"The issue is not about Janie Spahr. The issue is whether LGBT people of the church will be allowed to enter into the sacred trust that we call matrimony," Taylor said.

Spahr, now living in California, said in a prepared statement that she was "deeply saddened that our church has chosen not to recognize the loving relationship of members of its own family. These couples and many like them have found a sacred trust in their love for each other; this reversal of the Presbytery's decision promotes a belief that somehow this love is less than valid."

Taylor said an appeal will be filed within 45 days to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, where a ruling would have national implications.