Prop. 8 passage isn't deterring All Saints rectorChurch won't change stance
By Nathan McIntire, Staff Writer
PASADENA - Same-sex marriages may not be legal, but at All Saints Episcopal Church, they are marriages all the same.
Tuesday's passage of Proposition 8 banned same-sex marriage in California, but officials at All Saints in Pasadena vow to continue blessing such ceremonies - as the church has done for the past 16 years.
"The only difference will be that we will not actually be signing marriage certificates," the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector for All Saints, said Friday.
The church began conducting legal same-sex marriages in June, after the California Supreme Court ruled that gay couples had the right to wed.
Since then - and up until Tuesday - the church had presided over 43 legal same-sex marriages. Many of the weddings were legal confirmations of religious ceremonies that the church has held over the last decade and a half.
Bacon has been a vocal critic of Proposition 8, particularly of religion's role in the campaign opposing same-sex marriage.
"It is the last acceptable bigotry in our country and it has not been effectively challenged by religion," Bacon said. "A lot of religion is bigoted, it is not inclusive, and that is a perversion of religion."
Bacon will conduct a special service Sunday to address "justice, Barack Obama, and us." A ceremony with a wedding cake is planned to commemorate the legal marriages that All Saints has blessed.
Bear Ride and Susan Craig, both of Pasadena, were the first same-sex couple to legally wed at All Saints in June. Ride believes that since her marriage was performed in the window between the court decision and Proposition 8, it will remain legal.
"For us, having gone through the legal process, it was a breath of fresh air having our relationship honored by the state," Ride said.
Ride and her partner are holding out hope that lawsuits against the measure will invalidate the ban. Craig said the relatively narrow margin of victory for the measure was encouraging.
"I see that, in the long haul, there's been great progress made, and in the short haul we need to do more," Craig said.
On Thursday, the couple received an ironic package in the mail. The sender was the state of California, and inside was their marriage certificate.
"So we plan to frame that," said Ride. "That will remind us that we need to keep on hoping and working."
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"It is the last acceptable bigotry in our country and it has not been effectively challenged by religion," Bacon said. "A lot of religion is bigoted, it is not inclusive, and that is a perversion of religion."
ReplyDeleteAmen, Amen, Alleluia!
One must give the bigots credit. Once they loose this one and they will, they will figure out someone else over whom they can try to claim their "superiority." Of course, we are talking bottom feeders here, so it wont work, but they will try.
ReplyDeleteFWIW
jimB
Since then - and up until Tuesday - the church had presided over 43 legal same-sex marriages.
ReplyDeleteIn direct contradiction to the Constitution of the National Church - which the parish incorporates into it's own bylaws and which it often calls those Episcopal parishes that oppose the direction of the National Church to comply with.
As per Canon 18, Section 2(b):
(b) That both parties understand that Holy Matrimony is a physical
and spiritual union of a man and a woman, entered into within
the community of faith, by mutual consent of heart, mind, and
will, and with intent that it be lifelong.
But I guess that having to obey the rules of the church are only for other people, not you.