Fun Facts to Know and Tell ...

... about +Gene & Mark's upcoming blessing.

In an interview with the Religion News Service's Kevin Eckstrom, +Gene answered questions about all the details of his and Mark's "Big Day" coming up in June.

Q: How are the ceremony plans coming together?
A: We're very, very much looking forward to it. The first part will be a civil ceremony that will be presided over by our lawyer, and then we'll proceed with the service of Holy Communion in which we give thanks to God for showing up in our relationship.

Q: You came under fire not too long ago for saying you always wanted to be a "June bride." Do you now wish you had chosen different words?
A: Yeah, yes and no. On the one hand, it's just a sign of how little humor there is in this whole debate. What I was trying to say is that all of us grow up wanting our relationships to be affirmed by our friends, and gay and lesbian people are no different.

Q: Are you calling this a wedding, or a civil union, or a commitment ceremony or something else?
A: One of the things that drives me nuts is that everyone in the press calls it a wedding, and they say we're honeymooning in Lambeth. Of all the places I'd want to go on a honeymoon, Lambeth is the last place I'd think of. It's very clearly a civil ceremony, and that's what we're availing ourselves of.

Q: How is this different - or is it? - in your mind from the wedding ceremony you had those many years ago with your wife?
A: Probably the simplest thing I could say is that if the state of New Hampshire had passed a law for people of the same gender to get married, that's what we'd be doing. But that's simply not possible.

Q: In your new book, "In the Eye of the Storm," you talk about the fact that Britney Spears could go off to Las Vegas in the middle of the night and get married, but you and your partner are told you cannot get married. Is that frustrating to you?
A: It's frustrating not only to me but to faithful gay and lesbian couples everywhere. At a time when some heterosexual couples are taking that commitment very lightly, it seems ironic to deny the right to marriage to those who are deeply and profoundly serious about that commitment.

Q: What does a bishop wear to his civil union ceremony?
A: I will not be wearing my collar and (bishop's) purple shirt because I'm not the bishop that day. I'll be one of the grooms, one of the participants. It will just be tuxedos - very boring and unflamboyant.

Q: Tell me about the church blessing service. What's it going to look like?
A: We're now less than three weeks away and I still haven't put the liturgy together. It's really a service of Holy Communion with special prayers for us.

Q: What readings and music have you chosen?
A: I've still not chosen the Scriptures, and the preacher is breathing down my neck for that. That's on my list of things to do.

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